#in 600 years in whatever’s left of chicago

[instantinternetcrush]

i’m really so pathetic when it comes to you.

one text and i’m rolling over in my grave. the implication that you miss me, even a little bit, and i’m ready to drop everything and meet you in the windy city and pretend we were always planning this.

we aren’t supposed to talk anymore; i’m not supposed to feel like my organs are exploding when a random notification from you pops up on a friday night. you said it yourself, it’s too painful either way. i guess the path of least resistance is paved with all the thorns i pulled off roses for you.

you called me your friend today, in your random one off message. you’ve been checking if i’m alive every few days, like clockwork. everyone always said you run on a tight schedule. i’m not sure you’re even aware of it.

i saw your text while i was making dinner for my parents. i ran off to go check what you’d said, and my mother followed me. she asked what made me run, made a joke about how im more skittish than our new cat. it’s true, so i didn’t take the joke the way i should’ve.

i hid, and i thought about crying. i hid, and i thought about how every conversation i have with the only other person who understands even slightly what im going through ends up being all about you. how every story i tell has you in it. how every memory since i’ve been back home has your name included in the timestamp.

when she took me home yesterday i pointed at the top of my driveway and told her how we used to stargaze. random arguments about constellations and zodiac signs. i point at the countless empty bottles i’ve been collecting like trophies and tell her every story behind them.

that first night, how we sat behind his fucking prius while they sat down for a meal at taco bell, and talked about absolutely nothing. some random guy gave you a nod when i was bent over looking for the cap to my soda under the car. you told me you felt proud of that, even though you shouldn’t have.

she tells me i should’ve seen the signs before there were signs. every half-flirty remark that i laughed off. in the back of her car when you half-begged me to have your babies after i said something profoundly unwitty about starbucks bagel prices.

she told me everyone else could see something that wasn’t quite nothing well before there was something to see. i asked how she could tell. she said something about a look in your eyes whenever i’d do something like catch a random frog, or deadpan some dumb joke about pokemon. she said she knew when she listened to the music i played whenever i demanded to be on aux.

we weren’t supposed to be friends then, either. even when ‘friends’ didn’t quite fit, when ‘fwb’ didn’t seem accurate and any other label was flat out untrue. we stayed friends anyway. no one reads my mind like you do, and there are people who have spent their lives trying.

i miss lying to everyone i know. insisting you always slept on my floor, rather than curled up with me in my bed. i miss faking my way through conversations about movies we didn’t watch. telling all my friends i had a rotation of park rangers i saw weekly. that the imaginary park rangers are where all those suspiciously fingerprint shaped bruises on my hip came from.

you always thought that was hilarious. i’d mention a fake park ranger by name, and you’d stifle a laugh. no one quite listened to us enough to read between the lines.

i miss my best friend. i miss my rival. my attorney. my partner in crime. my wednesday morning lover, my friday night drinking buddy. my beer-pong teammate, my shoulder to sleep on. my evil twin, and my better half.

every bad horror movie i watch reminds me of you. every bottle of rum has me tasting your name on my lips.

and i miss you, still.

[delirious-robot]

I lost both my parents by the age of 27.

I was adopted at birth. 

I found out at age 12.

I lost my mother at age 4. 

I remember her dearly. I was born in Chicago. 

But at age 3, my mother and father and I migrated to Perth Australia, the country of my mother’s (June Goth) heritage which would soon become mine too.

I’ve only ever been in 3 long term relationships in my life by age 43. 

One of them I was married to and had 2 kids with.

I was kicked out of home at age 15 because my dad (John Goth) couldn’t handle me anymore. He never remarried. 

We moved across the world when I was 14, he moved me out of my school and home where I was really happy and stable in Glendale California to a tiny little sea side town in New South Wales called Shellharbour, and I protested and rebelled. 

If I ever tried to talk about it with my “new friends” there they would just roll their eyes at me, scoff at me and say “well why don’t you just go back there.” and then ignore me. 

I became left out at school and pretty much an outcast and often sat by myself, being an onlooker, feeling humiliated. 

Needless to say, I took whatever available friendships I could get… one of them ended up being a great friend and I have many happy memories with. 

But we did a lot of naughty things.

I lived with her and her family for a while, then lived in government housing in Australia in the Illawarra area, because my dad would not accept me back home.

When I was 15 I joined a religious sect in Sydney, because I had a purpose to help people and it was “my calling”, and I was tired of living without my purpose. 

That didn’t work out at the time and I was out by age 16, alone, in Sydney Australia.

I started in the work force.

I had a few various jobs but finally landed the best job I never should have quit, to go back to the US when I was 19 - at Telstra in Sydney. 

I was making over $50K per year as a high school drop out in the 90s, and my expenses were about $500/month. 

I had lots left over at the end of every pay check and could do whatever I wanted - all the freedom I could ever ask for. 

I had friends to go out with on the weekends to pubs and clubs and had a great job. What more could I want. 

Yet still, I felt something was missing… and there was something gnawing at my mind, that I could not shake…

I was so dumb for leaving Australia to move to the US when I was 19, but I felt that I “wanted to be where the artists area and do acting” in LA. 

What a fucking sham.

I was miserable because I was homesick and missed my job and my friends in Sydney for at least 9 months and because of this I tried to branch out and got distracted from my dreams. 

Hook line and sinker I became involved in other “dreams” and goals that had nothing to do with who I really was.

I partied my way through my early-mid 20s, only to figure out that none of it actually mattered and I had wasted several years of my life and the people who said they were my friends were actually just using me and didn’t really care about me at all.

The evidence is in the fact that none of those people have talked to me in over 15 years.

I finally realized my mistakes, and tried to get my head screwed on straight. 

I started volunteering again and doing self improvement courses.

I learned a lot and had some bright epiphanies.

I made a dumb mistake with a guy I really liked at the time.

Somewhere in the middle of all this…I was painfully missing my dad, and desperately was trying to figure out how to get back to Australia to see him. 

Without paying $2500 for a return ticket.

Sadly, I figured out how to get there and back for only $600 many years after he had passed to see a fella I’m no longer with…

When I broke up with a boyfriend when I was 23 (who turned out to be a criminal, and I stayed with him an extra 6 months to try to help him resolve his issues) I borrowed some money from my dad to be able to get into a new residence and cope while I transitioned.

Years later, I didn’t realize, but my dad was really sick, still in Australia, and he really needed the money back for health care because he could not get government assisted health care, even though I had tried to repay him on my hamster wheel paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.

He very patiently asked me to pay him back, and I kept on stalling and could not. 

Finally, I found an opportunity to take a job out in Boston MA as a personal assistant which promised me a way to get him paid back fast.

My accommodation and food would be paid for, as well as my travel expenses out there, plus paid a wage plus bonuses for booked appointments for the sales guy I was booking for. 

Great.

So, I cancelled my then accommodation, put everything in storage, and left on a whim thinking that everything would be fine and dandy.

My employer at the time really liked me working at their company, and asked me about the situation. 

He gave me a severe caution about going. 

He said, you shouldn’t do it. 

He was a nice wise older man. 

Again, I didn’t listen, and I went. 

Thinking it was the answer to all my problems and to get my dad paid back so that I could finally fix things with him.

I went to Boston. 

It was cool for a while. 

My employer however withheld my pay from me each week saying something was wrong with his bank account and we’d get it sorted.

He hit on me. 

I let him know I was just there for work.

He didn’t like that.

He flew out my best friend at the time to help keep me company.

Little did I know she was my replacement because he wanted to be rid of me because I rejected him.

He ended up losing his (crap) on me over nothing and flipping out, and telling me to leave, and I had no money. 

He said he would give me a few hundred dollars. 

He still owed me about $2500 which was the exact amount I needed to pay back to my dad.

Which could have saved his life.

I was traumatized when I left Boston. 

This was in 2007.

I left and only made it to Denver CO, with nothing in my bank account and I had run out of money.

I was lucky that my birth mother lived there, as well as my birth sister.

They saved me.

My birth mother ended up offering to pay for me to go back to LA, or get set up in Denver with an apartment.

Having nothing left for me in LA, no home and no job and no one there to really welcome me back or so I thought, I opted to stay in Denver, just get to know them better for a while.

I continued with my self development and self improvement study.

I had an apartment of my own for the first time in my life.

It was so cool until I realized the area was not really that great. 

I was in the heart of Denver.

And until I got the phone call.

“Your father was found deceased in Shellharbour Australia."

I couldn’t really process it properly, because it was mixed with so much guilt. 

I felt it was my fault. 

If only I had only… done things different or been there for him… 

if only I had never left Australia. 

Had not been so selfish. 

If only… a million other things…

The impact of those emotions is almost too much to face. It sends me into a tailspin.

I stayed in Denver another 2.5 years. 

Mostly only because I met a guy who wanted to date me, asked me to live with him after a few weeks of dating, and asked me to marry him after only 2 months of knowing me.

Kids, don’t ever ask someone to marry you after only knowing them for 2 months. 

I knew this at the time but somehow I went along with it anyway - very stupidly.

He’s an alright guy and I wish we could have just recognized really early on we weren’t a match, and not have this sort of "must have” thing about it and just left it and stayed sort of distant friends. 

I tried to break it off many times and he insisted on it and I felt obligated and I obliged… 

***please understand, this is different than some other things…*** 

we knew after a few weeks of being together that it should not be. 

We lived together. 

There were many instances where we knew it should not be. 

It was dumb to continue. 

*I never felt in love with him* 

and I don’t think he really did with me, 

just the idea of being with someone. 

I never really felt like he actually knew me. 

Just treated me like I was supposed to be someone that I was not.

So, we got married, moved back out to LA, and had 2 kids really quick.

The kids are awesome.

The divorce was not. 

No one ever gets married with the idea they are going to just get divorced a few years later. 

Of course we tried.

I’m sorry it happened. 

It was hard on the kids. 

But at least they were still young. 

I think it would have been harder on them had it happened later.

Honestly, I would have stayed in it even though I wasn’t happy and continually put down, just to keep a home for the kids… 

but I realized that I didn’t want the kids growing up seeing what passed for a marriage between their dad and I as normal.

I wanted them to understand that if you feel miserable and have tried making it better so many times and you still can’t live together happily in a marriage, it’s ok to say hey we should not do this anymore.

And I didn’t want them to grow up seeing their parents not like each other, or truly love each other. I wanted them to see a better example.

I wish it could have been a happily ever after, I always wanted a happy family home.

But.

I am happy that he has moved on, and I am years away from feeling disappointed about it all. 

We speak cordially with each other lately anyway when we have to speak about the kids.

(Skip a bunch of stuff I’m not ready to talk about - maybe in a year or two over a bottle of wine lol.)

And there you go.

I am focusing on business stuff. And putting order into things. 

And enjoying and admiring life, liking where I live and liking learning things. 

And creating my own glorious success story. 

More on that to come. 

I have big dreams and working hard at it - it’s all that matters right now.

And raising my kids into wonderful humans. Which they are.

This was written entirely off the cuff and unplanned. It just sort of came as a stream of consciousness, out as I sat down at the computer. 

As if someone wanted to know… Cheers. 

Now you know a bit more about me, if you have read this far. Thanks for reading.

Word of advice: Don’t fall in love with me. You’ll regret it later - bad idea. I still have a long way to go and need a lot of work before I can be considered “acceptable” and am up to par with regular standards.

I am also not an "option". I'm a ride or die, all in or nothing.

[astraeagreengrass]

Hope Springs Eternal

Bucky Barnes has one last thing he needs to do before he goes to war

Pairing: 1940s!Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 2.583

Warnings: angst, mentions of war and war-related themes, light smut - not explict, but please don’t read if you’re under 18!

A/N: This is my extremely late submission for @thinkoutsidethebex’s 600 Follower Writing Challenge - thank you Bex for having me! Special thanks to @xbuchananbarnes for proof-reading this. This story is part of When The World Was At War We Kept Dancing, but can totally be read as a stand-alone. The banner picture was found here. I hope you like it ♡

It was an ordinary wedding.

Early Sunday afternoon, in a tiny church in Prospect Park. The ceremony was brief, less than thirty minutes long, presided by a minister that confused your last names.

"Barlow sounds nothin' like Barnes,” you heard Steve grumble from Bucky's left, cut off by Becca's loud shush. You didn't have it in your heart to rebuke the priest: your wedding was his fourth of the day, and he still had a dozen or so more to go ahead of the sunset. Besides, he'd been kind enough to move the nuptials forward when Bucky's furlough dates changed, so you could grant him that mishap.

The groom wore his army greens. Olive jacket and pants, shirt and necktie in shades to match. The gold buttons shone bright and brand new, like American glory. The long months at Camp McCoy had changed Bucky - his hair was shorter, his shoulders broader, his palms rougher. You'd waved goodbye to a man in November and welcomed another in June: a Sergeant, with a suit and cap to match his responsibilities.

You felt the calluses as you slid the ring on the left finger of his right hand - the same hand he now used to reload bullets and pull triggers. According to Steve, Bucky must’ve been extremely good at it, otherwise they’d never have promoted a young, conscripted soldier like him to Sergeant so quickly.

You wanted to be happy about it. To not feel an atom of fear as the minister declared you husband and wife. To not tremble behind your veil or choke in the words you had to repeat. There was no time for personal vows - too many women in white were waiting to walk down that aisle, wondering if they'd only ever be granted two weeks with their spouses before a war they never asked for ended their marriages that never had a proper chance to start.

Uncertainty was a typewritten letter on military-stamped stationery, a snow-barren Wisconsin field, a ship departing to England on the fifteenth morning of July. It left a bitter taste in your mouth when you and Bucky kissed for the first time before God, your families and your country. From that moment on, you were his and he was yours, the minister said.

You just couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he was more theirs than he was yours.

My love,

In seventeen hours, I’ll be home. One last bus trip and one last train ride until I see your face again. This letter will probably arrive at your doorstep after I do - and by then I hope you’re not there anymore. I hope it gets lost in the mail because you’ve changed your name and moved to the home you’ll share with your husband. And I hope you know that lucky bastard will be sure to tell the postman you’re Mrs. Barnes now. Y/N Barnes. It sounds pretty good if you ask me.

“Promise me you’ll write as soon as you get there?” you asked.

The train’s whistle drowned out Bucky’s answer, and you grimaced, muffling out the deafening noise with your gloved hands.

When it was over, Bucky gently removed your palms from your ears and laced them with his. He gently pressed his thumb to the knuckle of your finger, feeling the ring underneath the fabric. It was a simple band with no stone, far from luxurious but still more expensive than he could afford. He was almost embarrassed as he proposed, mumbling about the ring “not being enough” for you, but you shushed him with a kiss, whispering that you’d marry him with a twisted piece of wire.

“I’ll write to you everyday until I get home,” he promised. “You’ll beg the postman to stop delivering my letters.”

“Never,” you swore.

Three minutes to nine and you were one of the last couples lingering at the platform. Bucky's train would leave at the top of the hour to Chicago, and from there he'd go to Camp McCoy in Wisconsin until the army granted him a short furlough before the eventual departure to Europe. You were trying awfully hard not to think about that last part.

“I’ll miss you, Jimmy,” you said, holding back tears.

A shadow of a smile bloomed on the corner of his lips. Your handsome soldier - strong and unwavering, even as the unknown lurked on the corner of his life.

“I’ll miss you a lot more, doll,” he declared, pulling you in for a hug.

“Impossible,” you replied, voice muffled by his jacket.

Bucky grinned.

“Wanna bet a dance on that?”

The train whistled one more time and the railway man started screaming for the last passengers to board. Your answer was lost to the smoke billowing from the locomotive.

“Take care of my girl for me, will ya? If anyone gives her trouble, tell ‘em her man’s away at training camp. He’ll be back before she knows it.”

You rolled your eyes.

“She’ll be fine. Just hurry home.”

One last peck and Bucky was gone, the last passenger in before the train door shut with a bang that echoed in your heart. You waved at your fiancé from the edge of the platform until his figure was long gone, the engagement ring he gave you weighting your hand down with all the promises this war was daring him to keep.

My journey home seems longer than wintertime in Wisconsin. Did I ever tell you that there was still some ice on the ground in early April? I thought nothing would ever bloom in that place, but then some daisies sprouted on a patch of grass near the barracks a couple of weeks ago. They reminded me of Mrs. Roberts and the daisies she used to keep at the front windowsill of the boarding house. Are they still there? Do you think you’d like to have some daisies at our house? Or maybe roses?

The conscription letter burned a hole in Bucky's pocket.

He swore he could smell it, even. There was something foul prickling his nose and he thought it was the letter aflame, scorching the paper, his pants, his life. It's what he wished he'd done to it, anyway: set the rough parchment on fire like he would a cheap cigarette, then step on the stub for good measure, but it was useless.

The letter was Bucky and Bucky was the letter. It'd given him a number made of ashes, and now he was no longer man - he was ember, stoking the flames of the fire that laid waste to his world and time.

All the way to the boarding house you called home, Bucky thought of Steve. He'd hate that Bucky was drafted - to the 107th, no less - and he wasn't. It would only make him restless, even more determined to join a war that Bucky wanted no part of. And he hated the part of him that was envious of Steve's bravery right now, because the other part was busy making plans to run away with you to Mexico.

Bucky was supposed to marry you, not sail across the Atlantic. You'd been dating for over two years and he'd saved enough money for an apartment. His Ma kept complaining about grandchildren and Becca resorted to dropping not so subtle hints over Sunday lunch, like if you'd rather have emeralds or sapphires on your engagement ring. His savings weren't enough for neither, but Bucky still hoped you'd take him as your husband.

Hope was a funny thing for a young man like Bucky Barnes to have in 1942. Hope that you'd marry him. Hope that Steve wouldn't find a way to join the Army. Hope that he wouldn't lay to rest in a shallow grave with hundreds of other men in Europe.

Mrs. Roberts, the landlady of your boarding house, was tending to her daisies when he approached. She was a grouchy old woman whose husband died in the Great War - the greatest one so far, at least - who ignored Bucky most days, unless he did something she considered incredibly scandalous, like bring you home after 10 P.M. Today, however, she cast him a glance from behind the bushes.

“Well then,” she started. “They called ya name, didn’t they?”

Bucky was confused.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ve seen that look on your face before,” Mrs. Roberts said, plucking a flower from the stem with a pair of gardening scissors. “It was the same look my husband had when he came out that very door to get the mail one morning and found out he’d been conscripted.”

She waved to the front door of the boarding house with the hand that still held the scissors.

“How are you planning to tell her?”

Bucky cleared his throat.

“I’m not sure yet.”

The woman shook her head.

“There’s no easy way to do it - and I mean all of it. Wars are nasty things, son. No one really wins them.”

In a fraction of a second, Bucky thought he could see a young Mrs. Roberts, before the grief and the heartache, yet as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

“I’ll marry Y/N before I go,” he declared with all the certainty he could muster, but his promise sounded empty.

Mrs. Roberts smiled, and before then Bucky never knew that a smile could be sadder than tears.

“Just don’t forget to come home to her.”

Whatever you want, we’ll have it. One of the boys in my regiment said you should toss rice on the newlywed couple as soon as they leave the church, did you know about that? According to him, it’s good fortune. Or maybe he was just teasing me (‘cause he said something about a garter belt, as well. Now, I am no Becca Barnes, wedding expert, but I’m sure that can’t exist).

You and your husband walked out of the church hand in hand, under a soft smattering of rice thrown by your few guests.

He kissed you under the arched entryway, pulling you in against his chest with more vigor and less modesty than he had on the inside. The buttons of his green jacket pressed your breastbone through the fabric of your dress.

Steve was the first to congratulate you, hugging you and Bucky at the same time. You were surprised to see that, behind him, Ms. Roberts was discreetly wiping her tears. Bucky’s mother Winnifred was delighted, cheerfully announcing to the guests of the next wedding: “Look at my children!”

There was no reception or party. The greetings at the front lawn of the church were brief, and soon another bride was walking down the aisle and Bucky was holding the door of a taxi open for you.

"You look beautiful, Mrs. Barnes," he whispered in your ear as Brooklyn rushed by.

The apartment was a small two-bedroom on the third floor of a building that probably housed more people than it should, yet, in your eyes, it was perfect - even with the handed down pots and pans, and the two or three boxes of clothing you hadn't had the time to unpack the previous week. It was simple, modest and perhaps a little messy, but it was yours.

Bucky surprised you by lifting you in his arms and carrying you through the threshold. Your giggles echoed off the walls, dissolving in a sigh when he laid you gently on the bed. The sheets smelled like him from having slept on them the night ahead, comforting you. It wasn't the first time you and Bucky had sex, but it was the first time you'd do in your own home, your own bed, as husband and wife. This realization brought a shiver down your spine.

He took your shoes off, placing them on the floor with care before running his hands carefully up your ankles and calves, through the light fabric of your stockings. When he got to your knees, Bucky pushed the white fabric of your dress skirt away just far enough that he could graze your thighs, until his fingers brushed your garter belt.

He grinned, blue mischief tinkling is his gaze.

"I knew it!"

You wanted to hide your face in embarrassment, and curse Becca for having such a terrible idea in the first place, yet Bucky was quicker, pulling the garter down with the left stocking and then quickly reaching for the right one. He turned the strip of lace in his hand, a sly smirk in his pink lips.

You rose to your knees, pulling him to you by the green tie. You ripped the jacket from his shoulders with such force that some of the gold buttons flickered to the ground in twinkling melody. The bed creaked and Bucky laughed at your eagerness:

"Did you miss me?"

"Yes," you breathed into his collaborne, pressing kisses in whatever bit of skin you could find.

“Do you love me?”

“Lots more.”

His deft fingers found the zipper of your dress, and he pulled apart just enough to undress you. Your lingerie was made of the same fabric as the garter belt, and Bucky's eyes widened.

"How did I get so lucky?" he breathed.

The muscles of his back hypnotized you as he took off his shirt, dragging you to his lap, legs tangling together in the mattress. Your nails left indents on his biceps and a twisted thought occurred to you that maybe they could stay there forever.

That way even Death herself would know Bucky was yours, and wouldn't dare take him from you.

“Touch me,” you gasped. “Touch me, James, please.”

Your lovemaking was lascivious and fast. You and Bucky had been apart for too long and there was too much frustration, absence and lust clouding your judgements. Tiny droplets of sweat descended from the underside of your chin down your throat and the valley of your breasts, which were pressed firmly against Bucky’s chest. You wanted to keep your eyes open, to record in your memory the way his hands gripped your waist and his hips girated against yours, but the absolute ecstasy of having him again was nearly maddening.

Bucky came mere just seconds after you did, groaning curses in your temple. Your tired bodies collapsed in the bed, yet your feet were still somehow entwined, making it look more of a tumble and less of a graceful catch of breath. The late afternoon sun reflected on your husband's wedding ring and you wondered how long it would take for him to have a tan line.

Bucky pulled you to him and you rested your forehead on his shoulder.

"I love you," he said.

You didn’t reply, instead just breathed in the salt on his skin. After the pictures, the greetings and the sex, fear showed it’s ugly face again. You weren’t religious, but you found yourself hiding in the crook of Bucky’s neck, praying to the same God that united the two of you in matrimony.

Please don’t take my husband away from me.

I want more than two weeks.

I want a life.

Bucky called your name, raising your chin with the tip of his forefinger.

“I love you,” he repeated. Then smiled: “Mrs. Barnes.”

Something in the sound of it made you believe that everything would be alright.

“I love you too, Mr. Barnes,” you laughed. “I really do.”

I guess I'll see for myself when I arrive. It won't be long now, darling. Wait for me, I’m almost home.

Always yours,

Bucky

[caiuscassiuss]

Well Played (basketball player au! NCT Johnny)

Genre: basketball player! au fluff

Member(s): Johnny ft. the rest of NCT as his basketball team

WC: 3.5k

Warnings: swearing

Description: In which you are a yearbook photographer in denial and 600% done with the basketball captain’s antics.

masterlist | requests | updates

_______________________________________________________________________

(A/N: I always wondered what it’d be like to go to American highschool with Johnny so here’s a hot basketball captain Johnny for you thirsty hoes)

You sighed as you look at the yearbook spread you helped edit. 

It was of the annual Fall Festival the Key Club put out, and there were many pictures filled with autumn amusement and merriment and it turned out fucking great but your unusually strict yearbook advisor demanded a complete redo of the pages. Apparently, it wasn’t “festive” enough, whatever the hell that meant. Because none of the yearbook staff actually do what they’re supposed to do, it looks like it’s Y/N to the rescue (for 28723847th time)!! Even though it wasn’t your job!!!

You quickly got back on a desktop in a quest to somehow make people picking pumpkins more “festive” when you suddenly heard a yell from the office.

“Y/N! Tonight is the Semi-Final State Basketball Championship and you have to shoot it at Deerfield!”

You made a sour face then walked over to your advisor’s, Mrs. Weather’s, office.

“Do I at least get free tickets?”

“No, but you have a yearbook pass which is just as good!”

“Ugh,” you murmured quietly as you went back to the desktop.

“C’mon, they chase away any photographer that isn’t you! The boys love you, especially that captain boy… what was his name again? Jake? Justin?”

“Johnny, Mrs. Weathers.”

“See! You even remember his name! Maybe his feelings are reciprocated, hm?”

“Mrs. Weathers,” you whined. We’re not all forgetful like you, you passive-aggressive old bat!

“If I were 40 years younger…” she chuckled.

Oh ewww. Like, double ewwww.

Glenbrook North’s Boys Basketball Team (the Spartans) is Chicago’s #1 basketball team in the city and state, winning both championships for the past 3 years. They’re even more funded than the football team, which basically never happens in American high school. They’re great and all but their captain…

Johnny Seo. A 6’1 senior sometimes called “Yao Ming Ming” for being Asian, tall, and really good at basketball. He was a rich kid, and incredibly popular for being funny and relatable. A lot of girls somehow found him and to be one of the hottest guys in school. And unfortunately, he was the son of your parents’ good friends.

You didn’t like taking pictures of the basketball team. Sure, some of the members like Mark or Sicheng were sweet and too pure for this world, but some members like Yuta and Johnny annoyed the hell out of you. It’s not as if like Johnny, or anything like that. You were always stuck with them because they always played tricks on other photographers so you were sent out in their stead.

The bell rang and you quickly packed up your stuff and saved your progress then walked out of the computer lab. You had a Socratic seminar in AP Lang next, and you had to be early so you could sit at the front. Normally, you would be in the middle, but your teacher had threatened to take points off of people not actively participating, and this bitch ain’t losing her GPA. You strode quickly through the crowded hallways.

“Hey! Y/N!!”

Your quick stride faltered as you froze at the voice. You turned around slowly to see Johnny in a Chicago Bulls windbreaker with some black skinny jeans and Vans. He had an easy gait as people parted for him like the goddamn red sea, his backpack casually slung over one of his broad shoulders.

“Yo broski,” he greeted as he caught up to you.

Sigh. “Hi, Johnny.”

“Can you at least sound excited to see me? I mean, we’ve known each other since we were 4.” Johnny huffed as he slung an arm around your shoulder.

You rolled your eyes.

“Exactly.”

“Oof, right in the gut!” Johnny dramatically pretended to bend over his injured gut as you walked.

“I’d give you real pain if it weren’t for your game,” you snarked.

“Aww worried about me? I’m flattered! Anyway, you know about the game? I thought you didn’t like sports.”

“I don’t. Mrs. Weathers ordered me to shoot the game for your inevitable state championship 4-page spread.”

“That passive-aggressive old-bat?”

“You got that right,” you barked out a laugh.

You turned towards him and looked up at his totally not handsome face. His cheekbones are totally not my aesthetic. Nope, that piece of brown hair flopping over his eye is not attractive. Noppity nope nope nope.

“Hey did your parents confirm that they’re going to dinner at Morton’s?” you asked as you turned left into the Lit hallway.

“Oh yeah, I think they did this morning.”

“Are you sure you can make it after your game?”

“When you’re involved? Totally, babe.” Johnny winked causing you to blush.

“Shut up-” you slapped him on his totally not hard biceps- “No, but really? I don’t want to be the only teen there to be interrogated about my life.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there. Hey, if you want a ride there you can just ride with me and I’ll stop at your house so you can get ready.” Johnny offered as you slowed down, seeing the entrance to your classroom in a few minutes.

“Oh, thanks! I’ll see you later Johnny.”

He smiled as you turned towards your classroom. The warning bell sounded, so he increased his pace to his AP Calc class which was 2 hallways down. He plopped down at his desk that was uncomfortably small for him next to Taeyong.

“Bro why are you so late?”

“Um, I just had to do… something,” Johnny fibbed.

“Liar,” Doyoung interjected from the back.

“He walked y/n to class in the Lit hallway,” Doyoung laughed as he spun his mechanical pencil around.

“The fuck bro? Are you stalking me?” Johnny leaned away from the dude who’s face looked like a rabbit and happened to be his point guard.

“Nah, I just saw you walking down the hallway with her.”

“He’s not the one doing the stalking here, Johnny, you are,” Taeyong said and Doyoung cackled and offered a high five.

“Like seriously Johnny boy, can you make your crush on her any less apparent than the past 4 years?” Doyoung wondered as Johnny was digging around for his graphing calculator.

“He’s whipped.” Taeyong laughed as he downed some water from his bottle.

“Shut up or I’ll bench you for the 2nd quarter.” Johnny threw an eraser at Taeyong who merely smiled innocently and opened his textbook.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Oh fuck!” you cursed as you looked through your bag while sitting in your Mom’s car. She was pulling into the roundabout of Deerfield High school where your school was playing against their hometeam.

“Language! Anyway, what’s wrong sweetie?”

You sighed as you turned to face her.

“I forgot my yearbook pass at school to get into the game.”

“Oh no! Well, that’s a problem. Hm… why don’t you ask Johnny to let you into the game? It’s his team playing after all.”

“That’s not how it works mom.”

“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady!”

“Sorry.”

Your mom put her hands on the driver's wheel in thought. “Ok, $10 dollars isn’t that bad.”

“Mmm-” not when you’re a brokeass teen “-kay, bye mom!”

“I love you! Make sure you go to Morton’s immediately after- wait, hold on, how are you getting there?”

“Johnny’s driving me,” you murmured absent-mindedly as you collected your camera equipment from the back seat.

As busy as you were, you didn’t see the secretive smile that crept up your mother’s face.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Aight team, warm-up on the court in five! Get your asses out there!” Johnny shouted at the locker room full of boys. They all murmured in consent as they quickly put on their notorious dark green and silver track pants and jacket for the warm-up. They all filed out of the locker room to the arena where the stands were already bursting with people.

A roar rose up when crowd favorite entered. Even though they were at an away game, more than half of the crowd were Spartan fans. Even some people who attended Deerfield liked the Spartans better, because a lot of them were supposedly attractive and skilled when they played. All you saw was a goddamn headache.

As per their pregame ritual, someone grabbed one ball and they all stood in a line. The first person bounced the basketball on the headboard, which bounced back and into the hands of the second person, who did the same thing and so on. From the sidelines next to the coach you took some pictures of the boys standing in line. Some of them caught sight of you and waved hi, while others pulled funny faces which made you giggle. You checked the screen of your camera to check the lighting. In a few minutes, the whole team dispersed to do their own thing and took advantage of the cart of basketballs available.

“Y/n!”

You looked up and some hair went in your face. You huffed the rebellious stand of your face.

“Hey, Johnny!”

He jogged over to your position right under the headboard, his usually defiant brown hair contained in a headband just imagine Johnny at the NBA photoshoot

“Um, at the end of the game, just meet me near the entrance. I promise I’ll be there quickly.” He smiled sheepishly at you as he scratched the back of his head.

“Yeah, sure.”

Your eyes suddenly narrowed as you pushed a finger to his chest.

“I had to spend 10 whole dollars to get into your game. 10. Whole. Dollars. Money I could’ve spent on fried chicken or food or whatever.”

“What happened to your yearbook pass?”

“I fucking forgot it at school,” you pouted, secretly embarrassed.

She looks fucking adorable, fuck. Johnny thought as he laughed, his normally booming laughter drowned out by the crowd.

“The only reason I was allowed onto the court was that your coach recognized me!” you lamented, shifting your weight on one foot. You had to crane your neck to look up to him because he was a good 1 and a half heads taller than you.

“Captain! Stop flirting with y/n and get on the court!” Johnny’s vice-captain, Kun, yelled out as he sunk a shot from the 3 point line.

“Fucking hell- I’ll see you later.”

“Sure,” You smiled at him.

As the toss-up began and the game progressed, you moved quickly over the court to take some epic action shots. You could use this for your portfolio for art club, so you were really focused on taking good quality photos.

When the players switched offense to defense or vice versa and ran across the court, they made weird faces at you. Taeyong stuck his tongue at you, Doyoung creep-smiled complete with a double chin, and many more antics that made you lament over the wasted pictures.

When a picture of Lucas completing a lay-up with a meme expression on his tanned face popped up on your viewfinder, you sighed. When you saw Johnny, you were going to make some sort of complaint because you could not use a shot of Mark dabbing on your yearbook spread, and certainly not in your art portfolio.

You came across a shot of Johnny setting up a screen. He certainly did not look hot. No, he was not attractive when sweat dripped down his face and body and made his muscles stand out mo- Fuck this, ugh.

The game ended and as usual, the Spartans beat the Deerfield warriors by a large margin, 100 to 76. You packed up your equipment into your bag and left the court as soon as the crowd left the arena and waited near the entrance, the cold autumn air permeating through your lined denim jacket.

Johnny exited the school, some of his team laughing with him with their arms slung around his shoulders.

“Johnny!” you called out when you saw him in his tracksuit.

The little group’s attention turned toward you as his face turned red in the dim lights. Yuta grinned and said something in Johnny’s ear that made Johnny slap him upside the head, Yuta still grinning the whole time.

Johnny walked over to you and you both walked to his mustang that his dad bought for him the previous year for winning the state championship. He opened your door for you and you both sped off into the streets of suburbia.

_______________________________________________________________________

When you both were led by the maitre’d to the private, reserved table and no one was there, you both groaned. Earlier, he had stopped at your house and you both got ready (he brought his clothes with him). You put on a nice white lace sundress with some nude heels complimented with light makeup. Johnny, on the other hand, wore a white oxford shirt with an unbuttoned, navy blazer. paired with khaki slacks underneath and some smart leather shoes. Nope, not hot at all. He didn’t look like a snack. y'all probably looked like some rich suburban couple lol

“Oh my god. My parents had like 4 hours to get ready and they’re still not ready? Ugh,” you curse.d.

“Rip. Well, we’ll just have to wait for them”

He pulled out your chair for you WHAT A GENTLEMAN and you both sat down to look over the menu. After you ordered water with lemon and he ordered Sprite, you two struck up easy conversation.

It was when he recounted the time when his underclassman friends, Jeno and Jaemin, got detention for duct-taping someone’s phone to the ceiling, he cracked up. You looked at his laughing face and blushed.

Honestly, you really didn’t know your feelings for Johnny. Yeah, he was annoying and kind of a smartass most of the time, but he was funny and always seemed to care about you. Not to mention you’ve known him since forever; your families always went on did stuff together so you kind of were forced to interact. You always saw him as Mr. and Mrs. Seo’s son who played piano really well but in freshman year it kind of all just… changed. He quickly became popular. Johnny shot up until he was a fucking tree and his facial features became more defined and chiseled, so whenever you saw him, whether it was at a restaurant or a gala or a game, your heart beat out of your chest.

You stirred your straw around in your drink and sighed. Your friends always had sworn up and down he had a crush on you, but you never believed them. Why would he like you, the girl that he’s known since she was in her awkward braces phase, the girl that always seemed annoyed by him, when he could probably hook up with anyone in the grade?

“Y/n! Johnny! We’re so sorry we’re late, but traffic was just so bad downtown!”

Mr. and Mrs. Seo walked towards your table with your parents in tow.

It was not like you were 30 minutes late and forced me to stay with Mr. my-hair-flops-a-lot-and-covers-my-eye-and-makes-me-look-really-attractive.

They all sat down and when you engaged in conversation with Mr. Seo about your photography competition, you didn’t notice the triplet of smirks passed around by your parents and Mrs. Seo when Johnny stared at you over the rim of his drink, an adoring look in his eye.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Y/n, you know what tonight is?” Mrs. Weathers voice warbled from the office.

“Yes, today is the Boys Basketball State championship,” you sighed.

How could you forget? With your dads’ passion for basketball, yours and Johnny’s parents were attending the state game tonight.

“Well, you know what you have to do!”

“Yes, Mrs. Weathers.”

Hopefully they didn’t joke around this time. It was the State Championship game, for god’s sake.

_______________________________________________________________________

Sike. They did. From pre-game warm-ups to the time they had scored their winning baskets, they had some really fucking weird faces in store for you.

Of course, the Spartans of Glenbrook North’s Boys Basketball team crushed their opposing team. I mean, you didn’t particularly have a lot of school pride, but you still felt something warm in your chest when you saw them hugging each other as the final buzzer rang out and the crowd went wild. Not to mention it was kinda funny watching the normally “manly man” team lowkey crying.

You were waiting for your friend to pick you up to attend Jaehyun’s post-game party at his ginormous house when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

It was the man of the hour, Johnny Seo.

“Oh hey, Johnny! Congrats man, I’m so proud of you!” You smiled as you pulled the man behind you into a hug.

“Thanks, y/n.”

You looked up at his face which was kind of… tense?

“I can’t believe your team put up with you for all these years. If I were Sicheng I would’ve skrt skrted the day you joined as center.”

His unusually tense facade broke for a minute as he flicked you in the forehead.

“Shut up!”

You both laughed and fell silent, hearing the loud chatterings of excited people near you. His face quickly grew tense again.

“Y/n… I… uh… this is going to sound weird, okay?”

“Well you were always weird in the first place, so no surprises there.”

He smiled slightly and took your hands in his. His calloused hands felt rough, but soothing at the same time. You blushed from the contact and looked down for a moment.

“So… I’ve kind of liked you for the past 4 years, y/n. And probably more than that.”

Your head snapped up quickly in shock. Johnny? Johnny Seo? Seo Youngho? Likes me? Plain old me? What the fuck.

“Um, I know it’s alright if you don’t share my feelings but I figured since it was the last game of my high school career, I’d thought I just get this off my chest-”

“Johnny, I like you too.” You smiled at him, and slight blush still adorning your cheeks.

His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

“Holy shit. Fuck. I did not expect this to happen, I thought you were going to reject me since you’ve always been annoyed with me, god-”

“Johnny I’ve always been annoyed with you because, well, I’ve liked you since freshman year too.” Your arms snaked around his corded neck and played with his slightly damp hair from his shower. You couldn’t even describe your feelings right now. You felt like you were high, and every nerve in your body tingled. Holy pigs on a stick Johnny likes meeeeee!

Johnny smirked as he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you close to his body, against the dim lights of the school lamps. The harsh light defined his features even more (if that was even possible), and made his eyes sparkle.

“Well, damn,” he whispered as he swooped down to capture your lips in his.

Yeah, there were no fireworks but there was definitely heat. The heat in his gaze you saw when he played on the court, the heat in his gaze when he played a particularly difficult run on the piano you could feel all around you when you closed your eyes and kissed him. Those longing looks you always sent towards each other and the shy brushes of your touches felt absolved as you kissed each other for quite some time.

“DAYUM JOHNNY BE GETTING SOME!!!”

Your make-out session was broken when both of your heads snapped in the direction of the noise. Johnny’s whole basketball team stood cheering in the parking lot, with a lot of girls giggling next to them.

“FUCKING FINALLY,” shouted Sicheng.

“JOHNNY GREW SOME BALLS!” Mark laughed as the whole team went wild over their captain, who they had known to crush on you for a long time and had to deal with his whole she-doesn’t-like-me-and-never-will deal.

“MARK!” Johnny shouted as his grip on you tightened.

You laughed and settled his head in his broad chest.

_______________________________________________________________________

The whole school basically rioted when they found out the next day. A bunch of people was congratulating you guys in the hallways because of his popularity, and he walked you to class and y’all held hands. His teammates kept on sending you guys sly glances throughout the whole day. Hell, even your teachers (including Mrs. Weathers) congratulated you. However, they weren’t as bad as your parents.

Your parents, when they found out, as you told them while holding hands, cried. They congratulated you like you had announced you were going to get married. Mr. Seo and your dad patted Johnny on the back and jokingly threatened to kill him if he hurt you, while Mrs. Seo and your mom hugged you tightly and cried into your shoulder.

“Oh, my sweet baby, I have been waiting for this for years!” your mum wiped a tear from her eyes.

Hold on… years? The pieces of the puzzle quickly clicked together in your mind and you gasped.

“Wait… were you deliberately late to the restaurant after the semi-final game?!”

_______________________________________________________________________

Later, when you were in Johnny’s arms and watching a movie you slapped him in the chest.

“Ow! Babe, what was that for!” Johnny laughed as he snuggled his face into the crook of your neck.

“I told you earlier I wanted game faces, not meme faces!”

[orbemnews]

How to Get a Peloton-Style Workout Without Splurging Lisa Whitney, a dietitian in Reno, Nev., came across the deal of a lifetime about two years ago. A fitness studio was going out of business and selling its equipment. She scored an indoor exercise bike for $100. Ms. Whitney soon made some additions to the bike. She propped her iPad on the handlebars. Then she experimented with online cycling classes streamed on YouTube and on the app for Peloton, a maker of internet-connected exercise devices that offers interactive fitness classes. Ms. Whitney had no desire to upgrade to one of Peloton’s $1,900-plus luxury exercise bikes, which include a tablet to stream classes and sensors that track your speed and heart rate. So she further modified her bike to become a do-it-yourself Peloton, buying sensors and indoor cycling shoes. The grand total: about $300, plus a $13 monthly subscription to Peloton’s app. Not cheap, but a significant discount to what she might have paid. “I’m happy with my setup,” Ms. Whitney, 42, said. “I really don’t think upgrading would do much.” The pandemic, which has forced many gyms to shut down, has driven hordes of people to splurge on luxury items like Peloton’s bikes and treadmills so they can work out at home. Capitalizing on this trend, Apple last year released Apple Fitness Plus, an instructional fitness app that is exclusively offered to people who own an Apple Watch, which requires an iPhone to work. But all of that can be expensive. The minimum prices of an Apple Watch and iPhone add up to $600, and Apple Fitness Plus costs $10 a month. Then to stream classes on a big-screen TV instead of a phone while you exercise, you need a streaming device such as an Apple TV, which costs about $150. The full Peloton experience is even pricier. With the economy in a funk, many of us are trying to tighten our spending while maintaining good health. So I experimented with how to minimize the costs of doing video-instructed workouts at home, talked to tinkerers and assessed the pros and cons. Here’s what I learned. The Pros and Cons of Free To start my experiment for working out at home on the cheap, the first question I tackled was whether to subscribe to a fitness app or stream classes from YouTube for free. Both largely provide videos of instructors guiding you through workouts. So I bought an $8 yoga mat and a $70 pair of adjustable dumbbells and turned on my TV, which includes the YouTube app. I then subscribed to three of the most popular YouTube channels that have free content for exercising at home: Yoga With Adriene, Fitness Blender and Holly Dolke. One immediate downside was almost too much content — often hundreds of videos per YouTuber — making it difficult to pick a workout. Even when I finally chose a video, I learned I had to brace myself for some quality issues. In the Yoga With Adriene channel, for instance, I selected the video “Yoga for When You Feel Dead Inside,” which felt appropriate for the time we are living in. The video looked good, but at times the instructor’s voice sounded muffled. Production problems were more visible in the Holly Dolke channel, which has a collection of intense workouts that you can do without any equipment. When I tried the video “Muffin Top Melter,” an instructor in the background demonstrated how to do a more challenging version of each exercise, but the other instructor, in the foreground, constantly blocked her. Then there were the ads. As I lifted weights while following a 10-minute fat-burning workout from Fitness Blender, YouTube interrupted the video to play an ad for Dawn soap. That left me holding a dumbbell above the back of my neck while I waited for the ad to end. Those issues aside, I was able to do all of the exercises demonstrated by these YouTubers, and they left me winded and sweaty. For the cost of free, I can’t complain much. Most important, Yoga With Adriene succeeded in making me feel less dead inside. What You Get When You Pay To compare the free YouTube exercise videos with the paid experience, I subscribed to Peloton and Apple Fitness Plus on my Apple TV set-top box. I did workouts using both products for the last two months. Peloton and Apple Fitness Plus addressed many of the problems plaguing the free exercise content. For one, workouts were organized into categories by the type of workout, including yoga, strength training and core, and then by the difficulty or duration of the workout. It took little time to choose a workout. In both Peloton and Apple Fitness Plus, video and audio quality were very clear, and the workouts were shot at various angles to get a good look at what the instructors were doing. The bonus of Fitness Plus was that my heart rate and calories burned were displayed on both my Apple Watch and the TV screen. In short, paying those subscriptions provided convenience and polish, which led to a more pleasant workout. I concluded that Peloton’s videos were worth paying $13 a month. And $10 a month is reasonable for Apple Fitness Plus, but only if you already have an Apple Watch and iPhone. Making a D.I.Y. Peloton So what about exercise equipment like spin bikes? If you want the tech frills of a Peloton but don’t want to spend on the equipment, there were two main approaches. To go the cheapest route, you can make use of a bicycle you already have. Here’s where home tinkerers can be especially crafty and resourceful. Take Omar Sultan, a manager at the networking company Cisco. He modified his road bike with a few add-ons: a bike trainer, which secured the rear wheel and bike frame and costs roughly $100; a $40 Wahoo cadence sensor that tracked his energy output and speed and transmitted the data to a smartphone; and a heart rate monitor that strapped around his chest, such as the $90 Polar H10. Then he used a streaming device to follow Peloton classes on his TV. “The D.I.Y. setup is 80 percent of the way there” to a Peloton, Mr. Sultan said. The more expensive option was to buy an indoor exercise bike and use a tablet or phone to stream cycling classes via YouTube or the Peloton app, as Ms. Whitney did. The $700 IC7.9, for example, includes a cadence sensor and a holder for your tablet. You could then buy a heart rate monitor and a pair of $100 indoor cycling shoes that clip into the pedals. But if you use your own bicycle or a modified spin bike and try Peloton’s app, you won’t be able to participate in the app’s so-called leader board, which shows a graphic of your progress compared with other Peloton users online. With a D.I.Y. bike, it can also be difficult to figure out how to shift gears to simulate when the instructor is telling you to turn up the resistance — like when you are pretending to ride up a hill. Nicole Odya, a nurse practitioner in Chicago who modified a high-end indoor bike, the Keiser M3i, said there were major upsides to the D.I.Y. route. Using her own iPad, she has the flexibility to choose whatever fitness apps she wants to use, such as Zwift and mPaceLine. It also gave her the freedom to customize her bike, so she swapped out the stock pedals for better ones. “I didn’t want to be locked into their platform,” she said of Peloton. Source link Orbem News #PelotonStyle #Splurging #workout

[canaryatlaw]

lol okay let’s go. today was fine, though the first part was boring. I woke up at 9:45 to my alarm to log on for my 10 am court date (9 am central time, as always) and that took until almost noon to get into the courtroom, and that case took like 2 minutes, and then got kicked back into the waiting room because I had another case set for noon (11 central) which didn’t end up getting heard until like 1:30, at which point I really wanted to bang my head against the wall, and of course once we got in there it took like 2 minutes and I barely got a word in edgewise. ugh. but whatever, that was done. I was kinda miffed because I had to miss the virtual service for our family friend’s aunt who just passed (had a heart attack and died on Christmas of all days, talk about trauma for her poor two kids) and I mean we knew her well and also referred to her as “aunt” like they did. it was just so sad for her two kids (in their twenties) because earlier this year within a week they had their grandpa pass, and then their scumbag dad got arrested in a fucking FBI raid on charges of trafficking and like fucking kidnapping (the trafficked individuals) so he’s in federal prison somewhere and trying to convince everybody he’s innocent, and as much of a proponent of innocent until proven guilty as I am, that’s a load of shit and he’s guilty as sin. so they effectively lost both of their parents, and god my heart just breaks for them. it’s good though that they’re very close with our family friends and I’m sure will basically be adopted by them for all intents and purposes, because they’re the great kind of people who wouldn’t hesitate to do that. it’s all just so fucking depressing. the son who I’m close with and did theatre with apparently sang I can only imagine, which is the quintessential Christian funeral song choice (I sang it at my grandpa’s funeral back in 2009, though I’m convinced they only asked me to because he lived alone in Arizona and it wasn’t like they knew anybody in the area who could do it, and it also gave me mixed feelings because when my grandma had passed in 2007, who to be fair I was considerably closer with given that she’d been living with us for several years at that point, they didn’t want me to sing because they didn’t think I could get through it without crying, but they asked me for my grandpa which kinda made me feel like they thought I wouldn’t have that issue with my grandpa since we weren’t very close...and I mean they ended up being right...sigh, this has been  a pointless rant brought to you by my unresolved teenage emotions on the matter) so I’m sure that was nice. anyway. once I finished with court I went with my mom to first get bagels and then go to the apple store, we had a coupon for some deal on a dozen bagels (which is the general amount one usually buys) but since it was mid-afternoon at that point they didn’t have a very good selection left, so we just went with one buttered bagel today and come back on Saturday before I leave on Sunday so I can shove a bunch of them in my suitcase like I’ve done the last few times, lol. so I got my buttered cinnamon raisin bagel and bottle of snapple half and half (as in half ice tea half lemonade...I don’t know if it’s strictly a NY thing but I don’t find it by me in Chi) (when my sister was younger when someone would ask her what her favorite drink was she’d just say “half and half” because that’s how they refer to it at bagel shops/delis here and I had to be like babe, you can’t just say that 😂) and went to the mall from there, which I haven’t been to since the pandemic started. they had two lines outside the apple store, one for express pickup and one for genius bar reservations, with like three desks set up at the front of the store and no actual customers inside, and apparently they wanted everyone to buy their stuff online and just pick it up at the store, so I went online and pulled up what I wanted, but it was unavailable for pick up at the mall and we talked to the guy there who was basically just like yeah we can’t do anything here then so we went home lol and I ordered it from there. I went with the same 13 inch macbook pro I have now but of course with new features and all, I did go with the one with less storage than I have now, and I do have more storage used now than I’d have room for but it’s probably because I have a bunch of useless shit I can load onto the cloud and I didn’t want to pay another $200 for more storage I didn’t actually need. the good part though is they were offering credit if you turn in your old macbook, and when I went through everything they were going to give me $650 for my current laptop, which brought the total price down to like $600 for the new one, which is a lot better than like $1250, and my mom had agreed to pay for half, so that only puts me out $300 instead of nearly $1300 (with tax and shit) like I was expecting, so that was a very good thing (my mom was ready to pay for half if it was $600, but I would’ve felt bad because the income situation is not super stable right now, mostly relying on my older brother, which I feel guilty about anyway, but it’s not like I have money to spare really). the only catch though among the requirements for the trade in is it has to be in good physical shape, which mine is overwhelmingly, but one of the parts of that was that all the keys are in the right place, and I currently have *one* missing key, but I know exactly where in my apartment it got lost, so I just have to tear that entire section of the pantry apart and I’m confident I’ll find it, lol. they had you pay the full price upfront, and when they deliver the new one it comes with a send back kit, at which point they’ll credit your account with it, and the delivery was expected for Jan. 12th, so I have a little while at least to find it, lol. but yeah, rest of the afternoon was low key, watched some hgtv with my mom and had some pasta for dinner, then my mom went upstairs to do a phone meeting with her prayer group, so I watched a few episodes of Chicago Med for the rest of the night and ended up finishing season 2, pretty good. and yeah, once I finished the last episode I headed upstairs and got in the shower, and now here I am and it’s past 3:30 am so that makes it an excellent time for me to go to bed now. Goodnight loves. Stay wonderful.

[wits-writing]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Ep 2: “To Josh, With Love” review

[My other Crazy Ex-Girlfriend reviews here]

On this episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rebecca, Josh, and Nathaniel each deal with whether the person they want to be is a person they’re capable of being in an episode that serves as an exemplar for what this show can do with its musical numbers.

[Full review under the cut]

Before I dive into the episode, it’s worth noting that it’s also the debut of the season 3 opening theme “You Do/Don’t Want to Be Crazy.” It takes on more it takes on more contemporary genres and music video styles than the previous two themes songs did. Four figures of Rebecca reflecting different aspects of herself, music genres (Country, Pop, Punk, and Rap), and how she views her own “craziness” in both a positive and negative light. Ending with a confused Rebecca on the toilet watching the theme as a video on her phone. It’s an impressive opening in how it manages to incorporate the four genres to communicate Rebecca’s internal conflict this season to the audience.

The central theme this episode is the concept of “faking it”, the reasons people pretend, how that affects those around them, and what happens when reality gets in the way of the fantasy. We’re introduced to this concept right off the bat as the episode flashes back to the immediate aftermath of Josh going to become a priest. We’re treated to a delightful Gene Kelly-esque song and dance number called “I’ve Got My Head in the Clouds” where Josh talks his fantasy what being a priest must feel like. In my analysis of last season’s finale, I talked about how Josh’s attempt to become a priest seemed founded in the same mindset that makes him avoid responsibility in all other aspects of his life and the lyrics of this song pretty much confirm that. He sings about how being a priest will absolve him of his obligations and guilt from his past actions (“God’s my EZ Pass!”), which goes a long way towards showing how detached he is from Catholicism. Getting to see Vincent Rodriguez III dance always brings a smile on my face and this number is no exception, especially when he starts dancing on the pews with the Holy Ghost.

Reality comes crashing down on Josh’s fantasy quickly as it’s explained to him how becoming a priest is more academic than he expected. He’s still firmly set in his denial about why he’s putting himself through all of this, even when White Josh and Hector come to confront him about this with their own incredulity about his ability to go through with all of this. He says that this really is something he wants but starts tripping up after they ask him about what he said to Rebecca after he left her. He admits that he never said anything to her (but he has an e-mail draft saved that he totally intends to send her), so his friends tell him that he needs to do that first if he really intends to move on with his plan.

Rebecca’s variety of “faking it” has more to do with how her personal nature conflicts with her desire to destroy Josh’s life. She’s working with Paula to sue Josh for leaving her at the altar. When she learns that the most that would happen is Josh getting hit in 12-15 months for $600-800, she decides that that won’t be enough revenge to make him suffer the way she did because of what he did. Rebecca turns to the most ruthless person she knows, Nathaniel. He’s been harboring a not-so-subtle crush on her since they made out in the elevator last season and he’s struggling to find a way to deal with it. He lands on trying to actively be more like he was before he came to West Covina, starting with working to put a local Korean BBQ place out of business so one of their clients can get the land. It’s seeing this that makes Rebecca officially start propositioning him to help her with her revenge plots.

This proposition takes the form of a Chicago-style song called “Strip Away My Conscience” where Rebecca seductively invites Nathan to corrupt her, so they can go through with an evil plan to destroy Josh. The song is full of over-the-top innuendo’s like “Let me choke on your cocksuredness” and keeps escalating as Rebecca starts stripping to show how she’s ready to sleep with Nathan if he helps her in this plot. My favorite aspect of the song is when Rebecca calls back to their shared love of the Harry Potter franchise by comparing Nathan’s capacity for evil to Professor Snape. Small touches of connective tissue like that are a clever way to show characters’ relationships developing.

It’s when Nathan decides to take her up on this proposition, claiming to be in it solely for the sex, that this episode gets to some of its best material. His response to her offer of giving her a way too small set of a dress, bra, and panties, followed by a rooftop meeting where their picked up by a helicopter that’s more a disruption than anything as it blows everything on the roof around is a great sendup of typical media presentations of decadent seduction. This leads to them going to a masquerade party (something that really excites Rebecca when she gets to where a tiger mask) attended by all South Pasadena’s most influential people. During a hilarious montage where Rebecca’s more left-leaning politics conflict with the conservative-minded women at the party, Nathan talks to the people at the party who would be able to destroy Josh. Later, he admits to Rebecca that he was doing all of this because he wanted to help her. After the party, they do go through with the sex Rebecca was offering him. The morning after, Nathan explains exactly what the men he was talking to at the party will be doing to destroy Josh, ruining the lives of everyone in his family.

Rebecca is immediately disgusted at the notion of Josh’s family being made to go through everything Nathan describes to her, but he says he thought she wanted something evil. She asks him to undo all of it and admits that all she really wanted was to embarrass Josh the way he embarrassed her and get catharsis. The problem is that catharsis, as good as it can feel in the moment, is fleeting and letting that desire control you can lead to foolhardy actions. Rebecca leaves Nathan and goes to contemplate what she’s been doing back at her apartment, before finding out that even her pettiest scheme to mail Josh poop didn’t work. She decides she’ll take one major public action to get back at him.

Before I talk about that, I want to get back quickly to the thread of “faking it” that runs through the episode; Josh’s journey to priesthood, Rebecca’s desire to be evil, and Nathan wanting to be more like his old self, all three of them think their life will be better if they can fulfill these superficial ideas. This concept gets most explicitly in the hilarious subplot about the minor character of Tim from the Whitefeather law office. He starts teasing Maya about a women’s magazine she’s wearing, then she tells him about an article about how women orgasm less often during sex. He starts bragging about how him and his wife always finish at the same time, to which Paula makes the snide remark that this means he’s never successfully given his wife an orgasm and that she’s been faking it throughout their eleven years of marriage. This concept keeps eating away at his self-confidence until we see him sing a hilariously self-pitying song called “The Buzzing from the Bathroom.” This minor plot isn’t relevant to anything except the themes of the episode, but it manages to contain some of the best material in it and the final payoff that strikes a further blow to Tim’s confidence is excellent.

Rebecca’s hasty plan to get back at Josh ends up being a public confrontation at a Sunday mass in her wedding dress about all the things she’s done for the sake of trying to be with him before he left her at the altar. It takes the form of a reprise of “After Everything I’ve Done for You (That You Didn’t Ask For)” called “After Everything You Made Me Do (That You Didn’t Ask For)” where Rebecca basically summarizes all her action in the series up to this point to Josh’s face in rapid succession. But this plan immediately backfires as Josh instantly feels that Rebecca’s confession absolves him of any guilt for leaving her and Rebecca’s catharsis at the situation is short-lived as she realizes what confessing all of that might mean for her.

Season 3 finds a groove in “To Josh, With Love” that I didn’t feel in the season’s premiere as the humor, songs, and story progression are aces across the board. Next week, we get to see whatever the consequences to Rebecca’s confession are in “Josh is a Liar.”

[skivvysupreme]

Skivvysupreme’s Fic Masterpost

hello, lovely readers! here’s the rebloggable version of my fic masterpost! full list is below the read-more (so try clicking the above link if it disappears on the mobile app in reblogs :D). as always, AO3 links are included if you prefer to browse there.

happy reading! xo

Skivvysupreme on AO3

*****

One-Word Prompt Ficlets [read on AO3]

*****

The Wax ‘Verse [read on AO3] - Kurt Hummel is a vampire. Blaine Anderson is a werewolf. This is how they help each other deal with it. The out-of-chronological-order verse thus far: —“Wax/Wane” (3200 words) —“Show Me Your Teeth” (2700 words) —“Blood Drive” (4200 words) —“Share, Part 1” (5500 words), “Share, Part 2” (4300 words), and “Share, Part 3” (4500 words) —“Thriller” (2700 words) and “Heads Will Roll” (4900 words) —“Monster Mash(up)” (2000 words) —“Feast” (2500 words) —“300 Joules” (4400 words) —“Under the Tide” (3000 words) —“Howl” (6200 words) —“Home” (2400 words) —“The Boy Who Cried Wolf” (4300 words) —“Yours and Mine” (3800 words) —“The Kissing Disease” (3800 words) —“Neck” (drabble, 680 words)

All Things Wax Verse!

*****

The Cuffed ‘Verse [read on AO3] - In which Kurt is a Skank, Blaine is a Cheerio, and Puck is a very proactive Klaine shipper. The verse thus far: —“Throw Away The Key” (1800 words) —“Cuffed” (1750 words) —“Chainmail” (1900 words) —“Heavy Metal Lover, Part 1” (2800 words) —“Heavy Metal Lover, Part 2” (2400 words) —“Cage Match” (2200 words) —“Lockdown, Part 1” (1800 words) —“Lockdown, Part 2” (2200 words) —“Crime and Punishment” (1700 words) —“Knockout” (3500 words) —“Divide and Conquer” (4500 words) —“Permanent Record, Part 1” (3800 words) —“Permanent Record, Part 2” (4900 words) —“Wild” (drabble, 600 words)

All Things Cuffed Verse!

*****

"I Saw the Signs" It’s so much scarier than the first (and last) time they discussed this, knowing Kurt has now gone and done it; this is the real test of whether or not Burt’s getting through to him. “You kids -- I mean. You, uh. You and Blaine. You’re being safe?” Features: early!Klaine via post-"The First Time" Hudmel family shenanigans 1400 words | read on AO3

“Heroes Never Die” The New Directions play Overwatch, and Kurt makes a new friend. Features: video game shenanigans 2000 words | read on AO3

“Fly” Blaine, Quinn, Kurt, and the other fairies of Pixie Hollow have a very serious problem on their hands. Features: Disney Fairies AU 1890 words | read on AO3

“That Can Only Mean One Thing” “Have I ever made a move on him? Blaine? As in, Blaine Anderson? My boss? Have I ever made a move on my boss? Is that the question you just asked?” Features: twentysomethings Kurt and Blaine (difference in work positions but not age), Rachel Berry, Adam Crawford, social media mishaps 4300 words | read on AO3

“Shiver” In which Blaine wants to play, Kurt wants to stay in bed, and everyone manages to get what they want. Features: silly/smutty/sappy winter fluff 1770 words | read on AO3

“Halftime” Blaine loves football, Kurt loves scarves. Somewhere in the middle of those interests lies Lady Gaga’s halftime show at Superbowl LI. Features: Hudmel-Anderson family shenanigans, married!Klaine 1500 words | read on AO3

“Show and Tell” It’s Valentine’s Day, and Kurt is so in love with his husband that he can’t even deal with it. Being drunk ought to help, right? Features: drunk!Kurt and lots of fluff 1500 words | read on AO3

“Renovations” Blaine has a very big surprise for his hybrid boyfriend on his birthday. Features: kitty!Kurt and absurd levels of fluff 1300 words | read on AO3

“Morning People” and “Night Owls” Every so often, Kurt wakes up first. Features: (Morning People) snuggles. lots and lots of snuggles, and (Night Owls) sleepy sex 850 words | read on AO3 940 words | read on AO3

“Unzipped” You know that incredible sweater of Kurt’s, the super comfy-looking, charcoal gray one with the wide neckline and zippers that run down the sleeves? Yeah, THAT ONE. Blaine’s a fan of it, too. Features: domestic fluff sex 1400 words | read on AO3

“Public Relations” Everyone has their favorite Warbler. Kurt won’t say which one is his. Features: famous!Blaine, shipping shenanigans, alternate meeting 8000 words | read on AO3

“Jack in the Box” Blaine watches Karofsky’s every move, down to the millimeter, his heart racing. He feels as though his muscles are actually ticking with the anticipation, because he doesn’t know which way this will go but can see that it won’t be good. Features: season 2 Klaine, Karofsky 1500 words | read on AO3

“Half & Half” Puppy!Blaine loves his barista job, and his coworkers and customers love him. He likes to be liked, and he loves feeling appreciated. It’s just… well, there’s only one coworker, in particular, who Blaine wants to notice him… Features: hybrids, coffee shop AU 1700 words | read on AO3

“Rubbing In, Rubbing Out” Kurt determinedly ignores the way his phone keeps vibrating in his pajama shirt’s breast pocket, because he’s about two sexts away from becoming indecent in the front of his loose silk pants. Features: phone sex, and a sleepover with the girls (Mercedes, Unique, and Tina) 1400 words | read on AO3

“Peach” Blaine looks really, really good in his sweatpants. Kurt’s really, really into it. Features: early Klaine, Booty Camp 800 words | read on AO3

“The Big Spoon” Height difference. That’s it, that’s the ficlet. Features: early Klaine 680 words | read on AO3

“Black and Blue” and “Pink and Purple” Nightbird is the hero of New York City, but, more importantly, he is late for dinner. Two days late. (Now followed by a prequel exploring Blaine and Kurt’s discovery of Blaine’s superpowers!) Features: (Black and Blue) superhero!Blaine, angst, anxiety, and (Pink and Purple) roughness of both the accidental and the purposeful sexy kind 2900 words | read on AO3 6000 words | read on AO3

“The Beyonce Suite” A snapshot exploration of the first few years of married life with Kurt and Blaine, inspired by Queen Bey’s self-titled opus Features: future!fic, lots of fluff and angst, self-esteem and body image issues, blowjobs, rimming, orgasm denial, discussion of anxiety and depression, grief, babies 10,000 words | read on AO3

“Catch, Part 1" and Part 2 “You’re staying, too? You’ll be here for the holiday?” “Yeah. I’ll be here.” “This might be a Merry Christmas after all, then.” Features: Harry Potter AU, Christmas, magical fluff 4600 words | read on AO3 3400 words | read on AO3

“Hold On, We’re Going Home” It’s been a few weeks since kitty!Kurt’s last visit, and Kurt is finally starting to think that he won’t be going home with anyone. But it’s fine. Whatever. He doesn’t need anyone, anyway. Features: kitty!Kurt, Samcedes, alternate meeting, and fluffffff 2800 words | read on AO3

“Home Remedies” Kurt was going to deal with his flu quietly and without fuss, but his and Blaine’s four-year-old daughter has other ideas. Features: the littlest Hummel-Anderson and a whole lot of fluff 1800 words | read on AO3

“Return to Sender” Kurt’s shifts at the Spotlight Diner keep turning into complete trainwrecks, and it’s all the hot UPS guy’s fault. Sort of. (Though, in all fairness, Kurt has always had certain weakness for men in uniforms.) Features: alternate meeting, Rachel and Santana being Rachel and Santana, shenanigans 3300 words | Read on AO3

“Drunk History, vol. 206” Kurt gets drunk AF and tells the story of how he and Blaine got together. Features: Elliott and way too much tequila 1800 words | read on AO3

“First Name Basis” “I just oh god I just stepped on your dog’s tail I’m so sorry pls I’m so sORRY“ Features: alternate meeting, rampant fluff, DOGS 1700 words | read on AO3

“Screwed” Blaine and Kurt play a game of “7 Minutes in Heaven” at an illegal-for-like-ten-different-reasons party with the Warblers, because there’s no way that could go wrong. Features: season 2 Klaine and a bit of claustrophobia 2900 words | read on AO3

“Boystown” Kurt and Blaine spend a night out in one of Chicago’s most famous neighborhoods. (Written for the Klaine Road Trip 2015) Features: a little bit of public frottage 3100 words | read on AO3

“Camera Obscura” Inspired by Darren Criss’ photoshoot for Broadway Style Guide Features: famous!Blaine, photographer!Kurt 2700 words | read on AO3

“Kiss You There” Wildling!Kurt knows a thing or two about keeping warm. Blaine Snow knows nothing. Features: oral, Game of Thrones AU, still enjoyable if you don’t watch the show! 2000 words | read on AO3

“The More You Know” Kurt’s got a routine doctor’s appointment and a not-so-routine fear of needles. Luckily, Blaine’s on hand to help distract him in any way he can. Features: fun facts about blood, mention of needles, but nothing too graphic if you have needle issues 1400 words | read on AO3

“Cosplay is for Lovers” Kurt and Blaine are getting ready for Ohio’s Comic-Con, but one of them isn’t so enthused about it. Features: Lord of the Rings!Klaine, sort of 730 words | read on AO3

fluffyfluffyfluffy untitled first time ficlet A short bit of fluff in the afterglow of Kurt and Blaine’s first time. Features: total fluff 520 words | read on AO3

“Fishbowl” Kurt’s a cat. Blaine’s a goldfish. Shhh trust me, just read it Features: alternate meeting, kitty!Kurt (actual cat, not hybrid), goldfish!Blaine, fluffy crack, Samcedes 1700 words | read on AO3

“What Has Been Seen” Sam walks in on Blaine’s date night with Kurt. Mercedes is not here for these shenanigans. Features: light D/s, Samcedes 2100 words | read on AO3

“The Romantics” Civil War AU: Kurt gets to know Blaine when he finds him lying unconscious in front of his house. Features: alternate meeting, angst (happy-ish ending though!), discussion of grief, discussion of character death (both canon and not-canon), PTSD 3700 words | read on AO3

“Compromise” Newlywed Blaine has a thing for “married sex.” Features: shower sex, barebacking 2300 words | read on AO3

“Beeline” Summer pool party shenanigans don’t go quite as expected. Features: early!Klaine, fluff, Blaine’s butt 1400 words | read on AO3

“To The Left” Kurt meets his new neighbor via noise complaint. Features: alternate meeting, h/c 1500 words | read on AO3

“Constantine” Kurt and Blaine meet an owl at the zoo. Features: fun facts about the Eurasian eagle owl because reading is fun-damental 1200 words | read on AO3

“Whoever Wins, Loses” Blaine wakes up in the middle of the night to find Kurt having a nightmare. Features: h/c, panic/anxiety issues, angst, discussion of canon character death 1400 words | read on AO3

“You Can Call Me King B” It’s time for Kurt Hummel, the court painter, to create Prince Blaine’s portrait. Features: royal!Blaine, artist!Kurt, handjobs, ye olde marriage equality problems 2200 words | read on AO3

“Suit and Tie” Blaine really loves listening to Kurt talk about his day. Features: light D/s undertones, oral sex, and a lil’ frottage 1900 words | read on AO3

“Stranded” and “Recovered” College AU: sexiled Blaine meets drunk!Kurt. The next morning, hungover!Kurt meets Blaine. Features: Samtina shenanigans, fluff, h/c, alternate meeting 1300 words | read on AO3 1200 words | read on AO3

“Pins + Needles” and “Levers & Pulleys” pocket!Blaine AU: In “Pins + Needles,” Blaine goes to work with Kurt. In a same-verse follow-up, Blaine and Kurt work on the issue of Blaine’s dependency Features: Klaine being married af, designer!Kurt, Sam 1200 words | read on AO3 3300 words | read on AO3

“It’s Still Happening" With his father in the hospital, Kurt returns to their empty house. Features: “Grilled Cheesus” reaction fic / episode-filler, angst angst angst 2000 words | read on AO3

silly untitled Nightbird ficlet Short, ridiculous fluff about Blaine’s relationship with superheroes and taurine Features: energy drink shenanigans, season 5 NYC!Klaine 800 words | read on AO3

“Friends, Buddies, Pals” “I mean, you’d do that with Rachel and Mercedes, right? Because that’s something you do when you’re just friends?” Features: “I Do” reaction fic / episode-filler, marking/possessive sex, riding, phone sex, Klaine not understanding what the word “platonic” means 3900 words | read on AO3

“Moonlight Becomes You” 1950s AU: It’s 1957 and the New Directions, a struggling young band, can’t catch a break. Enter Scandals, its rich young proprietor, and its star performer. Features: midgame Kurtbastian (but don’t let that put you off if that’s an issue for you, it’s endgame Klaine!), assorted members of the canon New Directions, Elliot, Trent Warbler 2300 words / ? 

[burning-up-ao3]

20 Penguins Thoughts: Mad about Erik Gudbranson? Blame the Flyers.February 26, 2019 8:06 AMBy Jason Mackey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are two ways of viewing the Penguins’ trade Monday for defenseman Erik Gudbranson.

On one hand, there’s a large group of fans who like the deal. They think the Penguins could use someone with Gudbranson’s toughness and presence in the dressing room and figured what the heck, Tanner Pearson wasn’t doing much anyway.

The second sect haaaaaates the deal. Like in a steal-kids’-Christmas-presents sort of way.

Here, though, are two things I think we can agree on:

It’s all the Flyers’ fault.

And this surely will be a fun experiment to see play out.

I figured we’d work through these two items and more from Monday in this week’s 20 Thoughts.

2. An important starting date here is Feb. 11. In a game at Wells Fargo Center, Olli Maatta separated his shoulder in an awkward collision with Flyers winger Phil Varone.

According to an industry source, Maatta is expected to miss at least a month while his shoulder heals, and the Penguins remain hopeful that Maatta can avoid surgery.

But given Maatta’s history of shoulder issues and the uncertainty surrounding the possibility of re-injury once he does get back, getting a depth defenseman remained a possibility for Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford.

Then Saturday happened.

3. That’s when Brian Dumoulin was concussed, the result of Wayne Simmonds’ hit along the boards — for which he was not disciplined. Kris Letang was injured by Shayne Gostisbehere in a wrestling match while sticking up for Dumoulin.

Watching from above, Rutherford clearly was not happy.

During the 2016-17 Stanley Cup run, Rutherford sounded off to Ken Campbell of the Hockey News on the mistreatment of his star players — saying the NHL had devolved into a “[expletive] show” — and backed up his words that summer by acquiring Ryan Reaves.

Since trading Jamie Oleksiak to make room for Justin Schultz, Rutherford had been missing an element of the game he really likes and feels the Penguins need, even though there’s many who disagree with that approach.

“In Erik’s case, he’s a real heart-and-soul guy,” Rutherford said Monday. “He’s a good dressing room guy. He’s got good character. He can protect our players, and puts us in a stronger position to push back when we get into more physical games.”

4. This, though, isn’t about so much about Gudbranson as it is about how we got here, and I think that much is fascinating.

A key question to ask is this: Does Rutherford do this deal if neither the Feb. 11 injury to Maatta nor the Stadium Series shenanigans happen?

I don’t think so.

Rutherford can talk about team toughness all he wants, and I do see the value in what Gudbranson could potentially bring (more on that shortly). But I’m sorry, I just don’t see how Rutherford would’ve done this with a full complement of defensemen, and that could be scary given Gudbranson’s contract ($4 million per season through 2021).

5. What happens when everyone gets healthy?

Let’s say, for instance, that Dumoulin and Letang return soon as Rutherford indicated Monday; he said the team wanted to avoid putting them on injured reserve and expressed optimism they could be back this weekend.

By March 11, the Penguins’ blue line could consist of Dumoulin, Letang, Maatta, Schultz, Jack Johnson, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel, Juuso Riikola and Erik Gudbranson.

Two things there. One, that’s nine, a number that, before Schultz returned, was untenable. Either Rutherford doesn’t care because it’ll be mid-March, or two, they’re not nearly as optimistic on Maatta’s injury as they once were.

It’s also worth mentioning that everybody but Ruhwedel is either under contract or a restricted free agent whom the Penguins plan on re-signing (Riikola and Pettersson) for 2019-20.

6. Leave that for another day, though. What’s important this season is whether Gudbranson can add anything of value or whether things go the way they did in Vancouver, which is really bad.

Traditional or advanced, the numbers stink:

• League-worst minus-27.

• Last among defensemen who’ve played at least 600 minutes in five-on-five goals-for percentage (34.4) and scoring-chance percentage (38.6).

Try to make any sort of case that Gudbranson’s defense, at least on paper, represents an upgrade, and it’s tough sledding.

7. But games aren’t played on paper. We can predict a lot of outcomes, just not all of them. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out for that reason.

One, the Penguins deserve the benefit of the doubt based on what they’ve done with other defensemen who’ve struggled elsewhere: Ian Cole, Schultz, Oleksiak, etc.

The problem with Gudbranson, however, is that he’s played 448 NHL games. He is who he is at this point, and that’s a big body who hits and fights and doesn’t really skate all that well. Can he help their transition game? Maybe, but I certainly understand why people have questions.

8. The second part of this is the human element, the stuff people who’ve crushed the deal on social media don’t see.

Far too often this season, the Penguins dressing room has been quiet. There are no issues, as far as I can tell, and it’s full of some very good people. But you need a mix of personalities, the sort of thing the Penguins had while winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Earlier this season, I was watching a morning skate with a former Penguins player who couldn’t believe how stoic everyone was, stunned at the lack of chatter. “They need someone to stir the [expletive],” the player said.

Gudbranson should bring that.

9. I remember a couple years ago a game I covered in Vancouver. Believe it was the first time Derrick Pouliot played against his former team post-trade.

We were all waiting in the dressing room for Pouliot, and Gudbranson came bounding in the room, chiding a few of teammates. His personality and voice were unmistakable. They should really stand out at PPG Paints Arena or UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

Does this mean Gudbranson should stay in the lineup because he’s funny, even if he stinks? Of course not. And $4 million is a lot to pay for a character guy.

All I’m saying is the guy hasn’t played a game here yet. There are some elements the Penguins could use, if they can somehow figure out how to make the hockey part better — which, admittedly, is a steep hill to climb.

10. But one of the things that worries me about the deal involves the Flyers. Because of what the Penguins’ cross-state rival did, they made a trade out of need rather than want. That’s not always a great thing, although it has worked before.

Given the divide on this, it should be nothing short of fascinating to see it play out.

Especially given the heightened stakes, as Gudbranson was technically acquired for Carl Hagelin ... and has two more years left at a high cap hit for someone who does what he does.

11. Moving on …

Good on Rutherford keeping his first-round pick. If this trade turns out to be terrible, or if the Penguins can’t figure it out and ultimately either exit the playoffs early or miss them entirely, at least he has that.

It’s been far too long since Rutherford has stepped tp the podium on the first night of the NHL Draft … which ironically will take place in Vancouver this summer.

“This is a year that we’re on the bubble to get in. I did not want to risk that,” Rutherford said of potentially trading his first-round pick. “Also it’s a very good draft. It was important this year to keep that pick.”

12. It’s too bad for Pearson.

One, his wife is pregnant, and he’s on his third team — and second time criss-crossing coasts — since November. That can’t be easy.

Two, I got the sense he was beating himself up pretty good over how little he did here.

13. It started the summer after the second Cup with the Matt Hunwick and Antti Niemi signings, but at some point Rutherford needs to stop having to redo things.

I think it's one of his strengths as a general manager, his willingness to admit mistakes and correct them. Many in his position won't, whether it's because of ego or whatever.

But a couple years ago, the Penguins pushed this thing forward because Rutherford kept hitting on deals. They've been spinning their wheels lately, at least in part, because he has missed more often than he or anyone else would like.

14. Willing to bet Jean-Sebastien Dea is thrilled to be done with the Penguins.

They released Dea at the start of the season after deciding against using him in their bottom-six, then reclaimed him from the Devils and again stashed him in the minors.

On Monday, Dea went to Florida for another depth defenseman, Chris Wideman, who could potentially help the Penguins down the road.

Yes, the Penguins are Wideman’s fourth team this season, which isn't a great sign. But he's a decent puck-mover who isn't too far removed from being an NHL regular.

"In Wideman’s case, he gives us depth at defense," Rutherford said. "He’s a smaller guy, a puck-moving guy. He’s played some games in the league. He’s got some experience. He could see some time here at some point, too."

15. I think a lot of you were surprised that Ethan Prow didn't get a shot for Tuesday's game in Columbus with Gudbranson sorting out some immigration stuff.

My sense on Prow is that they'd rather see him push and win a job out of camp instead of the Penguins having to drop him into the lineup and pray that things went OK.

Zach Trotman is a much safer bet for something like that. Now, that being said, with the contract situation I outlined up top, I do wonder if there's going to be a spot available for Prow in 2019-20.

16. Some Stadium Series stuff ...

There's ample reason to dismiss outdoor hockey. Sightlines stink. Sometimes the weather, too. The NHL has had approximately 4,596 outdoor games since 2008, with 90 percent of them involving the Chicago Blackhawks. I get it.

But after walking through the parking lots Saturday, and seeing how that translated into a packed and raucous Lincoln Financial Field, I see why the league keeps pushing these.

They put butts in seats, and honestly, they're fun. That was a really good atmosphere Saturday.

17. And also, from what several players have said, the ice was actually pretty good.

It wasn't until the third period, when the rain really picked up, that things started to get ugly. All in all, I have yet to hear anyone say it was a huge issue.

18. Before the Stadium Series, I did a story about Jared McCann and the backyard rink his dad built him.

Something McCann mentioned made me laugh. He said his dad would even go so far as to put up protective netting. I was a little dumfounded when McCann said that.

"I missed the net a lot as a kid," McCann said. "At first we didn’t have the mesh, so I was losing a lot of pucks. The lawn cutters was getting [ticked] off at me because he kept running over the pucks. Put the mesh up. Started to hit the net a bit more."

Ironically, Gudbranson and McCann were actually traded for each other (plus draft picks on both sides) back in 2016.

19. I couldn't not share this. Might be one of the funniest things I've ever seen on social media:

After a lot of deep thought I think I finally figured out a lineup that the Pittsburgh Penguins Twitter and Facebook crowds would approve of #LetsGoPens

344 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

20. A couple quick thoughts on deadline day around the league ...

I kinda love what Columbus did. The same old thing wasn't working, clearly, so give Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen this: He's certainly taking a different approach. With Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky potentially/likely leaving, talk about loading up for a run.

I like Colorado as a fit for Derick Brassard, although I couldn’t believe the minimal return he netted; along with a conditional sixth-round pick in 2020, the Panthers sent Brassard to the Avalanche for a third-round draft choice in 2020.

But Brassard will get top-six minutes, as he should represent an upgrade over Carl Soderberg.

Here's a random one: Last year the Penguins acquired Tobias Lindberg in the Ryan Reaves deal, although he stayed with the Chicago Wolves because of an AHL agreement the teams worked out.

Lindberg re-signed with the Penguins this summer, but they traded him to Ottawa, the team that drafted him, on Dec. 5. On Monday, the Senators included Lindberg in the deal that sent Mark Stone to Vegas.

So, I guess, what, next year the Penguins get Lindberg back?

I liked what Nashville did a lot, maybe more than Columbus, bringing in Simmonds and Mikael Granlund.

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published February 26, 2019 8:00 AM

[kheirfakhreldin]

Testimony Before the Southern Claims Commission in the Case of Franklin D. Cossitt (1821-1900). Washington, D.C., 1876. Part 1.

Transcribed by Kheir Fakhreldin, 2018

Chapter 1: Cossitt is Questioned by the Commission.

Washington, D. C.

June 28, 1876

No. 20,459

Franklin D. Cossitt.

(R McAllister Esq. appeared as Counsel for claimant.)

Franklin D. Cossitt, sworn:

[Counsel asked permission to add the following items to the petition of claimant:—

{35,000 rails…..$1,050.

14,000 rails…..420.

5,000 rails…..150.

20 acres standing timber…..600.}

Permission was not granted to amend the petition.]

Commissioner Asa Aldis:

q. Please state your age and residence.

a. I am 53 years of age & reside at La Grange, Cook Co., Illinois.

q. Where did you reside during the war?

a. At La Grange, Fayette Co. Tenn. until the spring of 1863, & then left & went to Chicago, where I have since resided.

q. What was your business while you lived in Tenn.

a. I was planting largely & also merchandizing.

q. Did you plant cotton as well as corn?

a. Yes sir.

q. Did you own slaves?

a. Yes sir—127 of them.

q. What was the amount of your capital invested in them?

a. I hardly know. It was a general stock. I kept a little of everything.

q. What time in 1863 did you leave for Chicago?

a. April.

q. After President Lincoln’s proclamation emancipating slaves?

a. I think it was: I don’t recollect distinctly.

q. Did you vote on the question of “Convention” or “no Convention” in Tennessee in February 1861?

a. I don’t recollect.

q. Did you vote when the question of separation or no separation was submitted to the people?

a. I think I did.

q. Which way did you vote?

a. No separation.

q. Are you sure of that?

a. Yes sir, I am.

q. Where did you vote?

a. At La Grange.

q. Was there more than one precinct for voting in La Grange?

a. No sir.

q. Did they have any poll books in which the names of voters were registered?

a. I do not know.

q. What is your present business?

a. I am engaged in the real estate business. I have been in the wholesale grocery business in Chicago—until February.

q. Where is your office in Chicago?

a. At No. 71 Washington Street.

q. You are a married man?

a. Yes sir.

q. And were you married when you lived in Tennessee?

a. Yes sir.

q. How many children had you in Tennessee?

a. Six—one of them a boy.

q. Was he old enough to go into the war?

a. No sir. He is but 15 now.

q. Had you any children in the war?

a. No sir.

q. Had you any relatives in the war?

a. I had 2 cousins that were in the Confederate service & 2 cousins that were in the Union army.

q. Did you yourself enlist or were you conscripted into either army?

a. No sir.

q. What was your age when the war broke out?

a. Thirty-nine.

q. How did you contrive to keep clear of military duty when you lived in Tennessee?

a. I hardly know how to answer that question. There was very little conscription, really, about La Grange. There was no systematic regular rule adopted there for enforcing it. I was urged, & a great deal said & done about going into the army, but I had no idea of going into the army—didn’t want to go into the army & was opposed to the war & did all I could to evade the thing & keep out of it just as I did.

q. Did you resort to any expenditure of money, or did you furnish a substitute, or anything of that kind in order to keep out of the army?

a. I did not.

q. Did you ever contribute any money in any way, directly or indirectly, for the aid of the Confederate cause?

a. Nothing willingly. I do not know that I ever did further than to give some of their soldiers something to eat, and that was a matter, you might say, of compulsion. They would frequently come and take what they wanted, or take anything, in fact.

q. Didn’t you ever give money to the various societies & companies that were going into the war?

a. Not a dollar, and was cursed & abused for the reason that I didn’t do it.

q. You were requested to do it?

a. Yes sir, but I refused & was really suspected of being an enemy to them on that account. That was, I think, one very strong reason why

they—

q. Did the Confederates ever threaten you?

a. Yes sir.

q. State who threatened you, what the threats were, &c.

a. When Gen. Beauregard issued his order for the burning of cotton, I had cotton on hand, and opposed the burning of cotton. The Lieutenant in command—who was then in command, I think, of two companies, went through the country for the purpose of burning cotton in obedience to the command of Gen. Beauregard, claiming that the Yankees would get it if it was not burned. I opposed the burning of cotton & the Lieut. who had command of these companies took me by force & made me go with him & show him where my cotton was, & abused me & used very harsh language, threatening to hang me & said I was an enemy to the country & ought to leave, & so on, & a great deal of that kind of treatment.

q. Any such treatment from other persons besides this Lieutenant?

a. Well, only personal abuse.

q. Were you ever otherwise molested by them—either by Confederate authorities or private individuals?

a. Nothing more than personal abuse & threats.

q. No actual imprisonment, or arrest, or anything of that kind?

a. No sir, I think not.

q. Did you belong to any Home Guard or Vigilance Committee?

a. I belonged—I don’t know hardly whether you would call it a Home Guard or not. I don’t recollect the date now. But they had an organization there in our town gotten up for the protection of the citizens with reference to the negroes specially, fearing an outbreak. That is the only organization that I belonged to.

q. How long did you belong to that?

a. Well, I think two or three days.

q. That is to say you were under drill two or three days?

a. Well, really, there was no drill. It was simply an organization proposed & the people requested to form, & they joined it.

q. Didn’t you go to some place of rendezvous for two or three days?

a. No sir, there was nothing of that kind.

q. You never drilled with any guns?

a. No sir.

q. Did you ever hunt deserters?

a. No sir. I didn’t quite finish about this cotton question. There was a gentleman there who was a pretty strong secessionist—an old citizen he was there & a personal acquaintance & he thought quite hard of me—Major Winston & also Capt. Jones who is now living, & was then a prominent, wealthy planter. They thought I was acting wrong to do and say as much as I did on the occasion, & spoke of the bonds or receipts which they proposed to give for this cotton that they would be paid. I told them that I didn’t regard the receipts as being worth anything—I had no confidences in their promises or ability to pay. And Maj. Winston had so much to say. He had a horse, a very good horse, holding him by the reins & there was quite a crowd around & I told him if he had so much confidence as he expressed, if I got any receipts (this was before they burned the cotton) what would he give me for my receipts. He said he thought they would be worthless. “Well,” said I “Major, I have got 200 and odd bales of cotton & if my cotton is burned up, to show you how much confidence I have got in them—you have got a pretty good horse there, & I will give you all my right & interest in the claim, for the horse.” Well, he got somewhat excited & thought I was acting very impudently & that I would get myself into trouble. That was about the end of the cotton question.

q. What month in 1863 was it that you left there?

a. In April.

q. Did you ever take any oath to bear allegiance to the Confederate States?

a. I never did. I had notice served on me not to pay any Eastern debts, very early, I don’t recollect the date. I went on & paid right along so fast as I could get money, & continued to pay.

q. Have you ever taken any amnesty oath?

a. Oath of allegiance to the United States?—oh yes! I took that when the troops first came in.

q. Have you ever been pardoned by the President, or did you ever apply for a pardon?

a. No sir.

q. Did you every hold any civil office under the State or Confederate States gov’t—justice-of-the-peace or anything of the kind?

a. No sir—none whatever.

q. Did you ever act as Agent or Clerk in the employment of the Confederate authorities in any way?

a. Never.

q. Were you ever in any capacity in the military or naval service of the State or Confederacy?

a. No sir.

q. Never in the state militia?

a. No sir.

q. Or in any “home guard” or vigilance committee, except what you have already stated?

a. No sir.

q. Never in the rebel service or furnished a substitute?

a. No sir.

q. Did you ever purchase supplies in any way for the Confederate gov’t?

a. No sir—none whatever.

q. Did you ever have charge of any property for the Confederate authorities?

a. No sir.

q. Did you have it in your possession to keep for them?

a. No sir.

q. Were you engaged in the manufacture of anything for their use—either munitions of war, boots, shoes, clothing, or anything of the kind?

a. I was connected with a foundry in La Grange—a little, small establishment where they were making plows: that was the legitimate business. A party named John W. Shipp was buying merchandize of me & had got into my debt, & to save myself I bought a half interest in his business. That was right at the commencement of the war—I don’t recollect the date. He had (by force) taken some work in making shot & shell for the Confederate authorities at Memphis, under pressure, as he said, they would have confiscated what iron he had & everything he had if he hadn’t done it, & I in that way became interested in that business. As soon as I became interested there I was the cause of Mr. Shipp’s quitting making any shot or shell. I was opposed to it, I told him so, but I was very anxious to secure the indebtedness. When Gen. Sherman first came into our country I told him all about it—I made a plain statement of the facts to him in reference to that particular thing, & he very kindly said that he didn’t think it amounted to anything so far as I was concerned.

q. Is Shipp living?

a. I think so. I don’t know his exact locality. He is near Memphis I think—either down in north Miss. Or maybe out some 10 or 15 miles from Memphis. He was with a party there for a number of years. I haven’t heard from him for 2 years.

q. When was it that you took an interest in this foundry?

a. I think it was in 1862—along in the summer or fall. The federal troops came in July I think & it was a short time before they came in.

q. How long after you took an interest in that foundry did you continue manufacture shot and shell?

a. A very short time. I should not think it was three weeks.

q. Did you stop before the Union troops came there?

a. Yes sir—I should think about a month before, I am not certain as to dates though.

q. And you never were engaged in manufacturing anything in aid of the Confederacy except the shot & shell of this foundry as you have stated?

a. No sir, nothing. Then we had no material. It didn’t amount to anything anyway.

q. How much pay did you receive for shot & shell as you share after you went into the foundry?

a. I didn’t receive any pay. I don’t know what amount was ever collected. Mr. Shipp attended to that. I didn’t give any personal attention to the foundry at all. I was merchandizing & planting & really took no interest in this matter at all, & no change of the business at all—the debts, collections, or management of it.

q. You have stated that you were, on a certain occasion, arrested for a short time, in reference to the cotton taken?

a. Well, I don’t know whether you would hardly call it an arrest. I was taken by the Lieutenant & compelled to go along with him.

q. Were you ever arrested on any other occasion by the Confederates?

a. No sir.

q. Were you ever arrested by the United States?

a. Yes sir. In the fall of 1862 I was arrested by Gen. Wm. Sooy Smith, & was kept under arrest 10 days or 2 weeks—I don’t recollect the exact time.

q. Where were you kept in custody?

a. At La Grange—in a room they selected for that purpose.

q. What was the charge they made against you?

a. Well, there was a spy arrested there, as they claimed, & in examining him, in giving in his evidence he stated he had come to my house & got something to eat, and in connection with that that he had gone by one of my plantations and had got something to eat from the negroes, that he had asked where he could get something to eat in town, and they told him their master was rich & that he never refused to give anybody something to eat. That was his statement, & they thought there was some complicity or something wrong in connection with myself, as coming to the plantation & then coming to my house to get something to eat. On that I was held about ten days & then I wrote to Gen. Hurlbut—no, I didn’t write, but I got an officer to write (I don’t recollect his name) to Genl. Hurlbut, & Gen Hurlbut answered it & requested Gen Smith to give me a fair trial, stating that he knew something of me & he didn’t think I had done anything wrong, & would say I was a Union man. That is the way I understood it. I may not have all the facts in connection with it. Anyway, I was tried, & they brought up about everything they could against me. I think that Gen. Smith thought that possibly there was something wrong somewhere. And they brought up this shot & shell question & my connection with that foundry & the feeding of this soldier.

q. Did you have a fair trial?

a. Yes sir. Col. Hatch was one of the Commission & there was 2 others, I don’t recollect their names.

q. Is Col. Hatch living?

a. I think he is.

q. Where?

a. I don’t know.

q. From what state was he?

a. I don’t know. He was a general afterwards, I think. He was a cavalry officer, I believe.

q. What was the verdict of the Comn.?

a. I was acquitted & Gen. Smith sent for me & treated me very kindly afterwards, & I understood from his remarks, that he thought I had been treated wrong, & that the only ground they had for suspecting anything wrong was simply the statement of that spy that he had got something to eat at my plantation & that the negroes had directed him to my house at La Grange & they thought that looked suspicious, & Gen. Smith thought it was just ground for arresting me. After arresting me they summoned a good many witnesses. I think Dr. Henry Briggs was one, & George P. Shelton, I think was another.

q. Were they witnesses against you or for you?

a. I don’t think I called any witnesses at all. They brought up this spy as they called him.

q. What was his name?

a. I forget his name.

q. Did he live at La Grange?

a. No sir. He claimed to live in Kentucky & claimed to have been sent down there to steal mules or get mules for the federal army. In cross-questioning him I had no attorney. I asked Gen. Hatch in reference to that same question & told him I could not imagine what they could prove against me: that I knew of nothing I had done. I asked this man if he ever knew me before. He said he did not: that he never had known me. I asked him if he ever saw me before the time he called on me & asked for something to eat, & he said he never had.

q. Did you ever do anything for the Union cause while you lived in Tennessee?

a. Yes sir. I went to Bolivar 21 miles north of our place when Grant & McPherson were located there with troops, & they supposed the Confederates were in large force at La Grange & between there & Holly Springs & I went to McPherson’s headquarters & told him he would have no difficulty at all in coming into the country there & taking possession of everything—that the Confederate forces didn’t amount to much. He thought I was pretty well posted & knew what I was talking about.

q. Who did you tell this to?

a. To Gen. McPherson. I returned the same day that I went up there, & I think it was the next day that they came into our town—the troops came right down.

q. Did you do anything else to aid the Union cause?

a. Nothing specially, that I remember.

q. Did you ever contribute any money?

a. No sir.

q. Did you ever aid any soldiers in the hospitals?

a. I very often fed them, & I have a pass from Gen. McPherson to go to one of my places across at Balls Bridge, & when I got there they were having a fight—the Confederates & federals & the federal officer stopped me and asked me where I was going. I told them I wanted to go to my farm. The officer in command said “well, you can not go”. Finally he said “If you want to go (you see what is going on), you can go”. I told him I didn’t want to go. They were bringing over a good many soldiers

then that had been wounded & some killed, & there was one brought over who was badly wounded, & I was in a buggy & the officer asked me if I would not take him to town, about 3 miles, and I did so. I forgot that until just now since you made the inquiry. Anything that people did at that time, on either side, was noted by the citizens as a matter of course, & they were to some extent held accountable—censured at least & abused. It was a very peculiar time.

q. Did you ever contribute to the Union hospitals?

a. No sir. I don’t think they had a hospital there.

q. Did you ever receive a pass from any Confederate officer or authority?

a. No sir.

q. Did you ever hold any office under the Union or Confederate authorities?

a. No sir.

q. At the beginning of the rebellion did you sympathize with the Union cause?

a. I did.

q. Did you talk about it?

a. I did.

q. To whom & when?

a. Well, I talked to this same gentleman Dr. Biggs, & I had an uncle residing there that I talked with a great deal.

q. Did you take any active part in the political canvass in regard to “separation” or “no separation”?

a. I did not take an active part at all. I never have taken an active part in politics. I have studiously avoided it all my life. I have had so much to do that I have never given any time or attention to politics in no way. In a great many elections I have never gone to the polls even, to vote.

q. Do you solemnly declare that from the beginning of hostilities against the U. S. to the end thereof, your sympathies were constantly with the cause of the United States?

a. I do.

q. And that you never, of your own free will and accord did anything, or offend or sought or attempted to do anything by word or deed to inquire said cause or retard its success?

a. Never.

q. And you were at all times ready & willing when called upon, & if called upon, to aid & assist the cause of the Union?

a. Yes sir.

q. If there is anything else that you have not stated in regard to your loyalty or disloyalty I wish you would now state.

a. I do not know that I have anything special.

q. Can you name any citizens of La Grange, Tenn, with whom you were acquainted, who were Union men?

a. Yes sir. There was Mr Rosine—I forget his given name. He is now living at La Grange. Dr Henry Biggs, I believe lives at Salisbury, Henderson Co. Tenn. He is an old citizen of La Grange. Mark Pullian of La Grange.

q. Have you any papers or exhibits to show your loyalty?

a. Yes sir. [Producing Gen. McPherson’s certificate of Nov 5, 1862; filed marked Exhibit 1.]

q. Was that handed to you by Gen. McPherson?

a. Yes sir.

Claimant also filed a statement of property taken from him, endorsed by Gen McPherson. Filed marked Exhibit No 2. (referred to in Petition as Exhibit No 1)

Claimant: That was given to me by Gen McPherson from his own hand.

Claimant also filed a pass from Gen McPherson dated Nov 14, ’62. Exhibit No 3.

q. Did you receive that pass from Gen McPherson?

a. Yes sir, & I think I then called on the provost-marshal.

Claimant also filed a pass dated Nov 20, 1862. (Exhibit No 4)

Claimant: I received that from Gen McPherson.

Claimant also filed a permission from Gen. McPherson to retain three mules, dated Nov 20, 62. (Exhibit No 5)

Claimant: This is a duplicate of the original which I received from Gen McPherson’s own hand. The original was handed to Capt. Bennet.

Also filed letter from Gen W. T. Sherman dated June 16, 1862 (Exhibit No 6)

q. What do you say about that?

a. I don’t know that I have anything special to say. I cannot say who I received it from. I had several interviews with Gen Sherman while he was at La Grange.

q. Did you have charge of trestles & teams, & state whether it was for the Union service or not.

a. I brought in from my Oakwood place some oxen & wagons & chains & negroes for the purpose of hauling timber to build these bridges—this trestle-work, & I went out with Col. McDowell into a skirt of timber there for the purpose of selecting timber, & rendered all the assistance I could.

q. How long were you engaged in that?

a. Not more than two or three days.

q. That was as early as June 1862?

a. Yes sir.

q. When did you take the oath of allegiance to the United States?

a. I think sometime in June 1862.

q. (Handing 2 “oaths” to witness) Did you ever take any oath earlier than Nov. 1862?

a. I don’t recollect. I don’t much believe that I did. I am under the impression that this [indicating] is the first.

q. Nov. 19th?

a. Yes sir.

(Oaths filed marked Exhibits 7. & 8.)

Claimant also filed the following as Exhibits:

Letter from J. H. Hammond, June 15, ’62, (Exhibit No 9.)

Certificate from Gen Hurlbut, Nov. 18, 1862. (Exhibit No 10.)

Pass from Gen Hurlbut dated Apl 14, 1863. (Exhibit No 11).

Letter from Gen. Hurlbut, dated Apl 14, 1863 (Exhibit No 12)

Letter from Gen. Hurlbut, dated Nov 22 1862 (Exhibit No 13)

Letter from Gen. Hamilton, dated Apl. 1, 1864 (Exhibit No 14)

q. Did you receive that from Gen Hamilton?

a. Yes sir.

Permit to purchase cotton from John E. Smith, provost marshal, dated Nov. 22, 1862. (Exhibit No 15)

q. Was that given to you by him?

a. Yes sir.

Letter from Lieut. E. V. Cherry, dated Nov. 22, 1862 (Exhibit No 16)

Claimant: I received that from him.

Letter from James F. Gilbert, dated Nov 25, ’63 (Exhibit No 17.)

Certificate of Col. Cushman, dated Apl 9, 1864 (Exhibit No 18)

Permit from Gen. W. Sooy Smith, dated Apl 8, 1863 (Exhibit No 19.)

Claimant also filed receipts for property taken which were filed & marked Exhibits No 20 to 34, inclusive.

Also a receipt for one steer, dated Nov 14, 1862 (Exhibit No 35)

Claimant: I remember the taking of the steer.

q. Do you remember anything about the receipt being given, or its genuineness?

a. My memory is not clear on that. I do not know how I could have it unless it is genuine.

[jacewilliams1]

From the archives: the 1968 Reading Show

Before Oshkosh was the big show, the annual gathering in Reading, Pennsylvania, was the center of the aviation universe. In this article from the June 1968 edition of Air Facts, you’ll see what general aviation looked like during the heyday of the late 1960s. From the new airplanes to the celebrity pilots, it was a thrilling time to be a pilot.

The 1968 Reading Show

Last year we said:  “It is hard to believe the Reading Show gets better every year but it does.”  That still holds true.  This year the show was expanded by a day, and the weather cooperated.  Warm June sun blessed Reading on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, June 5th through 8th.

The crowd. At one point on Friday there were 1,132 airplanes on the field.

New airplanes?  The Derringer was there.  It’s a trim two-place twin with spectacular performance.  Ted Smith’s Aerostar was present, and it attracted large crowds. From England, the Britten-Norman Islander, a commuter-liner, made its Reading debut, as did the turboprop Handley Page Jetstream and the twin-engine Beagle.  The long and beautiful Beech 99 airliner was shown.  It is already in service, and is very impressive.  Aero Commander’s trim new Lark was on the line, and so was the American Aviation Yankee, and there were a lot more.

The hangar was full of exhibits.  A pilot could see a full line of aeronautical products, and choose whatever he needed.

A couple of incidents did mar the show. Two airplanes, one expensive one and one very expensive one, were altered in the course of demonstration flights – while being flown like the consumer would never (hopefully) fly them. Both these airplanes came within a hair of being totally busted, right in front of the crowd.  The harm such a thing would do to aviation is incalculable. Maybe in future shows things will simmer down to minimize the risk of a tragedy.

Reading Tower did a masterful job of handling traffic. There was a lot of it to handle, too. The traffic counts were: Wednesday, 1,809; Thursday, 2,225; Friday, 3,269; and Saturday, 2,068.  When you consider that the traffic is almost all within about 12 hours each day, and that the airport doesn’t have parallel runways, that is really something. It would be at an annual rate many times that of Chicago O’Hare – the busiest airport.

One observation:  If Reading can go from a normal airport to a high-capacity super-airport with virtually no change in facilities, why can’t other places do the same thing?  Many airports have a low traffic count on weekdays, and a high traffic count on weekends. They try to do this with the same operating procedures.  As a result conditions are chaotic on weekends.  Maybe FAA could develop a Reading formula to be used at some general aviation airports on pretty Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

The Reading Show.  It’s something for all general aviation to be proud of.  See you there next year.  Some of the things observed this year follow.

The AEROSTAR 600 from Ted Smith. The 600 is powered by two 290 engines, and was a very impressive performer on demonstrations at the Reading Show. It is a full 6-place plus baggage. The price is $86,550, which includes electronics.

Just before the Reading Show it was announced that the American Cement Corp. had acquired Ted Smith Aircraft Company, and that it would be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. Present management is to be retained. American Cement is headquartered in Los Angeles and has major cement divisions California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Hawaii, and Greece. The company is also involved in the manufacture of metal buildings and swimming pool equipment, and is one of the co-developers of Snowmass-at-Aspen, a Colorado resort.

The BEECHCRAFT 99 COMMUTER AIRLINER was at Reading, and it is a very impressive airplane. Note in the interior picture that the passengers have plenty of windows. This picture was taken from the rear seat.

The airstair door is at left, and there is a baggage compartment at the rear of the cabin as well as in the nose. The airplane is already in service and it looks like it will be another one of those classic Beechcrafts.

The AMERICAN AVIATION YANKEE is moving into the production stage, and 10 are scheduled for delivery by August 1st. Three dealers have been appointed. The YANKEE, which began life as the Bede, is powered by a 108 horsepower engine, and the price for a standard airplane is $6495.

The HANDLEY PAGE JETSTREAM, a turboprop executive aircraft from England, can also be used as a commuter-liner.

The BRITTEN-NORMAN ISLANDER is a basic airplane. The gear is fixed, and everything is functional. Power is 250 hp each. The airplane can carry 10, including pilot. Quite a number have been sold to 3rd-Level carriers in this country.

The DERRINGER is a 2-place twin. It attracted a great deal of interest at Reading, and those who flew it were enthusiastic. The questions, though: “Will a 2-place twin find a market?”

The exhibit area in the big READING hangar. Every imaginable aeronautical accessory was on display, and this year they had to add a tent at the far end of the hangar to accommodate additional booths. Harrisburg Flight Service Station maintained a pilot briefing center in the hangar.

DANNY KAYE, one of the airborne celebrities who came to Reading. He came in a Jet Commander, at the Israel Aircraft booth.

Notable GATES LEARJET arrivals included ARNOLD PALMER. Arnie uses his jet on the tournament circuit as well as in connection with his other business interests.

The Great Godfrey (Arthur Godfrey) is pictured with aviation personality Torch Lewis. The number on the Learjet he was flying ended in GA (for Gates Aviation), but when that familiar voice came over the radio, inbound, it was “594, Godfrey Arthur.”

The post From the archives: the 1968 Reading Show appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/07/from-the-archives-the-1968-reading-show/

[samuelfields]

Achieving Financial Independence On A Modest Income: $40,000 In Manhattan

There are some people who think that only people with high incomes can achieve financial independence before the age of 65. They’ll go on and on about how it’s not fair that other people are able to escape the rat race early, while they’ve got to grind on because they’re earning less than six figures a year.

News flash! Nothing good comes easy! You’re either going to bitch and moan about why life is not fair or you’re going to do something to better your situation. In a world where you can only depend on yourself for retirement, having a weak money mindset is devastating for your financial future.

Let me share with you a story about some dude who was able to save for retirement while earning $40,000 a year in Manhattan, New York, the most expensive place in America. It can be done folks, and I’ve got the budget to prove it.

Achieving Financial Independence On A Modest Income

Imagine being 22 years old and finally landing your first job in finance. You thought you were going to be rich working at a prestigious investment bank, but nope! They send you an offer letter in the mail for $40,000 a year.

What the heck? $40,000 in Manhattan is like earning $16,500 in Austin, Texas. Here are the cost of living salary equivalents for other major cities in America:

$26,330 – Washington DC Area

$31,893 – San Francisco

$25,554 – Seattle

$24,255 – San Diego, CA

$24,349 – Los Angeles, CA

$20,394 – Chicago, IL

$19,100 – Miami, Florida

$18,766 – Philadelphia, PA

$16,100 – Houston, TX

$16,600 – Phoenix, Arizona

$40,000 is a fine salary, but you’re not exactly living it up when it costs around $1,000 to rent a room and $6 to get a watered down beer at a bar.

When I was making $40,000 a year, a regular day would start at 5:30am and end at 7:30pm. I’d then have to work another 5-8 hours on the weekend. When you add up all the hours a week, a $40,000 a year salary equated to earning only about $10/hour.

Because I realized after two weeks on the job I couldn’t last working such long hours for decades, I logically decided to save as much money as possible to give my future self options.

$40,000 Salary Budget Breakdown

Below is my detailed budget breakdown when I was earning $40,000 a year living in Manhattan. Take a look and I’ll explain more below.

Saving For Retirement

Back In 1999-2000, the maximum you could contribute to your 401(k) was $10,500 a year. After a month of working, I got educated about the importance of retirement savings so I elected to deduct 30% from each paycheck to go to my 401(k). Once the maximum was hit, the contribution stopped.

By taking money off the top first, it was easier to adjust to a $28,000 gross salary. It also felt good that I didn’t have to pay a 28% federal tax rate on the $10,500 either.

With $10,500 a year in pre-tax savings and another ~$2,200 a year left in after-tax savings, I was saving a blended ~31% of my gross income.

The retirement savings mistake I made back then was not also contributing $2,000 a year to an IRA. However, I did end up using all my after-tax cash flow to invest in stocks, one of which did very well.

Was I financially independent while making $40,000? Heck no! But I did the math and knew that if I kept on saving at least $12,000 a year for the next 10 years, by the time I turned 32, I should have at least $150,000 with a 7% compound rate of return.

Housing Costs ($920/month)

While many of my fellow financial analysts decided to rent a one bedroom for $2,100+/month (with the help of their parents) or split a two bedroom for $1,300/month each in a nice part of Manhattan, I decided to split a studio with my high school buddy down in the dead zone.

Our studio was at 45 Wall Street, a 10 minute walk to 1 New York Plaza where I had to get in by 5:30am every morning. The traders and sales-traders would arrive by 6:30am, so I had to prepare as much printed research material about what went on overnight by the time they got in. Oh, how I remember the stress fixing photocopy machines!

By living close by to work, I not only was able to save time, but transportation money as well. I sometimes fantasized by taking a nap back home during my lunch break, but that never happened.

Even during the depths of winter, our utility cost never got much higher than $40. When you’re living in a small space, it’s so much cheaper to heat. Besides, we were hardly ever home.

We didn’t have time to watch cable TV. There was no such thing as wifi or streaming services back then as well. All I did was come home to a mattress on the ground and pass out.

Related: Housing Expense Guideline For Financial Independence

Food & Drinks ($300/month)

A great way to incentivize worker bees is to offer free cafeteria access once you work past a certain hour. Because I didn’t have a lot of leftover cash flow, I would always stay until 7:30pm and gorge myself with whatever was on the menu that day at 85 Broad Street.

After filling myself up, I’d “steal” some fruits and mini cereal boxes to feed myself free breakfast the next day. There was always random free food in the office I could eat. It was part of the culture that if an employee closed a deal or got a big trade to buy lunch for their team or the floor.

Despite the ubiquitous free food that got me fat, I still had a ~$300/month food and beverage bill because I’d occasionally go out with colleagues. When you go out with friends and colleagues, it’s customary to buy at least a round of drinks. I didn’t want to be seen as a cheapskate, even though I had a thin financial cushion.

Vacation & Entertainment ($600/year)

Given I was working so much, I didn’t take any vacations my first year because there was so much to do and learn. If I got an entire weekend off, that counted as my vacation. Only after the second year did I fly back to Hawaii to see family.

During my weekends off, I’d go watch a movie in the theatre, go out for dinner, catch an occasional cheap ticket play, or go to some free event in Central Park.

My firm did have the occasional analyst appreciation outing where they’d take us to watch the Yankees or take us to some restaurant close by. But there was never anything fancy or special.

A Simple Life Was Just Fine

Even though my budget looks pretty boring and maybe even a little sad, I was simply too busy at work to spend money on anything else. To pay up for a nice apartment felt stupid because I was hardly there. To go clubbing or get bottle service at a fancy lounge with my fellow analysts would only limit my options in the future.

Yes, I wanted to go to the Hamptons during the summer and go on European vacations like my colleagues. But I wanted to reach at least a 50% savings rate before I partook in such festivities. I had my whole life ahead of me to enjoy. There was no rush. Besides, may of my classmates had family money.

Yes, $40,000 back in 2000 went further than $40,000 does today. If you want to adjust the numbers into today’s dollars, you can increase the salary and all other city salary equivalents by about 30%.

But I argue that earning $52,000 in Manhattan is still quite lean. You’d probably have to move to one of the outer boroughs to save money for retirement. However, when you have to get in at 5:30am, spending an extra 30+ minutes commuting could be unbearable.

I knew that the rough times wouldn’t last forever because there was upward mobility. If I could just survive in the industry for 10 years, I would make more because the normal trajectory in finance and in most occupations is for people to get promoted over time. So long as I could stay frugal while I made more, financial independence was an inevitability.

There is no sacrifice when the reward is 1,000X.

Related: How Much Do You Need To Save To Retire Early

Advice For Modest Income Earners Wanting FIRE

1) Live in a crap box. Be honest. If you have an entire room to yourself, you are living large. In US colleges, most students have dorm mates. In China, each college dorm room has bunk beds for 4 to 8 people. If you are a family of three living in a two bedroom apartment or larger with more than one bathroom, life is pretty comfortable. There is no reason why you shouldn’t continue living like a college student until you can save at least 30% of your income, if not 50% of your income.

2) Work so much you don’t have time to spend money. Your 20s are for learning, your 30s and older are for earning. There is so much to soak in that if you’re working 40 hours a week or less before the age of 40, you’re leaving a lot on the table. People everywhere around the world are outworking you because they are hungry to improve their quality of life. Don’t believe me? Go to any major city in a developing country and witness their work hours for yourself. Taiwan is already a developed country, and only in 2016 did they put into law to limit work days from six days a week (48 hours) to five days a week.

3) Don’t confuse yourself with someone else. This is a common phenomenon I don’t get. If you only work 40 hours a week, how can you compare your salary to someone working 60 hours a week? If you are 30 years old, how can you compare your net worth to someone who is 45 years old? If you work at a nonprofit, why are you comparing your income to someone working in the private sector? If you dropped out of college, it’s not rational to compare yourself to someone with a graduate degree. If you aren’t a regular Financial Samurai reader, how can you compare yourself to those who have been reading FS since 2009? If you must compare, then compare yourself to people with similar backgrounds. If you want to aspire, eliminate the jealousy and learn from others who are doing things differently.

4) Max out all pre-tax retirement accounts. You will adjust to your lower gross income because you will find a way to make things work. We get in trouble when we decide our lifestyle expenses first, and then figure out how much we can save after. If you max out your 401(k), then you’ll always know that you’re building at least that much for your retirement. In 10 years, I promise you will be happy you did.

5) Ask yourself what’s wrong with making more. Unless you are a terrible employee with low self-esteem and a disability, your earnings trajectory should be up and to the right along with inflation. You don’t expect the stock market or the real estate market to stay the same price forever do you? Neither should you expect your salary to stay stagnant with more experience and expertise.

If you can’t make more from your job, find another job. If you can’t make more by finding another job, freelance after work. If you can’t make more money freelancing after work, start your own online business. If you can’t start your own online business, be a rideshare driver. If you can’t be a rideshare driver, be a Tasker. If you can’t be a Tasker, go to Upwork or Craigslist. If you get shut out at the thousands of online gig jobs you can do, find a wealthy partner or tell him or her to get hustling!

Saving for retirement and achieving financial freedom is tougher with a lower salary no doubt. But the good thing about having a low salary is that you have more upside! This is where having an abundance mindset really helps.

If you can control lifestyle inflation, you’ll do just fine. It’s those who keep spending at the pace of their income increase that get in so much trouble.

Instead of complaining about higher income folks achieving financial independence sooner than you, expend your energy trying to improve your own situation.

Related:

Sweet Dreams Of Being A Millionaire Once Again – When people say you are lucky, prove them wrong by doing it again.

Maybe It’s Your Fault Why The Wealth Gap Continues To Widen – Some wonderful feedback from folks since 2009 who said my 1/10th rule for car buying is ridiculous.

Readers, if you have a modest income, what are some of your strategies for achieving financial independence sooner, rather than later? What are some of the reasons why people who want more wealth don’t do everything possible to get it? What are some limiting beliefs about yourself that you’re trying to overcome? Salute to our Veterans today. Thank you. 

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Achieving-financial-freedom-on-a-modest-income.m4a

The post Achieving Financial Independence On A Modest Income: $40,000 In Manhattan appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from Finance https://www.financialsamurai.com/achieving-financial-independence-on-a-modest-income/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[orbemnews]

How to Get a Peloton-Style Workout Without Splurging Lisa Whitney, a dietitian in Reno, Nev., came across the deal of a lifetime about two years ago. A fitness studio was going out of business and selling its equipment. She scored an indoor exercise bike for $100. Ms. Whitney soon made some additions to the bike. She propped her iPad on the handlebars. Then she experimented with online cycling classes streamed on YouTube and on the app for Peloton, a maker of internet-connected exercise devices that offers interactive fitness classes. Ms. Whitney had no desire to upgrade to one of Peloton’s $1,900-plus luxury exercise bikes, which include a tablet to stream classes and sensors that track your speed and heart rate. So she further modified her bike to become a do-it-yourself Peloton, buying sensors and indoor cycling shoes. The grand total: about $300, plus a $13 monthly subscription to Peloton’s app. Not cheap, but a significant discount to what she might have paid. “I’m happy with my setup,” Ms. Whitney, 42, said. “I really don’t think upgrading would do much.” The pandemic, which has forced many gyms to shut down, has driven hordes of people to splurge on luxury items like Peloton’s bikes and treadmills so they can work out at home. Capitalizing on this trend, Apple last year released Apple Fitness Plus, an instructional fitness app that is exclusively offered to people who own an Apple Watch, which requires an iPhone to work. But all of that can be expensive. The minimum prices of an Apple Watch and iPhone add up to $600, and Apple Fitness Plus costs $10 a month. Then to stream classes on a big-screen TV instead of a phone while you exercise, you need a streaming device such as an Apple TV, which costs about $150. The full Peloton experience is even pricier. With the economy in a funk, many of us are trying to tighten our spending while maintaining good health. So I experimented with how to minimize the costs of doing video-instructed workouts at home, talked to tinkerers and assessed the pros and cons. Here’s what I learned. The Pros and Cons of Free To start my experiment for working out at home on the cheap, the first question I tackled was whether to subscribe to a fitness app or stream classes from YouTube for free. Both largely provide videos of instructors guiding you through workouts. So I bought an $8 yoga mat and a $70 pair of adjustable dumbbells and turned on my TV, which includes the YouTube app. I then subscribed to three of the most popular YouTube channels that have free content for exercising at home: Yoga With Adriene, Fitness Blender and Holly Dolke. One immediate downside was almost too much content — often hundreds of videos per YouTuber — making it difficult to pick a workout. Even when I finally chose a video, I learned I had to brace myself for some quality issues. In the Yoga With Adriene channel, for instance, I selected the video “Yoga for When You Feel Dead Inside,” which felt appropriate for the time we are living in. The video looked good, but at times the instructor’s voice sounded muffled. Production problems were more visible in the Holly Dolke channel, which has a collection of intense workouts that you can do without any equipment. When I tried the video “Muffin Top Melter,” an instructor in the background demonstrated how to do a more challenging version of each exercise, but the other instructor, in the foreground, constantly blocked her. Then there were the ads. As I lifted weights while following a 10-minute fat-burning workout from Fitness Blender, YouTube interrupted the video to play an ad for Dawn soap. That left me holding a dumbbell above the back of my neck while I waited for the ad to end. Those issues aside, I was able to do all of the exercises demonstrated by these YouTubers, and they left me winded and sweaty. For the cost of free, I can’t complain much. Most important, Yoga With Adriene succeeded in making me feel less dead inside. What You Get When You Pay To compare the free YouTube exercise videos with the paid experience, I subscribed to Peloton and Apple Fitness Plus on my Apple TV set-top box. I did workouts using both products for the last two months. Peloton and Apple Fitness Plus addressed many of the problems plaguing the free exercise content. For one, workouts were organized into categories by the type of workout, including yoga, strength training and core, and then by the difficulty or duration of the workout. It took little time to choose a workout. In both Peloton and Apple Fitness Plus, video and audio quality were very clear, and the workouts were shot at various angles to get a good look at what the instructors were doing. The bonus of Fitness Plus was that my heart rate and calories burned were displayed on both my Apple Watch and the TV screen. In short, paying those subscriptions provided convenience and polish, which led to a more pleasant workout. I concluded that Peloton’s videos were worth paying $13 a month. And $10 a month is reasonable for Apple Fitness Plus, but only if you already have an Apple Watch and iPhone. Making a D.I.Y. Peloton So what about exercise equipment like spin bikes? If you want the tech frills of a Peloton but don’t want to spend on the equipment, there were two main approaches. To go the cheapest route, you can make use of a bicycle you already have. Here’s where home tinkerers can be especially crafty and resourceful. Take Omar Sultan, a manager at the networking company Cisco. He modified his road bike with a few add-ons: a bike trainer, which secured the rear wheel and bike frame and costs roughly $100; a $40 Wahoo cadence sensor that tracked his energy output and speed and transmitted the data to a smartphone; and a heart rate monitor that strapped around his chest, such as the $90 Polar H10. Then he used a streaming device to follow Peloton classes on his TV. “The D.I.Y. setup is 80 percent of the way there” to a Peloton, Mr. Sultan said. The more expensive option was to buy an indoor exercise bike and use a tablet or phone to stream cycling classes via YouTube or the Peloton app, as Ms. Whitney did. The $700 IC7.9, for example, includes a cadence sensor and a holder for your tablet. You could then buy a heart rate monitor and a pair of $100 indoor cycling shoes that clip into the pedals. But if you use your own bicycle or a modified spin bike and try Peloton’s app, you won’t be able to participate in the app’s so-called leader board, which shows a graphic of your progress compared with other Peloton users online. With a D.I.Y. bike, it can also be difficult to figure out how to shift gears to simulate when the instructor is telling you to turn up the resistance — like when you are pretending to ride up a hill. Nicole Odya, a nurse practitioner in Chicago who modified a high-end indoor bike, the Keiser M3i, said there were major upsides to the D.I.Y. route. Using her own iPad, she has the flexibility to choose whatever fitness apps she wants to use, such as Zwift and mPaceLine. It also gave her the freedom to customize her bike, so she swapped out the stock pedals for better ones. “I didn’t want to be locked into their platform,” she said of Peloton. Source link Orbem News #PelotonStyle #Splurging #workout

[dailyaudiobible]

08/09/2018 DAB Transcript

Ezra 8:21-9:15 , 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 , Psalms 31:1-8 , Proverbs 21:1-2

Today is the 9th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you in the steamy summer months here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And I trust that it is pleasant and beautiful wherever it is that you may be in the world, but it's always pleasant here around the global campfire that we enjoy each and every day. And, so, let's settle in and allow God's word to come washing over us as we take the next step forward. This week we’re reading from the English Standard Version and picking up where we left off yesterday. Ezra chapter 8 verse 21 through 9:15.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading from Ezra today. We followed Ezra’s journey to the remnant of Israelites who had survived the exile and had been allowed to return to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. And when Ezra got there, he quickly learned about the behavior of those survivors and that he was appalled, right? So, he sat, he tore his clothes. He sat all day long, completely shocked. And what shocked Ezra so bad was the fact that the few who had survived the exile were participating in the very behaviors that had undermined and destroyed their culture to begin with. They were immorally intermingling with the neighboring cultures and this was leading them into idolatry and rebellion against God. And they knew better but they were willfully rebelling against God. And, so, Ezra’ like, God, I'm ashamed, like my face is blushing. I can’t even face You for our sins are piled higher than our heads.

Now, when we get to Paul's letter, we’ve got the same kind of willful rebellion going on and it was taking place 600 years later. So a man and his stepmother were openly having sex within the church at Corinth. And they were being affirmed by the community. And Paul was as appalled as Ezra had been. And, so, Paul’s like…I can’t…I can’t even believe what I'm hearing that’s happening there. So, in both stories, both Old and New Testament stories, we see the extreme of deception, right. The people involved knew the truth, but deception and pride allowed them to rationalize their immorality and the same thing happens…the same thing happens to us. When we allow deception to get a hold of us and start growing within us, we’re invariably going to be lead into some sort of immoral behavior, and as we go that way we’ll justify just about anything, right? Intermingling with sin in ways that we know are wrong will destroy us in the end. If there's anything the Bible has shown us so far this year it’s that and it's the same now as it was 2500 years ago for Ezra and 2000 years ago for Paul. It's because these behaviors establish a new normal so what we once avoided slowly becomes acceptable. And as the process repeats itself in our lives you don't realize that sin is taking hold of us and don't often become aware until destruction is upon us. So, let's consider what we’re rationalizing and justifying that we know is wrong. The voice of deception is going to say, there isn’t a problem, we’re free to do whatever we want. But we have to remember with the Scriptures have told us. Real freedom happens when there is nothing false within us and there's nothing to hide. So, if we consider what we might be hiding we’re going to find the presence of deception and pride.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite you into that. We have some fairly stark examples from the Scriptures today. We have some fairly stark responses from Scripture today. And, so, we humble ourselves as we invite your Holy Spirit to speak to us individually about the places that we’re allowing deception to grow. And if we continue to let it grow it will lead us on a path away from life, away from the path that we want to be walking on. So, come Holy Spirit we surrender to You. We invite Your presence. We ask that You show us the places that we’re allowing this. And we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s, of course, where you find what's going on around here. So, be sure to check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this global campfire that is our community brings life and good news into your world, then thank you for being life-giving so that we continue each and every day. So, there's a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey what’s up everybody? It’s Miguel from Santa Rosa. Leaving a message for James the Teacher in LA. James, it’s ironic because a while ago he had left a comical message about hearing me call in and you thought you were listening to yourself. A couple weeks ago you had left your prayer request for your marriage for struggle against pornography and it was ironic because I was struggling with that as well about this time last year. So, it was like I was listening to myself. So, I wanted to call and encourage you as a brother that’s on the other side of things because my story was very similar. Me and my wife were going through some very tough postpartum challenges. It affected our marriage. It affected my struggle with old sin that had been put away and had reared its ugly head again. But I want to encourage you with what I found to be the most powerful thing was, that the cure that I saw was also the thing I was most scared of, which was inviting my wife into the struggle, to invite her to pray for me. I had to say, look, I am struggling with this thing and you are my greatest strength. Of course, other than Jesus, but she’s there and she’s our strength. So, invite your wife to pray for you and I will be praying for you brother because I’ve been there and I’ve walked through it. So, James I love you. I’m praying for you. May the Lord strengthen you and equip you to fight this battle. You’re not alone my brother. You’re not alone. You will not be left alone. Bless you.

Hi. This is Valerie. I’m calling from south of Atlanta. I’m a couple of days behind and I just listened to August the 4th and my heart just went out to Will in Montana who is feeling discouraged and he’s struggling. Will, at the end of your call where you said Jesus is Lord and at first you seemed hesitant, like he still wasn’t sure, and as you kept repeating it your voice got stronger and stronger and just really touched me, that it seems like you were just really not sure anymore but then the power of God just kinda filled you up and you became reassured and you knew that is where your strength comes from. And I just want to let you know that brother I’m praying for you, I’m praying for your family, and your finances. I know what it’s like and I always tell people you just have to ride the wave. When you’re down you just got to know that you’re going to come back up soon and that God’s going to be there and that He is in everything. And I just want you to know I’m praying for you brother. And also for Asia in Chicago, you called right after that and you’re dealing with a verbally abusive father and you feel like you’re not loved. And I just want to tell you my sweet, your loved, your loved with an abundant love and even when…even when we can’t see it from those around us you just need to know sweetie that there are people that love you, they just don’t know how to show it. They’re struggling in their own way to show how much they love because they’re struggling in themselves. And in those times you just have to put your trust in God that He loves you and that He will be your daddy, that He gave everything He had for you and He’s reaching out for you and He wants to engulf you and hold you and comfort you. And just draw on that. And just know that, above all, you are loved. God bless.

Hello my DAB family. This is Mark Street from Sydney Australia. Today is Tuesday the 7th of August and I’m ringing…I’ve got a lot __ word. I’ve just been thinking about…I’ve been thinking about John from Bethlehem. I’ve been thinking about…today…Show Me God’s Love and I’ve been thinking about Michael from the Tribe of Joseph, the Israelite. And also Rebecca from Michigan. But Gods’ really put on my heart today to pray for Rebecca from Michigan. So, let me pray. Rebecca, I know that you’ve been longing to find a good Christian partner to share your life with and to follow with God. And God really put on my heart to reach out to you and say He hasn’t forgotten about you. I haven’t heard from you for a while Rebecca but, dear heavenly Father we come to You lost sometimes and have grief for not finding a partner, not finding somebody that can love us, forgetting sometimes that You love us more than anybody in this earthly world can. Sometimes Lord we find it hard to feel that human touch from You Lord…and….humans need to think Lord. Lord we lift up Rebecca once again Lord. Fill her with Your love so she feels needed, she feels wanted, she feels cared for by You Lord. And we know You do care for her Lord. Lord, in Your name we ask for these things. I love you Rebecca and I hope things are going well for you. Lee from New Jersey, I heard your message and, yes, we do indeed need to get in contact with each other. Love you family. Talk to you soon again. Bye.

My beloved friends, this is Angel from California. Prayer changes things. God is on the throne and does change things. Don’t forget that. It’s very important that we always remember that when we pray God is the silent listener to every conversation. I was calling today because I’m going to go for brain surgery on Friday and I need your prayers. I have already agreed in the word that the Lord has healed me and when I go in, when the doctors look around, they will not find anything wrong with me because He is, I am in this world. I would very much appreciate your prayers. I love you. And may God bless each and every one of you. Angel from California.

[investmart007]

Mayfield debuts, Luck returns as NFL preseason gets in gear

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Mayfield debuts, Luck returns as NFL preseason gets in gear

Welcome to the NFL, Baker Mayfield. And welcome back to the league, Andrew Luck.

While the opening preseason game for most teams carries little intrigue as players from the back end of the roster try to strut their stuff, several story lines will be worth following Thursday night. Start in the New Jersey Meadowlands and in Seattle.

Top overall draft pick Mayfield will see some action against the Giants, who have their own prized rookie in second overall selection Saquon Barkley. The Browns might not be counting on too much from Mayfield early on as veteran Tyrod Taylor is Cleveland’s starter, but New York expects a huge boost for its offense from the Penn State running back.

On the other coast, the Colts plan for their recently luckless quarterback to take some snaps against the Seahawks. Luck hurt the right shoulder in September 2015 against Tennessee, missed two games, then returned to make four more starts before sustaining a season-ending lacerated kidney. He played through shoulder pain in 2016, then had surgery that sidelined him for all of last season.

It’s been roughly 600 days between starts for the Colts star.

Elsewhere on the first full night of preseason games, it’s Carolina at Buffalo, Chicago at Cincinnati, New Orleans at Jacksonville, Tampa Bay at Miami, Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Rams at Baltimore, Washington at New England, Tennessee at Green Bay, Houston at Kansas City, and Dallas at San Francisco.

What to look for Thursday night around the league: BAKER AND BARKLEY

Brimming with optimism coming off a 0-16 season, Cleveland’s plan is to have Mayfield sit and learn as a rookie behind Taylor, who will start at MetLife Stadium and play one or two series before giving way to Mayfield, who is expected to play two quarters.

“When you get the energy level up, you’ve got to be able to execute, so that’s why I’m excited about Thursday as well,” Mayfield said. “You get people hyped up, you actually get some contact in and you can focus in and do your job when there are distractions around.” New Giants coach Pat Shurmur, who led the Browns in 2011-12, hasn’t indicated how much Barkley will play.

“I am hoping I am good to go for that game,” Barkley said. “I am more than capable to playing now. I am just happy inside to play in my first NFL game. Hopefully I can maximize every rep.”

LUCKY COLTS

Luck is expected to play most of the first quarter, likely one or two series playing in a revamped offense with an overhauled offensive line.

“I’ll be excited and a little nervous,” Luck said. “There were one or two moments where I wondered if, ‘Am I ever going to be able to do this again?'”

Seattle is also revamped. The names Sherman, Avril, Bennett and Chancellor that used to don the backs of jerseys are no longer around. It’ll be the first look at an overhauled defense where the big questions center on the secondary — star safety Earl Thomas is holding out — and what kind of pass rush can be generated.

VRABEL’S DEBUT

Mike Vrabel says he really hasn’t spent much time thinking of any pregame speech in his debut as Titans coach.

“Never really got a great motivational speech as a professional athlete,” Vrabel said. “Just had a job to do, was prepared, knew the game plan and went out and played.”

Another man with Patriots ties, cornerback Malcolm Butler, plays his first game for Tennessee. He most memorably was benched on defense for the Super Bowl in February even as New England’s secondary was torn apart by Philadelphia.

A season-ending knee injury to Packers inside linebacker Jake Ryan left a hole in the run defense. Third-round pick Oren Burks will get the first chance at replacing Ryan in the base defense.

FLORIDA MATCHUP

Miami’s eyes will be on Ryan Tannehill, who like Luck sat out last season when injured. He’ll make a brief appearance against Tampa Bay, which won’t have top draftee DT Vita Vea (calf injury).

PENNSYLVANIA MATCHUP

Two teams with Super Bowl possibilities, though the regulars barely will get on the field.

Pittsburgh, of course, is without outstanding running back Le’Veon Bell, who is holding out. All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown and QB Ben Roethlisberger will sit.

With Carson Wentz still not cleared for contact and Nick Foles, the Super Bowl MVP, sidelined by muscle spasms in his shoulder and neck, third-year pro QB Nate Sudfeld starts.

CALIFORNIA MATCHUP

No, the Cowboys don’t call California home. They do spend a few weeks there in the summer, and now they’ll visit the 49ers. Dallas is searching for leadership with tight end Jason Witten gone to ESPN and WR Dez Bryant cut.

San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo, 7-0 as a starter in his four-year career, will be taking his first snaps in a game since signing a five-year, $137.5 million contract. He’s looked good during training camp.

POUNDING THE ROCK

New Orleans and Jacksonville expect to get a brief look at their revamped ground games.

Saints running back Terrance West is trying to prove he’s the guy to fill in for Pro Bowl starter Mark Ingram, who will serve a four-game suspension to start the regular season.

Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette dropped more than 15 pounds since the start of last season and will have a retooled line with All-Pro left guard Andrew Norwell.

“I feel healthier,” said Fournette, down to 223 pounds thanks partly to 50 push-ups a night. “I want to be great. That is my weight I felt best in college.”

SECOND OUTING

Chicago already has played, using backups and losing the Hall of Fame game to Baltimore. This visit to Cincinnati, though, is the first chance to see Mitchell Trubisky operate the new offense of coach Matt Nagy in game conditions. The Trubisky to Allen Robinson connection started to show up more in practice this week.

Cincinnati overhauled its porous line, bringing in veteran tackles Cordy Glenn and Bobby Hart and drafting center Billy Price in the first round.

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY

Bills starting receiver Kelvin Benjamin will face his former team for the first time since asking the Panthers to trade him in October.

Benjamin was reprimanded by coach Sean McDermott on Sunday for questioning why Carolina drafted him and criticizing Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s accuracy.

Newton will play about 10 snaps in his first action under new offensive coordinator Norv Turner.

MAHOMES’ TURN When Kansas City traded starting QB Alex Smith to Washington, the job was handed to 2017 first-rounder Patrick Mahomes. He’ll get his first turn as the Chiefs’ No. 1 quarterback against Houston.

“We are going to try to win. That is the first thing coach (Andy) Reid said when we were game planning for this week is he doesn’t like losing,” Mahomes said. “We’re going to do whatever it takes.”

PRACTICE, THEN PLAY

Joe Flacco makes his preseason debut for Baltimore after watching three other quarterbacks run the offense against Chicago. Flacco will likely be paired with a new flock of receivers that includes John Brown, Willie Snead, Michael Crabtree and first-round draft pick Hayden Hurst. The Rams will be playing their first preseason game following a pair of joint practices with the Ravens earlier this week.

WHO GETS THE BALL?

The Redskins’ running back competition will be front and center at the Patriots. Second-round pick Derrius Guice will get an opportunity to show he can be No. 1, with third-down back Chris Thompson and Rob Kelley seeing action. The likes of Samaje Perine, Byron Marshall and Kapri Bibbs figure to compete for a roster spot.

New England WR Julian Edelman made several rounds of apologies when his four-game suspension was handed down by the NFL for violating the league’s policy on performance enhancers. He plans to use what’s left of training camp to make sure his surgically repaired knee will be ready when he returns. Edelman missed the entire 2017 season with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.

By Associated Press ___

[azanycollectormilkshakeworl-blog]

car insurance for mercedes c class

"car insurance for mercedes c class

car insurance for mercedes c class

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car insurance for mercedes c class

car insurance for mercedes c class

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car insurance for mercedes c class

car insurance for mercedes c class

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I was involved in a three car accident, the car that started it came in to main street and got hit by one car, consequently he lost control of his car went across the next lane and hit me. His insurance already told me they are taking liability and will pay both drivers' damages, but he said that California minimum liability is only $5000, so they are planning to divide the $5000 to cover both drivers. However the damage in my car and the other guy's car exceeds $5000. I thought the limit if indeed is $5000 it should be $5000 for each driver and not for both. What do you think? Maybe they're just giving my the short end of the stick or twisting things for their convenience. Anybody knows for sure how it should work?""

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My car got stolen. Will my rates go up? I won't have another car for a few weeks and i'm going to have to get comprehensive. I just wonder if my comprehensive rates will be now more expensive.

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What is cheaper for insurance a red car or a black car?

""A $26,000 car got stolen with no insurance, what can I do?""

I financed a car through nissan around Nov. 1st, at payments of 436.29 I financed 26,000. I'm 19 years old, my mother co signed for me. to start building my credit. I had a full time job etc and could easily make payments well shortly after- i loss my job. (a month after) I posted online looking for a third party to do a credit application and take over the payments. I found someone, we went through the paper work etc, and i was stupid/naive enough to let him hold onto the car before seeing if he was approved, to see if he likes it etc, long story short, he never came back with my car, changed his phone and gave me a phony address. My car was stolen. I drove off the lot at nissan without any insurance on it yet, because they let me. (again im new at this and so naive) i was waiting on good quotes on insurance , then my car got stolen before i could get insurance on it. I owe 800 dollars now, and my account is going into collections in 3 days. whats going to happen? I called the police departement, they said they cant file the car stolen because i was in the process of making a civil agreement with him before he just drove off with it. i would have to go to court and file a judgement againist for the car, or 26,000 etc. but i called the courts they said i need a lawyer, i dont have ANY money at all, no job, nothing for a lawyer etc. i dont know what to do. what im mostly scared of is, collections going after my mom for the 26,000 and she owns a mobile home that she bought for 49,000 and pays lot rent on it, and owns a little ford truck , will they put a lien on her house and take it away? what are my options? i dont want to pay this car off for this guy, who took it, the title and everything is under my name, but how can i find it without cops helping? im just scared and crying, i dont know whats going to happen, im scared for my mom. could she file bankruptcy if they come after her? will that save her home? please, just anyone help . i know nissan is going to come after me for repossession but i dont have the car, i dont know where it is. im so scared. 26,000 is a lot owed. any advice is appreciated thanks.""

How much does auto insurance cost a month for a 23 yr old in IL?

How much does auto insurance cost a month for a 23 yr old in IL?

""Car purchase, insurance and parking permit in MA?""

Hi, I plan to buy a new car in Mass and have a couple questions: 1. I used to live with my parents who live in Boston. I no longer do now, but I still visit them often enough that I'd really like to get a resident parking permit. Can I get one by adding my Dad as a co-owner of the car? Or must he be the sole owner? 2. I pay a much lower auto insurance rate than my Dad, should I expect to pay an amount in between mine and my dad's rates if I add him as co-owner? 3. I have much better credits than my dad, can I finance the car loan myself and pay for the car alone, even though my dad will be a co-owner? Will he have to pay taxes because I am in essence giving my dad the car by adding him as a co-owner? What if he's the sole owner, and I am paying for him? Thanks!""

How much will insurance on a 2006 Mitsubishi Ecplise be?

Im looking into buying one but was just curious on the price of insurance!

Car insurance is it sexist?

why is car insurance cheaper for woman ?i know lots of woman say there safer drivers but i dont think thats always the case

Can an insurance company raise your rates even though you've completed 12 hour traffic school?

I understand that a 2nd violation within 18 months appears on your public record. I was told that even though after taking 12 hour traffic school and my violation appearing as a dismissal....insurance companies can still legally raise my rates. Then I see people refer to a CA law that states that even if a violation appears on a public record, if there is a dismissal insurance companies cannot legally raise your rates.""

Firm choice has lower grades than my insurance?

My firm choice has lower grades than my insurance choice. My firm choice is 240 points or CCC but my insurance is BBC. Will this effect which university i go to? If i was to get the grades BBC will i still get into my firm choice?

How much would these cars cost to run per month?

renault clio 1.2... citron Saxo.... corsa (old) including tax , m.o.t and insurance and watever you have to pay for :) x""

Is there anything I should be cautious about when getting car insurance?

Hi getting my 1st car insured. I keep hearing about things like windscreen protection etc etc. So far I think I will be going with either Diamond - or Endsliegh......? I there anything I should make sure I have. Im going for comprehensive. Thanks

car insurance for mercedes c class

car insurance for mercedes c class

How much is motorcycle insurance for a 150cc moped?

I've heard some people say $100 a YEAR. And some $250 a MONTH. Big difference. Who is more correct? And I'm just wanting a rough guess. Not an exact quote. So please no ...show more

""People under 25 years old, how much is your car insurance?

State your gender and type of vehicle 20 y/o male - 2003 Jeep Liberty - $150 in California - $220 when I was in Nebraska

""50cc Scooter, insurance?""

Hi, I have just passed my CBT for a 50cc scooter and hold a provisional licence for the UK. I am 16 and passed the CBT on 24th August. I am looking to buy a 49/50cc scooter but I have found that the insurance is extremeley expensive. I have looked around and filled in quotes from comparethemarket.com and the Post Office but the insurance I want (third party fire and theft) always seems to come out at around 300 a year! I know that some people pay only 50 a year for their 50cc insurance. Does anyone know where to get a better deal? Or does anyone have any tips? Thanks""

Should i have my g2 licence for sure to get my auto insurance?

I've my international driving permit and g1 license.... but when i try to get auto insurance quote in the internet... The results are not given,if i mention i have my international driving licence or G1 licence.... So this is making me wonder, only if i have g2 licence... its possible to get my car insurance in canada? ... Please help.""

What are some cheap health insurance plans for a college student?

Hello, I live in Texas and I am in my first semester in community college. They do not offer insurance at my school. I do work part time, but I do not plan on staying at this job for long. I don't want to get on my parents insurance, because I simply don't want them to know any of my personal business. Any advice? I am 22 by the way. Any answers are appreciated. Thank you!""

Am I required to get health insurance!?

I am retired, I have health insurance thru my wife's employer. Can her employer require me to get insurance thru my retirement since it is available? It is not affordable, about $850 per month. Almost negates my entire monthly payment. it is not COBRA. What is the Ohio law about this?""

""Im 19, live in pittsburgh with a liscense and no car insurance?""

i need to rent a car but im only 19 and i have no car insurance, is there anywhere for me to rent a car?""

I have an insurance question?

if im driving with my grandma and wreck and only have a permit does their insurance cover the damage? Tennessee permit

Do you think it is discrimination that car insurance for teens and people in their early twenties is so high.?

parents don't allow teens to drive because they cannot afford the high monthly rates of insuring them This seems like deliberate discrimination to teens. What do you think?

Should i have to pay for my moms car insurance?

Now i am 18 and just graduated high school and i still live with my mom. She says since i have a drivers license and i live in her house her car insurance goes up and because of it she wants me to pay her like $150 every few weeks or something. Now its her car and i dont see why im having to pay anything i never hear from other people or my friends about their parents car insurance going up and them having to pay anything. So do you guys think i should have to pay for my moms car insurance or is she just making that up to bum money off me cause shes cheap like that and always wants money from me.

How long does it take for a traffic ticket to affect insurance rates?

How long does it take for a traffic ticket to affect insurance rates?

Can i get a no insurance ticket if the car was insured but my name isn't under the insurance?

i got pulled over and i was driving my brothers car so the cop gave me a ticket for no insurance cause he said that my name wasnt under the insurance. If i go to court and show the insurance that i had in the car will they still fine me?

Which brand of car is cheap to buy and insure for a 19yr old who has just passed?

i live in UK, London. im guessing something small would be cheap like a vauxhall corsa, but are ther any other alternatives because everyone i know who passed has a corsa. i want to be unique...kinda. also what price would i be looking at? anything under 500?""

Need cheap car insurance in NY?

Hi I'm in need of low car insurance in NY. I'm 22 female car is a 98 dodge caravan. Please i tried all those random websites that shows you insurance. I need names of insurance please =]

Does anybody know how much it cost for insurance for a 16 year old in Arkansas?

Does anybody know how much it cost for insurance for a 16 year old in Arkansas?

Does anyone know a company that will give homeowners insurance if you own a pit bull?

I'm looking for a insurance company that will insure homeowners insurance if I have a pit or pit mix in Upstate NY

Parents: 300cc motorcycle vs. 600cc motorcycle?

If you had a 17 year old son and he wanted a motorcycle would it make a difference to you if he started out on a low displacement motorcycle instead of a high displacement motorcycle or would you say no/yes either way.

What is the average rate of car insurance for 16 year old driver?

I am going to be 16 and i am just wondering how much will the insurance charge is i get added on right when i get my license?

""For my roads test, do i need to have insurance on the car i use (virginia)?

I am 19 years old and I am long over due to get my license. My mother let her insurance lapsed and she is the only person who's car I can use. Do I have to provide a insurance card when I go to take my roads test

How much does home insurance cost?

I am looking to buy a home in northern california and was wondering how much home insurance cost. I have a family of 5 (including me), good credit score, and am looking at homes around $250,000. I want descent coverage, but not for a lot of money. could you please answer and give me the names of any place i can get good home insurance that is not too expensive. thanx""

What is the average of insurance cost for a 19 year old?

I've been looking around online to research costs and from what I've seen it averages around $150. $200 at the worst. But my mom tells me I have to pay $440 dollars? Like wtf. Even four of my friends, who are still 18, pay around $170 or so. Is she just bullshitting me? I have never incited any tickets and drove safely when I was 18 and still now at 19. I'm not sure what to say to my mom. I told her about how others are paying wayyyyyyy less. I'm thinking the insurance is just cheating my mom or something. Anyone have any idea what I should do? I remember my mom asking me to give her my transcript to show I have a GPA above 3.0 to lower costs. And now she tells oh it's $440 .. I don't know what's going on. I'm not very well spoken in my native language so there's some issues talking about this.""

What is a good insurance policy for funeral andextra money for your family?

I know nothing about life insurance progams. What is a good insurance policy for funeral and extra money for your family? I'm 47, smoker but could quit, on disability?""

How much does it cost to add a minor to my (RACQ)insurance if there under the age of 25?

How much does it cost to add a minor to my (RACQ)insurance if there under the age of 25?

Looking for affordable health insurance?

My employer does not offer health insurance. Does anyone know of a private health insurance company? I was with Blue-Cross Blue Shield and they kept raising the rates. I don't qualify for any assistance due to low income. Also some coverage for dental.

Do I have to have car insurance?

I use to own a car and had insurance I now sold the car and drive a company car 100% of the time. I called my insurance guy and told him to cancel it and he says that Illinois has a state law that says I have to have insurance on a car since I live at home with my parents and everyone in the house has a car. I could potentially get in to one of there cars and be uninsured. I told him I don't cuz I still a car with company insurance he said I have to have a policy with my name on it by law is this true?

car insurance for mercedes c class

car insurance for mercedes c class

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