#this is all just part of my monthly cycle where I post a bunch for a month and then disappear into my little mole hill for like two months

[magiefish]

Joey + Susie Headcannons

So the creative side of my brain has not been working as well lately because school is a hell which takes all of my energy, but just as a fun little exercise I was like ‘hey, what if wrote down a bunch of headcannons?’. I only had enough energy for two characters, but i figured people on the inter webs may enjoy them.

Anyway, here’s my obscenely long collection of random Joey + Susie headcannons! (sorry any typos, but once again, I am tired as heck :v)

Joey

-Joey Drew’s actual name is Joseph Dempsey, although of course he’d want  anyone no one to know that in his autobiography.

-Honestly his backstory was largely similar to the one in TIOL even before it came out, so changing it to fit the book was pretty easy. So the backstories are basically the same in the order that events happened.

-Then again, the book embellishes a lot of details, but what else would one expect from Joey? For instance, the only person who would ever call him ‘tall’ is himself: my man is like 5”3-5”4, he is a shortie.

- His height is connected to a funny story actually. Up until around age 13 he was one of the tallest people in his school because he had growth spurt young. This made him pretty uncomfortable because he always felt like he was too thin or gangly, but at the very least he was taller than everyone else so people didn’t usually bother him. That is, he was tall until around age 15 when everyone else had their major growth spurts and he…..didn’t

Factor this is with the fact that he was starting to realise he was gay gay homosexual gay and that he also had a propensity for growing his hair out long, and, well, saying all this combined gave Joey a bit of a crisis about his ‘masculinity’ is a bit of an understatement. The biggest reason why he joined the army when he was like 16 was because that was something ‘men’ did.

Joey’s dad also kind of had something to do with it. He was something of a ‘manly man’, as in relatively stoic and tall. He was never particularly close to his father, but whenever they spoke his dad always put out the vibes of not wanting to be around him, and always seemed disappointed in him. Joey largely cut himself off from his family later on in life, and both his parents were dead by the late 1940’s.

Most people looking at him at the height of his career would’ve probably never guessed he was once that weird kid who always sat alone at break and basically never spoke to anyone and just kind of intensely stared at people weirdly from a distance.

Also, weirdly enough towards the end of the studio’s tenure Joey seemed to get….taller, somehow. Over the span of 1944-1947, most employees could testify that he was at least 5”6 by the studios fall. Wether or not he continued to get taller afterwards, well. It was hard to tell when he was sitting in that wheelchair.

Joey always loved to read. Nothing like getting lost in a good book.

Joey likes animals a lot. His mother always used to try and kill mice but he usually just scooped them up and moved them somewhere else. He always wanted a dog, but he never got one because they cost too much and also because they get hair everywhere, and living in a messy environment isn’t a problem for him as long as it does affect his clothes. And if there’s one thing animal hair affects, it’s clothes.

Joey hates sports, mostly because he was never good at it. He has weak little noodle arms only good for overpowering others when he takes them by surprise (or is theoretically aided by magic ink).

Kyle was one of Joey’s early financiers. He didn’t really have any reason to spend money on him and getting him into upper class circles, and Joey doesn’t really ever mention what he did to get the money from him. Hm? What’s that? They were hooking up? Ha! Preposterous…… /s

Joey got sick pretty often when he was younger.

Even after he stopped being tall, Joey continued to have a perception of himself as being really skinny, gangly and gross, and always felt disconnected from his own body. It’s part of the reason he believes a persons ‘soul’ is separate from their body so throughly.

Speaking of mental health issues, Joey also has a very bad habit of smoking and drinking a bit too much. He uses an obscene amount of breath freshener to cover up the smell of it on his breath.

Joey also has a habit of the world going ‘numb’ for him. As in, he’ll go to a party and be enjoying himself and then suddenly the entire world will just feel duller and dimmer and he’ll become disconnected from everything. Not that he’ll let anyone know that’s going on, or that he’s spoken to anyone about it (other than Henry one time, and Allison when he was very drunk).

The qualities Joey usually looks for in a person is a vision and the drive to achieve their dreams.

If you aren’t interesting to him at all, he’ll basically completely ignore you and not care about your existence in the slightest. Other than Henry, who was somehow such a bland person that it went all the way back around to being interesting again.

Joey would never say it, but he really likes the novel The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. He read it one time when he was a teenager.

Joey’s closest friend used to be Lambert, but their relationship has become more tenuous over the years. He admired how straightforward and uncaring of others opinions she was.

Joey doesn’t really have a lot of friends any more, more so ‘people that are potentially useful to me who I may or may nor be develop more of a personal relationship to’. He would say Nathan Arch is a good friend of his, but wether or not Nathan feels the same way is ehhhhhhhh…….just don’t tell Joey.

Joey’s hair was a lot longer when he was younger, but he ended up tying it up and cutting it short as he got older. A sort of compromise he had was still having relatively long hair, but styling it with a crap ton of hair gel so that it didn’t look that way.

Joey’s favourite colour is purple.

Susie

Susie was born with a birthmark on the left side of her face that she was often bullied for as a child. Her birthmark made getting a career in theatre when she was older difficult too, but luckily voice acting didn’t require anyone caring about her appearance.

She first practiced changing her voice when she was a young girl and tried impersonating her mother’s accent. She also liked voicing her own characters while playing make believe (which she often did alone: other kids usually didn’t want to play with her.)

Speaking of accents, her American one is actually a bit exaggerated. She figured it would make getting hired more easy because nobody would think her mother was an immigrant.

Her mother was a Russian immigrant and her father worked as a butcher an didn’t really care about his daughter hanging around his workspace, which meant that from a young age Susie was exposed to some uhhhhhh graphic things. At least she successfully learned how to dissect and butcher meat :)

One of Susie’s happiest days was when her family saved up enough money to go to the cinema and she got to see her first film. That was the moment she decided to become an actress.

Susie is rather naïve and easily trusting of others, but this doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t cunning or ruthless. It’s a mistake a lot of people make, but if she knows what she wants she’ll do whatever it takes to get it.

She also enjoys a bit of trickery and playing pranks on people, which is probably why she and Wally get along so well.

Susie seems to be the only person other than Jack who Sammy can tolerate in any way.

Susie is a MASSIVE gossip. She’s almost as bad as Norman, except she shares all the drama she’s picked up.

Jack & Susie get coffee together sometimes, and she gets involved in the lyric writing process for Alice’s songs. She also serves as a reference for the animators as Alice when they need her. Joey’s reasoning for all this is that she ‘embodies the character so well, it makes sense for her to participate in all aspects of her creation’.

Susie has a rather foul temper, but most of the time she just looks cute when she gets frustrated.

If Susie ever read the Picture of Dorian Grey she would’ve loved it.

Susie was chosen as a voice actress out of anyone else because she managed to talk to Joey before her audition: she got lost in the studio and bumped into him. Joey knew she had vision and saw how hard she strived to achieve her dreams and these are the qualities he values most highly (mostly because they’re his own), so she ended up getting the job.

Susie is desperate for any kind of validation. She’ll latch on to anyone who praises her, and tends to get very bitter towards those who criticise her.

Her more negative traits became much worse after losing her role as Alice Angel.

Susie’s father died when she was in her late teens, meaning Susie was the main source of income for her mother as well as herself. She maintained a very close relationship to her mother until she died in 1944. She didn’t have any friends outside of the studio.

During the time when she fired from the role of Alice, Joey was ‘generous’ enough to keep her on voicing side characters. Allison was an Alice exclusive, and Susie continued to do all the rest.

Following getting fired, Susie also became even more focused on her appearance. Some employees swore they heard her talking to the mirror like she was having an argument with someone…but oh well. A lot of employees seemed to lose it a bit towards the studios end.

Susie’s favourite colour is yellow.

Anyway, that’s about it. I’ll probably post some more headcannons for other characters sometime in the future but for now, farewell!

[fluffynexu]

Astralignment

and the Korribani Calendar System

Before the arrival of the Exiles the native Sith on Korriban had their own system of keeping track of time. Over the years, this became standardized and refined and is still in use by a large portion of the modern Pureblood community. Since the ancient Sith were observant beings of their world, many of the names and symbols reflected their natural environment. All of these aspects go into what is known as a Sith’s astralignment (astro-alignment).

Since the Empire runs on Imperial Standard Time (IST), anything relating to Korriban or any other Imperial world is referred by the local time of that planet.

Compare a year on  Dromund Kaas to Korriban:

Dromund Kaas (everything in standard)

24 hours/day

312 days/year

7,488 hours/year

60 minutes = 1 hour

24 hours = 1 day

5 days = 1 week

7 weeks = 1 month

35 days = 1 month

8 months (+4 weeks and 4 holidays) = 1 year

312 (standard)days = 1 year

Korriban

28 (standard) hours/day

780 (local) days/year

21,840 (standard) hours/year

70 (standard and local) minutes = 1 hour

24 (local) hours = 1 day

10 (local) days = 1 week

6.5 (local) weeks = 1 month

65 (local) days = 1 month

12 (local) months = 1 year

780 (local) days = 1 year

This roughly makes 1 Korribani year approximately 2.9 [Dromund] Kaasi years.

Calendars

The days on Korriban are annotated on some versions of the Imperial calendar alongside the standard days.

In this example, names of the days on the calendar reflect the IST. The black numbers indicate the date in IST, the red numbers represent the date of the Korribani calendar. Placement of the Korribani date indicate when that day begins in relation to the Kaasi one.

A. 00:00 is the same for both. B. 00:00 K starts at 04:00 DK. C. 00:00 K starts at 08:00 DK. D. 00:00 K starts at 12:00 DK. E. 00:00 K starts at 16:00 DK. F. 00:00 K starts at 20:00 DK. G. Loops back around and 00:00 K lines up 00:00 DK .

While seemingly complicated to some, most Sith have grown with this system of overlapping calendars and can easily tell the date by the positioning of the numbers in this format. 

There are of course, electronic versions where the date is shown simply:

Since the Korribani month is longer than the Kaasi one, the dates will continue through the Kaasi months. These next two pictures show how long 1 Korribani month is in relation to a Kaasi one.

There is also a version of the Korribani calendar that does not overlap with IST. These are used locally on the planet.

The days of the Korribani week were named after major gods from the most widespread pantheon on the planet:

Ahmuriq, from Ahmurn: the creator god.

Marseriq, from Marserha: mother goddess of the Sith.

Bashariq, from Bashara: goddess of passion.

Teraiq, from Teral: god of protection and justice.

Iskarliq, from Iskarln: god(dess) of conflict and war.

Marduriq, from Mardur: patron god of the Massassi and strength.

Rusaniq, from Rusanel: goddess of knowledge.

Zefiriq, from Zefir: goddess of the hunt.

Shumariq, from Shumari: god of the harvest.

Goruiq, from Gorul: the trickster god(dess).

Months

There are numerous constellations in the Korribani sky. Twelves of these mark the months of the year as well as going into the astalignment. The 12 major, monthly constellations all depict local fauna from ancient fables and have certain characteristics that are commonly associated with them.

1. Yuninchâtsutuyok, the jiminat and agzonûboj engaged in eternal conflict. Dedicated, ambitious, and insightful.

2. Qyalatuyok, the qyalak. Calm, sentimental, and inquisitive.

3. Badzuriqatuyok, the badzuriqash. Tenacious, practical, and direct.

4. Kaarjontuyok, the kaarjontû. Spontaneous, contemplative, and observant.

5. Tukatatuyok, the tukata. Loyal, respectful, and staunch.

6. Hatyatuyok, the hatya. Articulate, perceptive, and adaptable.

7. Lomaituyok, the lomait. Disciplined, fearless, and competitive.

8. Dzushatuyok, the dzushaj. Private, calculating, and flexible.

9. Mowhetuyok, the mowhef. Stern, traditional, and ruthless.

10. Dyaltituyok, the dyaltir. Mischievous, studious, and charismatic.

11. Jhan’dikanatuyok, the lost dikana. Creative, sociable, and resourceful.

12. Niqoituyok, the niqoit. Erudite, cunning, and free-spirited.

Years

The years are also represented by local animals. No one, not even Sith scholars or historians, are sure of the origin of how these animals came to represent the years on Korriban’s calendar. It is one of the many parts of Sith culture that have been lost since it is believed this particular record has been passed down through oral tellings.

The years are kept track of in a 6-year cycle with each year emphasizing a likely success for the ones born in that year.

Chiroik - Wealth

Wokinai - Knowledge

Natûsh - Fame

Dzenal - Influence

Litskoj - Power

Sulemish - Longevity

(ie. Those born in the year of the Sulemish will have a long life.) This again factors into a Sith’s astralignment.

In addition to the years, these 6 animals are also used for the hours on Korriban. But time is not conveyed in the same manner as Basic. While in Basic one would simply say “14:25” (or two twenty-five in the afternoon) the Sith have a much more involved way to convey time.

For example: Shyracks screech and return to their caves as the priestess prepares the altar in the hour of the wokinai.

Translates to: 07:15 local time (or seven fifteen in the morning).

As a side note, a few centuries ago Darth Feras domesticated and bred wrats within the Empire. At first they weren’t seen with much interest by her peers. But popular rumor has it that she pointed out her creations embody the physical traits of the yearly beasts.

Eyes - Chiroik

Ears - Wokinai

Body - Natûsh

Hands - Dzenal

Feet - Litskoj

Tail - Sulemish

Afterwards they quickly became a favored pet and companion among the Sith, being seen as an auspicious animal.

While not related to their calendar there is a tradition of being assigned a birth flower. For this, the Sith do not look to their skies but rather, when a child is born the placenta is buried in a pot with 12 seeds. The first of these seeds to sprout becomes that Sith’s birth flower. These 12 flowers are also used in medicine, therapeutic or preventive, for some common ailments.

Serla for headaches.

Roshal for good eyesight.

Nashkir for sore throats.

Atsudqâ for heart health.

Hyaranjat for good digestion.

Mûyoin for muscle pain.

Shasâyar for fertility.

Jûzon for blood circulation.

Ashanin for bone mending.

Qoyo for fevers.

Chisiqsanu for irritated ridge skin.

Kûsk’inti for fatigue and replenishing energy.

The last two parts that go into a Sith’s astalignment are their energies. The weekly energies correspond with 4 classic “elements” of earth, fire, air, and water. While the daily energy simply refers to day or night (d/n) in regards to when the person was born.

Combined with all aspects mentioned in this document, year, month, weekly energy, day (+energy), and flower, one can study a Sith’s astalignment.  ex. Darth Vowrawn’s astalignment factors:

The study of these astralignments is a complicated field on to its own while the findings can be very important to some among the Sith. There are specialized scholars who offer their services to the old families so that the “perfect matches” (marriage, business, or otherwise) can be set up.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

aaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S DONE. i feel like frodo at mt. doom after the ring is destroyed omg... ;-;

SOOOO. i wanted, and i mean REALLY wanted, to finish this for lunar new year (for pretty obvious reasons lol)...... :,) welp. then i was like “i can do may 4″ lol NOPE. but here we are! still technically sith day? whatever. imma say I Did It. :D

also pls don’t laugh at my stupid drawings. i already know i can’t art. ok??? >,<

special thanks to @snootysith​ for giving me a bunch of sithy names and words for me to use. c: like y’all... coming up with fake words, that look and sound ok is really HARD (for my dumbass anyway)

other worldbuilding posts that are... sorta mentioned/used in this:

@inquisitorhotpants​‘s dk calendar

BOOS! x3

and some other stuff ....

but uh, yea. if you’re wondering “hang on there fluffy... did you really make a big, dumbass zodiac/astrology post??” the answer is...

yes.

yes i did... xU

but also i imagine the ancient sith had a lot of special and important dates for you know... religious things? *shrug* and over the many, many years all of this was passed down and prob altered in some way to fit into modern sith society? idk...

now imma say some things here bc i know For A Fact!!! that ppl don’t go onto original posts to read op tags on this hellsite lol.

and this isn’t me trying to sound like an arrogant asshole... but these are for some common questions that’ll undoubtedly come up:

yes, you can use this in any extent or manner.

no, you obvs don’t have to. ignore it if you want. i’ll be ok lol.

no, i’m not gonna write a long ass book with all the little details on every aspect of all the traits and then assign these things for your character(s). just make something up. that’s what i did here xD (plus my brain is d e a d from this)

yes, this is seen as a mostly(!) tomato pureblood sith thing but obvs attitudes are different between individuals. some are super into it, some could careless and think it’s all fake news, some have parents that care too much about it which is annoying and interfering with their life so they lowkey hate it lol.

no, i couldn’t do a read more bc it wouldn’t look as nice and i worked hard ok? ;-; i apologize for clogged dashes in advance.

i think that’s it? ofc feel free to hmu if you’re ok with a reply that can take anywhere from a few min to 3 business days ^-^;

[wr4w-blog]

A Growing Community: r/botany

Reddit is probably my favorite websites. You would be very hard pressed to find a website that compares to reddit in terms of diversity and number of users. The implementation of subsections within the reddit website, which are known as "subreddits," allows reddit community members with similar interests to flock together and bond over shared interests. A large part of reddit's success as a platform is the unique use of upvotes and downvotes to rank both posts and comments. Reddit's upvote system, and the way comments are typically ranked as "hot" or "top," greatly influences the dynamics of the community. Particularly funny or informative posts tend to be the most upvoted, so users tend to word their comments accordingly. Comments that reddit community members do not appreciate are down-voted, which creates a welcoming atmosphere that caters to the particular tastes of any given subreddit. One of my favorite subreddits is r/botany.

The subreddit r/botany is a place where botany enthusiasts from all walks of life can join each other and appreciate the beauty of plants. With over 75,000 community members, r/botany is a relatively large subreddit. The content on r/botany has a wide range of depth. The content generated on the subreddit can be as simple as basic questions about common plants, and as complex as in-depth discussions about graduate level plant physiology.

Vaguely worded questions and low effort posts that reddit users add to the subreddit tend to pass through with very few comments, and even fewer upvotes. The community consistently upvotes content that includes thought provoking questions, photos of exceptionally uncommon plants, or interesting botanical facts. Users that post simple botanical questions on r/botany are typically encouraged to head over to one of the many subreddits that focuses on basic plant related content, such as r/gardening, r/whatsthisplant, or r/trees.

Community members on r/botany rarely seem to disagree. The replies usually build off of each other when a botanical question is posted on the subreddit. Initially, there will be one or two responses that broadly answer a question that is posted. Other community members will then join in and add layers of complexity to the pool of responses. One poster may directly answer the question that started the thread, and another user that is more knowledgeable about the topic will come along and augment the information that has already been contributed.  

The subreddit r/botany is most definitely a haven for people that are genuinely interested in plant physiology, plant ecology, and botanical history. The “about community” section on r/botany’s homepage sidebar summarizes the subreddit’s purpose as concisely and accurately as possible:

A great way to gauge the posting style that is most successful on r/botany is to sort the content by top all-time:

 It is clear that r/botany holds botanical education in high regard. Two of the three most upvoted posts in the subreddit's history were made by college students who simply shared their passion for studying botany with the community. The fourth, fifth, and sixth top all-time posts on r/botany are fascinating images of plant morphology, images of specimens that even a seasoned botanist doesn't get the chance to see very often. One theme that the top three posts have in common is the amount of time, effort, and passion that the content creators put into the field of botany. Community members recognize and respect the level of interest they share with the top posters, so they reward their content with encouraging comments and many upvotes. Interestingly enough, the comments on the top posts are typically very simple. The comments on top all-time posts are often just expressions of appreciation, and are rarely more than a few encouraging words. The brief and shallow comment that dominates the top all-time posts goes against the grain of comments on most top-daily, top-weekly, and top-monthly posts.

When the time frame for most upvoted posts on r/botany is shortened, the initial posts and subsequent comments tend to become more complex. This phenomenon holds true across most subreddits, and it is especially common with subreddits that involve a deep well of knowledge or complex subject matter. When enough people who are browsing r/all upvote a post, then it is pushed up the "hot" queue, which then leads to more exposure on the reddit front-page. Posts that are heavily upvoted may also be cross-posted to other subreddits, and as the cycle continues, the range of redditors that are able to see and comment on the post continues to grow

 The botany subreddit is generally pretty laid back, but like all subreddits there is a list of community rules that can be found on the sidebar:

The rules for r/botany are simple and seem to be somewhat vaguely worded, which allows moderators to filter content in a subjective way. There is rarely any aggression or negativity in the comments on r/botany, although this may be due to heavy moderation. Generally, the upvote-downvote system that reddit utilizes discourages people from being aggressive. Negative or hurtful comments are quickly down-voted, which leads to the comments being buried at the bottom of the page when the default "best" comment sorting is enabled. It is hard to estimate how many posts are removed from the subreddit, but many posts that could be interpreted as violating the rules seem to stay up on the subreddit for at least twenty-four hours. 

While many questionable posts appear to stay up on the subreddit, I personally discovered that it is quite easy to have a post removed by moderators for violating the vaguely worded rules. My very first post to r/botany was removed for violating the plant id rule of the subreddit, despite the fact that I was not directly asking for the community to identify a plant. All I did was ask about good botanical guides for use in the Pacific Northwest:

 I then reposted the same question after rewording the title and omitting "ID," but my post didn't gain any traction. I was honestly surprised by the lack of response to my post. I thought that posing a serious question, and sharing some of my personal interest in botany, would be enough to engage community members in a fruitful conversation.

The majority of my posts did not gain any traction. My first post to r/botany wasn't the only content of mine that was removed by moderators for violating the rules. My second post to the subreddit was also removed for "a variety of reasons." Given the rules listed on the subreddit sidebar, I assume that the picture I posted was not particularly unique or interesting, or at least in the opinion of the moderator. I also made a couple of comments replying to topics that didn't gain much traction aside from a couple of upvotes. My comments didn't receive a ton of feedback, but the vast majority of comments on r/botany are not highly upvoted. The majority of comments on the subreddit do not gain much traction. While slightly disappointing, the lack of noteworthy feedback on my comments doesn't mean that I failed to contribute content to the subreddit. Many posts and replies to those posts have low upvote counts, which I attribute to the range of subject matter that is posted on r/botany. There is a good chance that a topic that catches my attention will appear disinteresting to the average r/botany user. The connection that each individual community member has to a niche area of botany will largely drive whether or not they find a post interesting, and botany is a very diverse scientific field with many areas of interest.

I attribute my initial lack of success with engaging with community members to the overall lack of effort that I was putting towards the content that I was sharing. I failed to include enough relatable detail in the content that I generated, which resulted in community members simply scanning over my comments or posts without feeling the urge to build on what I had to offer. Instead of continuing on my path of low effort content contributions, I decided to take a new approach: appealing to r/botany's respect of education. I found that stating the true purpose for my posting on the subreddit, which was to create content for a class assignment, resulted in a surprisingly high amount of feedback from community members. My post:

In addition to engaging the community through the lens of an academic, I also made an effort to stroke the egos of r/botany community members by asking them to talk about themselves. In 24 hours nearly 90 people upvoted my post, and over 70 people gave thoughtful replies in the comments section. As I'm writing this blog entry, the number of upvotes that my post received puts it in fourth place among the most upvoted posts in the past week, and the other top posts have been up for five or more days. At this rate my most recent post will likely receive over 100 comments and even more upvotes. It took several failed attempts, but it appears that I've finally found a way to connect with the r/botany community and contribute high quality content. 

Posting to r/botany with either negative or little to no feedback really helped me understand what makes the subreddit tick. The subreddit truly is a place for dedicated community members to share their common interest in botany. By rotating my community interactions between comments and posts, I was able to see more of the community and experience both sides of the creative process. I feel as though I wouldn't have had any successful interactions if I had simply kept trying to get upvotes by posting a pretty picture or intelligent sounding question (assuming success is measured by karma in the case of reddit).

Overall, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the time that I’ve spent scrolling through posts on r/botany. I have been able to have fruitful discussions, learn many interesting botanical facts, and I’ve also probably wasted a bunch of time, but that’s what reddit is for. The botany subreddit is a great example of what makes reddit great: passionate people joining each other on the internet to bond over shared interests. I look forward to continuing my visits to r/botany and doing my part to help contribute to this wonderful networked community.

Works Cited

“Reddit.” Reddit, 13 Jan. 2009, https://www.reddit.com/r/botany/.

Gordon, Deveron. “Reddit.” Reddit, 22 Jan. 2020, www.reddit.com/user/Wr4Wthrowaway/comments/esm1cn/pnw_flora_guides/.

Gordon, Deveron. “Reddit.” Reddit, 15 Feb. 2020, https://www.reddit.com/r/botany/comments/f4xy8h/when_did_your_interest_in_botany_start_growing/

[vijayonstuff]

5 Steps Towards Better Engineering.

I just realized that I haven’t posted anything to my blog since my dad’s passing, and this post has been in my draft since about 2 days after Tim Dodd’s interview was uploaded onto Youtube. It’s still worth a read.

I “recently” (retroactively applied) watched an interview of Elon Musk by Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, and in it he listed 5 steps every project must follow to be successful. I couldn’t agree more with him, and at the risk of coming across as an Elon fanboy, I wanted to share them here:

1. Question your requirements, or bluntly put, “make a requirement less dumb.”

Even smart people are dumb some of the time. So question every feature requirement that comes along your way. Especially, if it’s coming from a smart person.

Product managers and customers ask for many things, and a lot of it truly necessary. But, some of their asks may sound like necessary feature requests on the surface, but once you dig deeper, the reason for the ask might be moot or can be solved in a simpler way with less work or no work. Question whether requirements are actually necessary, or if they can be simplified and made better, or be eradicated.

2. Delete the part, delete the process.

This follows logically from #1, but is more of an active conscious effort to remove clutter that adds to unnecessary complexity. Every single additional feature you implement adds one more item that can and will fail, needs to be tested, requires additional maintenance, and increases complexity and adds to backwards compatibility headaches when developing new more important features.

So, cut down ruthlessly on what you deliver, and build only what is absolutely necessary. Spring clean your spring board.

3. Simplify, then optimize.

Do step #1 and #2 before you start to optimize features. If you’ve eradicated the part/feature completely, there is no need to optimize it at all. Think of it as 100% optimization at 0% cost.

4. Accelerate cycle time.

This is about iterative development, and to speed up spec, implementation, test, and evaluation time. If you’ve worked on Agile teams, you probably are already accustomed to fast iterations... but even then, it’s good to always think of a project as a bunch of small iterative MVPs that are built and validated quickly.

Yes, this may not always seem feasible, especially in long term large scale efforts. But, when SpaceX is launching, testing, failing, and iterating on giant Startships, you really have no excuses to claim you can’t practice this in your software project.

5. Automate.

Once you’ve figured out how to do something consistently at an acceptable standard, then automate it. Automation is the last step, but it’s critical.

A. It will improve quality of your outcomes by minimizing variance in operations and eradicate operator error; and

B. It frees you up to work on other cool and more fulfilling things.

No engineer wants to be repeating the same mundane manual process day after day, week after week, month after month... You do it manually once or twice to figure it out, but then as soon as you have it figured... AUTOMATE!

But, remember not to rush and do things out of order. We are struggling to get past #1 and #2 at my current work but are already automating things, and it is just soul sucking every time I have to do the monthly bill run, where a bunch of script automations have to be manually kicked off in sequence over a period of 5 days... Ahem! I have said too much.

Seriously though, #2 is probably the most important step. While the rest of my org is skipping to #5, I myself have made the blunder of optimizing performance for steps that shouldn’t exist in the first place, albeit while I’m fully aware of it. For instance, we have a manual workflow that involves exporting data as CSV which then gets validated by another team... and I have optimized memory utilization and implemented multipart uploads for this CSV generation step.

Am I proud of it? Uhhhh... Quick! Look here! Elon Musk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw&t=800s 

I have linked directly to the part where he talks about the 5 step process, but the entire video (along with Part 2) is very informative and totally worth your time.

[yournewapartment]

So I'm a Canadian who will be moving to Scotland later this month for university and I'm wondering: Do you have any tips for getting settled in a new country? This will be the first time I'm buying my own groceries and not using student loans so budgeting advice is also welcome.

This ask has been sitting in my inbox for like at least a month... I’m so sorry! Some posts take more time to write then others. I actually have about four asks that are all essentially this same question, so I’m going to just combine them all into one post. 

As for budgeting... here’s my two cents, in terms of Minimum Wage.

Budgeting on Minimum Wage

Overview

The average minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hr. Even working full time at 40 hours a week, that’s only a profit of $290 before taxes. This is not a fair living wage! You are worth way more than this amount! I strongly encourage you to start looking for another job that pays better, look for something around the $10-$15 range.

While $7.25 is atrocious, thousands of people around the world support families on much less. If they can do it while supporting children, so can you! To live off a minimum wage budget you need to declare yourself independent. If your parents are still claiming you as a dependent YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I also recommend that you have the highest amount possible taken out of your taxes so that you get money back from your state at the end of the year, instead of being in debt to them.

What I’ve done is come up with a budgeting plan based off some made up factors and my own personal experience.

Housing

1. City life. Forget about the city! Apartments located in cities can be three times as expensive as apartments in small towns or villages. On top of the extra expense, they’re much smaller and have less amenities included. I’d much rather live in a one bedroom apartment with a dishwasher and a conveniently located Laundromat, than a literal closet with no windows on a fifth floor walkup. Look for apartments twenty minutes to a half hour outside of your closest city. Now you have the close conveniences of a city, with none of those pesky city prices that your budget can’t handle.

2. College towns. Shop around and look at apartments by local colleges. Large colleges with have apartment complexes within walking distance of the school grounds. Landlords know that college students have less money (you might even be a college student yourself) and adjust their prices accordingly. Even apartments next to ivy league schools are priced this way, so don’t be discouraged by the institution’s “prestige”.

3. Locale. Your safety is more important than your bank account. It doesn’t matter if you live in Section 8 housing or in an affluent suburb. Some apartment complexes and neighborhoods are just safer than others. I live in a heavily populated and upper middle class suburb, and the first year I moved in, a drunk woman tried to throw a beer bottle at my car. Thankfully this is the only time this happened to me, but it made me feel unsafe in my environment. Before signing a lease, walk or drive around your prospective home’s neighborhood at night. Take in the atmosphere, and make sure it’s one where you could comfortably run to the local supermarket at 10:30pm and pick up toilet paper.

4. Roommates. Living on minimum wage requires that you find one or two roommates to help split the rent. The more the better! Get together with your more responsible friends, so at least you’re living with people whose company you enjoy. There are lots of “roommate wanted” forums and message boards for you to browse on the internet, but always bring a responsible adult with you before meeting a stranger. Please. Bring your mom if you have too.

Food

1. Low-spoon food. I created this post a few months ago which offers lots of suggestions about cooking and shopping on a budget.

2. Online recipes. Here are some of my favorite online Tumblr cookbook resources.

- College Student Cookbook. Click here.

- Meals On The Go. Click here. (Not a cookbook, but super helpful)

- Broke College Kid Masterpost. Click here.

- Cooking on A Bootstrap. Click here.

- Good and Cheap. Click here.

- Budget Bytes. Click here.

3. I also regularly update my cooking on a budget tag.

Misc Expenses

1. Gas. Shop around and find the cheapest gas in your area. Avoid gas stations next to colleges, highways, and in touristy areas. Look into getting as gas rewards card from your favorite supermarket. I get 10 cents off a gallon with Stop & Shop every time I do a big shop.

2. Dollar store. Get to know your local dollar and bargain stores. You can buy everything from pots and pans to bed sheets there. These stores often sell bulk ramen for $1 and large cans of crushed tomatoes for 75 cents. That’s enough food for you to live off of for several days. When shopping, I make three grocery store stops to ensure that I spend the least amount possible on my pantry needs. I go Dollar Store, Stop and Shop, and then to my local organic grocery store. I’m going to make a list of things that I buy at Dollar Stores and things that I don’t buy at Dollar Stores soon!

3. Cable. We are living in the digital age- you don’t need cable television. Use Netflix or Hulu or whatever. It will save you tons of $$.

4. Internet. As far as internet speed goes, if you’re living with roommates you will probably need a higher speed. Living by yourself, choose a lower one. Most internet companies offer large discounts to new subscribers. These typically only last a year, but will save you serious money. Make sure to take note of when this discount expires, and contact the company before it does. If you don’t, they’ll begin charging you the full amount without notice.

5. Verizon. I just want to take a moment to talk about how much I love Verizon because they have literally saved me so much money in the three years I’ve been with them. After you sign a contract with a new internet company, they charge you a bunch of ridiculous fees like “activation fees” and “installation fees”. I called Verizon and was like “I’m a poor college student, I can’t afford this” and they were like “don’t worry, we’ll waive the fee”. I signed a two year contract with them that saved me $80 on a high-speed internet bill per month (my price being only 50.99 a month). After the contract expired I call them and they put me on a month to month, keeping the price absolutely the same. TLDR- get Verizon if you can.

6. Utility. Get on a monthly budget with whatever utility company services your new apartment. Although it may seem like the cheaper option, paying the actual amount of electricity you spend per month is the more expensive. It’s also unpredictable, and a minimum wage budget won’t allow for it. See this for more info.

7. Amazon. I buy a lot of my beauty, cleaning, and cat products online. Amazon offers Prime shipping free for a year with a student email address, and then offers it at a greatly reduced price after the year. If you are a student, snap up that free deal ASAP. If it’s in your budget, I’d greatly recommend investing in Amazon Prime.

8. Saving money. It’s so important to attempt to break way from the “paycheck to paycheck” vicious cycle. Living this way does not allow for emergency expense money, and trust me, sometime soon you will need emergency expense money. Your cat might get sick or your car may die, whatever it is, it’s always smart to have at least $500 squirreled away. I’m gonna level with you, things have been tight for my budget and I haven’t been able to save anything for the past three months. But this month I will!

Example Budgets

Full Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 40hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $1,160 a month without taxes.

Housing: Let’s say you’re sharing an apartment with two close friends, the rent being $1,500 without any amenities. That rent split three ways is $500 each.

Gas I commute twenty minutes every day, and I drop about $20-$25 a week on gas. That’s $100 on gas a month.

Food: I do one big shopping a month with my boyfriend. We drop around $180 and that’s including toiletries and soap and stuff. So maybe you’ll spend about $100 a month on all your shopping needs.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split three ways that’s $17 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

With everything added up, you still have around $290 left before taxes! That money can go into a savings account, and after several months, you’ll have that $500 worth of emergency money saved.

Part Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 25hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $725 without taxes.

Housing: In this case, you need to look for apartments in the $800-900 range. In my area, one bedroom apartments go for around $1000, so you may need to get creative with your roommate (I don’t think you could have more than one roommate in this situation). Buy dividers to split the bedroom or studio in half! Let’s say your rent is $850 with nothing included, that’s $425 each.

Gas You’re still looking at a large gas bill per month, so it may be more inexpensive to ride a bike or use public transportation. Let’s say you use public transportation, and spend around $50 a month on that. Or maybe you and your roommate can split gas expenses and share a car?

Food: Pinch those pennies! Use some of those budget cookbooks I linked above to help you cook healthy and delicious meals for under $4 each. See if you can only spend $80 a month on groceries.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split two ways is $25 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

That leaves you $25 to put in your bank account, if that. This is a paycheck to paycheck situation, and you will probably need to get another source of income to feel secure. But you can still do it!

[thewritersintent-blog]

13 Ghosts 3: The Bound Woman

I’m back!! The third installment in the 13 part Thirteen Ghosts rewrite. I’ll be on this more - updating the story monthly and posting book reviews. Promise!

Trigger Warnings: graphic depiction of violence.

Word Count: 6,110

October 18, 2004

It was cold, far colder than southern California had any right to be. Merle glanced out the window of Fallyn’s apartment, tightly wrapped in a thick blanket, and clutching a warm cup of matcha. She watched the sky - a pale, almost translucent blue - for a moment before turning her attention back to the television. The film was frozen, paused at some absurd time. Of course when it started to get interesting, Fallyn had to run to the bathroom. Merle shifted in her cocoon and gazed absentmindedly at the room - the overwhelming collection of movies,  medical books stacked haphazardly on a small, stuffed bookcase amongst fake plants and action figures, and a big blue armchair diagonally from her, plush with far too many pillows and blankets. She had been excited to come over, to watch the movie. Now she was tired, a sleepy sort of drunk from the high of watching the highly anticipated film.

The bathroom door opened, and Fallyn came out, drying her hands. She smiled at Merle and adjusted her sweatshirt. Merle rolled her eyes.

“Ready?”

Merle responded by staring at the television. Her sister laughed quietly.

“It’s not like I was in there a long time.”

“I know.” Merle rubbed her arms.

Fallyn raised an eyebrow. “Are you cold?”

Merle looked at her. Eyebrow still raised, Fallyn walked over to the armchair and grabbed a green blanket, putting it over her sister’s shoulders. “See,” she said, “if you were smart, you’d remember to dress warmer.”

“I am smart.”

“Not enough to remember you’re always cold.”

Merle grumbled and tightened the second blanket around herself. Fallyn laughed. She made her way into the small kitchen off to the side of the living room, and began rummaging around for popcorn. Merle watched her, eyes glazing over as she thought about her own movements, how she had made lunch while her sister started the first movie in their marathon. It was eery how similar they are; how they were almost identical in action as well as their face. Dark hair, thick eyebrows, high cheekbones, tan skin, and a prominent nose from their father’s side. She should have worn her hair different, worn something other than her sweatshirt and jeans. It’s not that she didn’t love or like Fallyn; more that she felt like a copy, a duplicate Fallyn. Most agreed, thinking if Fallyn liked sports, so did Merle; if her favorite color was pink, so was Merle’s; if Fallyn thought blondes were cute, so did Merle. They were not seen as compliments or even equals, but mirror images of one another.

“Okay, out of everything we’ve seen so far - what was your favorite?”

Merle blinked. Fallyn was leaning over the counter, head cocked. The popcorn slowly spun in the microwave, occasionally popping.

“What was yours?”

Fallyn snorted. “You don’t have one?”

Merle shrugged. She didn’t have favorites, Fallyn knew that. She had a top twenty that was never consistent and nothing was ordered; one and twenty held the same significance.

“I like the second movie - the Japanese one. ‘Jo-on.’ Something like that,” Fallyn answered.

“‘Ju-on’?”

“Yeah.” The microwaved let out two long beeps. Fallyn turned, pulled out the popcorn - cursing as she jerked her hand back - and flung it into a bowl. She carefully opened it, flinching as her hand touched the hot bag.

“What did you like about it?”

“It was...different.” Fallyn tossed the bag into the sink. “I don’t know a lot about Japanese stories, so it was kinda cool to see that. Their ghosts are different than ours.”

“I think they’re called ghouls.”

“That’s so cool.” Fallyn walked over, and flopped onto the couch, popcorn bouncing out of the bowl. “It’s terrifying though, isn’t it?”

“What is? The ghouls?”

“No - I mean, yeah, the ghouls, but the whole premise of it.” Merle glanced at her. Fallyn looked thoughtful as she shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth. She offered the bowl to Merle; she took a couple pieces. Her mouth still full she continued, “one person’s cruelty leads to a cycle of vengeance that spreads out - it’s like...a virus or something. You know those, uh, graphics that show the spread of something?”

“Viruses spread?”

“Yeah, but I mean -?”

“Like disaster zones from ground zero?”

“Yes!”

Merle nodded, thinking. “It’s a bunch of bull, though.” Fallyn frowned. She turned fully and stared at Merle. “I mean, I have no doubt the ghouls are real -” Fallyn snorted “-not the ones in the movie! I mean the concept! Like Dracula isn’t real, but that doesn’t mean vampires aren’t. I was talking about the cycle of vengeance thing. It’s not real. It’s crap.”

“Like Dracula?”

“Yeah.” She knew her sister was laughing at her. It didn’t matter. “The saying is ‘an eye for an eye.’ That’s where it ends. Someone hurts you, then you hurt them back. Everything’s done. Over with. Finished.”

“The saying is ‘an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind,” Fallyn corrected. “And I think that’s a Western thing, not Japanese.”

“Still,” Merle argued, “I don’t think ghosts or ghouls or even living people go around sucking others into their misfortune. I think they take their revenge, and then -” she makes a gesture, like waving something off.

Fallyn shrugged, picking up the remote to play the film. “You think what you want, Mer,” she said. “It’s still scary as shit to me.”

***

January 27, 2006

This isn’t what she would have wanted. Too much black, too...what’s the word? Started with an M...mel...Maleficent? No, melancholy. Maleficent was - she wallowed. She had been her third favorite Disney villain, though she could have been her tenth or second. Merle was odd like that. Had been. Was. She would be pissed about all this.

A small smile crossed Fallyn’s face. It felt unnatural, as though she hadn’t spent the last twenty years of her life laughing and smiling and enjoying life. If anyone had torn their gaze away from the casket and saw her face - if they could have bared it - they would have thought she looked like a grotesque clown, a sick grin painted on her face. That would have made Merle laugh. She hated - had hated - these things. Funerals were boring. “Take me to New Orleans,” she had once proclaimed. They had been thirteen at the time. “I wanna be buried above ground, in one of those fancy coffins, with catnip surrounding my grave. People will remember me as Bast -”

“Sekhmet!” Fallyn had chimed in, cackling.

“Bast and Sekhmet! The cat queen!” Merle had looked at Fallyn, her eyes twinkling. “Promise me, Lyn. No sadness - fun music, lacy umbrellas, and cats. No black, only rainbows.”

Fallyn had continued laughing, though it had started to feel forced. “We - we shouldn’t be saying this!”

“Why not? I wanna look down and think - that’s a party!”

They had laughed, laughed so hard they clutched each other, gripping their stomachs. Fallyn’s hands started to shake and she held onto her bag. She swallowed, a dull roaring in her ears like being under water. No, she would not cry. Merle hadn’t wanted tears at thirteen; she most certainly would not have tears at twenty.

August 13, 2015

The car ride was quiet, only the sounds of AC/DC crackling through the radio filled the space as the car rolled into the parking lot. It looked more like it was on its way to a funeral rather than a birthday adventure. Fallyn scowled, then softened her expression. ‘Birthday adventure.’ What a weird phrase.

It hadn’t been her idea to come here. She enjoyed spelunking, cave diving, skydiving - really, anything to do with climbing and pulleys and harnesses, but today...today she didn’t want to do anything. She had voiced her plans to Ashley Harding, another nurse at the hospice facility she worked at. Stay-in, watch a movie or two, drink a few gallons of hot chocolate - she wasn’t a drinker in the alcoholic sense, never had been - then go to bed. Ashley had scoffed before announcing she would take her spelunking, her treat. “You can’t just sit around - you’re thirty! That’s a milestone!” What milestone, Fallyn wasn’t so sure. She was sure that getting a job with your friend from college was a stupid choice.

She should have said no, told Ash that she didn’t want to do anything. But she had relented. It had been eleven years. She could go out for one birthday.

Ashley paid the parking fee from the driver’s seat, then drove onward, slowly through the parking lot. She eventually found a spot and proudly announced they were here. The radio turned off with the car engine. The sudden silence woke Lauren Willard - a mutual friend from college and Ashley’s current roommate - with a loud snort.

“We’re here?” she slurred.

“Yup!” Ash punctuated the ‘P’ with a definitive pop. She unlocked the doors, hopped out and stretched. Everyone else followed suit. Fallyn looked around.

The parking lot was nothing interesting. It was relatively small, gravelly and gray, but it was secured. A tiny ticket booth at the entrance with a sign displaying the prices for admission. Another much larger sign stood opposite from the booth, across the lot, marking the entrance to the forest, the park they would soon go into. Fallyn couldn’t make it out, but she imagined it boasted about the park’s history and stated a few rules, like no dogs and to keep to the trails.

Outside the little lot, it was lovely. She took a deep breath. Fresh and clean, the way cold water tastes on a hot, dry day. The surrounding trees were brightly green in the last stages of summer. Everything seemed patient, as though waiting for something - for them? It was eerie, though whether that was the early morning mist coasting along the ground of the park itself, Fallyn wasn’t so sure.

Ash popped open the trunk and they grabbed their gear.

“Beautiful, right?” Elysiah baker asked. She had slept the entire ride over - like Lauren - and the sleep seemed to have done her good. Here eyes were sparkling, and the bags under them - dark and heavy when they picked her up - had faded into something a little worn, but not torn, like an over-washed shirt compared to a ripped up, paint-splattered one.

Fallyn smiled and picked up her bag. It felt a little forced, but no one commented on it. Elysiah nudged her. “Let’s go celebrate your big day, huh?”

“Yeah,” Fallyn said, as Ash locked the car. The four of them made their way to the park entrance, Lauren stretching and yawning all the while. “Let’s.”

November 2, 2004

He had no name until he met Merle. Until Merle was found. Up until then, he could have been anyone. He was no one. From a spec, barely noticeable in the history of humankind to the boogeyman people warned their children about. From a little nobody to Michael Myers. A dream come true.

His face was unremarkable, hair unexciting, clothes simple. The perfect monster. Fallyn stared at his image on her parent’s TV, transfixed. Her mother had gone upstairs, unable to watch the news. She didn’t want to see his face, didn’t want to know his name. She just wanted him gone, punished. Her father stayed, sitting in his armchair, jaw clenched. Fallyn probably looked like him: thick eyebrows furrowed, thin lips twisted in anger and disgust, dark eyes piercing those blues as though they could see each other through the screen.

The newscaster was speaking. “Rhett Woodward Hewitt was arrested today for the murder of Merle Allison Crane. Crane, the daughter of first generation Dutch-French immigrants, was nineteen years old when she had been approached by Hewitt at the clothing store she worked at.” They played the surveillance tape as they had for the last week. Out of the corner of her eye, Fallyn say her father turn his face, pushing his fist up towards his mouth. His dark eyes glistened. She didn’t look away - she wouldn’t. She watched as a black and white image of Merle waved Rhett Woodward Hewitt off. The footage was blurry, but there was no mistaking her, from her new bob to her favorite bag with the Disney villain keychains. Fallyn focused in on Rhett Woodward Hewitt - unextraordinary then as he was now.

“Police believe Hewitt followed Crane’s car, ramming his vehicle into hers until she swerved off the road.” Highway cameras - dull and blurry - showed the black truck following the little gray Honda. The newscaster cut between several cameras showing their commute - Merle must have been terrified - before returning to Rhett Woodward Hewitt’s image. They had no video of the accident. He had been clever - ramming her car off the road when they were off the highway and onto the dirt road that led towards the house. A pang hit Fallyn. A dull roaring sounded in her ears and she swallowed, closed her eyes, and then forced herself to look. “Hewitt killed Merle and attempted to hide her body by burying her vertical in the ground. Her family - father, fifty-one year old Robert Crane, mother, fifty-seven year old Febe, and Merle’s twin sister Fallyn - reported her missing that night. Police found her body three days later, two miles outside her family home.” Another pang, sharper this time. She had been so close, so close to home. Just a minute or two longer and she…

Fallyn swallowed again. Her father had turned back towards the TV, his hand still covering his mouth. The screen changed back to a video of Rhett Woodward Hewitt being led inside the jail. The newscaster continued for a minute more, mentioning his age - thirty-five - his employment - self-employed - and how long he had lived in California - since he was nineteen. Fallyn watched him, unassuming in everything. He glanced at the cameras around him, a small smile playing at his lips. Her lips curled in disgust. The roaring grew louder, thundering in her ears, as the newscaster announced the date of the trial.

AUGUST 13, 2015

They reached the entrance of the cave. It had taken ten minutes of walking - not that she had minded. There was something soothing, relieving about the forest. The smell, the sound of dirt and rocks crunching under her boots - it was calming. Fallyn’s shoulders softened, her strides quickening, and her frown slowly falling before twisting up into some dreamlike smile.

The cave was large and supposedly very deep. The dark reds and browns of the cave seemed to invite her in, asking her to see them, explore them. It opened itself to her and the others. She ran her hand along the mossy rocks outside of the cave. Beautiful.

“Holy shit, this is nice,” Elysiah exclaimed. She stood near Fallyn, hands on her hips, grinning. Lauren, a few feet behind them, looked the cave entrance up and down before turning to a sweaty Ashley.

“You’ve done this one, right?”

“Would I take you somewhere I haven’t gone?”

There was silence, only interrupted by the crunching of their boots and birds chirping. Ashley grinned wider. “Okay - maybe I would, but not today! Today is about Lyn - and not scaring Lauren.”

“I’m not scared,” she said quietly. She didn’t seem to be talking to anyone in particular. Elysiah put her arm around her shoulders.

“It’ll be fun,” she said. She looked at the other two and gestured. “Well...lead the way.”

JANUARY 5, 2005

There was no way, no way this could be their defense. Fallyn sat between her mother and father, staring at Rhett Woodward Hewitt’s lawyer - James Scott, a man who smirked whenever the press referred to him as the Devil’s Advocate. The room was in a strained silence, hanging onto Scott’s words, thinking about what he had just claimed. It was ridiculous.

Scott fought back a smirk, and continued. “What is your relationship with Roswell?”

Rhett Woodward Hewitt shrugged. It was offensive how plain he was. Fallyn would

never have noticed him - no one would have had he not...Even his suit was unremarkable; black and baggy, it left everything to the imagination. He was a stark contrast to the brilliantly and rather obnoxiously dressed James Scott in his dark green bespoke suit and bright tie. That shouldn’t be allowed - in court or anywhere; most lawyers wore something basic, black or navy, to keep the case on their clients and their arguments. Not James Scott. Not the Devil’s Advocate.

“We don’t talk much,” Rhett Woodward Hewitt continued. Scott nodded solemnly.

“And why is that?”

“He’s...to tell you the truth, he’s a little odd.”

“In what way?”

“Ros...he’s always been attracted to the violence of things. Like breaking animals.

Hurting them, making them cry. Liked horror movies too - always got a little giddy at the gross bits.”

“And you didn’t?”

Rhett Woodward Hewitt swallowed and looked down at his lap. What a wonderful actor. “No,” he said quietly. “I...it scared me. I liked the...the frights...but never...never the gore.”

James Scott turned to the jury, eyebrows upturned into some mockery of sympathy.

“The prosecution claims that my client, Mr. Rhett Woodward Hewitt, killed Merle

Crane. The only evidence they had been able to procure has been a murky video at the store and on the highway. There were no prints at the scene - no DNA on Miss Crane’s person. The knife, as you know,” he gave a small smile to the jury, as though sharing a joke with them, “was discovered five miles from the body, blood matching that of Miss Crane, and fingerprints alleging my client as the killer. I propose that it was not in fact Mr. Rhett Woodward Hewitt who killed her, but his twin brother, Roswell Winthrop Hewitt.”

There was a murmur in the courtroom. Fallyn snorted and glared. There was no way anyone would believe this. Maybe the video evidence, but the physical? It was Rhett Woodward Hewitt’s fingerprints on the knife, his truck that followed her. The lawyer said Roswell had an alibi; Rhett did not. This little twist belongs on a TV show, not in real life. She glared at Rhett Woodward Hewitt His eyes remained fixed in his lap, brows furrowed sadly. The corner of his mouth turned upward, just slightly.

AUGUST 13, 2018

The climb was quiet. Not oppressive or dense, just...quiet. Water dripped off rocks and splashed onto the small pools they walked through. It was musky, like old, wet dirt and bat guano. The walls were slimy and rough; Lauren had been convinced she had run her hand through guano and had begged Elysiah for her gloves. Their boots splashed and crunched and skid through the water and across the rocks.

Ashley led the group, pausing every few minutes to double check her map. Elysiah was

behind her, followed by Fallyn, and lastly, Lauren. Fallyn had suggested Lauren go in the middle, but she had refused, finding comfort in being behind the others; the way she said it was like she was conquering her own fear, as though she was afraid of something grabbing her and could only be safe from the back of the line.

A couple of tight squeezes, and Ash announced they would soon need to break out their rope gear. “It’s not too far,” she explained calmly. Lauren looked petrified, like she didn’t realize what the rope they brought would be used for. “The rope just gives us a little extra...stability to get down.”

Lauren looked uncertain. Fallyn put her hand on her shoulder, careful of a patch of gunk

on her jacket. “I’ll go first,” she said quietly. “It’ll be better once you see me - see us doing it.”

She nodded though she did not look convinced. Fallyn gave her a smile and followed after Ashley and Elysiah, hearing the splash of Lauren behind her.

To be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure why Lauren had come. She was scared of almost everything - no, that wasn’t true. She was scared of anything that could be dangerous, labeled adventurous. To Lauren, ‘adventurous’ was a code word for ‘stupid actions that lead to one’s death.’ Merle thought like that.

Fallyn blinked, scrunching up her nose. No. She would not think about her. Not right now. She tried to focus on the walls - swirling mixture of burnt orange, red, brown, and yellow. Like a sunset trapped underground. Fallyn ran her hand along the wall, cataloging its texture under her glove. She stared for a moment, the contrast between her black glove and the wall, illuminated by her headlamp, drawing her back into her own mind, before she glanced back at Lauren, and pressed onward.

FEBRUARY 2, 2005

“Rhett Woodward Hewitt has been released from prison. Hewitt was arrested in January for the murder of nineteen year old Merle Crane of Los Angeles, California. His lawyer, James Scott, stunned the court on January fifth, claiming that the police had apprehended the wrong man. In a twist fit for TV, police took DNA samples from both Hewitt and his twin brother, Roswell Winthrop Hewitt, and confirmed they had indeed put the wrong man on trial. While Roswell Hewitt is now facing charges, Rhett Hewitt is suing the state for damages, with James Scott once again as his lawyer.”

OCTOBER 25, 2005

She shouldn’t be here. Fallyn sat in the park, facing the playground. Her eyes were glazed over, vacant, not really seeing the children running around while their parents watched. A book was opened in her lap, but she hadn’t turned the page in over ten minutes. She had the distant feeling that parents were looking at her oddly, but she didn’t pay attention. She shouldn’t be here.

His house was almost a mile away from the park. That’s why she had stopped here. One last stop before - before what? What exactly was she going to do?

Her chest felt tight and she swallowed. It had seemed simple. It was simple. So why was she still here?

Fallyn tapped her hand against her knee for a moment. She bit her lip. Her eyes seemed to harden as she sat up a little straighter before picking up her bag and book, and leaving the park.

AUGUST 13, 2015

Ashley attached the rope around her waist. With a smile to the other three women, she carefully scaled down the side of the cave. It wasn’t too far down - maybe twenty-five feet at the most. However, it was better for them to be cautious than...well, than dead.

She reached the next level of the cave floor, her boots skidding on the damp rocks. She quickly regained her balance and grinned up at them.

“See,” she said, “it’s not hard.”

Ash unhooked herself from the ropes. Elysiah pulled them up and set about hooking herself into them. They had agreed to climb down in the order they had been walking: Ashley, Elysiah, Fallyn, then Lauren. The other three were used to this; the order was more for Lauren’s benefit.

Elysiah tugged on the ropes, double checking their tightness, and prepared to climb down. Lauren watched her, eyes wide.

Fallyn looked at the ropes secured into the rock at her feet. It was strong. And yet...an eerie feeling started to seep into her bones. She felt like someone was watching them.

She looked around, careful to seem interested in the damp walls so not to frighten Lauren. Fallyn peered back the way they came, but could see nothing. No one was there besides them, or rather, no one was this far into the cave as they were.

She frowned. They hadn’t strayed off the path. She squinted, turning up the brightness on her headlamp. It cast the rocks into shadow, sharp and dark. It looked more menacing this way, all sharp angels and dramatic lighting. She stared. Nothing came out of the shadows, from behind the rocks. There was the faint sound of water dripping.

Fallyn rubbed her hand along the rock - a sort of stabilizer - and took a breath. Bat guano and damp earth melted on her tongue. She grimaced, but took another breath. She had just started calming down when this unease hit, like the universe was reminding her that she was once again spending her birthday without Merle. Like it was punishing her for daring to move on.

There was a thump, and she turned back around, dimming her headlamp. Elysiah had reached the bottom. She unhooked herself and allowed Lauren to pull the ropes up with shaking fingers. The two women on the next level pulled out their water bottles and took a drag.

Fallyn gently took the rope from Lauren, and slipped it into the hook around her waist.

“You’ll be fine,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure who she was telling this to. Lauren nodded, her eyes transfixed on to Fallyn’s belt. Fallyn turned the headlamp back onto full blast, keeping her head tilted down as she adjusted her belt.. She was slow, methodical, aware of how her fingers blocked the lights and Lauren’s sight.

With one last knot, she finished. She gave a small smile to Lauren and turned to scale down the cave. Her stomach flipped. She glanced over her shoulder. Nothing. Lauren made a sound, and Fallyn quickly turned back to her.

“It’s fine. Watch.”

She turned fully and - a shadow flashed across the cave. Fallyn’s eyes widened, but she was already partially off the edge, the toes of her boots the only thing still on the cliff. She fell back, her mouth open, no sound coming forth.

With a gasp, Fallyn grabbed onto the rope, suspending herself. She looked up. Lauren stared down at her, eyes frantic. Below her, Elysiah and Ashley were on their feet, staring up at her.

“I’m fine,” she called out. Fallyn swallowed and looked back up at Lauren. She gave what she hoped was an assuring smile and, adjusting her grip on the rope, begin the descend.

Something flashed in her peripheral vision. She would not look. It was a bat. They were all over.

Fallyn sniffed. Her eyebrows furrowed. She sniffed again. There was something musky - not like dirt or animal droppings, but man-made. The kind of smell that companies packages and sold to men as desirable. She inhaled and looked to her right, then left. She looked up at a Lauren, and then back down.

The smell got stronger. Her hands started to slip.

“Fallyn?” Lauren. Fallyn blinked, her friend’s voice doing little to ease her.

She looked up and there he was. Unassuming, unremarkable. A face in the crowd. Fallyn’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth. He said nothing. He didn’t move. He just stared. Her hands slipped.

Falling, falling, falling. A sharp tug at her waist. She was screaming - there was screaming. Hysterical, vibrating off the walls. She skid - but she wasn’t on the ground. Her feet dangled, kicking. He was there - how was he there? No ropes around his waist, nothing to keep him at Fallyn’s height. He wrapped the rope around her neck and pulled taut, up towards Lauren.

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe.

He said nothing. His mouth curled and he leaned in. She could smell him: it was in his clothes, on his skin, cloying against the scent of fresh blood, bright and copper.

“An eye for an eye,” he whispered, his voice dull, oddly feminine.

She gasped and pulled at her neck. The others were frantic, she could feel it. He was stronger. She looked at him, her eyes wet and bloodshot. He smiled.

“An eye for an eye. An eye for an eye.”

The world faded. Fallyn fell limp.

“An eye for an eye.”

AUGUST 13, 2015

It had taken for too long for her body to be retrieved. Police and firefighters and paramedics spent a full forty-five minutes trying to figure out how they were going to take her body out of the cave. They finally decided the other two - Lauren, with the forceful encouragement of her friends, had left to call 911 and was outside the cave, wringing her hands and hyperventilating - would have to drag her back. Several were concerned about the mental wellbeing of the other two women, but could not offer a better solution.

Two hours later, all four women were out of the cave.

Elysiah Baker, Ashley Harding, and Lauren Willard were taken to their car. Each was wrapped in a shock blanket. Ashley was numb, her eyes staring at nothing, almost resigned to what she had witnessed.

Fallyn was quickly assessed by paramedics before being placed in a black bag. The sight of her being zipped up was too much for Elysiah, and she screamed, wailing as fresh tears fell down her cheeks.

AUGUST 13, 2018

She watched them from some distance, not quite hiding, but not out in the open either. She stood between the trees, watching as their car pulled into the gravel parking lot. They have done this for the last three years. Same time. Same place. She had been shocked the first time, but now it was simply customary. She felt no emotion, nothing at all, as the doors opened.

They had changed in the last few years. The first year, they had been easily recognizable. Now...there was something off. It was like meeting someone you hadn’t seen in a long time: they may have the same smile or laugh, but their hair was different, their eyes a little sadder. Ashley’s blonde hair was longer, twisted in a low braid; she hadn’t worn her hair in a high ponytail since that day, almost as though she blamed the hair. More likely, she associated the look with Fallyn and couldn’t handle it. Elysiah looked tired, her hair haphazardly tied in a headscarf, shadows under her eyes prominent, her face heavily lined. Both her and Lauren’s stomach’s were rounded; Lauren’s was much more pronounced. She was the only one who looked the same, as though they had never left the park.

They walked almost arm in arm to a small white cross next to a large tree. It had been placed there just a few days after her death. They stood in silence. Lauren bent down with some help from the other two and placed a small bouquet at the cross’s base. They did this every year.

“Beautiful.”

She didn’t turn around. Lauren carefully sunk to her knees, rubbing her stomach. She was saying something, her eyes down, lips turned up slightly.

“They care about you.”

Fallyn glanced to her side. A tall man in a black suit leaned against an oak. His eyes were dark like skull sockets, his hair completely gray. His mustache mouth was quirked slightly. Her gaze lingered on his suit before she turned back to the others. All three were kneeling now.

There was a shuffle. She didn’t move as he came closer, his hands in his pockets. He stood next to her, side-by-side, gazing at the scene before them.

“You’re rather odd,” he said after a moment.

Her mouth turned up. “How so?”

“I have met hundreds of ghosts.” Lauren had started crying. Tears dripped down her cheeks, smearing her makeup. The others did not look far behind her. “All of them have different ways they...they met their end. You...you are the first to have been killed by a ghost.”

Fallyn’s smile widened. “I was killed by a ghost?”

“You don’t believe so?”

“Why would I?”

The man was silent. Elysiah had leaned forward and rested her head on the tree above the cross. Her mouth was moving, but Fallyn wasn’t sure any sound was coming out.

“There...was a mention - a statement later retracted by Mrs. Endling - Lauren Ending. She, ah, claimed when you died....you were saying something over and over. A man’s name.”

Fallyn laughed. There was no humor in it. “I was strangled. How could she hear me?”

He shrugged. “Maybe that’s was retracted.” There was more silence. Fallyn wished he would go away. She didn’t have time for him. A humorless smile crossed her face. She had time for everything; she just didn’t care about him. “Rhett Woodward Hewitt...do you remember him?”

She said nothing. Her smile was gone. They had started to stand up, a little wobbly, and Lauren gripped Ashley and Elysiah’s arms. She rightened herself, and they began to make their way back to the car.

“He remembered you.”

“He didn’t kill me.”

“No,” the man agreed, surprising Fallyn. “But he killed your sister.”

Fallyn swallowed. She had thought it would go away, the pain she felt whenever Merle was brought up. It was stronger. She had the suspicion that’s what kept her here: the utter devastation of losing her twin sister. Maybe her father and mother would also remain.

The man shifted back onto the balls of his feet then onto his tiptoes. His left hand moved to his jacket pocket. “And you killed him.”

If she were alive, her skin would have paled and she would have gone cold. Dead, her eyes widened slightly, lips parted, and she stiffened.

The man coughed. “Rhett Woodward Hewitt was found dead in his home at the age of thirty-six. His front door was unlocked and there was nothing taken.” He sounded like he was reading from an article. Fallyn turned to look at him. He smiled, his eyes gleaming. “He was discovered by police after neighbors complained of a smell. It is believed he died on October 25, 2005…” The man tilted his head. “Hewitt had a history of heart problems...coroners believe his cause of death was a heart attack. He is survived by his identical twin brother, Roswell Winthrop Hewitt, who is currently serving time for the murder of Merle Crane.”

Fallyn stared at him. He continued to smile. She swallowed. “Who are you?”

His grin widened. “Carver Egleton...I am a journalist -”

“A journalist who talks to ghosts?”

“We all have hobbies. And...maybe if more journalists spoke to ghosts we would get, ah, answers.” Fallyn pursed her lips. “Mr. Woodward Hewitt killed your sister and then you killed him...and he came back -”

“He didn’t.”

“You want to believe that,” Carver said. “You want to believe it, because that’s what Merle believed, isn’t it? An eye for an eye and then it’s finished. One person takes revenge on another, and the cycle is over, complete.” Fallyn clenched her fists. She was shaking. “But...that’s not how it works. You know it. ‘An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.’”

“I fell. It was an accident.”

“You made it look like an accident...He returned the favor.”

The shaking intensified. She ran her hands up and down her arms, looking around her. The warm sunlight through the trees felt wrong, like she was being mocked. Fallyn looked back at Carver.

“What do you want?”

He said nothing. She could feel herself getting frantic. Images kept flashing. The cave. Cold and damp. Hanging - choking. Crawling through a small window into a dark basement. Climbing the stairs. Climbing through the cave. A boring man sleeping. Tightening the rope around her waist. A careful shot under his fingernail. Eyes wide, mouth open. Eyes bulging. Deep and dark eyes - then his, blue and vibrant. Gasping, clutching at his chest.

Fallyn stumbled back, her hand clutching her head. She was breathing heavily. Carver stepped towards her.

“You were careful,” he said. His eyes seemed to bore into hers. “You took minute amounts from the hospital over the course of several months. You replayed his testimony, listening for his schedule. You wore gloves and used a needle from your mother - she’s diabetic, correct? One perfect strike under his nail and his heart...it just couldn’t take it.”

“What do you want?” she repeated. Her hand clawed at her chest. She couldn’t breathe.

Carver tilted her head.

“I often wondered…” he began, and Fallyn let out a sob of frustration. She buried her face in her hands and something smacked her on the side of the head. She barely had a chance to look at it - a small black box - before she was gone.

Carver slowly walked over and picked it up. He looked at the box for a moment, then placed it in his pocket. He left, pausing at her cross before making his way across the gravel parking lot and into his car.

He finished his thought aloud, as though she could still hear him, “I often wondered whether or not revenge does end...I guess it doesn’t matter, though. Not when anyone who can do anything is dead.”

2001 13 GHOSTS VS 2018 13 GHOSTS

The Bound Woman: a woman who was tied up upon death (either as a cause or post-mortem) OR a woman who sealed her own fate.

Susan LeGrow was a high school student who liked to play with boy’s emotions. Her games ended up costing her life (as some would put it). Her boyfriend, enraged by her flirting with another, killed the other boy and then strangled her.

Fallyn Crane watched as her sister’s murderer was allowed to walk, and so took justice into her own hands. She died on her birthday in either a spelunking incident gone wrong or the vengeful ghost of her sister’s murderer tying the ropes around her neck.

Both Susan and Fallyn died of strangulation; both sealed their fates. Susan’s story is more of victim blaming - by flirting, she caused her death/provided her boyfriend with a motive - while Fallyn’s is more ambiguous; we are not sure if she actually saw the ghost, it was an accident, or if it was something akin to “Final Destination.”

Gemini: the third story corresponds with gemini, the twins Castor and Pollux. Both Fallyn & Merle Crane, and Rhett Woodward Hewitt & Roswell Winthrop Hewitt were identical twins.

[batchaoticcollectionnight-blog]

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

"Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

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Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

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Cheap Motor insurance HELP PLEASE!?

I am 19yrs old and i need a renewel for my car insurance, any suggestions? i have tried... money supermarket confused aa any more? thanks""

""If i lie about my car mileage for auto insurance, will they eventually find out my real auto mileage?""

If i lie about my car mileage for auto insurance, will they eventually find out my real auto mileage?""

Under 18 car insurance.?

im 14 soon going to 15.my mom has nationwide car insurance (full cover + the other things) how much more would they charge for her too put me on her policy and the monthly payment?or whats a good, but cheap car insurance that would fit me?""

What is mortgage insurance?

I'm supposedly getting a USDA Rural Development loan, it says on the site that you dont pay mortgage insurance and so u can get more of a loan. So do I need any other insurance?""

Are the advantage insurance plans better than standard medicare supplement insurance?

are advantage insurance plans cost effective over standard medicare supplements plans

Where can I get low income car insurance?

I am on a buget. my car is oldmobile delta 88 year 86

Question about car insurance?

I live in philadelphia with my mom, and I live with my dad in quakertown on most weekends. Even though my permit is registered under my mom's address, can I go on my dad's car insurance since it's way cheaper? I mean I do live with him part time, just as I live with my mom part time. I'm 18.""

Should I buy insurance?

Should I get the insurance offered when I book our next cruise? What is it for?

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

Would insurance on a 95 Mustang GT be extremely high?

Would insurance on a 95 Mustang GT be extremely high?

How will being unemployed affect my car insurance rates?

After being with Wawanesa for 12 years I let my car insurance lapse for 2 months and now have to reapply. I am now unemployed, how will that affect my rates? Do they look at it as driving less since no job to go to or driving more since excess free time now?""

Car insurance what would you do ?

OK so i was hit from behind the insurance company are going to write the car off and give me 830 i paid 950 for the car its nothing special just a cheap first car with low mileage. The insurance company said they won't recover the car and i can do with it what i will. The damage is fixable I'm thinking 150 -200 of damage just wondered what everybody would do ? Would you just scrap the car and cut your losses, take the money and fix the car or take the money use some of it to fix the car then sell the car ?""

""How do i get car insurance down, young driver wanting cheap mx5?""

Ok, so you may be wandering why i want an mx5. I want to get into drifting and an mx5 seems a good car for it. can get an ok one for about 1000, lower in some cases. The 1.6 litre would be the best choice. So to the car insurance, i put in a quote with myself the main driver and my dad as the additional and it was around 2500 for the year. I then put my dad as the main driver, mum as the second and me as the third and the cheapest quote was 2200. I then took me off and it was 180. I mean come on! im 19 with 2 years no claims, what is it with insurance companies and young drivers! Im not going to drive the car much at all. Probably to events and a bit more when i want a bit of fun. But seriously, im not paying that price. Drifting is already an expensive hobby as it is. So how can i bring it down people? Would love to see people ranting about car insurance with me.""

Cheap Motor insurance HELP PLEASE!?

I am 19yrs old and i need a renewel for my car insurance, any suggestions? i have tried... money supermarket confused aa any more? thanks""

State Farm Insurance Policies?

How old do you have to be to get your own car insurance with state farm?

How much are you paying for your kids car insurance?

Recently, I brought my daughter a 2002 Camaro v6 for 7,800 with taxes included. I pay 127 dollars a month for insurance. She is about to be 16 and able to drive on her own. She is very responsible, gets great grades and has very few friends. How much do you pay for your child's insurance? I heard that buying them a sports car would make the insurance go very high but that hasn't been the case.""

Car inspection for insurance?

So I hit my friends car and he told me to tell the insurance company someone hit me in a parking lot. If I do that and the insurance company inspects it, will they be able to tell that I hit someone instead of someone hitting me?""

Multiple Car Insurance On One Vehicle?

Is is possible to have two insurance policies on one vehicle? The reason being is, current insurance (lets call it A) is way too expensive. To leave the A insurance I would be charged 500$, seems like a lot. New policy (lets call it B) would be much cheaper then A. If I have A for theft and fire + B (full coverage) it would still be cheaper then A full coverage! Is that legal????""

""What are the requirements for getting a license and driving in Tennessee, age,insurance,cost,et cetra.?""

What are the requirements for getting a license and driving in Tennessee, age,insurance,cost,et cetra.?""

What are some affordable cars for an 18 year old to own that is 5 years old or newer?

When I say own, I mean that the individual is paying for gas, maintenance, and insurance.""

BEST AFFORDABLE MEDICAL INSURANCE FOR NEWLYWEDS (NO KIDS)?

HUSBAND MAKES MORE, SO NOW NO LONGER QUALIFY FOR MY INSURANCE. WHICH IS THE BEST INSURANCE FOR PEOPLE WITH NO KIDS, AND WHICH IS THE BEST WHEN WE DECIDE TO HAVE KIDS? AND WHY? THANKS SO MUCH, THIS IS A PAIN IN THE REAR...""

How much is motorcycle insurance in Ontario?

I am a 17 year old male living in downtown Toronto Ontario. I am buying either a used Honda CBR 125 cc or a used Kawasaki Ninja 250r. Please tell me the estimate of what my insurance would cost with a completed motorcycle training course.

Car Insurance increased? what to do next?

My car insurance company had increase my insurance by 2 folds (103%) increase. I contacted the company, enquired about this increase. But they said they cant do anything about it, If I want I can raise this with the customer service chief and chief executive. I wrote them a letter stating it was ridiculous amount of money, they asking me to pay. Also clearly brought to their notice, that I have a clean history, no claim, paid insurance on time, no accidents, and I have no claim discount of 7 years in total. The companies chief executive has replied me in a letter stating, unfortunately, the post code where is stay is subjected to recent increase and personal injury claims from post code area has gone up. So nothing he could do. But I replied him saying, I lived in the same place for more than 5 years. But still no good. Regards to this, I email Watch Dog, explaining the same a month ago. Still no reply or correspondence from them. Now I am stuck, I do not what to do. Honestly, I only brought this care for 500 in very good condition and it is still the same. But my insurance is more twice the value of my car. Please somebody tell , what can I do next. This is really ridiculous amount and unacceptable whatsoever. Thanks in advance.""

What's the annual policy premium?

I have an amount of 623 dollars for annual policy premium for life insurance. Do I have to pay the amount?

Is it illegal to not have insurance?

I was looking online and saw something in my state for someone getting arrested for not having insurance. My car is insured, but the insurance is not in my name and is under someone else's name and they pay for it. Is it illegal for there not to be an insurance in my name as well?""

Medicaid pays 100% but does insurance?

People who don't qualify for medicaid has to have regular insurance . A lot of those who don't qualify for medicaid can be determined by just a few dollars as they have a cut off limit. If they have to buy insurance wouldn't they have to pay the difference between the ins pay and balance? If one does not get insurance then there is a fine from your taxes. Is all this correct? Does the fine go towards an insurance premium if they pass the new health care law? Sorry for so many questions. Just trying to understand this a bit.

Insurance for a vehicle you are not using for a while?

We are buying a used vehicle. We are going to park it until next spring, however. Do you need insurance by law for a vehicle that is not being used? Or is there a cheaper insurance plan you can get? We live in Michigan.""

Can I get an insurance quote if I am not 16?

Today, I got a moped so that for my birthday, I can go and do my CBT on the day. I want to get a rough price of what I would have to pay for insurance. I would like to know what I would have to pay but as I am not yet 16, I cannot yet get a quote. Does anyone know how to get round this as I do not want to lie about my age. Thanks.""

Getting married. Will I lose my car insurance if under my mom's policy?

I am living at home now and I am under her insurance policy and the car is in her name. Will they terminate my policy if I get married and move out? Can I put the car under my fiance's insurance even though the car is in her name?

Where is the best place for cheap car insurance for my 17 year old son?

Help!! My son has passed his driving test aged 17 but the insurance we've been looking at astronomical!! Can anyone advise me on any good deals :)

What effect does Cat D car insurance have on how much you pay?

What effect does Cat D car insurance have on how much you pay?

What is the average price for teen car insurance in RI?

I'm a guy ! :)

Cheap car insurance/ first car whats been ur best quote?

hi im all most finished my driving lessons and wondering about the insurance ect i dont wanna spend hours on compere or that putting in details , but wondering if there r any first time drivers out there and give me there thoughts on how i would get a cheap car and cheap insurance""

Are There Any Affordable Dental Insurance Policys on the Market?

I am wanting some work done on my teeth but do not have dental insurance, where can I find affordable dental insurance?""

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

Insurance for young adults?

I can't seem to get all of my questions answered from my own research, so I've resorted to yahoo answers. My family lost my dad a few years ago, and with him we lost our insurance coverage. We currently receive social security. This stops once I graduate. Would I be able to receive any sort benefits (any sort of welfare, food stamps, etc) as a result of this? What about college grants? Also, my mom, sister and I don't have any health insurance. I want to apply for affordable insurance, but I really don't know much about it. How much would it cost, and what are my options? Thank you so much for anyone who takes the time to answer this, I really appreciate it.""

How can i get my neighbors car insurance info with his license plate?

my neighbor has digned my door about 30 times, i have paint from his door all over my car as proof he also stuck gum on my car and put ketchup on it, have no proof for the gum unless i get his dna, i have it in a baggy, crazy i know, but he will not give me his insurance, he tried to fight me, i called the cops, he came at me i told him 3 times to stay back, he was about 200 pounds thought he would take me out, hit him one punch to the head, stunned him walked off called police, they almost arrested me, but didnt made me shake his damn hand since we are quote neghbors, the first thing he said when i asked for his insurance was he iddnt do it and his car is nicer why would he, i drive a 2002 bmw 330ci a 45k dollar car he has a 2003 maybe lexus gs420 i think? it made no difference whos is nicer and that my inspection is out, i still hit him cuz he threatened to hit me and backed me up, how can i get his insurance info with his license plate, any inspector will do a pain analyst and see that the damage is on him, and if they ask for a swab of his cheek, it will match the gum that was stuck to my car paint, btw this guy didnt know me before this, he decides to park right in front of his house by my car which isvery close to the line on this side, rahter than park one spot over, i guess he thought since i was not driving the car and it was sitting for 2 weeks that he could damage it for inconveniencing him.... anyway how can i get his insurance besides demanding it or requesting it from cops?? can i call an insurance company and give them the licsense, i do not have insurance right now im broke which is why i need this fixed by him.""

Car Insurance what companies have the cheapest rates?

Please help me! What Insurance companies have the cheapest insurance. ( male )

Car insurance question?

I got an insurance question. I let my fiance, who is not insured by my insurance company drive my car. I was in the car with him. He was intoxicated and hit 9 parked cars causing minor damage to all of them. Will my insurance company have to pay for the damage?""

Auto Insurance help thanks?

I am 16 thinking about getting me a car in the next year (17) can i get on my own insurance plan or try to get on my moms (me and my mom don't look eye to eye) so i don't think she wouldn't do it and if not how much would it cost if i get on my own insurance and what would be the best insurance for my age thanks so much.

My dentist wants me to pay up front and have my insurance company reimburse ME?

I just went to the dentist today and had a filling. I have dental insurance, but the dentist wanted payment up front for the services. The receptionist said they require payment in full for the services on the day of service, and then they will send the insurance claim in to the company and eventually I will receive a reimbursement check. Isn't that what INSURANCE IS FOR??? So you DON'T have to pay????? I don't handle the cash in my family, so after much arguing about requiring payment up front, the receptionist agreed to let me walk out withouth paying, but expects me to have my husband pay by tomorrow. It just doesn't seem right that the dentist gets cash up front for the work, and then makes ME wait to get reimbursed by the insurance company... what the heck?""

Changing motorcycles and insurance question?

Long story short I have got a new bike. The bike I am Insured on has about 2 months left before I gather another year no claims. However, I was wondering would/do Insurance companies offer a way for me to transfer the next/last 2 months to my new bike (At a possible cost) then charge me a full year when its due (In 2 months) Any help will be appreciated. I don't want to phone my insurance up cause every time I phone someone like that and tell them I have a new bike I want to insure they go crazy and keep phoning me! I have 1 years NCB and i'll be 18 in 2 months (when I will get 2 year NCB) Cheers Geoff""

How much does car insurance for a teenager cost approx. per year in Nova Scotia Canada (all answers welcome!)?

Hello, I am on the verge of entering Drivers Ed. and was wondering how much the insurance would be per year if you own your own car, and being a teenager who just got their license. I know it will be a larger number, and you may not know it exactly, and even if you're not from NS, all answers are welcome. I was just looking for a range/estimates. Thanks in advance :)""

What is the average insurance for a 11 hyundai elantra for 18 year old?

What is the average insurance for a 11 hyundai elantra for 18 year old?

Is it worth paying over $100+ car insurance?

I'm currently a college commuter and I drive a 1997 Toyota Corolla DX sedan with over 180k miles on it. My insurance company is GEICO and they put me on a 6 month payment plan where my premium is $839. Now the thing is that I pay about $140 a month for 6 months until that total is paid off, but is it worth paying $140 car insurance for a car that was manufactured in 1997 with over 180k miles and doesn't run or look to good at all. Should i try to finance a preowned or used car? If so how should i do it? I know there are many options in paying for a new car, but I'm 19, in college, working at Walmart part-time, and own a online business. Tips are appreciated.""

What coverage to get for car insurance for my son with ' L'?

what coverage to get for my car insurance , my son jest got his L. so what insurance coverage do i need to add to my car if i want him to drive it whit me , because I'm afraid if a crash happen. I live in british consulate vancouver ( ICBC ) this is the web site of the company (http://icbc.com/) so please help me .""

Ii need a dentist with no money or insurance. ?

Hello every body how u doing? Me I'm good i just have a real deep situation i need help with. Okay I'm 33 year old female I'm here in san diego. I have had a rough life. Im n need of answers for dental. I haven't been to the dentist in years i need work. Its been so long and I'm inbarest to open my mouth. I'm not working and i have no money saved up. I live with my mom and brother which receive ssi so my momma and brother help me. And i have no insurance. I really need to smile again i don't kw where to start every thing neg shuts me down. So is there any answer for me.

Car Insurance Settlement?

Ok about 3 weeks ago I was rear ended while my car was stopped on the freeway. The guy hit me doing about 30mph. I have had back and neck problems ever since. I have been seeing a chiroprator on a weekly basis. Also it was a hit and run but I was able to get his license plate number. I live in California. Ok so his insurance company called me trying to settle for 1000 plus my medical expenses. The problem is I don't now what my conditions will be like in the future. Also how many times will his insurance call me and change the offer?

Where to find cheap auto insurance in florida?

We are relocating to port richey florida and I am trying to find a cheap auto insurance company

""Im 33 with no job, whats the best affordable way for me to receive health insurance?""

Im 33 with no job, whats the best affordable way for me to receive health insurance?""

""Moving to Toronto Canada, Need Car Insurance?""

I am moving to toronto, canada and looking to see what company provides the best coverage for the lowest cost as I understand insurance is privatized in Toronto.""

Any Cheaper Car Insurance..?

Hi I'm in U.K (young driver, no claims bonus). and ive just recently bought a nissan micra 1.0 R reg i got a quote from AA, churchill, norwich union, zurich and they all are giving me a price of over 1500 pounds. I have pass plus. Any cheap car insurance out there in U.K please help need to get one fast. Thanks""

Can my insurance drop me?

Hi, i took a urine test with my doctor the other day. I asked what h was testing for and he said everything , so Im not sure what hes testing. He said he was gonna check for diabetes and what not. I was wondering, in the case he drug tests me can he tel my insurance? Can I get dropped from the insurance for this? I smoked weed about 5 weeks ago. I live in California amd hnet is my insurance. Thanks!""

Cancelled car insurance?

My car insurance got cancelled for misrepresentation of garaging. I travel a lot for work and I had two places. My car got vandalized at my secondary place of residence and the insurance company and after I filed a claim, the insurance company treats is as a misrepresentation. I am about to get an insurance with a different company. Do i need to disclose this fact? How would that affect my rates. I have 1 week left on the policy.""

Which insurance will pay the benefactor the most amount of money in the shortest span of time?

If you're a failure and you've decided to take out insurance naming your mother as the benefactor: 1. How long do you have to wait before you kill yourself for the insurance to be valid 2. Which insurance gives the most amount of money after you die. There's no other way. Parents should be able to retire rich and happy and not have to worry about their kid being a failure all the time.

Can I wait to report damage to insurance company till car payed off?

My car was parked on a busy street in icy conditions and when I returned to it, it had clearly been hit but no one left a note, etc. It will probably be very expensive to fix...although it is only cosmetic damage and it isn't horrible. In fact, from a distance, you don't notice it much. Anyway....my husband passed away recently and my finances have been limited. I have full coverage on the car (It is a 2004 ford escape)....because I am still making payments on it. We have a $1000 deductible, which I cannot afford right now. Besides, my brother-in-law tells me he can spruce up the damage and make it look better..and of course won't charge me much for that. So....here was my plan. Please tell me if I'm doing anything illegal here or just tell me if my plan will work: So...I'm expecting a large enough tax refund that I can pay the car off in March if I choose to do so. Once that is all complete...and before I drop my full coverage to just liability, I was going to report the damage....and go through the process of getting estimate, etc...and then not have the car fixed and just take a check. With that check, I was going to pay off some other bills I'm very behind on (mainly hospital bills). That plan will help me get my finances in order and get out from under debt. But I'm not sure if I'm thinking clearly on this! Someone please tell me if this plan is an option. Thank you!""

Do you have affordable auto insurance?

If not, it may be time to switch to Safe Auto.""

Who has the cheapest car insurance in maryland?

Who has the cheapest car insurance in maryland?

Any experience of Swift Cover Car Insurance???

I am with Diamond at present and despite being with them for 6years and having 5years NCB their renewal quote is very high. I am potentially downgrading from a 2.8 TDX 4x4 to a 1.2 SXi Corsa and the reduction is only 30!! I looked on confused.com and Swift cover seemed to have a good rate (i know the really cheap ones on there are not so good- high excess etc). I looked on the website and it seems pretty good with only 100 excess compared to 150 with Diamond. Has anyone used Swiftcover for insurance before and would they recommend them or not??? Thanks : )

Question about sr22 insurance?

Ok I got into an accident back in 2003 and my license was suspended because of it I filled a sr22 with my insurance company and got my license reinstated but now their trying to suspended my license again can they do that?

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

Salisbury Mills New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12577

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/navy-federal-homeowners-insurance-quote-christopher-lawman/"

[lucasjrobak]

I'm Shooting Up Ocrevus for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) http://www.lucasrobak.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/MRI.jpg

I’m not a junkie. Promise! I only allow women to tie a rubber band on my arm and shoot up a very expensive hardcore drug called Ocrevus…every six months. They’re so nice taking blood from my fragile body every month as well; it’s not like I need it!

All jokes aside, I’m lucky to have my neurologist and being cleared to do drugs to keep my multiple sclerosis (MS) under control.

When I was first diagnosed in May 2014, I was clueless MS even existed. When the six doctors stood around my bed handing me my new direction in life on a silver platter, I already began envisioning everything that is now possible.

Three years later, this mentality is still going strong!

Two days ago was my first treatment of Ocrevus. I was on Tysabri way longer than the average MS’er; made it to 44 treatments. After three years of monthly infusions, the inevitable happened and was taken off Tysabri because I developed the JC Virus which is the prelude to PML.

Funny thing is there was a brief moment in time I thought I had PML. After being told that news and doing the math, if it was true, there would be no Thanksgiving 2017 for me. If luck were on my side, I’d be dead instead of brain damaged, that’s just me. Being dust instead of a veggie is way more appealing for me personally!

Getting over that shell shock and coming out the other end with even more clarity, the passion for organizing The Wellness Fair and Authorpreneur Academy have never burned brighter!

Thank you MS and special thanks to PML math! This ones for you!

Shooting Up Ocrevus

Back at it. No more #tysabri for this guy #Ocrevus now! Have five hours in my “office” today! #FuckMS ✌🏻 #alwaysdoyourbest . #mssucks #msstrong #mswarrior #mslife #multiplesclerosis #msfighter #chronicillness #invisibleillness #spoonie #spoonies #spoonielife #spooniestrong

A post shared by Lucas J. Robak (@lucasjrobak) on Oct 4, 2017 at 5:58am PDT

Health & Wellness

Being the organizer for The Wellness Fair community, the holistic approach was very appealing – still is. Making sure we maintain the highest quality professionals for businesses, I talk to a lot of very smart and caring people.

Knowing about my MS thing, they’re all very eager to wisdom share with how I can literally cure it the holistic way. I do believe we all have the power to do that but my lame excuse at the moment is my habits aren’t where I want them nor do I have the funds/time to do everything right. This is my goal – to have the funds to invest the time!

Before going all holistic, these are the ideal habits and services I’m going to make into a way of being, my full fledged lifestyle. Then I’ll be an all organic kinda guy. No more shooting up drugs for 6 hours every six months.

Holistic Habits

Completed the Thinking Into Results full program

Drink 80 oz. of water daily – room temp with lemon

Drink an Apple Cider Vinegar cocktail every morning

Paleo diet combined with the Blood Type Diet

30-45 minutes of muscle building cardio exercises

Meditate 60 minutes

Sleep 8-9 hours uninterrupted

5,000 – 10,000 IU’s of Vitamin D

Vitamin C

Omega 3 Fish Oil

Calcium/Magnesium

Essential Oils

Massage

Chirporactic

Acupuncture

Rolfing

Sound therapy

Chromotherapy

Biomat/Beemer

Yoga

Tai Chi

Floating

Chinese Medicine

A bunch of MLM products I’ve been researching for years

This is just off the top of my head but you get the point. If I’m going to go all holistic, I’m in it to win it! No half assing or lolly gagging around with it.

By being very hands on within The Wellness Fair community, I can easily call up top notch professionals from our wellness business directory and get all the knowledge, services, and products needed to cure myself. My favorite part isn’t that I know all them personally, it’s that they’re all people who are excellent at their craft.

First Day of Ocrevus

On my first day back taking medication for my MS, I had a blast. There’s zero reason to ever choose to think that this is a bad thing. I choose to get stuff done and have fun doing it.

Anytime I go into a hospital, they want to brand me like the Nazis did to the Jews by strapping a bar code to my wrist. I always refuse to let them do this. If they’re really into obeying the dictation of their superiors, I allow them to put it on me only to rip it off right in front of them. Cue the smile.

After ripping off my branded ID, they started pumping 500mg of steroids into me. I’ve experienced this before when I was diagnosed. In 2014 they were used to kill the active lesions in my brain and spine so I could walk again. This time around they are being used to prevent some wicked side effects.

These aren’t the desired steroids athletes take to shrink your balls, lower your sperm count, weaken your skeletal system, round off your head, and enrage you to the point of slaughtering your family. I’m not into that. These steroids aren’t for professional athletes like Ryan Braun or Barry Bonds. In my case, they’re meant to destroy the activity of symptoms.

My Ocrevus Shelf Life & Cycle

After today’s six hour treatment I get to some back and do it again in two weeks. Then after that, I come in every six months for more Ocrevus. Because of the neurologist I have, I also am asked to come in on a monthly basis to draw blood to check a bunch of medical stuff that’s way over my head.

Because pharmaceuticals are designed to destroy, not heal, I am going to develop all those desired holistic habits so I no longer have to treat my temple like a crack house. But until then, hardcore drugs are the way to go!

Challenge

At the start of each week, create the mentality you won’t be around next week. It puts things into perspective and you’ll end up focusing on what’s most important to you.

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Oct 06 2017

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Handwriting Behaviors Will Create a New Life

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[anothergirlrecovering]

Lynn 34

I just love her. When I got in she asked how I was doing and I said that I was doing good and I asked her how she was doing. She also said she was good and asked me how my week has been. I told her that I had started my monthly cycle and that three nights ago I had started feeling sad and I decided that next morning to go ahead and try the Prozac. She asked how I was feeling and I explained that I was surprised but I had actually felt better within like an hour after taking it. She pointed out that she had looked at studies where it showed literally that the brand flow is different during the cycle and home the Prozac had really changed the brain blood flow. I said that made sense. She explained home she often has these conversations with clients in with people and how she has seen it be really helpful for a lot of people, her self included. She brought up that it is similar to help with postpartum depression hormones really affect women and that our hormone changes are constantly affecting our mood. I said not that I was glad that I’m having issues with my. But that at the same time I’m glad that she had recommended me trying that because she made me feel so much better about doing it and now I know that if I were to get postpartum depression I wouldn’t be as hesitant to try medicine at that point if I needed it. Granted I would try acupuncture and herbs first, but if it was getting to the point where I am that wasn’t enough, I would be willing to try and antidepressant. She agreed and said that it made sense and home when you have a baby you want to be able to really enjoy your time with your baby and not be crying all the time and feeling upset.

I told her about how I had talk to my husband yesterday and that he had validated that my childhood was probably a lot harder than he had realized because he spent time with my parents two weeks ago. I also mentioned that last night was the first and that he had said anything positive about anything church related and that he had commented joking about me going to a supportive group of women at my recovery group at church. I told her that I’ve also been trying to be better with my husband about how I respond to him when he’s upset and not just pushing that he go to therapy. I explained that he had been freaking out about his hair loss which he’s not even losing his hair but that he’s really anxious about losing his hair and that I had actually just tried being nice about it and validating that I was sorry that he was feeling so bad about it and I had asked if anything else was bothering him that might have been making his anxiety about that more intense and that we ended up talking about his job and he mentioned feeling like he’s not sure he wants to live in this area long term which is something that he hasn’t really brought up in a while and would we consider ever moving to Nashville. I said no and I really feel like that would be a lateral move for us and I wouldn’t want to give up the good things that we do have in this area for that but that it used to be that a big reason for why I didn’t want to go to that area was because his family is there. Regardless I really just don’t like Nashville, I know that’s an unpopular opinion but there really isn’t anything that really sticks out to me as anything that I just really click with or really enjoy. I told her that when I had done that and talk to him that he actually asked me why I was being so loving and I realize that maybe I haven’t been very loving with him when it comes to these issues and that after that he asked if my therapist had told me to do that, which she left and I explained that I hadn’t and Lynn had not told me to do anything. She said that maybe continuing to be supportive but also dropping hints everyone’s in a while and giving kind of a tough love, like do you know when he stressing being like you now therapies kind of the only thing that I know what to do for it, so I’m sorry you’re feeling bad but you know I don’t know any other way to treat that so either resume and you’re probably going to be stuck having to deal with that. She asked me if I thought that showing him case studies are letting him read getting past your past would help him to see that he could really benefit from EMDR. I said I didn’t think that he would read it but maybe if I found something really similar. She showed me one of the books on the shelves and said that it’s a really good one and has a lot of good case examples involving anxiety and she thought there may be one that would connect with him. I took a picture of the back and said that I would order it and see if there were any that really Applied to him and see if he would give it a shot.

I told her that I was really surprised because Mother’s Day was this past weekend and that it was honestly the first Mother’s Day that I really didn’t get depressive and angry when seeing peoples Facebook posts. I explained that it could come from multiple things but that you know them whether it be because we been processing it or because I’ve had support or because I’ve met other people with mommy issues so I don’t feel so alone in it anymore or because I reached out to the pastor, I don’t know it probably comes from all of the above. She agreed and thanked me for reaching out to the pastor and said that was really cool of me to do that. I said that was empowering and that I had realized that I’m guilty of getting really angry with pastors and churches for not handling mental health related issues well, and forgetting that not everyone has the same sort of knowledge or experience is that I do and they may not be aware of these issues and I can’t be mad at them for something that they simply aren’t aware of. It would be different if I had emailed to people and they still chose to be insensitive, but if I never give them the opportunity and they aren’t aware, then I’m kind of being unfairly mad at them. I told her about how the church that my husband had gone to in high school had very stupidly made the church repeat after him and the pastor said I’m too blessed to be depressed and that I ended up getting so mad and cursing and saying that literally there are thousands of people in that church and there are probably hundreds with depression or sitting there feeling shamed and that the depression is their fault and a lack of recognition for how blessed they are but that the pastor is a complete jackass and it’s likely that if I had emailed that pastor a complaint he probably would’ve just ignored my email or argue that it’s OK to say that because Jesus heals depression. I explained that the pastor at my church is really wonderful and really receptive to things and he had even asked for in a valuation of how things had gone on that Sunday. I told her about how normally I get really angry and upset when I see that people have all of the stupid Facebook statuses about how their mom is their best friend and their hero in their role model and blah blah blah and she was laughing and I was like your kids did it too right? She laughed and said two out of the three, and that one of her kids joked and said they were the bad kid but that she believes her daughter does that as a way of sort of rebelling against the dramatic ways of her siblings and it sets her apart from them and she’s always done things like that. I laughed and said so she knew what I meant about the Facebook statuses but that this year when reading them I actually didn’t really get upset and there was one in particular that I saw the next day where it was a girl I know and she was writing about her mom and how her mom is her best friend and her hero and she could spend hours upon hours talking to her, and all I could think of was you I would never want to spend hours upon hours talking to that woman and when I realized it was because this woman is a very vocal evangelical Trump supporter who has very different opinions than I do and is very adamant and delusional and really just represents everything that I hate about the evangelical Christianity, and then I kind of recognize that to an extent my mom is similar to her, not that my mom is a vocal Trump supporter because really my mom avoid all conflict and won’t talk politics with me because she knows we feel differently but that my mom and I are so different and I recognize that maybe part of the issue is that I can never have that kind of a close relationship with my mom if I don’t have to compromise who I am because my mom just isn’t an open-minded person and we don’t share the same values.

She asked me if I wanted to do any EMDR and work on it, and I said yes. She said that she was glad to hear all of this and that it sounds like really that I’m healing. She asked me to notice what is feeling hard or keeping me stuck and preventing me from letting go. I noticed that it feels hard to completely let go of that desire to want to be close to my mom because I feel guilty because it feels like if I don’t care about whether or not I’m close to her then it means I’m a bad daughter and that realistically I felt like a bad daughter for a long time because I know that I’m very different than the type of person that my parents wanted me to be. I went through a bunch of different memories, noticing that I thought about how Lynn had asked me to think about how someone like me had ended up at the college that I ended up at the last session and how it came with a lot of fighting and me being adamant that I was going to run away and go there and never come back and I didn’t care what they said and it would be a lot of screaming fights and I would slam the door and say I was going anyway and they were opposed because they really wanted me to go to Valley Forge Christian College because they really wanted me to be a music teacher because I was given a music scholarship for singing and guitar there and they’re bigger issue was that they wanted me to go there because there was chapel every single day and with my issues going on they really thought that if I just had more traveling more Jesus I would be better. Lynn laughed and said you did run away and you didn’t go back, I laughed and said I guess that was true and I noticed that she really was right that I really had gone and I really didn’t go back and I guess I had never really thought of it like that but I realized that I had made the best decision for myself. Lynn pointed out that I had good intuition and I knew when I needed. I noticed that my parents have tried to control my career choice also and that I had gone to the doctors appointment with my mom and had had so much anxiety getting my physical done for college and by that point I had already confirmed that I was going to my college and we were sitting down and Wendy’s and my mom had asked if I really wanted to deal with people like me for the rest of my life because I had said I thought I wanted to be a counselor and that I wished I could go back in time and tell my mom the answer was yes I do want to deal with people like me and I want to be able to help people like me and my grandma and people like me and my grandma are OK and that’s not bad but that at the time I had felt so awful about myself and like there was something so deeply wrong with me and so disgusting. Lynn check her head and pointed out that I was really hurting and needed help. I noticed that I had chosen the best career choice for me regardless of what my parents had thought because it was what I wanted and then I was confused and didn’t really know what made me want that. I noticed that maybe it was my competitive nature because really I had thought I would also become a youth group leader and minor in youth ministry because when I thought about people who made a difference in my life, I knew howgood it felt when Candace had listened to me and been there for me and how awful it felt when she abandoned me, and I wanted to really be able to do that for other people but not leave them. The only thing that I figured with counseling was because maybe because my first therapy experience was so bad with that one Therapist literally making me pull my pants down, that maybe I was competitive and thought I could do a better job at that but I don’t know. She pointed out that counseling give me a sense of purpose and then I saw that even then and to notice that. I noticed that out of all of my terrible negative cognitions about myself, something that has always felt true and was positive was that I’ve always been really resourceful. I explained how as a teenager I had ended up on the phone with the Harvard dream specialist because I was having a recurring nightmare and how I wished that Google had been more prominent when I was younger because I feel like I would’ve been able to understand things better about myself and it really could’ve change things. I pointed out how a lot of times my parents really didn’t do things to get me help and part of that was because I didn’t always tell them when something was wrong because I was afraid they would minimize it because they had done that so many times before, and so like even with the Hartford dream specialist I didn’t tell them about that. She asked about the recurring dream and I explained that it was a nightmare of a pair of man’s hands were going to grab mean like up by the throat area and that I would wake up in a panic attack. She asked what the guy had suggested and I said that he told me to go to therapy I think the only reason he called me was because he was probably intrigued by the fact that a teenager was reaching out. I told her about how if we were to look back at my high school email account we would see that the majority of emails in the sent box have a subject line of question because I was constantly emailing random people asking questions and trying to understand things better and get knowledge and how I had always email the authors and wrote authors and I didn’t know that that wasn’t normal until like a few months ago during bookclub when I said I was going to email the author and everybody else thought that was weird. She said she always finds recurring dreams interesting because she wonders what it is about them that is so scary that the brain triggers repeating it. I said I don’t know them and she pointed out that with the hands going to grab my throat area she wondered if it had to do at all with being constricted or not having a voice and that given everything going on in my household she could see were either of those things could be true. I agreed and said I didn’t know and she apologized for getting off on a tangent LOL. I noticed that things are better if I don’t talk with my parents about things that I know we don’t agree on and that maybe I need to except that maybe we can be close but in a very different way and that’s not my fault but just they aren’t open to anything different than themselves. I also noticed that with resourcefulness comes a desire to understand why and how and that in a way that goes against me because I’m always trying to figure out why things are the way they are and that maybe I need to except that I can’t go back in time and I can’t figure out why things happen the way that they did and I’ll never know if I really had a sensory issue when I was little or if I was just truly picky or what. She pointed out feeling that I have A stubborn temperament and that kids react in whatever ways they have to do to get control and to have a voice and that may have just been my way of doing it. I said maybe but it seems so odd because it goes against primal nature. I noticed that I’ve always had so much anxiety about not being able to reuse things that even as a kid, lotion perfume stickers coloring books whatever, I would end up not ever using them because I would have so much anxiety that if I would use it then I wouldn’t have anymore to use. I pointed out that that was similar to hoarding and that it’s very fear-based but that one looking back I wonder how much of that has to do with not having enough food. I noticed that even with my secret stash, I would chew the same piece of gum over and over and over to the point where I would literally dissolve in my mouth after several months of chewing it, and that I would often have food in my secret stash but not eat it because I was so afraid that if I eat it then I wouldn’t have anything there to eat if I really needed it. I pointed out that I seem to have such a strong will and when I was a child because when I think back to it, I was able to refuse food but somebody like my husband would’ve had a plate and food in front of him and been told if you don’t eat it you get nothing and he would’ve eaten the food because he was hungry. I explained that I have a hard time with wanting to figure out why I was able to avoid eating even when I was so hungry to the point that I was ordering food. I pointed out that when I had anorexia obviously that was very intentional with starving myself because I wanted to lose weight and to control things in that way. She pointed out that I obviously have the temperament and predisposition towards those types of issues and with controlling food as a means for controlling things. I said I just always want to know like whether or not I had an eating disorder as a kid or what because I know it’s not normal when I look back at it. I noticed then also that I felt really sad because I remembered that I would often lick my plate or lick my ball and I’m on the my parents yelling at me and telling me that it’s not good manners and feeling sad because I was probably really hungry. Lynn made a very sympathetic face and said that I was just a little kid and I was probably really hungry. Lynn randomly asked me if I had done any of the workshops on EMD ER and eating disorders and I said no and she said that she thinks that could be a really cool niche for me and she was sorry because I was off topic but I was professional thoughts that she was just thinking. I told her I would look into it more. I told her that I was think it’s so bizarre and frustrating when I consider the fact that me as a child was so so very different than me as an adult. I explained that I was really really outgoing and friendly and that my report cards would say that I talk too much in school and that I would make friends with kids at the supermarket and that I was adamant that I was gonna become famous and I took acting lessons because I thought I would do acting and I was very much a bossy independent leader, whereas now I’m very much in Indiana not a chief. I explained that I know that transition for me in seventh grade and a lot of that maybe had to do with changing schools and that not going well, but it just seems so crazy that my entire personality would change so much because I didn’t have all of the social anxiety as a kid. I told her that I’m going to a bridal shower and bachelorette party this weekend and that I have so much social anxiety about it and that I know I have the propranolol and there will be alcohol and I’m sure I will get through it and it’s not even a long time but that I keep trying to avoid thinking about it because when I do you think about it I start obsessing over feeling anxious and like I won’t fit in and that I’m ugly and won’t look good while I’m there. She pointed out that to some extent because of our jobs, it’s possible that we may be less inclined to do more social things because we get drained more easily. She pointed out that a lot of times after a long workday, she doesn’t want to go out to a party or see people she really just wants to chill in front of the TV. I said I got that LOL. She pointed out that also with being sensitive people, sometimes we are more aware when situations can be more draining. She explained that she is having to go to a lot of graduation parties right now and that there was one in particular that she was dreading because she knew that it was a neighborhood friend and the parents just got divorced and there was gonna be a lot of negativity in the air and for people like us sometimes we just don’t want to deal with that. I laughed and asked if she is sensitive and she said how can you not be in this job. I said I feel like a lot of therapists are insensitive and there are a lot of bad Therapist and she laughed and said that I was right about that so she guessed that made sense but that she feels like part of why we are good at our jobs is because we are sensitive and intuitive and can read what’s really going on even when people aren’t saying it. She said before I go this weekend, but I should consider practicing mindfulness. I told her that the problem with practicing mindfulness when I’m upset is that my brain automatically starts obsessing over feeling ugly or fat and I can’t stay present. She said there are multiple types of mindfulnes, laughed and said she wouldn't advocate that someone like my focus on bodily mindfulness, and that I should consider focusing on gratitude mindfulness and put my energy into being mindful of my gratitude of the relationship with my friend. I said it’s hard because realistically if I think about that, then I will go down a rabbit trail of thinking about our friendship and how we were best friends in college in that part of why it works so well was because she’s very similar to my mom in that she’s very avoidant of any conflict and very aloof and avoidant of issues and so we literally never talked about my being sick. Lynn laughed and said no wonder I don’t want to go this weekend. She brought up trying to focus on the general gratitude for my friend as far as being grateful that she’s getting me marry someone she loves and that I am there to celebrate with her and to focus on even generally that I’m going to spend time with her and then I will meet new people and that maybe I will need a new friend. I must’ve made a face that said I wasn’t super on board because she laughed and said that I could always give it a shot.

She asked me how things were going with private practice and I said they were going good. She said that it seems that clients come and go in waves and that the summertime things seem to always pick up. She said right now she’s getting a wave of people that want to come in and do EMDR. She said she usually cuts back on her work hours in the summer though and that she’s already pretty booked for next week. Luckily though we were able to work out a time for Thursday. She said that with their new location, they are right by all these restaurants so they are doing Thursday lunches with each other so that they are intentional about connecting with each other as Therapist’s. I wanted to laugh and point out that they literally moved like five minutes away from their old office but I held my tongue and figured I didn’t think she would laugh and find it funny even though it really is only a five-minute difference so I don’t know why they are all of a sudden so much closer to all of these cool restaurants LOL. I said that it was nice though that they are doing that and taking the time to connect with each other which is one thing that is nice about being at an agency is that you do you still stay connected with people. She agreed and said that private practice can be lonely if you’re not intentional about connecting with other people. She made a copy of my insurance card and she said who knows how insurance will change in the future. I said that in this current moment with the healthcare change that has already happened, my friend Josh actually talk to our state representative and said that they are leaving it to the states to decide whether or not they want to require insurance is to continue covering mental health issues and that our state is saying that as of right now they want to advocate that insurance keep mental health issues because there is such a big substance abuse problem and to remove that coverage would create a lot of issues for people. She said that was good and she hopes that it stays. She said that Blue Cross Blue Shield actually just cut back on their rates and we both agreed that that’s super annoying and sucks.

On the way out, she told me good work, as always and I laughed and jokingly said and good work for you to Lynn as always and she laughed and said she would pat herself on the back.

[liberallifeblog]

The Snowbird Lifestyle: Healthy Anti-Aging Solution or Horrifying Misadventure?

photo: wikimedia

By Crabby McSlacker So what's a snowbird? (Besides, apparently, a ski resort in Utah?) I'll offer one definition of a snowbird: a species of silver-crested North American, usually of advancing years, that migrates annually for the winter from colder northern climates to warmer southern ones. Best known for upsetting local ecosystems and annoying year-round inhabitants. Regular readers may be aware that my wife (aka "The Lobster") and I are a couple of those dreaded snowbirds. Yet: we are not all that old. Nor, we hope, are we all that annoying. And it's not just us: Snowbirds seem to be getting younger. Maybe it's because more jobs are going virtual and it's not just for retirement anymore? Or it might be because new options that didn't exist 10 or 20 years ago can make it way more affordable and practical than it used to be. (Note: I'm talking about "snowbirding" because that's what people google the most common sort of seasonal migration. But this applies to other extended getaways too, like fleeing a torrid climate during summers, or spending months abroad every year in a country that's cheap and culturally enriching, or whatever.) So if you're curious about the Snowbird lifestyle, either because it sounds vaguely appealing, or alternatively, because it sounds so hideously disruptive that reveling in the details will make you smugly grateful that you live only in one place like a normal person--some thoughts below.

Our Snowbirding experience? We flee wintertime in Provincetown Massachusetts every year, and have had a blast living part time in San Diego for seven years. But now we're selling our condo this spring, because we want to mix it up a little more. We did a trial run last winter, renting out our SD digs and spending it Austin Texas instead. Way fun!

(And hell, since I have some left-over photos from then that I never blogged about, I'm going to go ahead and use 'em to break up the text so I don't have to write a whole ridiculously belated "healthy travels in Austin" post.)

Next winter, we're renting a place in St. Petersburg Florida. And the year after that... hmm. Mexico? Hawaii? New Zealand? Costa Rica? Who knows? Can you see how that sort of decision might be kinda fun to make?

But let's deal with the bad news first.

Hassles and Painful Realities: Not Everyone Can or Should be a Snowbird.

For one thing, plenty of people are quite happy where they are whatever the season! And so why mess with a good thing? Other folks who might enjoy snowbirding eventually can't even think about it now because of work, family obligations or financial constraints. I'm guessing, for example, most second grade teachers wouldn't take kindly to a parental note saying: "please excuse Tiffany's absence during December, January, February and March. She was busy learning to boogie-board in Daytona Beach." Nor for that matter would many bosses. But even those who are ready, willing and able to migrate will have to deal with quite a few costs, chores, and hassles:

Finding a place to rent or buy and Making Arrangements. (Extra difficult if you have pets, peculiarities, or Strong Opinions).

The cost of said place, whether rented or owned.

If it's not an easy driving destination, then transportation to and fro and a means to get around once there.

Enlisting someone to rent (if you're lucky) or housesit or check on your home while you're away.

Winterizing if it freezes where you live.

Packing Angst, plus shipping costs if you send boxes back and forth.

Mail forwarding (which, btw, the post office sucks at) and bill paying and possibly tax season, which becomes more complicated when things keep getting lost in the mail.

Schlepping or rebuying Things You Can Not Live Without.

If you own, then duplicate utilities, taxes, insurance, association fees plus a twin set of "what happens while we're gone" questions.

However, it all gets way easier as you get the hang of it. 

So, anyone still game or did I scare y'all off?

Winter? What winter?

Different Approaches to Snowbirding

A "second home" doesn't have to mean a huge new mortgage payment or a boring gated community full of eighty year olds riding around in golf carts. You can choose any sort of neighborhood that appeals!

In our Austin 'hood

Here are a few possibilities to think about, not all mutually exclusive:

Downsize your primary residence to something more economical to extract some extra cash to flee for part of the year.

Rent seasonally through VRBO or AirBnb or similar.

Buy a used RV and find a cheap warm place to park it.

If you live in a desirable urban area or an all-season destination (say, for example, you hail from NYC, San Diego, Boulder, DC, SF etc), consider renting out your own place while you're gone for a few months, or doing a house swap for free rent elsewhere. 

Travel to countries where rents or second homes are cheaper.

Get together with friends or relatives and split a second home.

Buy a second place in a year-round rental area and rent it out monthly or weekly when you're not using it.

It helps to start fantasizing about what you might do years ahead of time, and making vacation visits and collecting data about neighborhoods, prices, cost of living, etc. A cross country road trip, if you can squeeze in the vacation time, is a great way to check out a bunch of options all at once.

Prefer a Second Home, or a Seasonal Adventure?

We know many people whose "second homes" are as every bit as integral to their lives as their primary residences. They build friendships and community over the years, and they establish routines and traditions that result in a sense of feeling truly "home" all year long, even as the settings change.

Alternatively, it's a big world! Keeping it flexible and mixing it up every year, exploring different cities or countries, gives an incredible sense of freedom and adventure.

Whether your intention is to settle somewhere for the long haul or not, you may want to consider renting a season before buying. Though hell, if you really know what you want, and see a screaming deal, then a quick decision can work too. But caution is advised.

Is Snowbirding Good for Your Health?

This is at least theoretically a health blog, so let's take a look at the healthy lifestyle angle. Did you know research proves that people who shift their primary residence between two or more places become physically and psychologically healthier as they age, and live much longer lives than their stationary peers? Really? Because I just made that up. I don't think there is any such research. (Though I did find an abstract for one Nordic study on second homes and health that basically seemed to say: we should study this). I don't actually think we should throw precious research money at this one. Not unless you have a ginormous grant that could randomly put people in groups and subsidize half of them, forcing them to move somewhere far away from bad weather whether they want to or not. Otherwise, how would you ever control for the probable fact that people drawn to snowbirding are a different sort of species of human to start with? People who might be more risk-tolerant, adventurous, financially secure, and in better health or they wouldn't consider taking it on? But common sense (and a little research) points to a few very likely health benefits for snowbirds. Physical:  It's easier for most people to and get outdoors and exercise in a mild climate. Or, to get outdoors at all for that matter. (But stay tuned, we have a guest post coming up soon on winter exercise!) A research review appears to confirm this: physical activity tends to decline in winter. And the same goes for hot humid summers. An excerpt (citations omitted, boldface mine):

The data show that both men and women are more physically active during leisure time in the summer than in the winter. Moreover, it provides an analysis of the types of activities adopted by season. A 2–3-fold greater volume of walking for pleasure, the most prevalent type of activity for both men and women, was reported in spring-summer-fall seasons, compared with winter. In addition, outdoor activities such as gardening and lawn-mowing tended to replace indoor pastimes such as home exercise and bowling. Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 2.2 of more than 20,000 Canadians collected in 2004 revealed that the number of inactive respondents increased from 49% in summer to 64% in winter. Smaller studies, as well as those from other countries, and those concentrating on adolescents or children, tend to replicate these findings, with some exceptions. In areas of the United States with hot, humid summer weather, physical activity of children was in fact lower in summer than winter; a small study in the United Arab Emirates also suggested that extremely hot weather would decrease physical activity.

Dietary: I'm thinking warmer climates are more likely to have fresher, locally grown produce. At least that's been our experience. Also, it's a chance to get out of any dietary ruts you may have fallen into, shopping in different stores, trying new kinds of foods, exploring new takeout and restaurant options, which could in turn lead to new recipes. Many things I eat routinely now I sampled first Somewhere Else.

Psychological: Here is where I think there are the most benefits, at least for my strange little brain: Growth Mindset: There are a couple different ways to handle the aging process. Have you noticed that some people seem to get more open and adventurous as the decades pass? They become more broad-minded and adaptable, gain confidence, and become more willing to challenge themselves and less stressed when encountering the unexpected. The alternative approach? Retreat more and more to the familiar, the comfortable. Allow your world to keep getting smaller, you habits and opinions more entrenched. Find ways to avoid change whenever possible. I argue that as strategies for happiness, meaning, and life satisfaction the first approach rocks, and the second approach sucks. But "growing" instead of "shrinking" is not necessarily natural, at least for some of us anxious types. We have to actively work to stay in category One rather than get sucked into category Two. There are a multitude of ways to challenge yourself that are far less of a pain in the ass than packing up your life twice a year. Taking classes, volunteering, doing meet-ups, signing up for marathons, etc. But... having different worlds with different neighborhoods, resources, routines, possibilities, and adventures throws a whole lot of novelty in one package. And it's a package wrapped up with a pretty bow of lovely anti-depressing sunny weather! Snowbirding also requires some scheming and troubleshooting, which while not always fun, keeps those brain cells firing and beats the pants off sudoku or solitaire. Simplifying: As discussed above, snowbirding adds some complications to life. Yet counter-intuitively, it can lead to a Zen sort of reckoning about what's truly important to you, and how much less you need in your life than you thought you did. Most people we know who migrate like we do have, just like us, downsized in all sorts of ways. Not only in terms of real estate, but also personal possessions, financial entanglements, even relationships that no longer feel right, and other various commitments that seemed to be "costing" more than they were worth. Fresh eyes, with no need for an optometrist: A lesser known snowbird bonus: When you go back to your old home and neighborhood, one where you may have lived for decades, you see and appreciate all sorts of things you never noticed. It's like falling in love all over again!

And speaking of which: Relationship Enhancer:  If you have a cherished spouse or life partner, sharing adventures adds a whole new dimension of bonding. Different settings bring out all kinds of new ways to appreciate their awesomeness!

The always awesome Lobster

On the other hand, if you accidentally married a whiner, a loser, a blowhard, a creep, a psycho, or a dickhead, and divorce isn't practical, you'll appreciate not being trapped in the same house with them during winter months. You can head outside and take up a new sport or simply walk as far, far away from them as you possibly can.

Health Challenges

OK, to be fair, there are some of these as well. Moving is considered a major stressor. And even if you're not starting from scratch every year, or are renting furnished places, there are still tons of little details and things that can go wrong. Along with the excitement of change comes uncertainty and a need for flexibility.  Exposing yourself to this can either be a "growth opportunity" or a pain-in-the-ass source of stress, depending on your circumstances and mindset. (But consider: I'm more than a bit of a worrywart, and I cope just fine, and find it well worth the tradeoffs.) I'll repeat too: it gets way easier over time. Another consideration: if you have chronic health conditions that require doctors visits and prescription refills, you have to make sure you are going somewhere you can take care of these things, particularly if you are considering international destinations. Wishful thinking and denial are not good replacements for regular medical care.  (But snowbirding, unlike snowboarding, is far less likely to send you to the emergency room.)

photo: yashima

Snowbirding Resources

Perhaps someday, if there is any interest I can get more into the nitty gritty with concrete suggestions for how to make this happen in your future, or if you're already going to make the leap, how to make it far more pleasant and less painful. I'm not sure if any regular visitors are game, but, lurkers? Googlers? If you want to know more, please let me know in the comments and I'll consider a future post. In the meantime, here are some links that are probably more informative than I am anyway: Tips on snowbird lifestyle from U.S. News

Retirement Guide to Achieving Snowbird Lifestyle (Canadian, yay!) Economical Snowbirding (Also Canadian) 30 Things you probably didn't know about snowbirds Joan Lunden on Joys of Snowbirding HuffPo on Life as a Snowbird Best Places for Snowbirds to Retire How about you guys, any of you think you  might someday be interested? Or, No Way in Hell? The Snowbird Lifestyle: Healthy Anti-Aging Solution or Horrifying Misadventure? posted first on http://ift.tt/2kDxLY4

[yournewapartment]

I've been looking around for a while and I don't know if minimum wage would be enough to get an apartment, buy food, and take care of all my cats and it's just generally stressing me out and now I'm wondering if I should even think of living alone

Take a deep breath! While not ideal, living on minimum wage can be done. My advice to you would be to look for some sort of roommate situation as opposed to living on your own. You could also rent a room in a house which would be significantly cheaper than a one bedroom apartment. Your cats shouldn’t cost you more than $50 extra a month, and they will give you such relief and comfort. Moving out of your parent’s house and living on your own can be stressful and feel overwhelming- you’ll want your furry friends by your side!

Budgeting on Minimum Wage

Overview

The average minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hr. Even working full time at 40 hours a week, that’s only a profit of $290 before taxes. This is not a fair living wage! You are worth way more than this amount! I strongly encourage you to start looking for another job that pays better, look for something around the $10-$15 range.

While $7.25 is atrocious, thousands of people around the world support families on much less. If they can do it while supporting children, so can you! To live off a minimum wage budget you need to declare yourself independent. If your parents are still claiming you as a dependent YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I also recommend that you have the highest amount possible taken out of your taxes so that you get money back from your state at the end of the year, instead of being in debt to them. 

What I’ve done is come up with a budgeting plan based off some made up factors and my own personal experience.

Housing

1. City life. Forget about the city! Apartments located in cities can be three times as expensive as apartments in small towns or villages. On top of the extra expense, they’re much smaller and have less amenities included. I’d much rather live in a one bedroom apartment with a dishwasher and a conveniently located Laundromat, than a literal closet with no windows on a fifth floor walkup. Look for apartments twenty minutes to a half hour outside of your closest city. Now you have the close conveniences of a city, with none of those pesky city prices that your budget can’t handle.

2. College towns. Shop around and look at apartments by local colleges. Large colleges with have apartment complexes within walking distance of the school grounds. Landlords know that college students have less money (you might even be a college student yourself) and adjust their prices accordingly. Even apartments next to ivy league schools are priced this way, so don’t be discouraged by the institution’s “prestige”.

3. Locale. Your safety is more important than your bank account. It doesn’t matter if you live in Section 8 housing or in an affluent suburb. Some apartment complexes and neighborhoods are just safer than others. I live in a heavily populated and upper middle class suburb, and the first year I moved in, a drunk woman tried to throw a beer bottle at my car. Thankfully this is the only time this happened to me, but it made me feel unsafe in my environment. Before signing a lease, walk or drive around your prospective home’s neighborhood at night. Take in the atmosphere, and make sure it’s one where you could comfortably run to the local supermarket at 10:30pm and pick up toilet paper.

4. Roommates. Living on minimum wage requires that you find one or two roommates to help split the rent. The more the better! Get together with your more responsible friends, so at least you’re living with people whose company you enjoy. There are lots of “roommate wanted” forums and message boards for you to browse on the internet, but always bring a responsible adult with you before meeting a stranger. Please. Bring your mom if you have too.

Food

1. Low-spoon food. I created this post a few months ago which offers lots of suggestions about cooking and shopping on a budget.

2. Online recipes. Here are some of my favorite online Tumblr cookbook resources.

- College Student Cookbook. Click here.

- Meals On The Go. Click here. (Not a cookbook, but super helpful)

- Broke College Kid Masterpost. Click here.

- Cooking on A Bootstrap. Click here.

- Good and Cheap. Click here.

- Budget Bytes. Click here.

3. I also regularly update my cooking on a budget tag.

Misc Expenses

1. Gas. Shop around and find the cheapest gas in your area. Avoid gas stations next to colleges, highways, and in touristy areas. Look into getting as gas rewards card from your favorite supermarket. I get 10 cents off a gallon with Stop & Shop every time I do a big shop.

2. Dollar store. Get to know your local dollar and bargain stores. You can buy everything from pots and pans to bed sheets there. These stores often sell bulk ramen for $1 and large cans of crushed tomatoes for 75 cents. That’s enough food for you to live off of for several days. When shopping, I make three grocery store stops to ensure that I spend the least amount possible on my pantry needs. I go Dollar Store, Stop and Shop, and then to my local organic grocery store. I’m going to make a list of things that I buy at Dollar Stores and things that I don’t buy at Dollar Stores soon!

3. Cable. We are living in the digital age- you don’t need cable television. Use Netflix or Hulu or whatever. It will save you tons of $$.

4. Internet. As far as internet speed goes, if you’re living with roommates you will probably need a higher speed. Living by yourself, choose a lower one. Most internet companies offer large discounts to new subscribers. These typically only last a year, but will save you serious money. Make sure to take note of when this discount expires, and contact the company before it does. If you don’t, they’ll begin charging you the full amount without notice.

5. Verizon. I just want to take a moment to talk about how much I love Verizon because they have literally saved me so much money in the three years I’ve been with them. After you sign a contract with a new internet company, they charge you a bunch of ridiculous fees like “activation fees” and “installation fees”. I called Verizon and was like “I’m a poor college student, I can’t afford this” and they were like “don’t worry, we’ll waive the fee”. I signed a two year contract with them that saved me $80 on a high-speed internet bill per month (my price being only 50.99 a month). After the contract expired I call them and they put me on a month to month, keeping the price absolutely the same. TLDR- get Verizon if you can.

6. Utility. Get on a monthly budget with whatever utility company services your new apartment. Although it may seem like the cheaper option, paying the actual amount of electricity you spend per month is the more expensive. It’s also unpredictable, and a minimum wage budget won’t allow for it. See this for more info.

7. Amazon. I buy a lot of my beauty, cleaning, and cat products online. Amazon offers Prime shipping free for a year with a student email address, and then offers it at a greatly reduced price after the year. If you are a student, snap up that free deal ASAP. If it’s in your budget, I’d greatly recommend investing in Amazon Prime.

8. Saving money. It’s so important to attempt to break way from the “paycheck to paycheck” vicious cycle. Living this way does not allow for emergency expense money, and trust me, sometime soon you will need emergency expense money. Your cat might get sick or your car may die, whatever it is, it’s always smart to have at least $500 squirreled away. I’m gonna level with you, things have been tight for my budget and I haven’t been able to save anything for the past three months. But this month I will!

Example Budgets

Full Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 40hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $1,160 a month without taxes.

Housing: Let’s say you’re sharing an apartment with two close friends, the rent being $1,500 without any amenities. That rent split three ways is $500 each.

Gas I commute twenty minutes every day, and I drop about $20-$25 a week on gas. That’s $100 on gas a month.

Food: I do one big shopping a month with my boyfriend. We drop around $180 and that’s including toiletries and soap and stuff. So maybe you’ll spend about $100 a month on all your shopping needs.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split three ways that’s $17 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Especially when you have cats. Let’s just tack on another $100.

With everything added up, you still have around $290 left before taxes! That money can go into a savings account, and after several months, you’ll have that $500 worth of emergency money saved.

Part Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 25hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $725 without taxes.

Housing: In this case, you need to look for apartments in the $800-900 range. In my area, one bedroom apartments go for around $1000, so you may need to get creative with your roommate (I don’t think you could have more than one roommate in this situation). Buy dividers to split the bedroom or studio in half! Let’s say your rent is $850 with nothing included, that’s $425 each.

Gas You’re still looking at a large gas bill per month, so it may be more inexpensive to ride a bike or use public transportation. Let’s say you use public transportation, and spend around $50 a month on that. Or maybe you and your roommate can split gas expenses and share a car?

Food: Pinch those pennies! Use some of those budget cookbooks I linked above to help you cook healthy and delicious meals for under $4 each. See if you can only spend $80 a month on groceries.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split two ways is $25 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

That leaves you $25 to put in your bank account, if that. This is a paycheck to paycheck situation, and you will probably need to get another source of income to feel secure. But you can still do it!

[yournewapartment]

Hello, I'm the anon who's freaking out about being thrown into adulthood, and thank you for your previous help. 1.) How do I mamage/budget a minimum wage salary? 2.) I've never been great with any sort of organization, but would you mind teaching me about home organization and important paper organization?

Okay, so this post will be about budgeting on minimum wage, and later in the day I will also post about paper organization. Enjoy!

Budgeting on Minimum Wage

Overview

The average minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hr. Even working full time at 40 hours a week, that’s only a profit of $290 before taxes. This is not a fair living wage! You are worth way more than this amount! I strongly encourage you to start looking for another job that pays better, look for something around the $10-$15 range. 

While $7.25 is atrocious, thousands of people around the world support families on much less. If they can do it while supporting children, so can you! To live off a minimum wage budget you need to declare yourself independent. If your parents are still claiming you as a dependent YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I also recommend that you have the highest amount possible taken out of your taxes so that you get money back from your state at the end of the year, instead of being in debt to them.

What I’ve done is come up with a budgeting plan based off some made up factors and my own personal experience.

Housing

1. City life. Forget about the city! Apartments located in cities can be three times as expensive as apartments in small towns or villages. On top of the extra expense, they’re much smaller and have less amenities included. I’d much rather live in a one bedroom apartment with a dishwasher and a conveniently located Laundromat, than a literal closet with no windows on a fifth floor walkup. Look for apartments twenty minutes to a half hour outside of your closest city. Now you have the close conveniences of a city, with none of those pesky city prices that your budget can’t handle.

2. College towns. Shop around and look at apartments by local colleges. Large colleges with have apartment complexes within walking distance of the school grounds. Landlords know that college students have less money (you might even be a college student yourself) and adjust their prices accordingly. Even apartments next to ivy league schools are priced this way, so don’t be discouraged by the institution’s “prestige”.

3. Locale. Your safety is more important than your bank account. It doesn’t matter if you live in Section 8 housing or in an affluent suburb. Some apartment complexes and neighborhoods are just safer than others. I live in a heavily populated and upper middle class suburb, and the first year I moved in, a drunk woman tried to throw a beer bottle at my car. Thankfully this is the only time this happened to me, but it made me feel unsafe in my environment. Before signing a lease, walk or drive around your prospective home’s neighborhood at night. Take in the atmosphere, and make sure it’s one where you could comfortably run to the local supermarket at 10:30pm and pick up toilet paper.

4. Roommates. Living on minimum wage requires that you find one or two roommates to help split the rent. The more the better! Get together with your more responsible friends, so at least you’re living with people whose company you enjoy. There are lots of “roommate wanted” forums and message boards for you to browse on the internet, but always bring a responsible adult with you before meeting a stranger. Please. Bring your mom if you have too.

Food

1. Low-spoon food. I created this post a few months ago which offers lots of suggestions about cooking and shopping on a budget.

2. Online recipes. Here are some of my favorite online Tumblr cookbook resources. 

- College Student Cookbook. Click here. 

- Meals On The Go. Click here. (Not a cookbook, but super helpful)

- Broke College Kid Masterpost. Click here.

- Cooking on A Bootstrap. Click here.

- Good and Cheap. Click here.

- Budget Bytes. Click here.

3. I also regularly update my cooking on a budget tag. 

Misc Expenses

1. Gas. Shop around and find the cheapest gas in your area. Avoid gas stations next to colleges, highways, and in touristy areas. Look into getting as gas rewards card from your favorite supermarket. I get 10 cents off a gallon with Stop & Shop every time I do a big shop. 

2. Dollar store. Get to know your local dollar and bargain stores. You can buy everything from pots and pans to bed sheets there. These stores often sell bulk ramen for $1 and large cans of crushed tomatoes for 75 cents. That’s enough food for you to live off of for several days. When shopping, I make three grocery store stops to ensure that I spend the least amount possible on my pantry needs. I go Dollar Store, Stop and Shop, and then to my local organic grocery store. I’m going to make a list of things that I buy at Dollar Stores and things that I don’t buy at Dollar Stores soon!

3. Cable. We are living in the digital age- you don’t need cable television. Use Netflix or Hulu or whatever. It will save you tons of $$. 

4. Internet. As far as internet speed goes, if you’re living with roommates you will probably need a higher speed. Living by yourself, choose a lower one. Most internet companies offer large discounts to new subscribers. These typically only last a year, but will save you serious money. Make sure to take note of when this discount expires, and contact the company before it does. If you don’t, they’ll begin charging you the full amount without notice.

5. Verizon. I just want to take a moment to talk about how much I love Verizon because they have literally saved me so much money in the three years I’ve been with them. After you sign a contract with a new internet company, they charge you a bunch of ridiculous fees like “activation fees” and “installation fees”. I called Verizon and was like “I’m a poor college student, I can’t afford this” and they were like “don’t worry, we’ll waive the fee”. I signed a two year contract with them that saved me $80 on a high-speed internet bill per month (my price being only 50.99 a month). After the contract expired I call them and they put me on a month to month, keeping the price absolutely the same. TLDR- get Verizon if you can.

6. Utility. Get on a monthly budget with whatever utility company services your new apartment. Although it may seem like the cheaper option, paying the actual amount of electricity you spend per month is the more expensive. It’s also unpredictable, and a minimum wage budget won’t allow for it. See this for more info.

7. Amazon. I buy a lot of my beauty, cleaning, and cat products online. Amazon offers Prime shipping free for a year with a student email address, and then offers it at a greatly reduced price after the year. If you are a student, snap up that free deal ASAP. If it’s in your budget, I’d greatly recommend investing in Amazon Prime.

8. Saving money. It’s so important to attempt to break way from the “paycheck to paycheck” vicious cycle. Living this way does not allow for emergency expense money, and trust me, sometime soon you will need emergency expense money. Your cat might get sick or your car may die, whatever it is, it’s always smart to have at least $500 squirreled away. I’m gonna level with you, things have been tight for my budget and I haven’t been able to save anything for the past three months. But this month I will!

Example Budgets

Full Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 40hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $1,160 a month without taxes.

Housing: Let’s say you’re sharing an apartment with two close friends, the rent being $1,500 without any amenities. That rent split three ways is $500 each.

Gas I commute twenty minutes every day, and I drop about $20-$25 a week on gas. That’s $100 on gas a month.

Food: I do one big shopping a month with my boyfriend. We drop around $180 and that’s including toiletries and soap and stuff. So maybe you’ll spend about $100 a month on all your shopping needs.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split three ways that’s $17 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

With everything added up, you still have around $290 left before taxes! That money can go into a savings account, and after several months, you’ll have that $500 worth of emergency money saved.

Part Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 25hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $725 without taxes.

Housing: In this case, you need to look for apartments in the $800-900 range. In my area, one bedroom apartments go for around $1000, so you may need to get creative with your roommate (I don’t think you could have more than one roommate in this situation). Buy dividers to split the bedroom or studio in half! Let’s say your rent is $850 with nothing included, that’s $425 each.

Gas You’re still looking at a large gas bill per month, so it may be more inexpensive to ride a bike or use public transportation. Let’s say you use public transportation, and spend around $50 a month on that. Or maybe you and your roommate can split gas expenses and share a car?

Food: Pinch those pennies! Use some of those budget cookbooks I linked above to help you cook healthy and delicious meals for under $4 each. See if you can only spend $80 a month on groceries.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split two ways is $25 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

That leaves you $25 to put in your bank account, if that. This is a paycheck to paycheck situation, and you will probably need to get another source of income to feel secure. But you can still do it!