#it’s a huge week for annoying people (me) because the 17th is. well you know!

[telephonicsonnyboy]

happy 50th dear Watergate book!!!

[belovedrival]

“It’s Jonas.”

It’s been almost six months but I did say I would talk about my experience, so here goes...

(It’s really long, I started this draft when Jonas was three months old)

I was told that I would be induced on March 10, a Wednesday. My due date was the 17th but baby had been measuring large for months so my doctor just wanted to go ahead with it. I agreed. We’d made it to 39 weeks and that was good. Plus, I felt huge and just...done with being pregnant. 

I worked (from home) on the 10th. It felt sort of surreal, knowing that we’d be at the hospital at 5 pm that evening, but I knew I needed to work to keep my mind off what was coming. For a while, at least. 

We’d started packing the hospital bags for weeks before. I’d left my suitcase open next to the bed and I’d throw things in there whenever I’d do laundry or think of something else I wanted to take. I sort of knew then that I was majorly overpacking (and in hindsight it’s laughable how much stuff I never wore/used) but at least we were prepared, right?

Yeah, about that...

Mister drove to the hospital. Since I was being induced, it wasn’t any frenetic, movie scene type, panicked dad experience. We just put our things in the car and drove there. On the way we talked about how strange it was, knowing that when we came home (God willing), there would be a baby in the car seat. Of course at that time we still didn’t know if our baby was a girl or boy.

(Mister told me later that he was almost certain baby was a boy. He said he’d heard too many nurses/medical personnel ‘slip’ while we were having ultrasounds and whatnot.)

People can choose to find out or not, but it puts a whole other dimension on the experience when you don’t know in advance. Just my two cents.

As we turned into the hospital parking lot, Mister told me to open the glove box. “There’s something for you in there,” he said. I opened it, trying to swallow the bowling ball that had lodged itself in my throat.

“Oh!” I said. “What I always wanted - an owner’s manual!”

When I’m nervous, I often joke.

There was a small white box next to the owner’s manual. In it was a necklace with an aquamarine pendant; one of the birthstones for March. Of course I cried.

We took an obligatory selfie before going inside the hospital. After getting checked in, we went to our room. I remember thinking that we’d only be in that room probably a day, and that 24 hours later, we’d be upstairs post delivery.

Ha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

I was given a drug to start labor (not pitocin). I’ve always hated needles and so getting an IV was not part of my top 100,000 Things I Love to Do List. Thankfully, the nurse who put it in was really good, so I barely felt anything. 

The one major memory of this whole experience (other than Jonas, of course) was how good the nurses were. I am forever grateful to them. 

Other than the IV and monitors, Mister having to sleep on the sofa, and me laying on a hospital bed, we could almost trick ourselves into imagining we were staying at some sort of hotel. Almost. For a few hours, anyway.

Wednesday night into Thursday morning was okay. I was feeling persistent pain. It wasn’t terrible, just uncomfortable, and I knew that it was part of the process. I didn’t sleep great but I was able to get some rest.

Around six o’clock there was a shift change, and my nurse for the day came in. Liz had a kind of cheerleader vibe about her, very positive, and in some other circumstances I might’ve found her annoying. But I liked her.

My doctor came in a little after seven and broke my water. That experience was...weird. I mean, it was a new experience for me, so it’s hard to describe. Uh, water is wet, so it was wet? Honestly, the thing I remember the most is that there was some meconium after Doc broke my water, which worried me a little. Baby was doing fine and no one seemed super worried, so I set it aside. I DID think it meant I was guaranteed to have the baby that day. How wrong I was, and not for the first time...

They gave me pitocin after my water was broken. So my contractions increased. It felt more like strong period cramps to me. I should say at this point that I have a high pain tolerance. I don’t know what the same level of contractions would feel like to someone else. Sometimes I was only mildly aware that I was having them. 

Probably one of the most annoying things about my entire experience Wednesday/Thursday/into Friday was not being allowed to eat anything. I had ice chips, and water, and Liz managed to get me some Jello. This was actually something of an issue, because I had gestational diabetes, so at first nobody wanted to give me anything except for sugar-free Jello. I did have some of that, but as the day wore on and there wasn’t much progress, Liz talked to somebody and got me some regular Jello. I would’ve preferred something else, but Jello was what I was allowed, so Jello I got.

I...don’t really like Jello. Seriously, like if it’s the only thing, I’ll eat it, but...yeah.

The hours ticked by. Progress was slow. At first I looked forward to Liz and the other nurses coming in and checking me, but by late afternoon, it was clear that things were slooooooow. The best part of Thursday was sometime in the afternoon Liz suggested bouncing on the ball. I was really happy to get out of bed and bounce for a while. After doing that, I decided it was time for the epidural.

I’d decided beforehand I wanted an epidural. As I said, I absolutely hate needles, but I also didn’t want my body to be so stressed that labor couldn’t progress. In the back of my mind, I also thought that if the situation changed, and a c-section became necessary, the epidural would already be in place. 

After the epidural was put in, I started shaking on the edge of the bed, tears rolling down my face. Liz was still holding on to me, and Mister was there, and they both asked what was wrong. I couldn’t speak for a minute. It felt a little like I was five years old, still terrified of that darn needle, and all the tension I’d suppressed had to get out somehow.

“It’s okay,” Liz said, giving me a hug. Sometimes that’s all that’s needed. I was sorry to see her go when her shift ended. She said she was working again on Saturday and that she’d stop by to see us after the baby was born, to see what we were having. (She did stop by.)

This was a constant refrain from most of the nurses: upon first coming into the room, and looking at the white board that had my information and seeing next to “Baby” was written “Surprise!!” we inevitably got the question, “You don’t know what you’re having? That’s awesome!” 

Getting the epidural made the pain diminish, but it also made things more complicated for me because I couldn’t move. Overnight, a tag team of nurses turned me one way and the other, and checked me. 

(I should also mention that all of the staff at the hospital had already been vaccinated, and they all wore masks into the rooms. We did not have to wear masks in the room, but if we went outside it, they were required.)

By Thursday night, both Mister and I were feeling rather discouraged. All day Thursday we’d been told that baby would come “by the afternoon”, then “by the evening”, and then late Thursday, “by Friday morning”. Bear in mind that I’d been on an IV/ induced since roughly six pm on Wednesday. 

Maybe this sounds laughable to people who’ve had 72 hour long labors, but I’d been mentally prepared for around 24 hours of labor. My twin sister had been induced with her first, and her labor had gone about that long. Around midnight on Thursday I was feeling pretty discouraged. Mister wasn’t angry but he said (when we were alone) that he felt like the staff had been overly optimistic. I just don’t think either of us had thought about the implications of me being induced without any sign of active labor. In hindsight, I was glad it was done then, but...yeah. Not being mentally prepared for that long of a labor was hard. I felt bad for everyone who was waiting on updates; it felt like literally nothing happened for about thirty hours. Like I think was dilated to five by Friday morning. And effaced? Practically nothing. My cervix wasn’t getting thinner at all.

Early Friday morning, a new nurse started her shift. My first impressions of Diana were...well, I thought, “she’s definitely not as friendly as Liz.” She was more brusque. As I hadn’t slept much Thursday night, and having been in the same situation for over a day, I didn’t care nearly as much about making friends. By that point I was tired - physically, mentally, emotionally.

But Diana was awesome. She got me turned onto my hands and knees, and had me start doing some vigorous exercises, to really move labor along. I was fine with doing whatever she said because I was REALLY ready to be done. So it felt a little like my cross country days in high school, at the finish of a difficult race. I was tired, I wasn’t sure how much I could do physically, but we had a GOAL and dammit, we were going to do everything to get there!

By late morning, even after the exercises, I was still dilated at a five. Hardly effaced at all. After checking me again, Diana left the room. The option of a c-section had been discussed, especially since it was over 24 hours since my water had been broken.

“I think I’m done,” I said to Mister. Even though I’d never really been 100% ‘I want a natural birth experience’, it felt a little like giving up. I started crying again. “I just don’t think this [natural labor] is going to work. I’m done.”

“If you’re done, that’s it,” Mister said. “Tell Diana you want a c-section.”

I have to say something here about Mister. Even though he kept saying he didn’t know what he was doing or how he should support me, he was AWESOME. He supported every decision, and listened to me talk about the different options. For as hard as labor was for me, I think he had a different hard time. All he could do was literally sit there and watch me go through pain and doubt and fear, and comfort me as best he could. He was a great comfort.

(This is why even if thoughtful partners don’t think they’re doing a good job at supporting laboring moms, they most likely are. Their presence is invaluable. For anyone who doesn’t have a supportive partner with them, or an absent one, my profound condolences.)

When Diana came back in, I told her I wanted a c-section. This was around 11 o’clock Friday morning, March 12th. “I agree,” she said right away, patting me on the shoulder. “You’ve done everything you possibly can to get this baby delivered naturally. I trust mom’s instincts on this.”

Her support meant so much. Really, when a veteran nurse says they trust your instinct, how can you not feel better about your decision?

She left to contact my doctor and several other people, and Mister let people know what was going on. At that point I was more relieved that soon it would be over. I wanted to see our baby.

Mister said later that he learned that hospitals have two speeds: 1) we’re in no rush; and 2) something is going to happen NOW. While my c-section wasn’t an emergency, once the decision was made, things did happen fast. Diana brought the anesthesiologist into the room so he could numb me up. As I already had the epidural, this didn’t take very long. After a few minutes of letting the medication work, Bryce asked if I could feel my toes.

“No,” I said. It was weird. I knew I shouldn’t feel them, but I couldn’t help saying, “I’m trying to wiggle them!”

“No, no, it’s good you can’t feel them,” both Bryce and Mister said. I was wheeled out of the labor room a few minutes after that (I was not sorry to leave it) and taken to the OR. Mister went with someone else to take our stuff to the recovery room.

I’ve been in operating rooms before. They aren’t places that make me want to stay there. Bright lights, metal everywhere, many thoughts of what could go wrong...although I will say that all the staff in the OR made me feel confident. I was glad to see my doctor. 

I felt better once I was in the OR (the only time in my life I’ve ever felt that way) but it felt like a long time until Mister arrived in there. He’d gone with a member of staff as they took all our stuff to a recovery room, then been taken to the OR. Once he was in place, everything started.

Doctor M had asked me before Mister arrived if he wanted to ‘announce’ was the baby was. I told her that he most likely would, but to ask him. She did, and he said yes, he’d love to do that.

There was a blue sheet in front of me so I really couldn’t see anything that went on - which was PERFECTLY FINE with me.

Obviously, I was flat on my back, and everything below my chest was numb. The doctor and others asked me at various times if I felt anything, and I didn’t (other than tugging and pulling). At one point, I suddenly smelled the unmistakable scent of something burning. “What is that? That burning smell?” I asked, glancing above me (really, behind me) at Bryce, who stood there.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said.

Which immediately told me I didn’t want to know what it was. 

Yeah, it was me burning, while the medical staff cauterized me, keeping me from bleeding to death.

(The fact that cesarean sections are major surgery, and regularly happen every day in the United States, is, frankly, a miracle. Everyone hears about the horror stories when something goes wrong, but considering the number of women who go through them without incident, we as a society completely take them for granted.)

As the tugging and pulling continued, and Doctor M said things like, “there’s the head”, the sense of anticipation increased. I’ve never felt anything like it before. Both Mister and I knew any moment we would meet our baby, and after waiting 39 weeks (and eight years before that), it was almost unbearable.

Doctor M said, “Here’s the baby!”

I heard a slight cry, and I looked up at Mister, who sat on my right, holding my hand. He looked down at me and said, “It’s Jonas.”

Even thinking about that moment now brings tears to my eyes. In knowing Mister almost eleven years, I’ve only seen him cry maybe five times. Including this year, on March 12th. We both were bawling, and laughing at the same time, as Jonas VERY loudly screamed his disapproval at being evicted from his warm, cozy space. At one point, Mister, laughing as he cried said, “One of the ---s (our last name) needs to stop crying in here!”

He has a rather husky cry, Jonas does. I loved his cry from the moment I first heard it (though I don’t actually like to hear him cry, if that makes any sense).

As I was sewn up, Mister moved his chair over to where our baby was, under a heat lamp. Then he brought Jonas over to me. My first thought was, he’s HUGE. My second thought was, he was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen.

He weighed nine pounds, five ounces at birth, and had a fifteen inch head circumference. After I heard that, I knew a natural birth was never going to happen. He was born on Friday the 12th of March, at 1:14 pm. The digital clock on the wall said 13:14, which I thought was cool. And it made it a bit easier to remember the time :)

He had lots of dark hair, which I loved. My sister’s had bald babies, so it was nice to have a different-looking kid. Over the last few months, his hair almost entirely disappeared due to cradle cap, and is coming back in...blond. Genetics!

I can say now that it’s past, that I was more afraid during pregnancy than I could admit to anyone, even Mister. I have always been a worrier, and finally being pregnant after so many years, and being high risk due to my age (and my shunt, and the gestational diabetes...) I was in almost constant worry of something going wrong. First of miscarriage (no one needed to tell me of the statistics regarding older mothers), then of stillbirth, like the cord getting wrapped around baby’s neck, and death happening before delivery could happen. I have heard of at least two different stories of that happening to pregnant women in the ninth month - friends of friends of mine - and the fear of that, or something else equally catastrophic happening was, at times, almost crippling. I would’ve preferred to have never been pregnant at all rather than suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth. 

Perhaps it sounds childish, but mentally I didn’t think I was strong enough to have the dream of motherhood dashed, when every day of pregnancy brought that dream closer. I was (and still am) too much of a realist to ignore the statistics; I couldn’t pretend I was 22 and have a blissfully ignorant uneventful pregnancy. To this day, even after giving birth to a healthy baby, one of the biggest things that will set me off is the assumption that way too many people have. “We’re planning on getting pregnant soon.” “Just have kids, you’ll understand.” “I can take you out and make one just like you.” [a redneck phrase I’ve heard being said to a misbehaving child]

Not many of us can “plan” on getting pregnant exactly when we want to - or even within a year’s time. Not all of us can “just have kids” - they’re not like going to the store and getting a gallon of milk. (I recognize the privilege of living in a society where going to the store and expecting fresh milk can also sound arrogant to those who don’t live in one.) ‘Take out’ a kid (even said in jest), and ‘make another one’? I MIGHT have another child in the next couple years. More likely, I won’t. Not all of us can just get pregnant at the drop of a hat. (That’s assuming the one wanting to get pregnant even has a male partner or sperm donor at the ready...some never find that person to have a child with. And adoption can be a great thing, but not everyone is cut out for it. Shaming infertile and childless people for not wanting to adopt is disgusting.)

I was open with my OB-GYN about my fears during pregnancy and she referred me to several resources, and monitored me for PPD. My best friend’s son died in March 2020, a year before Jonas was born (though Billy had severe disabilities which made his death a certain thing), and my sister had had a stillborn son in August 2019 (my nephew Christian). So Jonas being born healthy was a huge relief for me. I can’t really describe the relief, except to say that as much physical weight I gained during pregnancy, letting go of the weight of the worry was felt even more deeply than losing the pounds since his birth (and I’ve haven’t lost all of that).

I will probably always worry about *something*, when it comes to Jonas. He gave me a scare earlier this week, rolling off the couch before I could catch him. He’s fine...and the incident scared me more than it scared him. But every day since he was born is a reminder of the gift he is, and I hope I never lose sight of that, even on the frustrating days (and there have been those over the last almost six months, and there will be more to come).

If you ever wanted children, and are fortunate enough to have them, cherish them. Be grateful for them, even when they drive you up the wall. Even when you only want three minutes’ peace, and they won’t give it to you. Love them anyway. I try to.  

[coolpolarbear123]

Band Camp Day 3

"we can either be the picconets or the clarilos." "The picc-a-nut?" "clarilo it is"

August 17th, 2021

<< 3 >>

forgive me if this is short:

4 hours of sleep later, we're heading to the field with literal mugs of coffee in hand to start the senior prank

the prank today: hanging underwear on the band director's podium

it's a tradition. I've probably mentioned it in past posts

at 8:30, we start, I'm more anxious than ever bc of all the drama

practice, fundamentals, the works

ML2 doesn't clap for the DI's and it freaks me out bc I know it's bc she hates that I have it

I've literally been texting the picc drum major (her roommate) about it all of band camp

my marching today??? absolutely awful. I could barely pay attention or anything

it's ML2's bday!! so I have been trying to mention it a lot and get her recognition so that maybe she's not as angry at me

We got put in a temporary band block yesterday and it's??? terrible? I'd like for the temporary part to end bc we're still using it

today I did a lot of messing up, and I feel really bad and gross about it

there's been this issue that when we do stuff in our big band block, someone in the middle will mess up, and by the time it gets to the ends of the block (us, the piccs), it's a huge mess, and we get blamed

this happened and our DM (the other one, the one who plays alto) was like "I know when I'm wrong" and we were scrambling to figure out where we were supposed to be

lunch!

people from random sections have been eating with us. This is fine, but?? it seems really early. Do you guys even know your own sections?

full band rehearsal! it was uneventful

our first playing sectionals! we stickered our nametags, then played through a lot of songs

we actually did really well, which is probably because we're mostly returners (re: one freshman)

and!! we were worried that our SL was gonna be super nitpicky and she's not! she's super reasonable!

back to full band rehearsal. Our band director made us watch a bunch of videos?? like they were sorta related to what we were doing but eh

I've been doing a lot of exchanging glances with the alto drum major. Mostly about ML2

we also?? have to move section bonding? which usually happens on Thursday night? I told our section leader that she needs to take that day off from her CA stuff, but she didn't, and now she works that night. Finding a replacement was aggravating, and we chose an hour and a half window on Sunday

that's not enough time, and it's... mediocre at best, really

it doesn't leave much space for fun things

dinner! the other librarian staff person is very well known for making really weird food combos that are super gross, and she is on a roll this week, lemme tell ya

a couple days ago it was coffee and chicken, there was cake and meat sauce at one point, etc

"If I can eat it, it's not a dog"

after dinner was more marching

our band director said he was writing pregame drill tonight, which means us drill librarian staff will have our hands full in the morning

did i mention the IMMENSE AMOUNT OF ANXIETY i have about being leadership bc of certain other members in the section?

it's so bad that our section leader had to give us the "don't talk about other members behind their back" speech

we did our singing at the end, and the 5th years led. One of my best friends is a 5th year, and there's only, like, 5 total, and it was really cute

very last of the real ones

and then we flash mobbed the hey song to scare the freshmen, like we do every year, even though we usually do it in the band room

our freshman caught on to the movements fairly well

the night activity was the scavenger hunt!

on the drive to the main part of campus, i asked if we are still doing the "not last" chant, and ML2 was like "I think the other sections get annoyed at it"

I texted our DM bc I was sad that we're retiring the chant

we get out of the car and the piccs aren't sitting in their usual spot which is like the icing on the cake for my stress rn

and then my SL comes up to me and is like "I'm gonna start the chant" "did [DM] talk to you?" "yeah, and I wanna do it" "let's just... wait and see"

but then later, one of the piccs started it, so at least we chanted it and I'm not the only one who cares

the clarinets only had one returner show up (one of my really good friends), so they requested to combine with a different section, and the piccolos all raised their hands up after a moment and shouted "PICCOLOS" so they joined us!

it was sorta scary bc that's a lot of people? we had all 10 of us, and there was a good amount of them, and we only have 15 minutes to run around and do things

but literally no one else wanted them (one of the clarinet freshmen even begged the drumline to take them) and we're friends with them, so

the scavenger hunt began, and SL did an amazing job of leading. I got to help with it! i called out prompts

and DANG were we efficient

we werent even late to getting back

usually while the scores are being calculated, we dick around, and every section did plenty of that, including us, but it was kinda awkward bc the senior piccs wanted no part of it

i was upset bc why can't we just,,, not separate ourselves like that. Why do we have to be different and extra and not social

I stayed with the seniors bc I was more scared of leaving them, but I was annoyed

after scores were calculated and we were all standing together, I went around and said "reminder! all we want is not last" and I get back to my place where I was standing to hear the seniors just like "idc what we get, I just wanna go home"

cool thanks

but we didn't get last!! and we did sorta scream bc that's huge!

last place had 41 points

AND THEN WE DIDN'T GET SECOND TO LAST

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOKS ON OUR FACES

but then we

DIDN'T GET THIRD TO LAST EITHER

at this point we're holding our breath, not screaming, just giving each other Looks

how well did we do? we had such a big section

fast forward to them announcing fourth place, and that wasn't us either, we were all whispering about how we ranked. No matter what, we were first, second, or third, and that's like getting a medal

and we weren't third

"first place had significantly more photos"

that kinda where we all accepted that we got second

and WE FUCKING WON WITH 81 POINTS

WE

WON

WE WON MY FRESHMAN YEAR AND NOW MY SENIOR YEAR

THAT'S H U G E

piccolos don't win things

we don't even know the clarinets

we called ourselves the clarilos

we're so fckn stoked about our win, guys, it hasn't even set in, really

NOT LAST NOT LAST NOT LAST

[wrenarrior]

The Surprise Party

Preparations

Marie frowned at her reflection in the mirror, wondering if she had really gained as much weight as Patricia claimed she had. After a few more moments of close scrutiny, Marie grew weary of the task. Sighing, she sat back down on her bed, staring straight ahead at the blank, white wall. It was the middle of summer yet there was nothing for her to do in the house.

Sure, she had plenty of friends, but it was too early in the morning. And unlike her, some of them were working summer jobs to save up for college. For her and her friends, college was a year away yet Hannah and Lauren already started worrying about how they’d make ends meet. Luckily for Marie, her parents saved a decent-sized college fund for her, which she was very thankful for.

Except for this moment because she was very bored.

“Tonight, we are young So let's set the world on fire We can burn brighter than the sun!”

Holding her phone in her hand, Marie happily listened to her ringtone, waiting for it to near the end before she answered the phone. She would’ve picked it up right away, but that would’ve made her seem desperate for attention or something. Once she had waited a sufficient amount of time, she slid her finger across the screen to answer the call before placing the phone to her ear.

“Marie, it’s Gavin. You’ve got to help me. Are you free right now?”

The small smile on her face broke out into a huge grin at that instant, but Marie did her best to keep her voice calm. “I mean, I was sleeping, but now that I’m awake, I guess I’m free. What’s up? Did something happen with Tracy?”

“No, no. Tracy and I are fine. It would be easier if you just came over to my house, though. Please be quick about it.” Hiding the amusement from her voice, Marie replied with annoyance, “Geez, Gavin, the things I do for you… I’ll be there in 20 minutes. If you’re making coffee for yourself, make me a cup, too. I think I’m still half asleep. Anyways, see you soon.”

✖ ✖ ✖

Sitting comfortably on Gavin’s couch, Marie took a small sip of her coffee. “Okay, so what’s the situation? Why did you invite me at—” she paused to glance at her cell phone. “9:37 in the morning? Need I remind you how early that is in teenager time?”

On the couch directly across from her, Gavin sat with Tracy leaning on his shoulder, still half-asleep. Looking down at his girlfriend’s sleepy face, he smiled before turning his attention back to Marie. “Well, it’s not that early. Did I really wake you up?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course, idiot. Why would you even ask that? I never wake up before noon in the summer.” Hidden deep inside the pocket of her light pink hoodie, Marie’s right hand slightly shook while she spoke, revealing her answer as a lie.

Luckily for her, Gavin was none the wiser this time, because he went straight to business. “Okay. So, I invited you here because we’ve got a dilemma. Remember Hannah? Well, it’s her 17th birthday tomorrow. But don’t worry. I remembered just in—”

Tracy stirred and began laughing, cutting off her boyfriend from speaking. Once she stopped laughing enough to speak, she glanced over towards Marie and explained, “Total bullshit. The only reason he remembered is because of Facebook.”

Gavin cleared his throat. “It doesn’t matter how I found out, okay? All it matters is that I know now, and I’m telling Marie. Anywho, before I was so kindly interrupted, I was going to say… what do we do, Marie? We’re such bad friends. I swear—”

Marie interrupted, “Stop, Gavin. I’m sure we’ll come up with something brilliant in no time, okay? Besides, her birthday is tomorrow. We’ve got plenty of time. Do you know if Lauren is working today? If not, we should invite her over, too.”

Tracy carefully rose from the couch, stretching out her arms as she stood. "I'll call her. That bitch has some explaining to do. It’s been two weeks since I last stopped by the donut shop during her shift. She’s been so busy lately. I miss her annoying voice.”

A sick feeling spread through Marie’s stomach. There was something so wrong about what her best friend just said yet… how does one even confront the person they enjoy hanging around the most? Deciding to keep her mouth shut, she nodded quietly.

After that, time seemed to speed up for the trio. Lauren picked up but she claimed to be too busy to come over, but once Tracy told her about the birthday planning, she agreed to take a day off work to make it to the party. By lunchtime, Gavin had to leave for his shift at the bookstore, leaving just Lauren and Marie alone to talk out the finishing touches for the surprise party.

It was around 3pm when the pizza arrived. It was also around 3pm when the two girls had finally finished talking out every single detail, from where the party would be located—at Gavin’s house, of course—to what kind of cake they’d order: red velvet, which was a favorite amongst every person in the small group of friends. They even invited a ton of people from school to come, too.

All that was left was to make sure that Hannah actually showed up at the right time. Placing her pizza down momentarily, Marie looked over to Tracy expectantly. “Which one of us should stop by Hannah’s apartment? I think she might have the day off tomorrow, but I’m not really sure. I don’t mind going to check, though. Unless you want to, which is totally okay, too.”

“I think you should go, Marie.” Tracy stared off into the distance, almost as if she were remembering a painful memory. “Things didn’t go so well between me and Hannah the last time we spoke in private. That was five weeks ago and I feel so... lost.”

Marie shrugged. “It’s not your fault, Tracy. Seriously. I’ve been having issues with Hannah, too. I just hope this birthday party will be enough to help all of us heal and move forward with our friendships. I really miss what we all had before.”

“It was so great, huh?” A light smile graced Tracy’s lips. “Just me, you, Hannah, and Lauren against the world. But ever since summer started, Hannah and Lauren have been growing more distant. Hannah’s been more distant than Lauren, though. I just hope I didn’t break up the group when I started going out with Gavin towards the end of junior year. I’d feel so bad if I did.”

Shaking her head quickly, Marie replied, “Tracy, of course not! On the bright side, Lauren still texts in the group chat. Hannah has been giving me the cold shoulder for at least six weeks now. If she’s doing this on purpose, I will personally hurt her myself.”

“Don’t say that.” Tracy stifled laughter. “The line would be way too long of all the people that want to hurt Hannah. But forget that. We’re going to try to find our old best friend again. This birthday party will be the perfect thing we need to fix it all.”

Marie sighed. “I hope so, Tracy. I… really hope so.”

The Big Day

Marie took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself, and then, with the phone still to her ear, she said, “Okay, Tracy. I’m right outside Hannah’s apartment building. Are you sure you’re ready? Is everything set up? And did everyone show up?”

“Relax, Marie. Everything is completely under control here. Just play it cool like we practiced. You’ll do fine.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ll see you soon, then.” Quickly, she hung up and pocketed her phone. Then, without another moment of hesitation, Marie walked forward and rang the doorbell of the apartment, waiting for a familiar brunette to appear.

Except after a few seconds, there was nothing. No movement. No muffling. No shouts of “I’ll be there.” from Hannah like she did every other time that Marie came to visit. And unlike other times, the air was still and quieter than usual.

Seeing no other option, Marie tried to ring the doorbell again.

Just like the first time, nothing happened.

Now, Marie was really starting to panic. If it wasn’t for Hannah’s red Toyota parked right in front of the apartment complex, then Marie would’ve assumed that her best friend was busy working. Except she wasn’t working. She had to be home. Right now.

When she lifted up her hand to start knocking on the door, the door seemed to open by itself. That was when the second red flag went off in her head. Hannah had never been stupid enough to leave her door unlocked before. In fact, she was the one in the group who would always preach about safety to Marie, Tracy, and Lauren. Out of all of them, Hannah was the most mature.

As anxiety gnawed away at her nerves, Marie took a tentative step into the apartment. The minimalistic decor looked exactly as she remembered it. Nothing in the apartment seemed out of place. Everything had its own place. In fact, the whole apartment was so immaculately cleaned and organized. Just like Hannah. It even smelled like her, too. The faint smell of lavender sat in the air.

Yet even as Marie walked through the apartment, she couldn’t hear anything. The air was unbelievably still. Almost as if the entire apartment was empty. But if the apartment was empty, then where would Hannah be? Why would she just leave her car parked in front of the apartment complex? Where else could she have gone and how? Things just weren’t adding up here.

The hallway finally ended, leaving Marie facing the family room. Her jaw dropped when she noticed that Hannah’s phone was resting on the coffee table. It was the new iPhone 8. Hannah waited all day and night in line to get that phone. It was her first phone, too, and because of that, she never left the house without it. To see it just lay around now was absolutely worrying.

Still, though, Marie held onto the small amount of hope that she had in her best friend. Maybe she’s just sleeping, Marie thought. If I go into her room now, I can wake her up and this whole nightmare will be over. Trying to keep herself calm, she began tip-toeing in the direction of Hannah’s bedroom, a place she had visited so many times that she knew it like the back of her hand.

When she opened the door, Marie let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Instead of finding Hannah sleeping peacefully on her bed, she found Hannah’s dead body hanging limply from the ceiling fan.

[May 2017]

[peculiar-bonds]

Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind - Chapter 2: Dark Rumours

Synopsis: While Mane 6 are on a research mission in a small town from another world called 'Earth', they learn about an old myth among the inhabitants: the Slenderman. What is the ugly truth of this haunted town? Will they survive the monster's deadly grasps?

Warning: This chapter contains a few swear words.

The girls found the principal’s office in no time; luckily, there was a sign, because the door looked like it was camouflaged within the entire high school, almost the same as a secret chamber, where nobody is allowed to walk into.

“So, who’s going to knock?” Pinkie asked, feeling slightly uneasy.

Twilight sighed. “I will do it…it’s my duty to finish this task after all,” she continued in a dramatic tone.

“The door won’t bite, you know?” Rainbow Dash added, amused by her friend’s unreasonable anxiety.

Twilight glared at her teasing remark, then turned back to the door. She knocked slowly, almost silently. When she was starting to think no one was there, a voice called from inside:

“Come in!”

The youngster startled a little, then took a deep breath and opened the door with her small, trembling hands.

“Good morning, Sir. We’re the new students that transferred here recently, and we have some questions to ask, if it’s alright…” Twilight said nervously, almost staring at the man in front of her.

Xavier Barnes, the principal of ‘Waukesha South High School’, was different from most humans; his skin tone was significantly darker, and he had distinct features unlike the others: thick lips, a wide nose bridge and baldness. Still, his expression showed a hint of kindness and good intentions towards all of the students, even the new ones.

“Yes, of course! You can call your friends in as well!” the principal answered with a calm tone.

The teenager called the others to come inside the office . One by one, they filled the room in no time.

“Please, take some seats,” the principal kindly invited them.

Almost everyone found a few chairs to sit down, except Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“Alright, girls, so what are the questions that you need to address me? Do you wish to request a tour of the school, or your timetables, perhaps?”

“Yes, we need those too, but we also…want to see our transfer files…if you have them, of course…” Twilight pointed out.

“I just received them this morning. I didn’t actually get the chance to have a look at them and approve them…but considering that you’re all here at this moment, we’ll discuss them together, shall we?”

“Of course!” Twilight approved.

“Alright, then; let’s see yours first…” he said while taking a folder from the drawer and opened it to find a multitude of papers that described their new human identities. Twilight peeked on the documents, fully astonished and confused at the same time; how was it possible that they managed to disguise themselves without any effort? Did Princess Celestia take care of all the details, or is it a phenomenon that usually happens during interdimensional travels? Either way, she was relieved that the humans didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

Meanwhile, the principal started reading the papers aloud:

“Name is Tara Sparkle, born on 15th September 199-; says here that you were a straight-A student at your former school; congratulations on your performance, and I hope you will achieve the same results in our school!”

“Thank you, Sir” Twilight replied with a soft smile. “I’ll try my best not to disappoint anyone here.”

“Very well, then…and please call me Mr. Barnes.”

The young girl nodded. Principal Barnes took another folder and looked at Rarity.

“As for you, miss, your name is Rachel Damon, right? Born on 5th October 199-; you seem to have a passion for fashion design, and we’ll surely need students with such abilities; maybe you could come up with a new design for the cheerleader’s costume, who knows?”

“Oh, certainly!” Rarity nodded.

The principal kept looking through the files, then nodded at Fluttershy.

“Florence Woodheart, born on 17th March 199-; selfless and willing to help others, particularly the animals. We have some volunteering activities here, if you’re interested.”

“Oh, thank you! I’d be glad to help,” Fluttershy replied with a soft voice, but feeling very excited on the inside.

“Alright; the next one is Rebecca Dash, born on 1st April 199-. It seems like you have an aptitude for sports in general; we’d gladly invite you to join one of our teams: basketball, voleyball, track, anything that you wish to do.”

“Wow, sounds great!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, truly eager to try all of the sports in the near future.

“And here we have the last two: Penelope Diane Pie, born on 29th May 199-, and Anne-Jay Smith, born on 12th December 199-. I see you both made several contributions to the former school, such as organizing events. I’d be happy to see more students like you as a part of the school's development committee.”

“Thank you, Mr. Barnes! We’ll do our best!” Pinkie confirmed with pure joy. “Right…Anne-Jay?”

“Yep, sure thing!” the country girl replied, almost confused by the situation.

“Alright! In this case, I wish you a warm welcome to our high school! Here are your timetables,” the principal said while handing six pieces of paper to each of the youngsters. “Good luck in these years that will follow!”

“Thank you!” Twilight replied, then left the office along with her friends, each of them wishing the principal a good day.

“Look, Twilight! We’re in the same class! You too, Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash announced with excitement while walking through the halls.

“Woo! This is great!” Pinkie squealed behind them.

“Yay, seems like we’re in the same class, Rarity…” Fluttershy continued on the other side of the corridor.

“Wonderful, darling!”

“Aw, I’m alone in another class though…” Applejack pointed out, quite disappointed by the outcome.

“You aren’t alone, Applejack! We’re still in the same school!” Pinkie replied, then hugged her friend to comfort her.

“That’s true, can’t deny it,” Applejack chuckled.

“What’s our first class, Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked while starting another conversation with the friend in front of her.

“Geography…Oh, great! It’s a good way to learn more about Earth”

“And also a boooooring one!” the reckless teenager sighed. “Did I tell you that I haven’t missed school AT ALL?”

“Oh, come on, we don’t have time to whine about this! Let’s go!” Twilight replied while grabbing Rainbow Dash’s arm.

“Wait for me, Twilight! Bye, girls! See you later!” Pinkie Pie called, waving ‘goodbye’ to her other three friends from behind.

The three girls arrived in the middle of the class, panting and apologizing simultaneously for being late. While introducing themselves, Twilight noticed that the class was filled with a disciplined atmosphere, but for the first time, she felt awkward and very uneasy. After they finished the introductions and occupied their seats, the teacher returned to the lesson. Twilight listened attentively while looking at the World Map. She took notes from any word that her new teacher said, feeling more eager to discover Earth from its depths…

When the bell rang and the teacher left, the atmosphere of the class changed drastically, from calm and disciplined to lively and almost chaotic. Pinkie Pie didn’t wait more than five minutes until she befriended nearly half of the class, along with Rainbow Dash, who started having a conversation with one of the jocks. Still, Twilight remained at her desk, studying the new notes that she took from the Geography class. From time to time, she turned her eyes from the papers to observe the environment; while having a look to the right, she noticed one of her classmates who seemed as lonely and isolated as herself. Unlike the other ones, this girl was of a paler complexion which was in contrast with her short and dark blue hair that had a few faded neon pink and green strikes. Her clothes were also very dark, like she was trying to get out of the colourful routine of ordinary people. The expression, highlighted by the black makeup, showed a slight feeling of disgust towards her classmates, whom she considered ‘ignorant’ and ‘blind’ in front of a potential horrific reality.

Twilight wanted to talk to her and introduce herself, but she hesitated due to the apparently aggressive nature of the strange girl. Surprisingly, it was her classmate who started the conversation:

“You must be new here…but looks like your pals went ahead of you with the integration”

“To be honest, I don’t really care about socializing at the moment. There are more important things for me than having pointless conversations,” Twilight explained, visibly annoyed by the attitude of her other two friends.

“I know how you feel, um…Tara? Right? I usually forget new names at the beginning.”

“Yes, it’s Tara.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Emma, or the ‘emo freak’, as the others usually call me”

“I don’t think you’re a freak…You’re just different from the majority, from what it seems”

“Wow, that’s the first nice thing about me I’ve heard this week…” Emma answered with a faint smile.

“Glad to help, Emma,” Twilight nodded.

“Why did you choose Waukesha out of the other cities from US? Cities that are significantly better…”

“I’m not sure exactly, it seemed the only choice that I had…”

“A bad choice, more like.”

Twilight was puzzled by Emma’s last remark. She paused for a few seconds, then leaned closer to her classmate’s desk.

“What do you mean by ‘a bad choice’?”

“Girl, you have no idea how cursed this place is…Miles away from Waukesha, there is a huge forest, and in this forest lives a grotesque being. It is creepy as Hell, if you ask me: tall as fuck, very pale, faceless, and wears a black suit. Rumour has it that this creature hunts to death the ones who trespass its domain; it also has a thing for children, especially the very curious ones. Once they enter the forest, they’re kinda forced to collect eight pages from different spots; nobody knows precisely who scribbled those pages though. It might have been an unlucky victim, or the being itself. As for the page hunt, if you lose the ‘game’, you’re gonna have a terrible fate, I tell you…even I fell for this shit, and I have no idea how I escaped from that Hell. I swear I saw it RIGHT in front of me, and even though it didn’t have a face, I could sense an expression that almost pierced my damned soul, and then…”

“Hey, emo freak! Are you for real?”

Emma’s storytelling was interrupted by a girl’s call; suddenly, there was an exchange of fiery glares between each other. Right after the mocking question was asked, all the other classmates, including Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, turned their heads to Emma, who felt like bursting with hatred and anger towards the one who interrupted her.

“Um, excuse me? What’s your damn problem if I talk to her?”

“None, freak! It’s just that you scare her with your bullshit about the Slenderman, or whatever! He’s not real, for crying out loud!”

“He’s as real as possible, bitch!”  Emma yelled, counterattacking viciously the remarks of her classmate.

“Oh yeah? Prove it, then! If you claimed that you saw it, why don’t you have photos?”

“Because I was too busy showing him this!” the emo girl replied while showing the middle finger to her classmate. “FUCK OFF!” she yelled while storming out of her desk, getting out of the class and slamming the door behind her.

The others suddenly came back to their usual routines, with the addition of gossip about Emma. Both puzzled by the whole argument, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went to Twilight’s desk.

“What in the name of Celestia just happened there, Twilight? And who is this ‘Slenderman’ they kept talking about?” Rainbow Dash whispered, deeply curious about the situation.

“Can we discuss about it after school, please? You know why…” Twilight replied while subtly pointing her head at the other students, who seemed very offended by Emma’s unusual beliefs.

“Alright, then,” Rainbow Dash nodded, going with Pinkie back to their seats. The bell rang again, and it was time for another class, but without Emma.

*after school, at Twilight’s studio* (dialogue only)

(Twilight prepared some tea for her friends, because a very long discussion was about to start soon.) TWILIGHT: So, how was your first day? Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack? RARITY: Oh, it was really delightful, darling! We’re actually going to stay in the dorms while we study here. Fluttershy and me in a room, and Rainbow with Applejack and Pinkie in another one. RAINBOW DASH: Wow, really? Didn’t have the chance to check that out today. Well, at least I have my own bed from now on. FLUTTERSHY: (sees Twilight with a thoughtful expression while taking a sip from her cup of tea) What’s wrong, Twilight? You don’t seem very content. TWILIGHT: (sighs) Oh, nothing special…just had a discussion with a classmate. She told me a weird story about a local legend … RD: And a whole scandal happened. RARITY: Oh my, what happened? Is the girl alright? TWILIGHT: I don’t really know…Haven’t seen her since she stormed out of the class… FLUTTERSHY: Goodness! There was also a boy in our class today who kept rambling about a man in the woods… TWILIGHT AND RD: ‘A MAN IN THE WOODS?’ APPLEJACK: Can somebody explain to me what’n the hay’s goin’ on? RD: (screaming) It’s a ghost in the forest that takes people, Applejack, like what’s so hard to understand? TWILIGHT: Calm down, please. Whether it’s true or not, I think we should explore that area… RD: Are you nuts, Twilight??? TWILIGHT: Just listen. I’m saying this because Princess Celestia gave us a mission, and she didn’t mention anything else; maybe this is our main task. RD: You got it all wrong! She just told us to study the humans, not solve their issue with that…thing. Plus, we don’t even have our powers anymore, like our wings and horns, your magic… TWILIGHT: Maybe, but we don’t know if we don’t try. RD: I tell you this is a very bad idea! TWILIGHT: Are you scared? RD: Not at all, egghead. It’s just…well… TWILIGHT: I know it’s hard, I’m a bit scared too…but we have to stay together. This is one of the main points that Celestia advised me on in private before we left. (There was a pause. Rainbow Dash thought for a few seconds about the consequences, then the lack of loyalty that she showed in front of her friends at that moment. There is no place for fear when it’s about duty, not at all.) RD: (sighs) Very well, then…I’m coming with you. FLUTTERSHY: If Rainbow is coming, I’ll come too. AJ: Me too. PINKIE: MEEEE TOO! RARITY: Absolutely! RD: But if anything bad happens to us, it’s just your fault, Twilight… TWILIGHT: Don’t worry. Once we see something out of its place, we simply run away. RAINBOW DASH: (mutters in distrust) Ugh, if only it would be that easy…

[blacksheep1105stuff]

Hello guys,

here a new one shot for :) I’m thinking of making a whole fic out of this. Maybe let me know if you like to read more? :)

A HUUUGE thank you to the lovely @froglady15 for helping me and improving this piece so much!!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12239118

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12673068/1/The-Sweetest-Dream

The Sweetest Dream

   15th May 767, 5.37pm

 37 steps.

 It takes 37 steps to walk from one wall to the other of the huge and ostentatious living room area. With quick, large steps, she walked from the blank red wall and passed by the mahogany table that was surrounded by cream seating furniture; the two armchairs and a u-shaped sofa big enough to sit at least 6 people comfortably.

 She stopped for a moment and thought about how much she loved sitting on one of those extremely cozy armchairs with a blanket and her head phones, listening to her favorite music. Other times, she was content laying there to doze off to sleep, read or watch TV. And her favorite thing: watching out of the huge window into the fascinating, colorful sky.

 Bulma had also spent many evenings sharing the sofa with Vegeta, just lying there with him, arm in arm as they savored the intimacy and closeness of other before they went to bed.

 As she looked at the sofa, she remembered how that little ritual had started. It was maybe a half year or 9 months ago, after they’d had a huge fight about Bulma's thirst for adventure. She had gotten bored sitting around the palace all by herself and had gone out into the desert to get some soil samples to satisfy her scientific curiosity and to fight the boredom that had taken hold of her at that time. Unfortunately, she’d gone alone. Not the best idea since even she couldn't judge the safety of the area. So of course, it had to happen that the unpredictable weather changed rapidly and she found herself caught in the middle of a horrific sand storm that would have been lethal to her safety if Nappa hadn’t found her just in time to rescue her.

Vegeta had been furious and Bulma partially understood why he had reacted that way.

Yes, she could have died. No, she hadn’t told anyone where she was going. Yes, she needed to be reminded of that from time to time, but he had completely freaked out and had begun throwing a tantrum and since Bulma was always confrontational herself, the fight had escalated quickly and had ended up with Bulma refusing to share the bed with Vegeta, deciding to sleep on the big white sofa alone, rather than share a bed with Vegeta.

 Because Vegeta is as stubborn as she is, he had ignored her behavior initially and had gone to bed all alone until he couldn't stand the cold of the empty spot beside him anymore. With silent steps, he walked over to the sofa and stood over her for a moment, internally fighting with himself over what he should do before he finally crawled in behind her under her blanket, carefully melting against her soft body; protectively hugging her and enjoying her warmth against his chest and eventually he felt her small hand stoking over his forearm lovingly, accepting his presence and accepting him.

 Bulma shook her head as she reminisced and she continued walking over to the large window that spanned from the roof to the floor and was almost as wide as the wall itself. Behind the glass was a balcony with a beautifully detailed marble stone handrail.

 She placed her cold hands against the glass and leaned forward slowly until her burning hot forehead touched the window as well, the cold material almost comforting her as she closed her eyes to stop the burning in her eyes. She relished in the silence for a moment before opening her eyes again, pushing herself forcefully away from the glass and started walking back to the red wall, pulling her hair in a desperate attempt to distract herself from the tension that was flowing through her whole body as she patiently waited for news for the past two hours.

 Two hours.

 Two hours had passed since she had been informed.

 "My princess," the tall man began as he kneeled down in front of her, bowing his head respectfully, hoping to hide the sorrow that was painted all over his face and looked at her again as he reported. "We lost the connection to the prince's scouter. The last transmission…" he almost chocked on his own words, unable to speak out loud the horrific news lying on his tongue. She knew what it meant, but she didn't want to believe it. Her mind denying what her heart already knew. Her throat went dry immediately, her whole body was tense as her stomach clenched and a cold sweat ran down her neck and her back.

 "The last transmission..?" She whispered. Even for his amazingly sharp Saiyan hearing, her words were almost inaudible to Nappa.

 He still hesitated.

 "Nappa! Answer me!" Bulma demanded in a loud and shrill voice that made her throat burn.

 In a quiet voice, he eventually did as she demanded. "The last transmission showed him in an inescapable and hopeless fight. He was hit by an overwhelmingly strong attack. We… we..." he lowered his head to hide his face and therefore the emotions of fear, desperation and sorrow as he continued, "We sent a search party. Maybe his scouter was only damaged and he’s alive, but there is little hope." His last words were only a whisper.

 "M-maybe… I mean… that's… that's possible, right? Right?? He said it's a weak race, almost no technology. There is NO WAY they could possibly harm our troops, let alone Vegeta!" What started as a whisper turned into sobbing until she almost screamed in the highest pitch the Saiyan had ever heard. Bulma was a wreck.

 Within seconds, it sank into her mind that she might have lost her beloved husband forever and while clutching her throat in fear, she dropped to her knees. Nappa was barely able to catch her before she blacked out.

 37 steps...

   17th May 767, 12.47pm

 His pillow.

 It was so soft and cozy and his smell that still clung to it comforted her for the last two days. Bulma lay on his side of the bed, his blanket rolled up into a long sleeve, one leg pulled over it like it was him. She was cuddling, hugging his pillow and inhaling his scent, with only her silent tears being a mute evidence of the emotional thunderstorm raging inside of her.

 A light knock on the door woke her up as she was about to doze off again. She didn’t care to answer.

 Another knock. No answer.

 The big mahogany door was pushed open gently and the slave who had been in her service this week took a shy peek through the door.

 "My princess?" The soft voice of a woman called out for Bulma, who didn’t bother to move or give any sign of acknowledging the slave’s presence. "I... I have your lunch, my princess."

 Only an annoyed deep sigh from Bulma was what the servant got in response.

 Food…

 Again…

 When would they accept that she didn’t want to eat? How could she? Vegeta was missing and was very likely dead and she was here eating and drinking and enjoying herself? Disgusting.

 'The fuck? Just leave me all alone.' Bulma had no strength to speak the words out loud; the lack of nutrition and the emotional exhaustion beginning to take its toll and show their ruthless consequences already.

 The slave stepped inside the huge living area, her chains clanking with every movement as she put down the plate of food --- some fruit and sandwiches--- before she picked up the untouched breakfast plate. The living area was only divided from the bedroom with a door that was always open. The slave knelt down at the doorframe. "My princess? I brought you your lunch. How may I serve you now?"

 The young woman's skin was a beautiful light green like the young leaves on trees in the spring. Her hair was the most wonderful shade of lily's purples, her eyes blue as the ocean. She had once radiated pure life. Now she was a slave; malnourished, tired and worn out. Her dress and make up were beautiful and she was dressed up like a doll for the royals; even her chains matched with the golden hem of her dress. Tomorrow would start a new week and she would be allocated to the kitchen and would have to wear the old worn out gray and dirty scraps she had been wearing daily for years.

 "Leave."

 She hesitated. "Forgive me, my princess, are you alright?"

 'My husband is dead, what do you think?'

 "Leave…" came the very tired and exhausted reply, this time quieter, clutching the pillow a little bit tighter than she had previously.

 His pillow.

  19th May 767, 11.26pm

 The sofa.

 It was illuminated with the moon light when everything else sat in the silent dark.

 Slow and heavy steps brought her to her favorite cozy and always comfort giving armchair in the living area, where her lunch still awaited for her on the table.

 Bulma chewed on a dry slice of bread as she stared through red, swollen eyes at the sofa she had broken down on four days ago.

 "11.15pm, Nappa, 11.15pm. It's already been eight hours since the last report. Do you still not yet have any new information??? They, they… I mean… what if he’s hurt? He needs medical help! Why is it taking so long??" Panic was taking her over, her movements were uncontrolled as she hectically stumbled uncoordinated from one spot to the other.

 Bulma was a complete mess. Only eight hours and it felt like four days since she’d heard the horrible news. Eight hours of crying, screaming, denying and inner mental conversations in a pitiful attempt to convince herself that he could still be found alive. Eight hours of walking around in a restless panic through the living area of the rooms she shared with Vegeta.

 "I.... I do have. We just got a report from the search party..." He looked at her with a hurtful expression as a lump formed in his throat.

 "Report, Nappa!!" Knowing the answer but still hoping to be wrong, she shrieked hysterically at him.

 "I... I'm sorry, his body was found, he’s dead, princess Bul-"

 Bulma didn't hear Nappa anymore, everything becoming a blur as she stumbled over the sofa just before she fell on it and blacked out.

 The sofa she had spent so many intimate moments with her husband on.

   22th May 767, 9.47am

 She laid on his side of the bed. Again. Sobbing in his pillow. Again.

She didn't shower and barely ate anything since… since… the announcement from Nappa that... he... She couldn’t even say it to herself

The pillow still smelled like him, even after she wet it repeatedly with her tears, but something was different. His masculine and musky scent was mixed up with a sweet and stinging one. Was she making it all up? Did she just imagine the smell of death while thinking about him lying on this foreign planet dead in his own blood, while his tanned and beautiful skin would slowly darken as maggots and flies were dancing and feasting on his rotting body?

Disgusted and in an attempt to get rid of the horrific scene playing out in her head, she turned around, away from Vegeta’s pillow. Clinging to it only seemed to put her imagination into overdrive with morbid thoughts, rather than pleasant ones. The putrid smell sticks to her nose like her blue, long, usually so full-bodied, but now oily hair sticks to her sweaty forehead.

 She was pulled out of her thoughts when the heavy door swung open once more.

 For days people kept coming in and out of her room. Talking to her, asking her questions, touching her. It all was becoming a blur to her. She didn’t care anymore.

 Three years ago she would have never thought she would even mind him being gone. No, she would have even been happy about his death that would have freed her from her invisible chains and responsibilities she had been forced to take on. Yes, only death, his or hers, would have liberated her from this special kind of slavery.

 She had been taken away from her beautiful planet, stolen from her family’s love, kidnapped from her home, abused, ravaged and sold like a worthless piece of junk until she had the misfortune to land on this godless lump that is, for her incomprehensible reasons, allowed to be called planet.

 It was nothing like her home. No, instead it was the exact opposite and absolutely unbearable - excessively hot, soulless and dirty. Just like the inhabitants, she found.

 The leader of the nastiness was the prince of the planet inhabiting race, Prince Vegeta! Urg. Not a living being, but a machine. His only purpose was to kill. Emotionless, soulless, ignorant, arrogant and extremely disobedient, much to his father’s sorrow. He didn't think that she, this disgraceful slave named Bulma, was worth any attention so she hadn't dealt with sexual harassment like usual, but only when she was around him.

 The King had tried his best to control his son, but it seemed that everything he did made it even worse. The prince was like a rebellious and immature adolescent when it came to taking orders. During an intense argument, he threatened his son that he would marry him off to a slave. Bulma, who was ordered to serve the wine for the dinner that day, had flinched as Vegeta’s loud laugher boomed through the huge dining room as he told the king he wouldn't have the guts to marry his only heir to the throne off to a worthless slave.

 Bulma had wished she could just leave, like every servant in the room. The whole atmosphere was tense, everything looked like it was going to be a fight and no mortal, who clung on to even a tiny bit to life, wanted to be close when the Saiyans were engaged in the merciless and recklessness of their mortal combat.

 Just as Bulma had finished pouring the king some more wine, she had noticed his expression change. The usual mocking and arrogant look on the face of the king showed how much those disrespectful words had enraged him, but quickly a smile replaced the scowl just before he grabbed the woman to his side and announced her to be the chosen bride for his son.

 Prince Vegeta dropped his utensils, Bulma broke the glass she was carrying.

 Back then, they were forced into that marriage and it had not been easy for either of them.

Finally, he started paying attention to her, but not the kind anyone would want to have. It hadn’t mattered that she was a princess now, she had been a slave back then and he still treated her like one. He was cruel and disrespectful, even bullying her, letting out all his frustration of this forced marriage out on her. A child with another race, a half-Saiyan with impure blood would never be accepted as a legitimate heir to the throne and if he was not able to have an heir with his wife, then according to the laws of the Saiyan race he was not a legitimate heir himself. Which meant that his father had not only forced him into a marriage he didn't want with a worthless slave he did not even see as a living being with rights, the king also took everything he had ever wanted - to rule the realm of the mightiest race in the whole universe. Something he prided himself to have been a part of.

 Everyone knew it. Everyone knew about the shame his father had brought upon him. He saw it in their mocking eyes.

 Bulma was the one who had to pay for it. She had cried herself to sleep every night. She was trapped in that hopeless situation. She was convinced that only death could save her and more than once, she tried to convince herself that jumping from the balcony would be as sweet as flying. Other times she tried to eat so much until she exploded or at least puked herself to death, but the only result was that her stomach hurt and she was satisfied because she'd eaten the most delicious food. Being a princess had its advantages too.

 It took them one exhausting year until he first started to treat her like a person with rights. An additional year later, they started to fall for each other and today... 

 Today she was desperately sniffing the last remaining particles of his scent and drowning in her grief, unable to move, to eat, to live.

She laid on his side of the bed, sobbing into his pillow again.

  27th May 767, 2.31pm

 Beep.

 The sound of the opening button for the automatic door was beginning to annoying her. This sound usually meant someone was going to pester her to eat, speak, clean or do something else she had no energy for and honestly doesn't give a fuck about. And this time won't be any different.

 She heard the footsteps that announced a person approaching her.

 Tap tap tap. One after the other and every tap bugged her even more than the one before.

 "Leave!" She demanded angrily but powerless, not even bothering to look at the intruder.

 "But I just arrived," the person replied in an amused tone.

 She instantly recognized the voice and turned around in Saiyan speed and looked at him with her eyes as wide open as the swelling allowed.

 There he was! Hurt, dirty, tired, alive.

 Alive!

 His armor was broken, his clothes ripped, his body bruised, dried blood trailed down his temple along his jawline and left a dark line on his face, but he was alive.

Alive.

 Bulma instantly jumped out of their bed, feeling instantly dizzy and tripping because of the lack of nutrition and movement the last two weeks.

 She closed her eyes in full expectation of being reprimanded for neglecting herself in his absence. Her elation of his return was dampened somewhat with pain as she collided onto the floor in her excitement to get to him. Strangely enough, a severe reprimand over her condition never came. Instead, she felt one of his strong arms gently wrap around her slim waist, the other around her neck, keeping her head up and holding her firmly but gently, protectively, just as she had gotten accustomed for him to be. Her arms hung loosely at her sides and when she opened her eyes again slowly.

 She found herself staring into his endless, deep black eyes. As he stared intensely back at her, she felt like she’d just been saved from the dragon that had pulled her deep into its pit of despair. She was looking back at her hero.

 Bulma was lost in those dark eyes, believing she could look right into his soul and see the true person behind his well build up façade, but the moment he blinked, the magic was gone.

"You... are... how... Ve-?" Her eyes were wide and showed her excitement, her hope, her happiness and her exhaustion.

 With trembling hands she touched his face, convincing herself that he really was there and she wasn’t just imagining him. Convincing herself that he really was there and she wasn’t just imagining him in her current mental state. His tanned skin felt so familiar under her hand. So warm, so soft, so comforting, so… so.... real. She instantly had the biggest and happiest smile he'd ever seen on her face.

 Bulma let out a shaky breath she hadn’t known she was holding as her eyes filled with tears of pure and honest joy. Even in her state of unwashed, oily hair, swollen eyes, exhausted and underweight, every man would have thought the happiness on her face made her the most beautiful woman in the whole universe.

 When she pulled herself closer to him, to be able to swing her slender arms around his strong neck, she was able to have a look over his shoulder to the door, where Nappa was standing. His genuine smile told her, she was not hallucinating, but this was real. Her missing in action and presumed dead husband was back!

 "I thought you... You were...dead," she whispered in his ear as she sobbed, still hugging him as they stood there like that for a while. Vegeta not only let her hug him, but he also tightened his grip around her and squeezed her gently in return. "They told me your scouter was disconnected and the last transmission left no doubt that there was no way you could have survived. And... And... the rescue party… they…" slowly she loosened her hug on him only to cup his face between her hands and leaned her forehead gently against his as he mimicked her actions, still embracing her. "How is it possible...? Or is this just the sweetest dream I ever had?"

 "It doesn't matter anymore, Bulma," his rough voice and the use of her name said more than his words. She knew instantly he himself was exhausted, hungry and glad to be finally able to hold her again.

 Bulma gave him a sweet, loving smile, as her soft hands glided down as gently as possible on Vegeta’s face, neck, over his shoulders and finally rest them on his forearms just below his elbows. After a short check on Vegetas injuries, she turns around to Nappa to gives him orders.

 "Get a doctor over here with a first aid box and some regenerating fluid from the healing tanks and let’s prepare a huge dinner for the prince, all in one hour." Her voice demanding, but also showing the joy she wasn’t even trying to hide.

 "Yes, my princess. My prince.” Nappa bowed respectfully before leaving them.

 ~~~~

 The hot water hit his broad shoulders smoothly and ran down his back comfortably. The hot shower was just what his tense muscles had needed, Bulma assumed, as her clever hands gently massaged the soap into his skin from his hard chest to his flat stomach, carefully circling every bulge of his abdomen while avoiding his wounds as best as she could. A soft groan escaped his lips in reward and she smiled lovingly at him in return. Her gentle hands dancing tenderly over his skin until they found their way again up over his shoulders and neck to his hair, caressing his skull, which she knew he loved the most. She had found that out during the long, silent nights they had spent together cuddling and enjoying the closeness and trust of the other.

 He leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes; his features relaxed more than she’d ever seen before. While she was washing him, he relished it; appreciating her affections before his lips found hers for a deep kiss. This was not a sexual moment, but probably the most intimate one they had ever shared as a couple.

 ~~~~

 Exactly one hour after Nappa left, the doctor arrived and dinner was served, just as Bulma had ordered. The doctor checked Vegeta from head to toe and confirmed Bulma's impression, that Vegeta’s wounds are just superficial, which the doctor already treated with the regenerating fluid.

 Bulma was surprised that he hadn’t complained about anything today. He’d let her hug him in front of Nappa, he hadn’t tried to get away from her affections in the shower and he hadn’t even growled at the doctor. It was so out of character for him, such a different behavior, but while smiling to herself, she decided not to question her luck as she tried to rationalize it to herself that it was because of his exhaustion and hunger and he was probably glad himself, even if he would never admit it, that he was finally back home.

 ~~~~

 The table was full of empty dishes and bowls and here and there leftovers like bones, shells and skins. On one end of the table was a very satisfied and pleased Vegeta and on the other end, a very happy Bulma who couldn’t tear her eyes away from her husband. She walked over to him to take his hand and lead him over into the bedroom.

 As they reached the bed, she placed her slender fingers on his broad chest and lightly pushed him. He allowed himself to sink into the edge of their comfortable king size bed before she sat down on him, straddling his lap. His tail wrapped around her slim waist instantly, their chests almost touching and she felt his body heat radiating from him, warming her body and her heart, as she started to softly massage his muscular shoulders, thick neck and made her way over to his ears, which she knew he loved when she lightly kneaded them, a soft moan and goosebumps confirming it again to her. From his ears, her hands wandered in gentle circles over his temples until she finally reached his scalp. When her slim fingers travelled through his thick mane and her nails scrapped smoothly over his skin, she could feel him relaxing against her, hugging her a bit tighter and squeezing her gently as he rested his forehead against her small shoulder.

 When her hands wandered back down to his cheeks, she pulled away a little, just enough to be able to see him looking up at her as she leaned in closer to his face, letting her lips lightly ghost over his. They looked deeply into each other's eyes for a moment; the world around them disappearing, just before they shared an affectionate and tender kiss while they lay back on the king size bed.

 That night she dreamt of their third anniversary, which took place a few days before he left for the mission. He had abducted her to a nearby planet, which looked like paradise. They inhabited a small but luxurious beach hut, surrounded by tropical vegetation. It was quiet, idyllic and isolated. The perfect place for a romantic vacation. Of course he would never admit it was romantic. It was safe, it was manageable, it was bla bla bla, everything but not romantic. It was for her and she knew he had done it for her. That was all she needed to know to be happy.

 They spent the last whole day on the private, white sand beach, lying in the sun, enjoying the quiet; only the sound of the waves accompanied them, lulling her into sleep.

 When Bulma opened her eyes again, she blinked against the bright light. The soft and comforting sound of waves turned into the annoying beep of a heart rate monitor.

 Beep... beep... beep…

 As she tried to shield her eyes from the quivering neon light, her movement is blocked by the I.V. in her hand.

 Beep

 Confused, she sat up slowly and tried to take in the room until she finally noticed that she was in the infirmary. 'Why am I here? What the hell had happened?' She tried to recall the last night and how she came to be there, when she was just a moment ago she was on the beautiful beach with her husband, but she couldn’t remember; it was all a blur.

 Beep

 Nappa sat sleeping in a chair in one corner of the room, the door was closed. Through the window she could see the night sky. It was beautiful. She always loved that colorful night sky in which sat the stunning image of a Saturn-like planet. She admired the planet for a moment before she let her tired eyes wander through the room until she noticed the digital clock. For a moment her heart stopped beating, cold sweat running down her back and the heart rate monitor quickened up the frequency of the beep which she couldn’t even hear anymore.

 Beep beep beep beep beep.

 Her eyes started to burn until a single tear rolled down her cheek and eventually dropped onto her hand.

 Beep beep beep

 She stared at the clock, unable to tear her eyes away from the green thick numbers, which were mocking her.

 Beep

 15th May 767, 9.39 pm.

 Beep.

[theplaguezine]

DARK TRANQUILLITY

Interview with Mikael Stanne by Daniel Hinds

(conducted August 1999)

Dark Tranquillity really established themselves as the forerunners of the melodic death metal movement in the 90s, with such albums as The Gallery and The Mind's I.  Their unique blend of fast, thrashy death metal and highly melodic riffing and leadwork helped make them a household name in the metal community relatively quickly.

With their latest album, Projector, the band has taken a turn to explore new vistas, utilizing clean vocals and a more organic sense of melody than before.  On the eve of the album's Stateside release, vocalist Mikael Stanne braved a hoarse voice and overseas connection to give me the low-down on one of Sweden's finest…

How would you say Projector differs from previous DT albums? I think it differs a lot.  We tried to experiment a lot more with this album, to kind of break free from what we'd done before.  Going in and writing for this album was really different for us because we wanted to keep all alternatives really open.  We got back from touring a lot for The Mind's I and we were like, 'Nope, we don't want to play this really fast stuff anymore.'  We wanted to do something else, like focus more on the emotional parts of the music than we have in the past - take it a bit further.  And the vocals had to change for the music, but I think that's the basic change - it's more open, more dynamic, more emotional.

Were you scared at all how people would react to the changes? Not really.  We thought about it, but we just said, 'This is exactly what we want to do,' so if people hate it, that's fine.  If people love it, that's fine, too, it doesn't really matter.  We just realized that we had to do this album, otherwise we couldn't go on playing.  We couldn't do another Mind's I or another Gallery or whatever.

Has the songwriting process itself changed any? Yeah, a bit.  We're started writing using portable studios and computers and stuff, so we can make a lot of the arrangements at home and then present it to the other guys.  Then we work on it from there and develop each idea.  It's an easier process, since we know each other so well.  Also, our drummer Anders contributed a lot to the music now.  It's much more open and we feel we can do just about anything.  It's really interesting and kind of a new start for us.

Are you looking forward to playing the new material live? Oh yeah!  This Friday is the first show, we're going to play a festival in Finland, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Why the title Projector? Well, it came from the time when I was writing the lyrics, about a year and a half ago.  I was having problems sleeping and just a lot of problems that I didn't really want to write about, but felt that I had to eventually.  I started digging up all this stuff that I didn't really want to talk about and once I got it all to the surface, I had to see all these things from a different perspective.  That's why you kind of put your distance to it.  The more I thought about it, the bigger it got and that's what the 'projector' is:  it kind of blows things out of proportion in order to make it more real and to see it with fresh eyes and from a new perspective.  That's what it meant to me, to put light on small things and make them huge, make them a monster.

Could you tell me about some of the specific lyrics on the album? They kind of deal with things that I hate, things about myself.  Mainly, weaknesses and errors and all the stuff that you do and you hate but you can't do anything about, you know?  I've come to realize that recently, that I do so many stupid things, I had to change my ways.  As a step towards being better, I write about it first and expose the problem.  A lot of it is about relationships between people, both my personal ones and other people.  Basically, what really annoys me about hanging around in the city with the people I socialize with.  The lyrics cover different aspects of this.

DT has always been blessed with cool artwork and I was curious how important the visual presentation of the band is to you. We've always been interested in the graphic side and artwork and everything.  Me and Niklas always kind of developed the concepts for T-shirts and the covers and everything, so it's always been a big part of it.  For me and Niklas, anyway.  We drew the first demo covers and EPs and stuff, so that's always been going on.  Now Niklas is self-employed and doing graphics.  He really wanted to do this whole concept for the album, with all the involved imagery.  He does all the T-shirts and homepage and everything, to create an overall feel for the music.

I understand you've done a video for one of the tracks on Projector. We just finished it the day before yesterday, actually.  It's for the song "ThereIn" and we did it with a couple of friends of ours.  We basically left ourselves in their hands and they did a video, which turned out pretty cool.  Not as good as we expected, but it's okay.  These kind of videos never get shown anyway, so there's no point in spending a lot of money on it.  It represents the song and represents us, so it does what a video should do, without being too much.

There is a major tour in the works for DT soon.  What details do you have so far? Right now we're just doing festivals, but on September 17th, I think we start and go for six or seven weeks with In Flames, Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy through Europe.  It's going to be our biggest tour yet.  That will be a lot of fun.

Sounds like a pretty killer line-up. Well, I think it is, it's a great package and we're all friends.  It's going to be crazy and hazardous to our health. (laughs)  Hopefully, we will do an American tour in November.  We've been talking about it a lot.  We were supposed to do it in August, but we didn't really feel right about that, so we'll do it in November, perhaps December.

Any new stops on this tour? Umm…yeah, Poland, I think that's the only one on this tour.  We also go to Japan in September, just for a couple of shows, and that's gonna be great.  We'll probably go to Mexico as well.  After that, we can retire. (laughs)

Do you get to see much of these countries you visit or is it mostly 'do the show and move on?' Pretty much just move on, yeah.  Sleep all day, eat, do soundcheck, do interviews, play, then leave. (laughs)  Sometimes we get a chance, though.  Sometimes we'll have a number of hours to just stroll around the city and that's great, but usually…  Like when we went to Rome, we were like, 'Oh, great!  We've gotta see this!'  We didn't see ANYTHING!  A big line of people, the inside of a bus, the inside of a club and that's it.  It can really suck sometimes, but it's great anyway.  The people are usually more interesting anyway.

Do you enjoy playing the big festivals? We actually haven't done many festivals, just a couple small ones.  When we were with Osmose, they weren't into doing festivals, as they thought of it as a waste of time more or less.  Century Media is really trying to get is on the festivals, though, so we're doing Wacken this year and Friday this really big one in Finland.  A couple others, I'm not really sure yet.

How did you get in touch with Century Media? We contacted the manager that we heard about and said, 'We want to have a record contract, can you help us out?'  So he sent out the record to several labels, and a lot of them were really interested and we started negotiating with like 6 or 7 labels.  Eventually it came down to Century Media because they were the most open-minded and agree to our terms more than the other labels.  We found out what a shitty, shitty industry that we're in.  All these labels wanted to change us, to have us re-record the album, and do all this and that and tell us what kind of image we have to have for the video, etc.  That's what we said in the beginning with Century Media:  you cannot control us in any way.  And they were like, 'Yep, totally cool, we agree to that.'

Did you have good luck with Osmose and Spinefarm? Yeah, all these labels have been great.  Spinefarm did a lot for us in the beginning.  They aren't really a record label, they're more a distributor in Finland.  That's their main thing and that's why they are kind of limited in their capabilities.  Osmose did fabulous work and we cannot thank them enough for bringing out our records, but we just felt it was time to move on and since the album is kind of different, we thought 'let's make a record label change.'  It felt like the best thing to do.  Of course, it's been great so far and hopefully it will just get better.

Are you at all surprised by the level of popularity that DT has achieved so far? Oh yeah!  We're just a couple of friends hanging out and playing, that's what we do.  Like in the beginning, when Skydancer came out, we didn't know what to expect, we just thought, 'This is not music that people get into nowadays, it's really a weird album.'  But people got into it and we were like, 'whoa! Cool!'  But it doesn't really affect us in that way.  At the end of the day, what matters is what we think about it and if we love it, that's okay.  If other people like, that's great.  But it's still really hard to think of it in that way and when people say that we were founders of this 'Gothenburg sound,' it's so hard to think of it that way.  We've just been playing forever.  It's nothing that we really think about, but of course it's very flattering that people buy the records and come to our shows.

DT has done a number of tribute albums and I was curious what your take on that whole market is and if there are any bands that you think deserve a tribute but haven't got one yet. It's a fun thing to do.  It's flattering that a label asks us to do one, that they want to hear our interpretation of another artist's music.  It's an opportunity for us to go into the studio and record some more, and that's always interesting.  It's a challenge to do covers, too.  I don't listen too much to the tribute albums, but if there's one of my favorite bands that have a tribute album, of course I'm going to buy it.  Sometimes they're good, sometimes they suck all the way through.  I listened to this Depeche Mode tribute album, it was pretty good.  Smashing Pumpkins were on it.

How did you first get interested in playing music? Like in '87, all of us in the band, we lived on the same street.  We hung out every day, just sat around listening to records.  We were nuts about music and calling up musicians and being really pathetic.  We were kind of bored, as well, just sitting around talking all day, so me and Nicky decided, 'Let's start playing and see if we can be as good as these guys that we listen to.'  So we started practicing and practicing and after about 5 months we decided we could play reasonably, and we asked our closest friends if they wanted to join a band.  They were like, 'yeah, why not?'  Nobody knew anything, so we just rehearsed and rehearsed, just to have something to do and our intention at the time was to do aggressive music that was also melodic.  That's more or less always been our goal, to mix the really extreme stuff like Kreator and Sodom and the mellow stuff like Helloween and Blind Guardian.

Okay, it's 1999 so here is the obligatory Y2K question.  How do you think things will turn out? Of course there is going to be some problems, that's inevitable, but I don't think it will be such a big thing as it is all hyped up to be.  I spoke yesterday about it with a friend of mine who works at Microsoft, and he said everyone is calling in, really worried, and all this paranoia.  But it really isn't that big of a problem.  It's going to be interesting to see like the suicide rate on New Year's Eve is going to be.  I think it will be weird and a lot of people will freak out, but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show. (laughs)

www.darktranquillity.com

[salt-sass-and-lyrium]

Problems in tech support #???/??? aka “Why haven’t you fixed this issue that I in no way shape or form told you guys about?!!!”

Long-ish post

Long story short, we work on virtual desktops and servers at work. As a result, when users are migrated over to the virtual servers, on occasion their settings are lost, and don’t stick when they’re re-added. Not a huge deal, but annoying. Also, not a thing I can fix. We can fix it temporarily, but we then have to send it up to tier 3, but it’s a quick fix on their end. 

So, I have this user, we’ll call her... Robyn. Robyn calls in on Monday (it’s now Wednesday morning) because her Outlook is prompting her for a profile when she opens it. This was expected to happen because her entire office was migrated over to the virtual servers over the weekend, happened to a lot of people, and she and everyone else was notified this would likely happen. NBD, just re-add the profile, add back her mailboxes and settings, yada yada yada. So we do that, everything is working fine. I end the call.

She calls back in on Tuesday, and is having the same issue. I realize her changes aren’t sticking when she logs out, so I sent the ticket up to tier 3 (who email her back this morning, Wednesday).

She calls in this morning because she’s again having the same issue, and has just gotten in. Again, takes about a minute and a half to fix it temporarily, and tier 3 has already reached out to her to get it fixed permanently. NBD, right?

Wrong.

So, Robyn calls in, and is furious because she calls in “every single day” and doesn’t understand why it’s not fixed. Now, I can pull up customer tickets/calls and no, she hasn’t called in every day.  In fact, before Monday, she hadn’t called in since last month. So I ask her:

“You sure you’re calling us? Because there’s no record of you calling in every day” Robyn: Yes, I’ve been calling in every single day since April 17th

Lie

Me: Robyn, we have no record of you even calling in on the 17th. We have one from the 28th, and before that, from February. We never heard from you on the 17th. Robyn: OK, well I called in on the 28th and have been calling in every single day and I don’t understand why  it’s taken SO long for this to be fixed

Lie

Me: Robyn. You haven’t been calling in every single day. Robyn: .... Well Me: Again. You called in on Monday, having an expected issue that many people in your office were having. We fixed it. Tuesday, we realized the changes hadn’t stuck and sent it over to tier 3 to have them fix it permanently. It’s Wednesday morning, and tier 3 has already reached out to you. It’s less than a 24 hour turn-around. Robyn: ... Well.. when I called in on the 28th, the guy fixed it, and showed me how to fix it in case it ever happens again. So I’ve just been fixing it every single day. But I don’t understand why-- *continues angrily ranting* Hold the phone. So you told us an issue was fixed, when it wasn’t, then did not tell us it wasn’t fixed, and even when you called back in to have it fixed again, didn’t think to tell us this was happening to you every day. And THEN you expected for some reason, us to fix an issue that we didn’t know was an issue?

Me: Robyn, just to be clear... you’ve been having this issue since the 28th? Robyn: YES! And I don’t-- Me: And you did not call us on say, the 29th to tell us that you were still having this issue? Robyn: No... but Me: And didn’t mention that you’d been having this issue since the 28th when you called in on Monday? Robyn: Well, no... Me: And when I realized you were having this issue on Tuesday, I sent the ticket to tier 3 Robyn: Yeah Me: And it’s Wednesday morning, and they’re already correcting you to fix it Robyn: ... yes. Me: ....

HOW ARE YOU NOT GETTING THIS??????

Robyn: But why did it take so long for it to get escalated? Me: Robyn. If you don’t tell us you’re having computer issues, we have no way of knowing. You didn’t tell us. You didn’t call us back and tell us when you started having the issue again the following day, or every day, or even when you called in on Monday. In fact, you didn’t tell me at all, I realized it when you called in and just happened to speak to me two days in a row and I remembered you. We can’t fix computer issues that we don’t know are occurring.  Robyn: *angrily sputtering* Me: So you didn’t call us every day. As soon as we (see: me) realized it was a recurring issue, I sent the ticket up to be permanently resolved. And the following morning they’re contacting you to resolve it. Robyn: ... I guess... *super weird and awkward nervous laughing* Me: Great. Anything else I can help you with? Robyn: *through this super fucking weird nervous laughing* N-no. Me: Fantastic. Respond back to tier 3 and they’ll be able to get you taken care of.

TL;DR - Customer has been having the same issue every day for 2 weeks. At no point in time told us she’s been having this issue, yet some how expected it to be fixed. I realized she was having this issue mostly by luck, and sent the ticket up to be fixed, and the following morning, she’s being contacted to have it fixed. Customer is upset that the problem she’s been dealing with every day for 2 weeks, but never actually told anyone about, took two weeks to get resolved, and is only now getting resolved, not because she told us, but because I happened to realize it.

[senyoun]

[Delayed Affection] Ch.1: Witnesses of Time

Fandom: One Piece

Relationships: Roronoa Zoro / OC

Tags: ANGST!, Unhealthy Friendship, Unhealthy Relationship, Therapy sessions, OC´s, Toxic Relationship, Depressions, Anxiety, later on smut

Word Count: 2.298

I jump onto the Angst-train guys.  You can also find this fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17509382/chapters/41244938

"Scars are the witnesses of time. They will follow you all your life and make you remember your mistakes."

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

"Tell me about your past friendship with Ms. Reynolds, Lienna."

Sitting in the comfortable but cold leather chair the young woman starred into her hands she folded and unfolded nervously. She eyed the woman seated across from her carefully and somehow pleading, maybe she would change her question to something more... comfortable. It was obvious that sooner or later Dr. Robin would address the difficult topics and Meg, or how the therapist called her, "Ms. Reynolds" was such a topic she would rather avoid talking about. By merely hearing that woman´s name lots of different and also opposing emotions started to boil up inside of her.

"Didn´t we already go through that? There is not much to talk about it anyway. We were best friends until I realised I was nothing more than a tool for her. She used me to make herself look better in front of others. She´s a slu-"

"Ah, ah, language, Lienna. We are civilized and won´t put ourselfs on the same level as the people who hurt us." Dr. Robin interfered and after murmuring a quiet ´Sorry´, Lienna continued: "She is... a woman who enjoyed snatching the things I wanted right under my nose. When I told her about a dress I thought of pretty, she bought it to herself 2 days later. When I wanted to get a new haircut, she got it first. And do you know what the worst is? She always surpassed me. The dress I liked, she was stunning in it. The haircut? She rocked it better than I ever could. All I aimed for, she was always first and better in it than me." Lienna didn´t know when she started to get mad or when she began to clench her fists into the leather seat. She hated herself for letting that get so close to her since she now knew what kind of person Meghan was.

Putting her pen on the lips the raven-haired therapist thoroughly observed her client. "You were saying "what the worst is". Do you still consider her as superior?"

Shooting her gaze to the therapist as if she was caught off guard, Lienna nearly gasped at that question. "Of course not!" She hesitated and bit her lip before going on, "But I can´t deny that she still has something, someone I wanted so much. She could´ve taken everything from me. All the clothes, all the things. But she decided to take him as well. And that is what will make her always superior to me. Also because he chose her since, again, Meghan was faster than me."

"You are talking about Zoro, right? I assume you are trying to avoid any thought of him, is that the reason why you refuse to use his name?" And after Lienna nodded sadly Robin added: "But what strikes me as odd: I learned a lot about Zoro´s character from your previous stories. You are still not ready to talk about him directly, but to me it doesn´t make sense how he could even fall for someone as Ms. Reynolds?"

Lowering her head, Lienna starred at her thighs. She lost a lot of weight in these past 5 years, hunger simply wasn´t present and in the first months all nutrition she took to herself was puked out some hours later. Instead her alcohol consumption increased a lot but thankfully she started to get slowly rid of this unhealthy habit. "Meghan has a really unique talent: She wraps everyone around her finger. She is very good at manipulating people, I mean, I am the prime example, right? Even headstrong and cautious people like him are an easy prey for her."

Satisfied with the answer, Dr. Robin started a different topic. "Tell me how you met Ms. Reynolds."

Taking a deep breath and collecting all the courage she had Lienna started to speak.

Now that she stood in front of the still closed classroom door, the young girl´s anxiety reached a new high and restlessly she plucked on the hem of her skirt. Today was Lienna´s first day at the East Blue Middle School and she would prefer to just sink into the ground than going into the -with lots of strangers filled- classroom. But she promised her mom to not cause any problems and she really didn´t want to upset her, so when the teacher opened the door and winked her in, Lienna held her breath and stepped in.

It was lunch break when she approached Lienna. The brown-haired girl was wearing twin-tails which fell over her shoulder and on the desk she was supporting herself with. She starred down at the blue-eyed girl with a big smile. "Hi, I´m Meghan but you can call me Meg. Welcome to Class 1-C! I hope we can be good friends in the future!"

"I swear to god maths is killing me. Who needs something as useless and overly complicated as Integrals? I mean where in daily life would you need that anyway?" Meghan was walking besides Lienna sighing painfully. She pushed out her big chest annoyed. The whitette giggled slightly. "You only have to know it for the exams, after that you can just forget about it." Upon hearing those words Meghan swayed with her hips. "I can´t wait to get out of school and into university." She turned to Lienna. "And I can´t wait for us to move into our own apartment, we´re gonna be the coolest commune on the campus! Also..." Meghan licked her lips seductively. "... I can´t wait to lay my eyes and fingers on the boys." Now it was Lienna´s turn to sigh. "As long as you don´t forget to keep studying." The Brunette grinned. "That´s what I have you for, Lia. You will help me out if I need you, right?" Her gaze was intense and after some moments Lia answered. "S-sure."

Dr. Robin listened carefully and occasionally wrote something in her notebook. "I see. Did the friendship start to crumble when Zoro came into your lives? Or did something happen before?" She shifted in her seat and eyed Lienna carefully waiting for a reaction.

The Doc was a tall and beautiful women with long, black hair and hazel eyes which gave off a friendly and warm feeling. She was someone you know you can trust and can talk to. When Lienna first came into her practice for her first session she immediately felt that she could even entrust her darkest secrets to this woman, hell, the Doc would most likely even join her for a murder. Sometimes, when topics became rather difficult for Lienna to talk about, Dr. Robin knew exactly what buttons to push to make the Whitette spill what she wanted to know. The sessions were rough with her but Lienna was thankful for the Doc´s direct attitude. Dr. Robin doesn´t talk things pretty, she states out even the most uncomfortable facts and it was not unusual that Lienna started to cry like a baby in some of the sessions.

"I honestly don´t know. I mean, when we went through puberty both of us changed, I guess. She became more and more confident since her body was pretty well developed and she has always been popular with the boys. And I... well I just became more..."

"... submissive? Obeying?" Dr. Robin ended her sentence.

Lienna stayed silent and played around with her hands again. She couldn´t deny the truth of it as much as it hurt and before she could think of anything to reply to the Doc, latter spoke again.

"Where you scared of her? Were you afraid of the things she eventually could´ve done to you if you disobeyed?"

Shrugging, the younger woman impatiently pulled at her fingers. She knew that the Doc studied her body language just as much as her verbal answers so there was no need to actually say something. Closing her eyes and smiling softly, Dr. Robin stood up. "I think we made good progress today." Walking over to Lienna who also raised from her chair, the black-haired woman placed a hand on her clients shoulder in a soothing way. "Let´s continue there next week, shall we?"

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

While she was sitting in the tram on her way to the office Lienna thought about Dr. Robin´s last words.

´Where you scared of her?´

She was. After they moved into their shared apartment, Meghan started to finalise her authority over Lienna and she was at her mercy, not able to do anything. And when he became part of their lives it only got worse since Lienna didn´t want to give Meghan any area she could attack and in front of him she also wanted to leave a good impression. She wondered what he thought really of her, did he only see her as the friend of his girlfriend all this time? Did he consider her as friend of him? Geez, she hated the post-session hours. Her thoughts went completely on rampage and made her forget her principles, for example to waste as less thoughts as possible on him. It only hurt her in the end and caused her sleepless nights she spend with crying into her pillow.

When the robot-like voice announced the trams arrival at Blue Water Station, Lienna forced herself back into reality and made her way to the exit. From here on it would only be a good 10-minute walk to her workplace and some fresh air would help lifting her spirits, even if it was just for a bit. Though she had to admit, the work at the Galley-La Company really did help a lot coping with her anxieties and depressions.

The Galley-La Company became famous in the 17th century as one of the largest ship-building companies in the city. To adapt to the industrialization they changed their business model to architecture. And nowadays the company is responsible for most of the buildings which were built in the vast city. When Lienna finished University and passed her exams she took the chance to apply for the assistance job the company was offering. Not only was this a huge step in her career, it was also her long-awaited possibility to leave. She couldn´t believe it when the chef, Iceburg told her after her interview that she convinced him to be the right choice for it. Especially, since she was directly working under him.

It was also Iceburg that got her on top of Dr. Robins way too long waiting list. Despite trying her best to keep her depressions and anxiety out of her workplace and at home, Lienna one day bursted out in tears when she messed up the model of a new Health Care Center Iceburg was working on. But instead of scolding her, Iceburg helped her out of her panic attack and talked her through it. When some of her colleagues told her that Iceburg treats his employees like his family, there weren´t exaggerating.

Waving to the twin-receptionists Mozu and Kiwi, Lienna went to the elevators, which carried her to the floor where her office was. The elevator was entirely empty besides her and especially after sessions she was happy to just listen to the lame elevator music before the turmoil of daily life comes haunting her. Stepping out of the elevator she was greeted by a tall, blonde man who looked way too stressed for his own good. "Morning, Paulie, going for a smoke?" The addressed man sighed exhausted and scratched the back of his head. "Morning, Lienna. Don´t ask, it´s only 10 am and I´m already done with everything and everyone for the day. We have way too much work. Anyway, see you later at lunchtime." Poor man, being Iceburgs head-engineer surely was an exhausting job since that man could come up with some really crazy stuff which Paulie had to put into reality.

"Good Morning! How is Robin doing?" Someone approached her as soon as she stepped through the door of the main office. Iceburg was leaning against Kalifa´s desk and both looked up when they heard someone entering. Before answering, Lienna took off her coat and placed her handbag on her desk. "I think she´s doing good. She doesn´t really talk about herself, so her private life is more or less a mystery to me. But she seemed to be happy with the progress we made today, so..." The Whitette shrugged but Iceburgs eyes lightened up, he came over to her and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "That sounds really good, I´m happy for you!" Kalifa who still sat on her desk adjusted her glasses and narrowed her eyes: "Direct body contact without getting permission of the employee, thats sexual harrassment." she stated bluntly and Iceburg shuddered upon her words. Lienna though waved it off. "It´s fine, Kalifa."

The following hours went by without any exciting events. She finished transfering some paper-plans to the computer and constructed the 3D-Model for it and during lunch time she tried to take part into some daily conversations her colleagues held. It was around 5 p.m. when she decided to call it a day and made her way home. Saying her goodbye´s to Iceburg and Kalifa who both tended to work until late in the evening -damn workaholics-, Lienna stepped out of the large building and instantly pulled her warm scarf deeper into the face. The late afternoons really started to get cold and if not for the city lights everything would´ve been engulfed in darkness.

Drawing a comparison, Lienna decided that it has been a good day. Sure, her early morning session with Dr. Robin has been exhausting, but her work and the constant but somehow cute bickering between Iceburg and Kalifa made up for it. She managed to eat most of her lunch and drank a lot of water and as soon as she came home she would take a nice relaxing bath and end the day with a good book. She smiled, her nose and cheeks slightly red from the cold she strolled out of the tram station which was closest to her apartment.

Lienna just turned around the corner when she saw him standing there. And the whole world seemed to freeze. With a pale face and wide eyes she starred at him, frozen at her spot, talking to two men which seemed to be his friends. There goes her good mood. She wanted to run away or hide but the sheer sight of him turned her legs into stone and she was unable to move. Her heart hammered in her chest and cold sweat made its way down her spine and set off a weird contrast to her bodyheat. She tried to calm her breathing as the Doc taught her, else she would run into the danger of hyperventilating and just as she closed her eyes to soothe herself and opened them again, their gazes met.

Over the range of approximately 15 meters blue eyes looked into grey ones which looked more surprised than shocked. She saw his, still so kissable, lips moving but the chattering and traffic noises of the environment made it impossible for her to hear his words. Not that she wanted to hear them. She wanted to get away, as far away as possible, somewhere where she doesn´t have to see him, even though, at the same time, there was nothing more she wanted. He gestured something to his friends and started to move towards her with fast steps. That´s when reality finally woke up her senses and her legs seemed to function again. She turned around and dived into the sea of people, desperately trying to escape his gaze and his entire being before he could even reach out to her.

Closing the door to her apartment behind her she sank down to her knees, trying to catch her breath. She practically ran all the way to her apartment, taking small detours to stay out of sight. Thank God that man had a way too bad sense of orientation.

Why is he here?

This question kept echoing in her head and only when she felt her face being wet, Lienna realised she had started to cry uncontrollably. With shaking deep breaths she tried again to calm herself and after a while she was able to stand up, take off her shoes and coat and pulling out her phone to dial Dr. Robins number with shivering fingers.

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

"Oi, you have been searching now for nearly an hour, Zoro. She´s gone." The raven-haired man slapped him on the back, trying to compensate his friend. "Shit! I never expected her to be here out of all places. And damn, she´s fast. I need to find her, Luffy!" Zoro gasped between his heavy breaths and braced the hands on his knees. The man named ´Luffy´raised an eyebrow. "What´s your relation with her, anyway?" The Greenette erected himself and sternly looked into the distance where Lienna had run off to. "She is the one I should´ve choosen instead."

[phoebemartellcrawford-blog]

welp

These past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. Between schoolwork, field trips, time with friends and family, the semester is quickly coming to an end and I don’t know how prepared I am for it. The 16th was the night of the boat party as well as the start of our last module which has so far been incredibly interesting. We didn’t have class on Tuesday the 17th, then had our first real class with our real professor the 18th then went on a field trip on the 19th.

We went to two farms and El Junco (the fresh water lake on San Cristobal) for our field trip. The first farm looked like more of a producer than the second and less like it was for tourism. We learned about the production of crops there, the use of other species to help grow their crops and a number of other things from the farmer. His main concern with the way farming on the island is going is that the locals will become far too dependent on mainland exports and won’t need to use the farms as much. People here need to eat, and in my opinion there is less degradation to the environment if the bond between the community and farmers grows and people start becoming less dependent on mainland. On our way to the second farm we stopped by El Junco and walked around the lake a bit. It was windy and beautiful and nice to be able to visit that again because the only time I had gone was the first weekend with my host family and I didn’t even know what the lake was. The second farm was clearly more focused on agrotourism with the beautiful waterfalls and hammocks and restaurant and ping pong. It overlooked the ocean and was incredibly peaceful. The farmer told us about how the land had been in his family for the past century and all these new regulations set in place by the National Park often destroy the farms and ways of life for the people. It was an interesting perspective because all my other classes focus on the environment over the people.

On Friday of that week I chilled on the beach out front the university and helped with a proposal! These girls were here for their friends 30th birthday and we were talking to them a little bit about why they were here. Then one of the girls came over and asked us to video tape because the token male that was with them was going to propose to the birthday girl. Three of her friends put on shirts one that said “will” one that said “you” and one that said “marry” and then the guy knelt behind the birthday girl with a shirt that said “me.” It was super cute and I was glad to be a part of it! After the proposal, we left for La Loberia to watch the sunset on the cliffs. Then I went to Muyu for dinner and had a nice chill night.

That Saturday I went camping and it was a MUCH MORE PLEASANT experience than my last camping trip. I was with Anna, May, Arianna, Avery, Millie, Mikaela, Madi and Zion. We got to Puerto Chino around 2, hung out on the beach, went and hung out on the cliffs then made dinner on a grill. We underestimated how difficult it would be to start a fire on the grill but we FINALLY got it. Mostly thanks to Anna. We ate a delicious potato/veggie dinner and then hung out, watched the stars, played games and I slept in my hammock. We woke up early for the sunrise but it was too cloudy to see it. When we went back to the school there was a volleyball tournament and other games with our families and kids at the university.

Last week I pretty much just had class and then did work  and laid on the beach which is definitely nothing to be complaining about. I’m trying to get my tan nice and deep before I leave. On Friday night there was karaoke night with the university and it was so fun just being idiots and dancing and singing shamelessly. Saturday we went on a fishing tour!

We got to go to Kicker Rock again where I saw more sharks but unfortunately no hammer head :(. Still awesome though!!! Then we went to a huge lava field and walked around and could see how the lava formed into land. We went in some lava tunnels and talked about how they were formed. Pretty neat. Then we went snorkeling in some mangroves which was beautiful but we didn’t really see much. After that we went fishing but didn’t catch a single fish. Then we went to Five Fingers!!! It was pretty awesome.

Sunday (as in yesterday) our program put on a yard sale and I was able to sell some of my clothes. Cool.

Today I am trying to get as much work done as possible so I can enjoy my last couple days. Its so crazy how soon I’m leaving and how fast this semester has gone. I feel like I’ve grown so much as a person and want to keep this growth going. I already know how annoying I’m going to be when I get back and when I get pale and when I’m cold in 65 degree weather, but I hope I can take everything I learned here back with me, because I’ve learned a lot.

We leave on Friday and I am having such weird feelings. I don’t want to leave at all, I fricken love it here. But I am ready to see my parents and my dogs. I’m also traveling after for 2.5 weeks with Rowan in Ecuador soooo that’ll be pretty dope.

[sparklyeaglepoetry-blog]

What is the *cheapest* car insurance for a 20 year old female driver in TX?

"What is the *cheapest* car insurance for a 20 year old female driver in TX?

I'm going to pay. I don't have any close family that can put me under their insurance, so please give me the CHEAPEST choice... Thank you.

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://financeandcreditsolutions.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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I have terrible luck lately. Two weeks ago I totaled my car (my fault) and I have a rental until tomorrow. Rental is from enterprise and paid for thru my car insurance. On my rental agreement I did not list any other drivers, and since it was paid for by my car insurance the guy crossed out the extra insurance and just asked me how much my car insurance deductible is and wrote that down($250). Today, I looked at the agreement and I actually hadn't signed it when I rented the car (even though there is a place for me to sign)...hmm...(?) SO, last night I was drinking and my boyfriend was not so he drove us home- in my rental. A car hit the rear driver side of us and it caused a dent and some paint damage. Called the cops, the other driver lied and nobody cited. I DO NOT want my insurance to know, since I just totaled my car. Boyfriend has full coverage, can it go on his? or will it go on mine? Can we just pay for it in cash & not use insurance? Its minor, fix before I turn it back in ?""

Where do i get the best deal on car insurance?

i`ve just finnished a six year ban and i`m looking too get back on the road legal...but i`m finding it difficult too get affordable insurance

Can a daughter cover her mother in her company's health insurance?

A friend of mine is expecting her daughter to get a full-time job after graduation in summer of 2007. She is a 58-year old widow and doesnt have health insurance. She is planning to have her daughter claim her as a dependent in the coming tax year in order to cover her in her daughter companys health insurance once her daughter gets the job. I told her the above condition is impossible. Her daughter can claim her as a dependent, but not able to cover her in the group health insurance, such as company's health insurance. Would like to hear other comments and opinions.""

How much impact will a claim of $1400 have on my Insurance rates?

I have a deductible of $500 so the actual payout would only be $900. But someone told me that the amount doesn't matter. Its the number of claims. So in that case would 1 claim matter? I have asked the same question to my Insurance company and they are non comittal. Anyone with similiar situation, please advise..""

Will my insurance drop me?

hey guys.. i have state farm insurance and i was put on my parents insurance as a 17 year old because i got into an accident in november (not my fault, i got rear ended). i turned 18 on new years day and just got a speeding ticket (51 in a 35). i was just wondering if my insurance could drop me and if so how likely it would be. thanks.""

""Heath insurance, where to get it?

What kind of health insurance is for a 2 years olds? And where can we get it? Thanks !!

If I show proof of insurance?

I was driving my car on the clock. I use my vehicle as a work vehicle. Anyways I was sent to the store to purchase sodas. when I tapped a vehicle on the rear bumper. We pulled over and exchanged information. And later found out that my own insurance was expired. Am I covered. By work or can I purchase insurance after the fact. And still be okay?

""Car insurance, i am confused ?""

basically i think i will be driving around around 20 miles a day possibly 24 miles a day depending on traffic. If i times this by 5 it will be 100 miles a week or 120. if i times this by 52 for the whole year it will be 6240 miles driven a whole year. So why the fucccckkkkkkk when i type i am driving 100 miles week in the insurance calculator they estimate i will be driving 26,000 miles a year ???? Who is correct? i am confused, this is important because i got quote for 1700 a year for around 6000 miles.""

Car insurance help? do i need to pay?

Hi there:) I have just bought a car, it is being delviered on thursday. I was hoping to keep it on my drive until i have passed, then insure it and drive after, am i allowed to do this? or do i have to pay insurance? thanks""

Can i go on my mums car insurance?

I'm nearly 17 and looking to buy a car and drive however the prices of car insurance are way too high. Is it possible to share the car with my mum and have joint insurance with her?

Will my insurance go up?

will my insurance go up if i got a speeding ticket. i just got a speeding ticket almost doing 20 miles over the speed limit so i am worrying if it will effect my insurance or not and i have two accidents on it too. should i do the class or pay the ticket off?

Motorcycle insurance?

I live in the city of toronto but have a cottage up in peterborough. I got an insanely ridiculous expensive quote if i ride in the city, so i was wondering if i can get my insurance policy under my cottage address because i will likely just be driving it up in peterborough throughout the summer.""

How much is insurance for a 16 year old?

So Im looking to buy a car when I turn 16 in a few months.. preferably the 2012 beetle which comes out to be around $25,000 and about $400 a month for 72 months. And I am also looking to get a job and work as many hours as I can, including the summer AND when school is back in session. I live in Southern California so minimum wage is $8.00... I am just hoping I can afford the car even with the cost of insurance... and after taxes as well! Im having trouble figuring it out so PLEASE help! Thanks :)""

Free health insurance for the unemployed?

i am unemployed and have no health insurance. is there a program in pa. where i can get health insurance for free or at a very low price?

Whats the cheapest car insurance for 17yr old girl?

Whats the cheapest car insurance for 17yr old girl?

Question about motorcycle insurance.?

I was wondering if anyone could tell me, on average, although there are multiple considerations...how much difference would there be in monthly insurance premiums between a 500cc bike compared to a 650cc bike? I heard that its actually quite a bit of difference, as I think I've heard that anything less than 600 is quite less than anything above 600cc's. I was just wondering if anyone could confirm this, and hopefully give me some estimated figures. Thank you""

What is the *cheapest* car insurance for a 20 year old female driver in TX?

I'm going to pay. I don't have any close family that can put me under their insurance, so please give me the CHEAPEST choice... Thank you.

Car accident and insurance/how much in repairs?

I got into a minor car accident yesterday afternoon while I was parallel parking on Walnut Street in Philadelphia. I was backing up and I hit the curb. The front end of my vehicle was still sticking our quite a bit, so I pulled out a little bit so I could pull in the rest of the way. The person behind me thought that I was done parking so pulled around me and I ended up hitting her. Her fender and her door skin need to be replaced. Does anyone know around how much this would cost to repair? She had the police come so I am assuming that she wants the insurance company to cover the damage, however I would rather pay for it out of pocket. Obviously, my insurance company is going to find out about the accident, but after the insurance companies decide the breakdown of the fault, would I be able to pay for my part of the damages without my rates going up? Or at that point would it not matter, my rates are going up anyways? I ask this because I'm 19 years old and would prefer to not have my rates go up.""

What is an affordable insurance for my child?

Im looking for an affordable insurance company for my daughter that has decent copays and covers dental, eye, meds etc. Ive been looking online but cant seem to find what im looking for. If anyone has any experience or suggestions your help is appreciated. Thank you!""

How much will my auto insurance go up(rough idea) if I get a job where I would use my car?

Just curious what range it might fall in. My premium with state farm is very low, about $70 a month with full coverage on a 1994 3000GT. Milage would be like 125 a day.""

What is the most popular insurance in troy missouri?

What is the most popular insurance in troy missouri? Is there a service/website to where i can find this info and info like that? What kind of insurance is mostly used in certain areas?

Idea of what monthly insurance rates are for new drivers?

I am a new driver and would like an idea of insurance rates for new drivers, I know its high. i live in Connecticut and so far Ive been told AAA is the cheapest for new drivers. Also would i pay more if i drive and SUV rather than a car Any advice on how i can pay at least a reasonable amount monthly?""

What is the cheapest car insurance company in the uk?

Hi what is a good cheap car insurance company in the uk for drivers under 25?

What would it cost to add someone who has a drink drive conviction to my car insurance for a couple of weeks?

It would be third party fire & theft; the same as me.

Good maternity insurance in Michigan?

We are looking for good affordable maternity insurance here in Michigan. Everything that I've found has a huge waiting period, and they still expect me to pay through the entire time. Any help?""

How can I get reliable insurance ratings?

I have been with Nationwide Insurance for 21 years. Your normal every day insurance can never come close to their rates and Nationwide has always had outstanding service. As we all know, money is lean these days so there are two companies I want to check out. I'm thinking about getting quotes from USAA because I am a veteran and California Casualty Insurance because, as a teacher, I get a discount through SCEA. My fear is that even though those 2 might end up cheaper, I might get a huge downgrade in service. So I'm looking for information on both companies, especially if there is a good, unbiased source on the internet. I need to cover 5 cars (including 3 teenage drivers) and 2 boats.""

Insurance for unregistered cars?

I have a few unregistered cars in a garage- one is a show car that I trailer to shows, 2 are just cars I love but I dont drive, and 1 is a race car I occaisonally race. These cars are covered by insurance when I trailer them (add-on policy to trailer insurance), and the race car is covered when i race it (Race insurance with the group I work with)... however, I realize none of them are insured while they sit in my garage against damage or theft. What kind of insurance do I get just to protect these cars while they are sitting on my property? Thanks!""

""How much is PPD rating schedule for %13 lumbar spine discs and knees, If my insurance company was putting me?

on Permanent Disability and my company Laid me out because of my limitation of to work? How much the insurance company has to pay me for my injury and disability?

What is the difference between free health care affordable and universal health care insurance?

Background, I ask many questions in regards to Universal health care insurance, and many people answer with the mind set of free universal health care insurance, So I have to ask the question, does anyone know the difference between free universal health care and affordable health care insurance? I will add details as we go and this question will be put to a vote..""

Car Insurance?

So I got my license the other day I'm 16 turning 17. I don't have a car yet, but I want to drive alone. My mom has a car but my name isin't included in the policy. I heard somewhere that I could still drive the car. Is that true? How much would it cost if my name is added to the car? the car is on AAA Insurance.? . Another question. Im going to be working soon, how much would it cost for a 17 year old to drive his own car with his own insurance, BUT if im added to my DAD's policy.?""

How much will my insurance increase after a MINOR fender bender? (ballpark figure please)?

After 11 years of error free driving and on-time insurance payments, I managed to back into someone in a parking lot going about 1 mph. My car was NOT damaged, except for a scraped bumper sticker. The other driver had cosmetic damage only, and being the good guy that I am I gladly helped her navigate the insurance claim. I figured that if it was my car that was dented, I would want it taken care of. Do onto others, right? Anyway, the total payout of the claim was $556. That's roughly seven months of my premium payment. So, how much can I expect to see added to my yearly premium? 10%? 20%? more? Also, how long will it take to recover back to my previous rate? Finally, considering that I've paid this company much more than $556 over the years, how much of an increase should I accept before I start looking for a new carrier? This is technically my second insurance company - I was on my parents policy until I was 22 (I'm 27 now). So I haven't been with them forever, but I am not ready to jump ship unless they really screw me. Thanks!""

Do you have to insure a road legal quad?

One with number plates, i want one. I'm 17 and don't have 5 grand to insure my own car, so what about a road legal quad? Are they loads to insure, or are they free to drive on a road? Thanks.""

How much is insurance for a 16 year old girl driving a red 1998 corvette convertible?

I am a very responsible driver and I DO NOT speed. I always wanted a corvette and it would really help me out if someone would be able to tell me how much the insurance is. I heard the prices can range really high, but being a student on the high honor roll would that help me out? I am over a 4.0 gpa with honors classes. Btw I live in Illinois. Would it be over $100 dollars a month. I am very confused. please help me..""

'occasional driver' Car insurance?

Hi, I'm 18 and I'll be heading off to college in the fall and so won't be home very often. However when I am home I'd like to be insured on my dads car. I don't see the point in having to pay the same price for car insurance as someone who drives almost daily, so I wanted to know if there was a type of car insurance for the 'occasional' driver. I'll only be home on vacations, and even then I won't be driving all the time, but I really need a car insurance for when I do drive, mostly summers.""

Paying insurance monthly?

ive never booked insurance myself before if your happy with your online quote can you ring them up tell them your saved quote ref and then arrange monthly payment/direct debit rather than having to go through all questions again on the phone? what will happen then? will they have to check stuff get your bank details and then send paperwork through? the insurance is going to be in my name but im giving my partners bank card details for direct debit would that be ok?

Cheap car insurance....?

whats the cheapest car insurance for teens

What is the cheapest online car insurance where no deposit is paid? Morethan is no good. (UK)?

What is the cheapest online car insurance where no deposit is paid? Morethan is no good. (UK)?

Why does having access to more than 1 car put your insurance premium up?

I'm trying to get insured on my mums car, the quotes on insurance comparison websites are higher when I mention that she is insured on somebody else car though...""

Can i stay on my parents health insurance after i am 18 and not a full time student?

I am 17 years old, I will be 18 in september. I just graduated high school and decided not to pursue a higher education at this time. I have heard with the obama health care plan that i can stay on my parents health insurance until i am 26. But i have also heard this doesn't take place until 2014. And i Have heard that you have to be a full time student. So i would like a simple answer that's easy to understand, preferably with a sited source for me to look up. Will i lose my health insurance in 2010 if i am not a full time college student and over the age of 18??? I live in california if that makes any difference as far as the health care plans go. Thanks and appreciate it :)""

Will a renters insurance and automobile insurance claim effect homeowners insurance rates?

Im purchasing a home in 2 months. Meanwhile my apartment was broken into and my second vehicle was stolen via my spare key which was hidden in my apartment. My losses for the ...show more

Why public opt for health insurance and not public opt for health auto insurance?

Just a random question. Auto insurance is required in most (if not all) states. Health insurance is not yet. They both cost about the same out of pocket. Just curious as to why people who support public option are not also complaining about the cost of mandatory liability.

Insurance quote on nissan navra ?

in febuary i will be 17 is there any chance i would be able to get a quote on a truck like that or am i living in a dream world

What is the *cheapest* car insurance for a 20 year old female driver in TX?

I'm going to pay. I don't have any close family that can put me under their insurance, so please give me the CHEAPEST choice... Thank you.

What is the cheapest car insurance around?

I still want good coverage but am so confused by all the ads. geico? aig? mercury? ahhhh so many I am a 21 yr old female with a good driving record I have had my license since I was 16. Please help!!

Car accident without insurance?

So today I rear ended a 2011 Honda Civ, a small strach [sp], some paint missing and a possible dent. My car on the other hand suffered some significant damage. Now as we were preparing to exchange info, I find out my car doesn't have insurance (its my parents and I wasn't informed) and I told her I will pay for damages and apologized, etc. Now I asked how much would it cost, etc. Her insurance company told her I would have to pay $20+ per day for her rental car how ever many days its in the shop. That I can handle. But say worse case scenarios: How much would it cost to replace a back bumper for a 2011 honda civ? Or to fix a dent, color, paint, etc? Has this happened to anyone else without insurance, etc?""

Average cost in nj for 17 year old girl for car insurance?

thanks

Is it true the you can get car insurance thru Medicaid or Medicare?

I heard this is true but I don't know because my parents are disabled they are 51 and 56 they own a car but no insurance they need it to get to there doctor's appointment's and hospital visits. So is this true if anybody knows please help by giving info on this by giving a link or number. Or you can help by referring to a place that will help them out because they only live on the disability checks and food stamps. Thanks for helping

Is my auto insurance goes up after I got speeding ticket? How much would it cost me?

Is my auto insurance goes up after I got speeding ticket? How much would it cost me?

Need cheap & affordable Health Insurance?

I have a friend, Yes a Friend, She and her husband are paying $160 a month for Health insurance & its, Medi-cal, Which is Welfare, So I told her that there has to be a GOOD Insurance out there that is cheaper, She needs help, Can she find anything thats better then $160 month.""

How long is a quarter period in insurance?

My insurance says: Family coverage: $2,213 per quarter So how long is that? 3 months or what?""

Does anyone knows which insurance company is better? Great eastern or prudential?

Does anyone knows which insurance company is better? Great eastern or prudential?

I need insurance on my car and need to keep the cost low as possible?

Will it be ok to cut out the no claims protection or is this a must, I have over ten years, is there any other way to keep it low. Thanks""

""With the on going crisis, is it still possible to get cheap auto insurance in california?""

i know people who've gotten their fingers burnt, so .........""

I am a new driver with insurance queries.can anyone help me?

i am a new driver and i am thinking of buying a cheap,affordable,small car (ford ka). The problem is that if i put my father's name as the main driver,who has his licence since ages,and put my name as a 2nd driver, how much approx. will my insurance come down to?+ i got my pass plus.""

How where and how can I get cheap car insurance?

I lost my job last year and I'm getting back on my feet again and I'm looking for very cheap insurance because I still can't pay too much.

GAP insurance vs Full Coverage?

Im getting ready to buy my first car. I live in Indiana. I am being told getting GAP insurance is suggested, but from what they say. I don't see a difference in GAP and Full Coverage. So What is the difference between GAP insurance and Full Coverage. In Indiana, and what is recommended to do or get""

What is a good car that is cheep and i won't have to pay a higher insurance?

researching a new car and with money so tight im looking for cheep...so what ever you guys can give that is cheep, and won't raise my insurance is great""

How much would my car insurance be?

i plan to by a 95 toyota , i have been driving since i was 17 and now 21 and have had no accidents. how much would my insurance be on average.""

What is the cheapest way to get insurance on my first car.?

I am 18 and am buying a 1.2 corsa. I need to know the cheapest way to insure it. Even if I have to go on a relatives insurance. Please help

How much is car insurance per year for a oldish mini?

I'm 18 in June and I would really love a mini say 2005 or something like that. How much roughly would insurance be per year for one of them. Thanks guys :)

Cheapest car insurance?

I'm looking for the cheapest car insurance coverage right now. All I need is an affordable quote, so I don't care about how good the company is or how much they will cover. I just need affordable insurance to drive a car. I had 2 tickets, and all the quotes I've been getting so far are over $1,000 for 6 months. I am fully aware that I drove like a dummy and was unlucky as hell; that's where the 2 tickets came from. So please don't make any comment on that. I just need some help. Thank you!""

""When buying your most recent car, how did you obtain auto insurance?""

A few options, feel free to choose one or just let me know what happened to you. A. You bought insurance at the dealership B. You bought insurance at home within a week of purchasing the vehicle C. You bought insurance at home longer than a week after purchasing the vehicle D. You already had insurance and just added the car to your existing policy. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you drove home uninsured. :) Thanks! Also, let me know if you bought a new or used car.""

About how much should the car insurance of a 17 year old who drives a 2003 Black Ford Mustang?

About how much should the car insurance of a 17 year old who drives a 2003 Black Ford Mustang?

Why is it that you pay all this money for car insurance?

Why is it that you pay all this money for car insurance and after an accident you still need to pay a deductible? Think about this; if you payed $200 a month for 5 yrs without an accident; that's $12,000; you would still need to pay a deductible to get your car fix and your premiums will go up. That's enough money to buy a new compact car. Just curious to see if anyone has the answer.""

Do you pay taxes on a Life Insurance payout?

my father died and my mother will be seeing her tax person. Will she be paying taxes on the money she collected from my dads life insurance?

How much would would Car Insurance be for a 17 year old male?

Im a student, want to take my test. If i pass it how much do you reckon driving insurance will be. Say if i registered it under my mums insurance. i wanit a car for university so i can drive home quickly and easily. How much would it be under my mums insurance and how much would it be if i got thee smallest engine (Vauxhal Corsa or Citroen C2) for example...""

What is the best and most affordable auto insurance?

I am paying $3,099 for 2 cars.They said it is high because my 19 year old daughter is listed as a occasional driver and it's her age.My husband and I have a clean record and we ...show more""

Does cheap health insurance exist?

I relocated because my wife found a better job but problem is I don't have insurance now my current job doesn't offer it and I can't jump on hers for like a year. Is there such a thing as affordable insurance as in under $150 a month for basic doctor visit co-pays and rx?

What is the *cheapest* car insurance for a 20 year old female driver in TX?

I'm going to pay. I don't have any close family that can put me under their insurance, so please give me the CHEAPEST choice... Thank you.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-i-shop-auto-insurance-before-buy-car-dan-barrett"

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 3/22/17

SEAN: …eurgh.

Dark Horse has the 4th and final volume of Dangan Ronpa. Will anyone survive? And will any more manga spinoffs be licensed?

J-Novel Club debuts another series with a ludicrous-seeming premise, In Another World With My Smartphone. Still, they’ve won me over with ridiculous books before…

ASH: Though I’ve fallen way behind in my light novel reading, I do continue to be amused by the absurdity of some of these titles.

ANNA: That is sort of hilarious, but I’m just not a light novel reader. If only someone would bring back the 12 Kingdoms books…..

ASH: YES! I would love that so much.

MICHELLE: I was thinking about those books just the other day! I also would read the Saiunkoku light novels.

SEAN: Kodansha has a pile of stuff, including three more digital debuts. Altair: A Record of Battles is a long-running manga from Shonen Sirius, and it’s supposed to look fantastic. Also, more historical manga, yay! Basically, this is the sort of title the Off the Shelf column was made for.

ASH: I was not aware of this series at all! Definitely sounds like something that I’d be interested in reading.

MICHELLE: I don’t know much about it, but many of the covers are gorgeous, so that’s encouraging.

ANNA: Huh, this does sound intriguing.

MELINDA: Well, huh. I think you’re right!

SEAN: BLAME! Academy And So On is a spinoff of the main BLAME! manga that I think is similar to Spoof on Titan. It’s also digital only.

MICHELLE: I don’t know… I really loved BLAME!, perhaps to the point where I wouldn’t find a spoof amusing.

ANNA: I still need to read BLAME!.

SEAN: It’s not all digital. Clockwork Planet makes its print debut. It’s also Shonen Sirius, but seems to be more SF steampunk and fanservice.

And some series are ending, as we get the 7th and final volume of Forget Me Not.

The next digital debut next week is also a “Hey, Michelle and Melinda!” sort of series. Hozuki’s Coolheadedness is a long-running series from Weekly Morning, about a deputy of the King of Hell and his daily life. It’s won awards.

ASH: I’ve seen a little bit of the anime adaptation and it was great fun. I suspect the manga is as well!

MICHELLE: Totally on my list!

MELINDA: Oh yeah, this, so much this.

SEAN: Kodansha has a 3rd volume of In/Spectre and its wonderfully annoying female lead, who I love.

Lastly (at least digitally) is Museum, which runs in Young Magazine and looks dark and depressing as hell.

MICHELLE: I don’t typically go for dark and depressing, but this one seems to be a mystery complete in three volumes, and that does have some appeal.

SEAN: And a 4th volume of That Wolf-Boy Is Mine.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this, which I believe is also the final volume.

SEAN: UQ Holder has transitioned from weekly to monthly in Japan, and that seems to mean volumes are coming out slower here as well. Here’s the 10th volume.

Seven Seas has some stuff as well. A Centaur’s Life never fails to puzzle and confuse me with what demographic it’s actually aiming for, even at its 11th volume.

Lord Marksman and Vanadis has a 3rd volume of fantasy action.

And there’s a 6th Merman in My Tub, which I think may have caught up with Japan.

More BLAME!, as Vertical is releasing the 3rd of its giant omnibus editions.

MELINDA: These really look so nice.

SEAN: Viz has a 5th volume of peppy slice-of-life comedy Goodnight Punpun.

ASH: Goodnight Punpun continues to devastate me, but I still find it compelling.

ANNA: I don’t think I have the emotional fortitude to read it yet.

ASH: It does take a fair amount; I have to time my reading carefully.

MICHELLE: I feel much the same, Anna.

SEAN: As well as another volume of Master Keaton, now in double digits.

ANNA: I love this series.

SEAN: And there always seems to be more Terra Formars, with its 17th volume.

Hooray! That’s it… oh wait, Yen. In fact, we’re not even halfway there. (sobs)

Yen On has 4 books this month, i.e. it’s a very light month for them. First off, Accel World 9 finally finishes off its huge 4-book arc.

Durarara!! also wraps up another arc with its 6th volume. All I can say is: pen. DRRR fans will know what I mean.

Log Horizon’s 7th volume shows us what Shiroe and his group were doing while the events of Book 6 happened.

And Re: Zero shows us Subaru trying desperately not to get killed by his maids.

Oh yes, and for digital lovers, volumes 7-10 of Spice & Wolf’s novels are also out next week.

Now for all the manga they’re releasing. Accel World also has a manga release with its 7th volume.

There’s a 5th volume of the Akame Ga KILL! ZERO spinoff.

The Asterisk War gets a 3rd manga volume.

Always enjoyable Barakamon has lucky Vol. 13, and I find I no longer keep comparing it to Yotsuba&!.

MICHELLE: I still plan to get caught up on Barakamon soon. I have a huge pile.

SEAN: Blood Lad has an 8th omnibus, and is nearing the finale but is not quite there yet.

MICHELLE: Yay! I haven’t read this series in ages.

SEAN: There’s a 3rd volume of the Boy and the Beast manga adaptation.

As well as a 2nd Bungo Stray Dogs.

ASH: As someone who is somewhat well-versed in Japanese literature, I got a huge kick out of the first volume and plan on reading more. I’m not sure the series works as well for people who don’t catch most of the references, though.

MELINDA: I plan on checking this out.

SEAN: More manga adaptations of light novels! Here’s the second Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody.

MORE manga adaptations of light novels! An 8th Devil Is a Part-Timer!.

Dragons Rioting has a 6th volume of what still appears to me to be mostly breasts.

Fruits Basket’s Collectors Edition has reached its penultimate volume, and features more angst than you can shake a stick at.

MICHELLE: Heh.

MELINDA: YES.

SEAN: There’s a 5th print volume of Handa-kun as well.

We have reached the last volume of He’s My Only Vampire, and while I enjoyed it, I am also very happy to see it’s ending.

MICHELLE: Same!

ANNA: One of the few vampire titles I haven’t read!!!

SEAN: The Honor Student at Magic High School continues to be irritatingly ahead of the light novel release with Vol. 6.

Kiniro Mosaic has a 2nd volume of cute girls being cute and maybe sort of yuri.

Then more yuri with the debut of Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl, which may be from Comic Alive but is apparently on the ‘sweet and cute’ end of the yuri spectrum.

ASH: I plan on giving this one a look! The cover is adorable if nothing else.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one, too! My friend said, “It’s S. A with lesbians!”

MELINDA: Absolutely on my list!

SEAN: Love at Fourteen finally returns with a 6th volume, and let’s face it, these kids are fifteen now.

MICHELLE: Heh. Another series on the read-me-soon pile.

SEAN: EVEN MORE manga adaptations of light novels, with the 4th OreGairu manga, which it too long to type out.

Speaking of long titles, a 6th Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi.

ASH: I really need to catch up with this series! I enjoyed the early volumes, but have fallen behind.

SEAN: Return of the Son of manga adaptations of light novels, with the 6th Strike the Blood manga.

Manga Adaptations of Light Novels Must Be Destroyed with the 5th Sword Art Online: Progressive manga, which as always needs MORE ARGO.

A third print volume of Today’s Cerberus.

Twinkle Stars has a 2nd omnibus, and I suspect will continue to deal with not being Fruits Basket.

MICHELLE: But it’s so good!

MELINDA: I am behind on this, and can’t even quite believe I let that happen!

SEAN: And there’s an 8th (really 9th) Ubel Blatt omnibus.

So that’s 48 titles, and that’s not even counting the 2 that Yen delayed to the week after next just because. I think this is a new record. What say you?

By: Sean Gaffney

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4 Years ago I wrote this post about me making $4k per month and then turned it into a case study on how to build local service businesses. A couple hundred people from Reddit followed along to build companies and those companies now do a combined $50 million per year!If you want to start something in 2017, I've updated the case study a bit below.Note: This is local service business. Not sexy enough for most of you and that's fine. But I have not found a more predictable path to building a million dollar business than this and I’ve built several, successful, businesses so far.WHY LOCAL SERVICES?Frankly, there is a TON of money to be made.These are huge markets in terms of $$$. However, unlike regular e-commerce companies where you are competing with the best internet marketing people in the world, with local services you're competing with just the people in your neighborhood, most of whom do not understand internet marketing at all.And on top of this we come with a crazy advantage with online booking that 99% of the companies don't have. Imagine a store that sells simple things but for some reason nobody in the industry allows you to purchase online. Well a bunch of redditors are changing that in cities all around the world, and crushing it.And that’s why we have been able to take such a big chunk out of the industry so quickly. My goal is for this network to grow from $50 million a year to $1 billion in the next 5 years. I think it’s possible.A few screenshots from some of the folks that followed along...Here’s one guy, and another , and another, and another, and another, and another ...shoot the last one was launched by a 19 year old kid, they got to $2mil per year in 2 ½ years. Shoot, it took me 3 years to get $2mil per year. Bastards! hahaWhen you add all the companies up, it’s $50 million per year and most started less than 3 years ago. I have the raw data for that $50 million number btw, and we're working with someone from r/dataisbeautiful to go through it and create something to compare revenues, figure out growth rates, correlations with city sizes etc. Will make another post on that when it's done in a week or two.WILL THIS WORK FOR EVERYONE?Nope. But if you have hustle and been trying to come up with “business ideas” or haven’t figured out that sexy mobile app you’ve been dreaming about, then read on for how to build the most annoying (yet fast growing company) you can imagine.This isn't just me saying this btw, the fastest growing Ycombinator company (before they jacked it up) was also a home cleaning company.OKAY ON TO THE CASE STUDY: HERE'S HOW TO FINALLY START SOMETHING IN 2017Before you get started: Try to do just do one thing per day, even if it’s just reading an article, or it will get overwhelming. This is going to be a slow steady candle burning, not a quick passionate flash fire that burns out. Here goes:Sunday, Jan 1st, 2017That's today. Do nothing. Just chill, let the alcohol wear off, and relax. The next 30 days will be sick!!!Monday Jan 2nd: Choose Your IndustryWake up, eat a good breakfast and get ready to crush 2017. Choose one, listed here in order of likelihood of success in my opinion: Home cleaning, carpet cleaning, home painting, lawncare, laundry. I've also seen people do well with mobile car detailing, dog walking, and others. Simple local services, but we'll be doing NONE of the actual work! I’m going to assume home cleaning for simplicity for this guide, but you can interchange that with almost any local service you can imagine.Tuesday Jan 3rd: Use Yelp to check out the competitionCheck out your competition on Yelp by searching for 1 star reviews. Goal is to not repeat the things your competition keeps getting wrong. Watch this video on analyzing the competition.Wednesday Jan 4th: Adding ValueEasy day. Spend the day thinking about customer service and how you will add value to the industry. The goal is a long term successful business that does not repeat the issues your competitors have problems with. Watch this video on adding value.Thursday Jan 5th: Create Your One Page Business PlanThe days of the 60 page business plan is over. Fill this bad boy out as a simple guide. We'll come back to this as you get more information. Watch this video on the one page business plan.Friday Jan 6th: Choose a domainI typically use this site for domain ideas. I like to create domains that have one keyword in the domain and then one sexy word for human beings. Example: Lawn Tribe. That way both Google and Humans understand what you're offering. Watch this video on us choosing a domain.Saturday Jan 7th: BrandingGood looking people get more breaks in life. Same for good looking websites. Launch with a good looking brand that looks more like a startup than an old school company. The goal is to have the most professional site in your industry in your city. Just spend the day googling around for your service in your city and looking at their websites.Sunday Jan 8th: Chillaxing DayGo for a run, or bullshit a bit on reddit, or whatever you do to unwind. So far not much has happened, but next week things will start to ramp up and you'll need a mental break.Monday Jan 9th: Planning the website So we need to get a good looking site. Three choices: 1) Get a cheap wordpress theme and tweak it. 2) Buy a more expensive but ready-to-go theme that is already branded beautifully (if we do say so ourselves) 2) Most expensive: Get something built yourself. I personally like 99designs for homepage design and created a guide on how to get good outcomes there:Step 1: Setting up the contest: http://ift.tt/2iVDhqQ 2: Marketing the contest: http://ift.tt/2hDExdc 3: Finding Inspiration sites: http://ift.tt/2iVEEG3 4: Managing the contest: http://ift.tt/2hDwSM1 5: Wrapup and handover http://ift.tt/2iVG1EP line is, I don't launch any projects with ugly design.Tuesday Jan 10th: CopywritingYou have to write engaging content for your website. For the top section make sure the customer knows where you do business: Things like “Premier Maid Service in Los Angeles” or “You Deserve a clean home in Nevada”. You get the gist. The goal is casual and fun copywriting for the entire site. Watch this video on our copywriting efforts.Wednesday Jan 11th: Building TrustThere are few little things we want to incorporate, that this video covers. Trust is the currency of the internet. We can't build a successful company without certain trust factors on the site like human faces, trust icons, etc. Watch this video on how we build trust.Thursday Jan 12th: PricingWe’re going for simple online booking, that's one of our major competitive advantages, so keep in mind we have to have a pricing structure that works. Here’s something to read on pricing from the original case study. In this video we discuss how we figured out pricing.Friday Jan 13th: Building a form for hiringThe goal here is to throw up ads to find service providers and have them fill out a form on your website that you can then use to follow up. You can use something like www.groovehiring.com (my company) to have people apply on your website. You want to present a nice landing page that looks professional and groovehiring helps with that. This is what it looks like. Check this video out for some more info at the 1 minute mark.Saturday Jan 14th: Choosing the right peopleHow to choose the right folks on craigslist. Read this and for how to reward them, read this.Sunday Jan 15th: Chill out!Some good games on today if you're a football fan. Take it easy and rest your brain if you can. Next week we start to line things up for launch.Monday Jan 16th: Our Marketing ChannelsHere's our marketing Channels and how we’ll be making money. There are a ton of places to get customers and we'll show more in a few days, but for now, watch this video to start to get familiar with marketing channels.Tuesday Jan 17th: Adding a video to your websiteThis isn't necessary but it defintely helps you stand out. Watch this video of Dara creating her video for her website.Wednesday Jan 18th: Set up live chat and other ways to contact youSet up live chat (Tawk.to is free and great) and consider a popup to capture emails. We use phone.com for phones but there are plenty of tools out there. This vid has a bit on email capture.Thursday Jan 19th: ThumbtackWe're not launched yet but this will be important for us to figure out, out of the gate:Here's how to get clients on Thumbtack, and here is Dara’s first shot. It worked out in the end, but here’s how the first stab went for some real world angst.Friday Jan 20th: Thumbtack Day 2Thumbtack will be important for us for our early jobs, check out this video for more Thumbtack strategies.Saturday Jan 21st: Gift Cards, discount codes, etc.Gift cards, discount codes, and other ecommerce tools. Just familiarize yourself online with techniques ecommerce folks use to increase conversions and grow revenue using ecommerce tools. Everything here you’ll get from http://ift.tt/2hDAI7v Jan 22nd: CHILLAXTrump is now president, and Facebook is probably going crazy with memes and stories. You'll need this day. Trust me!Monday Jan 23rd: Get set up to take credit cardsSign up at stripe.com to get a stripe account. This will be the credit card processing company that allows your customers to book online with ease. We use stripe because it integrates perfectly with the booking form we'll be using.Tuesday Jan 24th: Sign up at Launch27 (Full disclosure: I’m an owner)This is going to be the software that runs the entire business, from booking form, to recurring bookings, to credit card integration, to customer database, the entire shebang. The booking form you get here you will add to your website with a simple copy and paste."Oh wait, so this is just selling shovels in a gold rush?" Yeah. A gold rush where I've already figured out how to pan the gold myself, made millions there, showed other people how to do it and a lot of them are making millions as well, and then 2 years later I created a shovel that simplifies the entire process. And in this gold rush, the gold just happens to be fairly predictable and easy to pan. :-)Wednesday Jan 25th to Sunday the 29thLast minute checks, launch27 integration, logo upload, business set up, contracts etc.Monday Jan 30th. Launch Day!This is 1 month from now. And that's how we build businesses. From idea to launch in 30 days. Watch this video for some tips on how we get our first customers. Cycle through this list as well, there are a ton of ways here that have been shown to be solid for getting clients.Yep, it’s hard.One month of hard work, but in 30 days you can start making money instead of dreaming about that fancy mobile app that you’ve been planning out for the last 2 years!COSTS: Domain: $10Hosting: $10 per monthTheme: $450 (website)Launch27: $59 per monthFrom here on out if you can budget $300 per month for marketing it would be a win. (That’s like eating out money and cable/cell phone bill )Core customers will come from: Yelp, Adwords (hire someone), Thumbtack, Craigslist, local seo, and others. Will come back on February 1st to continue this if enough folks give it a shot.BUILD SOMETHING IN 2017At the end of the day build something! If not this, find something else. But there's no excuse to be hanging out in r/entrepreneur for years without working on something.Makes no sense :-)Knowing you guys really well, I know there are a ton of excuses you've already created for why this won't work. I wrote this: The Top 12 Wantrepreneur excuses on how to get past them.Good luck and AMAP.S. Want to add this as someone said I make it sound too easy. Business is risky. Anyone that tells you otherwise has never started a business. It's incredibly difficult, subject to fail, will make you overweight sitting at a computer, will give you high blood pressure and anxiety if you're not careful, and it is incredibly difficult to find customers (and shoot sometimes even more difficult to have those customers pay you when you're done). Nothing about business is easy, otherwise EVERYBODY would be doing. It takes an almost insane person to take on trying to make it in the world with their own two hands and take on ALL the responsibility for the livelihoods of a lot of people. Just keeping it real! This is hard, but doable, because a ton of people have done it, but it's not for everyone by any means. Not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship to begin with and certainly not everyone is cut out for local services and dealing with human beings. Good luck.Edited to add our FB group for ecommerce and FB group for local.