#like that is my rent for 3.5 MONTHS

[racetrackmybeloved]

thinking about denton bursting in like a hero and not even hesitating before volunteering to pay everyone's fines.

from this angle you can see 15 newsies,

but this kiddo (snipeshooter i think?) wasn't visible there, so it's at least 16 of them.

they were fined 5 dollars each so that's (at minimum) 80 bucks that denton is paying. doesn't sound like much, right? but that's in 1899 money. in 2024, that's equivalent in purchasing power to:

3028.19 USD

or 4633.09 AUD

or 2357.29 pound sterling

so yeah denton deserves all of the love

[ssk374]

Caffrey Confessions #3

(Trying to understand the timeline) (Spoilers for the whole show)

Neal has to spend 4 years in anklet (48 months) + 4 months from his previous sentence before finishing which neal escaped prison...so that is about 52 months.

I guess the first three season are about 6 months each (somewhere in season 3 that he has served nearly 2 years...until Jeff eastin the creator of the show said each season is nearly 6 months...so i'm assuming 2 years doesn't exactly mean two years but 18 months...which is nearly two years)

lets say neal spent a month in the island (edit : @babydollbucky just informed me it's actually 6 weeks so a month and half)...the 4th season is about 3 - 4 months (as per James Bennett), then Peter spent about a month and a half in prison.

Then we have season 5 which is about a few months...considering the fact that Rebecca had paid 6 months rent and the six months weren't over when Neal and Peter caught her...so we could say 4 - 5 months...

season 6 I'd say about 4 - 5 months cause you can figure the gender of the baby approx by 16th - 20th week (this particular info could be wrong...pls correct me if I am)...and El reveals the gender of the baby in the last ep....

which means neal had spent (18 + 1.5 + 3.5 + 1.5 + 4.5 + 4.5) approx 33 months before finale...let's go with 32...then he still has 19 months left...which is approximately 2 years of his sentence left when he faked his death...(one year and seven months exactly)

I'd like to think this way, cause before season 6, it would mean Neal will have to spend 2 full years in anklet, and 2 full years is a pretty good motivation for him to want to run considering the last 2 years were shitty to him...because if it was just one year left...peter could've convinced him...it's just one more year Neal!!! Not me calculating this instead of solving my physics questions lol

[crippled-peeper]

No personal offense Morg but as a global south crippled I'D GLADLY change baby shit for 13$ per hour 😭😭

I can’t drive so I ride the bus for 3.5 hours every day and have to get up at 5AM and wait in the dark in freezing temps because of it. my rent is $1100 a month, my meds and copays are $400 a month, heating is $200 a month. I am on state health benefits and food stamps. I’m only able to work a few hours a day because my body physically cannot take any more than that & because I need to go to physical therapy, the drs, and the pharmacy very often. I get home in pain and spend 14+ hours in bed after every shift. I get like $65 a day and most of it is immediately gone anyways to all my bills and debts (I get a debt collection call every single day, sometimes up to 4x a day, for my ambulance and hospital bills)

and before anyone comments on it… I’m not bad at budgeting I just literally can’t afford to live as a disabled person in any part of the country. before I got this work I considered suicide because I am afraid of enduring homelessness again especially since it’s winter now in the northern hemisphere (winter is brutal where I live).

Idk. maybe your situation is worse. but I don’t think $13 is a lot of money under these circumstances

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for being "negative" about a bunny and refusing to apologize? I don't think I can really shorten this, so I'm sorry for the lack of a TL;DR :/ It's pretty long!! TW for animal death(and potentially animal abuse?)

My mom(42 F) has a habit of randomly bringing pets home. For context, she's a single mother with four kids, with me(17) being the oldest, alongside my sister("E",13) and my two brothers(7 and 4, not relevant to the story). My sister and I share a room and my brothers share one too. My mom works a job that involves sleeping at work and doesn't think it's worth it for us to rent a three bedroom, so she sleeps on the couch on her nights off.

The first time was mid-2020 when she brought home a feral kitten my grandpa found underneath his house. What was supposed to be a family pet quickly turned into a pet that was kept only to E's and my room. He had some sort of sinus issue where he snotted everywhere all the time, so snot was constantly needing to be cleaned and being found randomly on our things. The cat was eventually rehomed after a year because it scratched my sister really badly to the point that my mom was concerned she would need stitches(she didn't. the cat didn't like being pet / touched and my sister wouldn't respect its boundries).

The second time was another cat(2021) that followed my mom from her cat to her place of work. This was when I started getting frustrated with my mom randomly bringing home animals, since the same set up that happened last time happened again- except this time, the cat got old enough to spray, and my mom kept forgetting to get him fixed so our room just smelled fucking awful. This cat was also rehomed when I broke down after realizing it has sprayed all over my books. I told my mom he either needed to be fixed or she needed to get rid of him. He was gone the next week.

Then last year it happened again- except this time, with a puppy(2022). My aunt was looking to get a new dog and sent some puppy photos to my mom, which she cooed over and showed me. She told me she was considering bringing one home, which I instantly told her was a bad idea and went over all the cons. Mom seemed to agree. Then guess what happened to be an early Christmas gift.... -_-

My sister and I took charge on the dog. We got our brothers to agree on a name for him(anyone with younger siblings knows this is a BIG deal lmao), started attempting to crate train him(basically making sure he's okay with eventually being left alone without crying the whole time), and we were the only ones trying to potty train him. Our mom didn't stick to any of this(including choosing a new name??) and the dog still isn't potty trained, and I'm the only one other than my mom that doesn't refuse to clean up after him. The dog doesn't stay in our room like the other animals, but it took months for my sister and I to convince our mom to get a hook lock for our door so the dog wouldn't keep coming in and peeing. The dog didn't end up getting rehomed, but now regularly stays at our aunt's house way more than ours.

It's worth noting at this point that all of these pets were "family pets" according to mom, and she would get upset when me and E pointed out we were really the only one taking care of them. The dog evened out after a while and now it's mostly my mom and I doing the work when he's here, but the cats are still a point of tension for us.

And now. For the fucking bunny!! Jesus christ I'm sorry there's so much backstory to this!!

A week ago my sister comes into our room and wakes me up to tell me mom brought home a baby bunny. It was scary small(3.5 inches long not stretching, 2 weeks old), and wasn't moving much but was clearly alive. My mom said it ran into my Nana's yard after the dog next door scared it off, and it's pretty safe to assume the nest is destroyed. But instead of bringing the rabbit to a wildlife rehab or something, my mom brought it home and told my sister she could keep it. They then put it in a box with some grass and water and did no further research.

I was pretty livid, because 1. This is a WILD rabbit. That's a crime in my state, 2. I think it was insanely irresponsible for my mom to drop this on us, 3. This is not a pet and it's very likely it'll die in our care just from us not being experienced, and 4. On a very basic and selfish level, I didn't want to take care of this animal and I didn't want it in our room(which it had to be). But E has been asking for a bunny for years, so for once she wasn't on my side about a new pet being dropped on us. So I was pretty outnumbered.

I kept pushing for my mom to contact a professional at the very least to ask about its diet(it's very easy to kill baby bunnies by feeding them the wrong thing), and kept trying to get my sister to stop holding / petting it since rabbits can die of stress. My mom listened after a day and my sister never did. Tbh I also thought if my mom contacted a professional the pro would tell her to absolutely not keep the bunny? But it was never brought up in their convo, so I think my mom might have lied about it or something, idk.

I continued being "negetive" about the rabbit and my sister kicked me out of our room for it. I refused to care for it too, even though my mom kept insisting it was a "family" pet(without me it was just her and E taking care of it, and since it stayed in our room my brothers never really got to see it). To be honest I really didn't feel like I had a lot of options, and I thought if I didn't help then maybe they would get overwhelmed or something and decide to give it to a professional. But I still kept trying to give pet care advice, because I didn't want any harm to come to the bunny(for example, my sister likes our room to never have to ac on, but i made sure she was keeping it cool enough for the bunny).

Well... After four days, the bunny died. E was pretty heartbroken, obviously, and my mom was sad, but to be honest I'm just sort of bitter. I'm upset a rabbit died just because my mom wouldn't listen. For more context, I also thought bringing in the bunny was a bad idea because my sister recently lost her dad, and I knew if it didn't end well this would just add more grief to her life. I 100% don't think she's TA in this situation, even if she has frustrated me.

I'm still pretty pissed at my mom for all of this, so yesterday when she sat me down and told me I should apologize to E for how I behaved, I didn't take it well. She said my negetivity made it so E didn't fully enjoy her time with the bunny, and that if I had handled things differently maybe things would have tunred out better. I know E has been avoiding me, which started when we first got the bunny and she kicked me out of the room for being too negetive. I feel like she just needs time to process, and to be honest I don't think this is something I should apologize for, even if it is an apology just to make her feel better. It feels like that would be irresponsible of me? Idk. I told my mom none of this would have happened if SHE hadn't been so irresponsible and brought the bunny home to a grieving teenager, when there wasn't much of a chance of the bunny surviving with us in the first place, but tbh ever since her dad died I've been really trying to do right by E, so I second-guess myself a lot now.

So AITA for being negetive about the bunny and refusing to apologize? To be clear again I don't think E is TA here, but they're both upset with me so idk.

What are these acronyms?

[hislittleraincloud]

Of course...just when I settled down back into rewrites.

If there is an interruption in benefits, I, along with millions of other Americans, won't be able to pay my rent. Given my already contentious relationship with a shitty, harassing building manager, I would be out on the street before my birthday in May after 22 years of living here. He wants us to "start saving now"? Save what? We live from month to month on those piddly benefits and there's a $2K cap for people who get SSI. Rent, utilities, and food in the Bay Area is insane, and people are very curious how I even do it on so little $ (I battled my landlord in 2005 over her illegal rent increase and have rent control), but I guarantee you that I'm not the only one. The old lady I got my old girl from was a disabled senior citizen living on benefits before she died; she paid her Section 8 rent and was able to live in a decent apartment with her SS. I can't help but think about all of the people like her who will suffer and/or be out on the street now because of all of this bullshit from a bunch of barely legal 4chan trolls that Diaper Don is letting piss all over the delicate inner workings of the government machine that helps the most disadvantaged of Americans survive.

Do not DARE fucking tell me that you still think that Kamala was equally bad. If y'all kids and stunted brains had just got up off your asses and helped us try to prevent that orange piece of Russian shit from gaining access to the Oval Office again, none of this would be happening. I would be writing in peace, secure in my home and in the knowledge that my 18 year old dog, her 3.5 year old sister, and my fish are happy and comfortable amongst their fuzzy beds, blankets, and toys. I would be coasting along in my creativity without worrying how I will survive under all of this mess. Right now I'm just sinking into survival mode and investing in shit that I know that I'd need on the street, while all the kids who don't do adulting yet just float along in their obsessions. This is some serious, serious shit and those of us who depend on our Social Security are in danger of losing our lives. To say that I'm furious is an understatement.

And yeah, I've bitched about it before but I TOLD YOU that I won't go silently into the night. Fuck that bullshit. I've come too far to be felled by a bunch of losers and a dude shaped like his own Swasticar, and I will use whatever opportunity I'm given to remind you that if you voted 3rd Party or didn't vote at all, you fucking helped this to happen. 🤗

[sovonight]

hi sovo ;u; I hope it's okay if I ask you a shop question! So um, I'm lower on money than I've ever been and I'm too burnt out to do commissions for ppl due to personal stuff, but I feel like... if I made one charm or one sticker for a particularly huge fandom/movie that's out right now, and if I put it up as preorder and sold at least 20 keychains then I'd be able to pay my bills this month. but I've never sold physical merch before and I'm a little nervous to try it haha :'D

Would you recommend I try making an Etsy since it seems to have a large enough audience, or do you think I should try making my own website/shop? I'm definitely not ready to consistently sell things as a steady job yet, I thought I'd try literally just one single keychain or one sticker sheet (I already learned how to make those, thankfully) in order to pay my rent this month bc I've only got about a hundred dollars to my name sdflkfssdf;; and if it goes well then maybe I can try it again.

I'm also not quite sure how to price things? if I made a 3.5 inch acrylic charm with the little star shaped keychains like from Vograce, do people normally price those at $15 when they sell them? should I also account for shipping? I've also umm never shipped merch before and I'm so worried about somehow messing it up sldfjsf like I don't know what kind of envelopes I have to get or if I should even use my own address bc I'm so nervous about my personal info being out there, but I don't know if it's worth paying for a PO box if I'm so low on money already. if you have any tips on anything whatsoever, I would appreciate any feedback if you're not busy. But if you don't want to answer please don't worry about it ;u; anyway thank you so much for reading this I really appreciate you! ❤

no prob! here are my thoughts:

pros/cons of etsy:

apparently if you're new to selling on etsy, there's a probationary period where etsy withholds your profits for 3 months. i don't know anything about it personally since it started in 2020, but it seems that funds are only released when your shipped orders are scanned at the post office. i think i also remember hearing about other cases where payments aren't released at all for 3 months--and etsy customer service has a reputation of being difficult to get a hold of if you have a problem as a seller, so if etsy made a mistake with your shop, it may take even more months to resolve. since you have preorders in mind, i would hold off on etsy unless you can pay out of pocket.

etsy can drive traffic towards your listing for you (if you choose the right keywords--it's more difficult to be discovered just randomly if you don't).

they have high fees (for a $15 charm they'd take $1.88 in fees, which is 12.5%).

people may be cautious to buy from a shop that has no reviews yet, but many customers are protected by etsy's purchase protection and can be refunded at no cost to you if their order gets lost in the mail (provided that you ship with a tracking number and meet other criteria).

etsy will strongly recommend that you offer free shipping; ignore them. i don't think i've ever bought fanmerch with free shipping in my life, and their advice isn't geared towards sellers like us.

preorders don't work very well with etsy's system--iirc you're not supposed to do them (even though people still do, of course) but the main reason i remember is that the max processing time etsy lets you set per product (as in, the time between the customer purchasing the listing and you shipping it out) is 6 weeks. that means that the time you allow for customers to place their preorders, the time it takes for you to order and receive the merch, and the time it takes for you to ship out orders, all need to add up a max of 6 weeks, which was personally a difficult timeline for me to meet when making keychains. ofc, it's possible to extend the processing time, but going over the processing time may make it possible for customers to leave reviews/open cases early before you're even ready to ship out their orders, which could affect the reputation of your shop.

pros/cons of not etsy:

if you're not going with etsy, i've heard people recommend bigcartel, since it doesn't require a subscription like shopify or other places do. bigcartel's free plan is limited, but it should work for what you're looking for. another alternative might be ko-fi--i've heard that ko-fi shops aren't ideal for shipping out a large amount of orders, but since you're targeting just 20 i think it should be manageable.

ofc, you'll have to drive all your traffic yourself, so consider if you have enough of a following in your target fandom, or how you should go about getting your post noticed by your target fandom.

unlike etsy, shipping isn't auto-calculated, so i'd probably set a flat rate (in the US i'd expect $5). flat rates might make calculating your taxes just a little bit more complicated; in california at least, you have to pay taxes on the difference between the shipping you charge your customers and the shipping you actually pay to the post office, so iirc you either refund the extra shipping to the customer or hand it all over in taxes.

pricing:

yes, the standard price for ~3" acrylic keychains is $15, though i've also seen people go up to $16 or $17, especially on etsy where the fees are high.

shipping should be a separate cost, either auto-calculated for you (if you're on etsy/shopify) or a flat rate that you set based on shipping rates for your country, so in the end a customer might pay $15 + $5 = $20 in total.

unless most of your prospective customers are international, i'd recommend against shipping internationally to avoid dealing with customs forms, especially since you already have a lot of info to take in.

you can ship everything in a regular bubble mailer, though if you're just shipping stickers not keychains, a flat envelope should work fine. when shipping packages, you'll need to know the weight of each package, but you can just go by an estimate. a 3" acrylic keychain weighs about 1 oz (it weighs less than that, but they don't accept decimals) so i just multiply based on how many keychains are in an order. for usps at least, shipping is the same rate up until 10 oz iirc, so you don't need to weigh it super accurately. you could also always just go into the post office and have them weigh and label everything for you.

po box:

if regular PO box rates in your area are too high, you can also consider using a virtual po box; they go for about $10 per month at their most basic plans. if you're not expecting to get any mail redirected back to you, you should be able to just buy a month's subscription when you're ready to ship things out.

words of caution:

you probably already know this, but large fandoms can often be oversaturated by merch, so just choosing a large fandom might not be enough to guarantee a sale--you might have to stand out by, say, choosing a character who's in demand but doesn't have much fanmerch, having a funny meme concept, or having such a unique/attractive style that people can't help but want your fanmerch in particular. if you haven't already, i'd recommend looking around the market and seeing what's out there and decide why a buyer should choose your merch over anyone else's. though honestly, depending on your fandom, it could also not be this serious and not warrant much research--it all depends!

even if the preorder process works out and you get the funds to place the order, the manufacturer could always mess up on your order, which could lead to delays in your fulfillment and at worst, more expenses if you need to pay to get them remade. if it's easier to get sticker sheets made (like if you make them yourself/locally instead of ordering from overseas) they might be a safer choice of merch to make. ofc, i don't generally see sticker sheets up for preorder so you'd probably have to order them out of pocket and hope they sell, and you'll probably have to sell more of them than you would of keychains to get the same amount of profit. i don't know the whole situation, so i can't say anything definite about the risks/rewards between choosing to sell keychains and choosing to sell stickers.

[unblinded-by-nostalgia-blog]

SPICE AND WOLF MONTH!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a review of the Anime series only and does not reflect the thoughts of the original novels. They are two different entities and I will be treating them as such.

Part 1 (Episodes 0-6)

The Story

The story is has Holo being offered a young merchant's hand in marriage via contract.

The first part of this series is based on the third book of the series, which is my favourite in the series.

As an adaptation to the third novel, it is a good one. It isn't the most true-to-the-novel series, but I still enjoyed it. It also went into more detail on the economic side of the series than the original book which many people will appreciate, but those who know how economics works might find that this first half holds the viewer's hands too much.

As it's own entity, it's good. But it doesn't move the overall story much and the series made Holo and Lawrence a couple much faster than the original series did, which makes some of the elements of the story feel rushed.

The Characters

The two main characters get a lot of development in this arc. But I wish that the other side characters, especially Mark, the alchemist and the 'prince' had more development and in the alchemist's case, more screen time.

The Animation/Special Effects

The animation isn't as good as the first series. It recycles footage from the previous episodes and it suffers the same problem as Vampire Knight Guilty where the series had far too many flashbacks. It also uses a lot of still imagery and covers the character's mouths when they are talking, and it is really noticeable.

The Dub

The dub it still top notch, I especially love the 'prince's' voice and the alchemist's. They sound like exactly how I imagined they would sound while I was reading the original novel.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this arc was a great as an adaptation of the third book and as it's own entity. It isn't perfect by any means,nor is it a masterpiece, but it is worth watching is you have the time.

The Story 3.5/5 The Characters 3.5/5 The Animation/Special Effects 2/5 The Dub 5/5

Overall 3.5/5

Part 2 (Episodes 7-12)

The Story

Nothing really happens in the second half that is entertaining, except for the last episode where they made Holo and Lawence an official couple and Lawence lost all of his money.

Many people want a season 3 of this series, but after an ending like that (which is far different from the original book), what is there left to tell.

It would of been better if they made book 4 instead of skipping it and going straight to book 5.

The Characters

We learn a lot about Eve (she's called Abe in this series for some reason), but the rest of the cast is given very little development, heck, even Holo and Lawence don't get much development in this!

The Animation/Special Effects

The animation is slightly better, but that's not saying much because it still uses those cheap animation tricks throughout the series.

The Dub

The dub is still very well done. The only complaint I do have is that Eve sounds too much like a boy in this. She would of been better off with a lower pitch voice, but not a deep as this!

Final Thoughts

Overall, this half is definitely the weakest in the entire series. Apart from the final episode, they are skippable unless your REALLY interested in the story.

The Story 2/5 The Characters 2/5 The Animation/Special Effects 2.5/5 The Dub 4/5

Overall 2.5/5

Overall Thoughts

Overall, this series (and the first season) is overrated, but it is definitely worth a watch. While I do recommend you buy the first season, I recommend you only rent the second season.

Part 1 3.5/5 Part 2 2.5/5

Overall 3/5

[bluestringpudding]

I am, after months of procrastinating, seriously thinking (and even actually doing some writing) about writing the prequel to Live Like Common People, since Jules and Draco still insist on living rent free in my head.

To this end I am reminding myself of the original story (how has it been 3.5 years since I wrote it? How?!?!?), and it is eye opening.

Thoughts so far:

- Wow, that's some blunt force exposition.

- Followed swiftly by a giant leap in logic with no explanation at all (when clearly I though I had some).

- I really had NO idea where this story would end up going.

- And therefore did not think through some of the hand waving explanations I gave for some of the limited character development.

- Trying to write those into a story is going to be err, interesting.

- I had even less interest in anachronisms, and now really hope no one cares too much about them, 'cos I ain't changing them.

- My audio editing skills were distinctly lacking at the time (I'm too lazy to read, so listening to the recording)

- Things I thought were fun details at the time are going to take a whole bunch of explaining.

Overall, it had reinforced something I've always been kind of aware of anyway, which is, I'm very glad that I have no aspirations of being a professional author. I enjoy writing, but I'm happy I can look at all of the above with a shrug. It's a hobby, it doesn't need to be perfect (or even near perfect in some cases), and I feel extremely lucky that despite all it's flaws, a whole bunch of people gave always been very kind about my first foray into writing.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm off to plot shenanigans on a global scale.

[mariacallous]

On an island in the Singapore Strait, a thicket of apartment blocks peers mournfully over the sea. A corps of green-shirted gardeners dutifully tends the lawns and herbaceous borders along the roadside. A few cars slip along smooth roads to a commercial center with gleaming marble floors. Amidst the hundreds of closed shopfronts three restaurants are open—a fried chicken chain, a small café, and a gleaming and empty hot pot restaurant. Five duty-free shops are doing better business; some young men are stocking up on beer and Copper Dog whiskey at 11 a.m.

Welcome to Forest City: planned residents, 700,000; current residents, roughly 9,000. Launched in 2014 as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the mega-project is headed by once-real estate giant Country Garden, a behemoth that now sits on the edge of bankruptcy.

At first glance, the project seems yet another tale of a ghost-city built on the back of a Chinese real estate bubble—and then doomed by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown. Yet Forest City’s story is also a deeply Malaysian tale, involving property-speculating sultans, nationalist politicians, and the country’s complex relationship with Beijing and its own ethnically Chinese minority.

Building a new city to lodge hundreds of thousands of residents on four new artificial islands in the Singapore Strait was always an ambitious venture. But the main market was not locals, but rather speculative buyers from the People’s Republic of China. When sales opened in December 2015, buyers flooded in, many of them buying “pre-sales” of uncompleted apartments. “You’d have buses coming over from Singapore every day filled with people who just landed,” said Tan Wee Tiam, head of research at KGV International Property Consultants. “There were over 1,000 agents in the sales hall, and it still wasn’t enough. … You felt like you were in China.”

Buyers were often looking for not a permanent residence but an investment that could also be a potential holiday home, or accommodation for children who were headed to study in Singapore. Some were reportedly even offered the opportunity to buy a flat in China and get one free in Forest City, said Christine Li, head of research in the Asia-Pacific for Knight Frank.

Yet this reliance on the Chinese buyers also left the project brutally exposed to changes in Chinese policy. The first blow came in 2017, when the Chinese government suddenly imposed capital controls preventing individuals from moving more than $50,000 out of the country annually. The minimum price of a Forest City apartment sits at around $75,000 and can be as much as $3.5 million. Then came the pandemic years which froze international travel—and stamped hard on Chinese real estate and growth.

Yet, Forest City’s staff seem to be holding out hope. Shane Lim, a hire from Singapore, showed me around and assured me that the place is working to attract buyers from across the world, including the Middle East, Indonesia, and Thailand. Still, he estimated that about 70 percent of his colleagues in the sales team are from China.

Halfway through my tour, a Malaysian man calling himself Ozzy introduced himself and his two wives. Now living in the United States, he’s searching for a place to buy in Malaysia that he can use to visit his daughter in Singapore and rent out when he’s away. Looking around, though, he’s unconvinced.

“Look at how empty this place is,” he said. “I’d only be able to rent it out for one or two months a year. … When I visited in 2018 this place was packed. Now there’s no one here. It’s like it’s haunted.” Lim stared at his shoes until Ozzy moved off. He then firmly assured me that the sales hall is busier on weekends.

A wet Wednesday afternoon might not be a peak sales period, but it is hard to escape the reality that the putative new city is barely lived in. Surveying one of the towers I descend from the 34th floor to the first, looking for signs of occupancy—a pair of shoes at the door, furniture seen through the windows that face the corridor, or even just curtains drawn over said windows. The place is eerily well maintained but empty. Just 25 of the 390 flats show any signs of current occupancy.

I met a single resident, a Malaysian Indian woman who said she lived in Forest City with her husband. Declining to give her name, she informed me a neighboring tower is busier. That would not be hard to believe. Some floors in this tower were completely empty with flats whose doors open to the touch, revealing light-filled marble interiors into which dead leaves have blown. Others had notices of a residents’ meeting dated October 2022 still taped to the door.

According to Li, there are signs that buyers may be slowly coming back. But she also suggested that Country Garden might have aimed too high, used to China’s experience of breakneck speed urbanization, supported by strong government support for infrastructure development. That policy created plenty of “ghost cities” in China itself—but until the recent real estate crisis, also huge profits.

Forest City has also suffered from being a political football since its launch, something Country Garden may well not have anticipated. “I did notice Chinese developers tend not to focus on the political climate,” Li said. “They are not used to the idea of general elections, change of government, and change of policies overnight.”

Despite its vast scale, the first time locals heard about Forest City was in 2014, when fisherman woke up one day to find barges dumping sand off the coast. Newspapers dug into the story, revealing that Country Garden’s main partner was none other than the sultan of Johor state, Ibrahim Ismail.

The tie made sense. Many businesses take on Johor royals as partners, benefiting from the influence they wield in the state. The Malaysian government is also bent on transforming southern Johor into a new economic hub, the Shenzhen to Singapore’s Hong Kong. The city was made a duty-free zone. When further investigations also revealed rushed environmental reviews, it took diplomatic protests from Singapore for the central government to intervene and ensure the proper process was followed.

However, things began to shift when the Malaysian government’s grip on power loosened. Rocked by the world’s largest corruption scandal, the China-linked 1Malaysia Development Berhad, voters turned against it. And at 93 years old, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad exited retirement to lead an opposition filled with former opponents, previously imprisoned under his watch, against a government coalition he once led for 22 years.

Forest City became one of Mahathir’s favorite targets. Inveighing against government corruption and waste, he accused the government of planning to sell out Malaysia to foreigners. Most provocatively, he claimed that the thousands of mainly Chinese buyers of Forest City apartments would be allowed to settle, become Malaysian citizens, and vote in its elections. In a country where ethnically Chinese make up 23 percent of the citizenry—and are often stereotyped as wielding undue political influence due to their wealth—the claim was explosive.

After his shock triumph in the 2018 elections, then-Prime Minister Mahathir followed through on his threats declaring that foreigners would not be allowed to buy property in Forest City. Despite legal challenges, the announcement apparently hit Forest City sales hard.

Five years and a series of dizzyingly complex political maneuvers later, the current Malaysian government is led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. His support is mainly built by ethnic minority-backed parties that triumphed in 2018. To secure his grip on power he needs two things. The first is economic growth. The second is increased support from Malay voters, to which end he has courted the sultans who act as power brokers in their states and take turns acting as Malaysia’s head of state. Perhaps none is more influential than the sultan of Johor, who started his five-year tenure in February this year.

In this context, Anwar seems to have rediscovered the charm of Chinese investment, and Forest City. He has repeatedly praised the Belt and Road Initiative, and in August last year he announced Forest City would be designated a special financial zone with residents offered multiple-entry visas, fast-track entry for those working in Singapore, and a flat income tax rate of 15 percent.

The sultan of Johor has also suggested reviving a proposed high-speed rail link between Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, with an extra stop at Forest City. And who knows what will happen. After, all the $10.5 billion Melaka Gateway project—launched under the Belt and Road Initiative and apparently scrapped in 2020—is also back underway, after finding new support from the state and federal governments. The developer behind the project recently acquired a major new shareholder, the sultan of Johor.

But the heyday of Chinese investment in Malaysia may well not be coming back. Ten years since China launched the Belt and Road Initiative, it has begun to pull back sharply on its overseas investments. China’s own economic slowdown and business wariness about the increasingly capricious regulatory environment is part of the story. But, the large number of projects gone sour also appears to have made Chinese investors more wary.

Meanwhile, Malaysia is struggling not to get left holding the bag. Should Country Garden go bankrupt, it’s uncertain what will happen to Forest City. At that point the Malaysian government could face the unpalatable option of a potential bailout by the Chinese government, leaving a chunk of Malaysian land in Beijing’s hands. Alternatively, it could step in itself—becoming the proud proprietor of what the developers still proclaim to be “A Prime Model for Future Cities.”

[umichenginabroad]

Madrid Week 4: the rhythm of the night

Holaaaaa otra vez!! Niko here again, back with another blog for week 4 of studying abroad in Madrid! This week marked my official first month in the city, which means that I’m 1 month down of 3.5 (or 2/9ths of the way through). I wonder how my perspective of the city and life here will have changed by the 4/9 point, by 8/9 point, and when I’m finally gone. I guess we’ll both have to wait to find out ;).

This week, February 13th, was my birthday. I turned 21 years old — which is a pretttty big deal in the United States. 21 is like the final frontier of birthdays. After that, anything (except for renting a car, for some reason) (and also running for president) is possible. Order a beer? Done. Get into a club? No problem. Is it weird to me that we can join the military before those things? Yes, but I don’t know enough about the prohibition era to make a substantial claim on the laws we have in the USA.

Being that it was a Tuesday and I wasn’t quite in the partying mood, I went out for a nice dinner with a friend and bought myself churros for the walk home -- perfect birthday tbh. However, an American in America turning 21 will typically go out, buy alcohol legally, get into some bars with their actual ID (maybe Rick’s for my UMich people, which is finally on-limits :0 ), and likely get very very drunk with their friends. In Spain, that doesn’t happen for 21 year olds — or 18 year olds, for that matter.

I think that the basic differences in drinking culture between the USA and Europe are somewhat well known. To generalize: binge drinking is much less common in Europe; people may drink more but pace themselves out over the course of many hours; people start partying late and stay out much later. However, living in Spain and experiencing the nightlife firsthand has given me a new understanding of this culture — and I’ve found that it’s a rhythm I really enjoy.

An Aside on Work-life Balance

In Madrid, the people place a lot of value on social life — which lasts throughout adulthood. I think that in the United States, social life ends up giving way to work for many adults as they get older and their career becomes more demanding. In Spain, people subscribe moreso to the ideal of “working to live” instead of “living to work”.

This is a generalization, but I think it’s a fair one to make in comparison to the culture of the USA. This perspective may be a product of the bubble I live in as a student studying abroad, but the "competitive, always-searching-for-the-next-opportunity, never-staying-complacent (satisfied?)-with-your-current-position" vibe is something I have not yet felt or witnessed here. I think that difference can be explained in part by the USA's strong capitalistic nature (and Europe's slightly more socialist environment), but I'm no expert ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I don’t think that I want to subscribe fully to either ideal.

I don’t want my work to be my life. I think that I value a lot of things higher than money — relationships, new experiences, personal growth — and that's where I want to focus. However, working is an unavoidable part of life for (almost) everyone. I think that treating the idea of work as a career — something to be developed, something to find passion in, something that adds to your life instead of taking away from it — will enable me to live a happier life. And, to become truly satisfied in my career, I’m gonna have to put in that effort.

I think that the key to maintaining a healthy relationship towards work is deriving that hard-work mentality from within, instead of from the pressure of outside influences (living up to expectations, competition with others, greed, etc). In this way, achievements will be something I can be proud of myself for -- especially because I did those things in alignment with my own contentment and happiness. Admittedly, this conclusion is spoken from my "very wise" position of having had only 1 full time internship and a few part time service jobs, but this is where I'm at with my experience pursuing a college degree. Guess we'll see how it turns out down the road.

Nightlife

Anyways, back to partying in Madrid. House parties don’t really exist like the do in the USA, or frankly, at all. This is partly because there’s an ordinance that prohibits loud noises indoors at night, and partly because there’s no need for them — there’s a seemingly infinite amount of bars and clubs to go to, on every night of the week (yes, including Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). 

First, you’ll have dinner, shared with a group of friends and never earlier than 8pm — usually closer to 10pm. Pregames (previas) might happen at someone’s apartment, they might happen on the street, either on the way to the club or in a group just chilling (botellon). In general, (especially with young people), as much alcohol as possible is consumed outside of the club, for economical reasons. A beer bought at the corner store is half the price and twice the size than at the bar. The streets in Madrid, especially on the weekend, are always lively. Simply walking around popular areas is an energizing feeling.

If you’re going out dancing to a club, you might also hit a few bars beforehand, which are more commonly frequented a bit earlier in the night - 12am ish is peak.

Like I mentioned previously, things also start late. A club will not be in full swing until 3am. If you arrive to a club at 12 (which is when most of them open), you’ll be dancing alone on the floor. This is in stark contrast to the USA, where at 3am, you might be dancing alone because everyone else has already gone home. Things will start to wind down around 5am on weekends, and a dedicated group will still be around at 6am when the lights turn on to kick everybody out.

Personally, I love this rhythm. Starting so late, you get a full day in beforehand — and much more time with friends spent during the night. Drinks are consumed slowly, and far fewer will end up on the toilet at the end of the evening. Things feel more relaxed, less like we're on a time crunch — probably because there’s simply more time to party.

I’ve only got one big qualm in comparison to the USA — sleep. If you’re out until 6am on Saturday, you’re probably sleeping until 3pm at the earliest. Which kind of throws off your Sunday. If you were looking to grab brunch, or god forbid be productive, forget it. But maybe, a loss of productivity isn't such a big deal. I would love to hear from you all what you feel about the work/productivity culture in the USA, and how you perceive (or have experienced) it in different cultures.

So, needless to say, I have been partying a good amount, and I think I’ve been doing so in a pretty authentically Spanish way. I’ll spare details on my escapades, but I’ll include some pictures (along with some more in depth descriptions) that may give a little insight into the ~vibes~. I’m a big fan of electronic music, and Madrid’s scene for that is vast.

For anyone reading this that’s going to Madrid sometime soon — either for studying abroad, vacation, or whatever else — I’ve been putting together this list of all the nightlife sites I’ve gone to, with little descriptions on my thoughts accompanying each one. I hope it serves at least a few people well, and spares them the work of finding the places that are a little less obvious to non-natives.

Hope everyone has a fantastic week! :)

Hasta luego,

Niko Economos

Aerospace Engineering

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Madrid, Spain

[friendshipstates]

Calling for Aid (OOC/Mun Drama)

Here's the situation:

I received a message from my landlord saying that I'm five months behind on rent. I had been unemployed and denied unemployment last summer and went three months without a job. The jobs I did have were are limited hours so I wasn't able to pay all in one go. And then my car completely died. I was able to sell it for scrap and use most of the check to pay rent that month. I've been working part time hours since October, and through that time, only been dropping $175 every few weeks on my $700 monthly rent. Due to family emergencies on his part, the landlord told me to pay what I could at the time. Now, however, I'm finally getting the full time hours, but it's not going to be enough to pay for all my bills. Now, what can I offer for commissions? I'm not artistic, or musical, but what I can do is write. Do you want a fanfiction of your ship in a safe for work scenario? I can write that. Do you want a one-shot for tabletop campaign? I've been running tabletop campaigns since I was 18. I have done everything from D&D 3.5 to FATE, to various superhero campaigns. I've been making magic at the roleplaying table, and I'd be happy to share that magic with first-time and veteran dungeon masters. Here's what I need. My total amount in arrears is $3625. But every little bit helps. For $15, I will write you a SFW fic of your characters of choice, between one and four thousand words. For every thousand words more than that, I ask five dollars more. You give me the characters, the scenario you want to see them in and I will write it for you. For $20, I will write you a one-shot for a tabletop rpg campaign. This will include: a starting location, a few potential quest givers and NPCs for your players to like, love or hate, a location to visit, a threat to face, and stat blocks for a few minions, and a final boss. I do not guarantee that your players will make it to that final boss in a single session but that's on them. For $35 I will do the same as above for the tabletop campaign, but I will also create pre-generated character sheets for your players. This will be easier if I'm familiar with the system, obviously. If you're interested, DM me here, or on discord (username: wraithstrike) and we can discuss what you're looking for.

[theslightestbitofahint]

I cannot begin to tell you all how absolutely fucking great it feels to have actually built the life I want for myself. Especially given the state of the world right now. And I've been hesitating to brag but I think it's important that we talk about our successes while we survive the suffering. I know not everyone will get to, and I hate that. I just think we gotta give each other hope.

I'm less than a month from finishing my bachelor's degree, one that I designed to fill a gap I noticed and have been troubled by since I first went back to school in the Fall 2022 semester.

I have an interview Thursday at a local queer organization that serves the exact populations I've been doing research projects and proposals for in my courses- stuff I never thought would go anywhere. And I might actually get to put all of that to use!??!

I've maintained a 3.5 GPA or higher since I started. I barely passed high school. I struggled with every subject for a variety of reasons, most of which had to do with living in poverty. I was diagnosed and started taking medication for ADHD two months before I started classes for this program.

I was able to buy the exact car I've been wanting for like 5 years over the weekend. It's nothing fancy, a base model Nissan Rogue. But I rented one a few years ago and it was the perfect setup for my non-standard-sized body frame, and it feels very safe for me to drive. Never thought I'd ever actually have one.

I wish I could see my family a lot more, and I'm sure once I start working I'll be able to afford it a little more often. Not everything is perfect. But it feels really good that some things are working out because I've been working so hard and I thought with this new presidency my whole dream was over. But I'm about to have it. I'm about to realize it. So. FUCK Trump. FUCK the American government. We can still win. I still won, motherfuckers.

[allys-diary]

stories i om-nom-nom'd :: march 2025 (weeks 1 & 2)

I could have sworn that I went through so much more stuff in the first half of March but I guess not…because I'm still in the process of going through majority of the things I was working on, so I'll probably have some more stuff in the latter half of the month, we'll see.

CAUTION: This post will include stories from spicy audio apps. I cannot say it enough that this post, and honestly in general this blog, will either contain or discuss adult themes. If you are a child, keep out. Your wording gives you away and I am not an idiot.

As always, everything below the cut

movies

𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝟏𝟕 – 5/5

Might be giving it that rating because I am biased but so fucking be it. I had a hell of a good time watching this movie, from the plot to the comedic timing, to the obvious parody of a certain petty dictator, this movie got me hollering in my seat and also had me forgetting about the snacks I brought in.

As an appreciator of a good story, I was very happy. As a whore, I was very happy. The only thing that could have made it better was if they leaned in to the 17x18 tension because what do you mean I got robbed of this type of visual twice in my lifetime?! First the Loki TV series, and now this?!

books

𝐍𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐰: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐞 – 3.5/5

Honestly my flabbers are gasted at how shockingly dark this went for a Nancy Drew book. They literally put in a protagonist that was giving mafia thug. As an adult I'm not complaining, but also if I had been a mother and I find out that this is what's in the book that my child was reading, it would give me a bit of pause.

𝐍𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐰: 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐞 – 0.5/5

Good fucking god, this was horrendous, atrocious, and just downright offensive to the name of Nancy Drew. It's self-insert fanfic written by a middle-aged musty dusty crusty man whose hard drive needs to be checked because what do you mean your fantasy is going out on a date with literal baby-faced teenager Nancy Drew?

Full review & rant here

𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐎'𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐥 – 4.75/5

Much as I did enjoy getting to read about such an absolute girlboss of a character surviving through the elements of nature, I have beef now with a fictional 6-year old boy. Like yes I know that in the end it's revealed that ultimately his stupidity actually saved Karana, but still…she spent over a decade in that island with only the company of her pets. And also yes I know that this book was written in very different times, but Karana deserved to have a girlfriend like what do you mean she never sees Tutok again?! My girl deserves her ho years!

audio stories

𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐀𝐩𝐩 𝟐: 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟

Holy hell goddamn. I signed up for a new spicy audio app and bought the premium membership and went sprinting when I found out that there was a Loki story in this library. The concept was "Loki x Prison Guard Reader" smut where he seduces her into his cell and tricks her into inadvertently letting him out of his cell. The actress for the prison guard performed like rent was due, the Loki actor put in the work to actually sounding like Tom when the smut actually kicks in, especially when he says "Oh yes…" that it threw me for a loop, and the overall audio production is just…it's great. It's so great.

There's also apparently a "request a story" feature that's available to me since I'm a premium member…and I am halfway tempted to send in a request for either a frost giant Loki or…Loki on the throne.

𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐀𝐩𝐩 𝟐: 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡

A husband decides to give his wife a massage to help her relax from all the stresses of the world…gone sensual and then gone sexual.

There's a good few stories I'm working on om-nom-nom'ing and I can't wait to talk about them (namely a handful of books and some documentaries). Anyways, let's see what weeks 3 & 4 bring. See y'all in two weeks.

[theuniverseawakens347]

We’re noticing the logic in making me homeless was absolutely stupid - Lee GARLINGTON. And Howard.

How do you tell me “get a 9-5 ( waitressing) and we’ll match rent to the days you work ( work 30 days get a month) or go to rehab again”

- for fucking what!?

Also rehab you said 30 days friendly house I signed a 3 month contract for clarity and forced a year on me .. I did river and BEFORE going YOU SAID IF I DIDNT LIKE IT I COULD COME HOME , I told you a week after I don’t like it nor need it I wana come home - I did 3.5 months … UR WORD AINT SHIT TO ME.

then Colleen gon offer me homeless shelter where YOU RAPED N BEAT MY MOM AND CHANGED HER NAME TO SOMEONE ELSE SO NO ONE RIGHT COULD FIND HER - HELLO LAPD ITS HAPPENING AGAIN. - then you pay mother fuckers off there to lie or threaten to kidnap and kill their kids .. INDIA LOVE ASS BBL

.. then Colleen tells me I need to take psych meds Yal going out of town, in order to get a condo 🫤.. - last lunch we had at st joseph bbq place

——-

2PAC A BITCH ASS NIGGA “COME W ME RUN NIGGA WE GON SEE BLAH BLAH BLAH ILLUMINATI” … snoop HE KILLED MY DADDY THRU BIGGIE AND FAITH EVANS PINNING IT ON LIL KIM BUT YOU ALSO THROWING ASS AND COKE AT MY DAD AND WHY FUCK TARD INDIA LOVE DAD ON PAPER WORK FOR ROYAL BLUNTS W MY DADS NAME KNOC OFF UGLY ASS FACE AND BANK ACCOUNT - the game!??

CALIFORNIA LOVE - IMA BEAT THE LIVING FUCKING SHIT OUT OF SOMEONE FOR BEING A FUCKING PUSSY THIRSTY MONEY LOVING WHORE AND MAKING ME HOMELESS FOR NO FUCKING REASON WHEN YOU GOT THE RECORDS ON DECK AND STRAIGHT - STATION 7 VENICE RALPHS YOU DID A HO LOT OF RETARTED COON ACTIVITY TO FUCK INDIA LOVE AND KIMORA JAY DUNLAP STEVE HARVEY STASH … “the only way to get a bitch to talk is to fuck her” .. - NO YOU DUMB FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT.

WHY YOU IN LAW AND KIM FUCKEDHARD KARDASHIAN WHY YOU GIVE WEST MUSIC RECORDS ABOUT MY FAMILY AND ME MISS “I wana be pro bono for the case” N KAYNE TALKING THAT GOD SHIT. NIGGA IMA PUNCH YO JAW LIKE MY DADDY BEAT YO POPS RETARTED PUSSY DRIVEN ASS - DRAKE WHY YO DUMB ASS FATHER HERE BITCH NIGGA FUCKING THE WHITE WOMAN THINKING THATS HOW YOU GET EVEN W THE WHITE MAN

- NO YOU FUCKING COONS YOU GIVING EM WHAT THEY WANT NOW OUR BLACK WOMEN THEY FUCKING HO AND YOU GOT DUMBASS INDIA LOVE A WHITE BITCH WALKING TOUND W BLACK PROPERTIES ASSESSTS AND HER MOTHER FUCKING THE BLACK MAN LIKE THEY WON SOMETHING.

- YOU LOST YOUR GOT DAMN DIGNITY WHEN YOU TAKE A STEP BACK

- CAMERON WALKER AND CORDELL B YO DADDY HALF WAS 2pac sperm that nigga a straight BITCH N HO WHO STOLE WHAT MY MOM N DAD MUSIC AND WEED AND PIMPED COKE FROM THE WHITE MAN TO COMMIT MURDER INDIANFUCKTARD WARREN WHATEVER YO MOM NAME AND THEN SEND YO OWN COLOR OFF FOR MURDER AND GET BLACK WOMEN PREGNANT BY THEM TO FEED THE BROKEN HOME BULLSHIT FURTHER // DISTRACT A NIGGA FROM THE BIG PICTURE

- WHY THE FUCK WE COME TO WORK.

Ima round house kick yo dumb asses for NOT PROTECTING ME AND LEAVING ME TO FIGURE IT THE FUCK OUT MYSELF - THE FLY VAGINA ON MY GOTDAMN ART WALL.

You stupid fucking shit heads. - MY DADDY ANGER IS WARRANT BC HOW MANY NIIGA I LOSE TELL YO DUMBASSES BOUT ME YHE ONE YOU GOT HOMELESS TO KEEP SAFE!??

FUCK YOU SINCE YOU WANT THE PPL TO HATE THE POLICE CONGRATS THATS WTF YOU GOT YO SELF FOR NOT CHECKING YOUR MORALS AND GIVING JUST ANYONE A FUCKING GUN - WHO DOING COKE AT THE OFF AND FT INDIA LOVE FOR A JERK SESSION ON LUNCH TIME. - STACHE DUNLAP STATION 7 and 25209 BELL N NO BABY HAIRS WHY YOU PIMPING YO PUSSY N MY POLE VIDEOS AND KIMORA JAY TO OTHER STATIONS TO HIDE INFO!?

YALL COME SEE ME LAPD I ONLY YELL AT THE ONES BEING BLINDED TO THE LIES AND THE ONES REALLY REALLY FUCKING DOING THE SHIT AND PLAYING DUMB “ I thought it was make believe” - STATION 7 LIKE FUCKTARD LEE SERVING ME // RESTRAINING ME THRU HOWARD AND MICHAEL 3 times .. WHOS GOING TO COURT!?? INDIA LOVE POSED AS ME AND RONNIE NUGENT. AND YOU LETTING IT HAPPEN - WE ALL LOOK REATARDED AS FUCK NOW

- BEEN OVER DUE FOR A FUCKING FACE TO FACE CONVO AND STOP WITH THE BULLSHIT “she reads minds therefore she should know” .. THATS HOW MY DAD GOT SHOT IN THE HEAD AND MY MOM MADE HOMELESS AND MY GRANNY LOST HOW MANY FUCKING CHILDREN. - MICHAEL JACKSON THEY DONT REALLY GIVE A FUCK ABOUT US. YOU JUST WANT PUSSY N DRUGS. YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS ADDICTS 🖕🖕

[lilareviewsbooks]

Queer Historical Romance For Pride Month - aka the Queer Bridgerton Project

Hey guys! I have something a bit different for Pride Month, this year! Recently, my girlfriend has warmed my cold, dark heart... And we've been watching Bridgerton! And although I've been enjoying myself, I can't help wishing it was a little more queer!

So my project started - for the past month, I've been reading a bunch of queer historical romances, and I'm looking for something that fills that Bridgerton-shaped hole in my heart!! So far, I don't think I've found anything that quite fits the bill, but do have a couple of options for you!

First, a few disclaimers: I'm hardly a romance reader, so I didn't find myself giving 5 stars to most of these books, but I think it's mainly because I'm not used to the conventions of the genre. I've put down here a few of the problems I had with some of these books, so you can see if they're for you! Second, there's no trans rep in any of these books, and the POC rep is also very lacking. I'd like to apologize for that! I've been digging and I've found some books that do have rep, and so I'll be reading them and reviewing them asap! And lastly, most of these books include conversations along the lines of queerphobia. Please be careful with yourself when reading!

The Last Binding Trilogy, by Freya Marske

Time period: Edwardian era Fantastical elements?: Yes! Rep.: disability; MLM; WLW Pages: 400ish Rating: 3.5 stars

The Last Binding Trilogy, starting with A Marvellous Light, is a fantasy take on Edwardian romance! It follows a set of inter-connected characters as they uncover a conspiracy threatening the magical underground of England.

Personally, I had some problems with the third book in particular, but I thought it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. The characters are sweet and quriky, and the second book specifically has a very good set up! Lesbians on a boat!! The first and third book follow a MLM couple, though they're not on boats :( But it's fun, anyway.

I will say, the ending does a go a little crazy on the magic, but it's nothing that hard to understand. If you want more of my thoughts, I have a standalone review for this series!

Mortal Follies, by Alexis Hall

Time period: Regency era Fantastical elements?: Yes! Rep.: WLW; MLM side character Pages: 416 Rating: 2.5 stars

Mortal Follies is set in alternative regency England, where faeries and pagan goddesses exist and abound. It follows Maelys, who seems to be cursed, and the ducchess who she enlists to help her solve her predicament. What I found to be most interesting is that the book is narrated by a fae who has been banished from their court, and must now write books for living, in order to pay - gasps!! - rent.

It gives the book a nice and quirky narration, that I was a big fan of! I know a lot of people shied away from it because of that, but I honestly found it made the book stand out (alongside its gorgeous cover!). I thought it lost itself in the second half, resolving the conflict way too fast and then having to create a whole new plot in, like, 100 pages. However, I do think it's worth keeping an eye on this series (there's a new one coming out soon enough!), since the narration style is so unique and fun!

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, by KJ Charles

Time period: Regency era Fantastical elements?: No! Rep.: MLM, Black main character Pages: 331 Rating: 4 stars

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is literally comped with Bridgerton, and it's one of the ones I enjoyed the most for this project! It follows Gareth, who runs into his old lover when he comes to Romney Marsh to claim his inheritance from an absent father. It's a very sweet romance that involves a second chance, smuggling, found family (but they're biologically related, so I don't know if that's the right name?)...

The side plot revolves around smuggling, as I said, and sometimes I found it a little silly. But the emotional payback when the action ends and we go back to focusing on the romance is very worth it! The side characters are pretty nice as well, and I thought that Gareth's past trauma was very well treated. It's a very sweet one as well! Highly recommend.

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love, by Lex Croucher

Time period: Medieval, but I couldn't be more specific than that hahaha Fantastical elements?: No! Rep.: WLW, MLM, Thai love interest and Iranian MC Pages: 416 Rating: 4 stars

The title is misleading - this is not an Arthurian retelling! It's post-Arthurian, in medieval England, where everyone is named after Arthurian characters. Still a lot of fun, even if a lot of people had that expectation coming in ahahah

It's a rom-com featuring two couples and some political manouvering, surprisingly! It follows Gwen, princess of England, and her brother Gabriel, heir to the throne, as they receive her hated bethrowed, Arthur, to court. Soon, Gwen and Arthur discover a secret about each other - they're both gay as fuck, and need to find a way to keep up appereances.

I found this book to be very charming and funny, especially when it comes to dialog!! But if it's not your sense of humor, then I don't think you'll have fun - so try a couple of pages, before committing! But I did find it really charming, and listening to the audiobook added a bit of pzazz as well! The problem is I don't think the romance is that well developed - it's mostly the friendships that form in a little group of friends that are more well thought out. But those are very sweet, and so I really think it's worth a read!

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, by Olivia Waite

Time period: Regency era Fantastical elements?: No! Rep.: WLW Pages: 322 Rating: 5 stars

Best for last!! This is part of a series of standalones, but I haven't read the other ones, yet - though I've heard this one is the best one! It follows Lucy, who is an astronomer trained by her father, as she is taken in by a recently-widowed countess in order to translate a French mathematic masterpiece. It deals very empathetically with the difficulties of sexism during that time period, especially when it comes to women participating in science and art.

The side plot is very nicely woven in with the romance, which is so, so sweet. It had me crying with the earnestness of the love these women hold for one another. It reads so, so real. It was a great reading experience, and it had me addicted! Highly, highly recommend!

That's all I read for this project, but it did put some other books on my radar! I wanna read An Island Princess Starts A Scandal, The Craft of Love, A Shore Thing... I've also heard of A Husband for Hartwell, which sounds pretty great! I'll keep y'all posted :)

[honeycoveredporcelain]

Almost cried, felt like I might vomit, but I checked the mail by myself for the first time since I moved in nearly 2 months ago.

Feel like I've earned curling up into a safe Lil ball for a few minutes.

Fuck I have to go to work in 3.5 hrs. I already called out of my day job... I can't miss the second job too when rent is due soon.