#paid $100 plus tax

[geocyclist]

Just one thrift find today, something I never thought I would find. I’ll preface by noting that this was behind the counter and was sold for a fair price as a ‘deluxe’ item. A Le Creuset 6 3/4 qt cast iron round wide dutch oven!

Another view just because. This is the biggest one that I own and I can’t wait to make soup this week!

[icewindandboringhorror]

(also feel free in the tags to clarify Why you made the choice you made!! :0c)

[extervus]

The only thing bringing me comfort is the fact that I'll get holiday pay next week since I work Christmas + a little bit of Christmas Eve. So there's that I guess. But man missing a full week of work still fucking suuuucks

[thatdisasterauthor]

I am so fucking exhausted right now. I really felt like I was starting to get my feet under me over the summer, and now I'm back to barely keeping my head above water, and I'm just so done with this bullshit.

I start my full time dispatcher job in maybe Marchish, but the permanent pay fix didn't go through so we've got another year or two of regular pay plus a retention bonus, then my pay might get slashed by 30-50% because I highly doubt the incoming administration is going to be any more favorable to wildland firefighting than the current one.

And I don't even know how the hell I'm going to make it to Marchish without dipping into my top surgery fund because $164/week in unemployment is a fucking joke. I would've been better off if they'd just never taken the damn unemployment taxes out of my paycheck in the first fucking place.

And top surgery! My original date for it passed the other day and it hit me like a fucking truck. I've been so damn uncomfortable ever since and I just want to rip the damn things off. But I have no fucking clue how I'm going to afford it now.

And then there's my books. If the tariffs get passed my main method of publishing, the one that brings me the most income, is down the drain because there's no way I can afford to work with my printer in China if there's a fucking 100% tariff, and there literally aren't ANY printers in the US that offer all the features I need. (And if they claim they do, they're usually just a middle man for working with a Chinese company anyway.) I can still publish in other ways, but it won't get me as much money.

And having a literary agent has honestly been a bit of a clusterfuck for various reasons I'm not going to get into, so any sort of traditional deal is seemingly more and more off the table.

And I gave my dad an ultimatum after the election that I was deeply dissapointed in the fact that he voted for Trump AGAIN, and that if he wasn't willing to work on his racism and other issues I needed to take a step back from having a relationship with him. He never replied and hasn't talked to me since. Haven't spoken to my mother in years. Which just leaves me and my little sister, so I've really got no support network to speak of.

And then there's applying to a PhD, which I want to do so, so badly, but I just can't fathom how I could do that and afford it. The program I'm aiming for is paid, but not even close to enough to support the cost of living where it is, let alone the cost of moving over there.

And I think I need to finally pursue a formal ADHD diagnosis so I can get meds, but I can't do that until I start my new job and get health insurance. And, honestly, I'm really wary of getting a formal diagnosis anyway with the incoming administration. It just feels like something I don't know if I want on paper with all the crap they're trying to pull. But I cannot keep rawdogging this shit without meds.

And you know what? I'm fucking tired of being single. I'm tired of fighting this shit alone. But as an ace, autistic, queer person in a very conservative area (and the fact I can't afford to go out and DO anything) meeting someone is pretty out of the cards, given I have no interest in long distance relationships.

Just.

Ugh. So fucking tired.

I'll make it through, I always do, but man, I am tired of it constantly being a battle.

[sirfrogsworth]

I had a bad feeling about sending all of my camera gear to Sigma. I sent my camera body and only 2 lenses to get calibrated because they were wildly out of alignment and all attempts to adjust them myself failed miserably.

Sending my only means to create photography across the country just felt scary. And it turns out my fears were somewhat warranted. Though my big fear was my stuff being pulverized during shipping. I paid for insurance, but I've heard stories of USPS not honoring that or making it a lengthy and painful process.

But the frustrating happenstance ended up being less smashy-smashy and more bureaucratic in nature.

I previously asked Sigma's service department how much it would cost to get each lens calibrated. They told me $100 for a zoom, and $50 for a prime. And there was no hesitation in their wording. There was no "it could be more or less depending on these circumstances." They said very definitively those were the prices.

So the final repair quote was sent today and it is... confusing.

Wut?

First of all, the total should be $400. So they can't even get their own math correct.

But this is not what was agreed to and I risked sending my entire photography setup to New York under the assumption it would only cost $150 plus shipping and tax.

So, I sent screen captures of my quotes to the service department. But I also mentioned how I have had frustrating experiences with them in the past with no satisfactory resolution.

After an unscrupulous Amazon seller sold me a fraudulent lens, I asked Sigma's service department how I could prevent this from happening in the future. They told me to only purchase their lenses from "Authorized Dealers" listed on their website.

And that's exactly what I did.

And I got scammed... AGAIN.

An "Authorized Dealer" sold me a refurbished lens as new. I paid full price for it. And when I asked Sigma what to do, they said they would "investigate" and that was it.

To this day, that dealer is still on their authorized list. And I have a lens I paid full price for which has no warranty.

I love Sigma lenses. You get as-good or sometimes better quality for half the price of the name brand lenses. I really don't have a choice but to purchase their lenses. And I don't think the company as a whole is bad. But their New York service department is failing to live up to the brand's standards.

I'm hoping after seeing my receipts, they will honor their original prices, but I am really frustrated with my entire customer service experience.

[ciaossu-imagines]

Commissions Open

Hello, hello, my lovelies! I am opening up commissions again. I have completely revamped commissions so please carefully read the below information as to them. For clients in Canada, I much prefer payment via Interac E-Transfer, so that I have cash in hand. For those from other countries who wish to commission me, please note that I am making a transition currently from Etsy, where my shop was previously located, to Patreon, due to Etsy now demanding I turn over my social insurance information and all tax information to them. As this, along with the information they already have, could easily lead to identity theft, I am not comfortable doing so and due to this, am transitioning my shop.

For now, commissions are as below. With any and all commissions, I am more than willing to discuss, narrow down, and work with the client on all details regarding the commission and will negotiate within reason as to price, while still trying to make sure I'm paid not just for my time, but the effort I go to as well. All commissions are to be done in English, thank you.

Headcanons

$10 – for headcanons for fandoms I’m familiar with. This gets you 15-20 headcanons. The regular rules of the blog do not exist; I will write anything, including yandere and canon character shipping.

$15 – for headcanons for fandoms I’m not familiar with. Again, this gets you 15-20 headcanons, where regular blog rules do not apply.

Match-Ups:

$15 for smutty match-ups for fandoms I’m familiar with. This gets you a detailed match-up of which character would be most sexually compatible with you, plus at least one to two other characters who would be close to being sexually compatible with you, along with the areas where the two of you would struggle to connect sexually.

$25 for smutty match-ups for fandoms I’m not familiar with. This functions the same as the smutty matches for fandoms I’m familiar with; the extra money is only to pay for me to take the time to thoroughly research the fandom and characters in question.

$20 for romantic or platonic match-ups for fandoms I’m familiar with. This gets you a detailed match-up of which character would be most compatible with you romantically or who would be your best friend, the reasoning behind it and thoughts of what your lives together would be like, along with at least two to three other potential characters with detailed reasons on where those characters might struggle to connect or get along with you, and a headcanon for each runner up as to how they might fit into your story.

$30 for romantic or platonic match-ups for fandoms I’m not familiar with. This functions the same as the romantic and platonic matches for fandoms I’m familiar with; the extra money is only to pay for me to take the time to thoroughly research the fandom and characters in question.

Music Mixes

$5 for music mixes of 1-3 hours in length for a character (canon, self-insert, or OC), character ship (canon, self-insert, or OC), character group, or fandom in total.

Character Exploration

$10-15 for canon characters in fandoms I am familiar with. This gets you a detailed essay on the character asked for, their personality, upbringing, mental state, goals and ambitions, how they interact with those around them, basically anything about the character that might be interesting or could be discussed.

$15-20 for canon characters in fandoms I am not familiar with. This functions the same; the extra money is just to pay for my time intensely researching, learning about, and digging into the character in question.

$20 flat for character building or world building help. I specialize and like to think I excel as a writer at fleshing out and building believable, complex characters and worlds. This gets you a week’s worth – so about 7-10 back and forth’s with you helping you further develop a single character or world building.

Fiction

$20-100 for written fics. The price will depend on the complexity of the situation, whether the fandom and character is one I am familiar with, and estimated length of the fic. I no longer charge by word count as I admit as a writer, I struggle with bloat issues. However, how long I feel it would need to be to properly tell the story – one shot versus chaptered, etc., will be a consideration. As with all commissions, this price is decided during discussion and negotiation with you lovely commissioners. All fics come with storyboards (plotting thoughts and extra headcanons) and the mix I was listening to while plotting and writing the fic.

Character Comfort Boxes

$60-70. These boxes will be mailed to an address you will provide me, which is why they are so expensive as the price covers shipping and expenses. Each box will be distinctly personalized to the client so I will need to know information about you. Each box will contain a 2–6-page letter from your character of choice, from any fandom. The letter can be written as if that character is a lover, a friend, a sibling, etc. It will also include either tea, coffee, or a beverage to your liking, a snack, a framed ‘photo’ of the character, and 1-2 comfort/fun items with notes from the character on why ‘they’ chose these things to gift to you, as the box is sent by that character to you, their loved one. To ensure the letters are legible, they will be printed, but a variety of fonts will be used to mimic how I picture the character’s writing looking.

[cassolotl]

3-4% more efficient

Today I was talking to the guy who is installing my new gas-powered heating system. The system he's replacing is also gas-powered and about 15 years old. He said that the council were spending a lot more money on some parts to increase efficiency by only 3-4%, and that was bad and a waste of money.

My dude.

MY DUDE.

We are so good at things powered by fossil fuels, which are extremely inefficient. An increase of 3-4% over 15 years when we are already really good with fossil fuels,

is quite a LOT actually?

And like,

Imagine if we could increase the efficiency of every fossil-fuel-powered thing on Earth by 3-4%. We still haven't stopped increasing our CO2 output as a species, but imagine if we increased the efficiency of everything powered by fossil fuels, by 3-4%. That would be HUGE. That would make a big dent in the CO2 graph.

And it's not like there is one machine that powers everything in the world, so we can't do that. The ONLY way we can do that, is by upgrading machines when they break.

We have to improve each individual machine,

on the whole planet,

by 3-4%.

And that costs MONEYYYYYYY.

I think probably money *is* quite important.

But.

I think maybe if anything could be considered more important than money, it's human life and wellbeing.

I think one might argue that since humans made money and almost all humans use and need money to maintain their health and quality of life,

that ensuring human life and wellbeing might well be the MAIN! PURPOSE! OF MONEY!

Five people in the UK died in Storm Bert in November 2024 (last month), and those storms are being exacerbated by climate change. How much of a life am I taking every time I heat my home, because it's powered by gas? I asked for an air source heat pump system but the guy doing the pre-installation assessment said that's not available.

It is so much cheaper to prevent climate change than to undo its effects.

Those five people who died in the most recent storm are dead. They paid taxes that are replacing boilers so that the storms that killed them are slowed down by 3-4%. If our boilers hadn't been replaced by more efficient models 15 years ago, more than five people might be dead now. If (when) we manage to start reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, those five people will still be dead.

We can spend £1 now or £10, £100, £1,000 later, plus a bunch of dead. people. People who will be dead.

Imagine thinking 3-4% more efficient of anything was no big deal and not worth it. (Let alone something that exhales poison.)

I would throw that stupid gas boiler into the sun if I could. But then....... I would be very cold. I'm so angry.

[wambsgansshoelaces]

Turmoil; Chapter 2

Roman Roy x Reader

slowburn romantic drama

a/n: I’m so glad you guys love this as much as I do!! kisses, enjoy x

Word Count: 2.313k

The Waystar building is daunting. It makes you queasy- not because of the architecture, but because of the people in it. You’re in Kendall’s office, his blinds drawn shut. You’ve been pacing for so long you think you’re going to wear a hole in the floor. Roman lounges on an armchair, his legs hanging over one of the armrests.

“You need to tell me everything you know about your father’s criminal history. It’s the only way out. Throw him in jail before he can do it to me. And then he’s rendered unfit to run Waystar and it goes to Kendall.”

Roman is playing with a tennis ball, tossing and catching it methodically. “He took Kendall out the will and replaced him with Marcia.”

Kendall sinks in his chair. “You could’ve told me that earlier.”

“Anyway, we all know my dad’s 100% a criminal. He just has so much money there’s practically no witnesses nor any evidence,” Roman continues. “We have to catch him with his pants down.”

“But in the act of what? We can’t just watch him 24/7/365. It’s not feasible,” you reply.

“Okay, do you have any better ideas?”

“We bait him. Is it unethical? Probably. But I think we’re all past that.”

Kendall gets up and goes to stare out the window overlooking the city. “You think maybe he’s laundered money?”

“What do you think he had to clean the money from?”

“Prostitutes,” Roman says confidently.

“That’s not illegal, genius.”

“Where’s your imagination, Y/N?”

You continue your pacing. “Let’s go down the list. Tax evasion? He wouldn’t go to jail for that.”

“Even if he did, he’d be evading an entire $2 in taxes. The bracket distribution is fucked,” Roman points out. “He covered up Connor’s property fraud. Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“It would be if we had concrete proof. Connor’s never going to testify and tell the truth, and I doubt we can find whoever he paid to forge the deed.”

Kendall shrugs. “I’ll try anyway.”

“We could try to get a confession,” you say. “But if he had a crazy enough attorney, it might not hold up in court.”

Roman rolls onto his side, staring at you. There’s no way that can be comfortable. “Why not?”

“It’s the twenty first century, Roman. He can claim that it was AI generated using his voice from speeches posted online. The only way it’d work is if he confessed on the stand.”

He throws you a dirty look. “Quit shitting on my ideas.”

“It wasn’t your idea. Plus, I’m just doing what any attorney with a brain would do,” you retort. “Your dad clearly has the money. He’ll probably find someone who’s thirty times the lawyer I am.”

“You’ll be fine,” Kendall assures you.

A knock on the office door interrupts your erratic pacing. Kendall opens it, allowing Siobhan to storm in. “He knows,” is all she says.

“Good afternoon,” Roman drawls in response.

“Congrats on your engagement party,” she snaps back.

“Party?” you ask.

“Your father in law is throwing you an engagement party in Norway.” She gives your arm a squeeze. “And I have to go.”

“Aww, I love you too, Siobhan,” you say sarcastically.

“It’s nothing against you. And call me Shiv. We’re friends.” She throws herself onto the couch. “I’m supposed to meet with a bunch of people here so that they can start digging. But not if I’m in Norway.”

“I can-”

“Your attendance is required as well, Kendall.”

“…Is Greg’s?” he asks. Shiv’s face splits into a small smile.

“I think he’ll forget about Greg. But none of us can ask him.” She turns to you. “Y/N?”

“I don’t even know who Greg is.”

“He works here. You can’t miss him, he looks like an egg,” Roman supplies.

Shiv nods. “He’ll have people start digging while we’re abroad, we get a head start without him being able to cover anything up.”

“We still haven’t figured out what to do about Marcia’s being the heir,” Roman says, going back to sitting lopsidedly on the chair and tossing his tennis ball.

“Vote of no confidence, I guess. Who’re the board members?” you ask.

“Me, Roman, Gerri, Frank, Karl, my dad, and five other partners. And you, now, I think.” Kendall sits back down, then gets back up, only to sit back down again.

“Do you think we can swing the votes our way?”

“How?” Kendall drops his face into his hands.

“He needs to do something dumb in public,” Roman says. “I dunno, like be racist.”

“Is he…?” You look incredulously at Roman.

“Probably.”

”We can’t bank on him probably being racist. Members of the board, vote him out, he maybe hates foreigners.” You sigh. “I need a break. I’m going to go get sweets or something.”

“Bring me back a cheesecake and I’ll kiss you,” Shiv replies.

“Back off, Shiv. That’s my fiancé,” Roman says sarcastically.

“Kendall?” You ignore Roman, still lounging on the armchair.

“Um, a cupcake? Chocolate?”

“I’ll be quick.” You make your way through the office bullpen before Roman catches up to you.

“Hey, wait. You didn’t ask what I wanted,” he says, walking backwards in front of you.

“Good job, you noticed!” you say bitterly. He rolls his eyes.

“Let me come with you?”

“Will you be quiet?”

“No.”

“Then also no.”

You wait for an elevator with Roman right at your side. “You’re a jerk. We’re supposed to be a team.”

“You’re the one who’s made it clear that there’s no ‘we’ in any situation.”

“What, you want us to be exclusive? Can’t get any more exclusive than engaged, and you that’s what we are, baby.”

☾𖤓

Later that day, you’re in your office at your firm. After you and Roman had gone back to Waystar, you’d gotten a call from your assistant saying that someone was at her desk demanding to see you. You’d weaseled your way to your office and asked her to send whoever it is in.

Connor comes storming in, the girl he was with at the party awkwardly in tow. “We want a lawsuit.”

“Hello, Connor, I’m doing fine, thanks for asking!”

“My girlfriend, Willa, and I are staying at a hotel while our house in the country gets renovated.” Without asking, he sits in one of the chairs in front of your desk. Willa stands silently behind him. “I took took our valuables from home and gave them to the staff, who said they’d hold them in the hotel vault and keep them safe. We went back last night and, lo and behold, everything’s been stolen.”

You stare at him blankly. “You’re wasting my time, Connor.”

“I’m being serious,” he exclaims dramatically. “Her diamonds and gold were taken, along with my best watches.”

You sigh. “I’ll have one of my associates take this. This is an easy suit, Connor.”

“You’re going to do it.”

You get up from your desk. “Why, pray tell, would I do that?”

“Because I have leverage. And I need the best on the case. This has to go through.”

“Excuse my language, but a fucking toddler could win this. It’s negligence- innkeeper’s law. They put your stuff in their vault, it got stolen, they’re liable. Case closed.”

You try leaving, but Connor’s immediately up and blocking your way. “No. You’re doing it, or I tell the papers.”

You scoff. “Fucking fine. Do you have pictures of everything that was stolen?” Connor smiles, satisfied with himself. “Images from the companies you bought the junk from is fine. Have it on my desk with your hotel reservations by tomorrow. I’m not going to spend too much time on this.”

He blocks your way again. “Thank you.”

“Bye,” you say, gesturing your office door. After Connor leaves, Willa shuffling behind him, Roman takes his place, collapsing into a chair. “When’d you get here?”

“Like ten minutes ago. Connor was stomping around like a toddler. What’d he want?”

“A bunch of stuff got stolen while he’s staying at the hotel. He wants to file a lawsuit through me.”

“He’s trying to waste your time,” Roman says matter-of-factly. “He knows the four of us are gunning for Dad, and by proxy, him, because Dad is the one protecting his ass.”

“What does Connor own that would be damaged by Logan leaving?”

“He’s a shareholder. If you oust Dad, he probably goes too, just to save face.” He kicks his feet up onto your desk. “And he’s just annoying like that. You know he pays that girl to be with him?”

You wince. You don’t want to think about that. “Why are you here?”

“I can’t come visit my fiancé?”

“No.”

“Too bad. Waystar’s hosting a charity dinner tonight. Or, technically, we are.”

“We?”

“Our first public apparence together. Isn’t it romantic?”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. You don’t have the mental capacity for this. “Okay. Do you know what you’re wearing?”

“Same thing I always wear. Dress pants and slacks.” He gets to his feet. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, anyway. It’s just a bunch of corporate wannabes kissing my ass so that they can move up in the company.”

“Because your ego needs it.”

You manage to go home and change before Roman picks you up. Rather, the driver does. Both of you sit wordlessly in the back, until he tells you, “You look nice all dolled up.”

“I don’t look nice usually?”

“That’s not what I- never mind.”

Feeling bad, you glance at him. “You look nice, too.”

When you pull up at the venue, Roman scoots until he’s pressed up against the door and takes your hand, pulling you against him before opening the door and stepping out with you behind him.

The paparazzi is as aggressive as always, and you know you’re getting sick of it. When you’re both safely inside, he lets go of your hand. “I’m gonna go drink an excessive amount and pass out behind a curtain.”

You watch him wind into the crowd. You hope he’s joking.

Roman was right, earlier. This wasn’t the sort of charity dinner where people actually donate to charity- this was purely social.

You find Shiv by herself in a corner and join her. “I fucking hate these,” she tells you. “They could at least pretend to be here for a noble cause.”

You two spend the half hour before dinner chatting among yourselves in the corner. You thankfully veer away from talking about work and the clusterfuck that you’ve gotten yourselves into and instead idly discuss anyone and everyone you both see.

When you’re called to be seated for dinner, you peer at the the seating chart indicating that Shiv’s on your left with Roman on your right. You and Shiv take your seats, Roman nowhere to be seen. 10, 20 minutes pass.

“This is normal for him,” she tells you, in between bites. “He’s probably blackout drunk somewhere.”

“In public?”

She nods.

Once dinner is over, the crowd goes back to mingling. Shiv has to step away to talk to some client of hers, and while she’s gone, someone taps on your shoulder.

“You’re a pretty face I haven’t seen before.” It’s an old man. A very old man.

You try to just ignore him, making your way to the refreshment table and plucking a chocolate from a tray. He follows you anyway.

“What’s your name? What do you do at Waystar?”

You give him a dirty look and continue your inspection of the refreshments.

“You’re a feisty one, then?” He laughs, and it makes your skin crawl. “I like a challenge.”

You give him another look and round the table. “I have much better wine at my place. Much better than the garbage they serve here. Much.”

He follows you despite your pretending like he doesn’t exist. “I can tell you’d be a good time.”

Before you can do something rash, a warm hand goes to sit on your hip, grounding you. You smell his cologne before you realize it’s him.

“Figures you don’t know how to take no for an answer with all the whining you do to me for a promotion.” Roman pulls you flush against him. “Are you trying to fuck my girl?” Before the man can say anything, Roman interrupts. “The answer is no. And there’s also no showing your face here, or at Waystar, ever again. I’ve been looking for a reason to fire you. You were never an asset.”

He scuttles off, and Roman slumps against you, arm still hooked around your waist. “Are you drunk?” you ask him.

“Very,” he responds.

“I think it’s past your bedtime,” you tell him. “Can we go home?”

Arrangements had been made for you and Roman to start living together in a cozy apartment secluded from the rest of the city. You weren’t mad about it, really. You just hope Roman isn’t a slob.

“Tell what’s-his-face to pull the car up. I’m going to puke in my shoes.”

When you’ve sat down, Roman sets his head in your lap and stretches out along the back seat.

“How much did you have to drink?” you ask stiffly.

“Lots and lots.” He presses his face into your stomach. “Before we left, I had a lovely conversation with my dad. Told me how much of a fuck up I was, how you’re the only right decision I’ve ever made. And it’s not even true. I didn’t want this.”

You give his shoulder an awkward rub. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’re involved in this. I should’ve known, way back then.”

“The worst part is, Y/N, as much as I try to hate you and blame you for this shit show, I can’t. You’re innocent. You’re a damn good lawyer that was just doing her job. And it pisses me off that you’re so fucking pretty, because I can’t have you, but I want you so bad.”

[mbta-unofficial]

My take is that i would rather my tax dollars go towards making the T fareless than towards riot gear for BPD to sweep student encampments with. The T shouldn't have to be self-funding (and for the record, it never has been; only a relatively small portion of its budget comes from fares) because public transit isn't meant to be a direct profit engine for the state. It's an indirect economic benefit because population mobility leads to economic growth. I know this doesn't apply right now but like, in a perfect world, yes, the T would be free to ride. Plus I don't really see the point in shaming people for fare evasion because most of the people who do so are too poor to afford it. And even by the most generous estimates evasion doesn't really put a noticeable dent in even the portion of the budget that actually does come from fares.

You make several good points here: We should 100% defund the police, shaming people for fare evasion is ineffective, and public services like transit should not be run as for profit systems. Buses should be free for all the reasons I described, and this would be the greatest benefit for the mobility of low income people.

However, why is the perfect T free, rather than merely affordable? Even the most advanced socialist economies history has seen never abandoned money, revenue, or accounting. Lenin’s NEP didn’t abolish the commercial transaction, it simply biased the economy in favor of worker ownership through favorable lending policies. People still needed to pay and get paid for things.

Mass transit is expensive, and someone somehow has to foot the bill. Payment at point of service is a fair way of paying for a service because the greatest users contribute the greatest resources. Subsidy in the form of tax is a good way to reward a transit system for its non-financeable benefits to society, what you refer to as economic growth, and at the level of a ubiquitous daily service like a bus or maybe light rail it makes sense to be truly single payer. That said, lots of services like commuter rail should still be partially user supported in my mind, because they are not equally beneficial to everyone and the beneficiaries should reasonably contribute more.

[northwest-cryptid]

Can we all just agree that $80 games would literally not be an issue if you were paid a living and thriving wage to begin with? Like, why is it a problem? It's a problem because there's a ton of people out there (more than you're thinking there are, I assure you) who literally work a whole day and come home with less than around $60 even before taxes.

"But federal minimum wage-" only applies to jobs that you don't get tips at, which means if your boss puts out a tip jar, congratulations your wages are literally $2 an hour "plus tips!"

I used to work with a guy who made roughly $40 - $60 a day working a full time 40 hour a week job. Let's average that to $50, or you know; $250 a week, $1,000 a month.

My rent is cheap here, and is still roughly an extra week or two more than that. Meaning he wouldn't even be able to afford cheap housing, food, gas to get to and from work; utilities; or basically anything else. He had to live with 3 other people in a 2 bedroom apartment, meaning he not only had roommates, but he had to share a room with one of them.

So let's say he's paying a third of the rent, and we'll go on the cheaper end and say he's paying around 1,250 for rent total. That means his cut of the rent costs him around $416, right now it costs about $100 for a weeks worth of food not even buying the fancy name brand or organic stuff. So that's another $400, putting us up to $816 before even factoring in gas, car payments, credit card bills, or any utilities he might owe on top of rent.

Not only is an $80 game more than a full day (or possibly 2) of work; but it's all but ensuring he can't put any money into savings for the month if he even had the $80 left after all the spending.

You want to know the worst part? Federal minimum wage is 7.25 an hour. Do you know how much you make at an 8 hour shift if you:

Don't pay for gas/transport to get there

Don't eat on your shift at all

Don't spend money in any way during your shift

Don't owe taxes on any of the income you make

It's $58.

All that math I just ran? You make 8 bucks more TOTAL if you're making the federal minimum wage, and many many people do if they're lucky enough to not have a job that gets tips. I used to work store management positions for 12.25 an hour.

As an adult the prices can't be justified even if the game would bring you months, if not years of joy. Because you're spending weeks putting tiny amounts of money aside from what you don't spend on food or gas, maybe you have to buy cheaper meals, maybe you're sustaining yourself on dollar store ramen, just to afford the new Nintendo game.

Blame Nintendo all you want, but if you were making a proper wage, $80 would be nothing to you. Pointing the finger at Nintendo, as shitty of a company as they might be; only helps companies who stiff you on payment avoid the finger being pointed at them.

[russann]

Not everyone knows this. I only know because---I ended up being the administrator of a self-employed business when I would rather have been a writer or interior designer. So...

FICA (Social Security and Medicare) is paid by both the Employer (roughly 7.5%) and the Employee (roughly 7.5%). When you are both the E & the E (like me and Pete), you pay both sides meaning that we pay somewhere around 15% on our income. This is a painful amount to pay but that's the deal. Those who are making money help those who are making less.

Here's the part that many might not know:

There is a cap on how much Social Security tax is paid on income:

For 2024, the cap on the tax paid was on income of $168,600

For 2025, the cap on the tax paid will be on income of $176,100

Read that again.

Think about that.

For someone such as Bezos, Musk, Cook (Apple), Zuckerberg, they are done paying their Social Security Tax for the YEAR roughly 15 minutes into the new year.

This is a regressive tax meaning that the proportion of taxes paid based on income falls excessively on the middle class.

For these ultra-wealthy citizens of America to do all they can to keep their taxes low while raising taxes on the rest of America PLUS trying to take away Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is unconscionable.

It doesn't have to be that way.

There are millions and millions more of us than there are of them.

Do you know how they get away with it?

Apathy on our parts.

Ignorance of how things work on our parts.

Fear on our parts.

Worship of the rich and Demonization of the poor.

(Whenever I think of the wealthy, I think of this: Jeff Bezos' yacht, Y721, was too tall to pass under the Koningshaven Bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands, so the shipbuilder requested that the bridge be temporarily dismantled. However, the request was met with public outcry and the ship was secretly towed out of the shipyard without its masts. This is how rich they are.)

The GOP platform has been to get rid of these "Benefits" for decades. They are closer than they have ever been.

If your Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid disappear, what are you going to do?

Those who are retired or sick or have a disabled relative---what are you going to do?

They are serious. Trump does not believe in helping a single soul. His only currency or way to view the world is---what does this do for me.

What are you going to do?

I am dead serious. What are you going to do?

Call. Write. Organize. Town Hall Meetings. Do Something.

(They tried for years to take away Obamacare. (I remember when people said I'm not worried because I get my insurance from the Affordable Care Act---ignorance is not bliss.) Do you remember who cast the last No vote before Trump and his ilk could take it away? Do you? It was John McCain soon before he died. They were only defeated from taking this away by one GOP vote. There might not be that one vote to save your "benefits.")

(If my views of FICA are not 100%, I'm not an accountant. I just play one in real life.)

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Harry is an equal a fame whre to his wife. by u/justmeread

Harry is an equal a fame wh*re to his wife. He likes attention as much as she does. He just doesn’t like the same type of attention. He wants it in a 100% controlled setting. He wants to control who approaches him. Wants to control what is asked/said to him. What is yelled at him. He wants it perfectly orchestrated. The bloody peasants having that pesky FREE SPEECH is inconvenient. But he needs those paid for awards. He needs to feel like Royalty. Needs his ability to grift from a Veterans charity. Those events (Ingriftus & awards ceremonies) equally feed both of them money & attention. She is comfy in Hollywood pap type scenarios. The appearance of being pursued by the paps fits her self delulu she is just like Diana. Plus helps her convince Harry she is just like his Mother. Her feeling like she is a Hollywood Star & Royalty is far more important than reality. She is a better actress than we realized or she was unbothered being sat with the peasants. When the reality was she dressed in a ball gown to watch a movie amongst regular people vs watch with the VIPs. Of course multiple seats had to be cleared around her so the peasants could understand she is Royalty. Remember Wimbledon. Same same. Governments shouldn’t pay any tax funds to support this completely self serving duo. post link: https://ift.tt/qapWyk9 author: justmeread submitted: December 07, 2024 at 06:53PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[bellybiologist]

TLDR: Verzi Need Money. Here Link for Helping Fill Money Bar with Money Juice. -Ko-fi -Commission form (Open again! Note the price increase!) -Patreon -Paypal.me

Okay! Verzi need money. So! Here's this.

This shitty meter here is just for a bit of transparency (Graphic design is NOT my passion), cuz people like to know where there money is going. This will fill up as with funds from my patreon (money I got this month is already there!), from commissions, and from any tips/extras given by kind souls in passing, and I need to hit these marks EVERY month for like… a year. (This is after fees and such of course, cuz god forbid we don't pay the middle-men their dues.)

I will update this thing as time passes so ya'll will know where I'm at. Reblogging/Sharing is welcome, encouraged, and greatly appreciated!

A bit of info for each section under the Readmore:

-Rent and Bills: The Most Important thing to Keep Verzi Kickin'! I pay half my apartment's now $1368 rent PLUS the utilities, which range from 100~200 bucks, splitting with my aunt who works 2 jobs to make sure she pays her half. Since my mom passed away from Pancreatic cancer in 2021, this has been rough since it used to be split 3 ways.

-Dental Costs: The face bone doctors want my money after drilling holes and pulling out the insides!! My face actually feels BETTER so i'm not as mad as I COULD be about this, but this needs to be paid for the next 12 months. (And they want MORE money to do a cleaning and I almost laughed. Like, no buddy you ain't getting 750 out of me when I don't even have a refrigerator.(See Below))

-Big Purchase+Credit Card bills: It wont pay off ALL my credit card debt, but it keeps me from falling behind. Since the passing of Michael and Fred (my microwave and refrigerator respectively) I need to make some big purchases so my kitchen functions. Michael has been successfully replaced by Mikaela, and we are still looking for Fred's replacement. Ms. Frida, the chest freezer who is literally older than I am (I am 33!!) and STILL functions is holding down the fort while we look for a refrigerator. We can live without a fridge thanks to her constant service, allowing us to keep frozens. Also, like, literally on the 30th of July, Monty the Monitor must've succumbed to heatstroke so i had to buy one of THOSE too for my computer setup. I will name all my appliances to cope.

-Extra+Taxes: Once we get here, I'm in the clear for the month's expenses! However!! Taxes are due in October. I DO NOT know how much that will be, and since the whole Covid relief thing that lessened business taxes ended last year, I MAY be paying for quite a bit!! Anything past this point will be prepping for Taxes AND forming a buffer for More Happenings (God forbid).

===== Rewards??? Rewards!! =====

I considered a Drive like other kink artists in these circles, but I don't like drives for several reasons and those reasons are why I've never done one in the past. Despite that, I STILL want to do something that at least feels like a reward or incentive for people keeping me Alive™, so I'm going to do some simple doodles/sketches, and possibly try to stream those doodles in my discord!

Every 100 bucks past the "Rent and Bills Paid" section (meaning at 900 dollars and onward), I will do a RANDOM drawing from any requests/suggestions from the pool made by people who threw some cash monies my way!

Suggestions can be sent in through Ko-fi messages, Paypal notes accompanying payments/donations/tips, and a Patreon-only post (they are always giving me money, so patrons have access by default!). Commissioners who send in the form can ALSO suggest something for the pool if they like! (there's a question on the form for it) Now, like all requests, it's ultimately up to my discretion on whether or not I will draw something, but I will still try to keep it random and let it be a roll of the dice (or a RNG app).

There is no minimum requirement either! So people throwing only $1 at me, buying only one Ko-fi, or dropping anything bigger are free to offer a suggestion. But please limit requests/suggestions to one entry per person.

Now, as to what these will and can be:

-It will be a simple lined sketch with one color or flat colors. Depends on how many need doing, how I'm feeling when I draw it and how complicated it is.

-It can be up to 2 characters, but they may be less refined compared to a single character one. They can be the same character in 2 different states, or 2 different characters interacting with each other.

-No private requests please! It will have to be something that can be publicly posted and that you're fine with being perceived by others.

-In terms of kinks/sizes/etc, it will be something that you'd normally see on this blog or for my work! Mileage may vary, but more extreme stuff that I'd normally avoid may be glossed over when I'm constructing the pools.

-Unlike commissions, these will not go through a WIP stage/be modified after the fact! They end up how they end up. If you wanna be nitpicky, please use this opportunity to order a full commission!

-You're allowed to suggest OCs as long as it's yours or its owner has given permission to draw them in the context I am known to put boys in!

[xyla-xoxo]

Me with cis boys:

Cisboy: Oh wow, you're so pretty.

Me: Haha, yeah I know, now, I think you should pay me money for bothering me while I'm busy... No really. Im so pretty, after all isnt it what I deserve. Let's say 100$ per word, so 4 words, plus there's that contraction, that's technically another 200$ but I'm nice as well as pretty so we'll just go with 575$. 621$ with taxes and fees. That seems fair. If you dont have it on you, that's fine cutie, you'll get to spend more time with me as we walk to the atm doesnt that make you happy. Having a pretty trans girl on your arm getting to touch a girl, when's the last time that happend? (*takes his arm, begins to walk) Oh, is it your first time? Dont worry, if you're good we can make this a regular thing, now, come on let's go and while we walk please feel free to tell me more about yourself, cucky.

Me with a transfem:

Transfem: Oh wow you're so pretty.

Me: Really? You really think I'm pretty? (Blushes super hard) Thank you so much, Mommy, you made my day , would you like my number or I could take my clothes off and pose for you. Maybe on my knees or bent over? Feel free to take pics or touch. Feel free to slam me against that wall and fuck me while choking me out. Or if you're more of a slow burn girl/enby how about we go to lunch or something first, I just got paid today. Whatever you want, whatever you like. I exist only for your enjoyment.

Notice the difference, some of might say this is kind of a double standard, but that's incorrect, its absolutely by definition a double standard and I love it.

[360degreesasthecrowflies]

Higher education and anti-social mobility; a 2024 rant

As an update to a post I made a while ago, I'm bloody annoyed with people shilling for current systems who either don't realize (because they haven't done an iota of researcch) or because they actually dont believe, that better systems could exist or have ever existed.

The context for this one; current university students in the UK insisting point blank that there are NO issues whatsoever with the current funding system whereby:

Any student (unless they are from a wealthy family) has to, in order to study any degree course, take out a loan of a minimum of £30,000, (for a three year degree) which, I may add, is over the national annual salary for the UK, and this loan has compound interest which starts accumulating from day 1 of the course date, not even after graduation, and that the value of this loan plus interest must then be paid back by the student, at a value of 10% after a certain boundary of their annual salary for the next 40 years of their life and can't be wiped by any means including bankruptcy.

"Oh, but the loan allows the people to go to university at all! Really, it's just a graduate tax!"

NO!

It's not 'just' anything!

In practice, what this says out of a group of 10 medical students, 2 of whom are from a wealthy family that can easily afford to give the student 10k a year to pay the annual fee upfront, is -

"You can all become doctors, the system will let you do that. But 8 out of the 10 of you will, once you graduate, only earn 90ish% of a doctor's salary for the next 40 years of your working life. The 2 of you who are already from wealthy families though, you can earn a full 100% of a doctor's salary. Yes, despite the fact that you will all be doing the exact same job."

How did the system work before, then?

Well, whoever wanted to go to university firstly didn't have to take out a loan at all. The government paid students to go to university, because it wanted to incentivise people to get qualifications in order to upskill the country and create better systems to keep the population more advanced; as well as benefit from the higher taxes that the higher earners would then pay back into the system.

Nowadays, it's just greed all the way down.

The government still benefits from the higher salary each doctor gets coming back as tax. Then they get their compound interest from each doctor not from a wealthy family, coming back in as extra income. The doctors already from wealthy families, well, they just get to keep the rest of their full salary and put it towards whatever they like, thus guaranteeing that generational wealth continues and there's very little capacity for the children of this generation of doctors to be able to break the cycle.

And yet instead of being up in arms about this and DEMANDING better, because they are already preparing to serve their country by becoming higher earners and paying more in taxes, for some reason, a significant chunk of students seem to just accept this system.

I'm mindblown.

[ghoulangerlee]

..

Ofc I think I'm doing the right thing by paying $150 for a mechanic to come to my house and diagnose my car.

Call Ford with those results and they tell me the cost ($2300 + tax) to fix it But Then Wait There's More

Because apparently the rack + pinion (what they quoted me for) and the PCM have the SAME symptoms and the SAME THING happens when they're bad.

So of course, the rep said they'll want to look at my car and make sure it's actually the rack and pinion bc if it's not and the rack and pinion are replaced then my car could STILL not have power steering.

And? I just spent the $150 yesterday to have someone look at it. But they didn't have the actual tools Ford has that can accurately tell them which part is actually bad.

So of course I need to spend ANOTHER $150 plus the cost to have my car towed there (another 80 to 100 dollars) for them to do more diagnostics on it.

I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing by having a mechanic come out to look at it. But apparently I just wasted money by doing that.

I want to cry. I don't know what to do. I barely have any money as it is and I genuinely have no idea how I'm going to get my car fixed now. It's not even paid off. I still have a little over 1000 to pay on it???

I can't afford to fix this. I can't even afford to get it to Ford to 100% confirm the issue.

I have uh what. $20? perfect. that'll fix my car.