#is it actually too expensive or would you just have to actually tax like 2 billionaires to do it?

[coockie8]

I truly loathe when the response to why we can't do a specific thing to combat climate change, or do literally anything to make life on this planet just a tiny bit easier, is "because it would be too expensive" because basically what you're saying there is "we can't do this one thing that would make the lives of billions of people better because Jeff Bezos wants to be able to have a full fleet of yachts big enough to carry other yachts".

It's not a real reason. Give me a reason that doesn't boil down to "but then 4 people in the world wouldn't be as rich as they were before 🥺🥺"

[eightyonekilograms]

Obviously, JD Vance's proposal to give parents additional votes stirred up a furor from progressives saying it's anti-feminist, reactionary, trying to keep women in the kitcen, etc.

And I agree with them. Frankly I wouldn't shed a single tear if Trump "who will rid me of this meddlesome running mate"-d a second VP in a row and I never had to hear from Vance or his 2010!NRx ideas ever again. But I have a more prosaic objection also: if implemented, I don't think this plan would actually work?

Like, as I understand it, there are two proposed justifications for how this might be a good idea, but I don't think either of them stand up to scrutiny.

The first (and less plausible) one is, people who selfishly want more votes will have more children in order to get more political leverage for [whatever they want]. Even though they're doing it for selfish reasons, children are a public good, and so on net this is good for society.

I think this theory can be dispensed with pretty easily. It sounds just like one of those $1000 payments for having another child that budges the birth rate not at all because it's way too small a reward for the expense involved. Even speaking as someone intensely annoyed by trendy anti-electoralist cynicism, I know the EV of an additional vote is microscopic compared to the expense of having children. It won't move anyone except at the very bleeding edge of the margin.

But that's the easy case. The much more interesting theory of the Vance Plan is that of fixing broken incentives. The story goes like this: one feature of democracy, for better or worse, is that it rewards those who show up. If you have no vote (or don't use your vote), you are invisible to democracy, so your wants will be systematically underrepresented. This is why wealthy first-world countries are increasingly gerontocratic in both legislative makeup and resulting policy: old people reliably vote, young people don't, so even with no conspiracy involved, democracy gravitates to favoring the wants of the old. Vance says, hey, children cannot vote, so just as you'd predict, their interests (as a class!) get ignored, so we end up with a legislative landscape that doesn't favor children and makes it harder to raise them.

It makes perfect sense on paper! But I think in the real world it falls apart.

What are the actual bits of legislation and policy which discourage people from having more children? I mean, people can and do argue furiously over this question, but IMO three of the most significant ones are:

NIMBY localist housing policy locking young potential parents out of the housing market

More localist tax and education policy making competition for "good schools" a Red Queen Race which drives up house prices still further, requiring two working parents

Safetyist legislation which, while well-intentioned, is making everything from cars to child care more expensive than it necessarily needs to be

In order to believe that giving parents additional votes will cause a more child-friendly society to emerge via electoral pressure, you have to believe that parents are more likely than non-parents to oppose 1, 2 and 3. And that just... doesn't seem true? At best there's no difference, and to be blunt, I think as a class parents tend to be worse than non-parents on all three. #NotAllParents, of course, there are plenty of people with kids who still want good abundance policy, but averaged over everybody I think it's hard to deny that parenthood tends to push people toward defensive, loss-averting "protect the children" mentalities which, on a global scale, fuck everyone else over. That talking point you constantly see among the Very Online Right that parents are more likely than non-parents to think Beyond Themselves and want to build a stable world for the long term, just seems obviously false to me. Or at least if it is true, it's true in a way which is mostly irrelevant, since these "long-view parents" don't know how to turn those wants into policy which actually achieves them.

Frankly, I think it's easy to envision a world where the Vance Plan makes all policy around child-rearing worse instead of better, and depresses the birth rate even further.

[alpaca-clouds]

Public Transport COULD Be Great

Americans visiting Europe, especially those more left-leaning Americans, will always be so impressed when it comes to our public transport. And it does not matter where they visit here. Netherlands? "Amazing Public Transport!" France? "Amazing!" Germany? "Amazing!" Even in the UK they will be impressed.

And I kinda get it. While once upon a time the US made a conserted effort to get people moving via train, that has been almost two centuries ago and by now they just decided that people having cars is making more companies more money, so who needs cheap public transport? And while I personally actually kinda liked the public transport on the east coast while I was visiting the US... Yeah, I am well aware that the east coast (especially the area between New York City and DC) is not quite representative for the US.

However, here is the thing: If you ask most Europeans about their public transport... Well, we'll complain as well.

Because they fucking ruined it!

See, here is the issue, in a lot of parts in Europe, at some point or another the government privatized some or all of the public transport. This hit some countries like the UK especially hard, but Germany was hit also quite a lot.

Because of that a lot of things happened that happened when you try to use capitalist logic onto something that cannot work under capitalism.

For example a lot of rails have been removed in areas where it was not "cost efficient" to run trains. Or if they have not been removed, they are at least no longer used. In Germany you will find that in the area where I am living (North-Rhine-Westfelia) we have somewhat good running public transport. Meanwhile a friend of mine is living in former East Germany. And something you gotta understand about former East Germany: After the reunification a lot of people from East Germany tried to move away from there, thinking they would do better in "West Germany". So you will find a lot of mostly empty villages and towns there. And you know what does not pay under capitalism? Right: Running trains to fairly depopulated villages and towns. So... This friend is forced to use a car all the time. Because the next train station that is actually still in use is 45 minutes by car away.

Sure, technically there is a bus running through her village... It comes 3 times a day mondays to fridays, 2 times a day on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. Also to reach the aforementioned train station, the bus connection would take her almost two hours.

Now mind you: There is a train station about 10 minutes by car from her. But that one has not been in use for almost 20 years. Because, again: It just does not pay. It is not profitable for the company, so it is no longer in use.

And here we get to the issue: Public transport is an amazing thing... But we see again and again, that it really only works in those cases where it is state-run and paid for with taxes. As soon as it is privatized it will just not work. Because, well... In general public transport really is not a thing that will be paying for itself. It is fairly expensive, and to keep it profitable you need to keep raising the prices. (As a German: Believe me, I know!)

Not to mention that company policies will lead to weird stuff happening with the trains. Here in Germany? Well, the biggest train company (that is kinda partly state-owned, but not state-run, so it is run under capitalist ideas) has promised their investors that the trains will not be as delayed as before. But given the piss-poor state in which the rail network is, this is just not feasible. So, what will they do? Simple! If a train gets too delayed they will just cancel it. Will that fuck everyone travelling over way more than letting the train delay for 20 minutes? Yeah. But they do not care. They only care about the investors.

And this is the general issue.

For public transit to work, you need to design the transit network to serve the people - and not to make money. Because it does not matter that there are only some old people left in some depopulated little town in eastern Germany or western England... Those old people deserve to be able to get from their depopulated little town to the next big shopping center and cultural center as well.

As long as you do not design the stuff with those people in mind...

Sure, it is better than no public transport. But it still sucks.

[withgreatpowercomesmyfuckingdick]

Hi! Imma do something rare and actually make content, but its 11 at night and i just had a brain worm

for those of you that don’t know, i work at an accounting office. we do taxes. it is tax season. and now im thinking abt how AGSZC does taxes and what their papers are like and im inflicting it on the rest of you even if its gibberish

Angeal: A godsend. Keeps his forms in order and filed properly, calculates everything else himself like a good man. Papers honestly aren’t too bad, maybe 10-12 just because of his career/insurance plus his doubtless donations to charity, but aside from that. straightforward and done at his kitchen table

Genesis: A fucking NIGHTMARE. no doubt pays someone else to do it. and for fucks sake, i know he invests. constantly and consistently and probably in anything he thinks stands the slightest chance against shinra on the market. his 1099-B is a mess and definitely Not Totaled, so his is the bullshit you have to insert one. investment. at. a time. He’s the type that keeps fucking calling too, I can just tell. but, aside from the 1099-B, he’s probably got simple stuff as well. probably several 1099-INTs from several different bank accounts, maybe a couple 1098s floating around from vacation houses or some shit.

Sephiroth: Does his own. In ridiculously early. Makes almost no personal purchases so hardly has anything to pay. I can’t imagine not having a last name or not knowing his birthday doesn’t end up a legal problem somehow, so he likely has to walk directly into a damn tax office to say hey this is me and this is my shit no, someone isn’t stealing my identity. has one singular document and it’s his W-2. Which is. Fucking astronomical. Like, the number doesn’t even look right. His paycheck as a SOLDIER isn’t taxed, so he doesn’t really get much back on his refund. The only first without a healthcare /insurance form because why tf would Sephiroth have healthcare? What’s he gonna do, get sick?

not getting into how doing his own taxes was definitely a fight between him and Hojo at some point and ended up getting hashed out in a board room. Hojo didn’t like him having the autonomy of filing for himself instead of being claimed ad Hojo’s ‘dependent’. Sephiroth deadass threatened to go to court abt it. The President told Hojo to suck it up so they didn’t have to deal with scandal, Hojo wouldn’t tell Seph his birthday to be difficult, and here we are

Zack: Panicking. Late. Doesn’t know if his forms came in the mail, doesn’t know where he put them most of the time. Scrambles around for a fuck ton of receipts, ultimately has to request Shinra send him his shit again. DEFINITELY pays someone else to do it. W-2, 1095-A, 1099-C(s)(he has several debts i can feel it i love him but he screams bad financial decisions), probably some shit for his bike too. He customs it so I can see him listing some parts he buys for it as work expenses. Jokingly puts some money he gave aerith for flowers and what he spent to make her wagon as donations to charity and it actually goes through because the church is still considered a legal entity. Definitely has to pay late fees.

Cloud: Pays Tifa to do it. Filing for both of them is a nightmare cause all their shit burnt in Nibelheim, so once Edge gets right with the WRO they have to do all their paperwork from scratch and get reassigned SSNs. He genuinely has a fuckton of paperwork from doing the Strife Delivery Service. Luckily, only ‘employee’ he has is Tifa, and even then she doesn’t do things regularly aside from pick up the phone. Doesn’t make his business an LLC until he’s literally forced to due to his number of clients and someone trying to sue him for damages. 1099-NEC for TIfa for sure, then once he’s an LLC, some yearly maintenance to keep legal. Mileage and gas expenses go CRAZY on his self employment form, I fucking bet. I bet Cloud’s handwriting is shit tho. Tifa’s at her desk counting up his gains and losses for fucking ages because his fives look too similar to sixes. Eventually she wrangles him into installing some shit on his phone that counts it up, if only to cure her headache. Funnily enough, he does get veteran benefits from what’s left of Shinra’s shit, reparations of sorts, but he doesn’t keep it. All goes to charity, so that ends up in the books too.

alright, that was unnecessarily in depth and way longer than i planned. good night LMAO

[curio-queries]

I’m loving your production breakdown posts, they are so interesting and insightful.

I think you mentioned it maybe in the first ep breakdown but it was about expenses. I just thought it was interesting in ep4 when JK mentioned at the chicken place, paying in cash, and he solely has this conversation with Tae, not Jimin. Would there be an arrangement do you think? Or was that scene cut and he’d have asked Jimin too? I’ve noticed in comparison to Bv where they were usually only allowed a certain amount of money between them, with one usually being in control, or a sum for a task, in AYS, Jimin and JK have been whipping out their cards, be it their own or a company card, in Big Dicks store, in Walmart etc.

I just found it interesting

Hi anon,

The finance bits are interesting in the most boring corporate sense if that makes any sense. 😅 Trust me on this. Let's dive in:

In my opinion, it really boils down to two concerns: taxes and sponsorships. Taxes to insure the company receives every possible benefit for every dollar they spend. Sponsorships because some brands can have fussy rules about how individuals interact with their product and especially any competitor's products while they have an active agreement.

Obviously I have no actual insight onto how the finances and budget were managed for any of these specific shows and I know absolutely nothing of the intricacies of taxes in South Korea but in the US, there are many regulations when it comes to how companies can claim expenditures for tax breaks.

Every company that has had me travel for work has gone to a lot of trouble to insure that I was aware of exactly all of the requirements on my part regarding expenditures. I'm 100% sure all of the BTS members are aware of their requirements as well so I don't particularly think there's any motive other than as a cute convo for the moment between JK and V. Imo, the only reason it made it to the final cut was JKs endearing tone in his response.

Let's go through some examples though:

Receipts: in both AYS and Bon Voyage, we see the members be very specific in getting Receipts. JM and JK talk about it as they're leaving Walmart. In BV, it's all of the shenanigans with the money pouch they acquired in Malta and continued using in New Zealand. This is usually documentation required for any operation that's going to be claimed as a business expense for tax purposes.

Personal Spending: off the top of my head I can think of several clear instances where we know that the members are using their own money for purchases we see them make on the shows. In Run BTS ep.70 in Toronto, JK pays for the member's clothing purchases himself. In BV4, JM pays for the member's clothing himself a couple of times (remember the drama of his lost wallet? 😅)

Budget as Content: BV 1 & 2 mostly only include finances as part of the game-ification of the show. The members had to earn money as an allowance for the activities and determine the best ways to spend it. (I do vaguely remember some members wanting to negotiate for more when buying souvenirs? Was that just in the extra scenes? It's been so long, I've been holding off on rewatching until I'm done with my Run series).

Thankfully, the success of BTS has basically nixed the budget games. I think the last time we saw something like this were the Run episodes of a hotel staycation? But the prices were ficticious and not necessarily about real-world spending but rather determining the secret number to not exceed. (If I'm misremembering and there are more recent examples, please share!) Imo, it would just be too tone-deaf to continue portraying the members in that context. I know we all joke about them being broke millionaires, but there's a reason why celebrity game shows always make it clear that the money involved is for charity.

Anyway, back to AYS, the interesting bit to me is wondering about the inclusion of Taehyung from a budget standpoint. How was that reconciled? None of us can possibly know the answer, but it's interesting to think about. Some costs wouldn't have changed at all with one extra participant, like the house rental, or booking the climbing gym or yacht tour. But there were a few extra concessions, getting the extra mattress likely was more a logistics headache on short notice rather than an impact to the budget. And most Korean meals are served family-style so there honestly isn't a huge difference cost-wise. Except maybe the omakase. That I can imagine was noticeably more expensive with an added individual.

But really, the most expensive item per person would likely have been travel. Did someone say Tae was already in Jeju prior to filming? If he wasn't, did the show cover his flights like they would have JK, JM, and the crew? Or is the budget on these shows big enough that it was just another drop in a bucket? Also, the intent likely was for JK to zip around on the motorbike and JM to be on the scooter. I'm curious if they weren't logistically able to get another such vehicle with the short notice or if the budget/sponsorship constraint didn't allow for a third one the day. Or it could be that the scooter exists because of the 3 member count and production thought one of them could be JKs backpack. That bike has the space for it. But perhaps the difficulty to get coverage and/or converse wasn't appealing. Or maybe there just wasn't a third radio-enabled helmet prepared?

I know the various shippers are using this in their arguments. I'd like to firmly state that I am not building a case for either side here. Go do that on your own and leave me out of it. Lol.

There are so many questions and it's interesting to theorize how the finances could have impacted the development of the show. Maybe we'll get some more insight with the remaining episodes and bonus footage but I doubt it. Finances don't usually make for engaging content.

Thanks again for the ask! It's one of the points I want to discuss when I start doing my BV and ITS posts but who knows when that will be!

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

OC in Fifteen Tag

I was tagged by @mysticstarlightduck a very long time ago, and I have 2 more of those, so I am just gonna leave this one an open tag 😅

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

For this one, I am going with Laurent from Nuisance and Sweet Little Lies, and I am gonna put them under a cut, because well. They're from all over Lies, so obvious spoilers ahead.

“Erm. Hello! I’m looking for candy.”

“Uhm. It’s not for me, actually, it’s for”—shit—“my friend. He… His niece! It’s for his niece.”

“I fear I come with bad news,” he said, followed by a dramatic pause. Then, “She didn't like them.”

“I am aware you barely know me, but if there’s anything that weighs on your heart, you can tell me. If nothing else, I can promise you I’ll listen.”

“It’s me. Laurent. I need. Help.”

“Don’t be afraid to push. It feels different than fabric.” The effort it took him to keep his voice steady was obvious. “Do single stitches. Half a finger’s width apart. If you can. Cut off the thread after each one. If one fails. The rest will hold.”

“The sun’s rising. I think I should be going now. I put the boxes I pushed under the bed back next to the door. They’re probably in the wrong order, if that mattered? And I put the crystal back on your desk, on the right side next to that frame thing there. And I checked to make sure there’s no blood anywhere. Well, your bedsheet has blood on it. I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure where you wanted it, and where to find a new one, so…”

He raised his thickly bandaged hand. “I’m gonna need a healer or you’ll have to find someone else to forge your papers for you in the future.”

“Working on it.” Laurent said. “It’s looking good. It seems that in his attempt to obfuscate his affairs, he has involved a great number of relatives, using their names to dodge the thresholds for property and income taxes. I can’t prove it yet, but I think some of the paperwork was forged. Even if not, it means there’s either a dozen accomplices, or a dozen more aggrieved parties. Either way, he will pay. Big time.”

“A child got a bit too excited and ran straight into a shelf,” Laurent said. “Luckily, no one got hurt, but she’s upstairs now making a list of what she has to replace, and I offered to take over for the moment.”

“The jars aren’t labeled, but you told me there was a system to it. The shelf below has the same order four to the right, and the one below that four to the left.”

“First things first. You don’t have to face any of this alone. I’m here for you, okay?” He waited for her to nod before he added, “And the first thing I’ll be taking care of is Mathias Gabrel.”

“Hey. It was just an offer. I won’t lie and pretend I wouldn’t enjoy it a great deal, but I understand if it’s too much for you. Just. Think about it. Dress up like a princess. Listen to beautiful music. Eat incredibly lavish food in incredibly small portions from incredibly expensive plates.”

“I can take care of it.” He laughed softly. “I would ask of you to leave me the key for the till, though, so I don’t have to pick the lock again.”

“You know.” His forehead touched hers. “There’s one thing I still haven’t tasted.”

[qqueenofhades]

Can you please explain how the myth that "CoNsErVaTivEs ArE gOoD fOr TeH EcOnOmY!" Came to be? I know it's propaganda but just don't get how it's stuck around.

Several reasons:

1) Ronald Fucking Reagan. (I mean, when in doubt, blame Reagan and you have a 95% chance of being correct.) In the late 1970s, America (along with the rest of the world) was in a profound economic crisis. This wasn't necessarily the fault of Democratic president Jimmy Carter, but as the incumbent usually does, he took all the blame for it, and was generally perceived as responding inadequately to the energy woes as well as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis. Reagan, running on the slogan -- you guessed it -- "Make America Great Again" -- won in a landslide in 1980 and immediately instituted what has been known ever after as "trickle-down" or "supply-side" economics, which started the tradition of Republican fiscal "policy" as it is as today. Aka, giant tax cuts for rich people and big corporations, and the business end of the free-market fuckstick for everyone else. Despite massively running up the deficit and hiking taxes on working- and middle-class people no less than twelve times during his eight years as president, Reagan left office with the laurels of a Great Economic Reformer and every president since has been pressured to follow his lead to some extent. Biden is the first ever post-Reagan president to explicitly denounce Reagonomics as what it is. To wit, a get-richer-at-the-expense-of-everyone-else massive scam that has been sold as the height of Responsible Economics for decades, because capitalism!

2) Every Republican president ever since has tried to do the same thing, with the result that... welp, they crash the economy. We all remember what happened in 2008 as the result of Dubya Economics, right? Or the Trump tax cuts that added literal trillions to the deficit, while Biden has reduced it by $1.4 trillion in his first year alone. The Republicans act like cutting government spending alone is responsible economics, and a compliant corporate media owned by ultra-rich oligarchs who personally benefit from GOP policies is often only too happy to play along. So we are made to exist in this fantasy land where cutting massive amounts of revenue and forcing working-class people to carry the tax burden for the super-rich, aside from being morally reprehensible, somehow has a) no effect on the budget, and b) doesn't actually and massively affect the quality of life and smooth functioning of the entire country in generational and long-lasting ways. You would think that for people who profess to be such big fans of capitalism, they would know that it takes money to run a country effectively, and investment in critical public, health, and infrastructure services. But all they want to do is get richer for themselves, not help people, so lololol.

3) As discussed, the Democrats (despite being by any reasonable metric the more fiscally responsible party) have been labeled Big Spenders, because -- gasp -- they dare to expand government spending and social programs, rather than just slashing everything they can get their hands on. Yet again, because of forty Fucking years of Reagonomics and its successors, any spending at all is viewed as "irresponsible" and "too ambitious," while creating giant black holes in the budget to the tune of trillions of dollars is the Party of Fiscal Responsibility! It's like a kindergartner's idea of responsibility, where you just throw out everything. An adult would recognise that "responsibility" encompasses many different areas and goals, but good luck with that.

4) Every Democratic president that has come into office after a Republican has inherited an ungodly economic mess that they then get blamed for not fixing fast enough. The Republicans like to blow it all up and then fundraise and campaign on Democrats Being Bad For The Economy (That We Broke In the First Place, But Shh).

5) As I also said in the previous post: It's The Racism, Stupid. Democrats' social programs and government spending is designed to help people of color along with white people, and that is unacceptable to the white people who would otherwise benefit from these policies, but refuse to support them out of white grievance and racial resentment. As noted, the media is often more than happy to push the Democrats Bad For The Economy narrative, because all the companies and super-rich people who control and set this narrative don't want Democratic policies to ever be widespread or popular or authentically supported. Because then they themselves might be impacted, and might make less money or pay a lot more in taxes. Horrors.

Anyway, yes. There you have it. It is deeply stupid on many levels. Alas.

[haemey]

Ask game my lovely mutual:

Falafel, Bentley, Alpha Centauri

(I had to recite these over and over in my head like a spell so I wouldnt forget them by the time I got to your inbox)

And now I shall have to do the same when I go back to the post to see what they mean... thanks for asking :D

Buckle up, this is a long one

Falafel - a thought I can never seem to outrun.

For me, that would be just your basic, everyday, run-of-the-mill existential dread. I just finished my studies at university and I don't have a job lined up this season. My executive dysfunction makes it hard to send out applications. And there's a bunch of other stuff I need to think of - get my own health insurance (not US, thank someone), find some students to get some money in, figure out how taxes work as a freelance musician and vocal teacher, find an agent, register as unemployed, etc. It's a lot. And all of it is stuff that shouldn't be too difficult. It's a bunch of small, relatively easy tasks. But I just can't seem to get myself to do them. Meanwhile, time is passing and the little voice in my head that goes "are you sure you're cut out for this job?" is getting louder. It's not exactly impostor syndrome - I know I'm good enough. It's more just me listening to the bullies in my own mind.

What a cheerful note to start on! Yay!

Bentley - my most prized possession.

This is a difficult one. In terms of most expensive, it's probably my e-piano. It's almost a decade and a half old by now, but it's still really good, even compared to the ones on the market now. It cost almost 2.5k€ when it was new. I didn't buy it myself, though - it was a gift from someone who wanted to support my plans to become a singer. Which is kind of crazy.

When it comes to emotional value, it's more difficult to say. I'm a bit of a hoarder and I have a hard time letting go of stuff, but I'm also not super attached to anything? Maybe the necklace my sister gave me for my birthday. It's a tiny heart-shaped pendant with an opal in it. The stone is from my late grandma's wedding ring. It had two, and my sister had both of them made into necklaces, one for me and one for her.

Alpha Centauri - where do I run off to when it feels like the end of the world?

Honestly, my bed. I tend to hole up and hibernate when things get tough. Which isn't the best strategy to deal with stress, especially when said stress comes from things needing to be done. I used to flee into games like Animal Crossing or Breath of the Wild, but I'm kind of burnt out from those. So now, it's tea, my beloved plushie I've had for like 18 years, a bunch of pillows, and fanfiction, until my mom calls and tells me to come home for the weekend. She has a weird talent for calling when I least want her to (which is to say when I actually most need her to)... and then I tell her I'll see if I can make it, because I have so much stuff to do (which is usually true, becaude I've let it build up), and of course I make the time, and I go to her place for the weekend, and I still won't feel good, but it's a little better.

Aaaand now I'm crying. PMS at 2:30am be hitting hard, yo

Was that too much information?

Sorry, not sorry

Damn, you really picked the heavy ones forst, huh 😅

[rainhalydia]

Murder, tax fraud - take 2

I've posted a bit of this before, but I've retouched the part posted a bit since, so I'm posting what will amount to a first chapter at once here. Just finished writing this silliness literally this minute after MONTHS of nothing, so I'm very happy. Will probably post on Ao3 once I've edited it a bit.

Behold, Minshan and Wangji's modern AU sexcapade:

The Jianghu is located on a three-store building, the front a refined affair of muted colors and understated refinement. The reception area is more four generation law firm than gym. There is not a whiff of sweat in the air or grease stains anywhere. Even with coming here for a year already, Su Minshan is still shocked at… well, everything about it. These days, he makes an effort to hide his awe. He knows better than to show any appreciation for what others take for granted.

Old money does things differently. He has his own gym equipment at home – weights, mats, treadmill, an ergonomic bike when he feels like taking in some fresh air – but as with everything else, coming here is not about exercising. It’s about seeing and being seen. Networking. Casual conversation in the hallways. Someone vaguely remembering your face when you cross paths on an actual business setting, and that faint recognition landing you an advantage, however small. Things that don’t come naturally to Su Minshan, which makes every small step forwards all that more crucial.

A part of him still scoffs at such a thing as an exclusive gym. He would have thought the price would be the only real barrier, an invisible but almost insurmountable deterrent, but the elite can’t have any contact with the riff-raff, not for anything as mundane as cardio or weight training. It took bribing and favors to get an invite here. When it finally arrived, it came in a golden-trimmed scroll, a password written in perfect calligraphy. So expensive Su Minshan almost felt unworthy of touching it.

He knows he is worthy of it all. He has actually worked for all he has, earned his good fortune and success. He deserves it much more than the plethora of heirs and trophy wives here, it’s an objective fact. And yet, he always feels out of place among these people who should be his peers, their silence judgment or indifference weighting on him more than the barbell he’s lifting dutifully.

The feeling increases tenfold the day Lan Wangji walks through the door.

He turns heads as he passes, as it’s to be expected. His face is perfect, even more so than in his teen years, for not even that peerless beauty had escaped a few pimples. He’s filled out too, adolescent lankness replaced by bulging muscle. If the world was fair, Minshan would say Lan Wangji had been through at least a few lipo to attain such a completely sculpted shape. As it is, he can believe he is all natural.

Of course he doesn’t notice Su Minshan. Unlike the nightmare hall monitor, virtuoso musician, star athlete that helped parents shatter the confidence of all Chinese-American kids in school, Su Minshan had been a nobody. He studied hard, got good grades, and tried his best at extracurriculars, but nothing that could grab the attention of Lan Wangki, much less amount to something like a proper rival for him.

Still, something in him burns seeing his old one-sided nemesis walk by, long shiny hair flowing behind him like he carries his own portable, invisible wind-machine for a shampoo ad effect everywhere. It would be less humiliating if he had an actual wind-machine on him. Then Minshan’s own hair, plastered to his nape, wouldn’t be so offensive.

Before he can talk himself out of it, he positions himself next to Lan Wangji and watches, arms crossed, as he goes through a series on the bench press. Three repetitions of forty, three plates each side. No spotter.

He doesn’t wait for Lan Wangji to wipe away the sweat or put away the weights. He barely waits for Lan Wangji to vacate the bench. As soon as the man is up, Su Minshan takes his place.

He can bench six plates just fine, though usually with less repetitions. It doesn’t matter now. He copies Lan Wangji’s series, arms straining under the unfamiliar push on top of having done his own training already, and only stops when he has finished the whole thing.

There’s no helping the self-satisfied smirk on his face when he’s done. Take that, Lan Wangji! You’re not the only strong guy here!

The smirk grows when he sees that Lan Wangji has been watching him, as openly as Su Minshan had done.

With a nod, Lan Wangji goes to the next exercise – the abductor. Of course perfect Lan Wangji doesn’t skip leg day. Then, he looks at Su Minshan, making sure he’s watching, and starts his series.

It’s uncomfortable, this time, to watch Lan Wangji open and close his legs. It’s impossible to not notice the bulge in his groin, perfectly tucked in and yet so big that it cannot be hidden; the movements just draw the eye there! And of course Lan Wangji is not only bigger than Su Minshan, but bigger than most porn stars. That tracks with his life.

Still, Su Minshan watches, flustered and angry about it, until Lan Wangji is done. Then he does the same thing as before: jumps on the machine as soon as it’s vacated, repeats the exercise precisely like Lan Wangji did.

They go on like this through what must be Lan Wangji’s full routine, and then some.

At the final exercise, Su Minshan’s leg betrays him. His calf cramps, contracting painfully, and he falls on his ass instead of completing his squat.

He mutters a curse under his breath as he massages the traitorous muscle. Lan Wangji looms over him, undefeated. Nothing new about that, except for the conceited smirk on his lips. Su Minshan sees it as he looks up and almost forgets to be annoyed: barely there, it’s the most expression he’s ever seen on Lan Wangji’s face.

“Shower,” Lan Wangji commands, looking down on him, and turns around, effectively ending their impromptu competition.

Su Minshan splutters a protest, red-faced on all the wall-length mirrors in the room. He watches as Lan Wangji once again commanders all the attention from every eye as he exits, thankfully leaving Minshan to get up and drag himself around, leg still spasming, with some privacy.

A contrarian part of him wants to refuse to retrace Lan Wangji’s steps. Why should he obey him? Who is he to give Su Minshan orders? But he’s not a kid anymore. He’s not about to go home sweaty, disrupting his day even more, to give a figurative middle finger to someone not even looking his direction to see it anymore.

He gives his back a literal middle finger instead.

When he enters the bathroom, Lan Wangji is sat on a bench close to the lockers, a leg crossed over the opposite knee, arms crossed, a shower kit on his lap. Waiting for something. He doesn’t move when Su Minshan enters, nor does he turn his eyes away as Minshan undresses, uncouth and uncaring about it as always.

Su Minshan shoves his dirty clothes in his bag with haste, slipping quickly into a shower stall, feeling inadequate and judged. Maybe he’s not as chiseled as fucking Lan Wangji, but it’s not like he has anything to be ashamed of. Fuck stupid Lan Wangji.

To add insult to injury, the shower refuses to give him any hot water. He gets a violent lukewarm blast to the face and a gush up his nostrils.

Fuck this stupid shower. Fuck this stupid rich people gym.

He’s still coughing when he hears footsteps approaching. Then the stall door opening. He turns around, alarmed, and almost falls on his ass again when he slips on some leftover soap from somebody’s else shower.

Lan Wangji stops his fall by grabbing his forearm.

Casually, like he hasn’t just invaded another guy’s shower, he closes the door behind him. They stand in the spacious cabin, staring at each other, Lan Wangji’s freakishly long fingers around his arm the only point of contact between them. Lan Wangji makes no move to kick him out of his own shower. So, no, despite being completely naked, he’s not here to steal Minshan’s cubicle in some weird power play. Nor could he have miraculously predicted Minshan snapping his neck and decided to interfere to save the gym staff the clean-up; not even perfect Lan Wangji, the next stage of human evolution, has developed that kind of foresight.

Su Minshan is all out of ideas about what is happening.

It dawns on him all at once, though, when Lan Wangji reaches for his cock.

Su Minshan watches, fascinated, as Lan Wangji generously pumps him to half-mast with a soft palm that’s nonetheless dry as fuck. He’s had his own gym hook-ups, of course. He’s cruised before. Never in a million years he’d have acted like he did if he was trying to seduce someone into his pants. But that’s what passes for flirting on Lan Wangji’s mind.

It soon becomes clear that as mind-blowing as that insight into Lan Wangji’s thought process was, it’s also incomplete. Su Minshan watches with a sense of both amusement and doom as the gears clearly go on turning in Lan Wangji’s brain and translate into astonishing actions. Minshan’s lost their competition, true, and that apparently means a two-minute handjob is all he gets before Lan Wangji clearly grows bored with it. His dick is also, absurdly, half-hard despite no touching yet, despite Minshan’s hands lying flat and disinterested at the side of his body. He finds something about this bizarre bathroom adventure enticing despite all odds. Or perhaps he’s that horny behind his mask of indifference.

The cherry on top, Minshan reflects, is that having won their little dispute, Lan Wangji thinks that has entitled him to top. He abandons the useless pursuit of trying to arouse Su Minshan further and presses on his waist to make him turn around. When he doesn’t turn, he slips his hands behind Minshan to knead at his ass and graze fingertips at his hole. It’s a forceful touch, with much more strength than necessary, and yet Minshan hesitates. He could stop this now with a word. He’s no more inclined to like Lan Wangji than he was before entering the strange parallel universe of this shower stall, but the man is objectively hot. Out of Su Minshan’s league entirely, some would say.

In the end he turns, more out of curiosity than anything else.

Lan Wangji, it must be said, is efficient about it. He’s focused. Once he’s inside, he hones in on Su Minshan’s prostrate like a fucking precision missile. He pistons in and out like a man possessed. Like a sex machine.

Mechanical is the exact word that flows gently into Minshan’s mind as he’s plowed into.

The only hiccup is at the start, when Lan Wangji tries to enter him dry, despite the weapon of mass destruction he carries between his legs. Su Minshan has to turn back with a “hey!” and slather his cock with the gym’s expensive soap before he can damage anything. Aside from that, it’s perhaps the most perfectly choreographed quickie Minshan has ever lived through. Perhaps the most perfectly choreographed quickie in the story of all mankind.

Lan Wangji comes inside without asking, like the rude asshole he is. By then, Minshan has long since flagged. He’s counting the drops of water running down the wall tiles for entertainment when it happens: with a stronger thrust, Lan Wangji flattens his hips against his ass checks, going as deep as humanly possible, and groans on Minshan’s ear.

Orgasm makes him generous again. He’s barely pulled out when he reaches a hand around Minshan again to cup his flaccid cock.

“No need,” Minshan says, batting his hand away as he turns around.

Lan Wangji’s face shifts into smugness again, an unfairly good look on him. He clearly thinks that he’s some sex god that made his partner come untouched. It’s possible that that’s even something that happens to him, Minshan thinks; some people are into being used as a sentient fleshlight, and those kind of freaks would be in heaven with Lan Wangji, human jackhammer.

Su Minshan is willing to accept his own share of guilty in this case. His satisfied smile, fixed on his face despite his best efforts since Lan Wangji’s first thrust, is certainly doing nothing to disabuse the man of that impression.

He keeps smiling, somewhat more subdued, as he showers and dresses himself. He smiles as he nods goodbye to Lan Wangji, as he leaves the gym and walks to his car on the parking lot. He even smiles through a wince when he sits on the leather seat, at the reminder of the earlier act.

Lan Wangji is bad at sex. Perfect, unbeatable Lan Wangji who knows no defeat in any area of life, is terrible at sex.

Su Minshan raises a toast with the long-forgotten bottle in the cup-holder before starting his car. The room temperature tap water tastes like victory.

He glows the rest of the day.

[poppy-in-the-woods]

Every time a middle class Karen says "just find a better job!" about people striking for their rights to a livable wage and fair working conditions, God kills a kitten. I don't make the rules, I am only the messenger. So if you don't want cats to go extinct, every time you hear someone say that about the writers and actors ongoing strike, just remind them that:

1) If only people who can support themselves with the actual conditions (A and B listers, and maybe C listers) remained there would be not enough performers left to make all the movies and shows they like. Small roles and extras are actors too and deserve compensation for their work.

2) Nobody begins getting paid 1 million per episode. Even their favourites who live in mansions, drive expensive cars and wear designer clothes began from the bottom. If no one wants to act because it doesn't pay the bills or even gets health insurance, how are we gonna make movies or shows? Who's going to play this episodic character? Brad Pitt? I don't think so. People should be allowed to be passionate about a job that also pays their bills, because if they have to quit acting because of that, soon nobody will have the opportunity to grow as performers.

3) The big names in the industry don't strike for better pay for themselves, they do it to pressure the studios to accept the conditions the unions are putting on the table. That includes better conditions for everyone (safer sets, better hours, studios not being able to get away with stealing someone's likeness...), not only better salary.

4) AI is all A and not enough I to write shows or movies and that's okay, it shouldn't be and nobody should want to watch a show or a movie written by AI. It will be garbage and it'll only put more money in the hands of the studios while people lose their jobs. Do you really wanna put more money in the hands of people who already earn millions and bo basically nothing while the people who make possible the media you like lose their source of income?

5) While I agree that sometimes A listers are payed too much, nobody remains at the top of their game forever. People who aren't as famous anymore still deserve to have enough money to pay for health insurance. Streaming services have to pay residuals, one way or another, because some actors that are starring in shows that never played on TV are not getting properly compensated for their work. Acting is not a stable job, we all know that, but it shouldn't be possible that anyone has a recurring or even regular role in a show that is among the most viewed in a platform and they can't afford to pay their bills. That is happening, and it's absolutely unfair.

6) Studios are canning almost finished movies and pulling shows from platforms almost right after airing for tax breaks. To have more money than they already have and they still refuse to not only give people some of that but to let them have more time to eat, for example. They're only fueled by greed and honestly, I think each and every person that works in making movies/shows should unionise and join the strike. From the directors, the cast, the crew, to the people who do the special effects (practical or cgi), the stuntmen and more. Everyone, all across the globe. Strike. Force them to give in.

7) Piracy is not what's killing the cinema industry, greedy studios and streaming services are. Streaming services are more convenient and reliable than pirating, so people are more likely to pay them as long as they keep it that way. Erasing shows and movies from their catalogue because money and then not paying people what they're owed does not paint streaming services in good light. Making shows not accesible based on region and not allow VPNs doesn't make people think they're the good guys either. Also, people want to own media. If paying a subscription doesn't make them own the content, it's more likely that they will resort to piracy to make sure they can still watch and rewatch their show if the streaming service decides to pull it from their catalogue. It's a simple question of conservationism.

I have enough DVDs, books and overall media to consume to resist a couple of years of strike. Do you, Karen?

[theoscout]

So I finished reading all three of the Strahd stories written by PN Elrod and I have a lot of thoughts (btw I call her version 'Caretaker Strahd' and consider him a different character to 5e Strahd)

SPOILERS FOR THE STORIES UNDER THE CUT

strahd is so definitely a gamer, I could totally imagine him showing off his setup and pc if he lived in modern times

he'd have those cool ones that flash when you type on them and really expensive gear too, he's somehow found out how to play video games despite computers not even being invented in his time

That thing he does where he possess someone else is SO UNDERUSED omg, what are the limits? Can he possess wolves and bats if he turned into them first? Possess dire wolves?? Dragons???

since vampiric charm in 5e only works on humanoids I'd assume that his version of it also only works on humanoids, except that he was able to possess another vampire in the same way so maybe his works on undead too

WHICH MEANS HE CAN BUILD A FLESH GOLEM AND POSSESS IT

fanfic where Strahd builds a mecha and kicks ass

i'd imagine his first mecha would be a robotic version of himself that uses the weird potion as fuel so he can go to other domains (and also has a self destruct button to avoid another 'Azalin's ANGY' incident

his second one might be a giant wolf with him in wolf form piloting it with the magic ball, because a four legged mecha is easier to build than one with 2 legs

also I can't shake the thought of him asking for Barovians to pay taxes in the form of blood donations

I mean for one thing he wants to survive and not let people know he's a vampire but come on are you going to eat your townsfolk when you run out of prisoners?

it's slightly better when he says that he can use his mind control powers to make them forget that he drank from them but stillllllll :(

according to Azalin the most experimentation he's done about going into the mists is the thing with holding a string and running in, and tbh that's like the only thing I agree with Darcelus on

like dude you've been alive for hundreds of years and you're too horny about some redhead to investigate wtf is going on?

makes you wonder how much he knows about the sunlight burning him as well

if I were a vampire I would be testing this out every day and try to develop some kind of sunlight proof outfit to go outside with, and if people ask what I'm wearing I'll just say I have a skin condition

OH and since people are bound to take notice of his mechas he's building, maybe he can excuse this by saying he needs blood to power his mechas

so now he doesn't need to bite his villagers :D

and about the way he can make an outfit that sunlight proofs him- I have an experiment in mind. If he can metabolise, then he can cut pieces of his hair and put them under sunlight and look at them under a magnifying glass to see how they burn. And he can slot materials such as cloth etc between the sunlight and his hair to see if it blocks out the sun, and maybe he leaves it there for a few hours to see if it ACTUALLY blocks out the sun and isn't just burning there but slower

maybe the vision part will be harder to do since IDK if UV ray resistant glass even exists here, but maybe he just casts a spell on the costume so he can see out of it

and he can just put on an entire suit of armor over it assuming it's cloth and then he can go out in public in daylight- he doesn't need to breathe so suffocation isn't a problem

alternatively he can hide his ridiculous clothing by casting disguise self but he probably has already solved that problem

i sure hope vampires don't sweat

I don't think they do but if he does, I don't think he'll like it one bit

I lowkey headcanon him as autistic because he's good at keeping a straight face, hates being social (to the point where he will throw letters at people from the shadows rather than talking to them directly), once stared for ages at a wall because he was angy, identifies with animals more than people, and idk he probably has some sensory issues from how strongly he reacts to certain smells

or maybe I just can't feel pain idk lol

i wonder if Sergei and/or Tatyana were polyamorous, he sure as hell never asked them first

wonder how much it would explode his head if it turns out centuries later that they were poly all along and he killed Alek and Sergei for nothing

:(

but also >:]

Strahd said that kissing women felt nice but he doesn't really want to do it because he hungers for blood and he has to repress it, why does he hunger for people aside from Tatyana it seems?

hmmmmmm I have never ever seen ANYONE react to a person irl like how Strahd reacts to Tatyana, and it seems like I'm not the only one who finds it sus. Not just like in 'gee you really shouldn't be this obsessed over a girl' kind of sus, sus to the point where people theorise that she's a succubus or something. SO I'm thinking, does Strahd look inside and wonder why he's so attracted to Tatyana? like... he's not very curious or scientific the way Azalin is, so he probably didn't investigate it and he isn't the introspective type AT ALL so there maybe isn't a lot of looking into it that he did

my headcanon is that something happened between him and Tatyana in another life, maybe he was already cursed from there or something

because his crime wasn't that bad in comparison to other darklords.... killing two people vs mass murder

crack theory- Tatyana is a darklord as well and stuck in the same domain as Strahd, in a past life she cast a spell on him that made him fall in love with her madly, but her curse is that he will never be able to be with her and that she won't recognise him from the past life

because ngl her situation seems worse than Strahd in some ways

still I would REALLY love to know if there was any more background to Strahd's obsession over her other than 'tatyana's hot'

just scrolled to the top and remembered that since Strahd has some sick writing skillz, he would make an amazing youtuber as well

he'd be able to write something like the DSMP for money and entertainment purposes

that is a cursed line why did i write that lmao

wonder how he'd do as a streamer

I don't think he'd be a streamer since he seems to love his privacy and his autobiographies seem reserved for meeting people he really trusts and showing them his life story without having to sit down and explain it through because he hates social stuff

so his autobiographies are partially propaganda but really it has a lot of secrets so it's possibly to get people to like him

Azalin said that Strahd had a weird/ random sense of humor so I would really like to see how he responds to memes or if he would make them

Strahd REALLY goes out of his way whenever possible in his autobiographies to be like "actually no I'm not that nice, I'm doing this semi nice thing because of xyz" to the point where I'm suspecting he's trying to cover up the fact that he cares about stuff more than he actually does but he's trying to be intimidating

he obviously feels emotions and is sad about Sergei and Alek but he's an emotional repression person and probably tries to hide ANY kind of pain that isn't Tatyana related

I really want to know what would happen if he met Sergei or Alek's ghost.................................................

I feel like a bunch of scenes in the books may have been for fanservice to some degree lol (cough cough strahd taking off his shirt cause he doesn't want it to get ruined by swords cough)

idk what Strahd has going on for Van Richten but it's funny how he just saw one random guy and went 'ok I trust you, here's my entire life story' twice

another user said Strahd was trying to seduce Van Richten because of how he let him go free after Van Richten read his first autobiography, then probably arranged an illiterate thief to carry his other autobiography to the exact bookstore where Van Richten likes to hang out so he could read it in the perfect time frame, and then send a minion to pick it up afterwards lol

TWAA was so full of cartoon physics it was funny to imagine lol

Why did Strahd imagine such oddly specific scenarios such as Azalin going mountain climbing while casting spells and himself trying to grab a carrot off Azalin while Azalin twirls it around on a fishing rod like Strahd's a minecraft pig

Strahd's so done with Azalin by the end he just lets Azalin bow his spectral form like a sockpuppet :sob emoji:

[itsbenedict]

Alright, so- two months into the year, how much of my ten-item list is done?

Finish the first case of Justice/Arcana and revise the draft

Finish the SakuraPetalFantasy walkthrough portion of Datasouls (not with the whole combat toy situation, just the rest of it)

Do 24 TFJ recaps, two per month

Work through all the exercises in Genki 1 and 2, and catch up on WK reviews.

Date someone. I feel like I look decent and have a lot of desirable qualities that would make this not too hard to accomplish, but I have to put effort into looking or it’s never going to happen on its own. (I am unfortunately of the gender that doesn’t typically get asked out and has to take the initiative.) It’s gonna be tricky since I’m a weird person with weird life priorities and finding someone who’d actually be happy partnering up with that long-term is a tall order.

Actually get that standing desk walk-while-working workflow set up and establish an exercise routine that I keep to for more than half the year

Release a functional version of that Fire Emblem content authoring tool

Replace grody old kitchen sink that has weird white stuff growing out from inside the handle

Finish the games I’m still playing through from this post

Find some new source of income reliable enough to pay the bills without making me work more than 20 hours a week. (I’m a programmer, this is hypothetically doable.) Freelancing/contract work maybe?

One at a time...

I've done a few updates to Justice/Arcana, and have pretty much all the art assets I'll need done. There's a bit of a writing roadblock at the moment but I just need to take some time and work it out.

I did a handful of enemy icons for Datasouls but otherwise didn't work on it

Did four recaps, staying on course

No Japanese practice yet

No dating yet. From what I hear, there are no good dating sites anymore and it's all just swipe-right hookup apps, which are no use to me. I've written a date-me doc but I still need to have some nice pictures taken for it.

I ordered a new under-desk elliptical that you can actually stand on, and it just arrived, but I haven't set it up yet. I've been exercising regularly, though!

Made a bunch of progress on Medallion Works, such that the map editor is now bare-minimum functional.

No sink amelioration yet

Played most of those games- still need to get through The Sekimeiya, though. That one is long and dense.

Contract work for the company I quit has been manageable, but isn't quite paying the bills on its own- I made $3600 in February, which- setting aside probably half of that for taxes and other bullshit expenses- covers mortgage payments and utilities but not food and other purchases. And I'll be doing less and less work for them over time, as they get their environment stood up and running smoothly. That's still going to have to be replaced by real employment of some sort sometime this year, but not a concern just yet.

Overall, January and February were a bit more scattershot than I'd like- January was a whole lot of travel and finishing up stuff at work, and February still had a bit of work getting in the way. Plus I didn't really focus on any one thing, so nothing's fully checked off yet.

March... I think I need to focus on getting J/A's first case done, since it's in the home stretch. That and a couple recaps, and probably dealing with the sink situation if I can.

[doubleddenden]

I think youtube almost killed my laptop's wifi card. I run Ublock Origin on Firefox because I have limited data each month and used to lose a lot of data to ads, and I was getting 30 second unskippable ads every minute. I was doing just fine until recently in the last month when my internet connection kept cutting itself off. A bunch of experiments led me to realize it was my laptop's wireless connection, and now I either have to keep running troubleshooter or reset my network connection and restart my computer- this is every day, mind you.

I got fed up and decided to start watching YouTube on my ps4 because I want to watch things besides looney tunes reruns, and it works fine. Except now I'm being bombarded with upwards of 30 to 60 seconds of unskippable ads- it's changed from last time too, so its not just "ad 1 of 2," it's a solid 30 second timer that just plays ads until they finally let you skip.

Meanwhile, while this is going on, guess what? My laptop doesn't lose internet connection at all now that I'm not watching YouTube videos on it.

Conclusion: youtube's selfish, self absorbed war on adblock was killing my laptop. I've ordered a new wifi adapter anyway for like $15 after shipping abd taxes, so they're not winning against me. But still, they're fucking lucky I'm broke or I would sue their asses.

Anyway, to any youtube big wigs that might happen to read this: go fuck yourselves. For every ad I see on your platform, I make a mental list of businesses not to support. I'm not paying you losers any money for services that used to be free within MY lifetime, and you earn enough money from Google as it is. I'm not financially supporting you jerks that keep chasing off content creators or outright being hostile to them while allowing your outdated and poorly programmed content flagging system to flag every video they put up. Get the hell over yourselves and behave like actual human beings, and make a SENSIBLE ad system that does not waste my data, does not interrupt my video, does not waste my time, and most importantly DOES NOT FUCKING TRY TO KILL MY COMPUTER, or go fuck yourselves. I refuse to pay you a single penny, because you'll just make it more expensive and hide more previously free features behind a paywall or force me to watch ads anyway. I do not exist to consume fucking ads, I am stubborn and vengeful as hell, I will not lose to you pathetic corporate pieces of shit.

And guess what? Ad blockers are legal and recommended by experts and even the FBI (Google it, it's because cyber criminals use ads as a way to scam people! Wow! Who would have thought those fake Mr Beast ads telling you to "click here for $1000" were harmful!)

You will lose your war with ad blockers one day and we'll all dance happily when it happens.

[guessimate]

We are starting round 2 of the Asian part of my sim town today with the Laos, the family of florists. This family is quite lucky with random occurances. They got a kaching (+5000), but - spoiler alert - it was not enough to afford the instrument I promised to get for Mazu ($5500). It's from this set here. Saving a bit more money is probably a better choice in the long run, because flower arranging is not very lucrative, and it does need money for crafting.

By the way, sims in my town don't pay taxes on gifts from the gods, or inheritances and such. They only pay taxes based on what they earn in businesses or careers.

Mazu was not feeling very well even after her pregnancy and she was still having nightmares. Because she was so miserable, she wouldn't have had the time to practice music, so I decided to have Haru spend the gift on crafting before they would get the instrument.

I think her mood was so bad because of the environment. Sims really don't like big, open spaces, and their whole house is one empty room. I gave them an outdoor toilet instead of a chamber pot, and it improved the score slightly. I also had some other bug fixing to do... Somehow I couldn't direct them to craft indoors anymore, so I moved the flower station outside.

~*~

The Laos' heir, Hisashi, turned out to be a Leo, just like his dad, but he's slightly more neat (as neat as his mom). He's 4 Sloppy, 9 Outgoing, 6 Active, 6 Playful, and 4 Grouchy.

Hisashi has the same One True Hobby as his mom - Music&Dance. He discovered it while his mom was teaching him the Nursery Rhyme. Mazu taught her son to walk and potty trained him, as well. Haru taught him to talk. As it was autumn, the toddler wanted to keep getting skill points. I might get them a chess table next round, as he skill has the want to improve his Logic to level 6.

I decided to impregnate Mazu on the last day of autumn, at the very end of the round, when the heir was aging up. Their next baby will be born in winter, because I set seasons as spring - autumn - winter, don't ask me why, but it works pretty well. The giving trees they planted are already maturing, so they will be able to light fireplaces.

~*~

They opened their business twice this round. I wasn't really planning to do that, but they had more flowers in stock. I was considering not opening businesses in winter, since they are outside stalls, but I think my sims couldn't afford their taxes at all then.

They sold the 12 flower arrangements leftover from last round, earning 492$ (they were sold for 'average' price). Later Haru crafted 20 wildflower bouquets (one costs 47$ to make). I put them for sale as 'expensive', as their business had reached rank 3 by then.

~*~

They crafted 20 wildflowers -940$, sold 10 of them at an 'expensive' price tag +610$. They also sold 12 daisies crafted last round +492$, earning a total of 1102$.

500$ - rent

441$ - tax (40%)

110$ - tithe

~1050$ = to pay (they paid 1750$, as they needed to pay the tax from last round too; the money was paid to the monk). This round they had to pay almost as much as they earned. I don't like it, but that's what running the florist's is like in TS2.

They only have 4236$ left, unfortunately, which is not enough to buy an instrument. They got to business rank 4. Haru got Silver Sales Badge, and Mazu - Bronze Register Badge. Mazu is also the first member of the Cuisine club in my 'hood, because of spam cooking ramen so much. Actually, I think I've considered this step as unlocking cheese before, as it allows you to serve cheese platters, so maybe they will get to eat something else...

[dragonthusiast]

My self-publishing experience

Saw @prettyquickpoetry do an AMA about self-publishing, and thought it might be good to share my experience with it over the last 3 years, maybe it will be useful to someone.

So let's make a numbered list and go down it.

1. Covers

A lot of people think having as accurate cover as possible is necessary, myself included, but apparently that's not really the case. What's actually important is getting a cover that accurately shows your genre. If you have a fantasy book, and the cover immediately evocated fantasy, even if it's just some glowing sword it or something, that's usually enough.

Obviously, if there's for example a dragon on the cover and there's no dragons in the book, that would probably annoy someone, but generic can work, especially because you can then get a premade cover, which are noticeably cheaper than getting a custom one.

And getting one made for paperback/hardback of course costs extra (and in my experience they barely sell), so that's also something to consider.

2. Formating

Another important thing to deal with prior to publication is formatting of the book itself. if you properly format your text in Word, clearly labeling chapters with heading styles, that should be enough for the ebook version (at least it is when publishing on amazon, not 100% sure about paperbacks, though). However, if you want to add more complex things like graphics, POV banners, basically anything to make the inside of the book stand out, things get complicated.

Obviously you don't have to do these things, as long as the book is readable, I don't think anyone will complain, but anything from adding a table of contents to links might be a problem without it.

So if you want to have more than basic formatting, you have two options that are known to me - you can either buy a program called Vellum, which is very expensive (I paid around 300 dollars with tax) and it's only available for Macs but it is very good, or you can have someone format the book for you, which is also expensive, but not this expensive. It really depends on how many books you plan to publish. If you want to do this a lot, the program investment might be worth it, if not, I'd of course suggest just paying someone to do it for you. There's usually more complex options when it's custom order formatting, too.

I also know there's some people willing to use Vellum for you on Fiverr, which I find kind of funny, given how much they charge for such an easy task. But it is allowed, so good for them, I guess.

3. Choosing where to self-publish

Another important decision is if you decide to only stick with Amazon, or if you use the other major retailers also (e.g. going wide). I only have experience with the former, so I can only speculate about the latter, but basically: if you stick with Amazon, you get the option to put your book(s) into Kindle Unlimited (KU), which is basically a library where readers paying a monstly subscription fee can choose books to read, and you get paid per page read. This boosts your chances of people giving your book a try because it's very risk-free for them - they can just stop reading if they don't like it and go about their day without wasting money.

Now is this worth doing instead of putting your book only on Amazon? Hard to say. My books definitely make the most money from page reads, even though you get half a cent per page, but I can't know how many sales I would have made if I hadn't put the books in KU, so I have no idea. I do hear that KU is especially good for romance, but I also feel like half of publishing is just romance, so that feels like an empty statement.

The Amazon only vs. wide debate seems to be an endless one with no one actually having any idea what's best, and everyone feeling very "oh if only I chose the other option, maybe then I'd get readers" about it, so just do whatever, I guess. You can opt out of KU 3 months after signing up for it, so it's pretty risk free, and if it's not for you, you can then go wide. Though I would suggest against then going back to KU, it annoys people when things keep changing.

I know this section has not been very inspiring, but also, I just don't know at this point. I will be trying going wide with my next series, but I have no expectations, mostly because apparently more that 80% of readership is on Amazon. So if you see anyone harrassing authors for publishing there, please, feel free to bludgeon them.

4. Pricing

Most books I've seen seem to be priced at 2.99 to 4.99 dollars. Again, this is just my Amazon knowledge because I don't sell anywhere else yet. The reason for this is that, on Amazon, from 2.99 to 9.99 you get 70% of the money from a sale, while 0.99 to 2.98 gets you only 35%. (Same for over 10 dollars of course.)

You can't publish a book as free on Amazon, but you can publish somewhere else where this is allowed (I can't remember which retailer allows this right now, but I know there is at least one) and then you can tell Amazon to price match that, so it will be permafree. However, I do know Amazon, being a money hungry snake, doesn't like this, and they will do whatever they can to make this process difficult, such as randomly the price switching back from free to whatever it was.

Indie books more expensive than 4.99 get fewer sales because it's just more of a risk for readers than if they bought a more expensive traditionally published book, though if you can make it work, go for it. The more money the better.

I think 3.99 is a nice price point where it's not as cheap as it could be, implying at least subconsciously some kind of quality, while still being cheap enough for the average reader to not be intimidated by.

5. Marketing

The most awful thing in existence. Not to be too dramatic. It feels like slamming your head against a wall.

I'll immediately come out and say that I have no idea how to make this work, so unfortunately, I can't recommend anything, but I did try a lot of ways to market, so I'll just list them here and give my experiences with them.

Usually there's two types of ads you can do - ad campaigns and newsletters.

The first uses keywords you pick and you generally pay per click on the ad, which doesn't have to result in a sale. In fact, it usually doesn't, in my experience, to the point that I haven't figured out how to make them profitable at all.

Newsletters have two types - one that you yourself put together, which I highly recommend you do immediately, even before publishing. Even just having a link in the book to a signup form for people who want to read more things by you is better than nothing. I use Mailchimp for this, but I don't know if I want to recommend it, there's a lot that pisses me off about it, but that said I haven't found anything better, and you get up to 1K emails for your list for free, which is a bunch of people to collect the email addresses of. In 3 years, I got 3 so far. Obviously you can boost these numbers by offering an incentive other than just people wanting to read more books by you. For example, giving them a novella connected to your book(s) for free if they sign up. I haven't done this, but that's because I'm a lazy dumbass.

The second type of newsletters is one where you pay for your book to be added to the email that's sent out by a third party. Usually you choose which genre your book is in so only people who read for example fantasy will get your fantasy book in an email of other fantasy books. These lists have thousands of readers, but usually they're only for discounted or free books, so they're best for series.

Here's a link to a comprehensive list of these services, but they're not very cheap, having gotten much more expensive recently, with the added problem of diminishing returns. The first promotion you do is usually pretty successful, but if you do it again for the same book in maybe say half a year, plenty of people who would be interested already have your book, hence smaller numbers. I've had the most success with FreeBooksy, but I haven't tried every single service on that list.

The best of these is BookBub, where it's supposedly almost impossible not to make your investment back from what I heard. The reason I only ever heard about this is because it's expensive as shit. You fork over hundreds of dollars for these. Right now, a free fantasy book promo which is shown to almost 1.4 million people according to the BookBub website costs almost 500 dollars. The most expensive seems to be women's fiction for a whopping 700.

And again, I need to stress this is if your book is free, so you won't make any money back directly, with non free book promos being even more expensive than this. You need this to be the first in a series, ideally. I wish I could try this out, but 500 dollars here is like half a monthly sallary, so it's a little unreachable for me, especially when I can't even be sure that money will come back to me.

But from second hand opinions I've seen, very few people complain about this being ineffective. It's just very unapproachable.

Okay, and now let's look at those ad campaigns.

Let's go from worst to best:

Twitter ads - awful, you get a bunch of clicks but I've never once made a sale despite getting hundreds of clicks, even on things that are up for a dollar. So I assume it's all bots. (Also Twitter might die soon or whatever, so I guess it doesn't matter anymore)

Facebook ads - supposedly work, you can even filter people who read ebooks on there when you know how, but even after reading a book about this specific topic, I have never made a sale that way, just like with Twitter. I think Facebook ads might work, but it's a money sink to the point that I couldn't get that many clicks before having to stop the ad campaign. I'm a poor eastern European student, ok, I can't afford paying a dollar per click, hoping that maybe after 10 I get a single sale that will give me back 2 or 3 dollars.

BookBub ads - yes Bookbub also does pay-per-click ads for books. They're also useless. The only reason I put them ahead of the other two is that I believe the clicks you get are from real people, and that they're not very expensive. But I have never made a sale here.

Amazon ads - the most success I've had with this type of ad. I feel a need to stress that this is incredibly relative, I barely made any money, I certainly never made enough to justify the ads, but it was the most effective of these. I usually tried them, only to grow anxious about getting click and no sales to the point where I decided that I must be doing something wrong, turned them off, only to repeat a few months later until finally I just gave up completely. People make good profit on these, supposedly, but I just couldn't figure it out. It didn't matter what book I put out an ad for, or what keywords I used. Even when I was randomly getting clicks, there were no sales. I just don't know, anymore.

Finally, something related to marketing but not exactly an ad:

Website - when I started I thought it was incredibly important to have an author website, and yes, it's neat, but it's in no way a necessity, and it costs a lot of money. I initially didn't think it was too bad, but that's because most website hosts give you a very discounted plan for the first three years, and then hit you with even tripple prices.

Even with the newsletter signups, you can use a service to host your form on their website, not to mention you can put one of the signup forms on a free website (at least Wix let me). But my point here is that you don't actually need a website if you don't want to bother. A Facebook page serves the same purpose, for example. And even if you do want a website, a free one is enough. If there's a reader out there who, upon visiting an indie writer's website, scoff that there's ads, or whatever, they are an asshole.

Of course, if you can afford a website, why not, go for it, but it's not something you have to have.

And related to this: I see a lot of people get hung up on reviews when they first publish. And yes, reviews are important, but I have never noticed a difference in sales between books that have reviews/have few reviews/have no reviews. My most "successful" book sold hundreds of copies if I also count KU reads, and that had no reviews for a full month. All those sales were organic too, I did nothing to earn this aside from writing the book (which should be enough in an ideal world but oh well). And then the reviews weren't very good, but the sales didn't drop off.

Opposite to this my first book is sitting at 39 reviews, with the worst being two 2 star ratings, the majority is 5 stars. Pretty good. Guess what that book will not sell unless I pay. At all.

What matters is algorithms, which supposedly can be jumpstarted by getting a lot of sales upon publishing. Apparently that makes the algorithm notice that the book is doing good and it will push it more so more people buy it. But I don't think anyone actually understands how the Amazon algorithm works, including Amazon. All this is is speculation. That said, I did notice there's usually some organic interest in a book shortly after publishing (as long as its the first in a series/stand-alone). The only time a book of my arrived dead on arrival was with The Circles of Magic. I wish I could say I learned what I did wrong, but no. I have no idea still.

And I think that's it. If I think of anything else, I'll add it. If anyone has any questions, I can answer them, also, so don't be shy. I wrote this not to make anyone second-guess their goal to self-publish, of course, I don't regret doing it, but I think it's good to share what it's been like so whoever might find this useful knows what it's like. And of course this is just my experience, I'm sure you could find someone with the exact opposite experience.

Special mention to @missdrarrydawn my beloved best fren best person alive . This has nothing to do with the rest of the post. It's just the objective truth, and she deserves a special mention

[felonious]

My mind is swirling with thoughts. I woke up too early. But I went to sleep too early. So when I wake up early (2am) I will maybe stream a movie and I was trying to stream a movie and it kept stopping saying no internet signal. So I check my connection and it’s on and I try again and it streams a minute and stops, and I check and I have a connection so I check the speed of my connection and it’s down. I live rural and internet is always an issue in the country but..and I’ve been patient. It’s a constant thing with this company. And the tech support never supports. It just tries to bump me up to the next more expensive package. But the package I pay for promises a certain speed. And they aren’t providing me with it. Why the fuck would I give them more money when they don’t even give me what I already pay for? It’s a small company started by local people which makes it really hard to call them up and scream. But this morning after 2 hours of fucking with streaming a movie I lost it and I sent them an email and I told them not to bother with passing it to their inept tech dept. the tech guy is the son of one of the owners. He started at the start of COVID. Maybe he had to leave a job and his mummy gave him one and he really doesn’t know how to do it. I don’t know if any one of them knows what they are doing. I left hughesnet for this. Sometimes I think I should have stuck with hughesnet. They offered me a low low price of 30/mo to stay. But the good thing about the smaller company is that they openly let customers know that there was a federal program to help with low income families to help with internet costs and I am a recipient of that program so I pay 10+tax a month instead of 40+tax a month, and if hughesnet has the same deal, I doubt they actually send you a letter about it. A lot of benefits are hidden so that people in need has to do their research. It’s an acquired skill, and it takes some work, and not everybody is equipped to do that so I appreciate them for that. And now I feel a bit of a shit heel for that email, should I send a bit of gratitude their way? Apologize? Nah, srsly, not being able to stream a movie in SD at 4am is just not acceptable. I really don’t ask for much.

But then another company I do business with is Blick for art supplies and I recently ordered a box easel which is a box and has easel built in so when the lid is up it’ll support a canvas or whatever and also carry art supplies and comes with palette and I wanted this for going outside where I cleared a place yesterday with the help of a hired hand. In the middle of a group of trees we cleared branches. As we were working I was saying how great a little spot it would be to have a picnic, just put out a blanket and an ice chest of food and drink and hang out there for an hour or two when it isn’t windy and if it doesn’t get swarming with ants and a harbor to the no see ’ems and mosquitoes. But that box, yeah it arrived and a part on it had broken off and sadly it was a glued on piece so I sent them a picture and asked them how they could help and they gave me a choice of a 30%discount or send me a replacement. I’m not a cabinet maker. I don’t have the right clamps for repairing it. I don’t even have wood glue. I didn’t want a discount, I just wanted a working box but I was feeling stressed that I would have to send back the broken box. So they told me to throw the broken box away and they’ll send a replacement. Wow. What a relief. Of course I’ll keep the broken box and donate it to the old school gallery for the kids’ art table at the Ramah farmers’ market that I facilitate. Maybe somebody passing by will be somebody with clever clamps and offer to fix the box so that the kids can use the easel too.

It’s warming up so it’s time to watch out for rattlesnakes. They’ll be stirring and feeling peckish. They like my place. Rocks, and woodpiles and plenty of food. What I need to add to my eco system is a confusion of Guinea fowl.