#sell old laptop online

[cashygophones]

CashyGo is a convenient platform that allows you to sell your old phone and get instant cash. It

[oldlaptopsale1]

https://www.oldlaptopsale.com/

[cashygo-blog]

Cashygo: Sell old phone Online in bangalore Instant Cas

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[arctic-hands]

Thirty minutes and 9 paragraphs into an excited list of alternatives to Spotify's monopoly re: music, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, for weenies like me who are nervous about pirating, and my app crashes.

Well now I'm on a laptop and I swear to god if this crashes too I'm calling it a conspiracy.

LEGAL ALTERNATIVES TO SPOTIFY:

Music: There are virtually limitless options here. Buy music directly from the musicians/band! If they don't sell mp3s directly from their site, they almost certainly have CDs for sale, so buy those and rip the mp3s to your computer (if your computer doesn't have a CD slot, you can buy an external one for fairly cheap). Go to a new/used music store, they still exist!, and buy albums there. Buy old albums from ebay! Go to goodwill or other thrift stores and browse there collection of cast-off music for cheap, you never know what you'll find. Hell, browse their cheap vinyl if you prefer their sound and get a vinyl-to-MP3 conversion device if you like. They even have conversion devices for cassette tapes, if you find a treasure that was only ever released on tape. Once upon a time I would have said Bandcamp for MP3 or even physical albums (I once upon a time got an AUTOGRAPHED TO MY NAME CD of Lauren Ruth Ward's Well Hell album), but they recently union busted and a lot of artists pulled their stuff from them. I don't really know anything about 7Digital's business practices, but they are another seller of MP3 music, as well as MP4, FLAC, and WAV.

Music DEVICES: If you just want to manage everything on one device, your phone, get the free VLC app! It's open source and is absolutely wonderful. I only ever used it for music, but it's capable of much more than I realized, and it's open source and ad-free! And the audio files are tiny, even when I was running out of room on my sixteen gig old phone, I still had a substantial music library on it before before I got a dedicated music player.

Which brings me to my next point: MP3 PLAYERS STILL EXIST! I own two! My first one is a twenty-dollar SanDisk Clip Jam (an established and sturdy brand), my current is a thirty-dollar Phinistec Z6 (that just came out of nowhere it seems). Each have their pros and cons, and there are so so so many options out there. Some are smart, some don't even have wifi (neither of mine do). Some have expandable card slots for even more music. Some are extremely basic, some have a plethora of features. Some are cheap but still decent in sound, some are high-end for that true audiophile experience. Some have touch screens, some have buttons, some have no screens at all. Some only use wired earphones, some only use bluetooth, some (like the Z6) can use both! There are so many brands out there even in Twenty Twenty-four. Even the random brands cropping up online are some really good shit, and I bought both of mine used bc I have concerns about the lithium industry. Oh, and some are regular battery powered. And you don't need iTunes or anything, I just use the basic Windows Media Player to rip my CDs or put mp3s music on my player. In fact I've been avoiding Apple players because I'm worried they'd brick older devices, especially ones with wifi. But there are so many options out there, it's impossible to name them all.

Audiobooks: YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE AUDIBLE! Libro.fm has a similar business model (an optional subscription fee with a free credit every month, or the option to buy book without a subscription for a little bit extra price), and you can direct the profits to the indie bookseller of your choice! I have mine set to go to Baltimore's anarcho-feminist bookstore, Red Emma's. How to listen to the audiobooks you buy? Libro has an app you can listen to directly from! AND they have the option to directly download from the site (meaning no program you have to install) the book in non-proprietary mp3/mp4 files so you can listen to it on any device that can use those files! THAT INCLUDES MP3 PLAYERS! Almost every music player on the market now not only plays audiobooks, but has sections on the device specifically for them! Some, like the Clip Jam, are even proprietary audible-compatible if you still use or already have books there (check audible's site, and you'll have to go thru a registration process). I was listening to audiobooks on both my CJ and the Z6 (the Z6 doesn't have a section for them, but still played them), but I recently bought an e-ink/e-paper (meaning no backlit LED screen causing eye strain or insomnia) ereader, a Pocketbook Touch HD 3, and that is mp3/mp4 capable for audiobooks, and is easier to maneuver books with since it's meant for books. ALSO: the library apps Hoopla and Libby also have audiobooks you can listen to via phone or computer/browser, depending on your library's catalog. Some ereaders can even have the apps for them, and if they have audiocapabilities you can use the ereader for that too.

Podcasts: There are so many apps for this. I have Podcast Addict (I don't remember off the top of my head if it's on apple, I use android, but there are still so many apps). Literally I only had to sacrifice one podcast when I stopped using spotify, PodcastAddict has everything else I've ever listened to or want to listen to in the future. You can download them for offline use on your phone, and, you guessed it, MOST MP3 PLAYERS HAVE PODCAST SECTIONS TOO. MINE DO! There are still ads at the beginning and end, but I usually skip over them without care.

Video: This one is a bit trickier as YouTube is also a monopoly, but what I do is just watch yt on my phone's Firefox browser with UBlock Origins adblocker installed. Sometimes yt gets into a hissy fit with adblocker, but UBlock usually gets ahead pretty quickly thus far. And if in the periods Origins is losing, I just find something else to do. I'm sure someone else has recommendations for videos, they're just not a big part of my life right now.

Anyway, don't let the horrid beast that is spotify monopoloize the audio industry OR your time! There are options, and even if you're not a luddite like me that hates having everything on my smartphone bc I'm worried about privacy or companies yoinking their stuff off my devices via wifi (like Amazon did once with their copies of, of all things, Nineteen Eighty-four about a decade ago) at the whim of corporations. You HAVE OPTIONS! YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CONTROL YOUR MEDIA AND REJECT MONOPOLIES!

[torque-witch]

Laptop/Finances Update 5/6

Fellas, we are doing it!

Laptop is officially paid off $300/675 - THANK YOU

Husband and I are working out the kinks with credit cards and loans, had to buy a brand new car and sell his old one and pay off the loan on that because the transmission shit the bed. It's been a very stressful two weeks. So, taking off some of the burden of the laptop has been super helpful!

As such, I will still be running a sale on the earrings online since they aren't really moving at shows yet.

Crochet Skulls - $20

Bird Skulls - $20

Evil Eye Hearts - $20 (4 available)

Smileys - $20 (4 available)

Mushrooms - $20

Charms - $10+ depending on style (Choker $20)

Feel free to ask for closeups!

Prefer to take payments on Venmo or Square - but feel free to peruse the Etsy shop and see if there’s something different you’d like to make an offer on!

Death’s Head Divination

[pentrologram]

What Normal People Do - 5

Art fair! sorry to the ghost truthers i just realised simon has brown eyes and not blue… i changed it in chapter three. idk how i got it in my head that his eyes are blue :’) ao3! ghost/soap/gn!reader (established ghoap)

I Need You Here

Johnny has been looking for a job.

Simon knew this day would come, admittedly. Crafts from Hobby Lobby would only tide Johnny over for so long before his hands grew a mind, taking him away from the private little paradise they’ve built together.

Now, Johnny often sprawled over Simon’s laptop, searching for any hands-on job nearby. It wasn’t uncommon for him to come to Simon, asking questions about the workforce since all he’s ever known is the military. They talk about handyman jobs, which Johnny seems most attracted to, assisting artists at a nearby college or even teaching an art class at the college, which revolts Johnny.

“Ae don’t ken anythin’ about art, Si!” He protests when Simon taps into the job listing.

“Sure you do. Your sketchbooks, Johnny.”

“That’s nae college level!”

He does half of the application just to fuck with Johnny.

Johnny finds a listing at the clinic you work at for a janitor. He froths at the mouth while thinking about working in such proximity to you for four days a week, but the pay brings him back down to earth. While technically they’d be fine forever with their retirement money, having extra cash could never kill them. For twelve pounds an hour, Johnny decides he can do better.

Johnny calls it quits after a week of searching for jobs. Everything he found started too early or too late, had too many days or not enough. He was either overqualified or underqualified and he was beginning to think that maybe he should go back to the military and take a civilian job because nowhere else seemed to understand his need for flexible hours. He tells Simon as much.

“No, Johnny, you just need to find your thing,” Simon says, rubbing Johnny’s shoulders reassuringly as they curl up on the couch together, Riley asleep by their feet. “It feels discouraging now, yeah, but you just might not be looking at the right stuff, y’know?” Johnny huffs.

“I’m dyin’ of boredom here, Si,” he gripes.

“I wasn’t joking about teaching that art class, you know.” He says, quietly, after a second.

“There’s no way, Si. A’m not like that. I dinnae know value from shade.” He grumbles back.

“Well, it’s the twenty-first century, love. You can sell your work. Or teach an amateur class online.”

Johnny goes quiet for the rest of the movie. He’s quiet as he takes a shower, brushes his teeth and gives Riley her last walk of the day and quiet as he crawls into bed.

He spends the next day researching things about a platform called ‘Etsy’. He barely takes breaks to eat or drink and Simon has to manhandle him to wash his hair. He spends most of the night doing whatever the hell on Etsy and Simon gives up on forcing him into bed and just falls asleep.

By the time he wakes up at 1000, Johnny is slumped at his desk, the laptop dead in front of him and covered by some of Johnny’s old charcoal figures. He sighs and cleans up the mess on the desk before putting a pillow under Johnny’s head and throwing a blanket over him. Then he makes breakfast and puts a full plate underneath Johnny’s nose, to help him wake up.

He takes Riley for her morning walk after breakfast and they detour to your apartment to say hi. You’re chirpy, finally fully recovered from the breakup as it seems, and genuinely happy to see them. Riley loves up on your legs like usual while you idly chat.

“There’s another fair coming to town next week,” you bring up.

“But didn’t we just have the strawberry one?”

“Yeah. But the college nearby is opening a new museum so they’re hosting a tiny version of one of the exhibits in a fair and bringing a bunch of local artists in.”

“Really?” Simon says, mind already churning into high gear when you mention local artists. “Johnny’s gonna love that.”

“It sounds like it’ll be his speed.” You say.

Simon nods. He has something to chew on now and he says an abrupt goodbye before going back to the apartment, hanging up Riley’s leash. Johnny is quick to pounce on him, immediately yapping about the Etsy page he made and all of his old art he put up for sale and how he’s already sold five whole pieces and needs to go ship them out.

Simon praises him, because he’s done such a good job- because, well, he’s doing something to occupy himself without leaving the relative safety of their apartment and that alone is enough to soothe him.

He tells Johnny about the fair during dinner, and Johnny lights up like the sun.

“Oh, oh, Si, can we go wi’ the bon, please, Si?” He begged with his biggest puppy eyes.

“Nn. You’ll have to ask them yourself.” He says, which makes Johnny immediately jump up to go and do just that. He’s stopped, obviously, with a sharp tug on the neck of his shirt.

“It’s ten in the night, Johnny.” He says. “Eat your damn dinner.”

“But ye said-“

“I didn’t mean right now, you bloody maniac. Calm yourself.” He says. Johnny pouts and pokes at the rest of his mashed potatoes like a child.

When Johnny does get to ask you the next day, though, he looks fully prepared to guilt trip you into agreeing. You agree without resistance, only ever so gently coaxing Johnny into going on your off day next week as opposed to that very second. He agrees only because it’s you.

Needless to say, Johnny is nothing but unbearable during the wait; talking Simon’s ear off to the point where he thinks he’ll get a permanent migraine. Thank bloody hell he’s so easily distracted by shiny things- most of the time, he was able to redirect questions about you to a collection of cross-stitch sets he had bought years ago. That, and helping Johnny pack and mail the odd dozen or so artworks that he's sold for a good dollar help keep him occupied. The works are mostly charcoals on fancy mixed media paper, all of them vaguely an unmasked Simon or the dog. It doesn't seem to matter much to the people who're buying his stuff, though.

The day finally comes, though, and Johnny sniffs you out. It’s very bloodhound-esc. You don’t seem to mind all too much, looking content to be dragged around.

Johnny first takes the three of you to a little make-your-own painting stall hosted by an oil painter located a few hours out. Johnny is utterly concentrated, leaving Simon and you to foster a quiet conversation while you paint on the provided canvases. When Simon goes to pay, Johnny shows you his painting proudly; it’s a portrait of you and Simon hunched over your portraits while engaged in a conversation. He’s somehow captured the essence of the summer afternoon and you’re entranced by how he’s painted you; the sun is almost right behind you, in his painting, and it makes your hair glow and eyes shine, even as they’re downcast.

“Wow….” You murmur, and Johnny beams, proud. Suddenly the still life you had done of the stall is no longer impressive. Johnny still insists on seeing it, forcing you to show it to him. He might be a little too generous, but still. It seems as though he means it, so what else could you ask for?

Simon comes back and he nearly mirrors your response, but he doesn’t seem as surprised as you had been. Johnny also manhandles Simon into showing his painting, but Simon is a lot more resistant. It takes Johnny squirming under one burly, hoodie-clad forearm for Simon to relent and begrudgingly show him a heartfelt landscape of simple green grasslands. Johnny still seems earnestly honest, nattering about how natural the few flowers look.

Then you’re toted to a make-your-own pottery stall, which is a lot harder than it looks. Johnny (obviously) takes to it like a fish to water after one or two bad first attempts, but neither Simon nor you take to it as quickly or smoothly. You end up coaxing a few deep chuckles from Simon with your poor attempts, but you’re not afraid to laugh at him, too, when he doesn’t do any better. Johnny makes an elegant, tall vase and Simon manages a lumpy yet characteristic mug. Your bowl is cute and has a swirly design you're rather proud of. Again, Simon pays and registers the group to be notified when the pots (as poor as yours and Simon’s were) are finished with glaze and firing.

Lastly, since by this time it was beginning to get dark, you take photos in front of painted backdrops done by different artists. They're all unique and beautiful, each done in their own, unique style. Johnny takes twenty minutes to just appreciate the artistry before making you take photos in front of his favourite backdrops with him. It’s another twenty until you’re able to rope Simon into taking one photo.

Johnny looks so utterly inspired, clutching the tote bag that holds his and Simon's oil paintings with a starry-eyed look as he takes one more look around the fairgrounds. It's awfully adorable. He begs you to just peek into a few more stalls while you wait for Simon to go to the person who ran the little photo area and get the photos printed out for you, so when you inevitably parted ways at the doorways of your apartments, you had a small 3x6” souvenir- ready to be pinned up on your wall.

<- back next ->

[quanticowrites]

Conflict of Interest (Jessica Knight x Reader)

•• Hello! This if for an Anon from January 2023. Sorry for it being over a year before I got to this, also that it's not very long! I hope you enjoy! 🩷••

“Hey!” You jumped at Jess’s hand on your shoulder. “(Y/n)!” You laughed and turned towards her where you were waiting at the coffee cart in the Navy yard.

“Jesus, Jess!” She laughed.

“I gotcha good, huh?”

“Yeah. We got a case?” She nodded.

“Yep, better get that coffee to go.” She headed back towards the entrance that led to the squad room.

“God, I hope I wasn’t blushing…” The way Jess was with people, she would see right through you if you showed any indication of liking her. Wasn’t dating a coworker against Gibbs’s rules? You saw how well it had turned out for Tony and Ziva. Well, you couldn’t say that now. Things did work out for them in the end. But when they were here, god, it was so awkward since neither one wanted to admit to the other. Especially not in front of the rest of the team. As soon as the cup of coffee hit your hands you took off to the squad room to grab your gear and ran out to the van out front. Nick reached over Alden to honk the horn as soon as he saw you running.

“Come on, slow poke!” You whipped him the bird with your other hand as you climbed into the back of the van and buckled yourself in.

"Finally! We've been waiting forever!"

"Shut up." You chided back as you buckled in. "All good, Alden."

"Alright, children. Play nice back there."

"Haha."

"Hey, (y/n)."

"Yeah?" Jessica smirked.

"What were you thinking about back at the coffee cart?"

"Nothing. Just zoning out." You hoped she would buy that.

"Hmm. Not buying it." Fuck. "You seemed too deep in thought to be zoned out."

"Your favorite football team lost this weekend?" Nick suggested and you laughed.

"No, I wasn't thinking about that." You leaned back. "Thanks for reminding me about that though."

"You're welcome."

"No, I was thinking more...personal." You locked eyes with Jessica. "Do you have a boyfriend, (y/n)?" You chuckled.

"No, definitely not."

"Girlfriend, then?"

"Not at the moment."

"Ah~." She perked up. “So that's what's happening.”

“I'm lost,” Tim stated. “What's happening?”

“(Y/n) has a crush.” You scoffed.

“No, I don't!” Jess laughed.

“Your body language says differently! I just have to figure out who.”

“But I don't-”

“We're here!” Alden said, putting the van in park. “Thank god.”

The team split up with Alden and you talking to witnesses of the assault while Nick and Jessica collected physical evidence. Tim was combing through the victim's social media on their laptop. Allegedly, the assault came from someone they'd been chatting with online about selling some old coins that originated in Europe. At least the meet-up had been in a public place. You didn't want to imagine how this would have gone down if they'd agreed to meet up at the Lieutenant's house, or vice versa.

“So, is it someone at NCIS?” You looked up from your notepad. Making your notes based on what the witnesses had told you.

“What?”

“Whoever…you're into.”

“No.” He smirked. “That wasn't very convincing was it?”

“No.” He sighed. “You know, I don't have quote-on-quote rules like Gibbs. I don't care if-”

“I don't have a crush on Jess!” Your voice rose. Your hands slightly crumble the sides of your notepad. “Shit. That was loud, wasn't it?”

“It's a good thing Jess is way over there.” He pointed and you looked. She was taking pictures of blood stains on the ground. “Because, yeah, that was loud.”

“You-” You pointed at him. “You can't tell her!” He put his hands up, smiling.

“I won't! But you know now that she's on the hunt it won't take her long to find out you like her.”

“I know!” You groaned. “I feel like I'm back in junior high with Missy Douglas.” He laughed.

“Missy Douglas?”

“She was head of the cheerleading squad.” You shook your head. “But my point is…I don't know what to do.”

“Talking usually helps. The worst she can say is no.”

“Exactly!” He nodded before putting a hand on your shoulder.

“Take it from someone who's got a few years under his belt. Also, someone who's been married. Communication is the key to everything.” You hated that he was right, but Alden was right. You were an adult! You needed to talk your feelings out.

“You're right. But, was that also just a fancy way of saying you're old?” He snorted.

“Touché.”

As far as cases go, you don't normally have one wrap-up over the course of a day, but sometimes the universe gives you a gift. Like the suspect turning themself in because it turns out they're allergic to the material of the coins and they thought they were dying while breaking out in hives. They were just mildly allergic, but no one stopped them from telling their story.

“Well, it was a great day everyone. I'm off to Paw Patrol Live with the twins.” You smiled.

“Have fun, Tim! Be sure to buy Morgan and John everything they ask for!” He blushed before heading off. As a Dad, he just couldn't say no to those two little energy balls. Nick had already dipped, so that left you and Jess in the squad room.

“I think I figured it out.” She said and you laughed.

“You have, huh?” She nodded, walking from her desk to the front of yours.

“Yeah.” You stood up and took a chance.

“Jess, I-”

“(Y/n)-” She nodded. “Sorry, you first.”

“I like you.” You said, not adding any useless words and just getting right to the point. “I know being on the same team is kind of a conflict of interest but…I need to let you know how I feel.” Her shoulders relaxed and she let out a laugh. Not a condescending laugh, a bubbly laugh that sounded like she hadn't heard such good news in forever.

“If liking each other is a conflict of interest, I can't wait to see what happens next.” She was so quick, that you barely registered her leaning over and placing a kiss on your cheek.

“W-Wha…”

“Let's start with dinner.” She twirled her car keys in her hands. “I'll drive!”

Tag list:

@stanathanxoox , @nikkiwierden , @malindacath , @havlindzk , @countrygal17a , @memyselfandmaddox , @octobersmog , @mizzezm , @diaryofafan17 , @emmitheacefangirl l, @a-sad-excuse-of-everything , @marennnx

[nkirukaj]

Fawning for You (3)

Pairing: Alastor x Voe (Fem!OC)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Angst (& Humor!)

Word Count: 3.5K

3. True Love

Ignoring Alastor was a whole lot easier said than done. He was everywhere, and he was so beautiful. He was at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He even started attending all the activities, just sitting there looking pleasant. What was up with this guy? One day he’s nibbling on her toes and the next, he acts like she doesn’t exist. He’s insane! What do men want? Voe sat there, staring at him, wondering what was going on inside of his sick mind. Was this some new kind of torture that he was trying out just for her? Or was this what he did with everyone? Why had he said they were okay when they very clearly were not? “Good morning Charlie,” she greets the Princess at breakfast Charlie looks up “Oh! Good morning Voe, very nice to see you here,” “Yeah, you’d think so huh?” she said glancing at the unperturbed Overlord.

They sat at the table and Alastor placed plates in front of each one of them, saying nothing to her in the process “Pancakes and eggs my dears, with a little something special added in. Eat up!” “Aww thank you Alastor, you’re quite the chef!” Charlie praises him “Don’t praise him he deserves nothing,” Voe mumbles under her breath, crossing her arms “Like, you should be used to it by now, he cooks all the time. Big whoop,” “You are so good at what you do Alastor!” Angel pipes up “Gotta admit,” he shrugs “He can cook,” “Okay, he can cook, what about it? It’s just pancakes and eggs, I could do that too,” she mumbles “What do you think Voe?” Charlie turns the conversation towards her They watch and wait as Voe takes a moment to gather herself before responding “It’s okay,” she says without looking up Alastor gives Voe the side-eye before facing forward once more. “Can’t just be okay,” Charlie responds “There’s so much love in it,” she smiles sweetly Voe shrugs. “Okay…” “Well, she clearly can’t appreciate love in anything…” Alastor mumbles under his breath “Hmm?” Voe sits up ready for battle “Was something said?” Alastor turns toward her “Perhaps you didn’t hear me, ‘you can’t appreciate love in anything’ because you have no heart,” “What?!” Alastor hums “I shall be off!” and dissipates into a shadow “Wow,” Angel said “These pancakes are good! What’s the secret ingredient?” “Hmm,” Cherri Bomb tastes the pancakes again “Tastes like coke,” “I don’t think I’m hungry,” Voe backs away from the plate and the table going back up to her room.

Sitting at her laptop Voe brainstorms ideas for the theater, what kind of vibe would it have? Old school? Golden Age? Or modern? Probably modern, she thought to herself, writing it down. Modern with a rustic feel? Something minimalistic? Or something sleek? But she didn’t want the bare minimum, she wanted everything! The pit, the orchestra, the mezzanines, the balcony, the works. She didn’t want any corners cut for her theater. But before she could worry about any of that, it was her job to plan it. What did she want?

Well, what she wanted was for Alastor to stop ignoring her, she wanted to sit down and have a conversation with him and live in bliss like normal partners do! But that had nothing to do with the theater.

For the theater what she wanted was white walls, a chandelier (a simple one), stands to buy merch and food, and bathrooms (obviously) all in the lobby. At least 500 pink felt seats (to be on par with a Broadway theater), and a black carpet on each floor. High ceilings and at least 3 floors. A pit for the orchestra, tech rooms, dressing rooms for the actors, and of course a stage. She could figure the rest out as she went along, well she would have to considering she couldn’t think of anything else. “Do I have to buy a building? Or is Lucifer’s approval enough? Who would I even be buying from? I don’t know anyone who sells buildings,” she pulls her permit out of the drawer and reads it again, she sighs thinking of Lucifer. She looks online, finding that the average building costs about $10,000,000. She jumps back in her chair “What the fuck? I can’t spend that much money! I’d be flat broke!” She drops her head on her desk over and over. Why is having a dream so difficult? She skips down the stairs and rushes toward the girlfriends when she sees them.“Charlie, how does the Princess feel about sponsoring one of her people’s projects?” “What do you mean?”

She puts on her people-person voice “I need someone to sponsor my work in the theater so I can pay for things that I need and for the manual labor that I need from people to build it. “Well, sure! How’s 15%?” Voe looks around and takes out her phone to calculate 15% of 10 million “That’s it? I know you have more than that,” “I’m sorry, but my dad doesn’t want me giving too much,” “Since when does he have all these rules??” “He doesn’t want any sinners using me for my money,” Voe scrunches her brows “You’re a grown woman!” “So are you!” “What’s your point?” Her eyes dart around “A grown woman should take care of her own things,” Voe groans “It feels like your dad is doing this on purpose,”“What do you mean, no?”

Lucifer shakes his head “I’m sorry, I can sponsor, but no. You can’t get the whole thing,” “Okay, so can you use your King status to make it so I don’t have to pay?” “No. I will donate, but you have to pay,” Voe is exasperated “Why are you doing this?” “What am I doing?” “Making this harder for me,” He sighs “This is literally a rule for every sinner,” “Really? Because it seems like it’s only negatively impacting me,” “It’s not. I’ve had sinners come up to me and Charlie lying about getting redeemed to get money from us!” “You literally have infinite money!” she laughs in disbelief He groans “Yes, that infinite money is for me and my daughter!” Voe puts her head in her hands “Are you serious?” “Look, if you want to get redeemed you have to work hard, at everything,” “Okay is this like a punishment or something?” “What? For what??” She looks around “Hurting your feelings?” “Voe. Not everything is about you, every sinner has to follow these new rules,” “That just happens to become rules when I want to do something,” “Well, I’m sorry. Those are just the rules now. Many have come before you and many will come after,” Voe throws her hands up “Wow, just wow. Thanks,” she says sarcastically “Voe. I said I would still help. I’ll give you more than I gave the others,” “I just thought we were friends,” she shrugs “Voe. This is business, it’s not about friendship. I can’t just not enforce rules for one person,” “Why not?” His volume increases “Because Voe, you are a sinner. You did wrong. You do not get everything handed to you now,” In this tone, she could almost see him as an actual King. “You fucked up. And now you’re here. It’s not about how I or you feel. You-“ he sighs “Yes, you hurt me. I was in love with you and I’m not over it. I’m not even over Lilith,” Voe is taken aback by his sudden confession “I’m sorry, look I’ll send you the money but you need to leave,” and he exits the room, leaving the doe flabbergasted in her frustration.“Well, he’s not wrong. You were just so lucky that as soon as you dropped into Hell you were the number one baddie on the block,”

Voe scoffs “I still am,” Angel looks at her “Yeah. I had nothing and no one before Val. Imagine being me. I can’t even tell which life was worse. You got things handed to you, and now you gotta work for ‘em,” Voe looks up at the ceiling and sighs “Apparently the King of Hell was in love with me,” Angel sighs “It happens. Look, I’ve fucked so many guys and 98% percent of them fell in love with me. That’s why you gotta nip it in the bud before ya smash,” “You couldn’t wait to brag about that could you?” she laughs Angel Dust smirks and shrugs “I didn’t even know until he told me,” “That’s why you gotta ask, you gotta be careful,” “And how was I meant to ask, ‘Hey are you in love with me? ‘Cuz I’m not in love with you.’?” “Well no. You’re supposed to just tell ‘em ‘This isn’t a relationship’,” She fiddles with her fingers “I just thought it was fun,” “Then you should’ve told him that! You’re telling me that none of the women you fucked on Earth divorced their husbands for you, but you don’t wanna be with her, and now she’s in a custody balle over her kids!” Voe cuts her eye at him “Sorry, just got personal,” She looked down at her phone, that went off saying that Lucifer had sent her 30 million, she sighs “I don’t know what to do,” “I think you need to go and apologize,” “I did!” “Yeah, and then told me about how you got all entitled,” She looks away “Okay, that’s not what I said,” “You didn’t have to say it. You went up to the King of Hell and demanded money. You might as well have tied up his whole family and put a gun to CHarlie’s head!” Voe does a double take “Wait, what? What are we talking about?” “You!” “I-I think you just got personal again,” “Besides the point, you need to go back there and apologize for that tantrum,” She scoffs “I’m not a baby,” “Then stop acting like it! You did wrong, you need to go back and apologize!” “He doesn’t want to see me,” “No no, did he say that? Or did he just say leave?” Angel purses his lips Voe rolls her eyes “He said to leave,” “Then you need to go back up there and apologize for everything,” “How would it look if I came right back?” “Like you wanna fight for this friendship that you claim you had with him. Is he actually your friend?” “Yes,” “Do you care about him?” “Yes!” “Do you care that you hurt him?” “YES! It hurt me to hurt him like that!” Angel gets in her face “Did you tell him that?” “I didn’t know I had to,” “Well, ya do,” She looks away “Okay,” “Honestly? I’d give myself to an Overlord who can admit when they’re wrong,” Voe’s eyes glisten in the light.

_______________________________

“Charlie! Didn’t you say that you convinced Cannibal Town to help you fight the angels with you with a song?”

She nods “Yup! They really adore the theatrics!” Voe clings to her clipboard and hatches a brilliant plan“So you want me to help you with your theater idea?” Rosie reiterates for clarification “Not just you, but your cannibals as well. I need a crew to help build and set things up. If that’s okay with you,”

The Overlord puts her hand on her chest “You have to ask them, not me,” Voe throws her head back “Rosie….” “You know you sinners say you want redemption, but you want us higher-ups to do the work for you,” “How should I do that?” “Just be yourself!”Voe rolls her eyes “Apparently that’s a problem,” “Huh?” She shakes her head “Never mind. Would you like to be part of it?” “Ah ho ho ho,” Rosie laughs, flattered “I’d wanna be the lead,” she and Voe laugh alongside each other “I’m serious,” she says with a straight face and then a smile Voe’s eyes dart around “Sure!” she agrees “Sometimes,” she mumbles under her breath, knowing she would certainly be the lead “So may I use your cannibals?” she asks, holding the clipboard close to her chest. She psyches herself up to talk to multiple cannibals.

She approaches the children, waving “Hi! Remember me?”

“Hi! Guys! It’s the lady with the tail!”

She nodded as the other children she had met came to see her

“Hi, deer lady! This time we have an arm for you!” the little girl offers it to her

Voe respectfully declines “I wanna ask you something,” she kneels on the ground, her skirt over her knees “Have you ever played pretend?”

“Yes!” the kids shout

“Just yesterday I pretended I was killing David with a shark!” the little girl shouts

“Good job,” Voe pats her on the head “What if you could do that for an audience? Like if you do it in front of people,”

“So people would see me killing David with the shark?”

She nods “Yep! That’s theater!”

“I love theater! I want to do it!” The boy shouts

“Good!"

She gathers them together into a group “Theater can do all this and more for you,"

She moves from the children to the adults, starting with the kid's parents, and moving on to their friends and families. The people slowly agree as their kids convince them to listen, going down a chain of positivity and agreement.

“Okay,” she breathes excitedly “I’ve given Rosie the address please be there next week at 11 AM. Okay? Okay,” and leaves the spotlight “Hey!” Rosie calls after her

She turns around “Yes?” “How’s Alastor been? He hasn’t been over here in weeks and I wanted to give him this,” she holds up a wrapped thigh Voe sighs “I don’t really know,” “Have you asked?” “He won’t talk to me,” “Sometimes you gotta make him talk,” “How am I supposed to do that?” Rosie shrugs “I don’t know, but I do know that if anyone can do it, it’s you,” she thrusts the thigh in Voe’s arms “Now here, give him that, and shoo!” She slaps Voe on the butt and Voe takes that as her time to leave “Yes Mother,” she whispers under her breath

Alastor sat in his radio tower, rereading his list of things to do. He’d completed it, but when he didn’t have something in front of him it made his mind wander. Inevitably, it always wandered to her. He watched her around the hotel, back to square one, as if nothing had ever happened between them. As though he’d never touched her smooth skin or kissed her soft lips, tasted her delicious cunt. His feelings for her were…complicated at this point in time. Sure she had apologized for her actions, sure she had gotten down on her knees and begged. Sure he had thrown her contract in the fire and sure he had forgiven her, but that was during his…overly emotional state, he trusted nothing he’d done during that point. He was starting to question whether or not he’d meant it when he forgave her or if that was the wrong decision. What had she done since? She asked if they were “Okay”, or whatever that meant. What did she want from him? He had given her almost everything and yet she still wanted more? It was ungrateful, unreasonable, it was too much. Alastor didn’t know where they should go from here. All he knew was that she had ruined his reputation, and did not seem quite sorry enough. It wasn’t fair that she got to just move on and pretend like it never happened when he had to deal with the fallout. She got to prance around as if she wouldn’t be the death of him and then still have the nerve to insult his cooking. No Alastor was not sure where to go from here, but it seemed as if every direction was the wrong one.

Voe enters the parlor with the intent of laying on the comfy couch, only to find a certain someone sitting in their chair reading. She thought about turning and retreating to her bedroom, but in the end, decided not to. If she wanted to lay on the couch she was going to lay on the couch. There was no one else there, considering that it was once again at dead of night, but at that moment it felt as though there were oceans between them although they were inches apart. Voe plops down on the couch. Alastor hums to himself as he reads. Voe scrolls on her smartphone, only slightly bothered by the darkness. It was harder for her to concentrate with the backing soundtrack, feeling as though it was increasing volume by the second. Like it was getting closer. “Excuse me, your humming is very distracting,” she speaks low “My what?” he doesn’t look up “Your humming,” “Hmm?” “Your humming,” she increases her volume, “Hmmm??” Voe rolls her eyes and sits up “Your humming…is….distracting,” Alastor looks up from his book “Oh? DIstracting you from staring at your mobile device?” “As a matter of fact, yes it is” “Ugh, busy on Sinstagram. Or telling Velvette more things about me?” She looks to the side “I don’t even have her number anymore,” “Sure you don’t” “What you want me to show you?” “I don’t want you to show me anything my dear, I just want to hum in peace,” “Well, you can’t,” “I think I can,” “You can’t,” Alastor checks his nails “Well if I can’t hum I guess you can’t have your phone,” Voe raises a brow “Excuse me?” Just then, Alastor’s shadow comes and swipes her phone out of her hands “Hey!” it tosses the device “What the fuck!” “Now we both can’t get what we want,” he smirks “You couldn’t just..stop humming?” “No, apparently not,” “Where is my phone?” “I suppose you’ll have to find it,” Voe slams the couch with her hands “What’s your problem?” “I don’t know what you mean,” “That was so petty for no reason,” Alastor sighs “I suppose I’m just petty,” Voe stands and begins checking the room for her phone, it would have been a lot easier if it wasn’t dark. She finds it and uses it to find her way back to the couch where Alastor was watching her search. “Enjoy the show?” she asks sarcastically “Oh yes, quite entertaining,” “Fine, whatever, you win,” His eyes widen “Win? What prize do I get?” he puts his hands together “Me leaving,” she turns towards the stairs “Where are you going to go? Back to the Vees perhaps?” “To my room!” “The one at V-tower or…?” “Oh fuck you!” she takes off toward the stairs and ascends “Uh, rude,” he says in a sing-song voice

Alastor was quite confused about how he felt at this moment, but it felt good to get those things off his chest. Oddly enough, this was something. He spoke to her and gave her attention. It felt like he was playing with her again and Voe loved the feeling and being under his piercing gaze. She adored being seen by him, and she loved that she could have these moments with him and still feel like herself like she wasn’t trying to fit in anyone’s mold. Like she could be truly whoever she was.

She knocks on the door of the golden castle once more. It opens on its own and she enters. It’s a lot more quiet than usual this time and Lucifer is lying on the couch in loungewear instead of in his kingly get-up. “Lucifer?” He sits up quickly “Oh. Hello.” He dusts himself off and stands “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about how our last conversation went. It was quite inappropriate and I so apologize.” “Oh. Thank you. And.. thank you for the money,” she holds up her phone “You’re welcome.” He looks around “Is there something you need?” She purses her lips “Can we sit down?” “Um..sure. Of course. Is everything okay?” Voe takes a breath “No, it’s not. I owe you an apology,” Lucifer sits up, intrigued “Alright?” “I apologize for waltzing in here and acting like you owe me something. You didn’t have to give me anything, I realized that after I acted like an entitled brat,” “I didn’t say you were a brat….” Voe puts her hand up “I was, it’s okay,” Lucifer nods his head in agreement “But I mostly came to tell you this. You are not a toy to me. I value you and our friendship” Lucifer smiles “And I apologize for letting what we were doing get to s certain point without any acknowledgment from me,” “Well I’m sorry too-“ “No, you don’t have to apologize,” “I want to,” Voe sits back to let him talk “I’m sorry for assuming that because we were intimate, that it meant something special,” Voe nods “Noted. But I want you to know that I get that I hurt you, but I never told you how much it hurt me to hurt you like that. You were there for me when I needed you and I never in a million years would ever want to hurt you,” she tilts her head “And I don’t ever want to hurt you,” “I’m so sorry Lucifer,” He scooches forward “I accept your apology,” “Thank you,” she says with a soft smile “Will you ever come back to the Hotel?” He thinks “I’ll think about it,” “We miss you. Charlie misses you, I miss you,” “I will think about it,” She smiles “Okay,” she stands “Thank you for seeing me,” “Thank you for coming by,” Voe waves “Bye,” “Hey,” She turns back toward him “Yes?” “I know you probably don’t understand, but love-“ He shakes his head “It did mean a whole lot that you came back and apologized. One day you’ll know what it means to be in love with someone. You’ll feel so many emotions, like anger, annoyance, confusion, joy, bliss, comfort, and fury, and sometimes you might think you hate them. But at the end of the day, you can’t stand to be without them,” ‘You felt that about me?” “Yes,” “Hmm,” is all she said in response “I hope to see you soon,” “Me too. Come by anytime,” She chuckles “Or you could come by, and see your daughter,” she jokes “Yeahhh..” They laugh together as Voe exits. As the golden doors slam behind her, Voe stops before getting into the limousine, thinking,

Holy shit, I’m in love with Alastor.

[oldlaptopsale1]

[cashygo-blog]

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[dykeseinfeld]

please please please may i ask how/where you managed to acquire cassette tapes & player & how do you record onto them because that sounds cool as FUCK and id love to do something similar but i can’t find anything about burning tapes or even buying them anywhere (or even burning cds tbh)

i got the cassette tape player from retrospekt! they sell a lot of refurbished vintage tech including diff kinds of walkmen and record players and film cameras and tbh. everything's a Little expensive and there are cheaper options out there, but i saw they had very consistently good reviews on products showing up and actually working and i was paranoid abt getting something that doesn't work And i don't know how to fix. i chose the peanuts beagle scouts one for $99, but they have other refurbished and even a couple newer tape players that have bluetooth and such for a bit more money, whatever she's cute

as for casette tapes themselves i already had a bunch bc a lot of record shops will have a section that sells them for like $1-5, and i liked to pick up movie soundtracks as a cool way to have merch even before i could play them at all lol. even if i don't want to listen to the tape, i figured i could record over them with anything i want, but this option are used tho and most of those will be decades old and thus quite warped and fucked, so i finally caved bought a pack of 10 tapes on amazon for like $15 which is still not bad at all (retrospekt and other online sites sell prerecorded cassette tape albums of more modern stuff but they are SO overpriced when you see how cheap blank/used ones are)

for recording over a cassette tape it's very easy, especially if you don't mind your music sounding super fucking shitty lmao. (if you want high quality recording tips i recommend reddit's r/cassetteculture, tho they are all gearheads and spend a lot more money on dedicated tape decks and such than i'm willing to).

get your tape. identify whether it's blank, or if it is a pre-existing tape you're recording over. if blank, skip to step 3.

you're going to see two holes on the outside edges (picture below). these are what prevent a pre-existing tape from being overwritten, so you're going to want to straight up just cover these up (i use scotch tape, shoving crumpled up paper in there also works)

3. grab a male-to-male audio jack (i got mine at best buy). plug one end into the headphone jack of your laptop, the other end into the microphone jack of your cassette tape player. 4. make sure the audio output of your laptop is to "outside headphones" (aka your cassette tape). hit record, and press play on your music! that's it.

side note: if you are recording over! i recommend first recording over both sides completely with silence, just to minimize on ghosting and to straighten out the tape a lil

regardless the audio will be janky, but adjusting what volume the output is helps a lil. idk i'm a Super Novice who is basically in this for the aesthetic and so that i have an excuse not to bring my phone to the library

[leelee120000]

Looking Back On: Fall Out Boy, “Folie à Deux”

April 12, 2020

“Folie à Deux” came out when I was eight years old. Fall Out Boy (FOB) was a band I enjoyed but it wasn’t my favorite yet. That didn’t occur until 2010 when I got my first laptop and suddenly had access to play any music I wanted. After countless times listening, I came to think of it as one of the most musically intricate and well-developed albums FOB has ever produced. However, “Folie à Deux” didn’t sell well and ultimately contributed to FOB’s hiatus.

There is a plot in “Folie à Deux,” however, it is very hidden and not really understood without the additional “Fall Out Toy Works” comics, which was published in ‘09 and continued into ‘13. The comics are mostly unknown by many which makes talking about them all the more fun. 

“Fall Out Toy Works” was created by Pete Wentz of FOB, Darren Romanelli and Nathan Cabrera. It is written by Brett Lewis and illustrated by members of Imaginary Friends Studios. The story is a cyberpunk tale set in futuristic LA centered around a gynoid (female android) named Tiffany, the Toymaker’s perfect creation. Think “Pinocchio” meets “Pygmalion.” 

Baron is the main antagonist and his company controls the production of pretty much everything in Los Angeles, even the weather but he has no control over his relationships. He asks the Toymaker to create a robot wife for him, named Tiffany. Talking about the story any farther without spoiling the ending is hard.

The trade paperback and webcomic version both had the final page of issue 5 removed, which changed the entire tone of the ending. (It is relatively easy to find online, though.) There are so many things that the comics explain, even the meaning of the album’s cover art: the bear is a boy robot named Crybaby.

To promote “Folie à Deux,” the whole label of Decaydance Records artists did a mixtape of demos and custom songs called “Welcome to the New Administration.” The promotional campaign began on Aug. 18, 2008, when Decaydance’s website was supposedly hacked by a shady group called “Citizens For Our Betterment.”

The link led to the group’s website which was red, white and blue. Links on the page were blocked needing specific IP addresses to work. The Decaydance site was normal the following day. 

The Citizens for Our Betterment web page was updated every day, many posts referring to Nov. 4, the same day as the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The locked links were gradually opened and by Aug. 24, one link led to a page saying “FOB – The Return – November Four” in large big bold letters.

This caused some fans to believe that Fall Out Boy would release their new album on Nov. 4. Others theorized that this was another one of Pete’s attempts to raise political awareness as he previously held a rally for then U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama. Members of FOB members are publicly democrats. 

Many bands from the Fueled by Ramen label posted on MySpace that same day with the title “Welcome to the New Administration.” Every post contained the word ten. On Aug. 25, the Citizens for Our Betterment website was redirected to the band’s Friends or Enemies page. On which was an image of a voting booth and ballots with the names of several Decaydance artists. 

By clicking on each individual ballot, there was an audio clip from the band reading past posts on the Citizens for Our Betterment website. A mixtape was then made available for download. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUZKSsP8Sdo

As for the album itself, the album “Folie à Deux” itself is perfectly gapless as every song fades into the next. It starts with a hidden track called “Lullabye.” It’s a charming track featuring just acoustic guitar and Patrick singing. “Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes” is the first official song. The hook goes: “I’m a loose bolt of a complete machine. What a match, I’m half doomed and you’re semi-sweet.” These lines set the tone of the album with industrial elements and dark storytelling. The world of the Toymaker and how it intertwines with the music. 

“I Don’t Care” kicks off with a classic rock tone, and the accompanying music video is zany and weird. Gilby Clarke from Guns N’ Roses starts the video by saying, “what the hell happened to rock and roll? Eyeliner? Energy drinks? And no guitar solos? I’ve taken sh*ts with bigger rock stars than them!”

The video is filled with miscellaneous sights. There’s the infamous spaghetti cat clip, band members dressed as nuns, Joe flashing people – and it ends with everyone removing a mask and being a different rock star. Clarke himself reveals himself being Sarah Palin in the end, winks.

It’s an all-round weird video. A reminder that ‘08 was a different time, but all and all it fit into the political climate.

Next on the album is “She’s My Winona,” named after actress Winona Ryder. It is a true bop and a slower-paced song with the chorus of “hell or glory, I don’t want anything in between. Then came a baby boy with long eyelashes. And daddy said ‘you gotta show the world the thunder’.”  

This is followed by “America’s Suitehearts” with its nightmare carnival aesthetic that really adds to the story of the album and causes a lot of the nonsense to make sense. 

“Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet,” in which the beat goes hard but the lyrics go harder, follows. It’s a song blatantly about infidelity within a relationship. Considering Pete Wentz’s divorce, it’s safe to assume that this was somewhat based in reality. 

The music video is labeled as “A Weekend At Pete Rose’s,” and is on the old FriendsOrEnemies YouTube channel. In it, Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith carry Pete’s dead body around the city. 

“The (Shipped) Gold Standard” is a sad masterpiece about fearing loving another person. This was written before gay marriage was legalized and at a time where the LGBT+ community found safety within emo music and the Fall Out Boy fan base because FOB supported them. 

“(Coffee’s For Closers)” is a song about lost faith, and it hits hard especially with its placement behind “The (Shipped) Gold Standard”. 

“What A Catch, Donnie” has a music video and it’s an odd, nostalgic chronicle of the band’s (at the time of the video’s creation) seven-year history. Filled with memorabilia for other music videos, the video shows Patrick saving his fellow bandmates, as well as Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith. The end of the song includes lines from Fall Out Boy’s most iconic songs at the time. 

“27” jumps the pace back up to fast rock and fades into (all songs fade, but this is the best fade on the record) my favorite song on the album, “Tiffany Blews.” The song makes almost no sense at all lyrically but musically it slaps. The best explanation I can give is that it’s about a hot girl. Lil Wayne has a spoken section that is my favorite part. “Not the boy I was, the boy I am is just venting – venting. Dear gravity, you held me down in this starless city.” It’s such a perfect moment of breath in a nonstop album.

Next is “w.a.m.s.,” which is an acronym that has never had a confirmed meaning. But, the bass in it is so good, and the ending’s stripped vocals are as well! 

“20 Dollar Nose Bleed” is about drug abuse. It includes vocals from Brendon Urie and ends with a creepy poem by Pete Wentz. “It’s not me, it’s you, actually, it’s the taxidermy of you and me / Untie the balloons from around my neck and ground me / I’m just a racehorse on the track, send me back to the glue factory…”

“West Coast Smoker” has the futuristic synth sound that ties the whole album together and that sound is on full display. The vocals pulsing with the music is almost spiritual. I’m skipping the remixes and acoustic versions off of the deluxe version. Instead, I’m hopping over to the bonus tracks. 

“Pavlove” is criminally underrated, and such a good song. The heavy rock cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” is also wonderful.

I love this album because every song in it is amazing – it goes without saying, “Folie à Deux” is my favorite album by my favorite band. 

LeAnne McPherson

[bodyalive]

On the Texas Border, Folk Healers Bring Modern Touches to Their Ancient Practice

Known as curanderas, they carry on a tradition long revered in local Hispanic culture.

By Edgar Sandoval

Photographs by Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas

Edgar Sandoval grew up in Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley, where Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas lives and where both covered this story.

Dec. 16, 2023

On a recent day, Chriselda Hernandez heard a knock at her door in the Texas border town of Edinburg. It was a college student who said she was suffering from a string of bad luck. A drunken driver had crashed into her car. Then someone broke into the new car she was driving and stole her laptop. “I need a limpia,” she pleaded — a spiritual cleanse.

Ms. Hernandez moved to an altar in her living room that bore an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Slowly, she mixed a concoction of sage and palo santo, a wood native to South America, and lit it with a match. Then she turned back to the young woman and waved the healing smoke over her body.

“You are holding on to something,” Ms. Hernandez whispered to her. “Let it go. There is no shame.”

For generations, Hispanic communities along the Southern border have turned to curanderas, or folk healers, like Ms. Hernandez, often seen in the popular imagination as old women with candles and religious icons operating in the shadows of society out of rusty shacks.

But the ancient healing art has entered the age of Instagram. More and more younger people are taking on rituals they learned from their grandmothers and deploying them against 21st century problems. They conduct limpias on public beaches, trade recipes online for blocking “envy energies” and sell artisan candles bearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in shops. Their clients are often college-educated, like Clarissa Ochoa, the young woman who went to Ms. Hernandez for help.

“I think it’s an honor to be a curandera; it is something very beautiful, but also very limiting,” said Ms. Hernandez, 42. “I feel like we are breaking those boundaries, that curanderas are just herbs and little old ladies. My calling is just to heal whoever I can.”

A culture of folk healing preceded the arrival of Spaniard conquistadors to Latin America and Mexico. Over time, curanderos, a term used for healers of both genders, began mixing Indigenous rituals with elements of Catholicism and influences from Asian and African folk traditions along the way.

The practice has taken hold in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, located a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, in large part out of necessity. Hidalgo County, home to McAllen and a majority Hispanic population, has one of the highest rates in the nation of people without health insurance, and many people rely on curanderas for lack of other affordable options, said Servando Z. Hinojosa, a professor of anthropology who teaches a class on Mexican-American folk medicine at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Mr. Hinojosa said many Hispanic residents also tend to be mistrustful of the medical establishment. This is especially true when it comes to mental health. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that while the number of Black, Asian and white people who have sought mental health care treatments has climbed in recent years, there has been very little movement among Latinos.

“There’s an element of distrust, but there is also structural alienation,” Mr. Hinojosa said. “They are a population that will seek affordable resources, and they will go to where the products are and where the advice is to be found.”

In the past, the medical establishment has warned people not to rely on folk remedies for physical ailments, some of which can be harmful. Many Latino children have fallen ill and even died after consuming such remedies known as albayalde, azarcon and rueda, powders often used for stomach-related illnesses that have been found to contain lead.

Curanderismo has become so accepted in the Rio Grande Valley that it is not unusual to see street signs and TV ads advertising folk healing services.

Ms. Hernandez said her great-grandmothers had both been parteras, or midwives. When she was a little girl, she said, she discovered that she possessed her own set of gifts; as she grew older, she said, she began interacting with an entity she believes to be the Angel of Death, Azrael. She works at a cellphone call center and lives with a girlfriend in a modern house in the suburbs of Edinburg, a city close to the border.

“You make it your own. There is no right or wrong. You do what’s right for you,” Ms. Hernandez said.

Another modern folk healer, Danielle López, 39, a former student of Mr. Hinojosa who said she also learned she had a don, a gift, as a young girl, has embraced the moniker of millennial curandera. She has combined the old traditions she learned from the grandmother who raised her, Consuelo López, and an aunt, Esperanza Rodriguez, with new skills learned at institutions of higher education.

Her academic record includes a master of arts in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in Mexican-American literature, medical anthropology and Latin art history at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is completing a doctorate in English with a focus on borderlands literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she is also a lecturer.

“For me it’s a continuity,” she said of her spiritual work. “I feel like we need it more now.”

It is not unusual for people to ask her for trabajitos, little jobs, including blessings, limpias and home remedies, when she is not buried in books. Not long ago, Ms. López got a request to bless a new business for a friend. When Ms. López cleansed the establishment with a bouquet of roses, six petals fell, prompting her to warn her friend that six people “did not have good intent.”

“They may say they are happy about her new business, but they are not.”

She also sometimes offers more science-based advice. When people tell her that they are feeling anxious or cannot sleep, she recommends that they cut their intake of sugar or caffeine. Because the advice comes from a curandera, she said, people tend to trust that she has their best interests at heart.

The concept of a curandera is so pervasive in Latino enclaves that in September the Texas Diabetes Institute, a state-of-the-art facility operated by University Health on San Antonio’s west side, a historical Mexican-American neighborhood, brought back to its lobby a sprawling wall-size painting, “La Curandera,” by the Chicano painter Jesus Treviño, who died early this year. The painting had been removed for restoration.

Still, when it comes to luck and matters of the heart, many people avoid professional help and turn to curanderas, because there is no substitute, said Sasha García, 39, a curandera who is known for her fire-red hair.

In northern Mexico, where Indigenous culture is not as widespread and the Catholic Church’s hold is stronger, Ms. García said, her ancestors often operated in the shadows to avoid the stigma associated with folk healers. By contrast, on the American side of the border, she not only feels freer to practice openly, but some Catholic priests stop by for her counsel, she said.

Ms. García welcomes clients at La Casa de la Santísima Yerberia in the city of Pharr, near McAllen, next to two imposing statues of La Santísima Muerte, skeletons each wearing red and black robes. Ms. García reminds people that while the image of La Santísima, a Latina version of the Grim Reaper, may evoke frightening emotions, death is to be revered.

“If you pray to her properly, she can heal and deliver love, freedom and wealth,” she said. “I only ask her for positive things.” (She laments that criminal elements along the border and in Mexico have appropriated the image.)

On a recent afternoon, Jocelyn Acevedo, 27, a frequent client of hers who runs a credit repair service, arrived for her monthly limpia. She had heard about Ms. García four years ago and after the first limpia, she said, she saw her business begin to boom. She was so convinced by the session that she since has regularly driven 60 miles from nearby Starr County, near the Rio Grande, for her sessions. She now has a tattoo of La Santísima.

Ms. García instructed Ms. Acevedo to rub three coconuts all over her body. Ms. García then broke them on the ground to release what she said was the negative energy her client had been carrying.

“Did it work? Of course,” Ms. Acevedo said.

Ms. García has embraced touches of modernity along with the old customs, including consultations now offered over FaceTime. Her clients have responded with their own offerings from popular culture, including a sign one brought in that now hangs on the front door: “Witch Parking Only.”

“No one listens,” Ms. García said with a smile. “The word may be becoming more modern, but we curanderas are still here. Just don’t park in my spot.”

Edgar Sandoval covers Texas for The Times, with a focus on the Latino community and the border with Mexico. He is based in San Antonio. More about Edgar Sandoval

[pure-ablution]

How do you make and save money?

It’s mostly about increasing your income, and then reducing how much of that income you actually need to spend. This is what I do. Not all of it is technically allowed because of my university’s employment rules, but I haven’t run into trouble yet. It’s not always fun to live frugally, but it allows me to indulge in the things that matter to me.

Increasing income:

I receive a termly stipend as part of my scholarships, covering my rent and utilities and leaving me with a little money left over.

I work at least one shift at the student bar per week, and usually receive tips.

I do part-time paid internships during term-time, and full-time paid internships in most holidays.

I work for my university by taking shifts in the libraries, and working with admissions and outreach.

I offer myself for some compensated research trials and surveys at my uni.

I do online tutoring, mostly to foreign highschoolers whose parents are willing to pay a fortune for my university’s name.

I work freelance in translation services and proofreading in my native languages. This pays by the word.

I offer basic beauty services (waxing, eyebrows, etc.), styling and tailoring/mending services to students at a reduced rate compared to local salons and tailors.

I sell PDF copies of my notes and lecture transcripts to students on my course, and very occasionally write essays for a higher fee.

I babysit/pet-sit/house-sit for my professors, neighbours, and other local families I know.

I receive occasional cash prizes for competitions.

I have some music and poetry published, and receive a little bit of money regularly as royalties.

I sell clothes etc. on behalf of people who are too old or lazy to use online secondhand sites, and take a portion of the cost.

I sell a few printables and some of my embroidery and other handicrafts on Etsy.

I take on any little ‘odd job’ offered to me. Last week I was paid £25 as an extra in a student film production.

I have a few investments, and I withdraw portions of the interest already generated if I feel I need to.

My parents send me a small amount of money every month (something like £75) specifically for groceries.

Reducing outgoings:

All of my tuition is covered by my scholarships, plus a single airfare to and from home per year.

I get all my fish free from my neighbour, and I eat a lot of it.

I get all my milk free, in exchange for doing the eyebrows of the girl who runs the dairy near me.

I buy the rejected fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer’s at the end of the day for a discount.

I buy rice and beans in bulk from the international market a few miles from my house.

I cook everything from scratch at home. Most meals I make come out at less than a £1 spend per portion, because I buy in bulk.

I walk everywhere, and I have a Railcard for when I need to use the train.

I pirate books and movies, or use my university’s libraries. I never, ever pay for books.

I always shop in sales or usually secondhand, and I’m really good at using discount codes.

I don’t bother with fancy salons. I do most of my cosmetic work myself, or I go to independent aestheticians who work from their houses.

I get a friends’ discount with the dry cleaning shop I use, because it’s run by the local monastery and I know most of the monks there.

I don’t have any subscriptions or monthly payments to anything except magazines. My phone and laptop were bought outright for me as a part of my scholarship agreement, and I don’t have a car or any streaming services.

I have a black and white television (the licensing charge for B&W in the UK is significantly lower than colour).

I use a cashback app whenever I buy anything online. It’s only a small percentage, but it adds up over time.

I never buy alcohol. There are more than enough events with free drinks in a student city.

Saturday brunch was recently swapped to a homemade brunch, so now I no longer pay for any meals out at all.

Most of my cleaning products are homemade in the way my grandmother taught me. All you really need is bar soap, white vinegar, lemon juice and a cheap bottle of bleach in your cleaning kit.

I never, ever forget to use my student discount.

[impearlyshell14]

BLOG 1 : "MY ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND JOURNEY".

Introduction of this blog:

This Blog is all about My first journey as a Entrepreneurial student were I and My Group mates discuss about some of the CMUans students about their problems that they encountered while they studying here.

Also, This Entrepreneurial Mind Blog can help you to seek more about the importance of entrepreneurship where you can gain knowledge about the Human source management, business plan management, market research, start-up organization and more.

My first Journey as a Entrepreneurship Student:

We the students under GEE16 or The Entrepreneurial Mind Subject are going to do the business proposal were we ask some students of CMU about the problems that they encountered while they studying and living here In the Campus.

And we ask some students of CMU through online about the problems that they encountered and here's a photo that I screenshot during our conversation.

After that, we discuss about what will gonna be our business plan and one of my group mates suggested that we gonna pursuing our printing services proposal since many students are having a problem of printing a school works activities we decided that we gonna pursue or agreed it since our group mate has already a printer and she have a bicycle to deliver we decided that we offer a free delivery of printing works.

But actually we have a two options of our business proposal the first one is making the old clothes into rags but sad to say it's kinda boring and we're lack of finding of what's the special of making rugs if it's easily sold out or not. So we came up for the option two which is selling a food but we don't know where we gonna going to cook, so as the result the printing services will gonna be our business proposal as you can see in the phrase from the above that's one of the problems of the CMUans Students especially of the students who don't have a laptop and printer.

(Taking of picture while we discuss our business plan.)

After our all the struggles finding a project for business proposal I've learned that we should work as a team and finding more options of Projects so that there's gonna be a fall back of the project and even though if the project is not approved we should not give up and find more things to make our business proposal approved to our instructor. And this subject I've learned also about the importance of having a Entrepreneurship in our society,to make a transformation of our economic strategy and to gain more knowledge about the philosophy of businesses.

(Here's our group photo together with our Beautiful and amazing instructor)

That's all for My blog 1 about the first Journey as Entrepreneurship Student🫶👩‍💼.

[cryptid-manor]

FAQ, Q&A, Resources

Hi, I’m new in town and you lot have been very kind to follow me.

Here’s a little blog post that I update occasionally.

Do you have any technique or app recommendations?

If I’m on-the-go, on my tablet or phone, I use a lot of different applications. Procreate w/ an Apple Pen, Midjourney, Dalle, Glitché, Filmm, GlitchCam, Groovo, Canva, PicsArt, VSCO. I’m getting into Lightroom, Photoshop and Adobe Express editions. Save and edit and save and edit and save and edit and save and edit.

If I’m at my desk, I use GIMP a lot. I use or add a few old school glitch art techniques that can only be done on my Mac or on my PC. Versions tend to jump from phone to laptop to phone to laptop.

Here are two tutorials if you’d like to learn some, ever more seemingly, old school techniques for yourself. I’d be utterly pleased if this was your first entrance to “glitch art” —

Do you sell prints or shirts or any fine, fine merchandise anywhere?

Not of anything I make with MidJourney. Well, technically, no merchandise of anything right now. If you see it sold online, it’s a fake. If you see anything of mine go viral somewhere other than this Tumblr account, it’s fake.

Maybe I’ll make postcards, some day, out of sheer novelty. But, honestly, right now, a lot of this blog is going to turn into behind the scenes, drafting, etc.

…

i.e…. “~•*•THE PROCESS•*•~”

…

At 800 followers, I feel like I’ve cultivated a scene that I can trust with feedback on my other passion projects.

Wait, other projects?

Oh yeas. Have you ever read House Of Leaves? That’s what the inside of my brain looks like if I don’t Make Things.

Ok cool.

Yeah, for sure, of course.

Can you recommend any fandoms or other accounts that you like?

I like stuff. Stuff is good. Have you seen some of the stuff out there? It’s everywhere. Stuff is all over the place, and I love it. And I love that for me. And I love that for you.

Stuff for everyone, stuff for all, I say, at times when I’m going from here to there.

Here’s some of the stuff I like. Do you have any stuff you like?

— Degenesis (TTRPG)

— Trevor Henderson (@slimyswampghost on IG)

— Plastiboo (Artist)

— @louceph (seriously, a truly amazing artist)

— @hannahorca (wow wow wow)

— LIMINAL_ (TTRPG)

— MORK BÖRG (TTRPG)

— Mayfair Watchers Society (Podcast)

— Quiet Part Loud (Podcast)

— Welcome To Scarfolk (Book)

— Uzumaki & Gyo (Manga)

— Elden Ring (Video Game)

— Lovecraft Country (Series)

— Blasphemous (Video Game)

— Berserk (Manga)

— Oats Studio (Series, Netflix)

— District 9 (Movie)

— Love Death + Robots (Series)

Any more?

Sure but they might be “off-brand” for the aesthetic.

— Hollow Knight (Game)

— The Long Dark (Game)

— Frostpunk (Game)

— Nausicaä (Movie)

— Princess Mononoke (Movie)

— Scavenger’s Reign (Series)

— Raised By Wolves (Series)

— This War Of Mine (Game)

— Midnight Gospel (Series)

— The Beginners Guide (Game)

Okay, so hey I’ve fallen in love with one of the Monsters on here. Can I adopt it and name it and feed it and call it mine?

Listen your head-canon is your head-canon but for god’s sake remember that I have to read the fic and you have to write the fic. A curse on both our houses if ever used for PvP combat.

Do you sell NFTs?

No.

Okay…have I thought about it? Yes. Sure. Whatever. But I don’t sell NFTs. No “legitimate” NFTs of my work exists. If you see it, it’s fake.

I’ve told myself there’s only one way I’d use an NFT or Ethereum — if someone would like to “legally” adopt one of my OC critters. I would literally draw up the novelty adoption papers. That sounds like so much fun.

Conclusion

Thanks for hanging out and reading my words. This kind of came to an abrupt end, didn’t it? Yeah, pacing isn’t something I’m good at yet. But am I not deserving of love, simply as one voice amongst the many spiritual echoes singing the tune of our grand eternal choir of life? Am I not worthy of perhaps a little treat?