#simply just blasting it in my car for my entire commute

[omniumgaytherum]

[seungminotes]

Brighten My Day / Han Jisung

Word Count: 4.2K (I am so sorry)

Genre: Jisung x Reader, highschool au ft. brother!hyunjin

Warnings: Female reader 

a/n: I never meant for this to get so long but I was in the middle of writing it when Closer came out and it just filled me with so much love for Han Jisung I couldn’t resist. I hope you enjoy and as always feel free to leave feedback and constructive criticism! Love ya. Reposted because it wasn’t showing up in the tags ):

Moving from a big city to a small suburban town in the middle of your last year of high school was less than ideal for you. The city always seemed so alive, buzzing with busy people, all on their own commutes. You found affinity with it, always liking the view of the observer. 

But now, what was there to observe? 

This new town was so small and insignificant compared to the place you really called home. Conversely, your twin brother Hyunjin fit right in, he loved it. In his eyes what wasn’t there to like? No traffic on the way to school, no bustling street noises throughout the night, but most importantly, a close knit high school soccer team he grew to love. 

The more you thought of it, Hyunjin always found no problem fitting into the setting, he was just straight up vibing. With this specific sudden change though, you’d never really seen him so happy. You wished you could relate.

-

“Hurry up, I’ll wait in the car,” Hyunjin was, as always, rushing to get to school early for a team meeting, lugging his huge sports bag across this shoulder.

“Why are you always in such a rush,” you complain, there wasn’t one day you could peacefully eat your cereal at the kitchen table before school. 

“Just want to get there early to catch up with the team,” he picked up your own spoon and took a mouthful of cereal into his own mouth as he hurried out the door. Nothing that out of the ordinary. 

“You guys hung out like two days ago,” you murmur, but he doesn’t hear you.

“Don’t make me leave you,” the front door clashes shut. 

“You can’t make me walk!”

-

That was meant as a joke. Unfortunately Hyunjin took advantage of it and promptly left you. Walking wasn’t so bad. The weather was just a bit too chilly for uniform and you’d much rather be sitting shotgun in your dad’s warm old minivan chatting to your brother, that’s all. 

Walking only gave you a chance to see just how boring this town was, there were no busy people to watch, or traffic to marvel, the streets were completely barren except for the skittering fallen leaves of autumn. Nothing much to look at, your walk was unbelievably boring. 

Deciding to look through your Instagram feed instead, your pace slowed, (not that it mattered; you were an hour early and a fifteen minute walk away from school). 

Suddenly, the sound skittering leaves was drowned by the crushing of them underneath hurried steps, but just as you neared the direction they came from ... BAM. 

A very messy- haired Han Jisung had collided with you head on, not having seen you approaching on the sidewalk as he ran through the passage of the two cars in his own driveway. 

“Shit,” he called out, as you both fell to the ground at the impact. 

Surprised you also yelped, as your phone flew out of your hand onto the side of the street. 

A second of recomposure was needed before either of you realized what happened. But as soon as Jisung caught sight of the surprised pair of eyes staring at his messy state, his hands flew to his head to fix his hair. Not the most effective reaction, but quite funny to you. 

“Sorry, should have watched where I was going,” he hurriedly stood up, reaching his arms down to lift you up, which you gladly took.

“Thanks,” you responded, giving him the slightest smile.

 It was only when you had stood and turned to pick up your phone, that Jisung recognized the familiar face he just knocked down. 

“Wait, aren’t you Hyunjin’s sister?” A question not that unfamiliar to you recently.

“Yep,” you tersely responded.

“Is your phone okay,” he inquired again. 

“Yeah it’s all good, no worries,” you flashed a polite smile and nod of your head as you adjusted your bag and carried on walking. 

Unbeknownst to you, this polite smile was all it took for Han Jisung’s heart to be placed entirely in your hands. 

“Wait up,” he casually moved into step with you. 

“Doesn’t Hyunjin drive to school?” He questioned. You were starting to think he only spoke in questions.

“Yeah,” you simply stated.

“So… why are you walking,” more questions.

“Oh, he left me this morning,” you lightly laughed at the memory. 

Stop being cute, you’re gonna make Jisung explode. 

“I wouldn’t leave you,” he winked, keeping the butterflies fluttering in his stomach in check.

“You did not just say that,” you practically cringed, yet laughed at his bold joke. 

He reciprocated the laughing, flashing a bright gummy smile your way. 

That kinda hurt, you thought. 

Here was a boy you only knew capable of kicking a ball around a field, kicking your up an eruption of butterflies in your own stomach. 

Just then a familiar tune blasted from Jisung’s back pocket, slightly startling him and cutting your laughs short. But once he sees your brother’s name on the screen of his phone, he suddenly remembers the reason he was in a hurry in the first place. 

His face drops as he looks at the time and realizes he’s nearing late for the soccer team’s meeting. 

“Shit” he mutters again, you think it may be a favorite word of his. 

“I have to go, but maybe I see you around more often?” He fixes his wisps of hair sticking out from his head again. 

“Sure,” you watched the boy scurry away hurriedly to the end of the street before he suddenly turned in your direction. 

“By the way, I’m Jisung!” He yells, waving his arm above his head. 

“I know!” You call out, waving back, a pleasant smile on your face. One that Jisung can make out even standing so far away. 

You watch him turn around to round the corner and disappear in the direction of your school. Taking a look once more at the dull setting around you, you began to make out more color and warmth from the bare surrounding. 

-

At school, nothing interesting really happened, as expected of a huge boring high school in a small boring town. You didn’t see your brother until lunch, where he normally checked up on you before making his way to his soccer friends. They all typically sat at one table, some even just standing around, across the courtyard from where you usually sat. They were undoubtedly very popular amongst girls that flocked every once in while around them.

It reminded you of the similar sports hierarchy at your old school, though you had to admit these guys seemed like a real team. 

Hyunjin was part of your old school’s soccer team too, and even a different competing team outside of school, and though he always fit right into any setting, he would never initiate hanging out with his teammates, or get excited for a team meeting before school, or even called any of them the way he has since moving here. The thought that he’d found somewhere he truly enjoyed warmed your heart, but once again you really wished you could relate.

Today Hyunjin approached you at your usual lunch spot right outside the library across the courtyard. Only, it wasn’t just Hyunjin today. He was followed by three of the boys you had recognized from his team. One of them being the slightly messy boy you had run into this morning. Jisung was undoubtedly the smallest among them, almost hidden behind your lanky brother. The other two were Felix and Seungmin. 

“Here, loser,” Hyunjin dropped you a snack on the table as usual. Today it was a bright green apple with a peanut butter cup. 

“Thank you, my lovely twin,” you greeted. 

The other boys peeked at you from behind him, waiting to be introduced. Your nerves slightly flustered at the sight of their impatient eyes staring at you.

“Y/n, these are some guys from the team, they wanted to be ‘formally introduced’ to my twin, I think you know them from practice though.” Your brother had definitely been nagged to do this, you could tell from the bored tone of his voice and the slight sigh he breathed. 

The boys on the other hand, all greeted you excitedly and waved, coming out from behind your brother.

“Jisung said you were pretty,” Felix blurted, earning him a smack on the side of the head from Jisung.

“I mean he wasn’t wrong,” Seungmin commented. 

“You guys, shut up,” Jisung pleaded in a hushed voice you could still clearly catch.

“Guess I’m pretty cute too then huh, guys,” Hyunjin interjected.

“Narcissist,” you whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear, a smile on your face from teasing your brother.

“Whatever, you’re going to my practice today right, mom said I can’t make you walk after school,” 

“But I can walk before school?” Your eyes narrowed at his words.

“Please don’t tell her about that either,” he pleaded, eyes feigning sorry. 

“Yes sir, “ you salute. 

“Whatever, nerd,” he immediately regains composure, ruffling over your hair slightly before turning.

Hyunjin and his friends made their way back towards their usual table as you watched them playfully nudge Jisung around. Once they situated themselves to eat, you found yourself occasionally glancing in their direction, noting the puff of Jisung’s cheeks as he ate his lunch. He was quite cute himself, you noted. 

Just as if he had heard your thoughts, Jisung’s gaze lifted to meet yours and his natural instinct was to send a nice, cringeworthy wink your way, cheeks still puffed from the food held within them. You couldn't help but blush.

Perhaps this town wasn’t as uninteresting as you thought. 

-

Last period seemed to drag on for an abnormally long time. So much so that you were actually excited to meet you brother by the entrance of your class once the bell rang. 

He doesn’t greet you as warmly though, in fact he looks straight up annoyed, which is unusual for your caring brother. You’re low-key scared to ask what’s wrong though. He must have left class early to be at your door so soon and already dressed for practice.  

Once you two are out the building’s entrance, he finally breaks the tense silence. 

“Are you into Jisung,” he seriously questions.  

“What? No, what makes you say that, I literally met him this morning?” 

The question was sudden and way too unexpected whilst you secretly thought of the squirrel cheeks you’d cooed over at lunch that day.

“He just seems keen about you, I wouldn’t want you to break his heart and have it awkward between us.” His grip on his sports bag became ever so tighter, he looks dead serious with his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

The thought was odd. Why would your brother think Jisung was going to end up the one with the broken heart? And anyway… you had just met Jisung too! Why was he bringing up breaking hearts in the first place?

But you had soon realized, Hyunjin was taking precautions. Back in the place you once had both called home, you had harshly rejected one of Hyunjin’s closer teammates, almost splitting up the whole team from a bitter grudge they held afterwards. But that guy was dick and so were most of Hyunjin’s old teammates anyway. Here the people were different, you felt, even if that meant more dull. But Jisung was much more interesting than that lame guy. 

“I didn’t mean to break Changbin’s heart, I didn’t even think he had one, and anyway he was an ass, I did you a favor ruining your friendship” you air quote the word friendship because let’s face it, was it even that?

“You kinda did, didn’t you?” Hyunjin admits, his face contorting at the memory. 

He felt heavy remembering his old teammates, sure they weren’t ever that close especially after that altercation with you, but they held that notion of a team in his heart and he thought that his new, much closer, team would some day have to compete against them made him slightly uncomfortable. 

“And you have nothing to worry about, Jisung seems pretty brazen, if anything, he might break my heart,” you halfheartedly joke. 

Your brother isn’t too sure he’d like that either, but laughs anyway. 

The atmosphere is a lot less tense than it was before, you don’t feel like you’re going to be scolded by your sibling anymore.

-

Normally you wouldn’t stay for his practice, opting to wander around the rather big school or hang out in the library. It may have been a small town, but there was literally only this school so it kinda had to be big. 

But today was different, once reaching the field you didn’t say farewell to your brother and went your own way, you actively went to the bleachers, choosing instead to sit on the closest stands and watch. 

The boys’ soccer practice was a lot more intense than you had remembered it being when Hyunjin first tried out. You assumed it had to do with the season kicking in soon and the guys’ strive to win their very first match. Hyunjin had mentioned it was sort of a good luck charm here to win your first match for a good season. 

You couldn’t help but follow the jersey numbered 14 across the green field, the way his energy seemed undepletable throughout the entire practice was pretty striking to you. Jisung soon caught your unwavering gaze on him though, shooting you a dramatic wave of his arm and loud calling of your name. This was unfortunately followed by the shouts of his own teammates to focus 

“Han Jisung! How are we supposed to win if you’re so distracted!” 

The boy’s face goes slightly red, yet he still has the confidence (and audacity) to wink your way once again before snapping back into the game.

Only slightly embarrassing you thought, looking around you to see the gaze of other players and onlookers directly on you. You quickly fished out your phone from your pocket, with no intention of staring at Han Jisung again, it was like he could feel your eyes on him, how could he always catch you?  

-

Once practice had ended and the guys had gone to change into some comfortable clothes, you decided to head down and wait for Hyunjin by the car, knowing he would take his sweet time talking to his teammates afterwards as usual.

You hadn't been waiting for a couple of minutes when the sound of approaching footsteps crunching on dried leaves shifted your attention to the parking lot entrance. Hoping to see your brother hadn’t taken his usual half hour for a post-practice conversation, you were only slightly disappointed in the notion you wouldn’t be going home anytime soon as you instead saw a rather conflicted Han Jisung walking down the concrete path towards the parking lot entrance. 

Jisung’s mind was clouded, he really didn’t even know what he was going to say to you at that moment. Maybe an apology, he considered. He had knocked you down that morning and just 

slightly embarrassed you at practice. You wouldn’t expect Han Jisung of all people to hold so much consideration for others’ feelings. He didn’t seem the type, looking rather oblivious sometimes, but in reality that boy questioned every move he made. Though, unfortunately that thought process was reserved for after he made every move. So now, heading towards the school’s parking lot, where he had seen you heading just before the team left for the locker room, and where he was planning to just discretely pass by and greet you a goodbye, he really had no idea what he was planning on saying to you for the three seconds he planned on walking by you. 

He had changed in seconds and quickly wiped the sweat dripping from his face with a towel before rushing out of the locker room with some lame excuse about having too much homework, the same homework he usually does thirty minutes before the class it’s due for, before lightly skipping and then slowly treading to the parking lot entrance. 

But as soon as he looked up from his fiddling hands to see your eyes once again on him, he was suddenly motivated to speak to you, no matter what it was about. He could’ve straight up just asked about the weather and been content with whatever you had to say about it. Though he would’ve probably slumped his head against the front door of his house afterwards if he really had approached you just to ask for your thoughts on the weather. 

Luckily he wasn’t the one to initiate the conversation afterall, you promptly waved to his approaching figure first, triggering the fluttering butterflies in both your stomachs. 

“Hey, Jisung,” you greeted, again with your soft, polite smile that made Jisung jelly. 

Keep cool, Jisung, he thought, he already made quite the fool out of himself enough times today. 

He nodded his head in your direction at your greeting, slightly adjusting the bag on his shoulder, and making sure to brush his hand through his messy hair before reaching you, yet not hiding the wide gummy grin that adorned his face. 

“Are you heading home already?” You question the boy as he is nearing you. 

“Huh, oh, yeah, have to catch up on some homework tonight,” he answered, once he snapped out of his slight daze, keeping his excuse consistent. 

“Oh, well do you mind if I maybe walk you home? It’s on the way for me anyway,” you suggest. You may or not be giddy at the thought of walking home with him, but it was better than waiting 45 minutes for your brother.

“Aren’t you waiting for Hyunjin?” he questioned, boy does this guy love questions. 

“He takes forever after practice, plus this way I won’t be walking alone and neither would you,” you trail off, hoping that was enough explanation.

“Alright then,” he surprisingly didn’t take too much convincing. 

You quickly shot your brother a short text that you’d be walking home, but not alone. Choosing to ignore his returning message asking about Jisung, you link a friendly arm with Jisung’s as you both slowly walk towards the exit.

You didn't know what to expect walking home from school with the same boy that had knocked the life out of you that very morning. It probably should have been awkward, you thought, but it surprisingly wasn’t, Jisung was a natural at talking, and by talking you meant joking. He seemed to radiate a sense of humor that could have you laughing by the slightest of comments.

After what seemed like just seconds to you, you two had already reached Jisung’s driveway, to be fair the walk was quite short anyway.

“Good luck with your ‘tons’ homework,” you rolled your eyes, this walk had made you much more comfortable talking less politely to him. He just tsked at your teasing. 

“Will you be okay walking alone?” his eyes grew wide in realization he’d be leaving you to walk alone.

“It’s just a few minutes from here, Jisung, I’ll be fine,” you insisted, nodding your head. 

“In that case, I’ll walk you there, shouldn’t take too long anyway, right?” He was slightly hoping you wouldn’t protest much, he didn’t have many excuses he could pull off the top of his head

“Only if it’s not a burden,” Luckily you didn’t take much convincing either, you were whipped. 

“Never,” he soon joined you again, quickly walking into step with you. Only now the pace was significantly slower and the conversation had been interrupted by your abrupt stop at his driveway, leaving a comfortable silence Jisung was dying to break. 

“So what’s the big city like, city-girl? Did you hate it as much as your brother seems to?” His favorite medium of conversation, questions.

“Hyunjin really hated it huh,” you reminisce, you guess Hyunjin must've talked to the guys about your old school, his old team, and the cons of the city. He wasn’t too fond of the place, but it slightly shocked you that Jisung had chosen to bring that up. People in this new town only ever asked if you liked it here, never what it was like where you came from.

“I wish I hated it just as much as he did, to be honest,” you confess, with a deep sigh. Despite the lack of the question that you had always wanted to be asked since moving, you really rather not be moping over your woes of homesickness at the moment. 

“What do you mean?” Jising worries he may have asked the wrong question, he didn’t mean to get you all sad about missing your hometown.

“It was just a lot more lively and colorful, I guess, there’s really not much to do around here ,” You look around at the vacant view of the street, until you meet the less lively eyes of the boy beside you, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed at having put down the town Jisung has most probably lived in for most of his life as dull and boring. 

“I think you’d like it, once you get used to it, it may not be as bright as the city, but it’s got to feel warmer at least,” he sighed. He sounded slightly disappointed in the notion that you didn’t like the place he called home, though he probably shouldn’t have been, he would probably hate the place you called home too. 

“I like brighter places,” you sighed. The conversation’s tone had shifted drastically from before. Just moments ago you were laughing your lungs off and giggling at the jokes coming from the jubilant boy’s mouth. And now you were sadly reminiscing in the joys of the city, whilst Jisung tried  opening your heart to the dullness of the suburbs. 

“I’ll make it bright for you then,” he said, though it sounded like another one of his cheesy lines that would make you cringe, he sounded adamant and serious about it.

“What?” You let out a nervous laugh at his serious tone, turning to face him and catching sight of his already bright eyes and shy smile. 

“I’ll be the brightness of this dull town so you can like it more than the city,” he explained, waving his arms in town with his words, as if it was simple to understand. 

“Han Jisung, stop being silly,” you punched his arm.

The rest of the short walk ended in silence, but a quite comfortable silence, consisting of Jisung wondering how he was going to brighten your day tomorrow and of you realizing your best friend in this new town you’d been in for nearly three months was a boy you’d just met that morning.

 Soon enough you had reached your own driveway, though at first you hadn’t noticed and continued walking absentmindedly, luckily Jisung had recognized the house from when the guys would carpool to places and stopped before you both could pass by it without noticing. He clinged onto your elbow, dragging you backwards. 

“Still don’t know your new address?” He teased. You looked up, catching the gleam in his eyes, but quickly shifted your gaze onto your house that you in fact nearly completely walked by. 

“I was just thinking,” You shook off the hold he still had on your arm.

“Thanks for walking me home, Jisung,” you expressed your gratitude walking up the front steps onto your porch, Jisung following.

“Anytime,” he smiled.

There was the first awkward silence you’d experienced with him. Do you go in now? Why were you still standing there, you weren’t even talking. Should you wait for him to walk off before going in? 

“I should get going now, I think,” Jisung was the first to break the silence, his voice small, as he made his way to turn around, you could only slightly waved in response.

“Wait!” You didn’t know what had possessed you in that given moment to take a chance you would normally NOT take at all, but something in the crisp wind that struck in the very moment you had finally turned to unlock the door, the wind that shook the fallen leaves off the street into a whirlwind of autumn debris, had prompted you to feel the need to do what you were just about to do. 

As Jisung unexpectedly turned back around, you planted a quick, chaste kiss upon his soft, puffy cheek you had admired just earlier that afternoon, earning the eruption of a gummy smile on the boy’s lost for words face. 

“Wh- What was that for?” he coughed, still stunned by your actions as he held up a hand to the place your lips had just touched. 

“You brightened my day.” ~

HONNNKKK 

Hyunjin had unexpectedly pulled up in your driveway just in time to see you last minute farewell to his teammate, and leaving him utterly disgusted and you two promptly embarrassed. He was never really home this early, but after receiving no response as to who you were walking home with, he made the effort to cut the chit-chat short in the locker room, now wishing he really hadn’t as he cringed at the two bright-faced, most probably soon-to-be-lovers on the front porch.

[linernotesandseasons]

My 19 Favorite Albums of 2019

       2019 is coming to a close. The entire decade is coming to a close. This list has been an increasingly comforting exercise the last few years. I guess this will be the eighth annual version of the linernotesandseasons favorite albums of the year list! Crazy how time passes. So here are the collections of songs that I used to mark my personal time & space this year. The lyrics that I learned by heart & sang out in dark & dirty rock clubs. I also made a spotify playlist with two songs from each album if you’re interested in listening along as you read. 

This year most of my writing focuses on when & why I fell in love with a specific album. Sometimes the history is important, building a base or connecting some threads, so when relevant, I have also included my history with when I fell in love with a specific artist. And finally, as has become more important to my music chasing brain in the last few years, why this artist or album is important to music right now. What they’re doing to leave a mark on the world, in whatever small space or way.

So without any further ado, here it is, in no particular order (unless you’re particularly knowledgable or fond of the english alphabet) my 19 (well actually 20 cuz freaking Big Thief put out two!) favorite albums of 2019. It’s been a pleasure.

BETTER OBLIVION COMMUNITY CENTER   /   Better Oblivion Community Center

    Spring 2019 in Denver was cold & breezy, sunny & exciting. I had spun the Phoebe Bridgers/Conor Oberst match-made-in-indie-emo-sad-folk-heaven record once through, but in late March I made a game time (like I bought a day-of ticket off stubhub at 6pm!) decision to drive down from work and see their show at the Gothic on South Broadway. I’d been up since 7am the night (morning?) before, watching opening day baseball live from Japan (on March 20th?!). Ichiro’s final game and I was feeling maybe a little emotionally fragile already. But anyway… Better Oblivion Community Center’s live show (they call them meetings) has all the potential to come off as cheesy or contrived. A recorded voice welcomes you, self-help-cult style, and invites you to “celebrate sound & light” & “travel the well worn pathways,” because “we are one.” A mystical backdrop gives a hint of what you’re in for (I didn’t know what I was in for...) with letters at the top reading “It will end in tears.” The band is brilliant, loose, & fun. They play all the songs. They play “Lua,” “Bad Blood,” & “Easy/Lucky/Free” from the endlessly varied Bright Eyes catalog. They turn Phoebe’s “Funeral” into a punk blast. They cover The Replacements! They wear shades and sing a song from lawn chairs! The show feels effortlessly cool and I feel like I’m part of something special again. Music has a way of doing that.

The record is perfectly equal parts Phoebe & Conor. From the opening lines, where Phoebe takes control with “my telephone it doesn’t have a camera” sounding for all the world like a gloriously mopey “Smoke Signals Vol. 2″ to the way Oberst sings the first lines of ethereal closer “Dominoes” sounding 100% like Cassadaga-era Bright Eyes. If you know & love either, you should know the other now. Phoebe carries a torch from early 2000′s emo with a sad-at-heart, genius songwriting style that emphasizes pinpoint autobiographical lyrics, a cutting, (even humorous at times) wit, and a teenage, feminist, internet, millennial heart. Oberst for his part has kept up a steady output since Bright Eyes, and (at least lyrically) doesn’t seemed to have cheered up much. Better Oblivion Community Center’s self titled debut feels fresh & catchy. While there is definitely an aching sadness in the duo’s songwriting, light hearted moments abound, and the writing often points to getting older, all hard work & growth. There is the bouncing outro to “Sleepwalkin’” where their voices rise in unison singing “Acting insane, playing it safe, I wasn’t sold on that plan anyways. Feeling afraid of making a change.” Or in the bright, rolling verses of “My City” where they go looking for “little moments of purpose.” But the one song I kept going back to; the one I recorded to cassette tape and played on almost every drive home from work at 4am through April & May, is the bittersweet closer “Dominoes.” Ironically, this one is a Taylor Hollingsworth cover (I think that’s him adding the random, spooky voice overs) but Conor takes the lead on vocals, singing a mostly lonely, hopeless tale, until the last verse when Phoebe cuts in. She’s “carpooling to kingdom come, into the wild purgatory.” Encouraging us to “Experience a magic rainbow, all you gotta’ do is follow. & if you’re not feeling ready… There’s always tomorrow.”

    “The world will not remember when we’re old & tired / We’ll be blowing on the embers of a little fire…”

BIG THIEF   /   U.F.O.F. & Two Hands

       2019 was the year that I finally finally got really really into Big Thief. A band’s band known for their live show (I still have yet to see them live) their following seems equal parts cult-y and universal. How a band that sounds the way they do, made it almost to the top of the indie-rock world is an exciting & inviting mystery.

This year, for me, the catalyst was “Cattails.” Released at the beginning of April, this song struck me and stuck with me, making its way onto almost every mix I made last Spring, Summer, & Fall (including this one for my Mom!) A real song of the year contender (& my #1 most listened to song of 2019 on spotify!), “Cattails” is a melodic, driving, beautiful tune, that finds singer & front person Adrienne Lenker marking Time (”riding that train in late June”) & Space (”going back home to the great lakes”) with grace & depth. There is a sacredness & mysticism tied up in a lot of Lenker’s writing and she refers to her writing experience with “Cattails” saying…

“It was one of those electric, multicolored waves of connectivity just sweeping through my body. I stayed up late finishing the song and the next morning was stomping around playing it over & over again. We thought why not just record it … & when James and I were playing it felt like a little portal in the fabric had opened and we were just flying. Listening back to it makes me cry sometimes.”

In truth, U.F.O.F. (the last f stands for “friend,” a way of humanizing the foreign) is a gorgeous record. Soft & gentle, full of songs about the constant tussle between things known & unknown. A real headphones-on-an-airplane record. And then, out of nowhere, Big Thief announced that they had a second (!) record on the way in the Fall. A dirt & earth twin for U.F.O.F., a special surprise gift for their burgeoning fan base. They announced Two Hands with the vicious single “Not,” a song very unlike “Cattails.” A brooding, ravenous rock song that made me remember why I love unhinged, well-written, unafraid rock & roll music. Another song of the year contender. If you’ve followed this blog the last few months, my well thought out comments to “Not” were “ohhhhhhhhhhhhh shit” & “oh my holy shit.” to the live version! But it was actually the second track on Two Hands that solidified Big Thief’s greatness for me. “Forgotten Eyes” is sonically similar to “Cattails” and rides the same effortless rhythm, driven by Lenker’s repeating guitar riff and James Krivchenia’s consistently impressive drumming. The riff seems to fall in & out magically, and the writing bookends “Cattails” with lyrics that speak to both a great pain & a great universal truth. While she wanders through homelessness & death, Lenker reflects beautifully on the life cycle we (& our planet, & maybe everything?) are all going through.

    “Forgotten dance is the one left at birth / Forgotten plants in the fossils of earth / & they’ve long passed but they are no less the dirt / Of the common soil keeping us dry & warm / The wound has no direction / Everybody needs a home & deserves protection…”

BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT   /   At the Party With My Brown Friends

    After finding Black Belt Eagle Scout’s debut album late last year, I soundtracked many a dusk, dawn, or midnight drive with her swirling vocals & entrancing guitar, usually in the cold & dark, through the early part of 2019. It made my 2018 favorites list, and her Larimer Lounge show in May was a highlight. I guess it makes sense then, that I didn’t truly fall for her sophomore album At the Party With My Brown Friends (released in August) until it got cold in November and I was able to take it out for some dark, snowy drives. Moody & serious at times, Black Belt Eagle Scout sounds every bit like the gray Pacific Northwest where front person Katherine Paul (KP) hails from. The lyrics are simple, repeating phrases, full of deep, important ideas. Family & friends. People & land. There are bursts of guitar coming out of rewarding slow builds, shredd-y, rhythmic, & melodic. Also, all the instruments on ATPWMBF are played by KP, and the drumming is fucking fantastic.

I have some sort of longer form writing building somewhere in the back of my mind about listening to music in cars, and both Black Belt Eagle Scout albums are perfect examples for that. I have always loved the feeling of having roads (highways or simply long straight dirt back roads) & music to listen to. In high school, we would sometimes get in the car simply to drive & listen to music (small town life ya know?) and I still relish any chance I get to take new (or old & long loved) songs & albums on road trips or just commutes around town. The time to sit with the songs, to focus on nothing but the words & melodies, instruments & voices, & the pull of the road, mystical & magical. Black Belt Eagle Scout’s songs have been a calming companion on a lot of drives over the last year, and I recommend you taking them out on a spin of your own. Drive to that coffee shop that’s 30 minutes away that you’ve been wanting to go to, drive out of town just to drive, alone with your thoughts & the road. You just might learn something about yourself.

    “& I wake up / I love you / Screaming loudly / Screaming softly too / Am I here? / My heart dreams…”

BON IVER   /   i,i

    Bon Iver is a long time favorite and if you’ve followed this blog at all, you know how much I love his albums and how much Justin Vernon’s Eaux Claires festival has helped shaped my musical timeline. Seeing 22, A Million (the record that precedes i,i) live in Wisconsin by the river for the first time, was something special. That record made my 2016 favorites list, but until this year, until i,i, my story of the music felt very insular. Special & secret for me, confined to very specific times & places. Only to make me feel certain things. It’s why I was hesitant to buy a ticket to see the Red Rocks show last September. Or why I questioned streaming the album early while I was on vacation in Holden Beach, North Carolina. I thought the songs were only meant to carry me back to the river, back to Wisconsin, back to the Summer. Back to a very specific, special place in my heart. But thanks to the wonders of spotify, and the Bon Iver crew just up and releasing the album a week early under the simple & generous guise of “wanting folks to have the album & learn the songs before the tour!!” I obliged and… YESSSS that’s how you do an album release in 2019! I had the album in my headphones as I ran and sweated on the beach in North Carolina, letting brand new songs transport me thousands of miles away.

i,i is a gloriously weird, perfected mess of a hit indie record. It’s everything I wanted the next chapter of the Bon Iver story to be. It feels personal & widescreen. Little moments stretched out and shared with family & friends. Lyrics about growth & hard work & life (& a few WTFs, it’s Bon Iver after all!) The gang’s all here again (the massive crew that worked on the album are all pictured on the record’s gloriously, weird inside gatefold!) recorded from Vernon’s home (April) base in Wisconsin, to Sonic Ranch in west Texas (also pictured in the liner notes) walking distance from our southern border. The sounds are all here again too. There are hints of For Emma’s Winter falsetto folk in the gorgeous acoustic guitar of “Marion.” There are the industrial swells & stomps, bleeps & bloops of bi, bi’s Spring in the warbling, green grass, warmth of “Holyfields.” Then there is the distortion, the choppy samples of 22, in the jigsaw glory of “iMi,” the way it starts & stops, all choruses & voices, real & programmed. Threads of new songs tied up with threads from long, long ago. There is a fullness to i,i, a generosity, a true front to back album, with hits & new favorites sprinkled everywhere. The second half blooms with the charging folk of “Salem” & “Faith” and the contentedness of closer “RABi.” These are songs that I will love for years to come. These songs make me happy. They make me think. They make me want to share them with friends. They make me want to work on relationships. Songs about life. Songs about true, unconditional friendship. As Justin said way back in 2015, when my journey with the Bon Iver story began “The story is history, nothing more. Only the music can rise anew. & it is gone as soon as it is sung. & so we sing again…” I am soo soo happy to sing again, with songs anew.

    “Living in a lonesome way / Had me looking other ways / Cuz I am lost here again / But on a bright Fall morning I’m with it / I stood a little within it…”

EARTHGANG   /   Mirrorland

      EARTHGANG’s major label debut Mirrorland comes in hot & dancing, a hip hop duo with a true tribute to Southern culture, and a whole world encapsulated in 14 tracks. My personal introduction to the EARTHGANG universe, came courtesy of a dusk till dark dance fest at Denver’s Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway back in sweaty July. Their energy was infectious, their stories hilarious, & their songs stuck in my head. Specifically the Young Thug featuring “Proud Of U,” a song that carries enthusiasm & positivity through to the end. Other standouts include colorful, bouncing opener “LaLa Challenge,” & the squealing horns of Atlanta hot spot, name dropping “Wings.” A concept album of sorts Mirrorland references “The Wiz” as a jumping off point saying,

“We thought about how, if we’re going to make a project sonically to rival The Wiz, we got to create another world for people to imagine & go to. You know when Dorothy got swept away and she met the Munchkins? That was such a beautiful thing. You could see Quincy Jones on the piano, just playing away. It’s really colorful. It’s really dangerous. It’s really trippy. It’s literally Freaknik Atlanta in the summertime—folks riding around in cars with big rims with paint on their faces.”

EARTHGANG was formed in 2008 by high school buddies Johnny Venus & Doctur Doc in Atlanta, GA.  It’s impossible to ignore Outkast comparisons and for their part, EARTHGANG does their best to keep up the Southern hip hop tradition. Mixing in bits of soul, blues, & jazz, Mirrorland plays like an homage, a soundtrack to the South. A real reminder that the album is not dead. These songs sound best played together. Also, that the hip hop group, or duo, is not dead. And finally, that touring and playing live shows is most definitely not dead. I probably still wouldn’t have heard about EARTHGANG if it wasn’t for their primo UMS slot (at the same Import Mechanics stage where Leikeli47 & Kiltro played!) and infectiously positive live show. Speaking of their live show, see y’all at Cervantes on February 3!

      “One time, one time for your baby moms / Two time for the hand in the candy jar / Holy Ghost showed up in my favorite thong / Three times in the car for the way we are / Another white man scared, another black man dead / Another rich man war, another red man bled / I been writing this album down way too long / When I drop my shit, pray it hit the toilet like lala, lalalalala...”

FRUIT BATS   /   Gold Past Life

    In the Autumn of 2013, my coworker Cassandra Disney at Mile High Organics played me “When You Love Somebody” by Fruit Bats (had that song already been out for 10 years in 2013?!) on one of her early morning work mixes, and I immediately put it on one of my favorite (if embarrassingly bro-folk heavy) mixes I have ever made myself. Discovering a weird/cool indie band in the vein of all my other loves (Band of Horses, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc…) but more underground (!) was hipster heaven. I subsequently forgot about Fruit Bats for awhile, but was reminded with their graceful “comeback” album Absolute Loser in 2016. Although that one missed my favorites list, it gradually became a constant road trip companion; from the mountains of Colorado, through the great American Southwest, and even on some epic Mexican back roads. All alt-country, lost 70′s AM radio classics, and wistful, witty, & wise writing about highways and scenery. A true classic.  

I was therefore super excited for Gold Past Life (Fruit Bats’s seventh album?!) to drop on Merge Records this Summer, and fell in love pretty quickly on a late afternoon drive across the high road between Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico back in late June. Swirling guitar, bouncy piano. and Eric D. Johnson’s piercing, clear, impassioned vocals. Fruit Bats sound timeless & effervescent. Upbeat guitar rock with some weird twists, and Johnson’s consistently bittersweet, humorous, & big hearted lyrics. Growing up, growing older, & grinning a wry smile at a golden world. After catching back to back beautiful Fruit Bats shows in Fort Collins & here in Denver at the Bluebird this September, these folks are the real deal. Long live touring bands, long live seventh albums, long live music marking time & space! Here’s to many more Fruit Bats albums, Gold Past Life will be car stereo classic for awhile.

    “Still waiting around for some mystical shift in the winds / So honey please, don’t go just yet / Cigarette fingers, a shake in the knees / A bit blue, kind of tired, but not broken… Anticipating a magical bend in the road / So hang on, take it slow / Your go bag is packed & your hangover gone / Another dawn at the edge of the known world…”

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER   /   Terms of Surrender

    Durham, North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger (folklorist, family man, & singer-songwriter MC Taylor & revolving crew) have become something of a mainstay on this music blog & in my car’s cd player over the last five years. I picked up a used (!), advance (!) copy of Lateness of Dancers in the $1 bin at a record store in Seattle, Washington. after having been passed a burned copy of his 2010 solo album Bad Debt by an old coworker. Lateness ended up on my 2014 favorites list. Two years later, Heart Like A Levee made my 2016 list, and the next year, Hallelujah Anyhow was one of my favorites of 2017! I referred to the songs on Hallelujah as Hiss “building a repertoire, creating a legacy.” This may seem like quite a bit of superfluous backstory, but believe me, it is essential to the story, a journal of the journey. Geographic art for a topographic heart if you will. But anyway, Terms of Surrender…

The title is cryptic, referencing (as Taylor puts it “what we are prepared to sacrifice in order to live the lives that we think we want”) and the songs are deep (& growing deeper) & timeless. Not so much timeless in the way Yola’s songs sound timeless (skip down a few albums on this list to read about Yola!) but timeless in the way the songs seem to seep their way into my bones and stay for years. Terms burst on the scene with the release of the first single “I Need a Teacher” back in stormy June. With bright, rolling guitar stabs courtesy of The National’s Aaron Dessner (whose upstate New York recording studio was home for the Terms recording sessions), “Teacher” is about “the search for infallible guidance in an ever-changing universe.” but it is also about everyday work. Dedicated every night of the tour to all the teachers in the room, a political statement wrapped up in the seemingly obvious sentiment of “Defend Public Schools.” See what I mean? Timeless songs written for the here & now. “Bright Direction” & “My Wing” are reminiscent of Hallelujah’s “Jenny” & “Darkness.” a 1-2 punch of driving, drifting major key numbers, written from a hillside in Virginia, high on mushrooms. They contain multitudes. With a murky middle (Brad Cook gets funky on “Old Enough to Wonder Why” & “Cat’s Eye Blue”) & the already canonical Hiss’ live fav “Happy Birthday Baby,” the back half of Terms spreads out the Hiss’ sound in new ways. New live favorite, the nostalgic “Down at the Uptown,” had me googling maps of San Francisco to find the mythical Uptown bar where Taylor first heard Patti Smith’s Horses.

In late October, Hiss played an absolutely glorious three night run at little Globe Hall over in Globeville, just Southeast of where Interstate 70 meets Interstate 25. I went to all three shows. The shows were special & career spanning; from “Jesus Shot Me in the Head,” to Dead covers (& a Jesus & Mary Chain cover!) to all the Terms songs.  I spent the Saturday afternoon before show #2, walking around the disappearing & rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in & around Globeville (& drifting across the highway into Sunnyside) listening to Terms of Surrender on my headphones. Thinking about the things I’m willing to sacrifice, thinking about the life I want, what are my Terms? After all, “It’s a real live world & I wanna live in it.”

    “Something drove me crazy / Love had me lazy / Backwards won’t get me to my destination / Move me in some bright direction / Looking to be captured, looking for my freedom / Oh, dreams will come to get you / So careful what you’re wishing / Your family might correct you / Your heart might take a pounding / Make sure you take a picture…”

JUNE JONES   /   Diana

    I can’t remember where I first heard of June Jones, but I’d like to think it was from one of my many Australian music friends (thanks Camp Cope, Julia Jacklin, Middle Kids, Courtney Barnett, Gang of Youths etc…!) The music community is a wonderful thing. June’s songs can be hard to explain, but Diana is an epic album that burns with a steady, stately drama. Most of the songs ride swelling synths and measured, 80’s sounding drums and center around June’s unique, emotive voice and head turning lyrics. Jones had fronted the Australian rock band Two Steps on the Water and written songs on the guitar for many years, but it’s pretty clear from listening to the writing and sound on Diana that these songs were meant for piano, synth, and a solo album. Her own writing. Her own words.

The album begins with the brooding “Rome From Afar” and the opening line “I got drunk again last night & I fell down outside the bathroom at my little sister’s party.” It then follows a dancing bass line into an apocalyptic nightmare of a world ending. “Meryl” is a gorgeous, autobiographical (?) song, an ode to “complicated” hard working women everywhere. There are parts of Diana that nod to it being a break up album, like in the gorgeously melancholic “Boulder Falling Slow” (”I am a boulder falling slow / You’re a magnificent spiderweb”) but I have been viewing it as just a complex, everyday life album. Jones lets her magnificent voice trail slowly over seemingly uncomfortable or awkward topics that she strives to make… not so. Sorry Alex Cameron, your “eating your ass like an oyster” line in “Miami Memory” is only the second best “eating ass” line this year after Jones’ “Look at You Go!” Her voice often belies the emotion in her lyrics, she works it up & down, and lets it stretch out over words, like in lonely closer “Sixteen Horses,” but she also sounds almost matter of fact at times. There is a moment in the piano led “Thorn” where she glibly throws “Have you seen the moon tonight? No, me neither, who cares about the moon when everything is dying?” over an understated horn trill. Everything is dying after all, but I want June Jones to sing it to me like an Australian Lana Del Rey or Matt Berninger. Trust me, you’ll be hearing more about June Jones in the coming years. Watch out.

    “I haven’t thought too much about family / Ain’t got no husband or a couple of kids / I’ve spent 26 years in this office / I said goodbye to my relationships a long time ago / What does the mayor of a small town heart do after she retires?”

JUSTIN PETER KINKEL-SCHUSTER   /   Take Heart, Take Care

     My long time music friend Adam over at songsfortheday had been trying to tell me about Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster for quite a few mixes with songs I loved from his 2016 release Constant Stranger. But it somehow wasn’t until I needed Take Heart, Take Care, that Schuster’s work hit me right. It didn’t feel like a light at the end of the tunnel, but more like a light in the tunnel, something lasting, a collection of songs lifting up & out towards a light. As Schuster wrote upon it’s release…

     “Here, I’ve fumbled my way, as always, and of necessity, into a collection of songs that hold a light to the joys & comforts of life not given up on, those that appear over time as we are looking elsewhere, to surprise & delight us when we need them most. Sure, it’s me, so there are glimpses of and nods to the dark, but the dark is not winning anymore. I simply mean to acknowledge its presence. To me, that’s the most fundamental job of songs, of stories, of all art — to be allies, friends, companions, when we need them most and it’s my hope that these songs can do that work in a world that seems to need it. If you are lucky enough to have something good to say, say it. Please. We’ll thank each other, now & later.”

So i guess it’s that second part that I have found solace in through my 20′s and into my 30′s. That songs (and stories & all art, but songs & albums seem to be my thing) can be allies, friends, & companions, and that sometimes (like Hanif Abdurraqib wrote in his brilliant collection of essays “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us”)…

     “If you believe, as I do, that a blessing is a brief breath to take in that doesn’t taste of whatever is holding you under: say I Speak To God In Public and mean more than just in his house, or mean more than just next to people who might also speak to God in public, or say God and mean whatever has kept you alive when so many other things have failed to.“

Take Heart, Take Care is a straightforward, well written, indie rock album. The songs ring true with light & darkness, an uplifting take on growing older and finding “Plenty Wonder” still to be found in the world. Schuster played the Hi-Dive on South Broadway in November, the last show on the Take Heart tour. A show I had bought tickets for months in advance, and I found myself in a crowd of maybe 15 people, celebrating the songs of Take Heart, Take Care. Listening to a writer with something good to say. Trying all in our own way to hold our own. I have a feeling I’ll keep these songs with me for awhile.

     “Time is the mender / Whose strange mechanics yet untold / Bid us rise entwined together / So take heart, take care / Be true but beware / & honey we need not be scared…”

KARA JACKSON   /   A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart

      In only 10 minutes & 42 seconds, Kara Jackson creates an intimate, magical world with just her voice and a guitar on her debut EP A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart.  Four intricate & intentional songs, none longer than three minutes, finger picked slowly & methodically, Jackson balances a poetic, whimsical wandering with a steely focus on the craft of songwriting. These are the bones of songs, played honest & upfront, with no adornment. There is room for Jackson’s lyrics to really shine, all aching & wistful, yet practical. Like the way she balances “I have a crush, I have an ache” with “I know that love’s just a pain in the ass” in the bittersweet “Crush.” Her songs buzz with a youthful energy & teen angst. Wise beyond their years, finding their way in the world. As a songwriter and a poet, Jackson writes about race, activism, social justice, self, bodies, & humanity.

At 20 (!) years old, Chicago’s Jackson is... oh also a poet. The 2019 National Youth Poet Laureate (!) in fact, and it was her absolutely breathtaking writing about being a teenager that first caught my attention. She quotes Gwendolyn Brooks (pulitzer prize winning American poet) in her Ted Talk saying “write what’s under your nose.” She says that Brooks took the mundane and put it on a pedestal. That she understood there are “poems in train cars, poems on front lawns, & poems in microwaves & tea kettles.” An almost obligation to celebrate the ordinary. Ordinary folks celebrating similar ordinary folks. It’s the way that John Darnielle howls on The Mountain Goats song “Werewolf Gimmick” (track nine on 2015′s Beat the Champ) about “nameless bodies in unremembered rooms.” In his prerelease essay for Merge Records, music writer Joseph Fink wrote that the entire career of The Mountain Goats has been about “giving names to nameless bodies and remembering unremembered rooms.” and what a worthy cause that is. That thought has stuck with me for years and I have always loved the specificity of it. Whether it is Darnielle resurrecting historical characters real or fictional, or the way Lady Lamb (keep reading a few more albums down!) celebrates the specifics of her friends & family, in all the messy details. Written in song, remembered forever. It is also essential that all cultures have artists who look like them and think like them, as the ones doing the remembering.  It’s why it’s so important that Kara Jackson is the one doing the remembering for young black girls. The same way Eve Ewing did for her, and Gwendolyn Brooks did before that. I can appreciate the magic of the remembering, but I need to let them be the ones to tell the stories. Oh, speaking of appreciating, I bugged Jackson enough on social media and got a handmade PHYSICAL copy of the EP that I’m hanging onto forever cuz it’s probably gonna be like the next original pressing of Bon Iver’s For Emma! Thanks Kara!

      “Don’t take my pillowcase, that's my place to be alone / Don’t take my lamp from me, it helps me read about places I don’t know / Don’t take a lot for me to be on my own...”

KILTRO   /   Creatures of Habit

      My end of the year albums list usually has at least one local Denver band. The Lumineers way back in 2012, Gregory Alan Isakov & Covenhoven in 2013, Nathaniel Rateliff, Covenhoven (again!), & The Yawpers in 2015, Nina de Freitas in 2017 (hey Nina & the Hold Tight, new album in 2020 please?!), and Izcalli last year. Kiltro is a part Coloradan, part Chilean folk band that have been putting on one of my favorite live shows around town this year. The brainchild of Chris Bowers-Castillo, a native Coloradan who spent time growing up in Valparaiso, Chile, Kiltro is named after the Spanish word “Quiltro” meaning a mixed breed dog. A dog that Kiltro has taken for their logo. In their own way, Kiltro is a mix breed; both in the way they mix the sounds of South America with the folk music of North America, and also the way they mix organic, acoustic instrumentation, with electronic, looping sounds and effects pedals. Their live show is a masterclass in layers, with Bowers-Castillo adding loops of guitar rhythms (sometimes simply bare hands slapping beats on the top of the guitar) to steady bass & drums, until the songs swell & build into dramatic crescendos and almost EDM-influenced drops. The extended intros & outros are my favorite parts of their songs and the live versions (from their sweaty 2pm UMS dance party, to Lulu’s Downstairs in Manitou Springs) have stirred hearts & feet alike with dancing not usually found in the Colorado “indie-hipster” scene. Keep an eye on these guys and maybe come out to Larimer Lounge in January and witness the dance party for yourself!

      “Somewhere down the bank where the dogs go / Por la calle que te lleva a Curicó / & down the beach, where no others can find / Ni por agua, piso, coche, ni avión...”

LADY LAMB   /   Even in the Tremor

      As I have been writing this year’s favorites list, I’m realizing that so many of the albums I loved & learned, came hand in hand with experiencing the artist, and specifically that new album, live. Lady Lamb released Even in the Tremor, her masterful & moving third album, way back in April, and I had a Spring-y three weeks to learn all her intricate, visceral lyrics to sing back at her Larimer Lounge stop in Denver on the Deep Love tour. Maine by way of Brooklyn’s (by way of a bunch of other places) Aly Spaltro has always written songs for Lady Lamb like her hair’s on fire. Wailing & gasping about blood & guts & death over spiraling electric guitar, there is a realness to her writing that reminds me of the east coast emo I grew up on. But for all the blood red gore & messy heartbreak that colors much of the Lady Lamb discography, there is a light hearted tenderness as well. Tremor has songs written for & about friends, lovers, parents, & god. Quirky opener “Little Flaws” is a first-dance-worthy love song, while personal favorites “Strange Maneuvers” & “Emily” are odes to platonic friendships, mental health, & growing up. In the same way I wrote about Kara Jackson celebrating the ordinary, Lady Lamb has always celebrated specifics of people, time & space. Tremor’s characters are Spaltro’s real life people (Emily, Shervin, Kurt (Kurtie Bear), Isaac, & her Mom), and the places (the diner, the batting cage, Templehof Park, Midtown, Berlin, Montreal, Madrid, a fast food joint, the stage of a church, someplace upstate, Lavanderia & Graham Ave) are specific, varied, & globe spanning. Her stories are autobiographical and rewarding and the music is stirring, singer-songwriter rock & roll with some punch behind it. She is one of my favorite modern writers for her ability to not just tell a story, but to find wonder in the small things and to celebrate the ordinary. Like she tells Shervin, minutes before “Emily” closes the album on a gorgeous, uplifting high note, “No photographic artifact, but here is something better than that.”

      “There’s a picture that I found, my first car in the falling snow / Seems like yesterday I drove down into low tide / & Isaac snapped a polaroid of me pretending I was sinking, pressed against the glass pleading / I misplaced it but I’m looking... / When we are young, if only we could see beyond our fears where we are free / When we are lonely if only we could know that in our stillness we are growing... / All the portraits we collected, while we were running around in the desert / We were trying to seem fulfilled to rewrite our New York City narratives / But Emily we were utterly dejected / We took turns crying on the passenger side of America / Too clouded to be empowered by towering Redwoods... / When did we lose the ancient truths? / Is it what we’re born bending our bodies toward?...”

LIZZO   /   Cuz I Love You

      For much of 2019, Lizzo could be heard playing everywhere. The 31 year old Minnesotan’s third full length album Cuz I Love You, came out in April, after a busy three years of huge singles, consistent touring, & building a repertoire of songs capable of headlining arenas. When Lizzo finally exploded these last few years, it has been fun watching the whole world embrace her uptempo, bold, self-love anthems, and hearing them blaring from open Subaru windows in Cap HIll, from balconies & rooftops in uptown, and on the lips of countless joggers & bikers, loving themselves in the Denver Summer sun. I know for my part, I took Lizzo with me to the beaches of North Carolina & through the Southern mountains of Colorado, dancing, singing, & gleefully giggling along. Bottom line, the songs on Cuz I Love You are FUN! You try not to crack a smile as Lizzo romps through “Never been in love before, what the fuck are fucking feelings yo?” on the bouncing, brassy, vocal led, track one title track MOMENT. Or the way she makes up the word “accessorary” on the spot (“my ass is not an accessorary”) and then fires back with “Yeah, I said it, accessorary!” Lizzo has been an outspoken supporter of our generation’s version of the self-love, body positivity movement, and has put her money (and body) where her mouth is, inspiring legions of teens & twenty somethings to do the same. “Soulmate” is a loner anthem that finds Lizzo belting “True love ain’t something you can buy yourself / True love finally happens when you’re by yourself / So if you by yourself, then go and buy yourself another round from the bottle on the higher shelf.” The soulful slowdown “Jerome” is about being the bigger person and ending a relationship that isn’t working. Lizzo manages to actually address her own issues, focus on the work she needs to do (“I’m trying to be patient & patience takes practice.”) and still absolutely belt a singalong chorus that rhymes Jerome with “take your ass home.” Also, the deluxe version of Cuz I Love You tacks on three previous Lizzo singles that hadn’t found an album home. Those singles? “Boys,” “Truth Hurts,” & “Water Me.” Three songs totaling almost 555 MILLION plays on Spotify. With apologies to Ariana Grande & Billie Eilish (Billie see ya in a few months at the Pepsi Center!) Lizzo is the biggest superstar that I want on this list. And she 100% deserves every bit of it.

      “If I’m shinin’ everybody gonna’ shine...”

ORVILLE PECK   /   pony

      There is an appealing, theatrical quality to the dramatic country songs on Orville Peck’s debut record Pony. I spent my high school years growing up in small town Western Colorado so country music has been embedded in my brain since I was 11. I’ve gone through so many phases of loving it, hating it, loving it ironically, nostalgically, hating it for it’s sound, cheesiness, backwards politics, etc... But with Pony; these are true country songs written by a gay, masked cowboy anti-hero from.. Toronto? Maybe? Who is Orville Peck?!?! It’s like all the best parts of “country” music came together. And the mask? The fringe? All the packaging & theatrics? It makes it fun. Part Bowie, part Coheed & Cambria, part Grace Jones, part Ghost, part Brandon Flowers. Hollywood meets Vegas meets Carson City.

When I listen to Orville Peck’s songs it brings together so many feelings from my youth. From country radio & boxes of old country cds, to the dramatic side of theatre, play acting on a stage, dress-up, halloween, cowboys, loneliness, & the open road. From the tumbleweed roll & mournfully powerful coyote howl of opener “Dead of Night,” to the shoegaze rumble, autumn ride of “Winds Change.” Peck’s lyrics are honest & heartfelt, drawing on sweeping, western imagery, & idolizing the classic country ideal... the cowboy. Music marks time & place and Peck makes sure to reference the cities along his highway songs. Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Carson City, Kansas, a veritable Rand McNally road map of the American West. In the same manner as both Black Belt Eagle Scout albums, Fruit Bats, & Caroline Rose from last year, it wasn’t until a highway drive that I truly fell in love with Pony. It was a brilliant November sunset & still warm, but windy & changing, and we knew we had to hustle to beat the snow back to Denver. Highway 159 from the Southern Colorado border through Costilla County, on the way towards Fort Garland & then Walsenburg. Purple & Orange out the window to my left, Winter on it’s way. Peck’s songs sang with a heartache... a loss. a rhinestone loneliness that country finds a way to revel in. When “Kansas (Remembers Me Now)” statics out like a long lost FM radio. When “Hope to Die” fake ends at 3:30 and instead key change pivots like a washed-up Broadway starlet, shooting her shot on a dusty jukebox. When “Nothing Fades Like the Light” draws its last, peaceful breath, closing Pony like the last light of that November sunset. Thanks Orville, this one’s a classic.

      “Fell in love with a rider / Dirt king, black crown / Six months on a knucklehead hog / I like him best when he's not around / He gets me high, oh, big sky... Fell in love with a boxer / Stayed awake all year / Heartbreak is a warm sensation / When the only feeling that you know is fear / I don't know why, oh, big sky...”

RAPSODY   /   Eve

      Rapsody’s third album Eve is a masterclass on rap music, and the Snow Hill, North Carolina rapper sounds relaxed & loose, while still staying focused & on topic with an album that reads as, as Rapsody herself puts it “a love letter to all black women including myself.” She is at the top of her game right now, and these songs cement Rapsody as one of the premier rappers in an exciting field of rap talent both young & old.  

Each track on the album is dedicated to one of Rapsody’s personal heroes, and I am going to focus these words & my research for Eve (besides listening to it nonstop, which I’m currently doing now!) on those black women. Track one is for Nina Simone (”without Nina there’s no Lauryn Hill, & without Lauryn Hill there’s no Rapsody.”) and features critically important verses about black heritage & culture over Nina’s terrifying & sobering classic “Strange Fruit.” Rapsody is recognizing her legacy and the importance of heritage, but she is clearly claiming her spot in that bloodline. “Cleo” preaches standing up for yourself over a Phil Collins sample (between Cleo & Lucy Dacus, “In the Air Tonight” is getting some serious love this year!) and is named after Queen Latifah’s character in the 1996 movie “Set it Off.” From there Rapsody recognizes artists (Aaliyah), philanthropists (Oprah & Michelle Obama), actresses (Whoopi), athletes (Serena Williams & Ibtihaj Muhammed), writers (Maya Angelou & Reyna Biddy), models (Iman & Tyra Banks), and historical figures & activists (Hatshepsut, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Sojourner Truth, & Afeni Shakur). Bottom line, ALL of these women are essential google material (you’re reading this on your phone or laptop, google and give yourself a five minute refresher if there’s anyone you don’t already know!) While you’re at it, google the lyrics for Eve (and Jamila Woods’ equally incredible, equally name dropping LEGACY! LEGACY!) and listen along. This is an important time capsule document for Rapsody and it’s just a damn good rap album.

      “I am Nina & Roberta, the one you love but ain't heard of / Got my middle finger up like Pac after attempted murder / Failed to kill me, it's still me, woke up singing Shirley Murdock / As we lay these edges down, brown women, we so perfect...”      

SABA LOU   /   Novum Ovum

      When I listen to Saba Lou’s intoxicating sophomore album Novum Ovum, I am transported to somewhere magical & different. Maybe older, maybe out of place & time. Everything about Novum feels… classic. From the dusty, record-store-bin-find look of the out of focus cover photo, to the laidback natural way Saba Lou seems to dance along on top of a rollicking house band lifted from the 70’s. There are elements of surf rock, shoegaze, late night soul, and classic rock & roll on Ovum, but it is all driven by the singular writing & vocals of Saba Lou. In the liner notes of the record, a note can be found, claiming that this album is meant to be from the future. 2286 to be exact! Is a concept album?! Is it actually from the future & delivered to us by a time traveling band of Germans?!! Does it have songs about Star Trek??!! Maybe, mayyyybeee... & YES!

Yet to turn 20 (!), Saba Lou is a German born singer songwriter who has been making & releasing music since she was literally six years old! Novum Ovum is Latin for “the new egg” and features a hot four piece full band, and wonderfully fleshed out songs that bounce and swing with palpable energy. The lyrics span an awesomely wide spectrum from endometriosis pain (the title track obv) to a Star Trek mindmeld tune sung from the perspective of Gracie the pregnant whale (closer “Humpback in Time”)!! All in all, Saba Lou is an absolutely electric songwriter and her youthfulness & fervor are contagious. It’s the reason I love making this list every year, and what makes discovering new music so exciting. Can’t wait for the next one!

      “A brick wall around your placenta / Cut them all off from her mother blood / The hounds call for appassionata / A phoenetic paste for the fetal bud...”

SHARON VAN ETTEN   /   Remind Me Tomorrow

      Over the last few years I started the practice of making a draft favorite albums list in January and adding albums throughout the year, as I fall in love with them. This way I don’t forget the ones I loved in January & February, the ones that got me through the backend of the Winter. I’m able to track my year in music as it develops, a sort of captain’s log. A living, personal journal using music to mark time & space as I sprint my way through another increasingly faster, increasingly chaotic year. Sometimes, scrolling through the list acts as a comfort. “That album only came out this year?! OK, this year isn’t moving too fast, that feels like forevvverrrr ago!” Sometimes it helps to show me how much I’ve grown, how much an album has meant, or has helped with my mental & emotional growth. This year, the very first album I added to that list, the very first album that I fell hard & holy hell in love with... was Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow.

A blast of energy. A weird synthy, pulsing red & blue darkness. Simultaneously club-y & indie rock vibey. Van Etten’s fifth album is supposedly written from a place of contentment. A marriage, a child, a life & happiness discovered. Less desperation, more introspection. I hear in her voice & words, how taking care of yourself, how striving to be your best self, can bring out the most powerful, most emotional art. She also isn’t afraid to let her voice go and I think her vocal performances are what truly take Tomorrow to another level. “Memorial Day” rides a haunting vocal loop & tumbles in nearly wordless, glimmering vowels, all ethereal magnificence. The chorus of the brooding “Jupiter 4″ spirals upwards & then rollercoasters, a late night drunken banger. But at the heart of Remind Me Tomorrow sits one of my songs of the year, one of my songs of the decade, “Seventeen.” I had heard it first live, way back in October 2018 in the rain in the mountains at Red Rocks. I got tipsy & wrote about it the day it came out, January 8, 2019, after a long, cold stretch working the night shift. This album & especially this song will stay with me for a long time. Sharon has taught me to keep working on myself. To look back in fondness. To think about how, with hard work, how much joy & peace & comfort await in my coming years. But she also taught me to lean into emotions. To embrace the ache of memories and the bittersweetness of growing up. Thanks for making this album Sharon.

      “Downtown hotspot, halfway up the street / I used to be free, I used to be 17 / Follow my shadow around your corner / I used to be 17, now you're just like me / Down beneath the ashes & stone / Sure of what I've lived and have known / I see you so uncomfortably alone / I wish I could show you how much you've grown...”

TIM BAKER   /   Forever Overhead

      I have a special feeling tied to the collection of intimate, swirling songs Tim Baker released this year from Canada. Forever Overhead carries a certain small town holiness, recognizable to those who grew up in small towns , but specific to his own personal, north-north-eastern-eastern “small” town, St Johns, in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. Growing up on the farthest coast of the Atlantic on the tippy, tippy point of Canada (seriously google it!), Baker fronted emo band Hey Rosetta! for four albums until striking out this Spring on his own with Arts & Crafts Records. There is a very Springsteen-esque bent to the way he writes about growing up somewhere (as someone) small & wanting to be somewhere very big and exciting. He captures the bittersweetness of growing up so perfectly. From the teenage romantic feelings in swaying opener “Dance” & the rousing “Mirrors,” to the friends & bars & singing found in the melancholic “Spirit” and the absolute hit “All Hands.” The latter is the core of the album, a bright, rhythmic guitar number that builds & swells with voices & instrumentation to a few huge, singalong choruses. A real song of the year contender. Baker isn’t afraid to let the songs go on journeys on Forever Overhead and they rarely finish where they begin. Horns & handclaps burst in at points, celebratory & fearless. The sexual tension of “Strange River” is lightened with a false start and a “sorry. In ‘D’” followed by a belly laugh, before restarting. The light & dark are present throughout Overhead and listening to these songs remind me of growing up. I feel like I’m being given a secret glance into Baker’s youth and the parts that mirror mine make me want to lift my voice in unison with those that understand. Sometimes small collections of well written & well played songs can do that, and to me... it’s sacred. Hopefully I get a chance to visit St Johns someday, and if I do, these songs will be playing as my soundtrack.

      “A boy in bed, all the windows wide / You can hear the hot rods running from the light / From the light, into the dark / That's all I wanted in my cousin's car / To listen to the wind & to the lead guitars / & feel the reckless running of your heart / Now is that gone or does that all remain? / Can I go back and have it all again? / Well now I know it, where I'm going / I'm going back behind the river / I'm going back behind the rain / Cuz no matter where you're heading / You end up where you’ve been...”

YOLA   /   Walk Through Fire

     It’s clear from the first minute & 30 seconds of Yola’s debut full-length Walk Through Fire, that this album is destined to be an all-time classic. She comes in slow & wistful with “wish I knew what you were wishing for...” over a soft wash of cymbals and mournful country-soul guitar. Then one minute in, her voice swells to gigantic proportions, seeming to lift the song right off the page, carried into another stratosphere, timeless & magnetic. That “Faraway Look” in your eyes.

From there, Yola (36 year old Yolanda Quartey from Bristol, England) takes her commanding voice through bluesy, fiddle-led country (”It Ain’t Easier” & the title track), and laid back soul (”Shady Grove” & “Deep Blue Dream”). Personal fav “Ride Out In The Country” became a backroads, summer anthem for me this year on multiple trips through Southern & Western Colorado. Through it all, her voice booms, whispers, & rocks gently, propelling the songs forward with warmth & light. Her lyrics are full of both dreamy memories & work-a-day stories about the challenges of life. It was fun this year to have different friends & family members get into Yola at different times, getting texts like “have you heard of YOLA??!!” Sharing songs, & collections of songs (like the ones on Walk Through Fire) is what makes making this list every year so fun, and I’m always excited to see what new, life-long favorites I will discover. See you in a couple months at the Bluebird Theater on Colfax here in Denver Yola!! Can’t wait!

      “A little shady grove / A memory long ago / A tale too old to know the ending / I gave it all away / It takes my breath away...”

[our-mrs-saku-love]

2020 Genesis G70 2.0T Manual Test Drive: A Dissatisfying End to a Species

It always feels a bit odd to drive a dead car walking—a new car that's still available on dealer lots, but just recently received its official execution date from the automaker. It's different from dealing with a special edition; the very core of a limited run is its ephemerality. But the end of a bloodline whether sudden or scheduled feels melancholic, even if the car isn't that great.

As you probably guessed, the last time this happened to me was during a stint test driving the 2020 Genesis G70 2.0T with the six-speed manual transmission. While spraying the bright blue four-door down at a car wash ahead of a photo shoot, I received a text from a coworker informing me of the three-pedal G70's demise after the 2021 model year, bringing the curtain down on the enthusiast-focused version of the compact executive four-door after just three model years.

2020 Genesis G70 2.0T: Show Me The Money Even to one of the few who did snag a six-speed G70 before the axe came down, this news should hardly come as a shock. Genesis sold fewer than 12,000 G70s in 2019, and has sold only 5,275 units as of July 2020, illustrating just how small a slice of the segment the G70 managed to carve, especially when compared to the 47,827 3 Series models BMW sold in 2019—and those numbers are for all G70s (and 3 Series variants), not just those bought with a manual transmission.

But BMW isn't selling manuals in this segment, either—the German automaker nixed the manual 3 Series from its lineup with the introduction of the G20-generation for 2019. If BMW can't justify a manual 3 Series due to disappointing sales, what do you reckon the take rate is for the G70 with the 6MT?

In all likelihood, the figures are abysmal. Now, if you want to pick up a new premium sedan with three-pedals, your options are…well, shoot. There aren't any more options. Turns out, the G70 was the last to the party, and the last to leave. Don't think you can find shelter in the warm embrace of a well-equipped six-speed Honda Accord either; production of the shift-it-yourself Accord halted back in December of last year, and no one noticed until Honda publicly announced the death knell for the manual Accord, along with the demise of the Civic Coupe and cheeky Fit.

So, not only was I driving a zombie car, but it was the last gasp of an endangered species that used to be multitudes. At least it went out with a bang, right? Surely there's consolation in the fact I could declare the six-speed G70 criminally underrated and press most of the blame on the shoulders of a driving public more interested in their phones than the journey.

2020 Genesis G70 2.0T: Mixed Signals It is with a heavy heart I report the manual-equipped, rear-wheel drive sports sedan winks out with peaky power, a deceptively numb clutch, rev hang, and a dull shifter. Had I not received news of the stick-shift G70's demise, my advice to interested parties is that they don't bother; just pick up the 2.0T with the mostly inoffensive, though only average eight-speed automatic transmission, or make the financial jump to the potent 3.3-liter twin-turbo V-6 G70 3.3T, which is—of course—only available with an automatic transmission.

Before we dive into what makes the six-speed G70 disappointing, let's take a second to appreciate the G70's merits outside of the rubbery stick protruding from the center console, lest you think the car is simply a sum of its parts. As we've discovered with every other configuration of the G70, Genesis developed quite the sports sedan here, with excellent balance and overtly handsome aesthetics that would be a welcome sight coming from any brand. It's well designed, well equipped, comfortable  both to drive and to ride in, and if you spring for the 3.3-liter twin-turbo V-6, a potent contender for the pedestal spot occupied by the BMW 340i and Audi S4.

Overall, it's a tidy car that's a valid alternative to anything else in the ultra-competitive luxury compact executive sedan segment. We liked the G70 when it launched for 2018, and I'm sure we're going to have plenty to praise when the refresh arrives in 2022. But by then, the G70 will have shed the one significant feature that set it apart from the crowd, and will be left as a less funky, more driver-oriented complement to the Lexus IS and, perhaps, the upcoming Acura TLX.

2020 Genesis G70 2.0T: What To Expect For now, you've got one-and-a-half model years to pick up the 2.0T with three pedals, if you so desire. The turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder is rated at a stout 252 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, conceivably compelling figures for something with both a manual transmission and rear-wheel drive. Even Genesis realizes this should be alluring for an enthusiast, so checking the box for the stick also forcibly checks the box for the G70's Sport trim, adding a limited slip differential, Brembo brakes, and summer tires to the mix.

This is all excellent news, right up until you take it out for your first on-ramp blast. I don't know how Genesis managed to make 252 horsepower and 260 pound-feet feel like a nice, round 200 in each category, but based on my test drive, it feels significantly down on torque from a dig. Instrumented testing from our buds over at Motor Trend revealed the G70 2.0T with the six-speed manual transmission takes an astounding 7.2 seconds from 0-60 mph. I'm not usually one to call something that can do the deed in less than 8.5 seconds "slow," but essentially the premium leaders in the segment—BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz—typically handle that scramble in less than six seconds.

2020 Genesis G70 2.0T: Slower Than Expected There's significant turbo lag from the 2.0-liter four-cylinder, and when the impeller does get with the program, it's not revelatory or thrilling; even during full-throttle pulls, it never feels anything short of a steady, relatively slow climb. According to Genesis, peak power arrives at 6,200 rpm—no surprise there—but all 260 pound-feet are apparently on tap from 1,400 rpm through 4,000 rpm. Could have fooled me—there isn't much happening until the needle swings to the middle of the tach.

It's not as if it's much fun poking the engine through the range, either. The manual G70 has obnoxiously dull initial throttle tip-in, which, when combined with a vague clutch and apparent lack of low-down torque, leads to more-than-should-be-necessary clutch slip, herky-jerky starts, outright stalls, or a combination of all three.

Of course, operator error is always a potential part of the equation, but a quick seat-swap with a coworker confirmed at least the throttle tuning wasn't my imagination. Things get a little better in the Sport driving mode, but not so much that it fixes the dead zone entirely. Meanwhile, the shifter feels like something from a non-performance Elantra, which is not to say it's egregiously cheap or clumsy, but it doesn't really match the G70's premium/luxury intentions, especially with somewhat rubbery engagement and a plastic-topped knob.

Again, this hurts to write. I like the Genesis G70 a great deal, especially in 3.3T form. It's a fantastic little sports sedan for the money, and if I were in the market for a professional-appearing daily commuter, it would be near the top of the list. It's just such a shame the less-than-stellar stickshift G70 is the one to shut the door on the manual rear-wheel drive sport sedan species in the U.S.

2020 Genesis G70 2.0T Sport Manual Fast Facts The last rear-wheel drive premium sports sedan offered with a stick in the U.S. To be discontinued after 2021 model year Powerful and torquey on paper, but doesn't feel like it on the road A great car let down by a not-great manual transmission แทงบอลออนไลน์

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[batterymonster2021]

The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

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The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

Howdy everybody that is adam meister the bitcoin meister the disrupt meister welcome to the one bitcoin exhibit at present is February the tenth 2019 powerful hand offended by selling worth your wealth in Bitcoin unconfident lengthy present considering i’m now not going anyplace private responsibility is a new counterculture okay all people verify out the hyperlinks below verify out Saturday’s show link to beneath and of course the this weekend Bitcoin show which you can assess that out at Tech ball comm te CH blt that’s also my twitter manage and disrupt meister comm Lorien and Sarah and Chris had been on the show and he received pretty wild there a pair times again so uh examine it out I simply was at the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv tonight and i ran into Sarah there and we have been talking about the show and some other individuals were speaking in regards to the show there and energetic Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv there have been two different americans showed up there one was from Baltimore and an additional guy was from Virginia so it was it was once cool to have some fellow american citizens from the East Coast there tonight and it can be continually a blast 7:00 p.M.On Sundays at the Tel Aviv bitcoin embassy and yeah i’ll be in Tel Aviv except March the twelfth so i will meet some more individuals and we will have some more fun discussions so let’s talk a few pleasant tweet via meteor transfer mob but Moretz brother I feel he’s howdy Bitcoin self selects for folks with low time choice long awareness span commitment authenticity endurance persistence ability to focal point ability to go in opposition to the mainstream Bitcoin good capability to head towards the mainstream Bitcoin is a marathon not a sprint dude that was amazing tweet it has linked to below that’s all in regards to the furrow of gratification yet bitcoins self-selects this variety of persons the entire other humans get weeded out through years like 2018 and 2019 yeah it is a weed out here hope you aren’t getting weeded out have a strong hand folks pound that like button it is a marathon it’s no longer a dash dude okay so Arjun has he fantastic tweet Amazon’s founder used to be extorted for mood graphics when dishonest on his wife bitcoins anonymous founder can never be extorted long Bitcoin quick the Bezos this can be a quality factor I’ve tried to say many other occasions with comparing Bitcoin to the alt cash in the market their more than a few founders will also be extorted howdy they tried to extort the richest man in the world they can attempt to extort some dude that observed that some altcoin they can extort a guy who possibly dead and no one is aware of who he is Satoshi Nakamoto and no he is no longer that you just well yeah if you believe he is the man that style of was introduced up on Friday’s show no yeah we talked about that tonight the Bitcoin embassy additionally all correct continuing what is that this here Oh Pierrot shard now we’re gonna talk about billionaires when you consider that there’s been quite a lot of billionaires to begin a bad rap nowadays from all these sociopaths politicians and all these blamers and scapegoat errs trying to blame every body of their issues on billionaires the billionaire’s are going to strike back okay and it can generally support Bitcoin in a long term and support us holders support these are the bus who’re jealous and hateful of billionaires who would like to be millionaires attempt to be a billionaire nothing incorrect with aiming high however once more quite a lot of individuals would instead be victims and purpose excessive okay so Pierrot shards tweet let’s get to this thing billionaires are rapidly realizing that it is time to rotate out of asset which is able to without difficulty be plundered by way of the populist mob into an asset which is much so much tougher to seize bitcoins it son confiscate Abel dude for those who manipulate your confidential key but yeah yeah the billionaire is their financial institution money owed and perhaps in the future they may be a regulation if you are a billionaire we are able to take forty% of your financial institution account at any time when we need to well we are not able to then all of them get the Bitcoin and i am sure this used to be a serious warning call for a couple of of them probably a few of them are establishing to investigate some American billionaires particularly if they may be wise they usually by no means looked within the Bitcoin now now could be the time to watching into it dude personal accountability is the new counterculture mr.Billionaire Matt O’Dell on on the same theme right here easiest way to pump Bitcoin is to tell the world’s billionaires do you wish to have to take their money yeah yeah possibly it’ll pump it fairly I imply in the event that they to wake up to the fact that that truly uh specified american citizens with some energy or some political power need to take take your money perhaps they are going to wake up and Matt Odell also used to be quoted as saying and i’ve this in my title at present Bitcoin is wealth coverage there you go billionaires Bitcoin is your wealth insurance I was speakme with my mom on the telephone left on the mobile over the laptop final night time she stated that she was within the vehicle and he or she used to be he was once enjoying around the radio and he or she went on the satellite tv for pc radio that is still in the car she canceled the satellite radio due to the fact that she does now not hear satellite radio they usually certainly refunded her the money and all however it hasn’t became off you anyway she our stern was on it supposedly on the Howard Stern exhibit no longer can someone affirm this she inspiration she heard noticed a visitor say that Bitcoin was hacked they were however they have been speaking about the quadriga a Canadian hat however they’d all of it blended up and idea that Bitcoin had been hacked did any individual hear that once more this is you realize this type of enjoyable it can be easy to spread and it’s a number of piss is true she she did not fully grasp what she heard then yeah quite a few persons heard this and a lot of people get to it’s it’s unfortunate it can be unfortunate people is not going to do their own study and it seems that the Howard Stern exhibit would not both it researched a lot of different things anyway so I said that that is Jameson lop but did any individual and depart the comments in the event you have been being attentive to Howard Stern or heard about this on account that he is wellknown if a variety of humans pressure it to work oh god the commutes i am so glad i do not need to do that pound that like button however quite a lot of you might be caught commuting hours a day and you’ve got obtained satellite radio I mean take heed to Howard Stern so have you heard it out on them so dope this is from lop Jamie stated he mentioned Satoshi round desk five was fun and informative listed below are read right here is here is a recap of the discussions I had on topics similar to lightning community privateness side chain secure hardware mnemonics heed phrases security tokens and grin that’s linked to beneath individuals I don’t read the entire factor i know numerous people spaz out once they hear about Satoshi he’s round table to believe it is a conspiracy if any one can meet and have meetings about Bitcoin there may be there isn’t any some there is no longer it can be no longer something Elita kaback cabal that controls bitcoin each person I imply so many people just wish to blame all the problems with quite a lot of elite cabal’s they make up and that is one in every of them recognize that they can have a assembly it is their trade who they invite in the event that they invite lingham and so they invite whoever it is their matters they are able to do anything they want to do we will have meetings – you wanna have a assembly invite me to your meeting we’ll have a roundtable a bang on a gavel bang a gong Marc Bolan t-rex investigate them out satisfactory band he was an innovator of music pound that like button okay i might also tonight on the at me Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv I used to be speakme to a guy who i suppose brokers Bitcoin purchases I didn’t even get into how he acquired it what he exactly was once talking about but he says he is aware of he knows that the important financial institution has purchased some Bitcoin in view that he was once involved in the deal to play the it used to be it wasn’t as an investment per se it was to mess around with it but valuable and he understood used to be I stated him you recognize that that’s particularly significant information if that’s true considering if different significant banks find out then each the entire central bank’s credit score file purchase it and the price will run up and he acquired that and he mentioned they they they but they would had been doing it for like funding lengthy-time period funding purposes however they definitely purchased some to play around with hello man i’m simply relaying what I heard tonight i know hi there it is gonna happen eventually how about that how about that we comprehend it’s gonna occur eventually does this guy have some insight I mean he used to be lovely well so that you suppose a valuable financial institution purchased bitcoins i know a imperative bank Bitcoin it is going to occur one day it’s going to occur whoa and you’ll be comfortable that you just bought before a relevant bank announced that they purchased Bitcoin uh I I got a random email I I document on random emails I get from individuals seeking to steal Bitcoin from me simply you understand fake coinbase emails fake more than a few exchanges matters i have nothing to do with however I got an electronic mail from B hex the B hex crypto dividend promoting it so i guess they may be spamming individuals I have no idea how they got my e mail tackle however and once more it wasn’t an e mail handle of mine it’s in that that public it can be not the one that’s linked to beneath this if you are incidentally in the notes part under I do have my e-mail handle humans get harassed typically it is now not that one is in one more one the B hex people are i guess they may be emailing quite a lot of folks that is that is one method to get your the phrase out in opposition to about your crypto dividend again in the event you get it totally free you get it at no cost and then you turning the more Bitcoin by using I mean no no complaints right here however I did not both how the heck did like an electronic mail about this man very well utterly offline Bitcoin transactions there is an article about this if you’re fascinated about that for those who you understand you reside in some faraway village and you must do some utterly offline Bitcoin transaction there may be the article for you under speakme about crypt of dividends the core limbo coin there we’re getting again there’s going to be an airdrop of nimble Wimble coin in on what you’re gonna be equipped to register on April the twentieth it’s what’s it MW C dot MW anyway their Twitter account is linked to beneath on the grounds that they had to get a new Twitter account the normal one obtained bought tousled by means of Twitter just I do not know they’d some issues so now the true member wynnmalone crypto dividend Twitter account is M underscore W underscore coin it is linked to below if you want to check that out once more if you wish to have updates on that stuff we’re gonna you know for those who sign up for this air drop and i am signed up for it you’ll be able to get this these MWC cash you could sell for Bitcoin great and once more minimal Wimble is the flavor of the month once more it is within the core Wimble is utilized by a new quantity of coins by wolf by using the longer term MWC coin via beam and by means of uh with a grin so everybody’s speakme about even at Satoshi’s roundtable or whatever they’re speaking about it so it can be a flavor of the month and who knows what is going to happen to this crypto dividend that we will get totally free by means of being Bitcoin holders and i like when Bitcoin holders are rewarded with crypto dividends you comprehend it can pay the entire pound that like by means of nut like button you realize tonight I was talking to a guy we’re talking about be cash he is like yeah I did not get any be cash my Bitcoin was once in an trade when that occurs oops again manage your own personal key humans towards em Easter all proper he’s acquired some tweets available in the market speculation strong privacy on the first layer makes a blockchain extra at risk of attacks that expanded token supply that’s an interesting hypothesis are you speakme about Z money are you suggesting that massive not have privateness on the first layer and create a second layer resolution for privacy we will see all correct Jordan Easter also has a particularly you recognize he’s talking some gold right here however he was a golden holder again in the day he went from gold to Bitcoin however he is no longer just like the usual like 60-yr old gold and holder who used to be like i love get gold now i like Bitcoin used to be this a new variant of both however here he says a 15-pound gold nugget which is beautiful heavy is to the whole gold deliver what zero.92 Bitcoin is to the complete Bitcoin provide so once more the title of this suggests the one Bitcoin exhibit so in the event you got your one bitcoins it’s like you recognize evaluating it to 15 kilos of gold it sounds beautiful good to me Val your wealth a Bitcoin though but which you could evaluate it to gold and then he is got an additional very interesting evaluation and it is in a chart it’s linked to under he says I calculated the Bitcoin circulating supply equivalent of primary bank gold reserves ok so he and the USA presently has 5 point two four percentage of the intellect deliver of gold in existence within the principal financial institution that’s quite a few gold 5 point two four percentage and that’s the an identical 5 factor two 4 percent of 17 million Bitcoin is – is nine hundred eighteen thousand Bitcoin so for those who look at it that method comparing bitcoins of gold that method that they if the if the USA desired to have a 5 point two four percentage of the Bitcoin deliver they’d have to purchase nine hundred and eighteen thousand Bitcoin which I think they would do however that used to be surely uh that may uh that will increase the fee in phrases of fiat quite somewhat one identify but should you if you’re in the Bitcoin if you are into his future you’re going to must consider that these significant banks will want to have equivalent percentages of a Bitcoin as they do of the complete gold supply I imply that’s wonderful stuff for you appear at that chart look at that chart and spot how much each would every country and again you know I united states of america is the top of the chart it has the most gold of the critical banks supposedly however still there’s some other significant numbers on there too how so much Bitcoin they they would need to have the identical in terms of the percentage of gold that they possess in Bitcoin anyway pound that like button bang that Bell button click on those squares if you are looking at this tape i am adam meister the bitcoinmeister the disrupt meister consider to subscribe this channel like this view share this video investigate out the hyperlinks below and day after today our the show perhaps a little bit later i will the ramon crater in the wilderness in israel thanks to 2 bitcoin fans who watch this exhibit and who are tremendous dudes so thanks so much guys i’m looking ahead to putting out with you within the wilderness the next day after which we are going to have a exhibit later on it’s going to be late at night time right here in israel so see you within the chat now guys bye

[airoasis]

The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

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The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

Howdy everybody that is adam meister the bitcoin meister the disrupt meister welcome to the one bitcoin exhibit at present is February the tenth 2019 powerful hand offended by selling worth your wealth in Bitcoin unconfident lengthy present considering i’m now not going anyplace private responsibility is a new counterculture okay all people verify out the hyperlinks below verify out Saturday’s show link to beneath and of course the this weekend Bitcoin show which you can assess that out at Tech ball comm te CH blt that’s also my twitter manage and disrupt meister comm Lorien and Sarah and Chris had been on the show and he received pretty wild there a pair times again so uh examine it out I simply was at the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv tonight and i ran into Sarah there and we have been talking about the show and some other individuals were speaking in regards to the show there and energetic Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv there have been two different americans showed up there one was from Baltimore and an additional guy was from Virginia so it was it was once cool to have some fellow american citizens from the East Coast there tonight and it can be continually a blast 7:00 p.M.On Sundays at the Tel Aviv bitcoin embassy and yeah i’ll be in Tel Aviv except March the twelfth so i will meet some more individuals and we will have some more fun discussions so let’s talk a few pleasant tweet via meteor transfer mob but Moretz brother I feel he’s howdy Bitcoin self selects for folks with low time choice long awareness span commitment authenticity endurance persistence ability to focal point ability to go in opposition to the mainstream Bitcoin good capability to head towards the mainstream Bitcoin is a marathon not a sprint dude that was amazing tweet it has linked to below that’s all in regards to the furrow of gratification yet bitcoins self-selects this variety of persons the entire other humans get weeded out through years like 2018 and 2019 yeah it is a weed out here hope you aren’t getting weeded out have a strong hand folks pound that like button it is a marathon it’s no longer a dash dude okay so Arjun has he fantastic tweet Amazon’s founder used to be extorted for mood graphics when dishonest on his wife bitcoins anonymous founder can never be extorted long Bitcoin quick the Bezos this can be a quality factor I’ve tried to say many other occasions with comparing Bitcoin to the alt cash in the market their more than a few founders will also be extorted howdy they tried to extort the richest man in the world they can attempt to extort some dude that observed that some altcoin they can extort a guy who possibly dead and no one is aware of who he is Satoshi Nakamoto and no he is no longer that you just well yeah if you believe he is the man that style of was introduced up on Friday’s show no yeah we talked about that tonight the Bitcoin embassy additionally all correct continuing what is that this here Oh Pierrot shard now we’re gonna talk about billionaires when you consider that there’s been quite a lot of billionaires to begin a bad rap nowadays from all these sociopaths politicians and all these blamers and scapegoat errs trying to blame every body of their issues on billionaires the billionaire’s are going to strike back okay and it can generally support Bitcoin in a long term and support us holders support these are the bus who’re jealous and hateful of billionaires who would like to be millionaires attempt to be a billionaire nothing incorrect with aiming high however once more quite a lot of individuals would instead be victims and purpose excessive okay so Pierrot shards tweet let’s get to this thing billionaires are rapidly realizing that it is time to rotate out of asset which is able to without difficulty be plundered by way of the populist mob into an asset which is much so much tougher to seize bitcoins it son confiscate Abel dude for those who manipulate your confidential key but yeah yeah the billionaire is their financial institution money owed and perhaps in the future they may be a regulation if you are a billionaire we are able to take forty% of your financial institution account at any time when we need to well we are not able to then all of them get the Bitcoin and i am sure this used to be a serious warning call for a couple of of them probably a few of them are establishing to investigate some American billionaires particularly if they may be wise they usually by no means looked within the Bitcoin now now could be the time to watching into it dude personal accountability is the new counterculture mr.Billionaire Matt O’Dell on on the same theme right here easiest way to pump Bitcoin is to tell the world’s billionaires do you wish to have to take their money yeah yeah possibly it’ll pump it fairly I imply in the event that they to wake up to the fact that that truly uh specified american citizens with some energy or some political power need to take take your money perhaps they are going to wake up and Matt Odell also used to be quoted as saying and i’ve this in my title at present Bitcoin is wealth coverage there you go billionaires Bitcoin is your wealth insurance I was speakme with my mom on the telephone left on the mobile over the laptop final night time she stated that she was within the vehicle and he or she used to be he was once enjoying around the radio and he or she went on the satellite tv for pc radio that is still in the car she canceled the satellite radio due to the fact that she does now not hear satellite radio they usually certainly refunded her the money and all however it hasn’t became off you anyway she our stern was on it supposedly on the Howard Stern exhibit no longer can someone affirm this she inspiration she heard noticed a visitor say that Bitcoin was hacked they were however they have been speaking about the quadriga a Canadian hat however they’d all of it blended up and idea that Bitcoin had been hacked did any individual hear that once more this is you realize this type of enjoyable it can be easy to spread and it’s a number of piss is true she she did not fully grasp what she heard then yeah quite a few persons heard this and a lot of people get to it’s it’s unfortunate it can be unfortunate people is not going to do their own study and it seems that the Howard Stern exhibit would not both it researched a lot of different things anyway so I said that that is Jameson lop but did any individual and depart the comments in the event you have been being attentive to Howard Stern or heard about this on account that he is wellknown if a variety of humans pressure it to work oh god the commutes i am so glad i do not need to do that pound that like button however quite a lot of you might be caught commuting hours a day and you’ve got obtained satellite radio I mean take heed to Howard Stern so have you heard it out on them so dope this is from lop Jamie stated he mentioned Satoshi round desk five was fun and informative listed below are read right here is here is a recap of the discussions I had on topics similar to lightning community privateness side chain secure hardware mnemonics heed phrases security tokens and grin that’s linked to beneath individuals I don’t read the entire factor i know numerous people spaz out once they hear about Satoshi he’s round table to believe it is a conspiracy if any one can meet and have meetings about Bitcoin there may be there isn’t any some there is no longer it can be no longer something Elita kaback cabal that controls bitcoin each person I imply so many people just wish to blame all the problems with quite a lot of elite cabal’s they make up and that is one in every of them recognize that they can have a assembly it is their trade who they invite in the event that they invite lingham and so they invite whoever it is their matters they are able to do anything they want to do we will have meetings – you wanna have a assembly invite me to your meeting we’ll have a roundtable a bang on a gavel bang a gong Marc Bolan t-rex investigate them out satisfactory band he was an innovator of music pound that like button okay i might also tonight on the at me Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv I used to be speakme to a guy who i suppose brokers Bitcoin purchases I didn’t even get into how he acquired it what he exactly was once talking about but he says he is aware of he knows that the important financial institution has purchased some Bitcoin in view that he was once involved in the deal to play the it used to be it wasn’t as an investment per se it was to mess around with it but valuable and he understood used to be I stated him you recognize that that’s particularly significant information if that’s true considering if different significant banks find out then each the entire central bank’s credit score file purchase it and the price will run up and he acquired that and he mentioned they they they but they would had been doing it for like funding lengthy-time period funding purposes however they definitely purchased some to play around with hello man i’m simply relaying what I heard tonight i know hi there it is gonna happen eventually how about that how about that we comprehend it’s gonna occur eventually does this guy have some insight I mean he used to be lovely well so that you suppose a valuable financial institution purchased bitcoins i know a imperative bank Bitcoin it is going to occur one day it’s going to occur whoa and you’ll be comfortable that you just bought before a relevant bank announced that they purchased Bitcoin uh I I got a random email I I document on random emails I get from individuals seeking to steal Bitcoin from me simply you understand fake coinbase emails fake more than a few exchanges matters i have nothing to do with however I got an electronic mail from B hex the B hex crypto dividend promoting it so i guess they may be spamming individuals I have no idea how they got my e mail tackle however and once more it wasn’t an e mail handle of mine it’s in that that public it can be not the one that’s linked to beneath this if you are incidentally in the notes part under I do have my e-mail handle humans get harassed typically it is now not that one is in one more one the B hex people are i guess they may be emailing quite a lot of folks that is that is one method to get your the phrase out in opposition to about your crypto dividend again in the event you get it totally free you get it at no cost and then you turning the more Bitcoin by using I mean no no complaints right here however I did not both how the heck did like an electronic mail about this man very well utterly offline Bitcoin transactions there is an article about this if you’re fascinated about that for those who you understand you reside in some faraway village and you must do some utterly offline Bitcoin transaction there may be the article for you under speakme about crypt of dividends the core limbo coin there we’re getting again there’s going to be an airdrop of nimble Wimble coin in on what you’re gonna be equipped to register on April the twentieth it’s what’s it MW C dot MW anyway their Twitter account is linked to beneath on the grounds that they had to get a new Twitter account the normal one obtained bought tousled by means of Twitter just I do not know they’d some issues so now the true member wynnmalone crypto dividend Twitter account is M underscore W underscore coin it is linked to below if you want to check that out once more if you wish to have updates on that stuff we’re gonna you know for those who sign up for this air drop and i am signed up for it you’ll be able to get this these MWC cash you could sell for Bitcoin great and once more minimal Wimble is the flavor of the month once more it is within the core Wimble is utilized by a new quantity of coins by wolf by using the longer term MWC coin via beam and by means of uh with a grin so everybody’s speakme about even at Satoshi’s roundtable or whatever they’re speaking about it so it can be a flavor of the month and who knows what is going to happen to this crypto dividend that we will get totally free by means of being Bitcoin holders and i like when Bitcoin holders are rewarded with crypto dividends you comprehend it can pay the entire pound that like by means of nut like button you realize tonight I was talking to a guy we’re talking about be cash he is like yeah I did not get any be cash my Bitcoin was once in an trade when that occurs oops again manage your own personal key humans towards em Easter all proper he’s acquired some tweets available in the market speculation strong privacy on the first layer makes a blockchain extra at risk of attacks that expanded token supply that’s an interesting hypothesis are you speakme about Z money are you suggesting that massive not have privateness on the first layer and create a second layer resolution for privacy we will see all correct Jordan Easter also has a particularly you recognize he’s talking some gold right here however he was a golden holder again in the day he went from gold to Bitcoin however he is no longer just like the usual like 60-yr old gold and holder who used to be like i love get gold now i like Bitcoin used to be this a new variant of both however here he says a 15-pound gold nugget which is beautiful heavy is to the whole gold deliver what zero.92 Bitcoin is to the complete Bitcoin provide so once more the title of this suggests the one Bitcoin exhibit so in the event you got your one bitcoins it’s like you recognize evaluating it to 15 kilos of gold it sounds beautiful good to me Val your wealth a Bitcoin though but which you could evaluate it to gold and then he is got an additional very interesting evaluation and it is in a chart it’s linked to under he says I calculated the Bitcoin circulating supply equivalent of primary bank gold reserves ok so he and the USA presently has 5 point two four percentage of the intellect deliver of gold in existence within the principal financial institution that’s quite a few gold 5 point two four percentage and that’s the an identical 5 factor two 4 percent of 17 million Bitcoin is – is nine hundred eighteen thousand Bitcoin so for those who look at it that method comparing bitcoins of gold that method that they if the if the USA desired to have a 5 point two four percentage of the Bitcoin deliver they’d have to purchase nine hundred and eighteen thousand Bitcoin which I think they would do however that used to be surely uh that may uh that will increase the fee in phrases of fiat quite somewhat one identify but should you if you’re in the Bitcoin if you are into his future you’re going to must consider that these significant banks will want to have equivalent percentages of a Bitcoin as they do of the complete gold supply I imply that’s wonderful stuff for you appear at that chart look at that chart and spot how much each would every country and again you know I united states of america is the top of the chart it has the most gold of the critical banks supposedly however still there’s some other significant numbers on there too how so much Bitcoin they they would need to have the identical in terms of the percentage of gold that they possess in Bitcoin anyway pound that like button bang that Bell button click on those squares if you are looking at this tape i am adam meister the bitcoinmeister the disrupt meister consider to subscribe this channel like this view share this video investigate out the hyperlinks below and day after today our the show perhaps a little bit later i will the ramon crater in the wilderness in israel thanks to 2 bitcoin fans who watch this exhibit and who are tremendous dudes so thanks so much guys i’m looking ahead to putting out with you within the wilderness the next day after which we are going to have a exhibit later on it’s going to be late at night time right here in israel so see you within the chat now guys bye

[wildflower8281]

Bike Life Deep Dive

Recap

I’ve been living the bike life now for almost a year and a half here in downtown Phoenix. After a small fender that busted up my beloved Max (Ford Taurus, very old, no AC, leaking roof, but helpful!) I decided to let him go, and with him, all the trappings of car ownership. For a trial run. I said I would try out the #bikelife for 3-6 months and see how I like it, see how or if I could adjust my lifestyle to it, and whether or not the bike life was overall something of true value for me, both internally and financially.

In my initial #bikelife post last year (Adventures in Not Owning A Car,) I enumerate the various financial benefits and reasons why the bike life was, for me personally, economically savvy. It has still most definitely proven so and I’ve adjusted even more to the lifestyle, having since made further changes and routines that create an easier flow for me. I continue to confess that I know that living this lifestyle is a privilege! I deliberately chose a home close to where I work and I have zero dependents, and my Aunt Barb has lent me her bike indefinitely as long as I live in Arizona (Thanks, Aunt Barb!) Also, for what it’s worth, I am very much an introverted homebody, so I’m not someone who is or constantly needs to be out and about. Thus, relying on Lyft for occasional trips is very within my budget. Also, since most of my social plans are with family or friends and happen relatively close to me, I gratefully take up their offers on rides and happily return the favor with coffee or drinks or gas money. Thus, this entire situation it’s not a life circumstance that most people are in and I know that. I am grateful for this season in my life when I can live this way and in this post, I want to explore and reflect beyond just the financial benefits, because the #bikelife has in many ways enriched my entire experience of the world.

The Nature Connect

The bike life connects me to the natural world. I used to think that Phoenix had pleasant weather pretty much year ‘round….until I began biking in it!!! While Phoenix may not “have weather” frequently, when it does, this place doesn’t mess around! If it’s not pleasant and sunny (which, honestly, it is like 80% of the year,) then it’s either extremely hot and dry reaching temps over 100 for weeks at a time, pouring monsoon-like storms or we are having the coldest winter since 2013! Phoenix doesn’t mess and when it actually allows weather into the Valley, it is always something extreme. But this is actually a positive point here! I have grown to love biking in the all the weathers! I am actually really proud to say that I bike to work in all the seasons here! I bike to work in the Arizona summers, and I bike on the mornings when it’s under 40! If you would have told me two years ago, that I would be biking to my job in under 40 degree weather, and enjoying it, I would not have believed you. But, I actually do enjoy it. Even for this girl who despises being cold generally, the Aliveness I feel each day I get to go outside, feel the weather and experience the Elements on my skin far outweighs any uncomfortable moments of cold hands in January or radiating heat on my neck during July. Biking brings me into the natural world each day, kind of whether I like it or not, and that daily dose of weather, even when it is extreme, is good medicine for my entire being! Its my few minutes of feeling the sun on my face or the rush of the cold. Many times it is the only 30 minutes I am outside on any given day. On some days when I’m just tired of packing my bag, putting on my helmet and going thru the routine, ultimately it’s the connect with nature in Her seasons that pull me through and never really let me down. I arrive to work refreshed and in a better mood, pretty much never fail! (Yes, I have my limits too: for monsoons and over 115 degrees, I use Lyft or call a neighbor, but that is literally under 10x a year!)

(Photo: Me in my usual bike get-up on a cold day, going home. Cred: Mirinda, also seen in reflection, encouraging as always!)

Less Stress

Biking also kind of just simplifies the commute. I have 2 choices each day: bike or walk. Both are relatively simple and low maintenance transportation styles. This season, I *may have* chuckled as I rode by various folks standing by their cars, waiting for them to heat up and melt the frost on their windshield.... 

In the summer, I ride by parked cars that are humming, as they build up their AC inside, so the owner doesn’t suffocate at 125 degrees upon entrance. In the 10 minutes it takes them to cool down their car, then sit in traffic, I’m having a peaceful bike ride, enjoying nature and arriving at the same time! It’s pretty fantastic most days! I ride by folks with flat tires, fenders, and cars that seem like they probably shouldn’t be cars anymore! I also know the awesome feeling of driving a car without AC here in the desert summer, as well as one that has an ironically leaking roof. In the desert, where one would not think much about rain problems or that a leaky roof would be an issue, it totally sucks during monsoon season! I feel the human with car troubles, believe me! I’ve had them too! However, these are all situations I have left behind and can very simply pedal by and be grateful that I don’t have to deal with or worry about them. Not owning a car just makes the daily commute a lot simpler!

(Photo: Unsplash)

Moving Meditation

I’ve learned I prefer the slower pace of biking and walking to work much more than driving. When I bike or walk to work, once I’m out of my neighborhood, I’m on some major streets where cars are whizzing by in their AC or heated seats, with radio blasting, trying to make it thru the ‘orange’ light! That was me for most of my former driving life, so no judgement here. I was a car owner from age 17-35, so I love a good car dance and I will never turn down heated seats! However, biking and walking are organically a much slower pace. They cause me to notice the plants, the trees, the flowers I pass by daily, and watch them transform through the seasons. Biking and walking allows me to enjoy the songs of the birds and say hello to all the neighborhood pups and kittens. I’m not being sappy here, these are things that truly make me happy. I’ve even noticed how the sun rises and sets at different angles in the sky, as the seasons change, which in some deep way makes me feel more connected to All That Is. On the way home, I get to revel in some of the best views of our Arizona sunsets, as I can linger wherever I want, stop and gaze at the sky and allow myself to be mesmerized by the palette of magenta pinks and fiery oranges. Not to mention inhale the yummy wafts of dinner that swirl through the evening air in Coronado (my eclectic neighborhood!) - Italian garlic and Indian curries are the usual fare! YUM! It’s delightful! These little nuances are imperceptible to the whizzing car with blasting music. The slower pace allows me to tune into the subtler moments, cycles and patterns of life, as well as engage my senses much more, all which for me, enhance my entire experience of the day, and consequently of the seasons in my own life. It is quite literally a moving meditation.

Gratitude

So, how is the bike life going, do I still like it, is it worth it?! Yes, for many reasons! Financially, it definitely is an amazing option that I have in my present situation. But, of even more value, are the daily, small ways that this lifestyle pulls me into the present, allows me to feel Nature into my bones and tunes me into the frequency of the Elements. For me, these consequences are gifts that I did not intend and for which I am daily grateful.

(Photo: Sunset taken on a ride home from work.)

[gamelyplanet-blog]

Not *that* Good: “Red Dead Redemption”

We all have them; games everyone hates that we love and, more controversially, games that everyone loves but we don’t really take to. The most recent one I’ve had to put myself through was none other than Rockstar’s much loved Red Dead Redemption (RDR), the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game wearing a Wild West hat. 

Red Dead Redemption is actually a bad game to start this series with, because not only do I understand why so many people love it, I also don’t hate it myself. At least half of the game impresses me quite a lot in fact.

For one thing, the writing is really good. Rockstar employs some legitimately good writers; even Grand Theft Auto IV, which is not well-liked by a large portion of the gaming audience, told a very engaging story with colorful and layered characters. Red Dead Redemption follows suit; there are great themes of change and consequences through the story of a former outlaw that is blackmailed to kill off his former friends and gang-mates, in the twilight of the Wild West. His blackmailers aren’t lowlifes, but the forces of “good” and “progress”, the Federal Government that shapes the modern United States of America. John Marston isn’t a deep or complex character, but he is a character easy to like and relate to. The supporting characters of both the flamboyant and the grounded flavors inject life into the story. The ending twist, even though it’s somewhat predictable (and probably spoiled for everyone, by now) has a profound impact and upon reflection, it’s the only right way for this story to end.

The voice cast is also fantastic and not a single one of the actors turns in a performance that’s anything less than stellar. The atmosphere is top-notch; this is another one of Rockstar’s strong points. I remember reliving the 1980s in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I remember feeling like a New Yorker driving around Times Square in GTAIV and I had no problems immersing myself in the life across the frontier in the early 1900s with RDR. The visuals are a little too muddy, but they fit the setting; riding a horse across the empty planes and seeing civilization from afar is an experience that fills one with contentment; the architecture, the character designs and the fantastic music during the long treks in the wilderness easily absorbed me in the game.

I will go out of my way and assume that people who adore RDR do so primarily because of the above. I get it; I’m even with you on those. What I mind is actually sitting down and playing the damned thing.

To put it simply, I’m not sure why RDR needed to be an open-world game (marketing reasons notwithstanding). The game world is filled with random events, mini-games and hunting achievements, but do these add anything to the experience, or do they only distract the player away from the story? I find RDR suffering from GTAIV-syndrome; that game is also full of meaningless distractions, the only significant difference being that in RDR you don’t get smoke signals by Uncle in the middle of a mission asking you to go to the nearest saloon for whiskey shots. 

Upon reflection, I think that maybe the reason for the open-world approach is atmosphere. It wouldn’t be unheard of; the Mafia games did the same thing, adding a giant city in an otherwise linear third-person-shooter. One can argue that GTAIV’s overworld activities were included in that title for adding to the atmosphere as well; I can’t rightly imagine another reason that playing darts or bowling in what’s already a game of itself had another purpose. This is something I not only understand, but also appreciate quite a lot; it worked for me with both Mafia and GTAIV. But not with RDR.

I wager the reason for that is that the game’s map is massive. Yeah, okay, it’s not The Witcher 3-massive, it may actually be smaller than the modern GTA games (that is, games after Vice City), but the problem is that a lot of what makes the commute from and to missions in GTA bearable is the sight-seeing. There are pedestrians, people going about their daily lives; there is traffic that bugs out hilariously some times and has cars driving willingly onto walls; there are impressive skyscrapers towering above you and different districts that give off the illusion of a living, breathing world; and, of course, there’s a ton of beloved, licensed music blasting on the car radio, followed by hilarious commercials and made-up talk shows.

In RDR there are rocks, trees and some wildlife and that you can slaughter for the Hunter achievements. The music that operates as additional ambiance while riding in the overworld is great, sure; it’s subtle and effective. But these trips are damned long and RDR, especially in its first act, is being a complete asshole with spacing out objectives. 

Another issue I take with the overworld stuff, compared to GTA, is that Rockstar’s other juggernaut series is one in which you are a criminal. The overworld exists specifically so you can destroy it; that’s how it has always been, since the very first game, the city is there for the player to blow it up. In RDR, on the other hand, the hero (and by extension the player) are good guys. Marston is supposed to be a romanticized anti-hero, but the game operates on an Honor system and clearly doesn’t approve of you going out of your way to be a murderous psychopath that firebombs young maidens.

A lot of the overworld becomes a distraction and the game uses the long trips from one mission to the next specifically as a means to pad the playtime. This padding doesn’t end there.

The last few missions of the first act of the game are all padding. Recruiting West Dickens, Seth and Irish starts out well enough; all of them are fun characters and their missions are initially interesting, but all three have at least one mission too many that only exists to delay the attack on Fort Mercer. Missions like the second race for West Dickens only break the flow of the narrative and undercut the urgency of the situation.

It gets worse, however; the entire Mexico act, the second act of the game, is padding; not some of it, not a portion of it, but all of it. There is literally no good reason for that sizable chunk of game to exist in RDR. The story stops dead in its tracks during that segment and only gets back on track in the last mission of that act. Finding Bill Williamson is the primary purpose of John’s mission, but both he and the player get distracted for hours, until Bill magically appears and just happens to have been with that other bad guy all along. John’s actions never actually bring him closer to Bill; even after he captures Javier, finding Bill is just a giant coincidence. This is what we call “the story resolves itself” and it’s a shitty way to write a story.

The inclusion of Javier Escuella is another red flag; the man isn’t mentioned at all before and his name once the second act starts comes out of the blue; so much so, it took me a while to understand what the hell John was talking about when he mentioned him to Irish and Landon Ricketts (who is also so shoehorned, he feels the need to teach the player basic aiming with a gun six hours into the game). Javier is the only one of John’s former gang members that can be captured alive; the Feds want Bill, Dutch and John himself dead. The rationalization for this would be that Javier is Mexican and doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction or whatever, but from a writing perspective, Javier just doesn’t fit; the story never sets him up properly and he is actually never mentioned again in the story afterwards (sans one name-drop by John in the fourth act). The third act, in Blackwater, examines John’s past life as an outlaw and his gang in detail and every conversation is about Bill and Dutch. Abigail too. Javier just doesn’t exist.

It is clear, to me at least, that Mexico was an afterthought. I would assume they found the story content too short (and it is, compared to the GTA titles), so they shoved in a bundle of missions that have nothing to do with the main story to pad it out. There is some minimal thematic connection, but since none of the characters ever draws that connection in any way (subtly or overtly), it seems more like a happy coincidence. The tragedy is that if Mexico was DLC, it’d work better; it wouldn’t break flow, it wouldn’t get in the way of the story, it would feel a lot less boring and it would give Jack something to do other than being the replacement avatar for the player after John bites the dust. 

These are the things that annoy me about the game the most, but there are other, smaller annoyances. I don’t like the horses, for example; they are dumb and easy to die and if they do in a pickle, you’re screwed. It’s de-motivating as fuck taming that one great steed and seeing it jump to its own death and being replaced by the back-up shit horse.

I’m not a fan of how limiting the game can be in the freedoms it grants the player and not just with the Honor system. There was this one instance I really enjoyed; it was one of the world events that a lady asks for help and then leads you to an ambush. Once clearing the ambush, I decided not to kill her; instead, I hogtied her, took her to the port in Blackwater, and let her roll down to the bottom of the sea. Horrible death, but that’s what I play games for; to do weird shit I don’t want to do in real life. Of course, the event was never really resolved (it just went away) and any similar actions against less aggressive NPCs would give me a strike in one form or another.

Likewise, I was dissatisfied with the game’s ending, where it forces you in a duel with Agent Ross. The “Duel” mechanic is one of the worst in the game and it’s extremely unsatisfying in look and feel. That guy betrayed my entire family and killed my father, who was my own avatar as a player for countless hours; I wanted the option to choose his fate on my own. Maybe I’d kill him, maybe I’d let him go, completing the story and accepting the change the Federal Government brings, instead of forcing across the notion that the Wild West never dies. 

Of course, in reality, I just wanted to hogtie the dude and drop him in front of a moving train; it’s a tried and true execution method in the game and I’m salty I didn’t get to do it to him. But the point stands that for an open-world game, RDR is somewhat more limiting than GTA and, especially, Saints Row.

Lastly, there are some technical issues. The game is stable, but performance isn’t great on the PS3. The game looks muddy, just like GTAIV did, presumably because neither of them have antialiasing worth a damn. It’s also locked at 30 frames per second and there are noticeable framedrops in open spaces or crowded towns and settlements. Of course Rockstar was working with limiting hardware, so I can’t blame them for that, but I can certainly blame them for never porting the game on PC, where it would’ve done unlimited framerate and mods to clean up its muddy vanilla look. Dickwads. 

As I said, this wasn’t a good game to start this series with, because there is a lot of good in it that I can’t realistically deny; hell, most of the good in it, I quite enjoyed myself. For me, if the game was a more streamlined experience, like Mafia, cutting out a lot of the fat and dropping the distraction of Act II, I’d probably have loved it. Rockstar’s games have never been strong in terms of core mechanics (particularly in combat), so that was never going to make or break the game and side-content to kill time has always been part and parcel of the company’s open-world games. But as the games started becoming more serious, these activities started causing dissonance. When the overworld stops being a playground and becomes a stage instead, giving a show takes precedence over building a sandcastle. 

What I find interesting, however, is that I dislike Red Dead Redemption for the reasons that so many people dislike Grand Theft Auto IV and I like Grand Theft Auto IV for the reasons that everyone else prefers Red Dead Redemption. Both games are closely related in terms of design; they’re story-driven, serious affairs with average mechanics that utilize their overworld primarily for the illusion of their setting, rather than purely for gameplay reasons. Both are solid games by any metric known to man and yet, the most minute differences between them, the details, seem to have a different impact on their audience.

[lyledann67868-blog]

7 From The Best Washing Makers Immediately.

There are right now hundreds of 1000s of apps on call for your iPhone 7 or even iPhone 6S and also, remarkably, most of the greatest are actually complimentary. If you notice that there seems certainly not to become an advertised price for those cars and truck that you're hoping to purchase, but they carry out have that auto in sell, you'll desire to take note that this car is actually perhaps in pretty higher need as well as the dealership most likely won't be as assertive in partnering with you to come up with that killer auto deal. If they recognize they are actually completing from other regional agents, pretty simply the only means to acquire a lesser automobile insurance coverage rate is by making use of the nearby agents and also after that only. This is actually a car that encompases everything that describes Volvo as a company to me: safety, turbocharged electrical power, easy design and also station wagons. Dr Caroline Watt of the University of Edinburgh points out that this is the opinion in the Friday 13th false belief that could, as a matter of fact, confirm the greatest danger to the average person: If people care about the superstition from Friday the 13th after that they believe they are in higher threat on that day. And also remember to always ask the car garage whether they collaborate with your insurance provider. The closest thing our team have to a cut-off time is actually currently the 1st from January 1976 - automobiles built heretofore certain day do not acquire motor vehicle import tax role This is a rolling. day (it'll very soon be actually 1977) however that provides Britishes one thing moving toward an authorities interpretation from 'classic'. Perhaps updated versions wouldn't possess this problem yet pity as its spoiled exactly what I believed was a superb and good worth phone. When it introduced its self-driving automobile it had presently steered over 100,000 miles without mishap, Google.com surprised the planet. The concept of a fully automated transit system is actually fascinating due to the fact that that possesses the prospective to enhance safety by taking out human mistake as well as enhance the effectiveness of vehicle proprietors, who may move on with other tasks during the course of a long commute. If you want to purchase every new cars and truck on display screen you'll require an immense $16 million in your in-game wallet. However, once the cars and truck was rolling, the sports steering dynamics began and also that was pleasurable to own - simply don't expect surges of energy. This online video simulation illustrates what a crossway may look like along with driverless vehicles. 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CarPlay is actually simply among a set from smartphone-integrated brilliant automobile technologies, which include Chevy's MyLink, Ford's SYNC, Chrysler's Uconnect Accessibility, Hyundai's Blue Link, Kia's UVO, Audi's hook up, Lexus' Enform App Rooms, as well as a variety from third-party after-market automobile entertainment/navigation systems using the industry conventional MirrorLink method, each of create that less complicated to distract you from the most necessary part from being behind the steering wheel - driving. Off sparing federal government, condition as well as funds incentives to assisting the world, getting an electricity automobile makes good sense, whichever way you view that. My personal preferred car at the museum, an overdue 30s Delahaye built for the Shah from Iran, at that point Persia. Make use of smooth components that do not result in scrape if you must wash your vehicle glass on your own. 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The looter instantly pops up when you reached 75 miles per hour for aerodynamics, but my examination vehicle really did not possess the motion capacitor possibility for when you reached 88 mph. As a supporter of any 1/2 good cars and truck video game, I would encourage acquire it, that's an ok video game, however I'm offering an unfavorable vote considering that I expected much a lot more and with the quantity of time this has actually resided in progression, properly ... as well as the cost!

[rebeccahpedersen]

Help vs. Hinder: A Tale Of Two Agents

TorontoRealtyBlog

Call me soppy and a little naive, but perhaps a “feel-good” story from the real estate trenches will cure what ails you on an otherwise ugly November day.

This past week, I worked on two transactions with two agents who couldn’t have possibly been more different.

One did everything he could to help me and my clients, and the other offered absolutely zero assistance, and got in his own way when it came to potentially completing a deal.

Do unto others, or something.  Right?

I sold a property on Wednesday night, and it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

It was a property that I’d had listed off and on since the spring; a very complicated sale, in a complicated market – for this housing type.

I had been diligently working away over the past two weeks with a cooperating agent who I’ve dealt with before, and with whom I have a mutual respect.

My clients were adamant about obtaining an unconditional offer, and his seller was adamant about knowing that he could get insurance on the property, so we ended up in a stalemate.

The offer on-paper fizzled out long ago, and we were left that a seller that essentially said, “I’ll accept those terms if and when you submit the offer without any conditions,” and a buyer who was basically telling us, “I’m not submitting the offer until I have confirmation of insurance, so you’ll just have to wait.”

And wait, we did.

This property has been listed (this time around) since the day after Labour Day, and what are the odds that on the very day that the cooperating agent calls to tell me his client was able to obtain insurance, another offer was submitted on the house?

Murphy’s Law.

We ended up taking the “other” offer, which was higher, also without conditions, and my colleague from a cooperating brokerage was left spurned.

I felt pretty salty about the whole thing.  He worked his tail off, did everything that was expected of him, and came up empty.

When I called him to deliver the bad news, he told me, “David, it was really a pleasure working with you, and that’s not hollow – that’s the truth.  You’re a consummate professional, and that’s saying something, considering who’s we’re out there trying to do deals with these days.”

It meant a lot, and I felt the exact same way.  It’s part of the reason I felt so bad about him not getting the deal.

There are all kinds of agents in this business, and if you’re a regular reader of Toronto Realty Blog, you know I’m not afraid to describe the various “types.”  I’m also not afraid to call a spade a spade, and detail bad behaviour when I see it.

This past week, I had two completely different experiences, with two different agents, one day after the next.

The first underscores all that’s wrong with our industry, and the second highlights a true “professional” who has been in the business for two decades, and hasn’t changed his approach to customer service one iota.

I showed a condo last weekend in a slightly older building last weekend, and my clients were pretty keen on it.

The price per square foot was fantastic compared to newer comparable resale units, the fees weren’t as high as you would think, for a building of that age, and the renovations needed to the unit were minimal.

One question we did have was with respect to the parking, since there were two parking spaces, but Land Registry was not clear on whether it was one space for two cars, but also about whether or not these spaces were owned, or exclusive use.

In older buildings, many times the parking is “exclusive use,” meaning is common elements by definition, and isn’t owned, per se, by the unit owner.  It’s like your balcony or terrace – this is “exclusive use, common elements,” which means only you can use it, but you don’t legally own it.

I had gone through previous listings in the building, and hadn’t received the clarity I needed on the ownership situation, so I called the property manager.  Unfortunately, the property manager wouldn’t speak with me unless I was a unit owner, so I turned to the listing agent for help.

I called the listing agent – somebody who has been in the business for a while, but who (and I know from looking him up in IMS) is far from a high-volume producer.  6-8 transactions per year, I’m sorry to say, doesn’t build villages.  And in my opinion, it’s agents like this that need to sell condos in order to put money in their pockets, and who do anything, to anybody, to close a deal.

The agent had a rough demeanour from the minute I picked up the phone, and I just had that “feeling” of how this conversation was going to go.

“I showed your unit at XXX Street on the weekend….” I told him.

“Great, where’s my offer?” he asked, interrupting me in mid-thought.

“Right,” I said.  “Well here’s my question: do you know if the two parking spaces are separate??  Because there’s only one actual spot-number painted on the column, and I’m also not sure if the parking is owned or if it’s exclusive use.”

I was just cracking the lid on my morning coffee, so I was in no way prepared for his response.

“What the f*ck do I care?” he asked me.

And then I waited for a follow-up.

“Oh…..kay,” I offered to break the silence.

“Come on, I’m just breaking your balls a bit,” he said, as I hoped he was just being funny.  “But nah, seriously man, I mean what the hell do I care about parking?  There’s two cars down in the garage, right?  A Beamer and a Land Rover to boot, right, so they fit good, and you’re buying this place from good company, because let me tell you, these guys are well off.”

While I’ll concede that mentioning two large cars fit in the spaces is value-add, telling me how rich his clients are, and insinuating that buying from “good company” is of any importance, didn’t really strike a chord with me.

“Well,” I explained, “My clients only have one car, and they want to know if they can sell one space,” I told him.  “I also think there’s something to be said for owning the spaces, versus just having exclusive use, as we’re trying to value this unit versus one in another building.”

He barely let me finish before he interjected, “Nah, nah man, you’re all wrong, right.  None of that matters.  What matters is two cars.  Two cars, man.  That’s it.”

I didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere, so I asked, “Would your seller be able to speak to property management, and allow me to speak with the manager, to get some clarification?  They won’t speak to me unless I’m an owner.”

“Why the f*ck would I do that?” he asked.

There was a long pause as I tried to process things, and he then offered, “I mean, why am I doing you a favour?  What’s in this for us?  You wanna know what’s behind the curtain; what my clients have in their closet.  Why would we offer that kind of information?”

The whole conversation made no sense, so I simply said, “Because I need to know what you’re offering for sale, so my clients can decide what to buy.”

“Nah, nah, nah.  Nope.  It’s not like that,” he said.

We parted ways, and I suggested to my buyer that she call property management, and say that she was looking to buy a condo in the building, and she had a few questions.  Coming from a buyer – and an older, retired lady, nonetheless, perhaps it would be better received.

My buyer called me back shortly thereafter, and told me that the property manager still wouldn’t answer specific questions, but if she wanted to request a status certificate for the unit, she could.

The whole situation was frustrating to say the least, but even more frustrating was the call I got an hour later – from the listing agent.

Unleashing a barrage of curse-words that I haven’t used since high school, he asked, “how dare you call and try to trade on my clients’ names?”

I didn’t even know what that meant, and not much of the rest of the conversation made any sense.

Folks, I know some of you might try to see the “other side” of this, and suggest that, I don’t know, we should make an offer, conditional, and then they can show us whether there’s two parking spaces, and whether they’re owned or exclusive use?

But that doesn’t make any sense.

“Is there a locker with this unit?”

“Yes, there is.”

“Thanks.”

I don’t see how our situation is any different from that.

We ended up looking at a couple more units this past week, one of which we’re in sign-back on as we speak.

It’s too bad.  But perhaps that’s why the other unit has been on the market for 57 days…

The very next day, I was looking at two townhouses with clients who are moving from Mississauga to the downtown core, so they can be closer to work, and so their daughter can attend a speciality school here in the city.

The entire reason for this move was to make life easier, mainly by avoiding a 45-minute daily commute to-and-from work, without losing the comforts of a large house on a wide lot in a family neighbourhood.

We were looking at two townhouses – one downtown, one uptown, and we were really stuck on the parking.

My clients have a 5-car private driveway in Mississauga, and while they’re not crazy about the idea of having ONE parking space here in the central core, they could make it work.

One of my clients would store her car at the Bay/Adelaide centre, because she really only drives the car for client meetings, and on business trips, and doesn’t need the car at home.

My other client would store his car in the garage at the townhouse.

And their older kids would have to use street parking if and when they came home to visit from university.

The townhouse uptown had underground parking, and we measured the opening of the garage, which was 10′ 2″.

The garage itself was probably 16-feet wide, or what real estate agents like to call “one and a half car garage,” but overall, the 10-foot entrance would fit just about any car my clients or their kids would be driving.

The townhouse downtown had a garage, and it looked really tight.

From the first day we visited this property (and we saw it four times!), we kept coming back to the parking space.

Would her car fit?  Would his?

Last week, she tried to do an 14-point turn and manoever her car into the garage, but she wasn’t able.

I told her, “I’ll bet you your kid’s next violin lesson I can get your car in that garage,” to which, she accepted the challenge.

Maybe it was the stick-shift on this luxury automobile, or maybe it was the fact that I felt like I was driving Batman’s car, but I barely got the car out of “Park” before I gave up.

So this past week, we returned to the townhouse, with her husband’s car, to see if he could fit his car in the garage.

But guess what?

When we arrived, we saw the seller’s car in the garage!

And to complicate matters, there was an offer on the property.

We wanted to offer an unconditional offer, but we couldn’t in good conscience make an offer without knowing if a car would fit in the garage.

We measured the entrance at an even 8″ on the nose, which was 2’2″ less than the garage at the uptown-townhouse.

The husband told me, “I can fit the car, no problem,” and the wife said, “I’d have to see it, I really would.”

I can’t say I blame her, and as he hit up Google to compare the turning radius, length, and width of the Toyota Corolla that was currently in the garage, and the Mazda SUV that he owned, I called the listing agent to see what could be done.

As our bad luck would provide for, the sellers had just left for a three-week vacation, and thus they weren’t able to come and move their car.

I begged the listing agent to find a solution, and he spent the better part of an hour speaking with the sellers, their cousin, and their cleaning lady.

After 90 minutes in the property, I left to go to my next appointment, and my buyers headed back to work.

My phone rang, and it was the listing agent.

“I found a key to the car,” he said.  “I’m game to try this thing, if you are.”

I thanked him profusely, and called my clients to see if they could come back to the property.

A half-hour later, the listing agent was moving the sellers’ car, with the cleaning lady’s key, and parking it on the street so my client could test-out the garage.

We watched as he worked the stick-shift like Jacques Villeneuve, and worked the car back-and-forth, back-and-forth, until the car was safely in the garage.

“Got it!” my client exclaimed, after getting out of of the car, smiling, and pounding on the hood of the car.

“But I’ll be damned if I’m going to do this every single morning, for the rest of my life,” he said, as our hopes of making this work came crashing down.

I walked out to the street with the listing agent as he got back in the sellers’ car, and told him how much I appreciated his efforts.

“Well, it’s not like we want this family to buy a house only to find out they don’t like a major feature of it, do we?”

I was amazed.

The listing agent’s actions – helping us with our query, might have cost him an offer, but it underscored the length he would go to work on his seller’s behalf.

And in the end, he wanted to make sure the buyer was happy too.

I can’t think of a time when I’ve had two more different experiences, ironically with the same feature of a piece of real estate (parking), in such a short time period.

It was Ying & Yang.

Night and Day.

Opposite-day, in the world of Toronto real estate.

I’m sorry, folks.  But you catch more flies with honey in this business.  I’m sure you can poke holes in each of these stories if you try really hard, but trust me when I say that there’s only one way to work in this business, if you’re looking for a lengthy, successful career with satisfied clients, repeat business, and no lawsuits…

The post Help vs. Hinder: A Tale Of Two Agents appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from http://ift.tt/2hacQ1g

[jazzwiththeclass-blog]

“Thought I told you not to trust these hoes, say they love you when you know they don’t…

Say they will, but shit…you know they won’t. Yeah you hear me, you don’t feel me though.

And you ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE.”    --- Jhene Aiko *Comfort Inn Ending*

 Here I am, pistol loaded and my bare hands wrapped around it. It was heavy, hard, cold… I cocked the gun back full force, and put the base of the gun to the side of my head. Finger on the trigger. ONE… TWO… THREE…* I n h a l e * and then a flash of my entire life and what I had been through played through my mind.

The weight of my heart was too much to bare, and reality had set in. I was weak then, and he knew it. My grandmother died, I was left homeless and pregnant with two babies, my mother abandoned me, family disowned me, kids’ fathers aint shit, 400 miles away. At 18 years old I decided that I was DONE. Done with life. You see, all I wanted was love, and to be loved… unconditionally. When I had my first child I thought it would fill the void I had in my heart. I wanted to have the mother-daughter relationship with my child, as I wished I had with my mother. I was constantly searching for approval, confirmation, & acceptance. There hadn’t been one person I met who accepted me for who I was. During middle school and high school I never had a strong group of “friends”… I was “the girl from St. Louis who was pregnant in 8th grade. “ No matter how much I tried to just be ME, my peers and teachers only thought of my children when they saw ME. I had become the epitome of “fake it til you make it.” Smiling my way through the insults, belittling, and sarcasm. Ending most days with a heart filled of shame and anger, crying in my bedroom…

Only this time it’s not just shame and anger, its embarrassment, humiliation, and heartache. The man who I had been spending the past year with had been living a double a life. I only found out when my best friend sent me a txt during Sunday morning service that read: “BBBBIIIIIIIITTTTCCCCCHHHHH!!! Code Red, CALL ME!” After doing her FBI/CIA google search, cuz you know women can find out ANYTHING, she stumbled across a court case with his REAL NAME, DOB, ADDRESS, & List of 5 baby mommas that had his ass on child support! One of which had a son who was four years OLDER than me.  This man told me he was 28 years old, and had two daughters who were 7 and 8 at the time. I had spent time with BOTH of them, they’d spent nights at my house. I was combing their hair, helping with homework, and going on family outings… The youngest daughter, Christina, and I had a special relationship. Her mom had dropped her off on Bernard when she was just a few weeks old, deciding that she didn’t want to be a mother. It was too much for her. So naturally I took her under my wing and would take extra good care of her, loving her the best I could.  I mean full fledge step-mother duties. We were talking about marriage, even looking at houses together, making plans on renovating and really owning my first property. I should have seen the first red flag when he would never be able to stay the night, when he wouldn’t answer texts after 10pm, turning his phone off at night… but could come over right after work for a few hours. I was in LUST with him, but in love with the idea of marriage—and a family. Someone to be there for my sons, help raise them. Teach them important life lessons, sports, how to play video games… the things any young boy should have. So I gave this man my ALL, like a fool. And he used me.

By day he was a security officer at the metro link who I would see every day. My red two-door 95’ Grand Am was a “point A to point B” type of car. I bought it from my aunt in Chicago for $1,000 and my mom drove it ST. Louis for me, which was the most miles I’d ever been able to put on it. I mean the car probably had over two grand in repairs over the year that I had it. So to commute to my job or to go anywhere more than 15 minutes from my front door would require public transit. Bernard was a tall, fair skinned, brown-haired, low cut, hazel-eyed, snack… at the time, to me. He would respectfully speak to me, always tell me how beautiful I was, and asked to take me out on a date. I had NEVER been taken out on a date before. Like EVER. So like bait, I took the hook, gave him my number and so we began dating. The first date we went to the movies, don’t remember what we saw… but 20 minutes in he almost broke his damn neck from his head falling back as he snored. I was just happy to be out the house, without children, and not on my dime. He slowly started to groom me, taught me how to cook, how to season my chicken really good. One day he just showed up with a box full of pots and pans, because what I was working with was the bare minimum. He told me he liked his women with short hair, like Kelly Rowland, so I cut mine (what was left), put a relaxer on it, and went to the salon for a new do. That’s when he showed up and paid the stylist $60… in all ones (questionable, but shiiiitttt). I felt like this was UNREAL, a dream that somebody needed to pinch me to wake me up from. Overly obsessed with being around him. You see, he had a side hustle, making good use of his beat up pick-up truck. There was a huge white sticker on the side with his name and number, and considered that his “way out”. His way to finally become financially stable and make a decent living. I admired that, and supported him in any way—even if it meant sitting in the summer heat, watching him cut grass. He took me home, I kissed him goodnight, and he went back home. To his WIFE, that I had no clue existed.

Rage. Complete rage and confusion as I’m cursing him up, down, in, and out.

“Soooo you have FIVE KIDS?? Your name is Harold??? WHO THE FUCK IS BERNARD? And you’re FOURTY-FIVE YEARS OLD?!!!”

My heart is racing, I can feel my hands literally shaking as I’m grasping onto the steering wheel speeding home.

“What else haven’t you told me?!” I screamed.

“Whoa. Whoa. WAIT! Baby I can explain, will you please calm down and let me explain?” he said, in the most unsure voice I’d ever heard.

“I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT! YOU LIED TO ME! YOU COULD BE MY DAD!”

Tears are running down my cheeks, my vision is getting blurry, and I am HOT. I can feel the warmness all over my body. It was in this moment that I understood how women go to jail for murder every day. Every thought of how to get away with murder crossed my mind. I was ready to roll up on him WITH my girl and smash some windows with 3 complementary flat tires.

“Mommy, I want a snack!” my four year old daughter whined.

I looked over my shoulder and instantly snapped out of my rage. Staring at those three precious gifts. Wiping my face and taking off my now soaked lashes I turn to reassure her that we were almost home. I had to stop and seriously think this to myself:

“Ok jazz, just breathe and let it go. If you smash his car, flatten the tires, and beat his ass… most likely SOMEONE will call the police. Who’s gonna have the kids? You have NO ONE TO BAIL YOU OUT or get YOUR KIDS within the state. Do you want them to end up as wards of the state? Do you want them to live with strangers like YOU did? Do you want to put THEM through this? Is HE worth losing your kids over? Do you wanna end up just like your mom?! …. HELL NO!!! SO GET IT TOGETHA!”

I went back home, settled the kids in and put them all down for a nap. My phone had about 5 missed calls from him and texts begging me to pick up the phone. I gave in and answered: MISTAKE ONE. Because as mad as I was at him, I thought loved him, and I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to hear what he had to say for himself. An hour had passed as I held the phone to my face, sitting on my couch with balls of tissue in my lap. And then I hear a knock at the door. It’s him… I let him in: MISTAKE TWO. We went to the bedroom to talk: MISTAKE THREE. He apologized for keeping his children a secret and for not being honest upfront. He told me how he didn’t want to scare me away or for me to judge him based off of that. Feeding me a long story on how he and his wife weren’t working out and he was in the midst of divorcing her, but they still live together. He said it wasn’t simple or easy to get her out of the house due to court proceedings, so he basically HAD to live with her, sharing everything until he could get his own place. I was naïve, and believed him. The kicker was that his wife had been the one mothering Christina all along. She wasn’t “motherless”, like he’d made it seem. So he couldn’t just snatch them away from one another. His wife had a strong relationship with her and would ask if her dad was taking her around other women. She knew he was a liar and a cheat, but what she didn’t know is that he had trained his daughter to lie. To cover for him when she was with me, and say Ms. Jazz is the one who “does her hair.” As if he was simply paying me, as a hairstylist—that’s all.

               One day while he was asleep, I went through his phone and got her number. After days of contemplating, I called her. I HAD TO! So we spoke for about two hours—she did most of the talking. Apparently I was number five or six. She began telling me of every other woman he’s been sleeping with, their names, and what they looked like, and what STD’s he’d given her. We began comparing dates of when I met him, how long we’d been together, and all the lies he’d told me. The wife told me she was his second marriage, and they’d been together for eight years. She seemed to be angry, yet accepting of the situation. We agreed to meet in person, and together on a Sunday afternoon we crashed his basketball tournament he participated in with a few of his old friends. There I was, the side chick… standing next to the wife. The look on his face said it ALL. His eyes were buck wide open, stuttering over his words, and begging her to stop hitting him. Baby she went all the way in on him. Then walked out, and flattened his two back tires! I got in my car, blasted my music and took the long way home to clear my head. As I’m driving on the highway, I turn my head over my right shoulder to check for oncoming cars before getting off the exit… and here he is STUCK on the side of the highway, with two flat tires. I said FUCK HIM, drove past, and went home. Now I’m pacing back and forth, contemplating calling him. Telling myself that I didn’t get to adequately say my piece, and I need to let him know. Knowing deep down, I just WONT let it go. I’m looking for excuses to hold another conversation---needing an argument. So I call him. And before I can open my mouth to go off on him, he humbly asks me if I minded keeping Christina while he figures out a way to get the car towed to a tire shop. He didn’t want to wait on the side of the highway with his 7 year old daughter, and I empathetically said yes. Thinking to myself “okay, you’ll get your chance to say your piece… just wait.”

               I waited for a few hours at my apartment with my kids and his daughter, until I couldn’t anymore. I called him again to check on things, and he let me know he was at Sam’s Club up the street from me and was waiting for a new tire. I knew in that moment that I was gonna march my ass up there, and I did. When I got there he was acting suspicious—rushing me away—but I didn’t budge. Come to find out, his wife was correct, I WAS one of many. He called one of his other girls to come buy him the tires because his wife had cleaned out the bank accounts! I knew what was happening when I saw two brown eyes cutting at me from the back of the waiting room, where she was sitting. Looking at him with complete disgust, I left him with his child, and stormed off. I went home, crawled in my bed, and laid with my eyes wide open--- the stream of tears soaked the sides of my pillow. The same week I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to get checked out, and he had given me Trichomoniasis aka “Trich”, the one and only STD I’ve ever had. Thank God it was treatable and went away in a week! But still I thought “What am I gonna do?! Why is my life like this? Why did I have to meet him? Why did you let me fall for him God? Are you even here with me? Why did you let me bring him around me kids? WHY ME?!! Haven’t I gone through enough?! “

Those are the questions that I screamed in my head. Desperately needing an answer, but deaf to sound advice due to the chaos I attracted into my life… I couldn’t get quiet enough to hear the answers. My mind cluttered with thoughts of suicide. I felt like a complete dummy. Like I had wasted a year of my life. I told myself that I should have KNOWN he was bad news from the beginning, but maybe everyone was right about me… maybe I am an unfit mother who will never be able to have love. I felt alone, and all I wanted to do was call my mom and cry my heart out to her. I needed advice, I needed uplifting, I needed to know that I was ONLY 18 and WILL NOT have it all figured out. I needed to know that my life was important and happiness shouldn’t be measured by the amount of love someone ELSE has for you! I loved him the way I expected to be loved back, but not every toad you kiss is meant to be your prince. That sometimes you’ve gotta be with the toad to learn how to appreciate the prince when he does come! But no one was there for me, all I had was myself—and at that time—I couldn’t see that I AM ENOUGH!

So the next time he “stopped by” for casual sex and a shower after work, I grabbed his work issued gun. He always kept in in the holster, underneath the bed. I let him have his way with me, and convinced myself that THIS would be the ultimate payback. That he would learn his lesson on taking advantage of young girls, preying on women with children! That he would regret EVERY single thing he’d done to me, especially giving me a STD!!! My babies were across the hall, sleeping in their room. I told myself THIS IS IT… IM DONE. Heart thumping so loud I can’t hear myself think, mouth is dry and feels like cotton, panting and hands shaking… index finger on the trigger.

3…. 2…. 1…. *C L A N K *

                                                                               …..TO BE CONTINUED

[airoasis]

The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-1-bitcoin-show-btc-is-wealth-insurance-billionaires-will-strike-back-gold-comparisons/

The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

Howdy everybody that is adam meister the bitcoin meister the disrupt meister welcome to the one bitcoin exhibit at present is February the tenth 2019 powerful hand offended by selling worth your wealth in Bitcoin unconfident lengthy present considering i’m now not going anyplace private responsibility is a new counterculture okay all people verify out the hyperlinks below verify out Saturday’s show link to beneath and of course the this weekend Bitcoin show which you can assess that out at Tech ball comm te CH blt that’s also my twitter manage and disrupt meister comm Lorien and Sarah and Chris had been on the show and he received pretty wild there a pair times again so uh examine it out I simply was at the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv tonight and i ran into Sarah there and we have been talking about the show and some other individuals were speaking in regards to the show there and energetic Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv there have been two different americans showed up there one was from Baltimore and an additional guy was from Virginia so it was it was once cool to have some fellow american citizens from the East Coast there tonight and it can be continually a blast 7:00 p.M.On Sundays at the Tel Aviv bitcoin embassy and yeah i’ll be in Tel Aviv except March the twelfth so i will meet some more individuals and we will have some more fun discussions so let’s talk a few pleasant tweet via meteor transfer mob but Moretz brother I feel he’s howdy Bitcoin self selects for folks with low time choice long awareness span commitment authenticity endurance persistence ability to focal point ability to go in opposition to the mainstream Bitcoin good capability to head towards the mainstream Bitcoin is a marathon not a sprint dude that was amazing tweet it has linked to below that’s all in regards to the furrow of gratification yet bitcoins self-selects this variety of persons the entire other humans get weeded out through years like 2018 and 2019 yeah it is a weed out here hope you aren’t getting weeded out have a strong hand folks pound that like button it is a marathon it’s no longer a dash dude okay so Arjun has he fantastic tweet Amazon’s founder used to be extorted for mood graphics when dishonest on his wife bitcoins anonymous founder can never be extorted long Bitcoin quick the Bezos this can be a quality factor I’ve tried to say many other occasions with comparing Bitcoin to the alt cash in the market their more than a few founders will also be extorted howdy they tried to extort the richest man in the world they can attempt to extort some dude that observed that some altcoin they can extort a guy who possibly dead and no one is aware of who he is Satoshi Nakamoto and no he is no longer that you just well yeah if you believe he is the man that style of was introduced up on Friday’s show no yeah we talked about that tonight the Bitcoin embassy additionally all correct continuing what is that this here Oh Pierrot shard now we’re gonna talk about billionaires when you consider that there’s been quite a lot of billionaires to begin a bad rap nowadays from all these sociopaths politicians and all these blamers and scapegoat errs trying to blame every body of their issues on billionaires the billionaire’s are going to strike back okay and it can generally support Bitcoin in a long term and support us holders support these are the bus who’re jealous and hateful of billionaires who would like to be millionaires attempt to be a billionaire nothing incorrect with aiming high however once more quite a lot of individuals would instead be victims and purpose excessive okay so Pierrot shards tweet let’s get to this thing billionaires are rapidly realizing that it is time to rotate out of asset which is able to without difficulty be plundered by way of the populist mob into an asset which is much so much tougher to seize bitcoins it son confiscate Abel dude for those who manipulate your confidential key but yeah yeah the billionaire is their financial institution money owed and perhaps in the future they may be a regulation if you are a billionaire we are able to take forty% of your financial institution account at any time when we need to well we are not able to then all of them get the Bitcoin and i am sure this used to be a serious warning call for a couple of of them probably a few of them are establishing to investigate some American billionaires particularly if they may be wise they usually by no means looked within the Bitcoin now now could be the time to watching into it dude personal accountability is the new counterculture mr.Billionaire Matt O’Dell on on the same theme right here easiest way to pump Bitcoin is to tell the world’s billionaires do you wish to have to take their money yeah yeah possibly it’ll pump it fairly I imply in the event that they to wake up to the fact that that truly uh specified american citizens with some energy or some political power need to take take your money perhaps they are going to wake up and Matt Odell also used to be quoted as saying and i’ve this in my title at present Bitcoin is wealth coverage there you go billionaires Bitcoin is your wealth insurance I was speakme with my mom on the telephone left on the mobile over the laptop final night time she stated that she was within the vehicle and he or she used to be he was once enjoying around the radio and he or she went on the satellite tv for pc radio that is still in the car she canceled the satellite radio due to the fact that she does now not hear satellite radio they usually certainly refunded her the money and all however it hasn’t became off you anyway she our stern was on it supposedly on the Howard Stern exhibit no longer can someone affirm this she inspiration she heard noticed a visitor say that Bitcoin was hacked they were however they have been speaking about the quadriga a Canadian hat however they’d all of it blended up and idea that Bitcoin had been hacked did any individual hear that once more this is you realize this type of enjoyable it can be easy to spread and it’s a number of piss is true she she did not fully grasp what she heard then yeah quite a few persons heard this and a lot of people get to it’s it’s unfortunate it can be unfortunate people is not going to do their own study and it seems that the Howard Stern exhibit would not both it researched a lot of different things anyway so I said that that is Jameson lop but did any individual and depart the comments in the event you have been being attentive to Howard Stern or heard about this on account that he is wellknown if a variety of humans pressure it to work oh god the commutes i am so glad i do not need to do that pound that like button however quite a lot of you might be caught commuting hours a day and you’ve got obtained satellite radio I mean take heed to Howard Stern so have you heard it out on them so dope this is from lop Jamie stated he mentioned Satoshi round desk five was fun and informative listed below are read right here is here is a recap of the discussions I had on topics similar to lightning community privateness side chain secure hardware mnemonics heed phrases security tokens and grin that’s linked to beneath individuals I don’t read the entire factor i know numerous people spaz out once they hear about Satoshi he’s round table to believe it is a conspiracy if any one can meet and have meetings about Bitcoin there may be there isn’t any some there is no longer it can be no longer something Elita kaback cabal that controls bitcoin each person I imply so many people just wish to blame all the problems with quite a lot of elite cabal’s they make up and that is one in every of them recognize that they can have a assembly it is their trade who they invite in the event that they invite lingham and so they invite whoever it is their matters they are able to do anything they want to do we will have meetings – you wanna have a assembly invite me to your meeting we’ll have a roundtable a bang on a gavel bang a gong Marc Bolan t-rex investigate them out satisfactory band he was an innovator of music pound that like button okay i might also tonight on the at me Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv I used to be speakme to a guy who i suppose brokers Bitcoin purchases I didn’t even get into how he acquired it what he exactly was once talking about but he says he is aware of he knows that the important financial institution has purchased some Bitcoin in view that he was once involved in the deal to play the it used to be it wasn’t as an investment per se it was to mess around with it but valuable and he understood used to be I stated him you recognize that that’s particularly significant information if that’s true considering if different significant banks find out then each the entire central bank’s credit score file purchase it and the price will run up and he acquired that and he mentioned they they they but they would had been doing it for like funding lengthy-time period funding purposes however they definitely purchased some to play around with hello man i’m simply relaying what I heard tonight i know hi there it is gonna happen eventually how about that how about that we comprehend it’s gonna occur eventually does this guy have some insight I mean he used to be lovely well so that you suppose a valuable financial institution purchased bitcoins i know a imperative bank Bitcoin it is going to occur one day it’s going to occur whoa and you’ll be comfortable that you just bought before a relevant bank announced that they purchased Bitcoin uh I I got a random email I I document on random emails I get from individuals seeking to steal Bitcoin from me simply you understand fake coinbase emails fake more than a few exchanges matters i have nothing to do with however I got an electronic mail from B hex the B hex crypto dividend promoting it so i guess they may be spamming individuals I have no idea how they got my e mail tackle however and once more it wasn’t an e mail handle of mine it’s in that that public it can be not the one that’s linked to beneath this if you are incidentally in the notes part under I do have my e-mail handle humans get harassed typically it is now not that one is in one more one the B hex people are i guess they may be emailing quite a lot of folks that is that is one method to get your the phrase out in opposition to about your crypto dividend again in the event you get it totally free you get it at no cost and then you turning the more Bitcoin by using I mean no no complaints right here however I did not both how the heck did like an electronic mail about this man very well utterly offline Bitcoin transactions there is an article about this if you’re fascinated about that for those who you understand you reside in some faraway village and you must do some utterly offline Bitcoin transaction there may be the article for you under speakme about crypt of dividends the core limbo coin there we’re getting again there’s going to be an airdrop of nimble Wimble coin in on what you’re gonna be equipped to register on April the twentieth it’s what’s it MW C dot MW anyway their Twitter account is linked to beneath on the grounds that they had to get a new Twitter account the normal one obtained bought tousled by means of Twitter just I do not know they’d some issues so now the true member wynnmalone crypto dividend Twitter account is M underscore W underscore coin it is linked to below if you want to check that out once more if you wish to have updates on that stuff we’re gonna you know for those who sign up for this air drop and i am signed up for it you’ll be able to get this these MWC cash you could sell for Bitcoin great and once more minimal Wimble is the flavor of the month once more it is within the core Wimble is utilized by a new quantity of coins by wolf by using the longer term MWC coin via beam and by means of uh with a grin so everybody’s speakme about even at Satoshi’s roundtable or whatever they’re speaking about it so it can be a flavor of the month and who knows what is going to happen to this crypto dividend that we will get totally free by means of being Bitcoin holders and i like when Bitcoin holders are rewarded with crypto dividends you comprehend it can pay the entire pound that like by means of nut like button you realize tonight I was talking to a guy we’re talking about be cash he is like yeah I did not get any be cash my Bitcoin was once in an trade when that occurs oops again manage your own personal key humans towards em Easter all proper he’s acquired some tweets available in the market speculation strong privacy on the first layer makes a blockchain extra at risk of attacks that expanded token supply that’s an interesting hypothesis are you speakme about Z money are you suggesting that massive not have privateness on the first layer and create a second layer resolution for privacy we will see all correct Jordan Easter also has a particularly you recognize he’s talking some gold right here however he was a golden holder again in the day he went from gold to Bitcoin however he is no longer just like the usual like 60-yr old gold and holder who used to be like i love get gold now i like Bitcoin used to be this a new variant of both however here he says a 15-pound gold nugget which is beautiful heavy is to the whole gold deliver what zero.92 Bitcoin is to the complete Bitcoin provide so once more the title of this suggests the one Bitcoin exhibit so in the event you got your one bitcoins it’s like you recognize evaluating it to 15 kilos of gold it sounds beautiful good to me Val your wealth a Bitcoin though but which you could evaluate it to gold and then he is got an additional very interesting evaluation and it is in a chart it’s linked to under he says I calculated the Bitcoin circulating supply equivalent of primary bank gold reserves ok so he and the USA presently has 5 point two four percentage of the intellect deliver of gold in existence within the principal financial institution that’s quite a few gold 5 point two four percentage and that’s the an identical 5 factor two 4 percent of 17 million Bitcoin is – is nine hundred eighteen thousand Bitcoin so for those who look at it that method comparing bitcoins of gold that method that they if the if the USA desired to have a 5 point two four percentage of the Bitcoin deliver they’d have to purchase nine hundred and eighteen thousand Bitcoin which I think they would do however that used to be surely uh that may uh that will increase the fee in phrases of fiat quite somewhat one identify but should you if you’re in the Bitcoin if you are into his future you’re going to must consider that these significant banks will want to have equivalent percentages of a Bitcoin as they do of the complete gold supply I imply that’s wonderful stuff for you appear at that chart look at that chart and spot how much each would every country and again you know I united states of america is the top of the chart it has the most gold of the critical banks supposedly however still there’s some other significant numbers on there too how so much Bitcoin they they would need to have the identical in terms of the percentage of gold that they possess in Bitcoin anyway pound that like button bang that Bell button click on those squares if you are looking at this tape i am adam meister the bitcoinmeister the disrupt meister consider to subscribe this channel like this view share this video investigate out the hyperlinks below and day after today our the show perhaps a little bit later i will the ramon crater in the wilderness in israel thanks to 2 bitcoin fans who watch this exhibit and who are tremendous dudes so thanks so much guys i’m looking ahead to putting out with you within the wilderness the next day after which we are going to have a exhibit later on it’s going to be late at night time right here in israel so see you within the chat now guys bye

[batterymonster2021]

The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-1-bitcoin-show-btc-is-wealth-insurance-billionaires-will-strike-back-gold-comparisons/

The 1 Bitcoin Show- BTC is wealth insurance! Billionaires will strike back! Gold comparisons

Howdy everybody that is adam meister the bitcoin meister the disrupt meister welcome to the one bitcoin exhibit at present is February the tenth 2019 powerful hand offended by selling worth your wealth in Bitcoin unconfident lengthy present considering i’m now not going anyplace private responsibility is a new counterculture okay all people verify out the hyperlinks below verify out Saturday’s show link to beneath and of course the this weekend Bitcoin show which you can assess that out at Tech ball comm te CH blt that’s also my twitter manage and disrupt meister comm Lorien and Sarah and Chris had been on the show and he received pretty wild there a pair times again so uh examine it out I simply was at the Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv tonight and i ran into Sarah there and we have been talking about the show and some other individuals were speaking in regards to the show there and energetic Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv there have been two different americans showed up there one was from Baltimore and an additional guy was from Virginia so it was it was once cool to have some fellow american citizens from the East Coast there tonight and it can be continually a blast 7:00 p.M.On Sundays at the Tel Aviv bitcoin embassy and yeah i’ll be in Tel Aviv except March the twelfth so i will meet some more individuals and we will have some more fun discussions so let’s talk a few pleasant tweet via meteor transfer mob but Moretz brother I feel he’s howdy Bitcoin self selects for folks with low time choice long awareness span commitment authenticity endurance persistence ability to focal point ability to go in opposition to the mainstream Bitcoin good capability to head towards the mainstream Bitcoin is a marathon not a sprint dude that was amazing tweet it has linked to below that’s all in regards to the furrow of gratification yet bitcoins self-selects this variety of persons the entire other humans get weeded out through years like 2018 and 2019 yeah it is a weed out here hope you aren’t getting weeded out have a strong hand folks pound that like button it is a marathon it’s no longer a dash dude okay so Arjun has he fantastic tweet Amazon’s founder used to be extorted for mood graphics when dishonest on his wife bitcoins anonymous founder can never be extorted long Bitcoin quick the Bezos this can be a quality factor I’ve tried to say many other occasions with comparing Bitcoin to the alt cash in the market their more than a few founders will also be extorted howdy they tried to extort the richest man in the world they can attempt to extort some dude that observed that some altcoin they can extort a guy who possibly dead and no one is aware of who he is Satoshi Nakamoto and no he is no longer that you just well yeah if you believe he is the man that style of was introduced up on Friday’s show no yeah we talked about that tonight the Bitcoin embassy additionally all correct continuing what is that this here Oh Pierrot shard now we’re gonna talk about billionaires when you consider that there’s been quite a lot of billionaires to begin a bad rap nowadays from all these sociopaths politicians and all these blamers and scapegoat errs trying to blame every body of their issues on billionaires the billionaire’s are going to strike back okay and it can generally support Bitcoin in a long term and support us holders support these are the bus who’re jealous and hateful of billionaires who would like to be millionaires attempt to be a billionaire nothing incorrect with aiming high however once more quite a lot of individuals would instead be victims and purpose excessive okay so Pierrot shards tweet let’s get to this thing billionaires are rapidly realizing that it is time to rotate out of asset which is able to without difficulty be plundered by way of the populist mob into an asset which is much so much tougher to seize bitcoins it son confiscate Abel dude for those who manipulate your confidential key but yeah yeah the billionaire is their financial institution money owed and perhaps in the future they may be a regulation if you are a billionaire we are able to take forty% of your financial institution account at any time when we need to well we are not able to then all of them get the Bitcoin and i am sure this used to be a serious warning call for a couple of of them probably a few of them are establishing to investigate some American billionaires particularly if they may be wise they usually by no means looked within the Bitcoin now now could be the time to watching into it dude personal accountability is the new counterculture mr.Billionaire Matt O’Dell on on the same theme right here easiest way to pump Bitcoin is to tell the world’s billionaires do you wish to have to take their money yeah yeah possibly it’ll pump it fairly I imply in the event that they to wake up to the fact that that truly uh specified american citizens with some energy or some political power need to take take your money perhaps they are going to wake up and Matt Odell also used to be quoted as saying and i’ve this in my title at present Bitcoin is wealth coverage there you go billionaires Bitcoin is your wealth insurance I was speakme with my mom on the telephone left on the mobile over the laptop final night time she stated that she was within the vehicle and he or she used to be he was once enjoying around the radio and he or she went on the satellite tv for pc radio that is still in the car she canceled the satellite radio due to the fact that she does now not hear satellite radio they usually certainly refunded her the money and all however it hasn’t became off you anyway she our stern was on it supposedly on the Howard Stern exhibit no longer can someone affirm this she inspiration she heard noticed a visitor say that Bitcoin was hacked they were however they have been speaking about the quadriga a Canadian hat however they’d all of it blended up and idea that Bitcoin had been hacked did any individual hear that once more this is you realize this type of enjoyable it can be easy to spread and it’s a number of piss is true she she did not fully grasp what she heard then yeah quite a few persons heard this and a lot of people get to it’s it’s unfortunate it can be unfortunate people is not going to do their own study and it seems that the Howard Stern exhibit would not both it researched a lot of different things anyway so I said that that is Jameson lop but did any individual and depart the comments in the event you have been being attentive to Howard Stern or heard about this on account that he is wellknown if a variety of humans pressure it to work oh god the commutes i am so glad i do not need to do that pound that like button however quite a lot of you might be caught commuting hours a day and you’ve got obtained satellite radio I mean take heed to Howard Stern so have you heard it out on them so dope this is from lop Jamie stated he mentioned Satoshi round desk five was fun and informative listed below are read right here is here is a recap of the discussions I had on topics similar to lightning community privateness side chain secure hardware mnemonics heed phrases security tokens and grin that’s linked to beneath individuals I don’t read the entire factor i know numerous people spaz out once they hear about Satoshi he’s round table to believe it is a conspiracy if any one can meet and have meetings about Bitcoin there may be there isn’t any some there is no longer it can be no longer something Elita kaback cabal that controls bitcoin each person I imply so many people just wish to blame all the problems with quite a lot of elite cabal’s they make up and that is one in every of them recognize that they can have a assembly it is their trade who they invite in the event that they invite lingham and so they invite whoever it is their matters they are able to do anything they want to do we will have meetings – you wanna have a assembly invite me to your meeting we’ll have a roundtable a bang on a gavel bang a gong Marc Bolan t-rex investigate them out satisfactory band he was an innovator of music pound that like button okay i might also tonight on the at me Bitcoin Embassy in Tel Aviv I used to be speakme to a guy who i suppose brokers Bitcoin purchases I didn’t even get into how he acquired it what he exactly was once talking about but he says he is aware of he knows that the important financial institution has purchased some Bitcoin in view that he was once involved in the deal to play the it used to be it wasn’t as an investment per se it was to mess around with it but valuable and he understood used to be I stated him you recognize that that’s particularly significant information if that’s true considering if different significant banks find out then each the entire central bank’s credit score file purchase it and the price will run up and he acquired that and he mentioned they they they but they would had been doing it for like funding lengthy-time period funding purposes however they definitely purchased some to play around with hello man i’m simply relaying what I heard tonight i know hi there it is gonna happen eventually how about that how about that we comprehend it’s gonna occur eventually does this guy have some insight I mean he used to be lovely well so that you suppose a valuable financial institution purchased bitcoins i know a imperative bank Bitcoin it is going to occur one day it’s going to occur whoa and you’ll be comfortable that you just bought before a relevant bank announced that they purchased Bitcoin uh I I got a random email I I document on random emails I get from individuals seeking to steal Bitcoin from me simply you understand fake coinbase emails fake more than a few exchanges matters i have nothing to do with however I got an electronic mail from B hex the B hex crypto dividend promoting it so i guess they may be spamming individuals I have no idea how they got my e mail tackle however and once more it wasn’t an e mail handle of mine it’s in that that public it can be not the one that’s linked to beneath this if you are incidentally in the notes part under I do have my e-mail handle humans get harassed typically it is now not that one is in one more one the B hex people are i guess they may be emailing quite a lot of folks that is that is one method to get your the phrase out in opposition to about your crypto dividend again in the event you get it totally free you get it at no cost and then you turning the more Bitcoin by using I mean no no complaints right here however I did not both how the heck did like an electronic mail about this man very well utterly offline Bitcoin transactions there is an article about this if you’re fascinated about that for those who you understand you reside in some faraway village and you must do some utterly offline Bitcoin transaction there may be the article for you under speakme about crypt of dividends the core limbo coin there we’re getting again there’s going to be an airdrop of nimble Wimble coin in on what you’re gonna be equipped to register on April the twentieth it’s what’s it MW C dot MW anyway their Twitter account is linked to beneath on the grounds that they had to get a new Twitter account the normal one obtained bought tousled by means of Twitter just I do not know they’d some issues so now the true member wynnmalone crypto dividend Twitter account is M underscore W underscore coin it is linked to below if you want to check that out once more if you wish to have updates on that stuff we’re gonna you know for those who sign up for this air drop and i am signed up for it you’ll be able to get this these MWC cash you could sell for Bitcoin great and once more minimal Wimble is the flavor of the month once more it is within the core Wimble is utilized by a new quantity of coins by wolf by using the longer term MWC coin via beam and by means of uh with a grin so everybody’s speakme about even at Satoshi’s roundtable or whatever they’re speaking about it so it can be a flavor of the month and who knows what is going to happen to this crypto dividend that we will get totally free by means of being Bitcoin holders and i like when Bitcoin holders are rewarded with crypto dividends you comprehend it can pay the entire pound that like by means of nut like button you realize tonight I was talking to a guy we’re talking about be cash he is like yeah I did not get any be cash my Bitcoin was once in an trade when that occurs oops again manage your own personal key humans towards em Easter all proper he’s acquired some tweets available in the market speculation strong privacy on the first layer makes a blockchain extra at risk of attacks that expanded token supply that’s an interesting hypothesis are you speakme about Z money are you suggesting that massive not have privateness on the first layer and create a second layer resolution for privacy we will see all correct Jordan Easter also has a particularly you recognize he’s talking some gold right here however he was a golden holder again in the day he went from gold to Bitcoin however he is no longer just like the usual like 60-yr old gold and holder who used to be like i love get gold now i like Bitcoin used to be this a new variant of both however here he says a 15-pound gold nugget which is beautiful heavy is to the whole gold deliver what zero.92 Bitcoin is to the complete Bitcoin provide so once more the title of this suggests the one Bitcoin exhibit so in the event you got your one bitcoins it’s like you recognize evaluating it to 15 kilos of gold it sounds beautiful good to me Val your wealth a Bitcoin though but which you could evaluate it to gold and then he is got an additional very interesting evaluation and it is in a chart it’s linked to under he says I calculated the Bitcoin circulating supply equivalent of primary bank gold reserves ok so he and the USA presently has 5 point two four percentage of the intellect deliver of gold in existence within the principal financial institution that’s quite a few gold 5 point two four percentage and that’s the an identical 5 factor two 4 percent of 17 million Bitcoin is – is nine hundred eighteen thousand Bitcoin so for those who look at it that method comparing bitcoins of gold that method that they if the if the USA desired to have a 5 point two four percentage of the Bitcoin deliver they’d have to purchase nine hundred and eighteen thousand Bitcoin which I think they would do however that used to be surely uh that may uh that will increase the fee in phrases of fiat quite somewhat one identify but should you if you’re in the Bitcoin if you are into his future you’re going to must consider that these significant banks will want to have equivalent percentages of a Bitcoin as they do of the complete gold supply I imply that’s wonderful stuff for you appear at that chart look at that chart and spot how much each would every country and again you know I united states of america is the top of the chart it has the most gold of the critical banks supposedly however still there’s some other significant numbers on there too how so much Bitcoin they they would need to have the identical in terms of the percentage of gold that they possess in Bitcoin anyway pound that like button bang that Bell button click on those squares if you are looking at this tape i am adam meister the bitcoinmeister the disrupt meister consider to subscribe this channel like this view share this video investigate out the hyperlinks below and day after today our the show perhaps a little bit later i will the ramon crater in the wilderness in israel thanks to 2 bitcoin fans who watch this exhibit and who are tremendous dudes so thanks so much guys i’m looking ahead to putting out with you within the wilderness the next day after which we are going to have a exhibit later on it’s going to be late at night time right here in israel so see you within the chat now guys bye

[rebeccahpedersen]

Help vs. Hinder: A Tale Of Two Agents

TorontoRealtyBlog

Call me soppy and a little naive, but perhaps a “feel-good” story from the real estate trenches will cure what ails you on an otherwise ugly November day.

This past week, I worked on two transactions with two agents who couldn’t have possibly been more different.

One did everything he could to help me and my clients, and the other offered absolutely zero assistance, and got in his own way when it came to potentially completing a deal.

Do unto others, or something.  Right?

I sold a property on Wednesday night, and it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

It was a property that I’d had listed off and on since the spring; a very complicated sale, in a complicated market – for this housing type.

I had been diligently working away over the past two weeks with a cooperating agent who I’ve dealt with before, and with whom I have a mutual respect.

My clients were adamant about obtaining an unconditional offer, and his seller was adamant about knowing that he could get insurance on the property, so we ended up in a stalemate.

The offer on-paper fizzled out long ago, and we were left that a seller that essentially said, “I’ll accept those terms if and when you submit the offer without any conditions,” and a buyer who was basically telling us, “I’m not submitting the offer until I have confirmation of insurance, so you’ll just have to wait.”

And wait, we did.

This property has been listed (this time around) since the day after Labour Day, and what are the odds that on the very day that the cooperating agent calls to tell me his client was able to obtain insurance, another offer was submitted on the house?

Murphy’s Law.

We ended up taking the “other” offer, which was higher, also without conditions, and my colleague from a cooperating brokerage was left spurned.

I felt pretty salty about the whole thing.  He worked his tail off, did everything that was expected of him, and came up empty.

When I called him to deliver the bad news, he told me, “David, it was really a pleasure working with you, and that’s not hollow – that’s the truth.  You’re a consummate professional, and that’s saying something, considering who’s we’re out there trying to do deals with these days.”

It meant a lot, and I felt the exact same way.  It’s part of the reason I felt so bad about him not getting the deal.

There are all kinds of agents in this business, and if you’re a regular reader of Toronto Realty Blog, you know I’m not afraid to describe the various “types.”  I’m also not afraid to call a spade a spade, and detail bad behaviour when I see it.

This past week, I had two completely different experiences, with two different agents, one day after the next.

The first underscores all that’s wrong with our industry, and the second highlights a true “professional” who has been in the business for two decades, and hasn’t changed his approach to customer service one iota.

I showed a condo last weekend in a slightly older building last weekend, and my clients were pretty keen on it.

The price per square foot was fantastic compared to newer comparable resale units, the fees weren’t as high as you would think, for a building of that age, and the renovations needed to the unit were minimal.

One question we did have was with respect to the parking, since there were two parking spaces, but Land Registry was not clear on whether it was one space for two cars, but also about whether or not these spaces were owned, or exclusive use.

In older buildings, many times the parking is “exclusive use,” meaning is common elements by definition, and isn’t owned, per se, by the unit owner.  It’s like your balcony or terrace – this is “exclusive use, common elements,” which means only you can use it, but you don’t legally own it.

I had gone through previous listings in the building, and hadn’t received the clarity I needed on the ownership situation, so I called the property manager.  Unfortunately, the property manager wouldn’t speak with me unless I was a unit owner, so I turned to the listing agent for help.

I called the listing agent – somebody who has been in the business for a while, but who (and I know from looking him up in IMS) is far from a high-volume producer.  6-8 transactions per year, I’m sorry to say, doesn’t build villages.  And in my opinion, it’s agents like this that need to sell condos in order to put money in their pockets, and who do anything, to anybody, to close a deal.

The agent had a rough demeanour from the minute I picked up the phone, and I just had that “feeling” of how this conversation was going to go.

“I showed your unit at XXX Street on the weekend….” I told him.

“Great, where’s my offer?” he asked, interrupting me in mid-thought.

“Right,” I said.  “Well here’s my question: do you know if the two parking spaces are separate??  Because there’s only one actual spot-number painted on the column, and I’m also not sure if the parking is owned or if it’s exclusive use.”

I was just cracking the lid on my morning coffee, so I was in no way prepared for his response.

“What the f*ck do I care?” he asked me.

And then I waited for a follow-up.

“Oh…..kay,” I offered to break the silence.

“Come on, I’m just breaking your balls a bit,” he said, as I hoped he was just being funny.  “But nah, seriously man, I mean what the hell do I care about parking?  There’s two cars down in the garage, right?  A Beamer and a Land Rover to boot, right, so they fit good, and you’re buying this place from good company, because let me tell you, these guys are well off.”

While I’ll concede that mentioning two large cars fit in the spaces is value-add, telling me how rich his clients are, and insinuating that buying from “good company” is of any importance, didn’t really strike a chord with me.

“Well,” I explained, “My clients only have one car, and they want to know if they can sell one space,” I told him.  “I also think there’s something to be said for owning the spaces, versus just having exclusive use, as we’re trying to value this unit versus one in another building.”

He barely let me finish before he interjected, “Nah, nah man, you’re all wrong, right.  None of that matters.  What matters is two cars.  Two cars, man.  That’s it.”

I didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere, so I asked, “Would your seller be able to speak to property management, and allow me to speak with the manager, to get some clarification?  They won’t speak to me unless I’m an owner.”

“Why the f*ck would I do that?” he asked.

There was a long pause as I tried to process things, and he then offered, “I mean, why am I doing you a favour?  What’s in this for us?  You wanna know what’s behind the curtain; what my clients have in their closet.  Why would we offer that kind of information?”

The whole conversation made no sense, so I simply said, “Because I need to know what you’re offering for sale, so my clients can decide what to buy.”

“Nah, nah, nah.  Nope.  It’s not like that,” he said.

We parted ways, and I suggested to my buyer that she call property management, and say that she was looking to buy a condo in the building, and she had a few questions.  Coming from a buyer – and an older, retired lady, nonetheless, perhaps it would be better received.

My buyer called me back shortly thereafter, and told me that the property manager still wouldn’t answer specific questions, but if she wanted to request a status certificate for the unit, she could.

The whole situation was frustrating to say the least, but even more frustrating was the call I got an hour later – from the listing agent.

Unleashing a barrage of curse-words that I haven’t used since high school, he asked, “how dare you call and try to trade on my clients’ names?”

I didn’t even know what that meant, and not much of the rest of the conversation made any sense.

Folks, I know some of you might try to see the “other side” of this, and suggest that, I don’t know, we should make an offer, conditional, and then they can show us whether there’s two parking spaces, and whether they’re owned or exclusive use?

But that doesn’t make any sense.

“Is there a locker with this unit?”

“Yes, there is.”

“Thanks.”

I don’t see how our situation is any different from that.

We ended up looking at a couple more units this past week, one of which we’re in sign-back on as we speak.

It’s too bad.  But perhaps that’s why the other unit has been on the market for 57 days…

The very next day, I was looking at two townhouses with clients who are moving from Mississauga to the downtown core, so they can be closer to work, and so their daughter can attend a speciality school here in the city.

The entire reason for this move was to make life easier, mainly by avoiding a 45-minute daily commute to-and-from work, without losing the comforts of a large house on a wide lot in a family neighbourhood.

We were looking at two townhouses – one downtown, one uptown, and we were really stuck on the parking.

My clients have a 5-car private driveway in Mississauga, and while they’re not crazy about the idea of having ONE parking space here in the central core, they could make it work.

One of my clients would store her car at the Bay/Adelaide centre, because she really only drives the car for client meetings, and on business trips, and doesn’t need the car at home.

My other client would store his car in the garage at the townhouse.

And their older kids would have to use street parking if and when they came home to visit from university.

The townhouse uptown had underground parking, and we measured the opening of the garage, which was 10′ 2″.

The garage itself was probably 16-feet wide, or what real estate agents like to call “one and a half car garage,” but overall, the 10-foot entrance would fit just about any car my clients or their kids would be driving.

The townhouse downtown had a garage, and it looked really tight.

From the first day we visited this property (and we saw it four times!), we kept coming back to the parking space.

Would her car fit?  Would his?

Last week, she tried to do an 14-point turn and manoever her car into the garage, but she wasn’t able.

I told her, “I’ll bet you your kid’s next violin lesson I can get your car in that garage,” to which, she accepted the challenge.

Maybe it was the stick-shift on this luxury automobile, or maybe it was the fact that I felt like I was driving Batman’s car, but I barely got the car out of “Park” before I gave up.

So this past week, we returned to the townhouse, with her husband’s car, to see if he could fit his car in the garage.

But guess what?

When we arrived, we saw the seller’s car in the garage!

And to complicate matters, there was an offer on the property.

We wanted to offer an unconditional offer, but we couldn’t in good conscience make an offer without knowing if a car would fit in the garage.

We measured the entrance at an even 8″ on the nose, which was 2’2″ less than the garage at the uptown-townhouse.

The husband told me, “I can fit the car, no problem,” and the wife said, “I’d have to see it, I really would.”

I can’t say I blame her, and as he hit up Google to compare the turning radius, length, and width of the Toyota Corolla that was currently in the garage, and the Mazda SUV that he owned, I called the listing agent to see what could be done.

As our bad luck would provide for, the sellers had just left for a three-week vacation, and thus they weren’t able to come and move their car.

I begged the listing agent to find a solution, and he spent the better part of an hour speaking with the sellers, their cousin, and their cleaning lady.

After 90 minutes in the property, I left to go to my next appointment, and my buyers headed back to work.

My phone rang, and it was the listing agent.

“I found a key to the car,” he said.  “I’m game to try this thing, if you are.”

I thanked him profusely, and called my clients to see if they could come back to the property.

A half-hour later, the listing agent was moving the sellers’ car, with the cleaning lady’s key, and parking it on the street so my client could test-out the garage.

We watched as he worked the stick-shift like Jacques Villeneuve, and worked the car back-and-forth, back-and-forth, until the car was safely in the garage.

“Got it!” my client exclaimed, after getting out of of the car, smiling, and pounding on the hood of the car.

“But I’ll be damned if I’m going to do this every single morning, for the rest of my life,” he said, as our hopes of making this work came crashing down.

I walked out to the street with the listing agent as he got back in the sellers’ car, and told him how much I appreciated his efforts.

“Well, it’s not like we want this family to buy a house only to find out they don’t like a major feature of it, do we?”

I was amazed.

The listing agent’s actions – helping us with our query, might have cost him an offer, but it underscored the length he would go to work on his seller’s behalf.

And in the end, he wanted to make sure the buyer was happy too.

I can’t think of a time when I’ve had two more different experiences, ironically with the same feature of a piece of real estate (parking), in such a short time period.

It was Ying & Yang.

Night and Day.

Opposite-day, in the world of Toronto real estate.

I’m sorry, folks.  But you catch more flies with honey in this business.  I’m sure you can poke holes in each of these stories if you try really hard, but trust me when I say that there’s only one way to work in this business, if you’re looking for a lengthy, successful career with satisfied clients, repeat business, and no lawsuits…

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