#save dave savers

[ediblegardenspointloma]

Dry Bean Harvest

I am bedazzled by the Tiger’s Eye dry bean, though, admittedly, I’ve not cooked them yet. Here’s the description from Vermont Bean and Seed Company. 80-90 Day. Bush. Originally from Southern South America. This dry bean has a wonderful rich flavor and smooth texture. The skins are very tender and disappear when cooked making them great for refried beans or chili. Can be used as a fresh shell bean. Very productive on 24 inch plants.

Tiger’s Eye is just one of six dry beans I grew this summer. For the past four years I’ve had difficulty growing tomatoes in my garden with our trend to cool and foggy summers. But I can grow beans. Emerite pole green beans thrive as do a variety of bush beans. In 2022 I decided to try dry beans.

My dry bean harvests are small because my city vegetable garden consists primarily of four raised beds totaling 120 square feet. With half an acre, I’d be planting rows of dry beans!

I’ve written about cranberry beans after my first encounter with them in a Farmers Market Box from Specialty Produce. I wonder if it was their color or their history as a beloved heirloom in New England since the eighteenth century. I grew them for the first time in 2022 and saved seed for this year.

My cranberry bean harvest was abundant a year ago so I planted a 24 x 24 inch block this year with 2 ounces of saved seed. This year’s harvest, pictured above was 7 ounces. You might call these hobby beans—maybe a couple of dinners but I’ll savor them.

Cannellini beans are favorites and useful in our plant-based, Mediterranean diet. They did poorly last summer but I gave them another opportunity to prove themselves. The results were dismal—perhaps location related. One ounce of seed produced 3 ounces. I have other beans that were very productive to take their place next year.

Renee’s Garden offers Heirloom Dry Beans, Soup Mix Blend. The seed packet lists equal parts of Painted Pony, Hidatsa Red Indian, Yellow Indian Woman and Jacob’s Cattle beans. To give them a fair chance, I planted 10 seeds of each in a 1 x 4 foot area. Two beans did very well and two harvests were quite meager.

The Jacob’s Cattle Gold beans will not make the cut for next year but should be nice in a winter bean soup. Ditto Hidatsa Red Indian beans.

Yellow Indian Woman beans, (also known as Buckeye by Rancho Gordo) on the dinner plate above is 3 ounces from just 10 seeds. These were the most productive of the soup mix beans. If they cook up well and we like them, I’ll definitely plant a large area next year.

Considering the yields from 12 square feet, I plan to at least double the area devoted to dry beans next year.

My Dry Bean Sources Cranberry Beans—Territorial Seed Co. (These were all dark red. Some seed companies only offer the predominately white cranberry beans splashed with red). Cannellini Beans—Territorial Seed Co. Heirloom Dry Beans, Soup Mix Blend—Renee’s Garden Source for Tiger’s Eye Beans—Vermont Bean and Seed Co. and Seed Savers Exchange.

Check out other dry bean seed sources such as Seed Savers Exchange, Vermont Bean and Seed Co. and Fedco Seeds,

Sample beans you might like to grow by ordering from Rancho Gordo. I found their method for cooking dry beans humorous and helpful.

Check the What I’m Planting Now page as I transplant and sow seeds for the cool season garden. Then head today to Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog and see what garden bloggers around the world harvested last week.

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#Tiger's Eye beans #Yellow Indian Woman beans #Jacob's Cattle Gold Beans #Hidatsa Red Indian Beans #Cranberry beans #cannellini beans #Territorial Seed Co. #Renee's Garden

[444names]

roman emperors forenames + the entire wikipedia article about javanais, original & encoded in - you guessed it - javanais

Abavame Abaves Abavisevers Ablatests Aemblese Aftabavos Aftavixed Aftellang Allace Alleris Alted Ancern Angly Anunce Aravabecome Aravearn Arciands Ariculd Artabolava Artines Asidavian Atavade Atavixener Audidionian Auguagnus Auravomerel Aurel Aurge Aurian Averseng Bation Bavan Bavar Bavaros Bavaven Bavaviany Bavavis Bavay Bavaze Bavemble Bavoly Bavuelly Beraveing Berus Bocat Bomplavan Cabasible Cabavavuld Cabavavus Cabayines Caderefer Calbavosed Canaveques Canuence Caravan Carcidaven Cartavounds Carustian Cavallos Cavanaved Cavany Cavavava Cavavende Cavavins Cavavonius Cavavos Cavavosian Caved Cavencalus Caver Cavers Caverse Cavethavang Cavian Cavics Cavide Cavine Cavisavaver Cavixed Cavolavick Cavorde Cavow Cavuellius Cavuener Cavundan Chaderus Chavounde Colavavel Colaveted Comavales Comavv Commos Conaviance Craving Cravoys Dabavan Dabavers Dabecavuage Davavave Davaviang Davavome Daved Daveravaze Daverest Daverius Davern Daves Daviands Davich Daviscus Davorius Dayinius Deciuse Didaved Dosephocode Dossavulus Emble Empla Emplang Enstas Evabavomice Eveheonst Evenswed Evervalius Exame Exavarn Exavavios Exaves Extrius Fasius Favace Favist Favour Fixavavome Folavavus Folavenes Folavus Fordiusaven Gabavery Gabavuld Gabeing Gaiscus Gaish Galbi Galsame Galsavust Gavabe Gavabi Gavaled Gavokavitle Gavoll Gavuench Gorius Graclius Grava Gravay Graved Gravian Grossios Hatinguld Hatur Havantong Havimich Havuagnus Hemble Henanavuch Heodava Heodavame Heriano Heriantion Hocaring Hocavest Hodossame Hords Infirs Ingla Inslabavuen Intith Isavavaists Itavunds Ithavubst Itins Itustavo Itusting Javan Javano Javar Javav Javavavanas Javen Javin Javos Javoun Javour Javuenting Jound Julan Justs Labay Laurac Lavames Lavanus Lavave Laveris Lavetavow Laviostily Lavour Lavulavubst Lavulus Liany Liatc Libed Licarcus Liustanv Lyravible Macle Madern Majavillian Mantionus Mantits Maraved Marciuse Maronos Marting Mavan Mavat Mavaved Mavaverefer Maved Maven Mavis Mavour Mavually Maxed Maxioste Merge Milis Miustianais Modord Monastible Mulavis Naverg Navurg Nerus Nican Nikos Noravaved Noter Nothra Ollavo Onsions Ordions Orics Orist Oroman Otherge Paravick Paravounce Paraze Parehabius Parta Pavan Pavancer Pavavunds Pavavéning Paver Paverian Paverius Paverse Pavery Pavicadete Pavins Pavion Pavit's Peavan Pethencius Philicing Phily Phost Phostle Plabavos Plavame Plavan Pleace Plencavuch Ploys Poparazens Praving Praze Pronius Pronsla Pronswery Pular Pulus Punciand Pénikeptics Qavit Quenavenes Quiner Quing Ravans Ravavan Ravenavers Raviblerse Ravor Ravos Regulagnus Rehavequest Rence Robus Ronswell Rulestly Rustus Saaciano Saacidecon Sabavastius Sabaves Sanno Savabe Savale Savans Savavan Savayinich Savaze Saved Savel Saver Saveraved Saverour Savers Savilien Savinaing Savisaves Savocabeing Savoll Savoravues Savord Savos Savotheo Savoula Savounastur Savourgetit Senavon Sequinible Slatel Slavics Slavit's Somple Sompleris Sonswavos Spare Spaver Spaves Spavow Spearavus Sponius Suage Suggetests Sugulat Syleximice Table Tavabour Tavame Tavaring Tavavinstly Taventilius Tavese Taviminerg Tavos Tavostyle Tavothavos Thaba Thabavan Thadery Thavabast Thavavible Thave Thavinsions Thavommodus Themblay Themploys Theng Thentinting Theod Theodecit's Theonjavow Theopavance Thern Thocome Thontibled Thravos Tionjoving Travaviong Traverse Traves Travian Traviang Travios Trener Trice Unavatabius Ustitus Ustleros Vamplarn Vannavarcus Varonsible Vatian Vattab Vattes Vaver Vavichocle Vavordavale Verians Vidaves Vinustavavo Vocalv Vokence Wavable Waval Wavan Waveavo Wavend Waves Waviangule Wavoman Wavossius Wavost Whaba Whaempren Whavefavios Whaves Whavish Whavowel Wherise Whicintian Witavan Withen Witianus Worace Wravanned Wrosts Yaverg Yestanv Zence

#names #name stash #fantasy name generation #fantasy name #fantasy names #random names #stash of names #444names #444 names #dnd names #worldbuilding names #random fantasy names #random worldbuilding names #random fantasy name generator #character names #random character names #random character name #markovgen #markov namegen #markov name generator #markov name generation #markov #markov gen

[financialinvests]

#401k #millionaire #Money #moneymanagement #wealth

[cityonlinementor]

Mentor Message 2.16.24

Sometimes I feel like a sloth...

🐱‍💻Campus Updates/Reminders

2 Reminders for Syllabi Policies:

A.  AI: Include a policy on AI/academic integrity in syllabi. Departments may want to determine recommended policies for their disciplines See Syllabus Samples

B. Logging in is not “Attending”: See DE Handbook p. 6 for recommendations. This is per Federal financial aid regulations (see p. 5-65

2. Enrollment Concerns:  Due to increasing cases of large-number false enrollments, it is important for online faculty to reach out & drop all no-shows/no contact students the first day & to contact & enroll waitlisted students. Pre-start enrollment numbers might be vastly "off."

3. DE Toolbox Resource Site: SDCCD Online Pathways has been updating the SDCCD DE Toolkit. This helps fill the gap now that the sdccdolvid site where Dave Giberson & Katie Palacios kept a library of tutorials is no longer supported. The site still works, but no updated content after Dave retired last year.

4. Student Email: Faculty can reach out to students using the non-sdccd email (especially important for pre-semester, drop/add, waitlists). Many thanks to Dean DeVore, Margarita Murray & their team for creating this. Tutorial: See 1.28.24 Mentor Message or Tumblr Blog for archived messages.

5. Office 365 Issue: PT faculty don’t have access to the Word/PPT/Excel software off-line. To create or open those types of files, PT faculty must be logged into their Outlook Account/Myapps  If PT faculty need access offline, fill out a request.*Request Form for Downloadable 365 (not a guarantee it will be granted – requires Dean sign-off).

*365 LTI in Canvas not recommended: You still have to open the Word/PPT/Excel application in your MyApps or your desktop applications (if you have it downloaded).

6. Upgraded Wi-Fi at City is complete. Please submit a Help ticket if you have difficulties accessing the Guest-Connect or the SDCCD Campus Connect (faculty/students/staff only). Info & tutorials: See LRC Info or the District Wi-Fi site. You may need to “forget network” or work with the Helpdesk for your particular phone, tablet, laptop, etc.Many thanks to Charlie Mills on getting this gargantuan task completed!

7. New Paper Cut Pay-to-Print in LRC: See Student Accounting for transferring funds from the old system. The high-speed KIC scanner is available for free, fast scanning Info on printing and scanning in the LRC.

🧊🛠Cool Tools

MS 365 Add-ins for Word: No need to navigate away from your document to add accent marks, find images, symbols, etc. HUGE time saver for accent marks in Romance languages or math/chem symbols! Video Tutorial (3:44) Most are free; some have limitations.

Humanize Your Zoom Waiting Room: You can personalize the message people see in the Zoom Waiting Room before you start a meeting. This is global, so you may want something that would work for all your classes/meetings. Tutorial (2:42)

Multimedia/captioning Option for Discussion Boards: How to use Canvas Studio in DB

Can All Your Students View Your Beautiful Content? Use Pope Tech or the Canvas Accessibility Tool to check accessibility. This helps everyone, including those with slower Internet/cell speeds. Checkers are at the bottom of every box where you can type/edit in Canvas.

✨🆕Zoom Update: Polls & Quizzes are now housed with “Surveys”

Zoom polls work like “clickers” if you want anonymous responses in real time. You can share the percentages for each of the answer choices. Easy peasy – free for you & students to use; they can use any device with an updated Zoom client.

Faster workload: Copy/paste all questions/answers from Zoom polls/quizzes/surveys into MS Word! Click on “Preview” to copy/paste the text.

Quick anonymous surveys for Online Live classes. Your survey will automatically open after your Zoom class ends. I did a “Muddiest Point” one last week.

How To: Surveys>Create Survey>Type or paste in your questions>Save

Video tutorial (4:15)  Note: “single choice” means picking only 1 answer; “multiple choice” means being able to select more than 1 answer in Zoom. Review the responses by clicking on the number in your survey.

🧠AI: Resources & Food for Thought

MS 365 Co-Pilot: Want to use an AI tool that keeps your content in SDCCD? You and your students have free Co-Pilot access with SDCCD Outlook email login/password.

Equity/Privacy Issues with AI Checkers: Why Vanderbilt turned off their Turnitin AI checker

Food for thought on creating prompts/assignments to outwit AI: Yejin Choi, The Not So Intelligent Side of AI

How AI Can Perpetuate Bias & Discrimination: Interview with Safiya Noble, UCLA

[sounmashnews]

[ad_1] JGI | Jamie Grill | Blend Images | Getty401(ok) plans maintain a whopping $7.7 trillion in retirement financial savings. But cash-outs of small accounts pull billions from the system annually and may hurt traders' possibilities of a safe retirement, analysis reveals.A trio of the business's largest 401(ok) directors — Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group and Alight Solutions — have teamed as much as change that.Alongside Retirement Clearinghouse, they've created a consortium — Portability Services Network, LLC — to robotically reconnect employees with previous 401(ok) accounts they might have misplaced or left behind after leaving a job.The partnership, which the businesses name a primary of its sort for the business, is supposed to handle what they see as a structural flaw within the present retirement system within the U.S.More from Personal Finance:How to invest heading into a recessionAmericans prioritize Amazon Prime, Netflix over food spendingMore car buyers pay at least $1,000 a month for their loansIf employees go away behind 401(ok) accounts with lower than $1,000, present guidelines let employers money out the funds and difficulty a test. That cash-out could include taxes and penalties if the funds aren't moved to a brand new certified retirement plan inside a brief window.Employers usually cannot money out accounts of $1,000 or bigger. But they will shift these with $1,000 to $5,000 out of a 401(ok) and into a person retirement account, the place — except the worker takes motion — funds are sometimes invested by default in money on their behalf, a method inconsistent with constructing a nest egg over many years, specialists mentioned.Employee- and employer-initiated cash-outs are a "serious problem" that led $92.4 billion to move out of 401(ok) plans in 2015, based on most up-to-date data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.Automatically reconnecting employees to accounts with lower than $5,000 might add as much as $1.5 trillion saved within the retirement system over 40 years, based on EBRI."Billions of dollars get left behind or is just cashed out, and [workers] pay taxes on it and spend it, which isn't good for their long-term retirement savings," mentioned Philip Chao, an authorized monetary planner and founding father of Experiential Wealth in Cabin John, Maryland.How the brand new consortium will workThis is the place the brand new consortium of plan directors is available in. When a employee modifications jobs and has $5,000 or much less of their account, Fidelity, Vanguard and Alight will robotically shift 401(ok) property to the worker's new office plan when attainable. Basically, the cash will observe the employee.The employee can select to money out at the moment, although Dave Gray, head of office retirement platforms at Fidelity, expects greater than 90% will select to maintain the cash invested.And it is not simply 401(ok) balances — the transfers may also apply to comparable office plans outdoors the personal sector, together with 403(b), 401(a) and 457 plans. Women, minorities and low-income savers stand to learn most, since they disproportionately have account balances of lower than $5,000, Gray mentioned."This money matters and it's critical," he mentioned.One cash-out throughout an investor's life raises the chances they may run in need of cash in retirement by 11.4 share factors, on common, to 30.4%; two or extra raises the chances to 46.4%, according to EBRI.If the participant strikes outdoors the universe of those three corporations, then you have not actually improved the result.Philip Chaofounding father of Experiential WealthAs issues stand, there is a shortcoming: The corporations can solely facilitate the transaction if employees transfer to or from an employer with a retirement plan administered by Fidelity, Vanguard or Alight."If the participant moves outside the universe of these three firms, then you haven't really improved the outcome," Chao mentioned.The corporations

account for roughly 44 million folks, or about 40% of complete traders, in office retirement plans. They collectively work with 48,000 employer-sponsored retirement plans.Their purpose is to develop the roster of corporations within the consortium to spice up the variety of traders who can profit.Stemming 'leakage' as 401(ok) auto enrollment growsMartin Leigh | Image Source | Getty ImagesSo-called "leakage" from the retirement system attributable to cash-outs has turn into a extra pervasive difficulty as employees change jobs with better frequency and extra employers robotically enroll employees into their firm 401(ok), Chao mentioned. The latter dynamic boosts the variety of general savers however might also create many small accounts of which their house owners aren't conscious.  Retirement Clearinghouse serves because the engine facilitating the transfers amongst directors and can handle day-to-day operations, Gray mentioned. The corporations cost a one-time price to employees for the service: 5% of the account stability, capped at $30. Accounts with lower than $50 aren't charged.The price is predicted to return down over time, Gray mentioned. The service is supposed as a utility to retirement savers and the consortium is working at break-even prices, he added.Administrators could profit from extra money staying within the system, too. Many corporations earn income based mostly on a share of property in a retirement plan; if extra money stays within the system, extra income would possible observe.But the business has been shifting away from an asset-based price mannequin towards one which expenses based mostly on the general variety of traders in a plan, that means the brand new service is not essentially a "financial win" for directors, Gray mentioned.   [ad_2] Source link

[sunshinecoastqldnews]

Wallabies handed embarrassing 40-14 Bledisloe Cup defeat by All Blacks at Eden Park

The All Blacks have mauled the Wallabies to place one hand on the Rugby Championship, belting an ill-disciplined Wallabies 40-14 within the second Bledisloe Cup Take a look at at Auckland’s Eden Park. Key factors: The Wallabies haven’t overwhelmed the All Blacks at Eden Park since 1986 The All Blacks scored six tries to 2 The win boosts their probabilities of defending their Rugby Championship crown With the Bledisloe Cup already within the bag, the All Blacks embarrassed the Wallabies, threatening a record-breaking defeat at 32-0 with 20 minutes to play. Late Folau Fainga’a and Jordan Petaia tries spared these blushes, because the Wallabies did not halt their 36-year dropping streak in opposition to the All Blacks at Eden Park. Will Jordan, Sam Whitelock, Codie Taylor and Samisoni Taukei’aho touched down for the hosts, with a first-half penalty strive underscoring the Wallabies’ lack of composure within the Auckland cauldron. After pleading for self-discipline from his facet, Wallabies coach Dave Rennie should have fumed to have certainly one of his forwards within the sin-bin within the third minute. Jed Holloway, who broke the All Blacks line within the opening minute, was yellow carded for spear-tackling Dalton Papali’i 60 seconds later, his enthusiasm turning to recklessness. The Wallabies saved the All Blacks out whereas undermanned — holding up Ardie Savea over the road — and grew in confidence as soon as parity was restored. Marika Koroibete’s kicking sport was on, and the Wallabies lingered lengthy within the All Blacks’ 22, struggling solely to complete. Pissed off for 21 minutes, Richie Mo’unga put the primary factors on the board with a short-range penalty. Aaron Smith’s bullet passes set Jordan free quickly after, the winger surging previous a diving Petaia for the primary strive of the evening. The All Blacks’ second was much less elegant, with referee Andrew Brace awarding a penalty try to ordering David Porecki to spend 10 minutes on the sidelines for collapsing the maul. Wallabies centre Len Ikitau is halted by the All Blacks defence.(Getty photographs: Hannah Peters) Nonetheless, the undermanned Wallabies fought, with Koroibete denied a strive for stepping on the road underneath the watchful eye of contact choose Mathieu Raynal, who as referee broke Australian hearts with a late time-wasting name on Bernard Foley in final week’s 39-37 loss in Melbourne. For that miscalculation, Foley was booed with ball in hand all evening. Down 17-0 at half-time, the Wallabies defence fell aside after returning to the sphere. A fortuitous TMO name introduced Whitelock the All Blacks’ third strive, with the facility of the house facet’s mauls sending Taylor and Taukei’aho over for his or her fourth and fifth of the evening both facet of Fainga’a’s face-saver. Jordan Petaia, on early within the evening after a shoulder damage to Lalakai Foketi, scored within the 82nd minute for an additional comfort. The outcome means the All Blacks have given themselves a shot of defending their Rugby Championship title, needing South Africa to win by fewer than 39 factors in opposition to Argentina on Sunday morning AEST to say the event crown. The Wallabies, with two wins from six within the championship, will lick their wounds earlier than turning their minds to their Northern Hemisphere tour. AAP Originally published at Sunshine Coast QLD News

#Sunshine Coast QLD News

[tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar]

My favorite part of working at Value Village (Savers) is how the entire month of October is Halloween time and it feels like it's our retail Christmas time since it's when we are the most busy.

But since year we have corona, there's talk that we aren't gonna get brand new costumes and won't set up a castle.

I was promised to be the lead of the Halloween team this year.

I'm sad and pissed off.

So here's some of the photos of my friend, Dave Savers. If he doesn't come back this year...I am gonna miss dressing him up and doing lil photoshoots with him before the store opens (my manager let do me this, i swear).

#JessTalks #my photos #Halloween #Halloween decor #Halloween time is the best time #stupid coronavirus #thrift store #value village #Savers #skeleton #dress up #save dave savers

[spencerspecifics]

Okay i got this idea while talking to @criminalmindsvibez earlier and I just h a d to write it out

Imagine: the team taking one of those “teamwork building” days during the fall and Hotch has no clue what the team could do together to build their teamwork morale because they’ve literally had to save each other from murderers in a time sensitive manner so like??? Wtf are they supposed to do? Solve a jigsaw puzzle? So Garcia gets the task of figuring out what to do and she decides pumpkin patch/corn maze because fuck it. It’s fall.

-they get to the pumpkin patch, immediately Rossi is like “I don’t need to buy a pumpkin. It’ll end up rotting on my doorstep”

- Garcia points out that doesn’t help the team morale so he better quiet down

-he shuts up, they get inside the farm area and the entire team is just sorta standing around cuz when is the last time any of them went to a patch??? They aren’t sure of where to start. There’s stands that sell apple cider and hot coco and kettle corn and there’s some hinky dinky country music playing in the background. It’s nice but they have no clue where to start

-Garcia decides to take over, because fuck it, she got put in charge of this, and Hotchner looks like a fish out of water. Put him in a beauracratic setting and the man knows how to operate, but this? He looks so lost, it’s almost funny. Garcia’ll command this group of idiot life savers.

- she decides the team should start in the corn maze, that sorta helps the team morale. They gotta find a way to get out, after all. Spencer doesn’t want to go in until he sees a map of it, though, so he can check where they are. So they have to awkwardly go to an employee and ask where the map of the corn maze is located

-Derek finds it in a pamphlet that the employee handed to him, he gave it over to Spencer, who gladly accepts it and stares at it for what feels like two seconds before being like “ok let’s go”

-even though finding that damn map took like ten minutes because the pumpkin patch has so many customers so employees are all over the place. So everyone is like “goddamnit dude” at spencer before moving ahead into the maze

- Derek and Garcia take the lead, Spencer in the middle, then J.J. and Emily towards the back, with Hotch and Rossi in the very back.

-Hotch doesn’t wanna have to take charge of how to get through the maze unless absolutely necessary

-J.J. and Emily just end up having some very much needed girl talk while Garcia and Derek bicker about which way to go

- “Get a babysitter so we can have a girls night” “I’ll do that when you call that hot british dude that you met at the bar last week back” “I don’t need him. I have Sergio.” “Cats don’t replace real relationships with people, emily.”

-meanwhile Derek and Garcia aren’t sure which way to go. “Let’s take a left.” “No, we just went that way. We should take a right.” “That just keeps us in the middle, doll ” “isn’t that what we want?!”

-Meanwhile, the entire time, Spencer has been thinking of the turns and loops and steps they’ve taken and calculated exactly where within the maze they are based on the map

-Eventually Spencer takes charge, after Derek made them take two dead end turns, “Guys- no, we’re towards the edge of the maze. The quickest way to the end is through the center, so we need to go back and take two rights, then a left.”

-Hotch and Rossi are just walking through in silence for the most part, taking in the scenery around them. The crisp autumn air, it’s nice. They do break their silence for conversations. They speak about Jack’s upcoming soccer game, and how tiring it can be to work with children.

- “I’ve never been more grateful that my three ex wives and I never ended up with kids- god, it’s enough going to see Jack’s stuff and help coach the team.” “You have no obligation to show up if you don’t want to, Dave. If it’s too much I understand.” “Aaron, I would rather get arrested for a murder I didn’t commit and convicted before leaving Jack’s games.”

-Garcia ends up falling back with the girls, where the conversation shifts to Prentiss talking about how much the corn maze reminds her of the children of the corn movie

-“ew! Why did you have to say that! All their parents end up dead! That’s so sad!” “Garcia, it’s the corn that reminds me of the movie” “Well duh- we’re in a cornfield! But don’t think about that movie. Think about something nicer.”

-Prentiss is drawing a blank on nice fall themed things, so J.J. pipes up with “what about that Charlie Brown movie?” Garcia points out that doesn’t take place in a corn field

-“well. Only corn field movie that’s coming to mind is children of the corn.” So emily continues to talk a bit about it to J.J., all while making Garcia want to run away because “Ew no it’s such a sad movie! Let’s talk about something nicer!”

-Meanwhile Derek and Spencer are solely up front, Spencer is using that big dumptruck of a brain of his to know exactly which turns to take. Derek’s just walking alongside him, trying to weasel from flirting into conversation casually

-“how about after this I get you some cider, pretty boy?” “Do you know cider on average has to ferment for fifteen days?” Spencer isn’t really listening, if that isn’t already obvious. He heard what Derek said, but he’s just thinking of every next twist and turn they have to take to get out. So he isn’t very conversative

-meanwhile the girls have changed conversation topics to what kind of pumpkins J.J. should get Henry (this conversation change was obviously brought on by Garcia) “you should get him a cute tiny one! That would be so adorable” emily on the other hand is saying to get one bigger than him “wouldn’t it be funny to have a pumpkin taller than henry?”

-J.J. doesn’t know which size pumpkin she’ll get for Henry. But she lets emily and Garcia sway her opinion in both directions, because a comically large pumpkin would be funny. But one as small as Henry would be adorable

-meanwhile the old men duo in the back are still just enjoying their walk. Hotch had mentioned how Jack would’ve loved to come to the patch, before silence fell over them again. Rossi asked a few moments later if Hotch knows if jack’s school would be taking a field trip to the patch, “I’m not sure. I’m assuming they will.” Rossi doesn’t say anything more, but he secretly plans on double checking that, emailing the school, and explaining that he and Hotch would like to be volunteers on the trip. He’d like to see that happen.

-Derek hasn’t fully given up on his flirting game with Spencer. But he’s holding off for now, as Spencer is way too focused on the maze layout. So much so that he started mapping out in his mind where the best spot to place a body would be as an unsub. “If someone was to drop a body in here- the ideal location would be the upper left sides second dead end. Geographically, it’s the farthest point from landmarks and least traveled area within the maze.”

-Garcia hears that and butts in, “No murder talk! No dead body talk- there is no dead body! Today is supposed to be a good day! Shut off your brain for one day, Spencer”

-Spencer doesn’t say anything more about the best spot within the maze to dump a body, though Derek is sure Spencer is bored and thinking out a billion separate scenarios within the maze. Mazes were good for hiding and concealing things, after all

-Garcia accidentally mishears Spencer’s directions of “turn left” and she walks directly into the wall of corn that the maze is made out of

-the team all stops for a second to help her untangle herself out of that before promptly laughing at her

-ok Derek and emily laugh the most, emily tells her to steal an ear of corn “It’s not like they’d miss it. It could be compensation for running into it”. J.J. and Spencer sorta stand there chuckling a lil bit, Hotch and Rossi are more like “as long as you’re all good we should continue on” but they had little smiles on their faces too

-They finally get out! The employees at the exit are like “good job, that was very fast!” And everyone on the team is like “thanks we tried” meanwhile Spencer is standing there thinking “no y’all didn’t I did it cuz I memorized the maze smh”

-the team stays as a unit after that. It wasn’t on purpose, but they all had the same thing in mind, the pumpkin patch

-they walk over there, it’s not too far, immediately Spencer makes his way over to the large containers of pre-picked pumpkins, gourds, thise tiny as hell pumpkins, those white pumpkins, and those red pumpkins. He’s one second away from grabbing a pumpkin at random from the container so he can grab a pumpkin and go, when Derek is like “Hey man what are you doing? You’re not picking from the patch”

-Spencer then has to awkwardly explain how the only times he ever went to the pumpkin patch was in elementary school before he skipped ahead grade wise and the kids in his class made fun of him that day really bad. Like they called him names and left him “trapped” in the corn field (tho he had seen a map and was able to figure his way out easily that time.) and so whenever he has to buy a pumpkin he just gets them from the grocery store because he gets anxious at the thought of coming to a pumpkin patch

-immediately the entire team is like “wtf man you should’ve told us!!! Do you want to leave??? We should leave” and Garcia is immediately like “Spencer I am so sorry oh my god I didn’t know” and he has to sorta awkwardly be like “No it’s ok. I wanted to come. I want to try and get a better memory than last time.”

-Derek pats him on the back for that, “You’ll get much better memories this time, I promise. But let’s get a pumpkin from the actual patch instead of from these containers”

- Derek makes it his soul mission to make sure spencer now has an amazing time in the pumpkin patch. So he stays with him the entire time as they walk around, inspecting pumpkins for just the right one

-meanwhile the girls are looking at the biggest pumpkins possible. Namely Prentiss, she wants to get a big one. “Can you even out that out front of your apartment door?” “I don’t know but I’ll make sure it stays until it rots”

-Hotchner is busy looking for a pumpkin he could bring home for jack to carve, though he does guess that jack would be making his way to the pumpkin patch with his class too. It couldn’t hurt to have a third pumpkin to carve.

-Rossi doesn’t want a pumpkin, he’s already decided that they’re messy and smelly and he doesn’t even like pumpkin seeds or pumpkin pie enough to warrant the mess of cutting and getting the pumpkin guts out. So he just stands and watches

-Garcia notices that immediately and is so not happy with that “you’re serious about not getting a pumpkin?” “I told ya” “ughhh Rossi- you could get a tiny one!” “I don’t wanna carve and deal with a mess” “you don’t have to carve a tiny one!”

-“what’re you thinking pretty boy?” Derek asked Spencer, who had been staring down the same pumpkin for like two minutes, which was definitely unusual. Spencer doesn’t answer, leaning down and picking the pumpkin up instead. “Does it have any abrasions on it?” He asked Derek, as he turns it over in his hands to inspect it. “Not that I can see, no”

-Spencer decides on this pumpkin, and they find some wheelbarrows provided by the farm to put his pumpkin in, they give Hotch the duty of rolling the wheelbarrow around as they meander away from the rest of the group

-Spencer then is like “oh shit. Wait Derek. Your pumpkin. We need to find you one.” Derek just laughs a little bit and is like “I’ll find one lol but you gotta come with me” so Spencer agrees as they go to find one for Derek

-Garcia ends up nearby the tiny pumpkins, deciding to buy at least three to litter her front doorstep with

-she is so distracted she doesn’t even realize rossi making his way over. “You’re right. Those ones are way too small to carve.” He says, she just agrees, “Yes, so you should get some!! C’mon. Get that festive spirit.”

-Hotch shows up pushing the wheelbarrow from behind, listening to the tail end of rossi and Garcia’s bickering match. “You should get some, Dave. It would look nice.”

-That makes rossi cave. He mumbles out a “fine. The things I do for you all, I swear” before picking two up and putting them in the wheelbarrow, next to Spencer’s pumpkin.

-Garcia is b e a m I n g she is very happy with the fact she got this fall grinch into getting a pumpkin. So much so that she ends up getting a fourth tiny one, because damnit they’re too adorable.

-Hotchner still hasn’t found a pumpkin for him and for jack so he’s standing in the patch, still surveying like a lost old man. Garcia and Rossi end up helping him.

-Meanwhile J.J. and emily are looking through the medium sized pumpkins to find something for will and Henry. “I’m thinking a medium sized one, because then it’s sort of a mix of what you and Garcia said.” J.J. explained to Prentiss, who nodded along in agreement.

-the team is all pretty quiet at this point as they try to find their own pumpkins. Derek finds his, a large one that’s very vertically elongated. He takes it back to the wheelbarrow, with Spencer trailing along behind him.

-Hotch finds two round, smaller sized pumpkins. And he decides that those are his, they look great and would be easy enough to carve, so he grabs them up, getting them back into the wheelbarrow

-J.J. finds a medium sized pumpkin for Henry, and two smaller ones for her and will. Meanwhile Prentiss is like “Hey Jayge that Charlie Brown movie is applicable now since we’re in a pumpkin patch” Garcia hears that and is like “y e s good fall vibes yes”

-they finish up in the patch, everyone putting their pumpkins into the wheelbarrow as they head towards the checkout

-Derek pays for Spencer’s pumpkin, saying it’s not a problem

-Spencer literally can’t stop blushing at that even tho it’s the most mundane thing e v e r and it’s adorable

-the team gets their pumpkins sorted and paid, before taking the wheelbarrow back towards the stands that sell cider and hot coco and kettle corn.

-the girls go off to get hot chocolate, Dave and Rossi go to get some bags of kettle corn, and Derek and Spencer go get cider

-“If you make hot coco with anything but milk, it’s evil” “emily what about lactose intolerant people who use water?” “They’re on thin ice.”

-Spencer thanks Derek like five times in a row for helping him get a pumpkin and buying it “you didn’t have to-“ “you better stop talking before I buy you a cider too, pretty boy”

-Derek does buy him a cider in the end, which isn’t any surprise

-Dave and Hotch argue over which type of kettle corn is the best. “It’s caramel, Aaron. Why on earth would cheddar kettle corn be good?” “It’s savory as opposed to sweet, it’s better” “That doesn’t matter if it tastes bad!”

-Garcia ends up coaxing the hot coco barista lady into adding a shit ton of extra chocolate sauce and stuff to her drink

-so much so that it’s literally too sweet for her but she dug her grave she will fuckin lie in it like a winner

-J.J. and emily immediately make fun of her, “I can see the regret in your eyes!”

-the team finishes up buying their drinks, pushing the wheelbarrow out to the parking lot.

-“See, not so bad for a team morale building day after all!” Garcia says happily, she’s glad her idea was a success

-it was. The team is happy, they got hot sweet drinks and bags of delicious food, not to mention a shit ton of pumpkins they shove into the trunk of the SUV

-Spencer’s happy he made new memories at the pumpkin patch, Derek was just happy to help build those for him.

-Garcia’s happy her day went so well, emily is glad she got a pumpkin to carve, J.J.’s happy she got good pumpkins for will and Henry, Hotch is happy that he’s not stuck in a stuffy office building in an uncomfortable suit talking about another murder investigation, and Rossi is happy to be with his found family on a day out

-it was a good day at the pumpkin patch :)

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #cm #dr alex blake #dr spencer reid #emily prentiss #jj #J.J. #an idea #pumpkin patch #Derek Morgan #Dave rossi #David rossi #Penelope Garcia #jennifer jareau #halloween #yeah #moreid #og shit #Spencer Specific Fics #fanfic #oneshot

[wahtusernaem]

“I know what I did” Pt.1

Daveed x reader

Warnings: mentions of smut and cheating

Y/N's POV:

"Y/N COME OOOOON! WE ARE ON IN 10! LET'S GO!" Lin said, banging on the door. "Would you stop yapping and come in here! My corset needs tightening!" a moment later he came in, all dressed up for the part he's playing, Alexander Hamilton. "turn around." I turned around and he started tightening my corset. "S-stop...! t-t-too... t-i-iggghhh-t..." I squeaked out but he didn't hear me so I kicked him in the shin. "Ow! Wh-whyyyy?" "Tonto, you almost killed me so I kicked you in the shin!" I told him. "Oh sorry, *chuckles* your corset is done by the way, now let's go! Alex is so gonna kill us!"  

We arrived at the waiting area, I was on the crossover as Lin was too and everybody was rushing to their positions. "Hey, Y/N..." Daveed greeted me before rushing to his place as we all heard Jonathan doing the introduction.

FLASHBACK: 2 months ago "I know, I'm sorry I can't make it to your concert babe... I know... It's just Lin needs help with the finishing touches... Yes... I know... Uh-huh... Okay... I'll see you then... Yes, I love you too, make me proud!" "Was that Daveed?" My bestfriend, Lin has asked me, grinning from ear to ear. "If you must know, yes. That was Daveed, I just told him goodluck on his concert night with the guys. I told him I couldn't come."  "Why? Is it because of this? You don't have to help me, really! You can go! He'd be upset because his girlfriend isn't there supporting him." "Lin, it's fine. He told me to stay because you clearly need help." I said, pointing the crippled papers all over his dressing room, unwashed coffee-stained mugs and take-out leftovers on the tables, and finally, him. He was wearing a robe, he smelled like instant coffee and chinese food. "You clearly need me more than he does. Now go take a bath you stink! I'll be here. I'll proof-read these and tell Alex we’ll have an early meeting so they can check these out too, 'kay?" "Thank you, Y/N! You are a total life saver!"  

A FEW HOURS LATER...

"Okay, so great work today guys. Lin, please go home so you can rest... I will give you a week off of work m'kay? You look like a guy who has the whole world on his shoulder." Alex said, ending our daily group discussion. We all said our goodbyes and headed home.

'Ahh, home sweet home.' I thought to myself. I went upstairs to change my clothes into more comfortable ones. Shorts, tank tops, and Daveed's hoodie. I went downstairs to make some dinner. Since D isn't here to cook I just made myself some toast. As I was waiting for the toast to cook, I decided to call my boyfriend.

It ringed a few more times before he picked up. "Hellooo, Y/N! The love of my life, the apple of my eye, the sunshine in my life!-" He greeted me, his words slurry. Before I could even reply to what he had babbled about, someone had snatched his phone from him and talked, "Hello Y/N! I'm sorry, Daveed's quite drunk we were invited to an after party again-" "Uhh, hi! Who is this?" I ask at the woman speaking on the other line. "Hi! Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Denise! I'm the band's new secretary! I filled in for Brianna this week because her dog’s having a baby! The guys and I had just arrived at their hotel rooms. Daveed is pretty hammered-" She kept blabbing and blabbing. She was clearly drunk too.

I heard the sound of a door closing and Daveed's phone being put down on a desk. She had said goodbye to me saying she'll take care of him and telling me not to worry but she hadn't managed to end the call. I was just about to end it when I heard muffled moans of Daveed and the girl. I had listened to it a few seconds more just to realize what they were doing.

I ended the call; tears of anger rushing down my face. I had run outside and hailed a cab. The cab stopped a few moments later  so I paid it and got out. I stepped inside the front porch still crying and knocked on the door rapidly. A moment later, a confounded Lin-Manuel Miranda got to the door. "Y/N! What the hell du-... W-what happened? Com'ere." He opened his arms wide and hugged me, leading me on the couch. I cried for a couple more hours before explaining to him. He called Alex telling him I'll be having a few days off too.

end of flashback-

"Hello, Y/N? Are you okay? you're on in 2 minutes. Can you do this?" Lin asked me, concern filled his eyes. I nodded and went on stage to do my part in the intro. Act 1 went great, We had a minute's rest and we changed our costumes accordingly. Before we all got back to our positions, I saw Daveed heading my way before Jasmine swooped me. "Hey Y/N! How are you doing?" She asked, "Oh, well I'm still kind of slightly nervous, this is my first performance of a premiere night. Too bad Pip got sick huh?" "Yeah, but relax you're doing great!" She said, hugging me before she went to her position.

The Reynold's Pamphlet had just finished so I was back at the crossover to sing the next song. Daveed had attempted to talk to me again. "I'm fine, Daveed. Now excuse me, I have to go now..." I stood up getting ready, "I-I'm sorry Y/N..." was what he had said before I went up.

"I saved every letter you wrote me..."

'Dear Y/N, every day with you is like floating on a cloud...'

It's been 3 months since I've received these courting letters from Daveed.

"From the moment I read them I knew you were mine, You said you were mine, I thought you were mine...” 

‘Happy 2nd anniversary, babe...”

he knelt down and put a promise ring on my finger.

‘Someday, that’ll be a true ring.... I love you..’

"I'm rereading the letters you wrote me, I'm searching and scanning for answers in every line for some kind of sign and when you were mine..."

'Y/N, it's been 3 weeks... you have to go back to rehearsals and stop reading those letters' Lin crouched down to my level and took away the letters from my hand.

"The world has no right to my heart, The world has no place in our bed, They don't get to know what I said..."

'Y/N...How have you been...?' 'I'm fine...just drained...' After Lin had convinced me to come back to work for the nth time, that's basically what my close friends have asked me.

"You forfeit all rights to my heart, You forfeit the place in our bed, you'll sleep in your office instead, With only the memories of when you were mine..."

'Y/N please don't go... Y/N please! I love you...!' 'N-no Daveed! 'I love you' doesn't solve everything...!' I walked out of there, my bags with me, every framed photograph I ever made left in our house. As I started my car and drove away.

"I-I hope that you... burn...."

#daveed x reader #daveed diggs #daveed #hamilsquad #hamiltrash #hamilton #y/n

[dafukdidiwatch]

Part 247 End

Oh man, sorry guys, but I have to stop right here. So expect a long ass video next time.

So.....revelations were had. Some......took a lot longer than others.

I weren’t seeing eyes everywhere, those were the death bubbles. I was just seeing them from the outside. And it took me until this moment to realize that.

Sometimes I can be a dumbass.

Anyway, I guess Dirk’s soul-splitting powers is a literal life-saver. Since he was able to split like a horecrux, he can use that split as an extra body even with his other body dead. You think that these Dirks also get death bubbles? Would Kyle get a death bubble?

Dave just breaking down seeing how cool his brother is is amazing and I will totally rewatch that.

Because yeah, Dirk is hella different than Bro. And Dirk just throwing out Roxie to try and push her in the right direction, oh man my heart. At elast Aranea is able to wake Dirk up, so that was nice of her.

Cali is finally going to sleep. Taking off her jacket and everything to finally reveal that she was wearing EnJ’s clothes all along. It feels, so morose watching her settle down in basically her coffin.

THEN JOHN’S ARM!

I don’t give a shit if that is what the arm-noodle this is or not. I am headcanoning it here and now. That is John’s arm. Who I guess is just jabbing his arms through cartoon portal holes wiggling around for shit.

AND HE IS LOOKING FOR THAT BOOK!!!

No way in HELL is Hussie NOT going to show us her fanfiction.

WE SAW ROSE’S WIZARD JOURNALS EVENTUALLY!!!

Hell, those fanfics are probably what is needed to defeat English and Jack and save the day.

But, you know what is canon? That Hussie writes fanfiction of Homestuck for the canon of Homestuck. How many meta-rules has Hussie broken over the course of this comic?

#dafukblog #homestuck #act6.3 #hs247

[startselectscreen]

Gears 5 Video Game Review

3 STARS OUT OF FIVE

Ah Gears of War, the franchise that popularized the cover-based mechanic built to regenerate health and shoot locusts from cover to cover. It’s what generated the basis of fun with its horde mode and online competitive matches and of course, the chainsaw lancer which never cease to be satisfying everytime that goes off. Those 360 games were just a blast to play from the never-ending shooting gallery of locusts to the witty and awesome banter between Marcus Fenix and his COG friends, sure there are some douchey moments, no thanks to Dom but everyone just feels like space NFL quarterbacks with their hunky space armor and chainsaw lancers - its just awesome.

However, afterwards the GoW 360 trilogy ended and games like Judgment and Gears 4 appear, it really lost its charm and appeal, its just the same old Gears game streamlining the cover-based mechanics and just basically another shooting gallery of disappointment to say it at least. I mean, having Marcus back as this “old retired” COG alongside a squad of new kids just has been done before and sadly Epic and eventually The Coalition really didn’t entice new fans but still feed into their old Gears fanbase. Now with Gears 5, it just feels like another disappointment and I feel like they really did not improve much since Gears 3 although there is a new Escape and Horde mode which seems more playable like before the 360 games.

The game picks up right after Gears 4, you start as JD, Marcus’ son as he, Del, Marcus and Kait from the previous Gears, want to launch a rocket into outer space and activate the Hammer of Dawn so the COG can be able to combat the Swarm. It is very much a controversial and risky move as it can also affect tremendous human casualties. The game starts as JD but you mostly play as Kait Diaz as she constantly gets headaches and hallucinations from her mother’s amulet and heirloom which somehow is connected to the Swarm. She and her squad goes and ventures through a perilous journey to find the root of her problem and stop it. Much like the Gears game, there will be sacrifices and climatic movie style moments,

The gameplay didn’t really change since GoW 3, it’s the same “stop and pop” action and some new additions. Again, it’s just another Gears’ shooting gallery of never ending Swarm enemies until you have reached the next checkpoint and then rinse and repeat. It’s really the same old conventions and they seemed to downplay it to death. There seems to be only a few new weapons and as well as old and new enemies with painted weaknesses that you hit before killing them. However, it is nice to have corrupted Baird’s DeeBees in the mix of Swarms, it seems to be a nice combination of facing bastions shielding Scions and huge creatures as a new way of creating intense action rather than just jump from cover to cover. It is just a nice touch to the gameplay. 

The AI of your teammates however aren’t as smart as the developing Swarm despite having a new ability to target them, it seems countless of times, the AI will just run to the enemy without taking them down and in harder difficulties such as Experienced (Hard), it seems to be a hindrance of trying to revive them one by one as they stupidly get picked off by Swarm while you are trying to survive Wardens and Swarm drop-shotters that will blow up you instantly. Although, the first Act seems nice, when you are fighting in the settlement that you received a distress call of a Swarm invasion, you can summon Baird’s robotic reinforcements and you have the choice of picking Guardians or Sentinels which is fun, albeit only for the first Act and afterwards you mostly are facing the corrupted versions and they really don’t tell you why they are corrupted, although there are just malfunctioned. Again, it just feels like the AI, the part of the gameplay seems really outdated with the typical fixed gun sequences that seems to be aggravating due to annoying cooldowns from those sequences. Granted, it makes those moments hard with no moment to breathe but there are a lot of them and it is not due to its spiked difficulty that I’m playing. And of course, enemies like Brumak and others still the typical video game painted coloured sections where you shoot to take them down. 

One main component of the campaign is Del’s, well your trusty robotic friend, Jack as a companion in this game. Introduced by Baird, this new robot is an upgrade from Dave’s short yet untimely demise and still has the cute Wall-E charm to it. These flying robots have been in previous Gears’ games but they are part of the COG army and not playable at all. This new companion has a set of abilities whether passive, combative or defensive that will greatly benefit you against the Swarm. Ranging from Shock, Stim, Pulse and passive abilities that can camouflage, instantly revive and so on, it’s pretty much an arsenal of useful perks in your disposal. These abilities aren’t restricted to a RPG-like tier trees but will require an amount of components to unlock them which can be found during both the main and side missions in chapters. In addition to the three unlockable abilities, there is a fourth and final skill that unlocks only through main and side quests that is the ultimate perk of that specific ability (i.e Shock final unlock can freeze enemies for a period of time and such). During gameplay, you can toggle these two sets of abilities, combative and defensive which when used has a cooldown timer after you have used either of them. It really is a life saver to have these abilities, especially stim which can buff up your health and can be upgraded as an instant revive while you are down. Other useful things such as retrieving weapons/ammo from hard to reach areas or in an intense dogfight or laying shock traps/mines can really save you from those large, intimating Swarm creatures from decapitating you

Another new addition to the game is revealed in Act 2 as open world and unfortunately there is a lack of one or rather bland and boring one. They chatted a big deal of a Gears game being open world but it resulted in a couple of side quests and activities that only rewards more components, big weapons and main components for abilities/parts of them in some cases for Jack and nothing more. These quests are only there for them, nothing more, whether or not you choose to pursue them is up to you. At first, it does feel like a stripped up version of the recent God of War’s open world as these main and side missions can be identified with yellow flags by them indicating there’s something to be done as well as the banter between the squad “to go check it out.” Like God of War, you have a method of transport to reach these areas, a skiff which looks like some sort of ski sledge with a parachute in front that accelerates how fast you ride from the wind. The skiff can seat four with you controlling and driving the skiff and mostly Del who sits and navigates, although you do all of the work. The navigational seat be used in Co-op where players can only mark the map (which you yourself can do while driving). Also, you can stow two weapons (heavy weapons like RL-Salvo Rocket Launcher to the Tri-Shot Gatling Gun) on each side of the skiff that can be used in these missions, it’s like a small storage space for your guns but only can be retrieved after you dismount from the skiff. The map itself seems to be an illusion of being an open world game, but it just feels linear, in Act 2, when you reach those communications' towers in part of the main mission, you can scan for these side missions in some sort of frequency mini-game that only appears in this whole Act, sadly not afterwards. It is also attributed that the skiff can take damage and in later cases, explode and kill everyone as there are sandstorms and obsoletes you’ll need to dodge and maneuver and it feels intense much like in combat with the Swarm.   

From a graphical standpoint, the game still delivers. Forgoing the brown and gruel colours of the Gears’ trilogy on the 360, it feels very vibrant and impressive much like the previous game. Each Act really delivers distinct areas to explore in this “open-world” game and it really looks pretty as you ride your skiff throughout the snowy terrain of Act 2 to feeling like Doom or Total Recall in Act 4 with its red sandy desert. It’s too bad that they didn’t make it more open-world to fully realized its graphical potential as it is resulted in a lack of activities to do. Nevertheless, each locale looks great even though it has been done in other better games. It’s also nice that they put nice touches to the characters during these Acts whether having Kait, Del and others wear winter jackets to Act 3 where they wear goggles and less clothing for the hot red sandy desert. The dynamic lightning only looks nice in main missions as the sudden change of effects change when you enter them and it feels weird with a short cut scene to substitute a loading screen in the mix. It does not hinder the visuals at all, the game looks pretty as it is and characters and enemies’ design with the Kait and his team as well as the opposing Swarm just looks menacing as hell. 

Unfortunately for the powerhouse of a game, it falls short on its technical problems. There are always problems with Early Access games, sure and the developers are fixing the bugs/glitches and problems with aspects like the online multiplayer matches whether its Horde, Escape or versus mode but it really is aggravating that I still experience these problems two days after the release. Things like the game freezing at spots reverting back to a save checkpoint, some bad audio clicks and the worst of all, seeing the “fail to load save” pop-up and doing the whole chapter again. The “always online” component of the game is a nice trend to prevent illegal privacy but sometimes people like me have a spotty internet connection and I sometimes get disconnected at parts of the game where I finished a brutal firefight and have to do it all over again which is annoying. 

Speaking of online, I didn’t really play it, after ten hours of finishing the campaign, I'm really not inclined to pursue Horde or Escape mode as I have a spotty internet connection. As part of a pre-order, you get Sarah Connor and a T-800 Terminator to play online alongside a roster of characters from the main campaign and surprisingly, Spartans from Halo Reach. You can customize them, their banner and taunts for the online aspect and thankfully, I will never touch them. Everyday, when you log in, you can also receive a daily cache of points and other perks, maybe cosmetic items for your character. However, Horde and Versus mode feels like they finally brought back the fun part of those 360 games and implement it with better features as what was said from them. Escape mode is basically an intense firefight where you and other players have to kill waves of enemies in some sort of Swarm hive mind while green gas is approaching behind you in a race to the finish. It seems like a challenging effort but requires a set of friends to really make it in this mode. Also, you and two other players can play the main campaign as Co-op where one of the players can even control Jack and his abilities, making it gameplay interesting. 

Other than that, Gears 5 is really a disappointment. The same, derivative combat that has made popular with its cover-based, has done better in other games since then. The game also promises open world which doesn’t have up its expectations with a bland and boring yet beautiful landscape to ride in and from a few side missions. It’s just sad that the Coalition didn’t really implement new features and only maintain it for Gears’ fans and not new players, well only Jack as a Co-op option but again it still suffers from the old “stop and pop” action even in harder difficulties, it just feels last-gen to me with the AI as well. Should it be recommended, only to Gears fan who are really interested in its online multiplayer and the ten hours of the main campaign just feels repetitive and boring to say it at least. 

#gears 5 #xbox one #game reviews

[jasmineannae]

5 Energy-Saving Tips On your Hot Water Heater

By purchasing a new Energy STAR certified scorching water heater you will save money, vitality and the environment. Here's what you need to look for before purchasing. Look at all the security guides and protections. To inform our research, we used guides by the U.S Department of Energy’s Energy Saver website and Nationwide insurance’s information to water heater safety. To enhance solar cost savings, consider constructing a water system which utilizes photo voltaic domestic hot water. So long as you can select the proper program on the internet, you will realize that building solar heating programs is only a easy activity. Whenever you get every part well-ready, your subsequent job is to resolve if you would like to construct the photo voltaic heating methods on your own or hiring knowledgeable to get the task done. Professional installation will be costly, but is strongly advisable if electrical expertise is poor or if one needs to put in a large amount of solar panels at once. Don’t neglect your boiler as a result of repairs could be costly, a skin graft is much more work than having your temperature gauge checked.

Make sure you lower out the square at the bottom of your water heater so the temperature gauge and door to the pilot gentle continues to be uncovered, tightly fasten the tape that it comes with it and you might be executed. Some models haven't got a numbered temperature gauge so merely put it between the low and medium settings. The one manner to scale back the consumption of these natural sources was to reduce the temperature. Publisher: Michle John Among the various developments of the bygone century that's all set to alter the way we devour natural assets and distribute their output to our profit is that of the Solar Power consumption. Publisher: John A. Hrivnak It's great if each house is built with photo voltaic in mind. Lastly, you can bear in thoughts a few necessary and helpful points related to solar heating programs. Don't attempt to tamper together with your heating machine. Try to buy a water heater that's practical yet budget-friendly.

There are also probably some ways which you can lower your scorching water usage. Publisher: Article Manager Solar water heating is used in some ways. Solar scorching water heating is a crucial form of scorching water heating which requires small upkeep, makes use of the free vitality from the sun, and can possibly be cheaper. Solar photograph voltaic vitality panels converts the Sun's radiation to usable electricity. Passive cooling reduces the results of photo voltaic radiation by shading or allowing stream of air by convection ventilation. Due to this heating design, the hot water stream is endless. Proper maintenance of your water heater won't only prevent down time, however will even improve its efficiency and cause it to final longer. You can even use much less scorching water, flip down the temperature to which your water is speculated to be heated, and insulate your water heater so it makes use of heat more efficiently. Even if your 300-Watt heater is twice as robust as a 150-Watt heater, should it decide to not activate then it becomes a 0-Watt heater.

5 Steps to save Electricity -

Propane water heaters should not be put in beneath grade (i.e. basement)

Condensate pump problem

eight years ago from USA

Turn off the water and power to the unit. The perfect advice, nonetheless is to flush out your tank each four months and see how clear the water is as you drain it out. Willia Miller is a ventilation and heating professional who shares her opinions and recommendations on discovering the perfect pure gas heaters for your house. Another kind of system powers your home during daylight hours, but additionally has a battery backup designed to supply power to your home’s critical loads throughout an outage, day or night. One sort of system powers your private home throughout daylight hours, however doesn't present power in an outage, even on a sunny day. Publisher: Dave Garcia The Solar Energy Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin has it that the regular home consumes kind of 6,four hundred kilowatt hours of electricity to heat its water. Adding an insulating jacket to a sizzling water heater will assist you to increase effectivity by decreasing the quantity of heat lost.

#water heating tips #heating water tips #water heater tips #water heater tips maintenance #water heater tips and tricks #water heater buying tips

[jareddillian]

Budgets Are for the Stupid—Here’s a Better Way to Save Money

Here’s the problem with budgets: people often interpret them a little too rigidly.

I know of a situation where a woman budgeted x for groceries, and her bill at the checkout line came to x + $20.

She stood there and said, “I can’t afford my groceries,” because she went over her budget by $20. True story.

That is the type of stupid stuff that happens when you put people on a budget.

But some people need stupid rules because they have zero discipline. Unless they follow a budget to the penny, they are going to spend like sailors.

I am sorry that these people exist. As many others have observed before me, rules are for the stupid.

Save Until It Hurts

Even though I am not high on budgets, I am high on radical saving.

I like a simple heuristic: save as much as humanly possible or save until it hurts. That usually does a better job than an actual budget, and is a lot less work.

Of course, that works for me because saving comes naturally to me in the first place. So it might not work for everyone.

What does save until it hurts look like in practice?

You are driving down the road. You are thirsty. You think of stopping at Burger King and getting a large Diet Coke.

But you are saving as much as humanly possible. So you don’t spend the $2.50 and you keep driving, and you stay thirsty.

Now, here’s the thing. If you are saving as much as humanly possible, you will experience discomfort. Physical discomfort. That is when you know you are doing it right.

You will go to a restaurant and get the cheapest thing on the menu, whether you like it or not. That is mild discomfort.

You will go to Dick’s Sporting Goods for a pair of running shoes and get the $39 shoes instead of the $129 shoes. That is mild discomfort.

You will buy a gently used car that is one year old rather than a new car. No new car smell. That is mild discomfort.

The goal is to save and save and save so you can reach a point where you no longer have to experience discomfort.

I can speak from experience—it is nice when you get there. But I was once forced to make those economic choices.

People Don’t Like Discomfort

Some people will never make any sort of economic sacrifice. Hey, a wine fridge sounds like a good idea. Hey, the panoramic sunroof sounds like a good idea.

My story is one of economic sacrifices.

I lived far below my means during a time when I was expected to live far above my means.

When I was at Lehman Brothers, I bought a tiny, cheap house in a neighborhood that was not even really up-and-coming.

I famously bought Men’s Wearhouse suits. I brought cans of Chef Boyardee to work for lunch.

I was comically miserly, but it ended up being necessary.

Lehman went bankrupt, my stock vaporized, my income disappeared, and I had to start from zero.

But I had a seven-figure bank account from what I had saved in the good years. And that meant I was able to take risk when nobody was in the mood to take risk.

Dave Ramsey has an expression for this: “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.” I have my disagreements with Mr. Ramsey but I like this turn of phrase.

This Is Why I Hate Budgets

On the other hand, you can’t spend your whole life in doomsday-prepping mode.

I have some relatives who were prodigious savers all their lives. They have never allowed themselves any extravagance. Now they are too old and physically infirm to enjoy their wealth.

There are two types of people in this world: people who spend too much, and people who spend too little. Sometimes, the latter are even more frustrating than the former.

Some people say that budgets give people good habits. I am not so sure. Budgets are good for people who follow rules.

But what if there are no rules? There are no rules in life. If you make more money, will you change the rules to allow yourself occasional extravagance?

Who gets to change the rules? If you change the rules, are you cheating on the budget?

This is why I hate budgets.

Some people inherit a ton of money and never spend a minute of their lives in discomfort. That does not apply to most of us.

Unless you are blessed with unlimited resources, you are going to spend at least some of your life in a state of discomfort.

Better to do it while you are young, when you are better able to bear it.

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Getting Rid of that Holiday Stress Ahead of Time

If you are finding yourself worried about the holidays, then you and I are in the same boat. And so is everybody else. Legitimately, everybody. Even the lady at work who always has a perfect party and she never has a hair out of place, she’s worried if her quiche will burn or if she will have enough decorations. Everybody has some kind of stress going on right now.

Some people are triple checking their travel plans to make sure everybody has a ticket and if they have a big enough budget. Some people are checking their list of people to give a gift to and realizing that they STILL don’t know what to get their mom for Christmas.

But whatever it is you are going through right now, you should take a minute off of your feet to read through this and see if one of these could help you.

1. The Clutter

It is amazingly easy to hold on to things in the modern world. And you don’t even know why. Especially after Halloween, there are candy wrappers, fairy wings, tiny toys, and just all around mess. The birthdays of the year have left you with gifts that you never wanted and you couldn’t return, so they wound up shoved in a corner to never be used or seen again.

But for some reason, you find yourself stressed out about it. That thing Jim gave you at your office party that was so ugly you didn’t even want it in your car. It’s bothering you that it’s still here, yet it has to take the back burner. And pretty soon, you start to feel like your house looks something like this:

Yeah, I know!

But between work and school and getting everything ready, you just don’t feel like you have the time to go through all of it.

Behold, my friends, the beauty of November. This is a beautiful grace period that most people will skip over to start putting up decorations for Christmas, thinking it will help them not be stressed about the decorations. But they are wasting perfectly good cleaning time. It’s time for a detox, and your house is begging you to do it, just this once.

Now wait just a minute, this isn’t an excuse to throw out your wife’s figurines that you hate but she loves, in fact I don’t recommend throwing much away at all. Go through your things first and donate what you can.

Old clothing, shoes, toys, books, purses or bags, and even movies. This is a great time of year to donate those things and let somebody else enjoy them. Old dishes can be sold or donated, dog and cat toys can get washed and de-stinkified. Candles that have been sitting around for years can get burned and help get any unpleasant smells out of your house while freeing up cabinet space for candles to come. Old mail and documents can get shredded and recycled, or even stocked up as fire starters for your fireplace. And those decorations that “complete the room” can be stowed away until they are needed again. Don’t let them jumble you up and stand in the way.

And this is an excellent way to see what you need around the house. Maybe you didn’t know the drill was broken, but now you know what to get your husband for Christmas. Or maybe the kids need new pjs. And that new coat would look great in place of your old one.

And once you’re done with the clutter aspect of all of this, then it’s time to move into phase two.

2. The Mess

It is entirely possible that the corner of your living room behind your television hasn’t been dusted in months, correct? It’s an easy thing to forget. It’s an easy thing to push aside, or to say to yourself “would anybody really notice?” Aunt Barbara might when she visits on thanksgiving with her specialty cranberry stuffing. And you would never hear the end of it. Okay, now punch your anxiety in the face and pick up a duster.

It really isn’t that big of a deal which corner is dusted and which one isn’t, but November is a wonderful time of peace before the holiday guests arrive, so why not make sure the house is nice so you aren’t worried about it. They’ll make a mess when they get there anyways, you may as well conquer what you can now. Get those expired bath products and cleaning concoctions out of your house before area 51 gets involved. Soap is NOT good forever!

Move around your furniture to sweep under it, dig out all of those coins and wrappers in the couch, dust off your movie and CD collection so you can pick out the holiday films for when everyone is over. You may as well put one on while you vacuum your floors, those corners and your ceiling fans and vents. Heck, you can even wash your carpets if your feeling REALLY festive!

There really isn’t any point to making the holidays harder on yourself than they already can be, so why not get a head start on all of that mess and just get rid of it? It can be a good excuse to have your kids wash the windows or clean their bathrooms, or even go through their clothes and toys and put everything they don’t use into one bag to donate. And with your mess all taken care of, you can take a breath and relax before you begin part three of this holiday mission.

3. The Food

This is the biggest time of year for food sales for home baking. Which also means the fire department is busy too. Please be careful whenever you are in the kitchen with loved ones and keep the heat down, your sockets dust free, and make sure all handles are out of reach of little ones. And remember, a falling knife has no handle.

All of those vegetables that are going into your casseroles and soups, or getting turned into a side, you know you can use your freezer, right? Chopping them up now and freezing them in the measurements that you need is an excellent time and mess saver for your holiday baking. Those fruits that you bought too early, go ahead and chop those up too and freeze them until the day you need them for your pies and fruit salads. And honestly, why did you buy SO MANY cranberries? Nobody eats them! Stop doing this to your wallet and to yourself.

Over spending on food and wasting it is another stupidly easy thing to do. Half of it rots away before it even sees the cutting board. You can stop yourself from doing this with a few easy tools, like shopping lists, dates, and coordination with the other cooks in your family.

Everybody should bring a dish to thanksgiving. Whether it’s a pie, some creamed corn, or even something to drink. You won’t be the only cook during the week leading up to thanksgiving. So coordinating with your relatives about who is bringing what will save everybody from making the same thing and will make sure nobody is confused about what they’re doing and keeps you from making too much of one thing if not everybody is able to come. Especially if Kenny is the only person who is vegan and gluten intolerant, then his special dish doesn’t need to be fussed over this year. And everyone can bring something, even if uncle Dave just brings the disposable cups so grandma doesn’t have to do a million dishes with the grandkids later. And yes, everybody needs to do their share of work after dinner. A good rule of thumb is to clean up dishes before dessert.

But before the baking even begins, you need to figure out what ingredients you will need to buy to make that food. And some ingredients can be nearly impossible to get your hands on. You would not believe how difficult it was for me to find rhubarb for my pie this year. I had to google where I could get it, and it took me a few hours to get ahold of it. So making that shopping list can save you lots of time and hassle when it gets down to the wire. And having the dates of parties and holidays next to you makes it easy to know when you’ll need to shop for that food and save space in your fridge.

Ah yes, the fridge. Your old pal, full of old take out containers, a few odds and ends when it comes to ingredients, expired dairy products, and an endless assortment of condiments. Why do we do this? The fridge looks full, yet there’s nothing to eat.

Clean it! That smell can be taken care of with a box of baking soda. Just leave it open in he back corner and it will absorb it for you. Take your trash can and have it ready for the avalanche of forgotten meals it will need to hold. The old products and empty cartons need to get thrown out now so you can have space for leftovers during the holidays, but you’re much less likely to forget about those. Once you’ve emptied out all of the rotten veggies and old yogurts, now is the time to wash the shelves and clean it up in there to get a head start on the dishes.

Bravo. You have earned another break. But you are so far from being done.

4. The Yard

This is an ongoing task, and I’m afraid not much can be done that will stay done. Especially if you live somewhere the leaves turn red and then fall every time the wind blows. Honestly, it can’t really all be done at once. But after it snows, it has to stay there. That stick could trip you if your boot snags it and you forgot it was there. Those leaves will kill your lawn if they stand as a frozen barrier between the grass and the snow. And the weeds will only populate while they can.

Head to a hardware store and grab some tools if you need them. And get some gloves too, those thorns can be vicious. Taking care of lawn maintenance before you decorate should be high on your list of to-do’s, yet many people skip it all together. Clean out your gutters and send your hubby on the roof with a broom before you send him up with lights and a fake santa. It’s safer and it can actually save your roof from too much damage all at once.

Mow the grass while you can, trim your bushes before they get lined with lights, and rake those leaves up before they have to stay put for the next four months.

And if you have a dog, this is your last chance to double check nothing was left behind when your kids last took them outside.

5. The Car

If you’re traveling with your family, you have to clean out your car now! The tissues, old receipts that need to be organized, wrappers, straws, socks, and crumbs all need to go.

Suitcases and crock pots will soon take their place as well as bored kiddos and grumpy adults just trying to drive through the traffic. Pack those CDs into the car, download some podcasts, or get some audio books to help pass the time. But make sure the smell is gone too. Get a new air freshener and some febreeze. It’s amazing how much smell can come from one toddlers sock.

6. Finances and Documents

That giant pile of papers in your room, on your desk, or in your coffee table? Yeah, it won’t take care of itself. And during the holidays. The last thing you want to worry about is knocking it over so it isn’t 'organized’ anymore. Go through it now.

This will give you the chance to get your finances in order before you spend three hundred dollars on lights for the tree when really you can only spend thirty. I found a paper I wrote in fifth grade the other day, and tossed it right out. Honestly, why do we cling to these things? It has been in my life for ten years, and it has served its purpose. Now it’s time to go. This frees up space not only in your desk, but in your mind as well. It was one of those little things that you had been worried about for far too long. And now it’s finally gone.

7. The Decorations

Now is the time, folks, to get your final affairs in order. We are now approaching the holidays so please prepare for landing.

Decorations are the easiest thing in the world to freak out over when you get down to the wire. You count the lights, you measure for garland, you buy the plates and the napkins and even special straws that are made of paper. Candy canes are beautiful on a tree, but the tree isn’t up yet. Not to worry though. Your shopping list is that much smaller because you already took care of it.

Buying what you can ahead of time is something I’ve been doing since April. Buying candles, drinks, and even some gifts before they’re at their holiday prices is something I do to avoid the crowds and the chaos. Yes, I’m on a budget and I know how to work the system to my favor. Buying discount wrapping paper and tinsel the year before is nothing to hide, and props to you if you make your own decorations.

That’s what I did. Wreaths can be up to $70 when they come pre decorated. I bought one for ten and put my own decorations and lights on it for less than forty dollars. And I’ll use it over and over again. Making decorations can also help tame that beast inside of you that is screaming at you to put up the lights now! It’s not even thanksgiving, calm down you little elf.

Once you’ve ticked all of these things off of your list, you’ll find it much easier to breathe while you wrap gifts or wade through the sea of people at the mall. Having your lists organized, your budget in mind, and the peace of mind that your house is organized and ready, you’ll be unstoppable this holiday season!

Happy holidays everybody!

#food #holidays #happy holidays #christmas #cleaning #detox #stress relief #stressed #stress #tidy #tidyup #decoration #christmas lights #prepare for the holidays #oh boy #head start

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How I Saved $10000 in 10 Months

I’m not a saver by birth. I like to spend money. I view money as only one type of currency, not the most valuable one. Time comes first in the ranks, followed by energy, and then comes money. Money is not and has never been particularly valuable to me. It rarely ever brought me happiness but I was convinced while growing up that my net worth was a reflection of my self worth.

I never liked the idea of being frugal. I didn’t enjoy having to go without to prepare for a future emergency. For the last three years I have made a pretty consistent yearly amount through tutoring, babysitting, administrative tasks, and other similar odd jobs. But, I lived like I made a lot more. I wasn’t spending on luxuries and going out. I was just spending more than I had on things that I needed, or seemed to need. I became increasingly worried about not having enough money.

The fear of not having enough money, instilled into me at such a young age added to this terror churning inside me. I went to bed and woke up in frenzy of overwhelming nausea and tears.

But one day, after a particularly bad incident with a client, I decided that enough was enough. This particular client generously offered to pay my semester tuition in full in exchange for unlimited tutoring. Eternally grateful, I accepted. This client proceeded to give me the run around for four weeks and on the final day, had me drive over 30 miles from town to town chasing her for the check. After a grueling three hours, she called to let me know that she was in the hospital and her husband never agreed to give me the money.

I was embarrassed, humiliated, exhausted, spent, and so ashamed of myself for letting this person take advantage of me and exploit my needs. It was in that moment that I decided to stop letting money have any hold on me whatsoever. I was going to manage my money; it was not going to manage me.

I joined Frugal Families on Facebook and gathered several books to help me. I read Ana Newell Jones, Amy Dacyzyn, and Dave Ramsey among countless others. (I don’t necessarily recommend this but I like to read so it was a win win) You can get similar information by watching Youtube videos or short articles.

Through all my collectives, I found that managing finances and saving money comes down to a pretty simple idea: don’t spend money. But, my problem, along with many people, isn’t that I didn’t know HOW to save money, but that I couldn’t convince myself of WHY.

My thinking of money was all screwed up! I associated saving with withholding, going without, deprivation, dependence, poverty, and unhappiness. I held money in the top tier of my self esteem and felt that I needed it to prove to people that they should respect me. Putting $1000 in the bank and not touching it is infinitely easier than learning to love yourself if you don’t already. Once your self esteem has been tied into how much money you spend, its a tough knot to untangle.

So, I took these baby steps ( to all my Dave Ramsey fans out there). It took me a couple months to compile all these steps and even longer to start to truly follow all of them. I am 23 years old, I make about 24K a year, I am a part time college student, and I don’t have any kids or dependents. A lot of people may be discouraged from reading this article because maybe I don’t fit their demographic, make more or less, have fewer expenses or some other excuse. They may be right. I don’t know how well these steps may work for other people and I definitely cannot guarantee any results. It’s just a look into my own experience. But, if you want to break the ball and chain of money has around your ankle or maybe even save up $10000, grab a notebook and at least give this a try!

1.

Remove people from your life that you feel value money too much. These people are easy to identify: who in your life do you feel judges you the most? Limit contact with these people for a set period of time (maybe forever), or just until you save $10000. These people breed thoughts of inadequacy and manipulate us into spending money we don't need and becoming people we don't want to be, i.e. a woman in the Tightwad Gazette who admitted that she spent more money on her wealthy nephew’s Christmas presents than her own children.

2. 

Write down your goals, hopes and dreams (not financial goals). What kind of person are you now and what do you hope will change after you become financially stable? Where do you see yourself in ten years? What would you do if you had a million dollars? What are some things about your life that you wish you could change? Why can’t you? What are aspects of life that you are grateful for? What is your dream career? What are some of your insecurities and fears? Ask yourself all these questions and any more you can think of. This should be a private journal entry that you can look back to so, be as open as you can for yourself.

3.

Write down your financial goals. How much money do you want to save? My goal was $20,000.

4.

Analyze your spending. Print out the last few months of your bank statements. Make a list. In and out. What went into the bank account and what went out. This is on the bottom of every monthly statement.

5. 

Categorize all the items that went “out”. I use a pretty simple system for this: necessary and not necessary. Rent, car payments, gas, and doctors are needs. Mcdonald’s, make up, even buying books instead of borrowing them are not necessary. Be careful not to categorize non necessities as “wants”. This implies a careless decision was made and that we should feel bad or embarrassed about it. Our money is ours and we may choose to spend it however we wish. Remember that we want to feel more confident in our decisions through this process.

6.

Evaluate your needs list. Obviously rent and car payments can’t be negotiated down but if all your needs eat up more than half your income, see if anything can change. In my personal example, I had a car payment of $198/month. During the summer months, when babysitting jobs were scarce, I only made about $900/month. Coupled with rent, I had $100 left over every month to survive on. The solution was not easy, short term, or inexpensive. I had to buy a used car and get rid of my lease, find another side gig for the summer, or find a cheaper place to stay.

7.

Evaluate your non necessities list.Create a category for every expense (eating out, crafts, shopping, subscriptions) and then prioritize them in order of used. If you spent $300 this month on books, it goes to the top of the list. Next, think about what you could and couldnt live without. Put those in order too. Note: this does not mean cutting everything out. Think about what is important to you and what can change. Just because something isnt a basic need, does not mean it is not important. For me, going out with friends, and a small budget to grab some fast food if I was still hungry after lunch meant a lot. So those went to the top of my list.

8.

For future reference, I recommend using a debit card as cash to be able to track all your purchases. So this baby step is get a debit card at a bank that is near you with a safe and convenient ATM. Commit to putting cash onto the card in small amounts to avoid temptation, but often, like once a week. I never keep more than $50 available on my debit card at any time. I have worked my weekly amount down to just $15, just enough to eat out twice a week.

9.

PAY DAY. If you are like me and don’t have a regular deposit schedule, make one and keep to it. Be flexible about how often and how much you want to see your money grow. I tried a bi-weekly deposit schedule but learned that I prefer looking at how much I made at the end of the week. So, I deposit money into my account every Friday.

10.

You have money, now what do you do with it?? Consult your needs list and put aside the amount that you cannot change this month. Pay your bills immediately. 

11.

What is left over? Budget your non-necessities and leave that in your account. Take whatever is left and shove it into your savings account.

12.

Reconsider your budget. This is the part when you slowly trick your brain into enjoying frugality. Remember that amount that you shoved into savings? No you don’t! Next month, create your budget without that chunk of savings, so immediately after payday, shove it into your savings account after bills and before non-necessities. Don’t be discouraged if you have to touch your savings account because you went over budget. Just try to average out the same amount for 3-4 months. Also, even $5 is a hefty deposit amount if you’ve been picking away at your account for the past 6 months. Be proud of yourself for any and all progress!

This last step was very helpful to me because it helped me become more and more creative about how to live on less. I learned to prioritize my hobbies, treated myself sparingly, and invest time I had in place of money I didn’t have. Overall, I became much happier than I was.

Another tip, I’d like to include is to be kinder to yourself. In hindsight it is easy to look at my expenses and realize I could’ve put a little more away here and there but I have no regrets about the mistakes I have made. Step 4 was arguably the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life; analyze my mistakes and have compassion for myself. Even going forward, the continued slip ups I had taught me more about myself and helped me to make better decisions the next time.

I know this article seemingly boils down to taking a portion of your income and putting it into a savings account. But quite honestly, it has nothing to do with money. I have calculated that I could have put an extra $5000 away in the last ten months if I had really stuck to my needs, but that wasn’t the point. I wanted to live a life without the fear of money: not having enough, always wanting more. I was afraid to check my bank balance and I couldn’t resist a great sale that added to my net worth. Since I started my journey to financial stability, I don’t worry as much about what I have. That isn’t because I have a lot, but because I always know exactly what I had and I am confident about my ability to work with it.  It shifted my mentality of depending on money to take care of me to realizing that only I am responsible and capable of taking care of myself and money is just one of many tools that can help me. Break the chain!

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Filmmaker Mel Brooks has had a long career in the movie industry. He became well known for producing and directing comedy movies that parodied famous stories or characters. Fans will recall a more famous movie titled Robin Hood: Men in Tights from 1993. The movie is a hidden gem when it comes to spoof movies.

RELATED: Every Major Robin Hood Movie, Ranked According To IMDb

The storyline for the movie mimicked and made fun of the Robin Hood story, as well as other famous movies like Disney's Robin Hood and Prince of Thieves. The movie gives fans a good laugh but there are some questionable scenarios. Many scenes don't make much sense and are a bit of a head-scratcher.

10 The 'Life Saver'

Throughout the movie, there isn't any real magic to be seen. The only hint of magic is when Latrine (Tracey Ullman) uses a 'lifesaver' on Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Reese). The scene itself doesn't make much sense. The scenario is making fun of the famous mint candy and using it as a magical remedy.

Robin Hood (Cary Elwes) accidentally missed his sword sheath and impales Sheriff all the way through. For many, that type of injury would prove fatal. Latrine promises to save him with a 'lifesaver' that when ingested caused little spark-like magic as she removes the sword. But was it really magic?

9 Robin Never Opened The Box

When Robin returns from the Crusades, his family's trusted servant, Blinkin (Mark Blankfield) hands him a gift. Robin had just learned that his family had died while he was away and his father left him something valuable. The gift is a small metal box said to hold "the greatest treasure in all the land."

Fans of the movie will understand by the end what the greatest treasure was. The perplexing aspect of it all is, Robin never thinks to open the box, not once. The box never makes another appearance in the whole storyline until the very end. What also never made sense is how Robin's father came into possession of the key.

8 The Chasity Belt Debacle

Probably the most confusing yet comical plot element of the movie is Maid Marian's (Amy Yasbeck) chastity belt. Fans are introduced to it when she gets up from her bath. Looking beyond the fact that the belt is made by Everlast, the functionality of the belt is confusing. It seems as though Maid Marian never takes it off.

The chastity belt is an obvious metaphor for Maid Marian's virginity. It does raise the question of how Maid Marian went to the bathroom or bathed. It also implies that sleeping at night wasn't so comfortable. Absolutely no one had a key and by the end of the movie, Robin's key doesn't even open the lock.

7 Physical Events That Can't Actually Happen

Seeing as the movie is a parody, there obviously would be some scenarios that are impossible to see happen in real life. Seeing these scenarios on screen raises some questions. When Robin is imprisoned in Jerusalem, the torturers get a pair of pliers and literally pull out his tongue until it resembles Laffy Taffy.

RELATED: Why Blazing Saddles Is Mel Brooks' Best Spoof (& Why Young Frankenstein Is Second)

The most bizarre and questionable moment is when he actually escapes and must return to England. Robin is in a hurry to get there and his comrade tells him he must catch the tide. Instead of taking a boat, Robin physically swims from Jerusalem to England. The trip is quite literally impossible without suffering hypothermia or dying. The same goes when Little John (Eric Allan Kramer) is scared of drowning in a two-foot-high river.

6 They Moved An Entire Castle

Moving property has never been easier when it can be hitched to a horse and rolled away. After Robin returns to England, he discovers his family's land to have been taken into the possession of Prince John (Richard Lewis). The part that had fans laughing and perplexed is how they take the castle.

The workers hitch the castle foundation to horse and roll it away. They leave behind the inner walls and fans can see the infrastructure of what the castle used to be. The move resembles taking away a TV show set that needs to be changed for a new scenario. Knowing the physical dynamics of moving an entire castle, this doesn't make sense.

5 Lend Me Your Ears!

Robin and his comrades realize that they need to stop Prince John and Rottingham from abusing their power. They band together the best men from various towns to become the Merry Men. At the recruitment meeting, Robin shouts "Lend me your ears!"

Audiences didn't expect the group of men to take off their ears and throw them at Robin. The men took Robin's phrase too literally. The scene also raises the question of how all the men can take off their ears as if it were a piece of jewelry.

4 How Did They Free The Other Prisoners?

When Robin is held prisoner, he gets help from his fellow inmate, Asneeze (Isaac Hayes). Together they use their feet to breaks the metal bar structure that holds their chains. Robin and Asneeze then help free the other prisoners. The fact that they can free the others doesn't make much sense.

Looking carefully at the scene, Robin and Asneeze can open their wrist cuffs with no key and so could the other prisoners. Robin and Asneeze then pull a chain on each side that frees the others. This seems impossible as each pair of prisoners is confined to their own barricade.

3 Prince John's Mole

Prince John isn't the scariest villain to exist. He's actually quite a dud and has no backbone. The movie played a fun gag on the character that doesn't make much sense in reality. Every time Prince John is introduced in a scene, the mole on his face changes location.

RELATED: The 10 Best Sci-Fi Spoof Movies

The mole is one day on his cheek, the next day it's in the middle of his forehead. The idea of a mole moving is plain bizarre. What's even more bizarre is that no one points it out except Rottingham. It gets more kooky as Prince John is shocked to discover he even has a mole. Pricing John must not like mirrors.

2 The Green Tights In Plastic Eggs

In the scene where the Merry Men are gathering their new gear, Ahchoo (Dave Chappelle) is taking green tights out of a white plastic egg. For the newer generations of audience members, this doesn't make much sense. What purpose do green tights have with a plastic egg?

The scene is making fun of the L'eggs Pantyhose & Hosiery company. Back in the '70s, the company had a fun packaging idea seeing as their company name has 'eggs' in it. They would sell their consumers their famous pantyhose in plastic eggs, like the ones used for Easter. The movie parodied the concept and had the Merry Men's tights in a much more exaggerated plastic egg.

1 The Characters Are Aware They're In A Movie

The movie raises some questions on whether or not the characters are 100% aware they're in a movie. Throughout the story, there are fourth-wall breaks addressing the audience or scenarios of movie production. Latrine turns to the audience stating she almost touched Rottingham's package.

When Maiden Marian is bathing, a camera guy accidentally breaks through her window. The most memorable scene is where Robin loses in the archery contest. Perplexed that he actually lost, he whips out his script to double-check. The rest of the characters also check their scripts.

NEXT: Groundhog Day: 10 Things That Don't Make Sense About The Iconic Comedy

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