#this 2 year program is now going to take me 4 years and will cost DOUBLE

[stonedporcupine]

Past Due

💚 First Lin Beifong x reader fic y'all !!! 🧡

Slow burn! ❤️‍🔥

All reviews and comments are appreciated;

Will eventually add on Ao3;

Warnings: Violence, little blood.

Chapter 1 Ch 2 - p.1 Ch 2 - p.2 Ch 2 - p. 3 Ch 2 - Part 4 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Y/N´s PoV

Ahhh, Republic City, first time I moved in here about 1 year ago I had a blast. I felt it was about time I got myself away from that hell hole I was supposed to call home…but we don’t talk about that. “Bills are catching up to me…and I´ve got nowhere to run.” I mumble beneath my breath, as I hold a bunch of letters on my hand. The large, thick, red letters with a prominent “Past Due” and “Final Demand” written on each one of them. I feel the unpleasant weight on the pit of my stomach and swallow dryly, shoving the letters aside with a loud exhale. Who knew it cost so much to make it to detective?! I mean, sure hands down it’s the fucking capital city of the United Republic Nations AND one of the largest and most modern cities in the world but Tui and La…ease on the prices!

I look up at the old clock, on the small entry hall of my apartment. “Fuck fuck, shit shit shit!!” I gasp, I am so going to be late to practice. I grab my black jacket, with the fire nation insignia on its back, and my dark matte helmet as I run out the door, down the old elevator, towards the garage. The loud and stressful squeaking of the elevator only heightens my already high cortisol levels. I swear to Raava, one day this shit is going to break down and take the building down with it! Once the old, loud, rusty metal doors of the elevator open I barge right out heading for my perfectly parked satocycle on its assigned place. A gift from Asami and Mr Sato for my hard work for the company. Shoving the helmet in my head, part of my dark messy curled hair hangs out on the bottom. I speed out of the garage, the bike taking off the ground slightly as I go over the bump on the entrance of the parking space, joining the satomobiles on the road with a loud squeak from the wheels of the bike, as I drift to the right.

I can´t be late again! Officer Wang will kill me and probably pull me out of the program, which is a big ass no no. I haven’t come this far just to fuck things up all over again.

Chief Beifong´s PoV

“Officer Song, didn´t I JUST tell you to take the route to Northern Avenue?!” I grumble between gritted teeth at the officer who´s driving. Guess I know who´s driving next time. I mean how much of an imbecile do you have to be to not follow simple orders?! Orders I JUST GAVE!!?? I look at the terrified officer, gripping the wheel of the satomobile as he mumbles and gags on his words. “I- uh- Ch-Chief I just I- I´m sorry I wasn´t paying attention.” He swallows. I remain unimpressed with the attempt of a shitty excuse that was made. “Well focus and listen. You´re not getting paid to sit around, mouth agape listening to the spirits.” I groan loudly at him.

Fear in his eyes officer Song nods his head up and down quickly and practically yells “Yes Chief!”. Just as I was about to tell him to tone it down the loud screech of wheels catches me off guard. Just as I look to my side, a black satocycle with a few red highlights speeds right past us. What the flame-o was that?! Swiftly making its way past traffic the motorcycle speeds away. “Officer Song, catch up to that satocycle, now!!” I practically scream at the officer as he presses the clutch, changes to 4th and speeds up.

Y/N´s PoV

Did I just fucking see what my eyes saw. Did I just speed through a police patrol satomobile?! The loud sirens catching up behind me answer my fears. Well, that´s it. I´m officially fucked. I´m done for life. I´m left with two choices, obey, pull over, pray it´s not the fucking Chief of Police, flirt my way out of this and definitely arrive late for class…or drop it, speed off like a demon, hopefully not get caught or die on the way and…still arrive a little late to class. I groan as my head drops in defeat.

I´m so done with my life.

I signal to the right as I slow down, pulling over. The blaring sirens emitting a last Woop before silencing, as the satomobile pulls right behind me. I turn the motor of the bike off, getting off and standing up, as I hear the doors of the car shutting behind me before a deep female voice sends a shiver down my spine. No, it can´t be. You can´t be serious right now. My eyes wide in fear as I slowly turn around to be met with the most beautiful yet lethal jade eyes I´d ever seen my entire life. Damn, hearing her voice back in headquarters from far away was already…something, but seeing her up close?! Not even The Avatar ,wherever they're at, can save me from this one. It´s the first time I get to see the Chief of Police personally. Sure I´m in the Detective´s Program but we rarely stay in the headquarters where she seemingly lives at. I am snapped back from my thoughts when her striking voice booms through my eardrums. Wait, was she talking? Shit I didn’t hear anything…

“I am talking to you. Take off your helmet, now! I asked you a question, better start speaking.” she says. I didn’t even realise my helmet was still on. I carefully take it off, still in shock at seeing THE Chief Lin Beifong in front of me. My messy, dark hair falls to my shoulders. The, once bright, blood red highlights shining on the sun. “I- uh” I try to speak but nothing comes out. My mouth feels dry, as I lick my lips. I look at the other officer behind her, he seems to be putting a strong façade, but I can see the nervousness behind his eyes. “Don’t stare at my officer! I asked you a question.”

Chief Beifong´s PoV

Oh for fuck sake, she´s slow…is she go- why is her hair painted? It´s not exactly unlikable. I think I´ve seen her, but I can´t recall where from. Why am I staring? WHY IS SHE STARING? “Don’t stare at my officer! I asked you a question.” Her mouth agape, my already visible frown deepens. She has three seconds to answer. 1…2..- “I- uh I´m sorry ma´am- uh Chief. Sorry, could you repeat the question? The uh…helmet was- I don’t think I heard.” I groan rather loudly as I exhale. I clench my jaw, as I breath in. “I asked. Do. You. Know how fast you were going?” I speak slowly and clearly as I cross my arms.

Y/N´s PoV

Spirits…and I thought I was stressed, this woman is going to explode! “I asked. Do. You. Know how fast you were going?” I hear her say loud and clear. So that´s the Beifong scowl people talk about. It´s cute. A little unnerving for those who can´t handle it. “Uh…not fast enough clearly!” I joke to get some tension off the air, but as I look at the Officer behind her, I only see his eyes widen beyond possible. I look back at the Chief and if looks could kill… “Is this a joke to you?! Is endangering other citizens lives a hobby for your entertainment? Clearly you seem to be asking for your license to be revoked.” Her stern voice makes straighten my back. It´s not that I´m afraid of her, but if I want my way out of this I might as well show some class. I clear my throat as I say “I apologize Chief, that was never my intention. I am pretty secure on my driving skills, and I am fully aware of the dangerous action I was doing. In my defence I am in a huge hurry. I´m in the Detective´s Program and I´m just trying to not get kicked out of there, this is my last chance…” I mumble that last part as I rub the back of my neck. Fuck it´s weird to be so verbally polite. I look back up at her to see what kind of reaction I got off of her only to be met with the exact same Beifong scowl as before. Well, that was worth shit. Her gaze is penetrating mine, almost as if she´s analysing me.

Chief Beifong´s PoV

That´s where I know her from. She´s in the Detective´s Program and sometimes wonders in the headquarters, she must be the firebender that Officer Wang told me. What was her name? Just as I am about to ask her, I am interrupted by the blaring sound coming off my radio. “Chief, come in. Over.” I groan in annoyance. Spirits, when do I ever catch a break? “I´m busy, what is it?” my stern and strong voice talks back to the radio. “Chief, we´ve got a Triple Threat Triad attack going on, over at the Eastern Market. We need your assistance. Over.” I look back at the young cadet with a scowl as she smiles back at me. Ugh, why is she smiling?

Y/N´s PoV

I just might make it out of here. I look at the Chief with a smile on my face as she stares back at me, the same Beifong scowl on her face but this time thicker, more prominent. I hear her exhale. “I catch you driving that thing over the speed one more time and I revoke your license and you better not drive it on my watch if you ever make it to detective, which hopefully, you won´t!” I hear her yell at me. Before I can even say anything back, she turns back around heading for the police satomobile. Well, isn´t she charming? Hot…and charming. “Song, move it! I drive.” I hear her yell at the officer. Poor guy, spirits. Though he is lucky he gets to be by her side. Hm, maybe I´ll be lucky enough for that once I´m a detective, which I want more than anything now that she seemed so annoyed by it. I smirk to myself as I think how it would be like to be next to this very angry yet stunning woman all day. Pushing her buttons does seem fun.

I put my helmet back on as I drive away towards the officers’ training site. I do my best to keep the speed on limit but as I look at the time on the satocycle I almost pass out. I am already 10 minutes late. FUCK. I groan loudly as I check my surroundings for any secret police satomobiles as I speed away. The faster I get there, the faster this is all over.

.- Later during practice -.

Y/N´s PoV

Fuck, I´m beat. Wang sure is getting his revenge for my late arrival. We are not many in the Detective´s Training Program and we´ll be even less given there are only two spots available. The majority of the class is all earthbenders, me being the only firebender. Which should make me feel perhaps uneasy or maybe a little scared, but honestly it just makes me feel like a total badass. I mean, hear me out, the only firebender in the troop and I get one of the Detective spots?! How crazy would that be? I´m quickly pulled from my thoughts when I hear that annoying voice once again. “So, Y/L/N, seems like you can give up already and give me my position as Detective.” The man says with a pleased smug on his face. “Why don’t you go bother someone else, Kang?” I groan annoyed as I take a sip from my water. “I´m just saying, as the only firebender you should at least make an effort to arrive in time don’t you think?” He scoffs loudly. I ignore his little stunts as I smirk to myself. “And you should make an effort on brushing your teeth. You got a little something there.” I scoff as I point to my own teeth with a disgusted face. I can visibly see him get red as a smirk makes its way on my lips.

“What´s going on over here? Y/L/N, Kang break is over. Get over here you two.” I hear Officer Wang´s voice yell from the other side of the field. Over? Spirits, I didn’t even have time to piss! I groan as I look at Kang´s smug little face. “Quit your whining and come prove your worth, princess.” I hear him chuckle. Did this cunt just call me, princess?! Now he better pray to Raava I won´t kill him. My blood boiling at the nickname I groan angrily. I have nothing to prove to you, cunt.

“Alright cadets, Y/L/N and Kang you two seemed to be having a nice chat back there. Get sparring, the others watch.” Wang´s voice echoes through the dusty field as I walk towards the centre, Kang right in front of me with that smug still plastered on his face. I scoff to myself.

I am going to wipe the fucking floor with you.

Once I see Officer Wang´s hand signal us to begin Kang wastes no time and throws a large piece of boulder at me, I swiftly avoid it, turning my body sideways and leaning slightly backwards. Just as quick as that boulder came at me I 360º my body, lowering myself to the dusty floor my right leg pushes forwards as a small wave of fire strikes all the dust away and forces Kang backwards. Before he can react, I get back up and briskly uppercut him in the jaw getting a loud grunt from him. How ´ s that for a princess? I don’t let my guard down knowing this isn´t over until Officer Wang decides. My arms close to my ribs and fists closed tightly near my face I watch Kang´s movements attentively, guessing his next move as he cracks his neck and smugly says “That all you got?” I roll my eyes as I stare at him through my eyebrows. Kang´s right leg rises and hits the ground, making it shake in an attempt to shake me off my feet. I use my fire propulsion to elevate myself from the ground slightly to lower the impact, flying over him and landing on the ground behind him. Before he has even time to acknowledge where I went, I lower kick his leg, spinning my body after the hit to gain power and land a higher kick to his arm which was protecting his ribs. I hear him grunt and groan in discomfort and anger as he throws a punch to my face. I quickly dodge downwards, pulling the same first move by pushing my leg outwards and kicking Kang´s body to the ground. He hits the ground with a loud thud, dust setting in the air around us, I look over at Office Wang to know if it was over yet, but Kang takes my short distraction as a chance. His body still on the floor, he raises his arm and the piece of boulder I was standing on goes flying with me in it. Throwing me through the air and across the field as I land on the ground, rolling over due to the speed I was thrown, getting a few scratches and dirt all over me. I breath loudly as the dust covers my sight, relying on my hearing I hear the rumbling sound of the earth beneath me as I look ahead and see a wave coming from the ground. I barely have time to react, my eyes widening, as I dodge to the right but not fast enough. My left shoulder caught on the edge of the rock-wave as I stumble backwards. I don’t fall, my feet sliding backwards with the dust as I grip my shoulder and wince in pain. Fuck! This bastard almost dislocated my shoulder. I sway my arms in the air and push them outwards as a thin wave of flames pushes the dust away, finally allowing me to see Kang. Does he ever stop smirking? I run towards him as he sends two fat boulders my way, I lower myself, dragging my body through the ground as I avoid the boulders. I get back up quickly and jump, using my fire propulsion to help me gain height. I see Kang´s eyes widen as I stretch my leg down, my foot coming at high speed in contact with his face. He barely has time to register what happened before his body jerks downwards with the force of the hit. Faceplanting on the floor with a loud thud and grunt he stays there, the dust on the ground escaping sideways from us. “Who´s the princess now Kang?” I whisper smugly on his ear as I stand up and hear Officer Wang´s annoyed voice “Alright that´s enough of it. Get here you two.” Is he mad that Kang didn’t beat my ass? Why is it that nobody wants me to succeed?! “You fucking bitch…” I hear Kang grunt between gritted teeth as he gets up. I smirk proudly to myself, “What´s wrong? Hurts much?”. I hear Kang scoff loudly, “Barely feel it.”, pfff yeah right.

We walk backwards towards Officer Wang and the rest of the trainees. “Alright, as you know our program is coming to an end. We have two detective positions open and there are ten of you. Being Detective is no easy job, that is why there is a final exam in five days. Me and Chief Beifong will be deciding on who gets the job positions and who goes out.” No. Fucking. Way. Now I know for sure I won´t make it to Detective! Beifong and I were already off to a bad start this morning! She said it herself; she doesn’t want me to make it to Detective! “…Final Exam will be set in two parts. In the morning you will have the written exam, to make sure you actually listened to what was taught these past few months, and, in the afternoon, it will be a competitive sparring. Just like Kang and Y/L/N did, except the first one to fall is automatically disqualified.” Written exam? What is this, fucking high school?! Ugh, I better not be paired with Kang. “That´s it for today cadets, see you tomorrow at 9am sharp.” Officer Wang glances at me sideways as I mouth a ´sorry` silently. “Y/L/N, hit the showers in the headquarters, your shoulder is bleeding.” Officer Wang says with a hint of despise on his tone. Spirits, sorry I´m not made of fucking metal. I didn’t even notice I was bleeding. I look at my shoulder and notice the few reddened scratches and a small trickle of blood coming out. I hear Kang snicker next to me. The fuck are you smirking about? “Your nose also looks like shit Kang, but I guess a shower can´t fix that for you.” I smirk as I grab my towel, shoving it over my shoulder and heading back inside the headquarters before he can say anything.

My body is covered in dust and sweat; my defined muscular arms filled with small little scratches from rolling on the ground. My once black tank top also covered in a light brownish dusty substance. Gosh do I need a shower…My body is killing me. I pass through the Officer I saw with the Chief in the morning. Shit, she´s probably close by. I rush my way to the showers as to avoid her. It´s not that I don’t want to see her. Spirits know how much I´d pay to see those penetrating jade eyes of hers. But I don’t want her to see me while I look like shit…and probably smell like one too.

Chief Beifong´s PoV

As I am filing down some more reports and going over them, I hear grunts and noises from outside. Annoyed at the disturbance I get up from my chair with a sigh as I look over the window. Must be Wang training the cadets. Seeing the training field, I stare at one of the male cadets throwing boulders and another one dodging them out. Trying to figure who the other one is, I squint my eyes. The amount of dust surrounding them makes it hard, but the worn-out red highlights and the distinctive fire coming from the body allows me to figure out who it is already. It´s that speeding satocycle cadet I caught this morning. I observe them as I see the male cadet shake the ground, a wave heading towards her. But there´s too much dust for her to see anything at all. Fuck even I am struggling to keep up with what is going on. She dodges it but seemingly not totally. “That’s a nasty hit…” I mumble to myself. But she does seem to handle it…quite nicely I must say. Spirits, I´m staring again. I shake my head and groan in annoyance but am quickly distracted by the fire coming off her feet. Fire propulsion, that’s useful. I stare as she lands a powerful hit on the male cadets’ face. That´s going to leave a mark. I guess…she´s not that…bad. Whatever. If she´s to make it to Detective she´s supposed to be, at least, useful. I turn away and decide to head downstairs to check how Song is getting along with the other files. He´s not in the Detective´s Program, but he has some…potential, I cannot deny that.

“Officer Song, how are those files coming along?” I see him tremble underneath his armour. “Uh- well, Chief. It seems that the Triple Threat Triads crimes are lowering in amount…” I scoff. Sure, but they are not getting any easier to deal with. Song continues talking but I barely catch what he is saying as I look over his shoulder and notice the firebender cadet. She´s all dirty. Bunch of scratches in her shoulder too…bummer. She can deal with it. I think to myself, but yet, I can´t seem to find an explanation as to why I feel so drawn towards her. I shake these thoughts away and refocus on Officer Song. “…So, I guess that is pretty good right, Chief?” What´s pretty good? Shit, I didn’t hear. “Uhm yes, yes, it is. Now, get back to work Officer.” I clear my throat as I make my way back to my office. Sitting down on my chair I exhale, looking up at the pile of files and papers to read and fill in. Spirits I´m exhausted. I get started against my will. It´s going to be a long night, I might as well get it over with. After some time of insufferable writing, scribbling, and scratching I hear a knock on the door. I look up from the papers as I catch a glimpse of the clock and then stare at the door. It´s 10pm who the fuck is still in here?

“Uh, Chief, can I come in?" Is that- What is she doing here?

[lonniemachin]

Nagham reached out to me to help share her family's fundraiser. Yasmeen Ouda is urgently raising money to evacuate her family from Gaza to Canada. They have currently only made $13,850 CAD out of their $50,000 goal, a little under 1/4th of the way there! Please donate and share, and if you can't donate, please still share!

Yasmeen's Twitter/X account: @Jasmeen217

From Yasmeen's GFM:

Hi everyone,

My name is Yasmeen Ouda, I am Palestinian born and raised in Gaza city, I moved to London Ontario 4 years ago with my husband. I am raising this fund to help my family flee the war and come safely to Canada and reunite with me and my kids again.

I'm writing to you at a really critical and urgent moment. Presently, my family is in Gaza and is dealing with unspeakable conditions. My family and I are fervently requesting your assistance so that we can help them flee to safety and reunite with me in Canada. I live in Canada with my 2 kids , yet I feel like I'm thousands of miles away from my family and are helpless to stop the suffering caused by ongoing aggression in Gaza. The situation is getting worse every day, and I worry about their safety.

I've been putting my family before myself since the beginning of the war. My heart shatters into even more pieces and hurts more each time I say this but they have already made evacuations inside Gaza with no safe place to go to. They didn’t manage to take any of their belongings except some clothes and important documents as the Israeli occupation forced them to evacuate immediately. Even by evacuating to the safe area as the Israeli claims they have witnessed so many bombs and death everywhere but they have miraculously survived each time.

Recently, Canada announced a program stating that immediate families of Palestinians with Canadian citizenship or permanent residency will be eligible to remain in Canada for three years in a move designed to bring them to safety while war rages in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.

I was overjoyed to hear this news because it gave me hope that, after this extremely difficult period, I would be reunited with my family. However, my joy was tinged with bitterness since I knew that they would not be able to pay for the rent or even the exorbitant living expenses in Canada

My brother is expecting his first child in May 2024 , after 1 year of marriage. he is very worried about this baby after having one miscarriage before and wish to take his wife and baby to safety but he won't be able to afford the costs of the delivery in Canada or even provide for his baby's needs at least for a while until he settles down and finds a job.

My sister is a 4th year medical student, she is studying in the Islamic university of Gaza. She's passionate about her major and dreaming of becoming a doctor but the Israeli occupation has shattered her dream into pieces when they bombed the university and turned it into aches. Now, she has a new opportunity to fulfill her dream again here in Canada, but studying in Canada is expensive and she will never make it without your help and support.

It is extremely difficult and demanding to start over in a new country without any savings, especially for people who are already fleeing the war and have nothing left for them. However, you may assist them by helping them with the initial steps of their new journey.

Your support, no matter how small the contribution, means more than mere financial aid. It's an expression of your solidarity, compassion, and humanity, granting her a chance at a new, secure life .Together, we can make a difference, rebuilding a life and dreams from scratch. Each donation, regardless of size, contributes to their new start.

[justsayyesmiss]

TRANS RIGHTS

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

A white woman with a white tank top and pink hair leans into frame, her elbow over the lower panel border, waving to the reader.

LUCY:

Hi. I’m Lucy. That’s not my real name, and this isn’t what I look like. But that’s fine, because while this is my story…

LUCY:

It’s one that thousands of other trans people have lived through, at least a little bit. It’s our story too.

Panel 2

A map of the United States. States colored in red are those with anti-trans laws on the books. Those states are: New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.

LUCY:

I’m here to tell you how nightmarish Project 2025 will be for trans lives. Before we get to the main event, let me set the stage.

LUCY:

I’ve been out and medically transitioning as a trans woman for several years. It costs me thousands of dollars in medical expenses each year.

LUCY:

Also had to flee my home state due to bigoted laws, and faced discrimination everywhere from my own family to my job.

Panel 3

Lucy holds up up a giant textbook-sized printed copy of Project 2025. Her expression is one of outrage.

LUCY:

It’s pretty bad. And if Trump gets reelected and Project 2025 is brought into action, it’s only going to get much worse.

LUCY:

“Transgender,” “Gender Identity” and “Biological Sex” are used over thirty times in this Phone Book of Hate, so I’m going to keep it simple.

LUCY:

Three policies. Just three. That’s all they need.

Panel 4

Lucy sits at a computer, typing away. She looks over her shoulder at the reader.

LUCY:

Let’s start at the top. Page five. “Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology.”

LUCY:

Any trans person’s story would be labeled as pornography. Our lives. Our experiences. Every part of us.

LUCY:

Immediately followed by, “Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.”

LUCY:

I think you can see where this is going…

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Lucy sits on a cot in a prison, hugging herself in despair.

LUCY:

That means that any trans person talking about their transition could be imprisoned. Every statement about our lives, a potential offense.

LUCY:

Hell, the story you’re reading right now would qualify.

Panel 2

Lucy stands behind a counter with a cash register in front of her, ready to scan a bag of chips on the conveyer belt. She looks annoyed and exhausted.

LUCY:

Next. “Rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of […] gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics.” Page 584.

LUCY:

Paired with page 495, “a general statement of policy specifying that it will not enforce any prohibition on […] gender identity discrimination” it paints a picture.

LUCY:

Discrimination towards trans people at places like their jobs will be fully legal, leaving us open to unmitigated harassment and hate.

Panel 3

Lucy is curled up in a ball, looking small, looking like she’s just finished crying her eyes out and is just empty.

LUCY:

Page 485. “Withdraw all guidance encouraging Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program service providers to provide controversial “gender transition” procedures or “gender-affirming care”.

LUCY:

Page 462. “Fund studies into the short-term and long-term negative effects of crosssex interventions, including “affirmation,” puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries.”

LUCY:

Page…take your pick. There’s a dozen more.

Panel 4

Lucy, still running on empty, holds a vial of Estradiol in her fingers and stares at it. It’s nearly empty.

LUCY:

By cutting federal funding from any medical facility that offers trans healthcare, and standing against it as official policy…

LUCY:

Hormones and gender care will become almost impossible to find. For those of us who are already on them, it’ll wreak havoc.

LUCY:

Our mental health. Our bodies. Damage that will ruin lives. And for trans folks who can no longer produce a safe level of hormones…

Panel 5

Lucy looks right at the reader, her expression serious and angry.

LUCY:

It could kill them.

Panel 6

Lucy sits cross-legged on the floor, pointing directly at the reader.

LUCY:

I know there’s a lot to keep track of. I haven’t even covered all the anti-trans proposals in Project 2025. If you take nothing else from here , take this:

LUCY:

For transgender people across America, defeating Trump and Project 2025 isn’t just a political race.

LUCY:

It’s a fight for survival. And we need all of you fighting with us.

https://stopproject2025comic.org/comic/anti-trans_discrimination/

[plottwiststudios]

Women of Xal II Kickstarter: Delayed?

Hey, have you heard of the overly ambitious visual novel titled "Women of Xal" for Steam and Itch.io? (PC/Mac/Linux) Because that plays into why we might need to shelf the series for a few years. Full breakdown under the cut. (No spoilers)

For those who have gotten the True Ending, you should be fully aware that the story is about to vastly expand outside of Xuna's castle. It's a narrative must where everything that happens, happens well outside the scope of the original game in so many ways. And let's talk about scope! Especially if you have no idea what's so staggering about the original Women of Xal visual novel:

600+ optional choices we painstakingly programmed

Branching paths that people are still asking for guides on

A dozen romance options

Poly and gay options that interact with one another

Voice acting from now VERY popular voice actors

A 15 hour story full of mystery, lore, and tense politics

110 track soundtrack

4 Endings

Animations

Thousands of art assets (Bless Cat)

Years of hard work and long nights

No AI Art

100% positive reviews as of this post

Recouped $6000+, or roughly a fraction of the cost of development. After 2+ years of being released

Note that very last bullet point. Doing things for the art and passion is amazing and all, but I can't be investing literal thousands of hours into creating a game for a subset of a subset of a subset of people. I have bigger projects I want to finally get to work on. Ones I really hoped Women of Xal I would help a bit with funding. But it's not. And because of certain facts about the game, it may never be able to do so. To no fault of any of the players.

When I made Women of Xal I, my time was more readily available and I was quite a bit younger. The cost of running a company and creating a game like WoX as the first product hadn't quite hit me. I was also silly enough to believe "if you make it, they will come" to a degree. That part makes me grin in a not fun way.

But these days I have a job that takes me away from creating, but does pay the bills and debts. Debts I don't want to get into again in order to create the sequel that will undoubtedly come with far higher costs due to the game's scope. I have a better understanding of the costs of hiring returning and appropriate talent necessary to create a game better than the last. (I don't personally believe in being satisfied with an intentional steep downgrade.)

Yes there is the Kickstarter option for Women of Xal II, but there are plenty of costs and time investment that makes it an unviable avenue to explore during this point in time. After all, who but the people who sat down and explored everything the first game had to offer would understand how we came up with a $50,000 Kickstarter price tag for a visual novel's sequel? Especially since too many will look at the first Kickstarter and believe we made the first game with only $14,000.

I have thought about giving Women of Xal I a modernized facelift with a smaller Kickstarter, complete with a ton of new features and fun ways to streamline and highlight the narration's strong points, but there's a LOT of baggage that comes with that, including not wanting to go backwards when I still want to create my "pipe dream" projects.

So I'm thinking we'll give it a bit more thought these next few days, and if we can't think of a solution that we haven't already tried, we'll officially announce the delay (and before you suggest your own ideas, know that there's a 99% chance we've already tried it).

A long, long post just to say I do sincerely apologize for having people wait longer, but I am literally still a few thousand dollars away from paying off all my debt that came from funding the first game. It's a micro-trauma I do not feel inclined to repeating again. When the franchise is in a better place, or I am emotionally/physically, I will return back to Women of Xal to finish the story. If I cannot, I will release a summary of events that transpire after the first game's true ending.

But for now, I'm going to focus on financial and emotional healing, and creating projects that I feel will be more appreciated by both myself and people who are turned off by what "Women of Xal" offers.

Thank you all for supporting our small company these past several years. <3

-John

[lost-spoons]

I'm honestly not sure if I've mentioned this on here before, but here we go.

I've been looking into getting a service dog for a few years. What breed would be best for the tasks I need, if I should get a program trained dog or if I should owner train, what it costs to get said service dog and anything they need or would like, how to take care of a dog, what are the laws around service dog prospects and housing, what are the laws for service dogs, etc. etc.

Up until now, it's all been more of a thought experiment than anything else because my father established a "No Dogs Under My Roof" policy a long time ago, and despite a service dog being medical equipment, the answer to if I could get one is a hard "Not Under My Roof"

But! We're finally down to the last year or two of community college before I transfer to a 4 year where I'll be living on my own and can thus get a dog. So I'll be looking into breeders to see what their wait lists are like and check to make sure the breeder I decide to go with is actually an ethical breeder.

I've debated on breeds for a while. Poodles are hypoallergenic but require a lot of hair maintenance and will matte up fairly quickly if I forget to brush them due to a flare-up, so they're a no. Doberman seemed like a good fit as they met most of my requirements. However, I was informed that they're a velcro breed that are very protective, which makes sense since they are breed to be guard dogs, but that doesn't work if i need a strangers help. Goldens and labs are quite similar in most things regarding my list of requirements but didn't end up being my final choice.

I've decided to go with German Shepherds for the breed, as I need mobility, medical alert, and psychiatric tasks. That's quite a bit for one dog, but German Shepherds are breed specifically to be working dogs with varying jobs, so while I'll need to be careful with training to keep them from burning out as a puppy, they're my best bet.

I've decided on owner training supplemented with a professional trainer's support/assistance.

The mobility tasks in question aren't weight bareing, and even if they were, I'm aware that type of training doesn't start before the vet okays it around 2 or so years old. Sometimes, my vision stops working, or I'll get horribe brain fog making me very confused, and I can't bend down to pick things up off the floor unless I'm sitting, so think along those lines for mobility tasks.

The medical alert is for POTS and maybe migraines. I'm not sure how migraine alerts work yet, i still need to look into that one, but I know how to do the POTS ones.

The psychiatric tasks are to tell me if I'm displaying anxious habits cause I don't notice them and can't feel when I am due to a disconnect in my brain from physical reaction and emotional reaction. I react physically but can't emotionally, which means i can have the bodily reaction of a panic attack and all the issues that creates but I think im perfectly fine. Which is oh so fun to deal with (can you hear the sarcasm?) Plus a few other things I don't feel like sharing that I need help with.

If anyone has anything helpful to add, please do. I've looked into things, but research can only get you so far

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Life in China Observations #4

It's been a while since I last did this, so let's go again!

Identity is complicated The question "where are you from" can be just as complicated as it is simple. For many people, their country of birth is where they're from, which is usually the case here. However, if you happen to be born in country A to parents from cultures B and C, immigrated and became a citizen of country D and now attend university in country E and are now on an exchange program in China, the question "where are you from" is not that easily answered. From what some of my friends told me, where you're from is actually the place where your dad was born in even though you may have been born in a different city which is a pretty interesting concept known as the "ancestral home" - 祖籍 (zǔjí) or 籍贯 (jígùan).

You have to make the first step I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but people are constantly doing something and unless you specifically and intentionally reach out and work on your friendship, you may end up drifting apart. Maybe this is a specific thing, but back home I could go a few weeks without really reaching out to my friends and then someone would suggest grabbing lunch together and it would be like no time had passed at all since we last saw each other. Here? Quite different.

Beauty and pop trends There are all sorts of weird and wonderful trends that you can come across in China. From using bread as a study tactic to decorating your workplace with banana plants, I feel like the more I assimilate here, the bigger the reverse culture shock will be when I go back home, and not just for me. dr.candiselin covers some of these trends on Instagram (not a promo post!), and I recommend checking out her content, it's quite brilliant.

Taobao You can buy anything on taobao. Literally. I saw someone selling a house there. I was previously a little shocked to see animals such as cats and bunnies being sold, but after seeing houses and cars being sold I honestly don't know what else is there to surprise me with.

Prepare in advance (foodwise) for the lunar new year During those 8-12ish days during the holdiays a lot of stores were closed. The convenience store outside my campus was open thank God, because otherwise I would have been living on instant porridge and instant soup which was my main food source 2 weeks prior due to being ill and there is only so much instant oatmeal that you can eat before slightly losing it.

Being ill is a nightmare And I mean the mandatory-bed-rest-no-going-out-for-at-least-5-days ill kind. You need to go to the hospital or a clinic to get a note to give to your school otherwise the day's you're absent will be counted, and once they reach a specific percentage you won't be allowed to take the exam (which can seriously mess with your grades, even more if you're there as an exchange student).

The weather can change at the blink of an eye I remember back in December the weather was in the negative digits and then suddenly the next day it was around 20 celcius?? The very next day it went to 3-4, and even now in March it's very all over the place. The weather forecast is not that useful because I'll leave the dorms wearing my coat in the morning only to return carrying my coat, jumper, long-sleeved shirt and wearing only my t-shirt.

More affordable beauty products I saw some products go for around $80 online?? And here on Taobao they cost under $10? I'm assuming it's the shipping costs that drive up the price so drastically, and now I'm pondering whether it would be cheaper to order online or to travel to China every couple of years just to stock up on beauty products.

[bivouacrecording]

The Instrument : Part 2: Components

<- Go to Part 1

Cables

The veins and arteries. As is tradition with any new idea I have, I make new cables. Mostly because the cables I made previously were all custom that the lengths or connectors just cannot be used anywhere else. Coming off of the relay box, I kept the solder gun warm and went straight into making cables. I used Canare wires and Yongsheng connectors. Easy to source for me and good quality.

I never made a MIDI cable before and believe me, they look really beautiful with these metal connectors (see above).

I made a total of 37 analog/midi cables.

I also made:

Four 10 pin remote control cables for the Revox units.

One 15 pin extension cable for the Fostex D2424

One DB25 AES I/O cable for communication between the DM1000 and SPX units.

This makes a grand total of 43 finished cables, 93 connectors, and about 90 meters of cable. All93 heat shrunk and perfectly made. 93

You can b93elieve me when I say 93 that I was counting 93down Every. Last. One. 9.3.

Phew. 93

Of course after you finish with something, you always think of how it could be better. After connecting it all up, I am really wanting to have a more polychromatic palette of cables rather than just a rat's nest of black (boring). Maybe I can sell the black cables and make a more colorful back-end (gulp).

MOTU Midi Express XT

So now I needed something to manage the MIDI messages between all of my equipment. I have used MOTU software and hardware for 20 years and their MIDI patchbays were always affordable and reliable so I found a used one for a reasonable price and wired it up. 

In my research I found this article and decided MOTU was the way to go.

RME Digiface USB

Connecting the DM1000 to the computer took a bit of consideration.  I knew that once the audio was converted in the DM1000, I wanted it to stay in the digital domain wherever it went until it was output again. So I needed a multichannel USB interface that didn't take up another rack space and had a reasonable cost. I didn't need any other preamps or other extra things, just a digital I/O. The RME was the best solution and had the best reputation. This was the only thing that I bought new.

The DIGIface has 32 digital I/O via 4 banks of ADAT I/O which allows me to input/output sound from the computer (to the recorders) and manage the audio routings throughout the instrument using the included RME TotalMIX software. Every single connection was used like it was made just for this.

Tech 21 NYC Midi Mongoose

A small MIDI foot pedal that can output 128 MIDI program change messages. So far I have programmed it to start the Freeze layer playback in each internal effect. The foot pedal is a bit fiddly when you want to go from say, 3 to 65, but it should make you arrange the programs in such a way that makes it easier for you. To make it more dynamic and user friendly, I will program more functions in the MIDI translator program.

Speaking of which...

Computer and Software

This is the climax of this post. At least for me. Best take a seat for this one. <br><br>

Welcome to the Brain. The computer exclusively manages all MIDI and audio routing.  For the MIDI translator, I use Bome MIDI Translator PRO (BMT). An amazing program that allows you to translate anything to anything (really, i mean it) and more.

I hired the Bome forum moderator, Steve Caldwell, to help me make a program using BMT that remembered the fader, button, and knob positions between each USER DEFINED layer on both REMOTE layers. The USER DEFINED layer on the DM1000 has 4 banks but they are only overlays that are meant to be used one at a time. With this custom program, I now have a total of 8 INDEPENDENT banks over two REMOTE layers (384 controls total) that can be recalled with a button press and be used to control anything via MIDI. This was not how Yamaha intended it but this is the kind of power MIDI can have.  This rack mountable DM1000 just got a whole lot BIGGER.

[Techie side note: The only drawback for this is that you cannot exclude (Recall Safe) these faders from a scene change like you can for the top level faders. Still searching for a solution or workaround...]

As an example, I mapped all of the parameters of each SPX2000 unit AND all 4 internal effects to the faders and knobs allowing live control of multiple parameters at the same time in any combination using BMT. The controls can also be automated with the internal automation on the DM1000. The sky's the limit.

I should add that even on the top layers, each control for the audio channels 1-48 (faders, knobs,  buttons) can be used exclusively as a MIDI controller (no audio thru the channel) or mixed together (MIDI fader next to an audio fader) side by side, as desired. For example, I am using faders 9-16 to exclusively send MIDI messages to control the A77s (for now). Additional buttons (72 buttons) can be programmed on the USER DEFINED KEYS section. So taking all of this into account, you can have a grand total of 600 controls* for other MIDI instruments from a single console. (Not counting all the other function buttons on the console that transmit MIDI. Even the headphone level knob sends MIDI!)

* Note: I think there is a limit with the amount of unique MIDI messages that can be programmed, but using BMT you can program a computer keystroke to control software, use SysEx, and so on.

Studio

Okokok. Deep breaths.

I had to get some furniture to put all this stuff. I had a custom table made per my specifications and  got rid of all the old furniture (green desk).  For monitors, I bought a pair of JBL Studio 2 speakers. These are powered by my old, underused Yamaha Hi-fi amplifier (RX-V357) and subwoofer that I woke up after a very long, dusty, moldy, sleep in storage.

The JBL speakers are designed to be recessed in a wall but I custom made an aluminum enclosure for them and hung them on speaker wall mounts. This was a cost saving measure but also a space saving one, as these speakers are not as expensive, deep, and boxy as a typical monitor.

I opted for a standing studio to practice a 'live' performance. After so much soldering, I really didn't mind standing and its good practice for the future. I found I move faster that way, though I do have to take breaks more often. I had to put the DM1000 on sturdy packing paper boards to prop it up.

Sonosax Mini R82

My trusty Sonosax. This and my other recorders, are the breath that give this instrument life. I don't create sound.

I made a new custom cable that connects to the digital stereo out of the DM1000 for quick sketches and stereo recordings. At the end of the day I take it on the road to listen to the daily recordings and take notes.

Fostex D2424 LV

Last but not least. This was the last thing I bought. It was pretty much a new unit and very reasonably priced for a 24-track recorder. I only needed to get a compatible HD, replace the lithium battery, and change the FAN which was SO noisy. I replaced it with a Noctua NF-A8 ULN (Ultra low noise) and now it lives silently under my desk. If you have one of these HD recorder units, I HIGHLY recommend this upgrade. I found out that the reason that the fans are so loud is because the unit does not have a thermometer that regulates fan speed. So the fans are just running at its maximum speed all the time, hence all the noise. With research, I found that the Noctua was one of the quietest fans on the market at its highest RPM.

I remember these Fostex units way back when and it was the remote that caught my eye. All of the controls and display are contained in a removable unit that can be extended and used as a remote control. I contacted Fostex and their great customer service answered any questions I had with this long discontinued unit. I have my eye on another one just for parts for the future.

The D24 + DM1000 will essentially be my DAW. To tell you the truth I have been on the fence about using this. On one hand it's a solid piece of equipment. On the other its discontinued. I reassure myself saying that many people still use vintage synths so this should be no different, no? I assume, vintage synth owners always have something in the back of their mind hoping that their synth doesn't die before they sell it. Even the A77 has a better chance of lasting longer than this unit (and it has). By using a computer it will be future proof but it also has its shortcomings. In any case, since the DIGIface is managing the audio via my computer, I can also use my DAW to playback and record files if needed. I guess it is reassuring that these equipment are built within their capabilities so there will be fewer surprises during use. I have evolved to embrace and enjoy the fleeting nature of sound, maybe I should also embrace and enjoy the finite life of recording equipment.

There is some housekeeping that needs to be done with this machine. The HD is cloned to another one after each session and also backed up on a computer. NOS compatible hard drives for the unit are still easily bought at the moment. I'd better stock up. The manual is very extensive and a little crazy at times, but easy to read. Once you start using it, it gets pretty easy and there is just something about pressing a physical click-y button that just makes things more fun. The audio can also be recorded in real time to a DAW.

One thing is that new HDs need to be formatted in the unit before use. This takes FOREVER. 160 GB took about 12 hours to format. So its best to format all your HD ahead of time to save time. I probably didn't need to get the 160GB HD. I think 40 or 80 GB would have been more than enough for me.

Special Mention:

Deity V-Lav Microphones

In my recent recording tests, I realized that although you can hear the tape machines in a 'live' setting, you miss this experience in the audio recording. This means you cannot distinguish the edits recorded to the tape and the edits made by stopping/ starting the machine. I tried several options from mounting microphones on stands, or on the desktop but they were in my way and were going to be pretty expensive if I got 4 of them. I needed a smaller, affordable solution.

I had made some videos for Deity a few years ago and they gave me a sampler of all their microphones at the time to try out. The D2 and D3 are great short shotgun microphones and great for field recording. They also gave me one V-Lav and I was amazed how easy it was to use. Its built-in 'smart' power supply means you can plug it anywhere which is great because some pro lavaliers usually require a 10V phantom supply via a special adapter.  I gave my contacts at Deity a ring and asked if I could have some more for my new sound project. They graciously sponsored 3 more microphones and D-XLR adapters for the project. Now the recordings all have the tape machine sounds which indicate stop/start of the audio and a sense of movement. I know you haven't heard any sounds yet but trust me it is just the right touch.

Which brings us back to...

Today. One year after our journey, and the beginning of a new one. As you can see the amount of thought and hours put into creating this instrument were many but worth it. I feel that it is truly an extension of me and reflects the way I think and move.

Stay tuned for sounds, articles, and videos of how this instrument evolves as well as a more in depth look at how I configure my components and creation process.

Thanks for reading!

In Winter 2021 I was able to finally present this instrument to the public during the Vital performance in Shanghai. Read about it here.

[eurothug4000]

INTERVIEW WITH TAKAYUKI YANAGIHORI - DIRECTOR ON PHASE PARADOX PS2

As I was researching the Japan exclusive PS2 game Phase Paradox (sequel to Philosoma on the PS1), I quickly realised there's very little information available on this sci-fi horror game. Thankfully, the director of Phase Paradox responded to me and I was able to learn more about this obscure title which I'd like to share!

Takayuki: First, let me introduce myself. I started my career as a game developer at Sega, then at SCE (now SIE) and Microsoft. After that, I started my own small studio and am still making games. This time I developed PHASEPARADOX, which was originally a survival horror game for PS1, but changed to an adventure game for PS2.

You mentioned to me that the game was difficult work, what parts of development were challenging? How many years did development take?

The most important thing is that it was an early PS2 title. There was a lack of development equipment, and it was difficult to tell whether bugs were caused by the program or the development equipment, and PS2 development itself was difficult. We also had to handle a large amount of CG, which was very difficult because it was still the 1990s and the CG tools and techniques were not yet up to scratch.

As for the development period, I was in charge for 4 years, but I heard that it took about 2 years before that. (I heard that the game had already been playable on PS1.)

In contrast, what parts of development were the most enjoyable for you?

Game development is always fun. Creating assets using 3DCG, which was the state-of-the-art at that time, building a worldview in accordance with science fiction research, setting scenarios and characters, etc., all of it was both painful and enjoyable.

I was inspired to try new things.

Were there any movies or video games that were a big influence for Phase Paradox? For example, Massimo's character reminded me a lot of Ron Perlman and Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The original idea was to create a "Resident Evil" game based on the world of the "ALIEN" movie. I incorporated a lot of my knowledge of game design and movies into the project.

As you said, the character of Massimo is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jude Sutcliffe is Michael Pare. All the other characters have Hollywood star models. I think it was allowed because it was then, but it is not now, lol. The game part was based on Movie Adventure.

The cast for the game is very impressive! Since the voices are in English, was the game planned for worldwide release?

Yes, it was supposed to be a big seller all over the world. However, it was cancelled due to the short playing time and the lack of gameplay. The voice recording was done in L.A.

The presidential election was taking place at the time of recording, and I remember the staff saying to me, "You are in the U.S. on a historic day”.

I love the design of the environments. There are many rooms (like the arcade) that have a very unique and detailed appearance. Did a lot of work go into creating the interior of the Gallant? What were some of the inspirations behind the designs?

The artwork was done by Matsushima-san, continuing from Philosoma. This person has experience working on costumes for the Ultraman series at Bandai, and he drew the foundation of the world, the art settings, and all the original drawings.

Phase Paradox is a sequel to Philosoma. Was it difficult to make a game with a fictional world and characters that were already established? Or did this make work easier?

As I mentioned in 5, it was not difficult for me to continue with Mr. Matsushima. Rather, I enjoyed it very much because I was allowed to add my favorite SF essence to Philosoma.

Do you remember any features that you and the team wanted to include in the game, but maybe couldn't because of time or cost?

Action game elements, mini-games, more options. I am very disappointed. But I think if we had included these elements, we would still be making them, lol. How many more years would have been needed?

At the time, we abandoned the idea of calculating or thinking about that number. We concentrated only on completing it.

What did you and the team want to achieve with Phase Paradox? It feels like a very "cinematic" game, was this rare with games at the time?

The result was a common movie game, but rather than a cinematic part of the game, we were aiming for an innovative adventure game where the situation changes depending on the choices you make.

I was aiming for something like "Detroit: Become Human", if I may say so now in the 21st century. Every time I play that game, I feel strongly about it.

As a final product, what are your personal thoughts on Phase Paradox?

It was a lousy performance, is all I can say. I have always regretted that it was worth it to spend so much money and market value to bring a game with only graphics to the world.

Is there anything else you'd like to share about working on the game? Any strong memories or interesting facts?

As I wrote in #8, I was aiming for a groundbreaking, new game, but I have nothing but regrets about developing on new hardware, not being able to devote the effort to gameplay due to my focus on graphics, and being buried and truncated in various ways by a large amount of work.

More than 20 years have passed and I have sealed my memory, but when I recall it like this, I feel more proud than ashamed, feeling that I was young and ambitious.

Thank you very much.

What are you working on currently?

I am currently making a soccer game at GADE inc.

One is a blockchain game. The other is a 3D action soccer game. I am working on both of them to get rid of my dissatisfaction and regret of the action soccer game I made in Sega.

I am proud to say that I still have new initiatives and high aspirations, so please look forward to them. Both are for the whole world. However, we are having a hard time because we don't have the money for promotion. We would be very happy if someone could help us. We are also planning to launch a new innovative adventure game service on the Web and an action game with an elaborate world view.

If anyone is interested or willing to support us, please contact us.

Thank you to Takayuki for taking the time to provide his insight into Phase Paradox's development! I've made a video on the game which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/bTSFY5M08BU

[squeakyleftsneaker]

Watching Voltron for the 1st Time: S2 Ep. 3-4

We are So Back! If you stumbled across this post In The Wild, hi, here's The Lore, or if you don't want to read my awesome tales, I desperately want the Respect and Cred that a 12 year old can give me, and so, here I am, watching this show upon request. We've begun season 2 in earnest now, and I'm having a pretty good time! I watched these 2 episodes while prepping my lunch for the day and folding my laundry. Very high tech space age shit.

NIFTY! Stuff!

Every Galra outfit is truly next level banger my god (I love purple)

SHIRO'S COOL ALIEN SAVIOR IS A BALLER

Keith having a moment of crisis upon seeing the alien symbol KEITH UR AN ALIEN

The Blade of Marmalade is cool vibes. Keith is feeling some kinda way about those alien knives and he is FAILING at being nonchalant. Real.

Is Zarkon tracking them by his magical mystical space bond with the black lion? Or is it witch magic?

Allura and Keith are going to have one hell of a convo when they figure out he's a secret alien. And tbf. Real. Allura's ENTIRE SOCIETY got wiped out by a presumably genocidal maniac. She's got some shit to work through. Though Keith defo also has to feel some kinda sad about this discovery

Everyone who tries to help Shiro ends up suffering greatly oh gee I sure hope this doesn't mean anything for Shiro's bitchy little cat I mean Keith

Love Keith's conflicted feelings about Ulaz and the Galra (because he defo is one) are immediately resolved the second Shiro vouches for Ulaz. He said "I back my homeboy up" AT ALL COSTS

So Keith's knife is an alien knife which means HE IS AN ALIEN

Pidge is so fucking nerdy I LOVE HER SHE'S MY PEOPLE

Space snowball fight gives me joy

FINALLY A GOOD LANCE COMEDY MOMENT I'm giggling lmfao Lance said KEITH DO NOT STEAL MY LION and also love the facemask and robe. SELF! CARE!

Nerd Forced To Touch Grass, Discovers It's Not So Bad is another favorite trope I like

Shiro saying "We come in peace" I bet your ass he likes Star Trek

Oh Lubos. That's pretty spot on. Unfortunately.

Keith taking a hostage is pretty spectacular, though ig it wasn't effective lmfao. And Lubos is perfectly, spectacularly slimy.

Vines! Pidge not only touched grass, she said EVERYONE must touch grass! BASED!

This Stuff? Sashay Away

HUNK IS AN ENGINEER LIKE THAT'S HOW HE'S INTRODUCED AND THEY'VE JUST MADE HIM THE BUMBLING GUY WHO LIKES FOOD IT'S SO FRUSTRATING

"You can't program a spore" OKAY BUT THE THING IS THAT WE'VE BEEN KNOWN GENETICALLY THAT YOU BASICALLY CAN SO LIKE UGGGGGGGHHHHH THE SCIENCE IN THIS SHOW HAS ME SEETHING. WE CAN JUST HANDWAVE IT OR MAKE UP FAKE SPACE TERMINOLOGY WE DO NOT NEED TO USE REAL TECHNICAL TERMS WRONG

I can't. I cannot. The science babble. It's so bad. Let's not!

I know writing smart people is hard! I know that writing about tech stuff that doesn't exist yet is also hard! I know that writing LEARNING is hard! But I really wish it was presented more as learning and not just natural aptitude and like, basically magic. There's a lot of genuine work and LEARNING that goes into being Pidge-level smart! And we don't get to see it from her really because I think the writers might not really get how learning works for her. But I would've loved to see that. (Pssssst for a show that does learning in a Very Fucking Smart character well, Fullmetal Alchemist, and how Ed figures out how Scar does his destruction thing! That show nails it so often, really) (Or really how those characters figure anything out! It's got a lot of really spectacular moments)

On a similar note, we could spend a little more time getting to know the Olkari and uh. A little LESS time on that goddamn Voltron assembly sequence. Sheesh. I know it's a genre staple but it is NOT a genre staple I care for

Keith and Lance seem to be semi homies now which is great! BUT WHY CAN'T WE HAVE SEEN EM REALLY ACTUALLY WORK IT OUT ON THE REMIX? (They are so "Girl, so confusing" and Keith is Lorde and Lance is Charli)

So anyway. Enjoyable batch of episodes. Still think the show leans way too heavily on exposition rather than just letting us see them doing the damn thing! I have a feeling this will be a running theme here. Still think they give a lot of love to the animation, which I always enjoy, a beautiful space background does so much for me. The fight scenes have been falling a little flat for me, it just tends to be unlocking some new ability and then bam! Win! which doesn't feel as earned as a proper fight. Then again, mech suit fighting is hard to make as tight and personal and effective as just an outright hand to hand fight. I get it.

Sooooooooo, space beach episode WHEN?

[echodrops]

The Promises I’m Making (2024)

Sheesh, this year it was even harder than last year to make promises. In particular, I really wanted to focus on promises that wouldn't cost as much money as in prior years, so I tried to steer clear of too many promises that would cost above the basic spending amounts... But it turns out it is really hard to make resolutions if you're broke. 😂

So here's what I'm going with:

2024 Promises

1) Step down from my administrative position and return to being a full-time faculty member. I literally cannot take the clown show that is admin at my work anymore. It is actually killing me.

2) Related to this, redecorate my new office as soon as they decide where they are going to move me.

3) Apply for new jobs!! APPLY FOR NEW JOBS!!!

4) Train my replacement in the chair position well so they are super prepared to take over in fall.

5) Put a new sink/vanity in the downstairs bathroom of the Utah house.

6) Get both bedroom floors sanded in the Utah house upstairs.

7) Finally get rid of the dirt pile in front of the Utah house.

8) Take down the remains of the wooden fence posts at the Utah house.

9) Fully clean out and prepare the Utah house to be rented out to new renters. Hopefully the next people won’t sneak in a parrot that poops all over the floor… RIP…

10) Clean off my back patio/car port area so I can park my car there again.

11) Call the plumber and replace the faucets. Even if I end up having to do it myself.

12) Get the dead tree removed from the Texas house yard and call the internet company to see about the cable around the tree root.

13) Plant roses where the old ones died in front of the Texas house. 

14) Replace my CPU fan; the bearings are going out and it’s making an annoying noise.

15) Organize my documents (especially student papers)—my desktop and documents folders give me nightmares just looking at them. 

16) Related to that, lose at least 20 pounds. 2020-2023 was not kind to me and the stress eating was real.

17) Do at least one artwork to actually use that paint program I bought. 

18) Pay my credit debt down by at least $2000. I’m still paying off the hell year, but I hope I can make progress on this.

19) Buy all the Noragami volumes I am missing and do a complete re-read of Noragami now that the series is finishing up.

20) This is super nerdy, but my bro got me the FFXIV cookbook and made me promise to actually use it, so I guess I’d better at least try to make something from it.

21) Finish at least five books this year.

22) Update HaaH at least once. Please, Echo???

23) Reach the new level cap with all jobs in FFXIV!

24) Go to the graduation ceremony for my family friend.

25) Catch up with hanging up all the charms/pins I’ve gotten recently on my corkboards; these are just sitting in boxes/bags around the house. D;

26) Fully deep clean and vacuum/detail my own car at home. No more of the “It doesn’t make sense to clean it out now; the dog is just going to go back in it.” The dog is always going to go back in it. Clean it, Echo.

27) Help my parents tear out the carpet in my old childhood bedroom.

28) See at least three new species of birds. Doesn’t matter where, just three new ones!

29) Reach 3500 followers. Can I do it? You should follow me if you’re not already; I’m pretty cool. Just sayin’!

30) Cancel all the subscriptions I don’t need. There’s literally no reason to sit around letting companies passively profit off me when I don’t even really use the services/the services keep getting worse while the costs keep going up.

31) Go out on at least a day trip to take pictures with my friend. We haven’t done this in quite some time. I need to touch grass.

32) Repair the lovely one-of-kind ceramic plate that my dog broke with kintsugi. I want to try it at least once!

33) Really look hard for my passport in my house. It’s been missing for like a year and a half now, and I don’t want to have to pay for a new one.

34) Put all the small prints, postcards, and stickers I have collected in my new mini-print books. I can even use up washi tape to decorate too. (Finally, a purpose for the washi tape…)

35) Shred the million pieces of old mail I have lying around the house. I finally got the shredder so it just makes sense to use it.

36) Have more follow-through with chores. It’s not enough to wash the clothes or do the dishes if I then procrastinate on folding the clean laundry and putting the dried dishes back in the cabinets…

37) Put reminders for birthdays and major events in my phone as well as set a monthly reminder to check these promises. Maybe I’ll be able to keep more promises if I look at the list more often throughout the year!

38) Since I can’t afford to go to the salon, spa, etc. too much this year, I should at least do some self-care days at home. Will this be the year I finally manage to use all the fancy scrubs and face masks and bath salts I keep getting from people?

39) Use up one whole notebook. It doesn’t matter what goes in the notebook, but I gotta use the whole thing from cover to cover. I have so many pretty notebooks that never get used just because they’re pretty.

40) Change the burned-out lightbulbs in the recessed lighting in the Texas house ceiling. It’s like twelve feet high and the lightbulb charger stick I bought didn’t work, so I’m going to have to find someone with a ladder. Save me, handyman. Save me.

41) Build the pretty koi paper lantern my brother got me, or the Korean temple model my coworker gave me after his trip to Korea.

42) Actually use the yoga mat I bought forever ago. At least a few times, please???

43) Finish watching the Fruits Basket remake with Kacchan. I think we stopped in the second season, RIP.

44) Spend more time with coworkers—go out to lunch more often.

45) See about removing the PMI from at least one of my house loans to try to save money. I’ve been paying on these loans long enough I shouldn’t need PMI anymore.

46) Practice my German skills (or I guess other language skills?) by translating something at least once a month.

47) Get a new bookshelf. The current ones in both my office and foyer are already overflowing. @_@

48) Make more time to call people and talk on the phone. Texting is not the same. D;

49) Get the new COVID vaccine to stay healthy.

50) I will keep my promises! 

Good luck, 2024’s me!

[catbearexe]

BACK FROM LONG HIATUS! IF YOU ARE NOSY OR NEW, PLEASE READ!!!

WOW it has been such a long time since i've used this platform. I used to use this website to religiously to feed my anime and video game fan art addiction as well as share my artworks. Here's what I've been up to since!

My mental health took a massive nosedive into the void. I didn't think I was going to even make it through college at all. Though, I think that is pretty common during the COVID era, but my mental health as always been a problem wayyy before the pandemic.

I attempted to delete myself permanently on New Year's Eve of 2021, but I woke up to DIY surgery on arms, multiple bottles of empty liters of vodka, and unfortunately...still alive. When I came to around 5:00AM, I figured that I needed to leave my toxic environment and ended up staying at a friend's house for a few weeks before I started my first day at my first internship in the co-op program. I made a few drawings here and there and posted on my Instagram, but they never really made rounds and I had a long pause in drawing overall for a good couple of years due to being under an immense amount of stress, school, athletics, and working multiple jobs to stay afloat. I was eventually able to stay in a dorm. But, when the bill came around for the semester, all of my internship money went down the drain to pay for just staying on campus at my University despite not taking any classes. It was over $5000 dollars by the time the spring semester ended, and my university doesn't tell you the cost of dormitory until the last week of the semester.

I did get my first partner around 3-4 months of going no-contact with my family in 2022, and then ended it around New Years of 2023 due to their family having strong bigoted beliefs based on their faith in Christianity. It came to a great disdain to me that they never even knew what I looked like, or knew what my name was until 3 months after we separated despite being together for about 9 months prior. It also didn't help that I went cold-turkey on zoloft as it began to be too expensive (my psychiatrist was also very judgmental and made me feel ashamed and each 10-15 minute session was over $200 co-pay).

I decided (last second) to obtain my graduate degree in my university's accelerated program, allowing me to obtain my master's in engineering within a year instead of 2. During my final spring semester for my undergraduate program, I was taking classes for my bachelors, masters, and physics minor at the same time. Yet, I had a massive improvement in my performances athletic-wise despite the busy schedule and stress I amassed.

When I graduated with my bachelors degree, my mother decided to show up to my graduation unannounced and made a scene, screaming at the top of her lungs that she always supported me and tried kissing my face in front of my class and my beloved friends that I actually invited. For context, my family were my first and only bully. Before I was able to have my own bank account, any money that I made went straight to them and I would have to beg them to give me my money to buy anything. Additionally, they ripped through my mail and got very upset that I got into school at all. It was like I was expected to fail so hard to give them an excuse to get rid of me. It also happened to solidify that my parents now know that I am a transman as my university outted me unintentionally. The looks of disgust spread around me while I was trying to shove her off of me, and she never apologized due to her thought that "that is my DAUGHTER! I can do whatever I want!"

(I am a transman, and have been out for almost 8+ years at this point)

During my summer master classes, I was able to obtain another internship that was flexible to maintain during my time in the master's program and fit with my athletic schedule. That internship ended up becoming the most flexible and fun job I ever had and solidified the reason why I chose mechanical engineering as my career path.

However, during that summer I ended contact with a 10+ year group friendship. I knew that there had to be a time for work-life balance, but it felt impossible with the things I had on my plate. The immense guilt in having to prioritize my studies and survival over my long-term friends picked at me for years. I had to choose pulling irritated all-nighters with sleep problems or miss payments of over $550/MONTH for student loans as well as my schooling, rent, bills, etc. I had to sacrificed meals because of the cost and time to even eat.

A few weeks later, my grandfather on my mother's side passed away, and my mother broke down after the first mass how "I NEED you to forgive me" because she missed me and everybody kept asking her about me, making her look bad because of how I was just cut out of the entire family. She never calculated that people in real life actually cared about me, and it took everything inside of me to not blow up in her face. She is grieving, yet she only cared about how she was perceived by other people.

Regardless of the scholarship, which I was awarded in exchange for becoming a graduate assistant for the undergraduate courses, I ended up having to reach out to my father that I cut contact with to sign off on my loan as I had nobody. As much as I did not want to having not contacted them in almost 2.5 years, I didn't want to drop out of school and had no where else to turn to. So I did. My younger sister notified me that our beloved grandmother may not make it past 2024. It devastated me. I decided to break no-contact after years of estrangement and began to cautiously come back to visiting my grandmother's household where my parents resided. It was no surprise that their treatment wasn't any different than when I had left, and tried my best to keep it together for the sake of the only family member that treated me like a person.

On a random side note, I decided to try to put myself out in the dating field again about 8 months after my ex-partner and I separated. However, it has come to a disdain from my now ex-friendships that I went on dates with men instead of getting responses back from women (the street works both ways, I can't force women to go on dates with me). I eventually found myself in a confusing relationship with an infantry officer that lasted for about 3 months until he messaged if we were just friends and apologized if he is being confusing. A month later, a close friend of mine messaged me the Tiktok account of said-situationship obtaining a boyfriend shortly after he sent me that message. They also showed the demographic of their audience being creepy old men thirsting over an online thirst trap of someone who is in twink-death denial. When they texted me 9 months after we saw each other, I made sure I made them sweat by telling them that I knew about their secret account. As it turns out, their family is not only extremely Christian, but he and all of his siblings were homeschooled. His family does not even accept his current partner. Despite the whole fiasco he pulled, I couldn't help but still feel sorry for him as I was in the same position once.

The whole year of 2023 had me feeling like I was on top of the world. When Christmas came around, I was just stuck in another depressive episode for another 9 months. My athletic performance went on a massive decline, I was stuck in my room isolating myself, and I was struggling academically and was terrified that I would lose my scholarship. Despite all of this, I still passed, I got my degree, I got a full-time high paying job right out of graduate school, and moved into my apartment.

To put the nail in the coffin, my partner and I rekindled our relationship and now live together happily. I was terrified that I was going to lose him again after he moved in as I started testosterone the day after running in my last collegiate NCAA event of my life. The irritation, the mood swings, the h0rnY definitely put our relationship to the test. I even asked him if he even loved me at all. Even after me lashing out, being a terrible person, seeing me at my worst, he sat me down and talked to me. He communicated that if I have a problem with anything, I need to tell him directly. He assured me that we can be mad at things, but we will get through it and we will figure it out. In the first time of my life, I felt okay with accepting parts of me that are hard to deal with and never even knew about. The anger of everything eventually went away within about 3-4 months. We now happily live together, go on dates, and are now hoping to go on an out-of-country trip to Japan at some point.

While our relationships has solidified, my health had other plans. After 5 years of not seeing a doctor, I finally had the time and funds to seek help again. I found that the sarcoma, that I was diagnosed with all throughout high school, is in my right lung an grew 6 times the size in comparison to my last scan. My wisdom teeth in my right upper and lower jaw will need an evaluation from an oral surgeon because it seems to be fused to my skull and packed in, my lazy eye has gotten significantly worse and will need 10-12 days of no work from surgery. I used up most of my PTO to go to all of these appointments, only to find that I will need more than 2 sessions of surgeries because of neglecting my health for so long. Gotta thank the American healthcare system am I right?

When I got in touch with a therapist, they explained that my brain has been under excessive survival mode for too long that my window of tolerance is so miniscule. Wrong turn, spilling a cup of jawn, any minor mistakes could result in a massive meltdown as I am not used to being in an environment where there is little to no stress. Thankfully it has gotten A LOT better.

I also got in touch with a lot of schoolmates I have been meaning to hang out with. Turns out they had the same thought and were afraid that I didn't like them anymore because of their focus on schoolwork. This phenomenon of my friends in STEM losing friends due to academics was sadly a common theme, and I am so thankful that they understood that we both have stressful lives we are living. What a time to be in to laugh at each other having the same thought when it turned out we were in the same boat.

When my ex-friend reached out to me again about a year later, I felt the utter guilt of having to turn down their offer to reconvene as I had a LOT of oncology appointments and getting used to moving into a new apartment as well as my job while taking care of my sick grandmother. I had no furniture for 3-4 months, and was in great disdain when they guilt tripped me that I made them a low priority over my lung having another growing sarcoma along with spending my time with the only family member that treated me like a person.

Another downside I have found is that I may have girl-bossed too hard all of my life. I used to over-extend myself in social situations and use unfortunate coping mechanism to last over an hour. Now, it takes everything in me to go out in public, especially to my Muay Thai classes. I can't help but feel my arms tremble and heartbeat racing when I leave my little apartment space.

It is now 2025, my partner and I live happily together, I have reconnected with my hobbies, and can finally relax and enjoy myself without feeling the insane amount of dread of what is coming next. I am also currently figuring out where to get tested for autism and ADHD as my brother exhibited almost the same symptoms I did with the exception that my parents actually cared about him to get him therapy and medication (his meds barely hold him back).

Life is great, and I am so glad to be back!

[sunskate]

Layla’s made another big leap forward. Way more control over her skating than last year, upper body in particular much improved. I really think her and Alex might have what it takes to make it, especially now they’re going to get an extra junior year instead of going into seniors still a bit unpolished. I do find it funny how they’re one of the very few teams international judges seem to like better than domestic. Last year at this same comp they got bizarrely buried and this year…well, they’re better than the mere 3 points they’ve got over the teams behind them.

* for the love of god though, could we please get Alex a less migraine inducing shirt that actually matches Layla please? His costume for Smile drove me a bit batty last year - his blue didn’t match Layla’s blue! And this year the neon yellow is just off.

omg last Next Gen was truly weird - they were 14 points behind 1st in the RD with a twizzle mistake that cost them GOE but not levels. it was kind of mystifying how low their PCS were

i'm not seeing that about domestic vs international judges when i look at their scores across last season. their FD scores were strong throughout, i think. i don’t see domestic judges being tougher on them?

their score yesterday felt low, i agree. they did have the 2 deductions for tempo and extended lift. on the tech box during the program, they had level 4's in their twizzles, but the protocols have level 3 for both (the panel seemed to be strict on twizzles - only 5 skaters of 26 got level 4), and they had 2 kp's between the two paso elements. so they have some points they could

lol i didn't mind the shirt - it is loud, but a lot of the teams were wearing bright colors, and i think for juniors, a pop of color is good live because rinks often have dismal lighting. Layla's costume is really cute and goes with, without being matchy matchy. and he did intense orange for the FD - maybe that's his aesthetic

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), March 2024

Since I wrote so many articles on Etsy in the past 2 months, it took longer than usual for me to get the full ecommerce update out. Sorry about the delay, but here it is!

For fresher and more frequent updates, please follow me on Bluesky or on LinkedIn, or become a member of my Patreon.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy’s fourth quarter 2023 financial results came out February 21; I did a deep dive into all the announcements here. In short, there are a lot of new things coming, and some changes that may have affected some sellers already, including:

plans for more predictable shipping costs for buyers and sellers (what does that mean?)

Etsy Ads are now localized outside of the United States

search will be shifting to boost "high quality" items, going from highlighting what shoppers are most likely to buy to what shoppers are most likely to love

a buyer loyalty program is coming

the goal of “shortening our estimated delivery dates this year by at least 2 days”

This recent post on Bluesky indicates that Etsy is surveying buyers on what they would pay for shipping, which could be related to the “predictable shipping costs” mentioned. A recent Etsy presentation at an investor conference provided a few clarifications on points discussed during the 4th quarter call, and in previous interviews and announcements.

“Our research showed that 10% off is a waste in this market. It's not enough to drive an incremental conversion, so all you did is give up margin. So recently, you've seen us both change the default and talk to sellers about how if you're going to put something on sale in this environment, it needs to be at least 25% off.” [my emphasis] Silverman has previously mentioned that buyers want discounts these days. 

Since the information sellers provide when listing (i.e., titles, tags, descriptions, attributes) “is not always very reliable”, Etsy uses image recognition to classify items as well

They are working on improvement for international fulfillment

Most orders on Etsy aren’t impulse buys; 70% involve 2 or more visits, and 50% involve 4 or more visits

“only one out of every three women in the United States bought something on Etsy last year…. only one out of every 10 men bought something on Etsy last year.”

Etsy’s use of AI in places such as Gift Mode is not in-house. (We already knew they used OpenAI’s GPT-4 for Gift Mode.) 

eBay increased the transaction fee from 30 to 40 cents as of March 15, for all orders over $10. 

An Etsy fee increase of some sort is likely coming soon, as Etsy has surveyed sellers on which options they would most prefer. While I was not picked to take the survey, a few people who did have contacted me with screenshots and details, which I wrote about in some detail. 

Packaging laws are becoming quite onerous for some ecommerce microbusinesses, but fortunately the Etsy forum crew has helped out with a recent summary of which countries in Europe require registration or payment to ship into the jurisdiction. Thanks to Claudia of https://www.etsy.com/no-en/shop/DoceVikaVintage for doing most of the legwork. 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy is once again changing some sellers’ processing days, adding Saturday or Sunday into the mix when the shop owner only selected Monday to Friday. Some are seeing a notice on their dashboard, while others received an email.

Remember, in the 4th quarter 2023 earnings report, Silverman said “shortening our estimated delivery dates this year by at least 2 days” was a goal, and unilaterally changing your processing times is one step towards that goal. Please check your shipping settings, as this could mean you need to ship earlier than you realize, and Etsy could put you on reserve, remove your Star Seller badge, and deny you Seller Protection when you ship later than Etsy thinks you should.

If that wasn’t bad enough, some sellers are reporting that Etsy has changed the timing of sending the Abandoned Cart discount to almost immediate, and changed the official Help file on the topic to say the coupon was sent just 2 hours after the listing was carted, down from 24 hours. Others say they can no longer deactivate these coupons, and that Etsy Support told them it was a known bug. 

If you want to learn how Etsy's algorithms work and what they favour, the company has added more details on "recommendations" modules we see all over the site to the legal policy page. I've written a short piece highlighting what sellers should pay attention to if they want visibility on Etsy.

Etsy is adding Regulatory Operating Fees to orders in India (0.29%) and Vietnam (1.24%) as of April 1, 2024. On the same day, the Regulatory Operating Fee in Spain will increase to 0.72% (from 0.4%), and the fee for Türkiye goes up to 2.27% (from 1.1%).

The Prohibited Items Policy has been updated in several places, as of March 5 2024. Some of the new sections are covered in this article. As always, the most important parts of these changes will be how Etsy chooses to interpret them, so for the moment I don’t have any further comment, other than to say these types of changes are sometimes driven by law, and sometimes by previous incidents in which Etsy is unhappy with the outcome. 

Looks like businesses in China will soon be able to use Etsy Payments, meaning new shops in China may be able to open for the first time since 2021. (It's not unusual for Etsy to beta test new countries before announcing them officially; it’s hard to say if that is what is happening here or not.)

Etsy's forum restrictions - requiring a signed-in seller account to view most posts - will start on March 26. Only posts in the Announcements and Technical Issues sections will still be visible to everyone. 

There has been some speculation that this is to reduce spamming of Etsy sellers after they post, but the change will also have the bonus of journalists, investors and others not being able to read Etsy sellers' complaints about the platform.

It’s possible to have your product photos featured on the persona page of Etsy's Gift Mode but not have the product available for sale in Gift Mode. I’ve checked several times, and have never seen that seller’s embroidery piece in the featured listings. If you missed my blog post on Gift Mode, check it out here. Note that Etsy seems to have made some changes since I originally released the post. Among other Gift Mode promotions, Etsy employees rang the opening bell at Nasdaq the day after the Super Bowl. Did you know that this year’s Super Bowl was the most watched show in the US since the 1969 moon landing? Etsy hired Drew Barrymore to promote the corporation's new gifting push, which will continue all year. And the company has also released a new “gift teaser” email that buyers can have sent to recipients, which is useful for last-minute shoppers. 

Elliott Management now owns 13% of Etsy shares and options - making it the largest investor -  and now has a board member at the corporation. Known as activist investors, they usually force companies to cut costs ; for example they pressured “Salesforce, in which it has a multibillion-dollar investment, to harsh new policies for engineers and salespeople aimed at reducing headcount.”

Newly-opened Etsy shops will soon be subject to stricter ID requirements, a $15 fee, and longer holds on their early sales; I covered the details we know on LinkedIn. 

If you use the new listing form, you may see a new pricing tool pop up. (It’s not on the old listing form.) Ridiculously, Etsy calls it an “estimated profit calculator”, when really, it’s just an Etsy fee calculator, and not a good one at that. It includes the lowest processing fee possible (some countries have a range of processing fees) and also excludes taxes you may pay on your fees. I don’t know if it includes country-specific fees such as regulatory fees, as Canada does not currently have those.

Etsy has several sales events coming up, including the “spring refresh” which has already started and continues until April 15. 

There are reports of Etsy now advertising its commercials in Canada, which is a first as far as I know. 

Struggling to update your tax information on Etsy? One tip is to use a different link to enter the updates. Another is to use a pdf or png file, not a jpg, when uploading documents, and to combine multiple documents into one. If Etsy is asking your LLP/LLC or corporation to upload ID, I’ve had multiple people report that personal ID should work, even if the wording of the page says it won't. 

If you are frustrated by the recent Etsy test removing the total number of items in a search, I explained here how to determine the exact number of results if there are less than 16,000 listings. Also, you can just try another browser or device because it is a test (I do not have it on desktop). 

Remember when The Smiley Company sued tons of small sellers for trademark infringement, and asked for damages? Some Etsy sellers fought back - and won.

Who is removing Taylor Swift-themed items from Etsy - the artist, or the marketplace?  Swift has sent cease and desist letters to Etsy shops in the past. 

The articles about Etsy being awash with non-handmade and counterfeit goods never end. Here’s one from Australia. Here’s one about Etsy sellers publishing fan fiction that is already free on the web and charging a huge amount. And the media attention to deepfake porn on Etsy also continues. AI use is also subject to media scrutiny. 

TikTok’s push to attract more sellers apparently involves approaching Etsy shop owners. [soft paywall; Modern Retail] 

Josh Silverman has sold off most of his remaining Etsy stock. 

I did a short report on who Etsy laid off in December. 

The scammers advertising a fake Etsy customer support phone number on Google are catching buyers too - why can't this be stopped? "Anyone looking to contact Etsy for customer service issues should be aware that there is no phone number to contact for Etsy support." It’s a big problem that Google seems unable to control, given this study on other fraudulent Google Ads.  

Speaking of scammers, there is a new version of fake copyright takedowns affecting numerous sellers; the person who files the DMCA then offers to remove it for a fee, or even file takedowns against your competitors for a bigger fee. Etsy did fix the first round after 3-4 days, but the perpetrator then filed new DMCAs from a different email address. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

General

Michael’s Makerplace is beta testing selling third-party items in Michael’s brick and mortar stores. “Michaels says that MakerPlace garnered interest from thousands of sellers during its initial beta period, mainly through word-of-mouth. The company declined to disclose how many sellers are on the platform currently and is now focused on growing customers for those vendors to sell to. Buchanan says the next month will be "critical to make sure [the platform gets] some mass engagement from a buyer perspective."

Some Depop sellers had issues with deposits recently, with the money never being sent to their bank accounts, and instead the deposit was continually rescheduled for the next day. This may or may not be related to similar issues on Etsy. Depop is also immediately scrapping seller fees for the UK (as long as the account sells in GBP), but is adding a 5% fee for buyers in the UK as of April 15. Clearly the site thinks it has more UK demand than UK inventory, and that at least some of those buyers will pay for the ability to buy second-hand. Depop press release. 

Beni is a new “secondhand search engine” that pulls up used apparel from multiple different marketplaces such as eBay, Poshmark, and ThredUp. It offers an app and a Chrome browser extension. 

Temu is subject to a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company’s app is highly intrusive and can read "literally everything on your phone." Also, businesses in the United States can now sell on Temu. 

There are many different platforms and marketplaces to sell digital products such as ebooks, templates and courses; here are 20. 

Amazon

If you sell on Amazon, make sure you have 2-factor authentication set up, as it will be a requirement starting March 28th. Users will need a mobile number or authenticator app. 

Amazon is using generative AI to create new listings for merchants who enter a link of the product on another site. “The goal is to help sellers reduce the time it takes to bring the product from a different website onto Amazon.”

If you don’t use at least 3 images per product page, Amazon will now add in photos from other merchants on the site. 

Amazon had a strong fourth quarter in 2023, beating all estimates.  Amazon Lending has been discontinued, but existing loans do not change until the term ends.

eBay

eBay agreed to a $59 million settlement in the US Department of Justice’s case regarding the selling of tools to make counterfeit drugs. The company must also modify its restricted items policies. 

eBay joined the layoff race on January 23 when it let go 9% of its staff (~1000 people). Those layoffs were spread throughout the company, including plenty of engineers, legal and PR staff, and several recruiters, as well as authentication staff. The company also made upper-management changes. 

eBay’s 4th quarter financial results were up a bit, but active buyers keep dropping. 

Jewellery sellers in the UK faced an across-the-board fee hike as of March 7, adding 2% to the final value fee. This appears to be related to covering the authenticity process, which only applies to certain items above £500. 

Be careful when you confirm your Promoted Listings Standard campaign on eBay - a few sellers report accidentally upgrading to a far more expensive Advanced Cost Per Click campaign.

Walmart

Walmart is offering discounts for new sellers, covering part of fees for up to 90 days. 

If you sell on the Walmart marketplace, beware of the new rules on making authenticity claims.

Payment Processing

Klarna is now offering a monthly subscription to be able to use it at brick and mortar retailers without additional fees. The Verge speculates this may be related to Klarna’s rumoured pending IPO. The company has also employed an AI chatbot to do the work of 700 customer support employees. 

A US study reports that at least 20% of US consumers have used buy now, pay later options at least once. 

PayPal joined the tech layoff trend, getting rid of 9% of staff in January.

Venmo settings are public by default; here’s how to change that. [Washington Post gift link]

Shipping 

Is “free shipping” becoming less common? It appears so. [soft paywall: Business Insider]

Apparently USPS has significant delays in the Atlanta area, leaving packages in limbo for weeks. (Strangely, I had a shipment held up in Atlanta in late January even though the new processing centre did not open until February 24, and that package was finally delivered last week.)

Good basic post on return policies (from a Canadian perspective). Note that half of those surveyed say that return policies affect their purchase decisions.

Canada Post has sold its logistics and IT companies as it struggles to become profitable, and may be looking towards more ecommerce options. 

UPS will be laying off 12,000 employees this year, to save around $1 billion. The company is also starting to deliver to homes on Saturdays in major Canadian cities by March.

That's it for now! I hope to have the full SEO & marketing report out next week.

[alisheaburgess]

Dev Diary: Game Dev -Day 1

November 29, 2023

Last Saturday, I found probably the best online training program I have ever seen. It is so well put together and informative. This was, of course, the Unity Learn Programs! (Not Sponsored, Obviously!)

Unity is a real-time engine (or a game engine for game makers). And is a piece to game making that has had me overwhelmed up until now. It's so big and open that I didn't know where to even start with learning. I have seen courses for beginners listed on other learning platforms, but I hadn't personally found any that I jived with.

Unity Learn is their very own learning platform and has the best online learning experience I have ever seen! I started Dev Diary back in May when I was learning on LinkedIn Learning. It was a bit of a mess. This one has none of the chaos of the previous experience. Everything was streamlined and in order.

The only real issues I've had, were my own misunderstandings and fixed when I calmed myself down. 😅😂

I finished the Unity Essentials and now I'm working toward both Creative Core and Junior Programmer. They have so many after these that I want to take as well.

Today I'm starting to learn about Shaders and Materials in game dev and I'm excited. I don't get to do too much as my "misunderstandings" today did cost me a couple of hours. I took a shower and then everything worked... the human mind is weird.

Each of the courses that I'm in now have around 45-50 hours in them. As I don't currently have any other major obligations, I'm planning on going for about 3-4 weeks total, but I'm not being too strict with it.

Last time I overwhelmed myself with how much I took on. This time I'm allowing myself a bit of a cushion to get them done as it isn't timed by the month as LinkedIn Learning was.

Oh, did I mention that Unity Learn is 100% Free!!!

My Plan (so far anyway)

Weeks 1-2:

Learning Unity and getting lots of experience making little things

C# and the basics of coding in Unity

Weeks 3-4:

Design my own Game (I am determined to start small! 😋)

Practicing building smaller sections of my game...aka, the ugly stage

Finishing any training left

Tomorrow will be working on Shaders and Materials and maybe some of the beginners lessons for Junior Programming. I do have appointments tomorrow, so its just gonna be whatever I get done. 🥰

I have been looking for these course what feels like an eternity (roughly 1 year) and I'm so excited to see how quickly it all starts coming together!!!

Let's Make Games!!!

[frdlive]

Wealth Accelerator Reviews

Who Is Michael Sancho? – The Man Behind Wealth Accelerator

Nearly 4 years ago, Michael Sancho founded Wealth Accelerators Service Inc. to help new entrepreneurs generate more passive income. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the company and claims to work with a strong and experienced team.

He studied Business Finance at Florida Southern College, yet he believes self-education is the key to his success. Preferring not to work under a nosy boss, Mike started investing nearly a decade ago while he was still a teenager.

He learned new strategies for making money, and worked as an investor, real estate entrepreneur, Affiliate marketer, Forex trader, and E-commerce builder.

Not much is known about Mike’s net worth, but he’s considered a millionaire and claims to have earned 20 million+ from sales.

What’s Inside Wealth Accelerator’s Money Making Program?

Mainly, Wealth Accelerator sells already prepared Amazon FBA shops that you can obtain by investing upfront. Here’s what you get from the deal-

A complete Amazon FBA shop that generates money on every sale.

A team that will do your promoting, packaging, shipping, as well as managing your customer services; you get to become a ‘silent investor.’

A business operated by Wealth Accelerator’s team who will use your initial investment for inventory purposes.

Shared profits from the sales. Although, it’s not mentioned what the percentages are or how much an FBA store costs.

Wealth Accelerator Services – Public Review

Before investing in a program you should always go through the public reviews. Unfortunately, not many reviews are available for Wealth Accelerator on Reddit, Quora, and other Internet forums which raises a red flag for me.

I did manage to find a review on Facebook. It was written by Tandi Reiff who says: “Thank Goodness I ran across Wealth Accelerators! They are Amazing! I’m just getting started again, and I’m so happy to be here! Success is around the corner! This Team is Legit!”

As I found this review on the private Facebook group of Wealth Accelerator, it seems legit. It can help if you already have a running store, but otherwise, you might have to wait for 6 months or more to get your first sale.

Let’s see some testimonies provided on the official website of the company.

An investor Ian Du says, “I purchased a $50,000 Amazon package for myself. Obviously, some hesitations came out when I did that. But I decided to give it a shot. So, it’s only been a month, and I’ve already seen almost a thousand dollars in revenue within seven days from the store.

I didn’t expect to make a cent until at least a half-year mark. But it’s crazy to see four figures on your Amazon account starting so quickly.”

Generating $1000 in just one week is certainly astonishing, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I buy it. However, it’s not impossible, and sometimes things really do work out for some people.

In his testimony, Kylen Murphy says, “I’ve been an Amazon seller for 2 years now. But it wasn’t until I got in contact with Wealth Accelerator that I really started to see meaningful results. From month one, they started absolutely crushing it on my store.

Now I’m in month four, and I’m already approaching the six-figure month mark in gross sales.”

So while not everyone can generate money from the first month, if you’re lucky and have proper support, it is definitely possible.

Another investor Ash Rugal states, “My story started about a year ago when I started my Amazon store. Unfortunately, my account was suspended, and I tried many times to recover it, but I couldn’t.

With their (Wealth Accelerator) professional way, they tried their way, recovered it, and took over my account. Right now, I’m sitting back and watching sales coming to my account.”

So, not only will Wealth Accelerator take over your account and generate sales on your behalf, but they will also solve any technical issues with your Amazon store. You don’t have to do anything except invest and share the profit.

Now, my issue with these reviews is that they are all from Mike’s YouTube channel so you can’t really tell if they’re telling the truth. What’s even more alarming is that they disabled their Better Business Bureau (BBB) page a few months ago and turned off the comment section of most of their YouTube videos.

Right now, there’s only one review on their BBB page where Bryan D says, “Poor communication, poor follow-through, and poorly run. 7 months in and still struggling to set up my store. Not worth the money and time spent on the phone.”

If you have only one review on the page and a negative one at that, it’s not a good sign. Would you spend your money on a program like that? Probably not.

So, how do you choose the right wealth accelerator program? This comment by Randell Reade might help you find out.

He says, “There are good accelerators and bad ones, and plenty in between. They will all proudly tell you how many companies they have, how many graduated, how much money was invested in them, their employees, the cool workspace they provide, the mentors, etc.

Don’t be dazzled by it. What matters is how many companies were successfully launched.”

This means you need to focus on how many people could kick off their businesses and establish a successful company using the accelerator program. Take the yearly profit into consideration before investing in any programs.

[stephleb]

Open Your Healthcare Career: Top CNA Classes in Eau Claire, WI

Unlock Your Healthcare Career: Top CNA Classes in Eau Claire, WI

If you’re looking for a rewarding career in the​ healthcare field, becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) can be a great step towards your future.In Eau⁣ Claire, WI, numerous institutions offer CNA classes⁣ tailored to‍ meet the needs of aspiring healthcare professionals. In‍ this article, we ‍will explore the top CNA⁢ classes in Eau claire, their benefits, and practical tips to help you pave the⁢ way to a accomplished career.

Why Choose a Career as a CNA?

The role​ of a ⁢Certified Nursing Assistant is both​ fulfilling and essential. Here are several reasons why pursuing ⁣a CNA career can be a‌ smart choice:

High Demand: there is a growing need for CNAs ⁤in various healthcare settings, such as hospitals and nursing ⁤homes.

Short Training Period: CNA⁣ programs typically take a few weeks to a ⁣few months,allowing you to start working quickly.

Possibility for Advancement: Many CNAs ​go on to pursue⁣ further education in nursing or ​other healthcare roles.

Hands-On ⁤Experience: CNAs play a crucial role in patient care and frequently enough build strong⁤ relationships with those they serve.

Top CNA classes‍ in​ Eau Claire, WI

Eau Claire boasts⁣ several reputable institutions offering CNA classes.Here’s⁤ a summary of the top ‌options:

Institution

Duration

Cost

Contact Info

Chippewa Valley⁣ Technical College

4-8 weeks

$900⁣ – $1,200

(715) 833-6200

Concordia University

8 weeks

$1,200

(262) 243-4271

Westconsin Credit⁢ Union

6 weeks

$1,000

(800) 924-4552

Northwest Wisconsin Technical‍ College

4-6 weeks

$750

(800) 224-0429

Benefits of Attending CNA Classes

enrolling in a CNA program offers several advantages:

Comprehensive Curriculum: Classes cover topics such as patient care,⁢ safety procedures, and⁢ basic medical terminology.

Hands-On ‍Training: Students gain practical experience through clinical rotations, working under the supervision of experienced professionals.

Certification Preparation: Programs are designed to ‍prepare ‍students for the state certification exam, essential for employment.

Practical Tips for Becoming a Successful CNA

Here are some ‌practical tips ⁢to help you not only succeed in your CNA classes⁣ but also thrive in your career:

1. Stay Organized

Juggling coursework and clinical practice can be challenging. Use⁣ planners or apps to keep track of assignments, exams, and clinical hours.

2. Practice, Practice, Practice

The hands-on ‌skills you learn in ⁤class are crucial. Utilize simulation labs and study groups to refine your techniques.

3.‌ Develop dialog Skills

Effective communication is‍ vital in healthcare. Practice speaking clearly and​ compassionately with patients and healthcare teams.

4. Embrace Lifelong Learning

The healthcare field is always‌ evolving. be open to further education and specialization⁣ opportunities that may arise.

Experience‌ from​ Current CNAs

Here are insights from two certified nursing assistants who began their careers in Eau Claire:

Emily Rodriguez: “I chose the ⁣CNA path because I have a passion for helping others. ⁣The classes prepared me well, and I felt supported⁤ through the ‌process.My first day in the nursing home was intimidating but rewarding. I’ve created lasting bonds with⁣ my patients.”

Mark ‍Johnson: “Attending⁤ Chippewa Valley Technical⁢ College was a game-changer for me. The hands-on learning experiences boosted my confidence. Now, after a year, ‍I’m looking into nursing‍ programs to advance my career.”

Future Career Pathways After CNA‍ Certification

Once you become a ⁣CNA, a world of ⁤opportunities ‍opens ‌up.Here are pathways you can consider:

Further Nursing Education: Many CNAs transition to ⁣become Licensed Practical nurses (lpns) or Registered nurses ‍(RNs).

Specialization: Pursue additional certifications in areas such as pediatric care or geriatrics for niche opportunities.

Management Roles: With experience, public health and administrative roles may become available to CNAs.

Conclusion

unlocking your healthcare career as a CNA in Eau ⁤Claire, WI, ​is within reach. With⁣ numerous classes available,practical ‌training support,and⁤ a job market eager⁣ for skilled‍ professionals,now ‍is the perfect time to take the plunge. ​Remember to embrace your education, practice your skills, and enjoy the journey of‌ helping ⁣others in the healthcare field. Take the first step by researching‍ your CNA class options today!

https://cnatrainingcentral.com/open-your-healthcare-career-top-cna-classes-in-eau-claire-wi/