#It was being sold by a hobby shop for 20

[neolunanocte]

The situation with P3R just feels bad all around.

Like what the game needed was a polished definitive release and instead the fanbase/players are going to be split again.

It's also odd to me they're cutting The Answer when that's the canon ending to the game.

Just oi

[reallyromealone]

Title: fate

Fandom: jjk

Characters: Gojo, original character for plot purposes

Fic type: story

Pairings: Gojo x reader

Warnings: male reader, reader insert, omegaverse, angst, soulmate, Gojo is a jerk, slow burn

Notes:

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

There was no space for weakness amongst sorcerer's, no space for mistakes and no space to be anything less than perfect.

He had always heard of his fiance, Gojo Satoru... The god amongst sorcerer's...

Though he never met the Alpha, the high and mighty sorcerer never bothered meeting the diamond of the (lastname) clan and did everything he wanted and everyone he wanted while (name) was expected to wait.

The only reason they were fiance's is because of stupid blood work, the two having extreme compatibility and thus an engagement... The Alpha apparently became a teacher.

(Name) Always stood out with people, clothes traditional and expensive as students gawked at the Royal looking omega with two S rank sorcerer's beside him as security and a calm yet serious expression on his face, he was rarely called here... Hell he wasn't even allowed to attend due to being the fiance of Gojo, the Alpha barring it.

That always made (name) laugh, couldn't meet his omega even once and downright ignored him but controlled every aspect.

"You will be expected to marry within the next month, you're both 19 and twenty and after the wedding we expect pups within the first year" Gojo sat beside him, legs spread out and sitting casual as if he didn't make them wait an hour for him to arrive. (Name) Didn't know what to do with the Alpha beside him, (name) expected to wear scent patches at all times and a collar but Gojo had his scent out and proud, it was almost suffocating.

The concept of marrying such an asshole... (Name) Didn't want that.

He didn't want to live a life being this fuckers baby machine.

So, a week after... He left.

Took the jewelry gifted to him by people wanting his hand or favor, once people learned who he was it was like floodgates opened and (name) just kept the expensive jewelry in a box... Now they served a purpose.

That was one year ago, now 20 and across the country away from Tokyo and away from... Him.

(Name) Lived in a farm house on a coastal village, trading his traditional clothes for t-shirts and cardigans, simple trousers and sneakers, all things he never wore before living on his own. The two was nice, the Omega had more money than god with the jewels he sold and worked part time at the small hobby shop in town, the elderly alpha woman introducing him to many hobbies.

For the first time, (name) felt calm.

His shoulders never tensed anymore.

But he knew to never eat his guard down.

(Name) Didn't keep much tech, he didn't really use it back in Tokyo so it didn't appeal to him but he did keep a radio and a small tv in the corner, his boss giving him her old dvd player and (name) would borrow movies from the library, catching up on things he missed.

Currently he was watching a drama as he crocheted another blanket for his nest, humming softly to himself as rain patterned outside against his roof and the smell of his food cooking in the oven.

Knock knock knock.

(Name) Was confused as he stood up, walking to the door and carefully he cracked the door open just a sliver when he smelt it... Pine and peppermint. The smell of Gojo Satoru.

"You are a very hard person to find, surprisingly" Gojo said as he pushed the door open, the smell of distress and anxiety filling the small space as the sorcerer walked in "cute place, not what I would have expected from the (last name)s clans little gem" his voice condescending as he looked around at the little decorations and such.

"I'm not going back" (name) hissed as he stepped away whenever Gojo got closer "im not being some daycare for your pups while you go sleep around japan!" Gojo wore his eye mask though even with that he could feel the glare, the man was done with this.

"So you're going to play farm boy here? We both know you're not even remotely cut out for that" Gojo taunted and (name) glared at him "you know nothing about me! I know you never opened that stupid packet about me! I was expected to give everything to you but you couldn't even muster up talking to me! You treated me like I didn't exist!" (Name) Yelled angrily, all the years of anger and resentment boiling over "you don't get to want me now, I don't care if we are fated or whatever! You are a jackass!" (Name) Felt the air knocked out of him as he was pushed against a wall, the infinity making him feel like the other was pressing against him as he realized that gojos mask was no longer present, piercing blue eyes staring down at him.

"Do you think I was happy with the elders deciding that I was going to marry some prissy Omega? That suddenly I was expected to play house with someone I didn't know!" He growled and (name) wasn't backing down despite the pharamones and pressure "you didn't even try and get to know me! You didn't want me!"

"Well I'm here now, aren't I !"

" A little late, don't you think!"

"God you're annoying!"

"Back at you"

This was not the Omega Gojo remembered, the poised and refined Omega who poured tea and wore pretty clothes was replaced by an angry man in comfy clothes and a heated glare and an attitude "we are literally bound by fate and we can't even hold a conversation without arguing" Gojo found the situation weirdly funny as (name) looked at him with a mix of annoyance and disgust as the sound of his timer went off and (name) managed to get away to go take his food out the oven.

Gojo followed the other and looked at the food, it looked really good "you know how to cook?"

"I was literally trained to be the perfect house wife" (name) said bluntly as the sound of a stomach growling caught both of their attention and Gojo looked at the other and (name) sighed "I literally can't make you leave" he hissed as he grabbed another plate.

Dinner was tense as (name) ate, reading his book as he did so as Gojo took the time to inspect his surroundings "it's like an old persons house, do you even have a computer?"

"Don't know how to use one, don't need it" (name) said as he took a bite of his food and Gojo looked surprised at his words "you grew up with cast wealth, how do you not?" He didn't believe it at all as (name) set his book down "an Omega and an alpha live different lives, you were given more freedoms then myself... You got to attend school and make friends and I was raised to be the perfect mate and technology wasn't deemed important to know compared to the art of tea pouring" he said simply as he looked into the others eyes "I have spent this year learning everything i was deprived of, I lived in Tokyo yet I had never seen it outside my escape"

If it was tense before then it was suffocating now, Gojo never considered these things.

He never once considered the life his fiance was living, having always been told he was living the perfect life of luxury and frankly assumed he was some spoiled Omega.

"I would have shown you..." Gojo started, guilt bubbling in him, "oh? You would have spared me time? Between your whores?" (Name) Tilted his head curiously and Gojo felt a headache form "I hear everything you know? From my maids... They always told me I should be lucky that I'm fated to you" (name) looked away and continued eating, book abandoned beside him as the smell of fury radiated from the Omega, Gojo sighing as he took a bite of his food. The food was phenomenal, seasoned perfectly and not one thing not amazing about it but he didn't comment "we can sort these things out when we go home" Gojo said finally, they would get everything in order when they returned home.

"I am home, I have no intentions of going anywhere with you" (name) said stiffly as he stood with an empty plate.

"Well, tough" Gojo said tired as he followed the Omega around the small farm house, cozy and warm "you're my Omega and I'm tired of this"

"Was I your omega when you screwed across the land?" (Name) Glared at him, he didn't care who he was or what strength he possessed... He was tired of everyone making choices for him! "You can go back to whatever life you had before, say I died or something... I know that there's countless omegas dying for a chance to be your fiance"

"Well if you're not going with me, in not going anywhere" Gojo said simply as he walked to the small couch and plopped down "you're like a child" (name) glared, wasn't even like he could go out, the rain so heavy.

"I'm going to bed" (name) grumbled as he went to his bedroom, Gojo getting up to follow but (name) slammed the door in his face.

This was going to be annoying, Gojo could feel it.

Come morning, (name) wore a loose shirt and sweatpants as he made himself his morning drink and stared at his mug sleepily as Gojo watched from the livingroom curiously, the other rubbed his eyes sleepily as calm and sweet pharamones filled the space. Gojo realized that this was the first time he could smell the others pharamones and not smell distress.

He never smelt anything so wonderful.

(Name) Set a mug of tea, brewed perfectly "how did..." "We were both given packets about one another, you pretended I didn't exist remember?"

Gojo had a feeling (name) wasn't going to let go of that anytime soon.

Gojo followed (name) around all day, when the Omega walked down the path towards the village "you really live out in the middle of nowhere" Gojo commented as they walked along the tree lined path, (name) holding a few bags "you know in Tokyo, I could have food delivered to us right?" Gojo remarked and (name) just ignored him, at least the Alpha had the sense to wear sunglasses instead of his mask so he didn't look insane "there's barely a connection out here" the Alpha remarked, (name) knew what he was doing and it wasn't working.

The villagers looked confused as (name) had a towering alpha follow him, the omega shopping as if he wasn't even there "(name)!" A couple kids ran up to the Omega who looked down curiously "what is it little ones?" (Name) Asked softly as the youngest clung to his leg, a little pup with wide eyes and a sweet smile "play with us!" One of the kids said excitedly and (name) smiled "maybe later little ones, I have errands I have to do" (name) ushered the children towards the small park area, Gojo watching the scene curiously.

"So why did you come looking for me? I thought you would have been elated at my sudden leaving" (name) asked as they walked home, Gojo forcing the other to let him hold the bags "my alpha... It practically destroyed half the estate when it found out you left... Geto ripped me a new one"

"So you had an epiphany and came here acting like everything would be fine" (name) said with a sigh and Gojo shrugged "I mean yeah" "and what? Expect me to be like 'oh thank you alpha! You're so kind and didn't make me feel worthless and your actions didn't cause me verbal and emotional abuse from my family!' been going to therapy and the therapist says you suck" (name) was way snarkier than Gojo thought he would be, he liked that his omega wasn't weak "I spent a year being on my own and doing what makes me happy, I don't want you messing that up"

"What do you even do out here?" Gojo asked and (name) shrugged "I have a part time job and I'm an active member of the community, no stress of either of our families... Everything is good"

"What would it take for you to come back?" Gojo asked "money? I can make sure you have everything you need"

"I don't want money, I don't want that stuff... I'm not marrying someone who doesn't love me and I don't love in turn"

Gojo spent the night thinking about it, while his omega slept peacefully in the other room and pulled out his phone to text Geto... He wasn't sure what to do.

[decepti-thots]

like, ok. so does everyone know about comic cover variants? you know how every issue has like eighteen million covers? and they're typically referred to with ratios. "1:10" or "1:50" or whatever.

what those ratios refer to is that for every ten issues of a comic a store orders from the publisher, they'll get one issue of the variant. this is essentially a way to get retailers to order more of a comic than they think they can sell organically so that they can offer the invested collectors/fans the rare variant cover at a higher price, which offsets the potential loss of money ordering more copies than they can realistically expect to sell causes. comic book stores make most of their sales from regular customers who have a pull list- you tell them what comics you, the customer, want them to order in for you monthly and they use these preorders (typically made at least one month in advance, with the standard being three months) to decide how many of an issue to order. they'll buy a few extra for walk-ins, of course, but comic book shops are for enthusiasts. most of their clientele are regulars with a pull list, unless you're a very succesful comic book shop indeed. (i used to do mine online because i was too far away to drop in regularly. shipping was a motherfucker. nowadays i live near one of the most famous shops in the country so if i want comics i can go in person, haha.)

this is not ideal for a publisher because it reveals how fucking low their circulation numbers actually are. but if you have a regular who loves a series, they might pay you $10 or $20 or even more for a highly desirable variant cover. they're an enthusiast. they're already in a hobby that is a money pit. so you buy the extra fifty issues and the cost is hopefully offset and maybe over the next year or two you sell (most of) the remaining back issues in the longbox section in the back where people wander through to look for old stuff they didn't buy at the time, or stuff which in the five years it's been sat there unsold has become interesting to new collectors. multiply this effect across a thousand stores and incentive covers with ratios as high as 1:500, and you can shift a lot of product to stores who are basically gambling every month on risk and reward, all these decisions having to be made months and months in advance in many cases.

anyway the comics industry is fucking ridiculous. imagine if books were sold like this. you can't, that would be batshit

[savage-rhi]

Reverse Uno: now you do Karl and Ardyn >:3

I'VE WAITED ALL DAY TO COME HOME FROM A 10 HR SHIFT TO DO THIS SO DON'T MIND IF I FUCKING DO @seradyn

Karl Heisenberg

First impression: I thought he was going to play a significant role in RE8, perhaps even fall into the trope where he's truly the Big Bad (TM) versus Mother Miranda. I think I got that impression because Karl always came across as smarter than he lets on. Either way, I knew I was gonna fucking love this dude. Does he look like trash? Yep. Does he hold a grudge? Yep. Sign me up! 

Impression now: CAPCOM YOU FUCKED UP. WHY DIDN'T YOU UTILIZE THIS GUY FURTHER IN THE DAMN PLOT?! WHY DIDN'T HE AND ETHAN PARTNER UP?!

That's seriously my biggest gripe when it comes to Karl, he's a great character that didn't get used to his full potential. I mean, sure that gives fanfic writers such as myself a lot to play with and makeup, but he deserved better. Karl's character was fucking fun. I could tell his motion capture and VO artist had a great time playing hobo metal man (Neil Newbon you sold it, mother fucker).

Seriously, Karl is hot trash but he's my hot trash. I'll defend him all the way.

Favorite Moment: In every scene Karl is in, he just steals the damn show. I always enjoy the scene where he confronts Ethan with partnering up (Ethan, you should've taken the hobo's hand) and goes on a verbal rampage about the other lords and how much he despises Miranda. You can feel his passion and hate for what's become of his life, and even sense how desperate he is to get out of it by any means necessary.

Idea for a story: I've been working on a story with Karl called The Sacrifice that takes place years before the events of RE8. Karl falls in love with a gal named Sonja Ainsley, and this pushes him to wanting to break free from the village and Miranda's clutches.

The story is on hiatus, but I intend to finish it when I get the motivation again. I love him and Sonja very much.

Unpopular Opinion: For all his bravado, Karl is sensitive and cautious deep down. I’ve read many stories where is unyielding and very sexual (ngl I indulge in that cause I’m nasty like everyone else on here lol) but given the abuses he has endured, I think he would be quite reluctant to indulge himself with someone until several layers were peeled back and his partner gained his trust. 

Favorite Relationship: I ship Karl with happiness. I don’t care if it’s an OC, Reader, Canon, etc. etc. etc. I just want this fucking hob goblin to feel like he’s on top of the world and has support. I love reading material where he gets to just fucking live and be happy. 

Favorite headcanon: Karl is quite good at making jewelry pieces. 

Karl is artistically inclined and enjoys sketching, and doodling. He keeps most of his pieces to himself since he considers having a hobby like that could lead him to being taken advantage of (he’s kind of a victim of toxic masculinity there in that regard, where “men can’t like things like the arts without being seen as less than”). 

Karl struggled with reading well into his early 20s, but he taught himself and is quite fond of novels (Sonja helps him there in The Sacrifice, and he likes Pride and Predjudice). 

Moreau and he watch TV together, and they get invested and I do mean invested to the point where they both yell and scream at the characters on TV for fucking up. 

Ardyn Izunia/Lucis Caelum

First Impression: I want to preface by saying that my late grandmother bestowed upon me the knowledge to protect myself from peculiar people. She told me to never trust a man who has shaved off his eyebrows and never trust a man that wears a tunic. All her wisdom couldn’t prepare me for what the fuck to do about a man who wears over 5 layers of clothing, and looks like a homeless guy who walked into a thrift shop and picked out every item that screamed, “Hi there, I’m Johnny Depp.” I’m frightened, but I gotta follow my principles: does he look like trash? Check. Does he hold a grudge? Check. Okay everyone…let’s pray….

Impression now: Your honor, I love him. I love his quirkiness. I love his humor. I love his mannerisms. I love his darkness. I love his imperfections. I love his humanity and lack thereof. I love his daemon form. I love his charisma. I love how he carries himself. I love his ambition. I love how unsettling he can be. I love his wild hair. I love his piercing eyes. I love how he used to love and care for others. I love how he tried to hold onto himself despite failing. I love how he’s unapologetic. I love his faults. I love his flaws. I love that I see bits of myself in him. I love his bloodlust. I love his taunts. I love his sarcasm. I love how tragic his story is. I love how unyielding he can be. I love him. Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar.

Favorite Moment: Pretty much everything he is in. However I adore his entire appearance in the Lestallum chapter. You can tell he’s clearly up to shit, but can’t necessarily prove it. Hell, I even felt bad for judging him after he goes through the trouble of saving everyone’s ass in a later part of that section. I even had a moment of second guessing. 

Idea for a story: I already wrote an Ardyn x OC (Caelan) story called Immortal Shield. I wanted to give Ardyn a happier ending, and explore his character if he were resurrected years after the final battle with Noctis (went with the Dawn of the Future ending). I think it turned out okay.

Cause I am not over him by any means, I’m working on a Ardyn x Reader story. It takes place two years before the events of the game. I’m 10 chapters in thus far. 

Unpopular Opinion: Ardyn is one of the best FF villains in the franchise. I’ve seen people complain about him being lackluster as a character (from his quirks/backstory, to the final battle cause he didn’t have a ‘final form’). Then there’s the camp that sees the adoration fans have for him and go, “tragic guy does tragic and terrible things and people make excuses for him”. I mean…yeah, to a degree? But what makes me still stand by my statement is the fact that unlike most FF villains: the guy actually fucking wins. We are talking about a man who spent YEARS and I mean fucking YEARS plotting, wearing various masks, and lining up pieces to ensure he would FINALLY get to rest in peace after all the shit he had been forced to endure. That is dedication and shows how he’s so damn dangerous and intelligent. A man that can bide his time for thousands of years isn’t someone to fuck around with. 

Favorite Relationship: Ardyn x Aera. Those two deserved happiness and peace. I also ship him with OCs, other canon characters, and readers/inserts. I love stories where no matter who it’s with, he is appreciated and cherished. 

Favorite headcanon: Ardyn’s love language is gift-giving. If he sees something that reminds him of someone, he’ll get it for them or even try his hand at making the thing himself if he wants to go the extra mile. Getting a gift from him says A LOT, and the people around him know it’s kind of a big fucking deal. 

Being a former healer, he’s very much in tune with people’s emotions that it’s almost like a 6th sense. Even being corrupted by the star scourge, he can never truly tune that part of himself out. He uses this natural gift to manipulate others to get ahead. 

Since sweets like chocolate and other delicacies were rare and quite expensive 2,000 years ago, Ardyn takes full advantage of modern decadence. The man’s got candy everywhere. 

[mariacallous]

If you’ve been to Rome, there’s a high chance you returned home with a slab of guanciale, two Fabriano notebooks and a copy of the hot priest calendar in your luggage.

The hot priest calendar is not its official name but, over the past two decades, the moniker has stuck (for reasons clear to anyone who’s seen it). Next year marks 20 years since the “calendario Romano” was first published, during which time it has grown from labour of love to cult souvenir.

Each month of the A4 flip calendar is represented by a nameless man of the cloth, photographed in black and white and usually against an ornate liturgical backdrop. Some wear a cappello romano(a type of wide-brimmed hat), others a clerical collar. December, the unequivocal favourite among calendar fans, rarely changes – he is pictured holding a copy of Le vie di Roma close to this cassocked chest. Broadly speaking, each “priest” is “hot”.

Much like the Pirelli calendar, published by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturing company, the connection between the images and the subject being promoted can feel, at times, tangential. But the motivation is pure, says the calendar’s 60-year-old Venetian photographer, Piero Pazzi. It is, he says, a “clean and honest product that simply advertises Rome and its most eloquent symbol: the Catholic clergy”.

But confession time: “They are not all priests, and they are not all from Italy,” says Pazzi, himself a Catholic, who has spent the past few decades visiting Rome and Seville to take these pictures. He uses a Fuji camera and photographs the men during trips to the cities during Easter. It’s a random process of selection, he explains, which means it can sometimes backfire: in one instance, an estate agent from Spain was mistaken for a priest and appeared as 2008’s “Father March” (he was wearing a black tunic at the time). But those photographed in Seville “are mostly acolytes of the countless brotherhoods that parade in the processions of Holy Week”, according to Pazzi.

During its mid-2010s heyday, the calendar is said to have sold about 75,000 copies a year and, despite a dip during the pandemic, it remains in high demand.The 2023 iteration has just gone on sale, costing around 10 euros depending on which shop or kiosk you buy it from – and is already fetching three times the price on eBay. Pazzi prefers not to estimate how many are sold now in case he gets it wrong, but he will go so far as to say that “in Rome, it is quite common”.

Rather than “photographer”, he uses the terms “archivist and archive researcher”; photography, he says, is just a hobby. His favourite subject is actually animals, especially cats – he has two of his own – and he also likes photographing gondoliers, a calendar of which predates that of the clergymen, but it’s the hot priest calendar that turned him into the Rankin of Catholicism. He says he created it to “educate the tourists who visit Rome by providing precise information on the Vatican state” – with facts and titbits written inside. He describes this as “very simple information, which the average tourist fully disregards”.

Still, the calendar is not without controversy. It has been criticised for repeating the same images year after year, although Pazzi disputes this claim. “Sometimes I replace the pictures,” he says. Looking through back issues, it appears to be true that February, May and July often change. Some of the repeated priests occasionally switch months, too.

Equally, accusations of Vatican propaganda have found their way on to various chat forums (the Vatican did not respond to requests for comment). Pazzi says the two are not linked: “I have never been reproached or called into question by any religious authority for the calendar,” he says, adding that, about 10 years ago, the Vatican confirmed that “it was not its official initiative but that of a private individual”.

The calendar itself is printed by a specialist “and distributed in an artisanal way”, he says, rather than being mass-produced. According to the calendar bumf, profits go to Snap, a support group for women and men abused by religious and institutional authorities.

Pazzi says the absence of the priests’ names is simply proof that neither the calendar, or its poster boys, are “products of vanity”. As to whether the calendar has led to a lifetime of fame, he thinks not. “These are photos of priests,” he says, “not photos of film stars.”

[ellaswindley]

Improving as an Illustrator and Professional 2 - Monster High

On this day, as I suggested in my last post, I started a social media page to promote my own Monster High-style art. This was actually an ideal time to start this venture: as I was weeks away from my pending redundancy, I needed to set up an alternate revenue stream in order to keep me going whilst I am unemployed.

Because of this, I felt that an art Instagram would be ideal. In my Littlest Pet Shop commission post (found here), I had conveyed that I thought personable communities built around hobbies and interests would be more viable for selling commissions than on a commission-specific space such as Fiverr.com. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, sites such as Fiverr.com charge their artists to use the platform, and this fee is as high as 20%. Anything I can do to receive the full amount of a client’s payment will be a worthwhile endeavour. Secondly, I thought that people are more likely to purchase commissions from people that are within the community as an interested party. By this, I mean that if I were to start an account and immediately post about creating commissions, I could be identified as someone who is only interested in the monetary aspects. By contrast, if I created an account and posted my own hobby work, grew a following and made friends, and then posted about opening commissions – people may be far more responsive.

Another reason that I identified Instagram as a viable platform, is because I have observed it to be as such in my personal life. On my normal Instagram account, I follow many Instagram artists and often see their 'commission posts'. These are posts that describe their art styles and prices, and I have seen that they often update the audience using ‘Stories’ to say that their commission slots are sold out. This is true within the niche Monster High community. Here, you can see just a few of the accounts that have posted commission posts, and all of them have been successful in that they have worked with clients to create commissions.

I am glad that I have access to these posts, as I am also able to observe and take note of the market rate across all of these accounts. In my time at TLPS, I had been taught how to correctly charge for a service. There, we had to take the flat-cost of something by calculating the design time, printing, postage and VAT costs that we would have to pay. We would then take this sum, and times it by x2.5. This cost would then be the cost for a paying client. However, at this point in time, I feel that it is relevant that the business failed in no small part to being too expensive. So, by being able to observe art account’s prices, I think I have a better reference than my previous teachings could have given me.

Starting an art account is something I had done before, but gained very little traction due to it all being my own original characters and ideas. If I could make an account as part of this 'fandom' space, I could gain followers merely by being a part of a community. Because of this, I looked through my own 'following' list and identified as many Monster High accounts as I could. I noticed that many of these accounts were named after their respective OCs (Original Characters). In my previous post (found here), I had created an OC for myself that I intended to use as my first post. However, I had yet to give her a name!

I thought for a while, and remembered that almost all of the Monster High characters I had previously analysed had silly pun names based on real-world names. For example, instead of Julia there is Ghoulia, instead of Claudine there is Clawdeen, instead of Persephone there is Purssephone. So I really wanted to keep this traight, as it is both integral to the brand and also just so endearing. I wanted my name to be a pun on my own name: Ella Swindley. I thought about an Oracle, and all of the things they do. They’re psychics, they’re clairvoyant (Claire Voyant would be a great back-up name), they’re fortune tellers… Oh! Teller, Ella: Tella. I can’t lie, I felt like a genius with this name even though it is so silly.

For the last name, I wanted something that began with S and maybe had something to do with her appearance. Maybe something that had to do with her colours, Saffron? Or something to do with her third eye? This is how I landed on Sclera. Either because of luck, or because nobody in the world has ever thought to combine these two words, “tellasclera” was available as a username on Instagram. I snagged it up, and officially had an account!

To build the account out, I did all of the necessary steps to not make it look empty. I filled out my description, added a profile picture of my first drawing, and followed as many Monster High accounts as I possibly could.

I then created my first post--the illustration of Tella. Carousels, which are posts with more than one image, seemed to appear more often in my own scrolling than image posts. This is explained by Metricool: "carousels, which outperforms image posts in terms of both reach and interactions". Because of this, I made my first post a carousel. I used relevant hashtags, and gave myself a shout-out on my other hobby account (where I create custom dolls, and had already grown a following of 800 followers), and gained 23 followers within the day. I think this shows the power of ‘influencer marketing’, as I was able to get some of my followers to follow an account that only had one post.

Overall, I was very happy with the fruits of my labour on this day. 23 followers from one post felt like so many, and it hopefully meant that I could successfully become popular enough within the space to open commissions. I learnt a lot about conducting my own research and identifying market trends, as well as using social media to promote myself.

REFERENCES:

Sophie (unknown surname) (2024), ‘Best Practices for Instagram Carousel Posts’, https://metricool.com/instagram-carousels/#:~:text=Carousel%20posts%20have%20become%20an,of%20both%20reach%20and%20interactions.

[green5quirrel]

Ugh. I'm bored.

I'm just gonna write some shit.

It's like "Morning Pages" except circa late 90's early 2000's Livejournal/OpenDiary style. So bear with me.

I've just updated my Bullet Journal. Even typing that makes me cringe. What would 20-something year old me think of a bullet journal? What would 20-something year old I don't fit in any boxes so don't try to put me in one think of writing on grid paper? I mean...it's ALL boxes, isn't it?

But this is my life, now. I write in Bullet Journals. I wear cardigans. I claw my way through the Artist's Way carefully excising the presence of religion. I don't have boobs (or nipples). Let's just say a lot of things have changed in the past two decades.

I go to this amazing little queer coffee house. I use the word "queer" unironically and also use it for myself. I go to this amazing little queer coffee house with its fairies dangling from fishing wire on the ceiling (like, doll fairies not the slur). These plastic folks are mostly Barbie dolls made to look like fairies and sway in the breeze of people walking by amid the lines of faux Edison bulb string lights and pride flag garland.

I go there every Wednesday. I meet up with a bunch of folks (folx? I dunno the current accepted spelling these days) and we do an iteration of Stitch and Bitch. Today I worked on my fanfiction.

After I left the café I went to an Ace Hardware store. I went there because I am an adult and uncool and also because I am working to get into clock repair as a hobby and had been there last week to pick up some tools that were not clock specific.

I met a 61 year old man called Bill there last week. He excitedly chatted to me about the clocks he'd inherited and sold and those he had kept. He has a mantel clock and wanted me to take a look at it. I declined. And I declined again after he insisted. I've not even cracked open a clock and taken out a movement. There's no way I'm working on a family heirloom.

He'll show me the picture of the clock next week as he wasn't able to get over there to take it on account of it being someone's birthday (his business partner's?). Bill shares his life like a person shares Halloween candy in a big plastic bowl on the first of November.

He likes my name. But he still refers to me as a girl. But he also treats me like he's excited to see me even though we've only met twice.

Bill once got paid a few thousand dollars to do some landscaping for a rich person and a few hundred to put in a tree. So, yeah, I consider those two things like tootsie rolls. The chocolate bars are when he talks about his family and how he supports them and his childhood in a watch shop with his dad while a parade of circus animals passes by.

At any rate, after I talked to Bill I went to an antique's mall nearby and scoured the shelves for anything that would be beneficial to my clock repair goals. I didn't find anything today, but that's okay. I'll go back in a couple of weeks.

I am struggling a little right now. So lemme give you all some quality Halloween candy, if you don't mind.

In 2020 my mom died of liver cancer. I had moved back to my hometown to help her and when she started to decline I decided that as soon as she had passed and I had come to terms with it I would move on and explore my options of where to live next.

In 2020 there weren't any options. There continued to not be options for a while after that. Now, as time has finally started to even out and pass like it's supposed to pass, instead of the slow/fast/manic/depressive pace it went through during the pandemic, I am suddenly left with possibility. And that is scary.

I have a partner in Canada who works in Michigan. So there is a thought to move there. But I'm not sure how my mood will go with the rain and cold. Still, Michigan seems safer than here below the Mason Dixon line.

Currently, in this moment, I am struggling not only with motivation and courage but also with working retail when my brain wants anything but to work in the toxic environment of the needy and the entitled.

I have no energy to be creative and my clock repair hobby is also crawling because of that lack of energy. I don't know how I used to do it. How did I sustain myself while expending so much time and energy on a job like this? It wasn't drugs. I wasn't cool enough for that. It must've been joy to some degree. Youth, certainly. Perhaps hope. Perhaps ignorance/naivety. Whatever it was I definitely don't have it anymore.

Was this meant to be an entry to whine in? No. It wasn't meant to be anything. It wasn't meant to be pithy or amusing or witty or motivational. It was meant to be an entry for boredom and reflect. So there it is. I've done it. I've succeeded.

Now to sacrifice myself to the fatigue that has been insisting on attention for an hour now and draw myself a warm blanket to lie in and drown in my dreams.

[onemomstrash]

The Ethics of Reselling

As a parent, you always want to lead a positive example for your kids. Most subjects and lessons aren't black and white - there are pros and cons to consider and sometimes you have to step back and calculate what does more harm than good. Reselling is no exception.

If you're new to reselling, you may not know that there is a hotly debated question that every reseller needs to think about: Is it ethical to purchase items from a thrift store to resell, or should thrift store goods be reserved for low-income shoppers who plan to use the items for themselves.

No one can answer this question without some bias. Your current and past personal finances, attitude about money, location, and more are going to affect how you feel about it. As you've probably figured out, I consider the pros of reselling to far outweigh the negatives, which is why I feel good about reselling in order to support my family.

But if you browse Reddit (as I do daily) for posts about reselling, you'll see many like this one from r/ThriftStoreHauls in December 2022: "Reselling goes against what thrifting is really all about and resellers have damn near ruined thrifting. The 'side hustle' is killing the hobby and killing a place for people with low income to buy half decent clothes."

I want to cover the pros and cons of reselling and point out some things to consider when thinking about the ethics of shopping at thrift stores and reselling.

Reselling Keeps Items Out of Landfills

Global warming - heard of it? Consumption and waste is a massive issue today, and the best ways to cut down on waste are to 1) avoid buying more stuff and 2) reuse the stuff you already have.

According to TheRoundUp.org, the world produces 92 million tons of JUST textile waste per year, with China contributing 20 million of that and the U.S. contributing 17 million. 66% of unwanted clothing ends up in the landfill, with less than 15% of it being recycled and 19% of it burned.

That's a TON of waste.

A lot of textile waste from developed countries is also sent to Africa or Asia. This is often referred to as a "gift" to these areas when in reality the textiles are often unusable, causing communities to have to figure out how to dispose of them. As you can read in this Greenpeace article, textile waste is literally sitting along African riverbanks because there is no other way to deal with it. With so many cheap clothing options being sent to these regions, textile waste is also crushing local textile markets with consumers choosing cheap prices over quality.

Resellers keep items from making their way to the landfill - and global riverbanks. And since we are talking about oversupply...

Most Thrift Stores Do Not Have An Issue of Low Inventory - Rather the Opposite

I'm not quite sure where the myth that there is not enough to go around when it comes to thrift stores came from - but it's absolutely a myth. Sure, there may be a limited number of designer items available at low thrift store prices, but when it comes to functional, warm, stylish clothing, thrift stores are literally overflowing.

Anyone who has ever been to the Goodwill Bins can attest to this. At the bins, donated items are dumped into large bins, where shoppers can sort through and pick up what they want, then pay per pound for their treasures. Certain larger items may be a higher, flat, price, but the general pricing for bin items is between $1 and $2 per pound.

Thrift stores get so many donations, that the goods are often not even sorted before heading right to the bins, meaning that they are never looked through in order for workers to pull items to sell at Goodwill retail stores. Because of this, you often have a better chance of finding designer goods at the cheap Goodwill bins than Goodwill retail stores, as many designer items are pulled from retail stores in order to be sold online at Goodwill auctions.

Many resellers are also niche resellers. They might focus on selling vintage, designer, or band tees. Some of the most popular and well-loved clothing and shoe brands don't resell for much, which means that they are often untouched by resellers. These items still provide warmth, comfort, and functionality, and are ALL over thrift stores. I've never been to a thrift store that wasn't filled with American Eagle jeans in a variety of sizes and Gap sweaters in tons of colors! I could easily take another reseller friend and a non-reseller friend with me to the thrift store, and all of us would find things to buy while leaving plenty for others.

Since I brought up bins pricing, I feel I need to mention a thrift store pricing reality:

The Goal of Most Thrift Stores is NOT to Provide Low-Priced Goods

Many thrift stores' main goal is to fund initiatives like career growth, NOT to provide low-priced items to shoppers. Even Goodwill, probably the first name you think of when you hear thrift store, has this as a mission statement:

"Goodwill® works to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work."

Their #1 goal is to earn money, and resellers often spend more at thrift stores than regular shoppers. Browse through the Reddit thread I linked above, and you'll see a comment from a thrift store worker who said that they are a top three store in their region largely due to sales to resellers. Resellers keep thrift stores in business so that they can reach their goals and still continue to offer items at reasonable prices for low-income shoppers.

Resellers CAN Inflate The Prices of Sought-After Items - But So Can Thrift Stores

I often see resellers being blamed for inflated thrift store prices. People believe that because resellers are selling brands for resale-level prices and making content in order to promote brands that they like to pick up, they are giving thrift stores all of the information they need in order to mark up prices.

But here is the thing: Thrift stores are in charge of their own pricing. They may see that a brand is selling for hundreds online and then decide to price their item at hundreds as well - but this is a corporate choice. They get free donations, and they obviously want to profit off of these donations in order to stay in business, but sometimes their markup can get pretty ridiculous. I've seen my fair share of items that still have tags selling for $5 at the thrift when I can clearly see the original $3 price tag. Sometimes this pricing can benefit us as buyers, as overpriced and unsold items also often end up at the Goodwill bins to be sold by the pound.

Under this heading is also where I want to mention a type of reselling that I personally don't find to be ethical at all: The buying up of retail items such as medical equipment, basic necessities, or children's Christmas gifts to be resold at a profit.

Almost every Black Friday, I see someone with a pallet of the season's hottest toys and get embarrassed that they call themselves resellers. Last year it was Magic Mixies that started to pop up for triple the cost once they sold out of stores. The year before that, parents couldn't get a hold of Cocomelon dolls. During the pandemic, you had people marking up toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and other things that people needed to stay safe and healthy. To me, this is a completely different type of reselling and one that I can't support. If you're willing to have someone become ill or ruin a child's Christmas morning because you wanted to make a fast and high profit, I don't consider you a reselling peer.

Reselling Isn't Just Selling

It's hunting for the right items. It's washing and stain-treating them. It's mending holes or tie-dyeing away stains. It's steaming and photographing and listing and shipping. Reselling might be fun to those of us who do it, but it's also WORK. No reseller is sourcing for inventory and then laying around watching the money roll in. Many reselling skeptics will say that they feel it's okay to upcycle thrifted goods, but much of the work of reselling goes unnoticed. But this work is important! Often the difference between something heading to a landfill vs. heading to a new home after it sells on Poshmark is a deep cleaning and someone to believe in it.

Low-Income Shoppers May Not Be Able to Make it to the Thrift Store in Time to Nab Treasures

One of the most complicated aspects of reselling ethics is that there are so many factors related to someone's opportunity to shop and the amount of money they can spend. At what point does someone no longer qualify as low-income? Is it ethical for someone in poverty to start reselling in order to improve their financial situation? And does everyone have the same opportunity to shop for the same goods?

The answer to that last one is a complicated no. The area you live in is going to affect what is available at your thrift stores. This is the case when it comes to the quality of the items and the kind of items. A higher-income area will often have higher-dollar items donated. A store in the south will probably not be a great place to source for outerwear.

Schedules also play a big role in reselling. The more time you have to browse thrift stores, the more opportunity you have to source something good. I've seen many people point out that low-income shoppers also often work longer hours or multiple jobs, meaning that they have less free time to spend finding deals at the thrift store. Again, something I feel needs to be mentioned in order to paint the picture that reselling is a gray area.

Some People Want Thrifted Items but Don't Want to Thrift

I feel like it's not talked about enough that thrifting just isn't for everyone. It's time-consuming. It's overwhelming. It takes a lot of knowledge in order to make good buys. And sometimes it's just plain gross. I LOVE it, but if I didn't love it, I would absolutely buy from a reseller in order to get something I really wanted without all of the searching and cleaning. Luckily, I find that this is how most non-thrifters look at thrifted goods: I'm happy to pay a price we agree upon, especially because I didn't have to go hunting in a basement to find it.

Reselling Offers a Flexible Way for People to Earn Income

I started reselling 6 years ago when my son was about 6 months old. I was not living in poverty. We had just made the decision that I would be a stay-at-home mom because my mental health was struggling postpartum. Most of this was because I was working for a startup that offered me almost no resources as a new mom. I didn't get any paid maternity leave. They chose not to bring me on as a salaried employee but rather keep me on as a contractor so that they would not have to offer me benefits. I worked from home, which seemed like an amazing deal for a new parent, but they expected the baby to not be seen or heard. I was trying to do the bulk of my work at night, which meant that I handed the baby off to my husband when he got home and locked myself in my office.

Eventually, we couldn't take it anymore, and he told me I could quit. Because we were planning on me working, we had not been saving up for this transition. We very abruptly lost more than 33% of our household income and had a new baby who needed lots of things. So I started to shop for baby clothes at thrift stores. One day I found a nice pair of shoes that weren't his size, but they were SUCH a great deal. They were priced at $3 and I knew my in-laws had recently bought him a pair at the retail cost of $45. I decided to see if I could earn a little bit from them, went home to make an eBay account, and sold them the next morning for $15.

That's how it all started.

I could go on all day about how our country treats new mothers, but I'll focus on the fact that it is REALLY hard to be a mom and earn any kind of money. Whether you're a working mom who is having a hard time balancing it all, a stay-at-home mom who is struggling with not contributing financially, or a mom who just simply wants to earn some extra income for a special trip, new stove, or kids' activities, I love the flexibility that reselling has given me, and I want to help women make it work for them too. When I decided to stay home with my son, it was the first time that I hadn't worked since I was 15 and the first time I was financially dependent on someone since I was 18. That was tough for me. Until I discovered reselling, I felt like the only way to spend time with my kids and make money was to join a sketchy MLM and work for pennies while never looking away from my phone.

I'm happy that I found another option.

I'd love for this to be a post I come back to over and over again to edit. For it to be an accurate and insightful take on the ethics of reselling. So I'd love for you to drop your comments below and keep the conversation going.

[audio-luddite]

Business as Usual.

The more things change......

I watched a Micheal Fremer "Tracking Angle" You Tube Tour of Audio Research Corp from a few days ago. As far as it goes it is business as usual there. A new owner has put in some cash and people are working. The offices are spacious and I wish I had such a nice place to work. They have a lot of stuff and it is a bit cluttered due to a recent move that was before the $$ trouble.

They do lavish things on their product, but nowhere near the level of that DartZeel company. Do you really have to laser etch the back panel labels? It takes minutes to laser carve the lines on a single meter display. Very careful assembly and much attention to detail.

They have a lot of parts in stock even from the old days. I may be able to get the right color code fets for my ARC SP14 if I need them.

In Contrast to DartZeel they actually assemble and test the circuits there in a large shop. I like that they tried an "Asian" supplier for transformers and even though they met the spec they sounded funny so they went back to NA supply and trashed the commie shit.

I wish that Fremer would refrain from whistling when he goes into idle mode. It is neither melodious or in tune. That is ironic.

At the level they work and sell they must have a certain look and feel and that drives much of the design. Their commitment to Vacuum Tubes is significant, which does disappoint me to a degree. There were some new bench prototypes he was told to not photograph. Lots of glass there.

That brings me to the second thing. The first is that they are still there up and running. The second thing is are still developing new designs. They have been making high end stuff since 1970. That is 53 years people. The key pieces of Preamp and Amplifiers have been down every design road I am sure. What are they looking for? OK DACs and CDs and all that stuff is newish, but the basic stuff is half a century of work by more than one very good designer.

McIntosh still makes the same stuff as when WoodStock happened. Though they have never been considered SOTA.

The TOTL of every ARC generation is usually the latest global SOTA benchmark. But why does the goal move? Does it actually move?

I have experienced closely three ARC products. Many more in stores, but in my home or other people's I have known three, all preamplifiers.

The first being the SP 3a1. It was lovely and rich like a really good chocolate mouse. (more on Chocolate later) Eventually and today it is considered bloated, even muddy and far from the best today. That was 1975.

About twelve years later I found and purchased an ARC SP12 which was first sold in 1985. It was relatively stripped down and it was my main machine for a LOOONNNG time. A full tube design, it had wonderful depth and space and was so nice to listen to. It was absolutely better than the SP3s but it did hide things in the fuzzy warm space. It was also a price point exercise.

Only a short time ago I got the ARC SP14 of 1990s vintage after a prolonged search. That unit has detail and resolution the SP12 could only dream of. I am certain that there is no more information to extract from my source as far as a preamp is concerned. That is 20 odd years of progress and probably improved quality of parts too.

My constant guiding star is this whole hobby is about preferences not some absolute goal. Part of the marketing is, I am sure, for builders to constantly up the ante, but are things getting objectively better? At some level it does not get better, only different without being bad.

Please recall that back in the 1970s solid state surpassed the perceived quality of the Vacuum for a time. Then it not so much came back as a fan base developed to cheer them on. That was ARCs market niche.

So corporate life goes on and I am glad as I like their stuff. They sound nice.

NEXT ITEM.

The Audiophiliac guy admitted to having a strong, call it, style preference. He likes things maybe for the wrong reasons?

Getting to the very bottom of this is he likes and does not like this preamp. It does not fit his preferences "the sound is not my bag", but it sounded more like he remembered a recording session he was at for some of the music he played. Kinda contradictory that. Clarity and detail are MY thing. If it had a phono for normal humans I might put it on my lottery jackpot list. Meitner makes a phono front end equalizer for the optical DS cartridge. Talk about commitment.

As far a his review he never stated the DAC he used for streaming, the phono preamp he used for the LPs, or the CD deck he used. He used several different amplifiers, and two different speakers and compared to two other preamps. Presumably all those other things did not contribute to the differences in sound.

It is apparent he likes richer meatier sounds, whatever that means. It is like him saying he prefers chocolate and does not care for lemon tarts, yet he reviews a lemon tart and kinda likes it. I suppose if you have similar tastes his opinions are more valuable.

There is a lesson here. Trust nobody but your own tastes and remember it is taste.

[lgwebspacethemedfmp]

TSR

Tactical Studies Rules was created as a partnership between Don Kaye and Gary Gygax in 1973 in order to formally publish and sell the original rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Later on the partnership expanded to Dave Arneson and Brian Blume who funded the publishing of Dungeons & Dragons as opposed to relying on the revenue of another project to fund that one. The following year, TSR sold around a thousand copies of Dungeons & Dragons as well as selling dice sets to go along with it. Originally the only distributers that TSR used were for miniatures and not the base game, but that changed between 1975 and 1976 when they joined the Hobby Industry Association and established a network of distributors. In 1975 TSR hired its first full-time employee, publications editor Tim Kask, before the TSR partnership was ended shortly after after Don Kaye died. 

Shortly after the partnership dissolved, Gygax and Blume incorporated TSR Hobbies Inc, a new company. In 1976 they began hosting Gen Con (currently the largest table-top games convention in North America) as well as starting Dungeons & Dragons open tournaments. In 1978 the company upgraded from the basement and moved above the Dungeon Hobby Shop. 

After meeting Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, exclusive rights to distribute TSR products in the UK were granted to Games Workshop by Gygax, both original and new versions of Dungeons and Dragons were printed over there in order to avoid import costs. The company TSR Ltd was formed in 1980 in England after TSR could not reach an agreement with Games Workshop about a possible merger.

In 1980, the FBI arrived at TSR’s offices due to notes they had about a fictional assassination plot pertaining to their first campaign setting for AD&D; The World of Greyhawk. In the same year, in order to promote quality roleplaying, the Role Playing Game Association was formed. The following year, TSR Hobbies was listed as one of the hundred fasted growing privately held companies in the US. TSR Hobbies moved offices again in that same year to a former medical supply building with a warehouse attached that same year and in 1982, TSR Hobbies broke the 20 million mark in sales. The company was split into four in 1983; TSR Inc, TSR International, TSR Ventures and TSR Entertainment Inc.

At some point the presidents of TSR (minus Gygax) were forced to leave the company after accusations arose of them accumulating large debts and misusing corporate funds. The company was forced to layoff roughly 75% of the staff after having to post a net loss of 1.5 million USD. Gygax requested the Board of Directors to remove the previous presidents of the company from the stock as he himself only had 30%. This was met with them selling their stock to Lorraine Williams, which Gygax tried to have declared an illegal sale, but when that failed he sold his remaining stock to Williams and used what he had from that the form New Infinity Productions. 

Despite WIlliams being a financial planner and seeing potential in transforming a debt-ridden company into a profitable one, she had a dislike of games and did not view them well, and she implemented an internal policy that games were to not be played at the company. This led to the majority of games released not being play tested unless they were done so behind her back. TSR expanded into other fields under Williams’ direction; those mainly being literary means such as books and magazines. For the next few years, TSR leaned heavily into fiction to the point that their revenue from it far surpassed the games that they published.

When collectable card games arose, TSR tried to do the same and released two games under this means; Dragon Dice and Spellfire. Success came to neither of these and eventually their inventory management became abysmal due to the accumulation of unsellable product. Furthermore, TSR started fighting against fan created work much to the displeasure of the public, resulting in the decrease of their consumer base more than it already had. Products started selling for less than they cost to make and in 1996, TSR and to endure multiple rounds of layoffs after accumulating 30 million USD in debts.

The Vice President of Wizards of the Coast, Ryan Dancey, believe the prior failure of TSR was due to ‘A near total inability to listen to its customers, hear what they were saying, and make changes to make those customers happy’. In 1997, TSR was purchased by Wizards of the Coast and its intellectual properties. Some parts of the company were resell after but after a few years the company’s name stopped being used and their trademarks were allowed to expire. In 1999 Wizards of the Coast itself was purchased by Hasbro Inc. 

[shimmerjjang]

My September Style Board

I have always loved styling ever since when I was young. For some reason, I have always wanted to blog about the clothes I wear and how I mix and match my pieces. But since I think I have focused more on what my readers wanted to read back when I was very active in blogging back in 2011, I’ve usually written about beauty and K-Pop. 

Well these days, I have been trying to loop things back to why this blog was created in the first place - being my personal space. An online space where I shouldn’t really care much about what to write! So here’s another out of the blue post - my style board!

When I look back at how my fashion style has changed all throughout the years, it’s also sort of a fascinating way to see how much I’ve grown. If you’ll see what I wore in BIGBANG’s concert back in 2012, this pretty much epitomizes my style from my late teens to early 20s! Colorful, borderline weird, and statement-centered. I get stared at all the time because I look like this amongst people in plain T-shirts and denim jeans.

But as I grow older, I began to go for something more muted. Of course, I’d say they’re still unique pieces, but I’ve become more balanced with my cuts and patterns. I go for a coordinated color palette, with plain colors complementing bright prints and patterns. Plus, I feel like I’m more wise with my fashion purchases in terms of price (I hope). One of my biggest shopping mistakes of my early 20s is spending so much on seasonal items. one example is that Adidas x Jeremy Scott Wings shoes I wore during the BIGBANG concert which I only get to wear a few times before it went out of trend. I saw 2NE1 wear them and I thought its super unique looks would justify its price. The next thing I know, everyone else is wearing them - because knock-offs were being sold left and right in markets around the metro! The same goes with my Giuseppe Zanotti shoes that G-Dragon and Park Bom once wore! The style is gorgeous, to be fair, but my gosh they were extremely uncomfortable for me. I ended up selling them both.

Now that I’m in my 30s, I have slowly shifted (or maybe “transitioned” is a better word) to more mature and sort of smart casual ensembles. Something I can wear both on a casual dinner date with friends and business meetings. Well of course I love how my style has changed but I sometimes feel like I want to remain in touch with my younger, weirder self. So mom and I’s little hobby styling clothes then selling them as full outfit ensembles became a medium to me to express that side of me. I’d coordinate a look that my younger and present self would wear, sell it, and get so much satisfaction on seeing others wear what I have styled. 

This made me realize that I’m a frustrated stylist all this time! I’ve been in the field of teaching and editorial writing for years, and then at the back of my head, I really wanted to be a stylist! Well, is it too late for a career shift? I guess my little online styling gig right now should suffice.

[madcoindealer]

The Death of the Coin Shop and polarization of markets within coin dealing

I want to examine three trends today. They are not new, but they are accelerating:

1. Polarizing the buy and sell markets

There has been an increase in the number of venues which are “buy only” and “sell only” as market polarization increases. Physical brick and mortar shops are now increasingly “buy only” establishments from the dealer perspective, as the hobby has fewer buyers. These establishments are making their money on the buy-side of the transaction by paying under market, and have decided that to maximize profits, they will not sell in the same marketplace. Or, if they do sell – they sell only bullion and no numismatic items. What other business exists where they will buy your goods, but not sell you equivalent goods? I think this has several causes:

a. Reputation management -shops do not want to be perceived as having “bad deals” on the sell side, as it may deter potential sellers once seeing reviews from disinterested buyers.

b. Opaque pricing – Having no “sell price” allows the shop to lie about their margins to the seller. I often go to shows and hear dealers listing off to the public their “overhead” in a lengthy list in an attempt to justify their buy price. My response to those dealers is the same: if you have so much overhead, why are you in business? Not revealing the true spread allows a seller to acquire a better buy price.

d. Cash flow optimization—There is no need to have coins for sale in a physical shop – If a shop is working on an exclusively wholesale agreement, the coins may be in the door one day, and out the door next day. Shops are looking more for cash flow than optimizing profit.

e. Profit optimization – Inversely, there are some shops which confusingly will not sell to other dealers, because they have such large collector bases online that any immediate sale presents no benefit when the item will be sold at full retail in days or weeks. Any sales to small time collectors in store are more hassle when items are optimized for eCommerce fulfillment.

Some shops are now heavily moving to wholesale models where they will exclusively sell to middlemen or large wholesalers (APMEX, JP Bullion, SD Bullion, Dillon Gage). There is similarly an emerging market of pure “sell only” venues in eCommerce, with dealers originating their collections from middle-market wholesalers, and selling to other collectors online, never physically seeing the originating collection, or the collector. As mentioned on Twitter, to support this new type of sell-only venue, some shops are now selling inventory to large flippers acting as wholesalers, bypassing the traditional wholesale market. In a bout of irony, the dealers who are adamantly against eBay are now having their items being sold on eBay 2 or 3 steps down the chain, and they may even be buying the same coin once it is graded by a third party. Because of all of these, the retail “coin shop” for buyers has been dying for 40 years, but it will find new life online (but at perhaps a worse deal; the ‘good deals’ will be reserved for those with the cash and patience to be collector-dealers)

2. Disinformation by Boomers regarding profitability and the new generation of dealers

The coin dealer footprint is shrinking and consolidating as the Boomers die off. They are not going out without a fight, and seem to be transferring much of the inventory holdings to their long established business partners, rather than doing the right thing for the health of the market, and selling to younger dealers. These old time dealers often shout the myth: “I don’t make a lot of money”, but this is purely for show. Yes, coin dealers make a lot of money! Scandalous! If a coin dealer is not making serious money from their business, they are bad at business, or lying, and it is impossible to tell without examining their financial statements. A new generation of dealers are emerging, and the next 5-20 years of cleaning out the dying Boomers’ stock is going to going to lead to increasing consolidation and the passing of a torch to a new tech savvy generation of dealers. Whether the torch is passed peacefully or wrestled out of a rigor mortis stricken hand is yet to be seen.

3. The pot will call the kettle black, and it will be on Facebook

Dealers have been calling other dealers frauds and crooks since coin dealing became a profession. The fact is, collectibles as a business is not based on extracting value from labor, but speculation of rarity, supply, and demand. Therefore, there is a large incentive to issue detractions of competitors to gain competitive advantage. Many dealers accuse other dealers of the same tricks they themselves engage in, especially when it comes to sourcing and pricing. Every dealer wants to give the impression that they have a magical source of problem-free coins and their competition is polishing old inventory and selling it as uncirculated. Recently this has been weaponized via social media, and this hostility has turned off many away of the dealers wishing to sell at retail pricing for fear of ostracization by the buyer-oriented community. An effect of this absence of the retail dealers is the emergence of the buyer friendly flipper on social media. Market-to-market arbitrage on social media is now occurring very often, with schemes like Instagram-to-eBay, Reddit-to-eBay, or Instagram-to-Facebook being the modus operandi of an entire new generation of dealers. In all cases, the buy sale is being made dealer-to-dealer with high amounts of information and low information asymmetry to the more casual collector sell side market with a greater amount of information asymmetry. In no-value-add markets like collectibles, profit is the result of information asymmetry because in a perfectly level market, the margins from normal lot sizing profit would not be enough to be sustainable, and thus the market should cease to exist.

Because of all these, we will see an acceleration of polarization and a shift to online-only sales venues in the next few years. Online sales venues allow for low overhead, reduced licensing, greater efficiency, and greater physical security. Dealers are now wising up to information arbitrage as a means to profit, and that arbitrage is leading to the separation of the customers, locations, and normalities of the buy and sell markets.

This is the Mad Coin Dealer. Leave your ethics at home.

[ho-ku-o-five]

Kongeriget Danmark

Here is little DenNor oneshot based off the headcanon I have about how the Nations live amongst their citizens and how they must change their persona often in order for them not to be discovered as the immortal country personifications that they are, which is a pretty dark concept if you think about it.

Denmark gets too attached to his human neighbours and struggles with the knowledge that he will always outlive them all. Without Norway by his side, he wouldn't be able to cope.

-------------------

"Nation Persona Registration for Kongeriget Danmark: STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL"

Denmark stared at the document on the desk in front of him, his pen hovering just a few centimetres from the page.

The Danish National Day had been and gone a just a few days prior, on the 5th of June, and although he had been expecting that he would wake up to find the thick brown envelope sealed with the red wax seal from his government on his doormat any day now, that didn't mean he was prepared for it. 

It had been 10 years since he’d last had this form lain out in front of him, and it had been just as hard back in 2010 as it was today.

In order to keep their existence somewhat unknown from their people and ordinary citizens, the Nations must change their identity regularly if they wanted to live among humans to avoid suspicion. Denmark couldn’t imagine a life away from his people, away from his neighbours and community, away from everyone and simply hidden away on a large piece of land all alone in a draughty house, and so he’d always chosen to re-register himself and play the role of an citizen since the 1800’s when it first became an available option to him.

Each government had their own way of doing this and so it could differ from country to country, but the Prime Minister and cabinet of Denmark’s government liked to keep it simple. Every 10 years around the 5th of June, or Denmark’s ‘birthday’ as it was sometimes coined, was when it was time for Denmark to pack up his things and re-invent himself.

He threw down his pen and his head fell into his open palms, sighing heavily.

At present, he was Mikkel Jensen, a 30-something year old Danish man who worked for the electricity board and lived on Maglekildevej in the small city of Roskilde, or at least this is how he was registered and this is what he told his neighbours.

Now, Denmark didn’t hate the responsibility of being a Nation Personification. He was good at his job and his role and in fact he rather loved it, sometimes working for 12 hours or more at a time to support his government. He even hadn’t minded the Viking days or the Kalmar union, even though he did still hold many regrets from that time in his long life. What he hated, truly hated, was the minor inconvenience of immortality. To the average person, 10 years would seem like a relatively long amount of time, but to Denmark it was like the blink of an eye. It felt like only yesterday that he bought this house and Lars Løkke Rasmussen was his prime minister.

Rising from his chair, Denmark walked over to the window and leant on the window ledge. He looked out at the street past the low fence of his front yard and at the house across the road. In the 10 years he had lived here he had got to know his neighbours and the humans that ran the local businesses around him.

Jette and Askel lived across the street in the house that he was looking at. It was a pretty house, all white plaster with a beautiful rose bed in the front garden. They had a baby girl last year, and Denmark had taken them a cake a hamper full of toys and outfits for the little newborn in congratulations. Then there was Eva the friendly bar tender in his local bar. She’d recently got engaged to Bo from the bakers. Denmark had bought them a bottle of Moet in celebration. He would miss them all, but the person that he couldn’t stand the thought of moving away from this time was Lillebeth, the elderly lady who lived directly next door. Denmark did everything for her.

Although he lived alongside his human citizens and had relationships with them, he tried his best not to get too attached for them and go as far as making friends with them, but Lillebeth had captured his heart pretty much as soon as he’d taken the ‘sold’ sign down in his front yard. He’d moved to Roskilde from Copenhagen in the summer of 2010, just after he’d left behind his life as Magnus Jensen, a high rise office worker, and became Mikkel. Denmark liked to keep the same last name and the same initial of his first name each time it came to re-register, not wanting to completely re-invent himself to the point he was unrecognisable from his previous human persona.

On the day Denmark had moved in, Lillebeth had been struggling to bring in her bags of groceries from her car. He hadn’t hesitated to go and help her, despite being exhausted from carrying heavy boxes and furniture to and from his house all morning, part of him genuinely wanting to help an old lady, and the other part of him happy for an excuse to get to know his new neighbours. She invited him in for a coffee and a sandwich that afternoon in thanks, and Denmark found comfort in her right away. He had always longed for a mother or grandmother figure, and Lillebeth turned out to be just that. As the years rolled by, the two had become quite the pair. In summer they would garden together and share Limoncello, Lillebeths favourite tipple, over the fence, and in the colder winter months Denmark would walk with her to the shops and back to make sure that she didn’t slip on the ice. All the while however he knew that he was just making things worse for himself as he knew he couldn’t stay in Roskilde forever.

Tearing his eyes away from the window, Denmark brought a hand up to his cheek and wiped away a tear that he hadn’t realised was rolling down his face as he was deep in thought until he felt it drip onto his collarbone. In a haze, he walked into the kitchen and set the coffee machine brewing, looking around the house. It suddenly felt cold and empty. In his lifetime, Denmark had seen many a movie and read many a book written by humans about the gifts of immortality. Vampires, Witches, even teenage school children were often written as immortal as if it were some kind of divine quality. He scoffed as he thought about it. Who in their right mind would want to live forever? To be devoid of friends, of family? Sure, Denmark had the other Nordics and the other Nations, but nothing would ever be able to fill the hole in his heart where his own family and children should have been.

He couldn’t count how many times he’d started again and how many people he’d left behind over the years, and at times cursed himself for not choosing to live as a recluse and only interacting with other nations and a select few humans in government like some of the other nations did. In his appearance Denmark could pass for a human between his early 20’s and up to late 30’s depending on how he dressed, and over each of the 10 year personas he had repeated pretending to age so many times. Each year that passed he would change his looks slightly, cut his hair a little differently and lose and gain different interests just to really make it believable to the humans around him that he was a man going from a young adult to mature adult, and it was exhausting. He’d run out of hobbies and interests at this point, and had no idea who he was going to be next.

His eyes stung and his lungs burned as he tried his best to hold back his misery, but he couldn’t. Burying his face in the crook of his arm, Denmark slid down the counter and landed softly on the kitchen tiles, sitting with his back against the cupboard and just wept. The sound of his body wracking sobs filled the house and he could feel his throat becoming hoarse. The coffee machine beeped above him on the side and there was a knock at the front door, but Denmark was in no state of mind to care, wanting nothing more than to just scream out in anger. His mind was turning dark, and he could think of nothing other than wanting to throw himself off a cliff or hold his head under the bathwater just long enough to slip away than to go through another 10 years of silent torture, but he couldn’t do that to his people.

Denmark was so detached from the world around him at that moment in his wave of sorrow that he hadn’t heard keys jangling in the lock of the front door or the calling of his name, and hadn’t realised the was someone else in the room with him until he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, pulling him close. He looked up, startled, fighting to slow his tears and blinked blurry eyed into the face above him.

“Norge…” he choked out as a gentle hand brushed the hair that had fallen flat around his face away from his eyes. Denmark struggled to sit up, but soon stopped and instead leaned into the familiar, warm figure as Norway didn’t relax his grip around his shoulders.

“Shh, I’m here.” Norway said, and Denmark could feel the rumble of his chest as he spoke. The two of them sat in silence for a short while as Denmark worked on slowing his breathing and just let Norway hold him. For as long as he could remember, Norway had always smelt the same, and being wrapped in his embrace and breathing in the faint scent of saltwater and fallen pine needles was the closest thing that Denmark would ever feel to being home.

“I had a feelin’ you would’ve had your forms already.” Norway spoke again, his voice as soft as ever, and finally released Denmark from his embrace. He uncrossed his legs and stood up from the kitchen floor, then extended a hand down to Denmark and pulled him to his feet once he’d grasped it. His eyes wandered over Denmark for a moment, lids heavy, as he stood before him, a foot taller, with his broad shoulders slumped and his eyes red and swollen.

Compared to Denmark’s, Norway’s government were a little more lenient when it came to him living amongst humans as the Nation that he was. There was no set deadline in which Norway had to re-register, as long as it was within 20 years of him having previously done so. He knew by now that Denmark had to re-register every 10 years, and that each time Denmark found it harder and harder. Norway’s bosses also knew this, and so he had worked over time the past week to allow some free time to visit Denmark. He’d had to miss out on Denmark’s celebrations on the 5th of June as well as Sweden’s the day after, but after a brief chat, Sweden understood and would rather Norway spend the coming days with Denmark as he packed up his house and sent in his re-registration forms than to get just drunk with him as they could do any other year.

In the last 25 years or so, Norway had gone from Sigurd Helgeson, to Nils Isberg, then to his recent name of Lukas Vik-Olsen which he had registered to two years ago, and currently resided in Tromsø. He was worn out from working so hard the past couple of days, but he was glad that he did it.

Denmark wiped his runny nose messily on the sleeve of his sweater and looked sheepishly at Norway, already feeling a little better at having the one person he loved more than anything in the entire world standing before him.

“They came this mornin’. I’m just so tired, Nor. I can’t start again, not yet.” He said, and his voice came out as just a strained whisper.

Silence fell between them once more as Norway leaned towards Denmark and reached up, cupping his face in one hand and resting the other on his shoulder. His thumb brushed against Denmark’s cheek, and Denmark leaned into the gentle touch, wanting to cry all over again at the way Norway looked at him with such love that he would never tire of no matter how long he lived.

“Do you wanna talk through your plan with me? I can stay for a few days. You’ll be okay, I promise.” Norway said, and nodded to his suitcase that stood by the front door, his jacket and shoes messily discarded beside it from where he had rushed to Denmark’s side upon entering.

Although reluctant, Denmark trusted Norway and knew that eventually he would be alright. Living among humans wasn’t all bad, in fact majority of the time he loved it, and once he’d got settled into his new life he would soon start to feel better.

He nodded as Norway slid his hand away from his face, “Getting my passport re-done is the easiest part, I just need to think of my next name. I mean, I’ve got an idea but…” Denmark mused as he turned to the coffee machine and took two mugs from the shelf behind it, reaching all the way to the back to dig out the large one that had always been Norway’s favourite.

“Well you know I’ll take your new passport photo for you, if you want.” Norway said, taking the hot mug of coffee that Denmark had poured as he passed it to him and curled his fingers around it.

The pair walked into the living room. Norway took a seat on the couch and Denmark set his coffee down on the table, disappearing into the study for a moment and then returning with the brown envelope. Denmark was in no state of mind to make any solid decisions right now about his re-registration, but running over his thoughts and voicing his worries with Norway would help his mentality. Sitting down heavily next to Norway, Denmark laid the envelope on his knee and slid the contents out again.

“Y’know,” Norway began, blowing softly onto the hot coffee in his mug in a vain attempt to cool it down, “I’ve always liked the name Matthias.”

Denmark glanced at Norway out of the corner of his eye. No matter where he found himself, or how much he might despise the curse of his immortality, as long as the Kingdom of Denmark had the Kingdom of Norway by his side, he would be alright.

Now, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Matthias, huh?”

[100dad]

100 things that made me America’s Dad

#1 I had Sex. It is tough to be a Dad when you do not have a kid. Full credit due for invitro dads, for adoption dads, and stepdads. I am not trying to bash on anybody’s parade. I just did it the old-fashioned way. Had a lot of fun. It is a natural talent.

#2 I got my priorities in the right order.  It is not about me anymore. Faith. Wife. Kids. Then me. My hobbies take a back seat. The gym became less important.

#3 I made my marriage a priority.

#4 I made sure I could financially provide. Check income. Track expenses. Budget.

#5 Financially prepared for the future. College. Retirement. Big Purchases. House. Cars. Etc.

#6 I made sure I had a Will.

#7 I made sure I had Life Insurance.

#8 I recognized that I am now a role model. I should at least act like it.

#9 I stayed optimistic about everything. Because pessimism sucks.

#10 Made sure Mom and Dad are on the same team.

#11 My discipline game was on point. Strong, Firm, Reasonable.

#12 I protected my family.  From physical harm, spiritual harm, emotional harm, evil.

#13 I am thankful for everything. Where I was born. The people I have met. That guy that gave me an idea. The guy that said I couldn’t. The ones that said I could. To authors. To haters. To supporters. Everything. Everyone.

#14 I provide. A roof, food, and water. Stable home. Education. Unconditional love. Discipline. Consequences.

#15 Not rigid. I stay flexible. Not only in the sack. I’m not going to be rigid in my parenting. Times change. Kids have different personalities. I adjust accordingly.

#16 I shouldered the responsibility. And the blame.  All of it. I can handle it.

#17 I set the tone at home. It’s what a leader does.

#18 Made sure our family name means something in our community. How we carry ourselves and how we treat others.

#19 A good home life was more important than faking it on social media.

#20 I made sure our house was a home.

#21 I kicked ass at work. I tried to be the best. Because that is how you succeed.

#22 I prepare my kids for the real world. Age appropriately, of course.

#23 My values and morals are firm. I do not compromise on those.

#24 I put in the effort. Because this is too important to wing it.

#25 I became good at relationships. It’s amazing what being nice, reliable, and offering help will do for your reputation.

#26   Humbled myself because I realized my ego will be my downfall.

#27   Perspective was everything. I learned to put myself in other people’s shoes.

#28 Taught my kids about guns. If I am going to have them, we might as well make sure safety is taught and they do not become forbidden fruit.

#29 I reassessed who I hung out with. I wanted to elevate myself not be held back.

#30 This is who I took advice from. People who actually did what I wanted to do. Good Dads. Good businessmen who built from scratch.

#31 Time. Quality and quantity. I recognized its importance in raising a family. Time is everything.

#32 Let my kids be them. Not what I wish I had been. My Values and morals are firm but I let their personalities and talents bloom.

#33 I read books to my kids. Good bonding. Good teaching moments.

#34 I Play with my kids. Both when it was fun as they get older and when it was boring when they just laid there.

#35 I remain Calm under pressure. Cool heads prevail over emotional drama queens.

#36 I build up my kids’ confidence. Because self-esteem does not result from being crushed all the time.

#37 I give them frequent reality checks. If I’m going to be humbled…so will they. This isn’t a fairy tale.

#38 Created a stable home environment. Rules, routine, predictability.

#39 Realized how much these kids see and absorb…..and modified my behavior.

#40 I hated negativity. Still do.

#41 Vices – not for me. I can say no. I can handle stress. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, porn, tobacco….I make sure my mind is more powerful than temptation.

#42 My secret formula. Hard work + Good Decisions + Faith =Success

#43 Failing does not bother me. In fact, it oddly is fun for me.

#44 Plowed thru fears. Pushed forward. No, what-ifs.

#45 Live without regret. I do not want to be 90 wishing I had been a better dad or tried to make something of myself.

#46 Not afraid to make the unpopular decision because I know it is the right decision.

#47 I do not get painted into corners. If A and B are the only options. I find or create an option C.

#48 I am not afraid to get weird and step outside my comfort zone.

#49 I did not say the things I wanted to say when I was angry. Because I knew I would regret it and once those things are said they never really get taken back.

#50 Loved taking those scary leaps toward opportunities.

#51 Gave my kids independence and freedom as they earned it.

#52 I am not a helicopter dad. But I do verify the trust and freedoms I have allowed are worthy.

#53 Comparison was motivation, not depression. I was never envious, just inspired.

#54 Our house had RULES. Because structure is important.

#55 I refused to sacrifice my family to excel in my career.

#56 I let my kids fail…. a lot.

#57 Became okay with asking for help…. letting go of that ego thing.

#58 Actions were more important than words…. anybody can say the words.

#59 I didn’t make excuses, I just got things done.

#60 Willingness to do what others would not. I found there is much value in doing the things others find demeaning or too hard.

$61 I found the best balance is balancing over longer periods of time. Not day to day or even weekly. More seasonal.

#62 I gave myself reality checks. Check that ego.

#63 I realized how good I have it. And I did my best to soak in that contentment.

#64 Recognized my kids’ genetics and focused on their talents, skills, and personalities.

#65 Respect is important. Earning it & Giving it.

#66 Bravery is important. Super important. Stand up for what I genuinely believe in.

#67 Raising my kids to be fully functional adults.

#68 I used short-term tactics with long-term visions.

#69 Pushed my kids to be better, braver, stronger.

#70 Teach my kids everything I can about life, so they are prepared when they enter the real world without me.

#71 Recognized how important dads’ role is in the family.

#72 I document a lot. It’s great for memories. Reflection. Appreciation.

#73 I controlled my kids' influences. What they see, experience, hear.

#74 Strong man- Kind heart.

#75 The secret to a good life is simply being happy.

#76 I do my best. Give my best. Because effort is huge!

#77 Realized my wife was insanely important to our life.

#78 I drive our family value home repeatedly. No one and done. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

#79 Started my own businesses giving us control of our lifestyle.

#80 Worked close to home because I hated the idea of traffic instead of family.

#81 Made big efforts to be incredibly involved in my kids’ lives. Even the not so fun things.

#82 We switched to homeschooling. More time. More freedom. More control of influences.

#83 Knew my priorities in life. Faith. Family. Work. Friends.

#84 Budgeting was a huge deal. Both of us stayed involved and adhered to it. Neither of us wasted our hard-earned money.

#85 I did not borrow money. No partners. No inheritance. All on my own. No scapegoats. No crutches.

#86 Willing to do unpopular things and go against the grain. Because going along with crowds seems so…. basic.

#87 Cared more about building a net worth than impressing people.

#88 Despite mediocre grammar skills I enjoy writing out my thoughts. Creates clarity and conviction!

#89 Never traveled as a kid, Limited travel as an adult= Strong desire to travel!

#90 Sold a valuable business to the right company at the right time. Luck helps. Luck seems to happen to people who work really hard and do the right things.

#91 Realized having cash and no debt gives you options and freedom and tremendous peace of mind.

#92 Set huge, big goals. Never achieved them totally. But when I came up short, I still did great!

#93 Never afraid of work…even hard work, willing to outwork everyone.

#94 My hobby was my family and work. I excelled at the 2 things I focused most on.

#95 Leaned heavily on my Faith. Put my worries, struggles, anxieties on shoulders bigger than mine.

#96 I knew I did not want to replicate the bad parts of my father …but I did want to replicate the good parts.

#97 Married a girl with the same values and morals as me. With similar goals. With similar ethics. With the same determination to work through bad times and build a good life.

#98 Looked at my ancestry and wanted to become a legend in my family. I wanted our name to really mean something.

#99 Lived a life that if someone wants to dig into it there is nothing to find. Squeaky clean.

#100 Wrote down our family values. This became our compass and roadmap.

100% Dad is currently on tour traveling the country promoting the 100% Dad brand. Townsend Russell is the Founder and Personality for 100% Dad. Townsend has been on the tour for over 15 months with his family with plans to continue until January 2023. Townsend sold his businesses and retired in 2019 and has been building 100% Dad and creating insane memories with his family along the way.

Find out more about 100% Dad on the website 100dad.com

Rep the brand on 100dad.com/shop

Follow on Insta @100Dad

Youtube channel 100% Dad

[narelleart]

Best Parosphromenus spp. (”Licorice Gouramis”)

All species of Parosphromenus, to my knowledge, come from habitats that are under threat. Most species are designated Endangered or Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. Any fish from this genus should be maintained in a species tank and breeding should be attempted if we are going to continue to maintain them in the hobby, and perhaps through hobby preservation, prevent the loss of these species from the world. Check out the Parosphromenus Project for more information on preservation efforts. (Though I should note that I have reservations about the efficacy of projects aimed to “preserve species through the hobby.” See a post here where I discuss this some.)

These are gorgeous little fishes I’ve loved since I first got into the fish keeping hobby, but I’ve yet to have the opportunity to keep any. They are rare in the trade, for good reason, and I have yet to be in a situation where I had a tank ready and felt comfortable with acquiring some. As I look forward to setting up a fish room, the time has come that I will absolutely be seriously shopping for some ethically sourced Parosphromenus (likely hobby-bred). No matter how high my interest is in a species, I will not keep it if I cannot source it without acquiring a wild-caught specimen of an imperiled species being sold indiscriminately to the hobby at large.

Below is a ranked list of Parosphromenus to help me prioritize species to keep, should I have the opportunity to pick and choose between species. Rankings are based purely on subjective opinion, prioritizing those whose aesthetics I prefer. These are all great fishes!

1. P. harveyi

Size: 4.0cm / 1.57in TL Habitat: Malaysian peat swamps IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

2. P. deissneri

Size: 5.0cm / 1.97in TL Habitat: Indonesian tannic, vegetated streams IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

3. P. bintan

Size: 3.5cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Peat swamps of Bintan Island, Indonesia IUCN Redlist Status: Vulnerable

4. P. rubrimontis

Size: 3.5cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Blackwater creeks to peat swamps of Perak, Malaysia IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

5. P. filamentosus

Size: 4.5cm / 1.77in TL Habitat: River systems in Kalimantan Tengah, Central Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

6. P. alfredi

Size: 2.6cm / 1.02in SL Habitat: Remnants of peat swamps in Western Malaysia IUCN Redlist Status: Critically Endangered

7. P. quindecim

Size: 2.9cm / 1.14in SL Habitat: Sungai Pawang and Sungai Liong basins of Kalimantan Barat, Western Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Critically Endangered

8. P. gunawani

Size: 4.5cm / 1.77in TL Habitat: Peat swamp in Jambi, Sumatra IUCN Redlist Status: Critically Endangered

9. P. nagyi

Size: 4.0cm / 1.57in TL Habitat: Peat swamps and creeks in Western Malaysia IUCN Redlist Status: Vulnerable

10. P. phoenicurus

Size: 4.0cm / 1.57in TL Habitat: Blackwater swamp in the Sungai Kampar drainage, Sumatra IUCN Redlist Status: Critically Endangered

11. P. tweediei

Size: 4.0cm / 1.57in TL Habitat: Johor, Malaysia - Original habitat may have been peat swamps and streams, appears to now only be found in man-made roadside channels fed by blackwater springs IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

12. P. sumatranus

Size: 3.5cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Highly soft and acidic waters in Sumatra, Indonesia IUCN Redlist Status: Near Threatened

13. P. allani

Size: 4.0cm / 1.57in TL Habitat: Wetland and forest habitats of Sarawak, Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Vulnerable

14. P. parvulus

Size: 3.5cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Creeks bordering rainforests in Kalimantan Tengah, Central Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Vulnerable

15. P. anjunganensis

Size: 3.5cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Blackwater habitats in the Kapuas River system, Kalimantan Barat, Western Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

16. P. opallios

Size: 3.5cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Highly vegetated, shallow, and extremely soft and acidic waters in Kalimantan Tengah, Central Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

17. P. ornaticauda

Size: 3.5 cm / 1.38in TL Habitat: Blackwater habitats in the Kapuas River system and Sungai Pawan basin, Kalimantan Barat, Western Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Critically Endangered

18. P. pahuensis

Size: 4.0cm / 1.57in TL Habitat: Small blackwater forest streams; Tributaries of the Mahakam River in Kalimantan Timur, Eastern Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

19. P. linkei

Size: 4.5cm / 1.77in TL Habitat: Wide distribution in highly destroyed parts of Kalimantan Tengah, Central Borneo IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

20. P. paludicola

Size: 3.7cm / 1.46in TL Habitat: Widely distributed through both light blackwater and clearwater habitats in the northeastern Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand IUCN Redlist Status: Endangered

[Data from the Parosphromenus Project, Fishbase, SeriouslyFish, and the IUCN Red List. I will need to do further research using scholarly articles before keeping any of these. When sizes were in conflict between sources, the largest listed size was used. Note that in doing my reading for this post, it became clear that SeriouslyFish copied and pasted info about peat swamps to every page about a species of Parosphromenus - but they do not all occur in the conditions described. So I stopped including information from SF partway through writing this. When considering housing and breeding one of these fishes, I would recommend sourcing information about their care elsewhere - ideally from primary scientific literature, as I intend to.]

[deathxatxdusk]

Name: Morgana Godfrey

Birthday (Month/Day):  July 4, 1698

Age: 323

Species: Succubus (human in some plays)

Special Powers: Pheromone Manipulation, Life-force Absorption, Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Sexual Stamina, Enslavement Kiss

Orientation/Preference: Lesbian

I am a: Dominant

Turn Ons: Strap-on play, murder, corruption, twisted romance

Turn offs: Bathroom play, pedophilia, animals

Three Negative Character Traits: Judgmental, Cruel, Arrogant

Face Claim: Christina Hendricks

Morgana was born in the 17th century, just outside of Sussex, England. Her mother, a succubus, and father, an incubus were simple farmers, and had been so for centuries. After thwarted attempts at trying to live a lavish lifestyle,  they decided to settle down to start an uncomplicated, slow pace profession. She had four older brothers and a sister, but by the time she was born, they were old enough to have moved out onto their own. Not long after her birth, a famine was widespread. Luckily for her and her parents, they didn’t need the sort of nourishment they harvested. Her family was more successful than most when it came to selling their crops. Mostly because they were able to sell more than their competition, considering they didn’t have to live on any of the food they grew. But even then, they barely scraped by. Morgana always wanted more than that. She had read books of people with far more exciting lives, living in far away kingdoms, being waited on hand and foot by those who were inferior. She was the polar opposite of that. She was dirt, in rags, working with her hands, being taken advantage of financially by their overlords whom they rented land from. It only made that thirst for power even stronger.

Her feelings of power came to a head on her 17th birthday. It started out as little things, during her teenage years. She enjoyed manipulating others into giving what she wanted. She would go to the market, with not a single coin, and she would return with handful of clothing, given to her by the shop owners. She got better and better at her pheromone manipulation, and she loved how it made her feel.  Her parents were not only a complete let down for her, but they also made her hide her powers. They didn’t let her work on them, nor did they allow her to get stronger, so she had no other choice than to kill them both. She sold her family’s assets, every single thing they had owned to start a new life for herself. At first, her life wasn’t lavish. It was difficult on her own, more than she ever thought. She became a prostitute. It was a profession that made sense, in her mind. Not only did it allow for her to grow more powerful, but the clients she had during it were extremely easy to rip off, once she was done with their completely drained, lifeless corpses. It didn’t take long until she had that wealth she had always dreamed of, leaving a wake of dead men in London as a result. Urban legends about her were created, as if she was Jack the Ripper, in reverse. Part of her enjoyed the legend that she had created, only wishing she could proudly be the face of it, if it didn’t mean being either ran out of London, or killed.

She lived in London until the mid 18th century before she began to move around. She lived in Iceland for a bit, Italy, then Spain. In the early 20thcentury she lived in Germany. It was shortly after World War II she met an American soldier. She had never experienced love before, until meeting him. He was her one exception. They moved to the United States, before his own death in in 1959. Her husband was murdered, with his assailant never being caught. She worked on finding the killer, but nothing ever materialized. She had always been cruel, but the death of her husband drove her viciousness to another level. She traveled around, even more hungry to grow more powerful. She had no other hobby or desire. The only thing she truly enjoyed was making others feel as hurt as she was. Immediately after his death, she took a job as a guard at a women’s prison. The job gave her an opportunity to feed off the prisoners, even killing a few of them. In that case, the suspicion was put on the inmates, rather than her. In the latter part of the 20th century, she moved all over, Japan, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands.