#but i was friends with his ex and he owed her nearly a thousand dollars in rent and never went to work bc hes a contractor

[reserwrekt]

Sorry if you’re a Cap and offended when I say this, but I haven’t known a single one that hasn’t:

Inflated something about who they are to impress other people

Lived some sort of double life in the form of catfishing, or literally having another relationship or family as a secret or making many profiles

Hate watched people or basically- they obsess over things and people they hate

[emilyplaysotome]

Searching - Chapter 1

The last time I wrote about Eisuke, I’d met someone in my travels who inspired the story. This one comes from a similar place, and I hope you’ll enjoy. Should be the first part of something short again. Let me know if you want to be tagged.

I’d woken up extra early and made my way downstairs to the cafe, in order to grab a coffee and emotionally regroup before my day started. I brought my small bag with my planner, pen, and of course camera, as I found a cozy corner to sit in.

The hotel cafe was sparsely populated, and I figured it wouldn’t be long until a waiter brought over my drink. In the meantime, I took out my things and leafed through my schedule as I examined what was on the docket today, not to mention the month to come.

I wasn’t an alcoholic, but looking at my calendar I found myself whispering, “one day at a time,” incredibly overwhelmed by the amount I needed to do in the weeks to come.

This current week in Tokyo was jam packed with planning and photoshoots with well known models before I was set to head north and do a few shoots before returning for another two weeks before ultimately flying home to the states. For years I’d hoped for this kind of opportunity and this kind of life, but now that it was happening I found myself having second thoughts.

Being on the move made it hard to put down roots.

I’d been single for almost 3 years and I’d always figured I’d start dating once my life calmed down. What I hadn’t anticipated was that the opposite would happen. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, my career seemed to grow exponentially with every job and pick up speed until I had the choice to either quit completely or accept that this was my life.

I was grateful for the fact that success in this area of my life had allowed me to transform my hobby of snapping photos with friends to traveling the world on someone else’s dime. I currently lived a life full of expensing fancy dinners and making more money than I’d ever dreamed. I wasn’t a billionaire by any means, but I had more money in the bank than my grandmother who immigrated to the states could have ever wrapped her head around.

People say that money can’t solve your problems, but I figured that money could help with the quest to find me a steady boyfriend.

I employed a matchmaking service back in New York for almost ten thousand dollars with the hope that would understand my criteria and find me the perfect husband without much work on my end. I simply didn’t have the time to go on first date after first date that didn’t go anywhere and I did want to be married one day.

Though I knew I was not nearly as attractive as the models I was paid to capture, I believed myself to be more attractive than the matches they sent my way. Before I’d left New York for my one month tour of Japan, I’d demanded that they do better as they tried to persuade me I’d set the bar impossibly high.

“That’s absurd,” I’d snapped back. “You’ve seen the pictures of my exes and the guys I date. I’m sure these guys are lovely but I can’t help the fact I am completely unattracted to them.”

My matchmaker protested gently, “I’ve been doing this for a long time - sometimes someone isn’t attractive at the start but they grow on you…”

“No. I know myself well enough to know that won’t happen here. Even when I’ve had that experience they haven’t necessarily been my type or what I’m used to but they’re still attractive and there’s still SOMETHING that drew me to them…not like this.”

I felt awful having to admit how superficial I was at the end of the day but I also knew that I didn’t have the time to waste on a lackluster first date with a man whose appearance I found slovenly and unappealing.

I didn’t care that he was a business owner and had a penthouse - I wasn’t trying to be his trophy wife.

I was becoming my own rich man, as Cher would say.

“But if you just gave him a try…”

“No. I’m sorry but no. It’s not nice for me to go feeling this way and I’m leaving for a month as is. I’m not wasting his time or mine and I hope when I return you have someone that’s more in line with my preferences.”

I felt like a diva but I was too busy to mask my annoyance. I was in the business of always delivering for my clients.

I was theirs and they owed it to me.

I rubbed my eyes, still feeling the jet lag from when I’d arrived and made a few notes in my planner. Scout today. Shoot tomorrow and Wednesday. Review retouching Thursday and Friday. Fly out Saturday.

Rinse.

Repeat.

I sighed, knowing full well that I craved a vacation where I could actually enjoy Tokyo instead of being shuttled around in town-cars for work.

“Everything alright?”

I looked up and saw the smiling face of a middle aged man who worked for the hotel.

“Yes, everything’s fine - there’s just a lot to do.”

“Should I arrange for any of the hotel’s spa services for you?”

“No, that’s alright. Thank you…Mr. Kenzaki,” I said, taking note of his employee name-tag.

“Of course. Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to make your stay here more enjoyable.”

“May I take your photo?”

He’d started to walk away when I’d asked, and at first he appeared shy, almost apprehensive as if I were asking him to tell me something incredibly personal. I suppose taking a photograph of someone is incredibly personal, at least, someone once said that about my work long ago.

“You don’t have to,” I quickly added. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“No, that’s quite alright. Go ahead.”

I took out my small point and shoot that I used for fun, and framed him up dead center with the cafe’s arch creating a sense of symmetry around him as identically set tables almost created a look as if there were a mirror effect taking place in the image.

He looked stiff and uncomfortable and to get what I wanted I asked, “Mr. Kenzaki, have you always had that haircut?”

For an instant he looked vulnerable and I snapped the photo before he replied.

“Yes. For some time now at least - why do you ask?”

“It suits you. You appear to be a very capable, organized individual and your appearance reflects this. Thank you for letting me take your photo.”

He nodded but I could see that he was slightly unsettled as he walked away and once out of sight I looked at the image on my screen. There was something incredibly boyish in his face that captured who he once was in a moment of who he’d become.

“You’re as good as they say you are,” said a voice behind me, and I looked up to see a man looking at the camera’s digital screen over my shoulder.

I found it odd that someone would recognize me, but having worked at this level for the past few years with several international showcases it wasn’t implausible enough to alarm me.

“Thanks I guess.”

“I thought you’d have a much more professional setup though…”

“I do. This is just when I am trying to enjoy the process - when it’s not work. There’s something freeing about not having so much equipment.”

The man scowled and I was uncertain as to what in my statement had rubbed him the wrong way.

“Work is work, not play. There is only joy in the capital gained from it.”

“Perhaps for you, but there was once joy in what I did and I’m trying to find it again. Have a good day.”

With that, I started to leave. I’d drained my coffee and a car would be here soon enough to take me to scout several outdoor locations where we’d be working tomorrow.

“Won’t you take my photo?”

I turned around and looked at him. It was obvious that whoever he was, he’d built up so many walls that getting him to expose who he really was would take more time than I had. An offhanded comment would not crack this man as it had Mr. Kenzaki.

“I do, but right now I don’t have the time.”

“Later then? When you return?”

Puzzled, I raised an eyebrow and said, “I don’t know - I’ll see how I feel. It’s not just snapping a photo for me you know. It’s more than that.”

He started to say something but then pursed his lips and nodded.

“Okay.”

I thought about the oddity of that interaction for most of the day.

I had a translator, 2 assistants, and a creative director with me at all times for the bulk of the scout and it took us most of the day to finalize the schedule for the following 2 days. They took me around and to places most Americans would never get to visit but I still felt as if I had to be my professional self versus my real one.

I had to remain upbeat and excited, grateful for the opportunity, and impressed by all the city had to offer while simultaneously creating shot lists in my head that I’d frantically jot down in notebooks while their backs were turned.

My phone informed me that I’d done about 10 miles of walking by the time the day was over and after a fairly luxurious dinner with the creative team and translator in which I walked everyone through the plan for the following days I found myself spent.

There was a sense of relief as I kicked off my shoes and walked into my hotel suite, prepared to order some late night dessert from room service and soak in the tub before I turned in on the early side. I chucked once more thinking about the man I’d met who wanted his photo taken, and wondered if he was going to be in the cafe tomorrow morning with the hope I’d photograph him.

As I waited for my cake, I lay on the couch in my suite and connected my phone to wifi, allowing for iMessages and WhatsApp notifications to flood my phone from the states.

My friend was getting married.

My other friend had given birth.

People missed me.

My mom wanted to know if I was doing ok.

And my manager had put me up for a few additional jobs in Asia that could potentially extend my stay up to two months and I felt annoyed at the fact that he hadn’t run the idea by me first, seeing as how I was already tired and wanting to go home.

I felt too tired to reply and lazily tossed my phone onto the table next to me before I closed my eyes to rest.

I hoped to quiet the thoughts swirling in my head, but all that I could think about was how lonely this new life of mine felt. I managed to be around people all the time and yet I was close to no one these days. My friends had all moved forward into new chapters of their lives and I felt as if I were being left behind.

No one pitied me or had any idea I felt this way. To them I was their fabulous photo friend who rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous and updated my instagram with a steady stream of exotic photos. On paper it looked as if I had it all, but in my heart there was a hole.

The longer I sat with these feelings, the more confused and hopeless I felt. It wasn’t long before the mix of melancholy and exhaustion had silent tears streaming town my cheeks.

I felt as if I had one foot in my old life and one foot in the new one - resisting the fact that I was someone who would be gone for months at a time and who would be unable as a result to cultivate new relationships. And to add insult to injury, what was once fun had started to feel like work in all areas.

I couldn’t just snap a picture anymore for fun. My pictures were scrutinized. They were shared. They were representing my brand and therefore they couldn’t be flawed.

I missed being able to shoot freely and make mistakes and not have this reputation - albeit a good one.

Too good in fact.

The bar kept getting set higher and higher and all I wanted was the freedom to make art the way I did when I was first starting.

A knock on my door interrupted my stormy thoughts and I hastily wiped my tears before asking, “Who is it?”

“Room service.”

I’d forgotten about the cake.

I made my way to the door, unconcerned with my appearance and opened it to discover the man from the morning awkwardly holding a piece of cake.

“You…don’t usually do this, do you?” I found myself asking.

“I do not.”

I chuckled and took the cake, hanging my head a bit in the hopes I could extricate myself from the conversation without having to acknowledge the feelings that had come before.

“Do I have to sign anything?”

“No. I…Are you alright?”

There was something clumsy about the way he asked me.

“Just an off day. Thanks for the cake,” I said scanning for his employee badge.

“Eisuke Ichinomiya. I own the hotel.”

“Well, thank you for personally delivering it.”

“I have ulterior motives. I want you to take my picture.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that earlier. Why?”

“Because they say you capture the essence of who someone is.”

“Thank you. But if you want a professional shoot contact my agent and they’ll…”

“I need you to help me understand who I am.”

His voice was quiet when he said it, but there was a humility behind those words that I hadn’t seen before in him. Now that I was looking at him, it was fair to say he quite handsome. Though guarded, there was an elegance and masculinity about him that would make for a good subject and knowing that he was a powerful man I suddenly shifted in what this photograph could do for me.

If I could capture a king looking as lost as he did now, I could take my career somewhere else perhaps.

I could maybe even afford to be more selective with my jobs.

The universe had brought me a gift, but I would soon see that it was not going to be what I initially thought.

Please like/share/comment if you enjoyed the story or buy me a kofi!

READ CHAPTER 2

[lady-therion]

Everything I Meant to Say: Part 5 [Nessian]

Summary: Cassian sends the wrong message at the wrong time.

(Modern AU)

***

   “Your ex is hotter than the devil. I’ve met the devil, so I would know.”

   “Vassa…”

   “Seriously, those abs. You could probably bounce a quarter off of them."

   “Vassa…”

   “And don’t get me started on that delicious ass. Just looking at it makes you want to take a bite—”

   “Vassa!”

   “Ow!”

   Nesta brandished the rolled up magazine once more, smacking Vassa at the back of her head and then again on the bridge of her nose. Unfortunately, this only widened Vassa’s smirk to a degree that was positively illegal. Rhysand was probably the only other person in the world who could look so immorally self-satisfied.

  “You’re lucky you’re my favorite,” said Vassa, her voice sweet and indulgent. Nesta heard her use that tone often when she was scolding her pet Pomeranians. “Well, my second favorite now that Cassian is here.”

   “I can hit you harder, you know.”

   “Go ahead,” said Vassa. “You know it’s one of my kinks.”

   Nesta groaned as she collapsed into a folding chair set up behind the cameras, looking for all the world like an exasperated heap of silk and chiffon and rattled nerves. She was Bridezilla come to life. Except she wasn’t a bride. Cassian wasn’t a groom. This was not an actual wedding.

   So why did she feel like she was drowning? All the training, coaching, and maneuvering she endured. What had it all been for? How could her professionalism crumble so easily?

   Nesta knew the answers to those questions. She just didn’t want to admit them.

   What she wanted most was a drink.

   “I bet you got a standing ovation every time you had sex,” said Vassa. “He looks like he’d be an animal in bed.”

   “Keep your voice down,” she snarled, casting a furtive glance at her trailer. The place where Cassian was currently being fitted, most likely against his will.

   To her complete astonishment, he had gone along with Vassa’s wild scheming with barely any resistance. But in all the time they had been together, Nesta had never even seen him wear slacks, let alone a five-thousand-dollar tuxedo.

   “Why the hell would I do that?” she asked. “Does he even speak Russian?”

   She had a point. They had been arguing in Vassa’s native tongue for the better part of an hour now.

   “No,” said Nesta. “You’re just giving me a headache.”

   “No, Nestachka,” she said, smoothing down her olive green cardigan. “I’m giving you perspective. Your headache is simply the result of your brain trying to comprehend the breadth of my wisdom in this.”

   “What wisdom?”

   This time, it was Nesta who was on the receiving end of a rolled up magazine.

   “Remember, what you told me all those years ago?” asked Vassa. “It was your first shoot. I had never seen anyone look so nervous. So raw. So vulnerable.” She removed her glasses, those vivid blue eyes piercing Nesta to the core. “I wanted to capture that on camera. So I asked you a question. Do you remember what it was?”

   Of course she did.

   “I asked you what you were running away from,” she went on. “I’ll be gracious and let you fill in the rest.”

   “Why are you doing this?”

   “Because I enjoy annoying you—and because this is good for your character development.”

   Nesta glared, but eventually relented. When it came to making a point, Vassa could be even more stubborn than she was. And that was saying something.

   “Myself,” Nesta said softly. “I told you I was running from myself.”

   “Are you running from yourself now?”

   Nesta looked away, unable to stem the hot burn of shame.

   “I don’t want to be that person anymore,” she said eventually, her voice tired and flat. Exhausted, she was exhausted with herself. “I don’t want to be angry and hateful.”

   “You aren’t,” said Vassa. “You haven’t been that way for a while now. But…”

   But...

   Nesta felt her chin lift; Vassa’s grip steady and sure. “You’re still afraid, Nesta Archeron. It’s time to let go.”

   She scoffed. “Easier said than done.”

   “Many worthwhile things are hard,” said Vassa. “But probably not as hard as Cassian’s biceps. Yum.” She flicked Nesta’s nose. “Now stop scowling. It’s your wedding day and I’ve had enough of your cold feet.”

***

   Of course Cassian looked stunning. The deadly kind of stunning. The kind of stunning that could steal your breath and stop your heart.

   Alis and her team of assistants were ordered to pull out all the stops. But it wasn’t as if they had to do much work. According to the staff, Cassian was “a natural.” There was very little to touch up and definitely nothing to conceal. Not even the distinctive scar that ran along his eyebrow, which only made him look more rakish in his suit.

   “I would never dream of covering that,” Alis had swooned. “Among other things.”

   Nesta had never wished so hard for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. But if Cassian noticed that she was falling apart while the entire set was panting after him, he didn’t say anything. Which was odd. Normally, he would be hamming it up. Making jokes about his good looks and irresistible appeal.

   Perhaps Nesta wasn’t the only one who changed over the last six years.

  She took stock of his broad shoulders, his tall frame. The suit was technically fitted for Eris, who was slightly leaner in build. Fortunately, their sizes were close enough that Cassian just filled in all the right places—and then some.

  Damn it.

  His night-dark hair was freed from its signature  knot, cascading down in barely tamed waves above his shoulders. Vassa called it “sex hair,” the kind of hair that always made it look like he had just recovered from a long, hard ride in the bedroom. Nesta remembered how much she loved to run her fingers through it...especially in the bedroom.

  “You don’t have to do this,” she told him again, perhaps for the thousandth time. “I can tell Vassa we can still wait for Eris.”

  “We can’t wait for Eris!” called Vassa from the other end of the set. How she was able to hear her from that distance, Nesta didn’t know. “We’re losing all our good lighting!”

  Nesta sighed. “Sorry. She can be a handful.”

  “Sounds like someone I know,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifting.

  Nesta tilted her head at his playful tone. “Likewise.”

  He laughed. A hearty loud bark that made Nesta’s chest ache with familiarity.

  “Are you sure you’re all right with this?” she asked.

  She half expected him to scold her for fretting too much. They had always been that way: her fretting and him fussing. The combination of which either ended up in an explosion—or climax, the kind that came in multiples. Sort of the same difference when she thought about it.

  She should stop thinking about it.

  Cassian rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous tic he hadn’t been able to shake no matter how much she wheedled him for it. She never noticed how much more endearing it made him. This big, strong, handsome brute standing about all flustered.

  “I’m not going to lie. I didn’t expect today to end up like it did, but…” he trailed off, then gave her a faint smile. “If it gives me a glimpse into something that’s important to you, then it’s worth it.”

  It was a miracle her knees didn’t buckle from underneath her.

  “Cassian—”

  “All right you two,” cried Vassa. “Save that unresolved sexual tension for the camera. Stand over by your markers on the bridge. I need to get that sunset in the background while it’s still there, you hear me? That sunset’s going to pay everyone’s rent for a year.”

  “So bossy,” whispered Cassian.

  “You don’t even know the half of it,” said Nesta.

  “I heard that!”

  He beamed another charming grin in Nesta’s direction, then held out his elbow for her to hang onto. She was surprised at how easy it was to accept the gesture, like they were always meant to fit. If he had any idea how he was affecting her right now...

  “I’m glad,” he said, looking ahead as they approached the crest of the stone bridge.

  “About what?” she asked, as they stood over their markers.

  “That you have friends like Vassa to look out for you,” he said, his hazel eyes softening. “That you had someone to lean on after I...when you…” His lips twisted around the words. “Damn it. How do I always end up saying the wrong thing?”

  “It’s all right,” she said, and she meant it. “I understand.”

  “Do you?”

  He leaned closer, his size and scent overwhelming her to the point where she nearly shuttered her eyes. She looked up at him from beneath her lashes, a million different technicolor memories running through her. Good and bad. All the little moments that made up the two of them.

  “I do,” she said, her voice breaking.

  “Nesta…”

  Click. Click. Click.

  Cassian looked up, startled. “What—?”

  A slow clap from Vassa. “Have I mentioned that the chemistry between you two is insane? Losing Eris might have been the best thing to happen to me today. Ugh, the way you two look at each other...”

  Cassian cleared his throat while Nesta suddenly found the view of the river incredibly interesting.

  “These test shots are pretty fantastic,” she said. “I know it’s hard, but don’t make out yet, okay? Hold steady while we get the rest of the wedding party ready. ”

  A few moments passed in which they exchanged shy glances.

  “This is really weird,” Cassian said finally.

  “It is,” Nesta agreed.

  “We would have never gotten married this way,” he said, teeth bared in a brash grin.

  “I...would have to agree,” said Nesta, unable to stop a hesitant smile from blooming across her face. Neither she or Cassian had been fond of large and ostentatious affairs. If anything, they would have had a small, civil ceremony. Their closest friends and family in attendance.

  Cassian laughed. “The fact that you agree with me is even weirder.”

  Could a smile’s power increase in kilowatts? If so, that’s what Nesta’s smile felt like. It was both natural and foreign at the same time. She had given a hundred thousand smiles on screen and on camera. A smile of every size and shade.

  Almost none of them were as real as the one she was wearing now.

  “This is a very strange day,” she said.

  “I have an idea,” he said, pulling out his phone. “Do you want to play a really, really, really awful trick on our family?”

  Nesta’s eyes brightened. “Absolutely.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Come here.”

  She ducked underneath one of his outstretched arms until she found herself tucked into his side. If his scent had overwhelmed her before, it completely overpowered her now. She raised one of her hands to grab the other lapel, to make sure the studio-issued diamond ring could be seen in the selfie Cassian took.

  “They’re never going to believe this,” said Cassian as he pulled away. Nesta felt the absence all too keenly.

   “We look pretty convincing,” she said. “Feyre and Elain don’t know that I was doing a bridal shoot.”

  He showed her the picture and it nearly broke her heart. Surely, the rest of the crew heard the loud crack that rent through her body?

   “We clean up pretty nice,” he said.

   They looked so happy. They were happy.

   She took his hand, interlacing her long fingers with his. “We do.”

***

Up next: The photoshoot continues, Vassa totally ships Nessian, and...Eris returns on set.

Thank you for reading, my loves.

Other chapters be found in the Masterlist in my Bio / I am Lady_Therion on AO3

[echelonlab-blog]

Bound By Ink -- Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Fiction.

Warnings: None

Tagging: @hazeleyedleto @msroxyblog @letojokerownsme @miss-shannanigans @snewsome756   @maliciousalishious   @nikkitasevoli@meghan12151977 @sanellv @ambolton @bradlea23@spillinginkwithlove@alexis7215 @dezmarz @pezziecoyote@whoistheprettiest @avaj99@iridescxntsolitude @pheenixpeterson@guccilowell @blondiefrommars@rowen1976 @phoebehalliwell1984@thathipstaninja @darthjokerisyourfather@letsbemybatman  @prettymisc@lylabell2013 @mandyglam @pandaliciouz@just-me-obsessing @echelon-1969 @carolinapb-me @marilyndioncre

   I wasn't sure why I had done it, exactly. Nadia had been trying so hard to get in my good graces and that talk from Mark had gotten to me, I guess. Whatever the reason, I had, on impulse, invited Nadia to join us for Jared's party. She had practically jumped for joy, she was so excited, and she did actually squeal. Then Shannon got the bright idea to invite Mark and his new lady friend along, and now here I was, sitting in RI, watching Nadia bounce off the walls and Jayce draw his twentieth skull of the week while we waited for Mark and the mystery woman to show.

   “Hey,” Shannon said, sliding his arms around my waist and drawing me against him. “Why are you so tense? This is supposed to be fun.”

   I gave him a non-committal shrug. “I don't know. I just have a feeling I guess.”

   “It's going to be fine.”

   “Are you sure Jared won't mind us bringing these extra people along?”

   “If I thought Jared would mind I wouldn't have suggested it.” Shannon moved his hands to my shoulders, kneading them gently. “You worry too much. I'm telling you, everything is going to be fine.”

   I turned and settled my head on his shoulders with a sigh, taking comfort in the solid heat of him. Too soon, the soft jingle of the bell that hung over the door let me know that Mark had arrived.

   I'm not sure what I was expecting when Mark told me he had “met someone”. Someone more like us, I guess, maybe with less fluorescent hair or fewer tattoos, but someone that at least looked like they belonged walking through the door of an independent tattoo shop on the cheaper end of the beach. Certainly not the woman that Mark had just walked in with.

   “Hey everybody,” he said with a grin as he ushered her into the center of us, his hand at the small of her back. “I want you to meet Stephanie.”    

   “Hello,” Stephanie added, scanning the room uncertainly. I wondered if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing and I shot Nadia a look. She made a face back at me, wide-eyed and disbelieving. Yeah, she saw it too.

   Stephanie was a posh, leggy, bottle blonde, with big brown eyes, a cute little button nose and the kind of on-point, perfectly contoured, groomed to the teeth look that only came from spending hours in spas and beauty salons, and lingering at makeup counters that I couldn't afford to be in the same zip code as. She was wearing stilettos and shredded jeans, and a t-shirt with a leather jacket shrugged casually over it. I'm sure to Mark she looked cool and laid-back, but Mark wouldn't know haute couture if slapped him in the face and handed him its card. I glanced at her bag – Dolce and Gabbana – and from what I could tell, the rest of the outfit was the same, expensive designer garb.  I don't have a problem with people in expensive clothes, but it was the way she held herself, looking around the room at us as if she were visiting a third world country.  I didn't know what was going on here but I decided to dive in and find out.

   “Hi, I'm Blue,” I said with a smile, holding out my hand to her. She paused for a minute, shifting uncomfortably as she looked at my outstretched hand. I quickly dusted it off on my skirt before offering it again. “Sorry. Had a bit of poverty on there. Dusted it all off. Should be safe now.”

   Mark shot me a stern look and Stephanie giggled awkwardly. I probably shouldn't have said it, she hadn't said a word to me yet, it wasn't really fair, but sometimes my mouth had a mind of its own. To her credit, Stephanie took my hand anyway.

   “Hello, Blue. It's nice to meet you. Mark has said so many lovely things about you.”

   “Really? He hasn't told me a thing about you. Why is that Mark?” I felt Shannon elbow me in the side. I wanted to stop, but somehow my tongue just kept going. “So how did you two kids meet anyway?”

   “Oh, we met at the gym,” Stephanie supplied, threading her fingers through Mark's and looking back at me defiantly. “I had just finished my Pilates class and I was hurrying off to work when I ran right into Mark in my rush to get out the door in time.” She patted his arm and gave him an adoring look. “It was totally my fault, nearly knocked him over, but he was such a gentleman. He stopped and apologized anyway and helped me pick up all the things I had dropped. I offered to buy him a coffee sometime to make up for it and things just clicked.”

   Stephanie flashed me a perfectly white smile and laid her head on Mark's shoulder. Mark looked a little uncomfortable, he had never been big on public displays, or he could have just been worried about what I would say next. “Wow, what an amazing story. Don't you think that's an amazing story, Nadia?” I asked.

   “Amazing,” Nadia said in a tone that clearly conveyed how unamazing she thought it was.

   Jayce hopped down off the counter and I put my arm protectively around his shoulder. “This is our son, Jayce. Jayce, say hello to Stephanie.”

   “Hey,” Jayce said flatly. “So are we going to leave soon?”

   Stephanie shifted on her expensive stilts and gave that perfectly curled hair of hers a toss over her shoulder. “You know we could just go to dinner, sweetheart,” she said to Mark. “I'm not sure I'd be the most fun at one your.. parties....” she looked around the shop, Mark's pride and joy, as if she were going to catch something if she stood in it much longer. That settled it. I wanted to pull her hair out.

   “Oh no, sweetie,” I said in an overly sugared tone. “I'm sure you're going to love this one. It's at his brother's house,” I added, patting Shannon on the shoulder. “This is my boyfriend, Shannon, by the way. Shannon why don't you tell her all about the party while I talk to Mark about that thing.”

   “What thing?” Shannon asked but I gave him a quick kick in the sole before grabbing Mark's hand and hauling him back towards the office. “Ow! Oh, that thing.”

   As I shut the office door behind us I could see Shannon put his arm around Stephanie and turn on the charm, probably apologizing for my strange behavior. I didn't care. That was the least of my worries right now. “What the fuck, Mark?” I demanded.

   “What do you mean, what the fuck? What the hell was that, Blue?”

   “What designer rock did you dig her out from under?” I demanded. “Oh, hello, I'm Stephanie,” I singsonged, mocking her snobby attitude. “Look at me, out mingling with the peasants.”

   “What is your problem with her? You don't know her at all. You're judging her and you haven't even had a conversation with her yet,” Mark growled, trying to keep his voice low so that we weren't overheard on the main floor.

   “Oh fuck that. She is like every one of those women that have looked at me sideways at Jayce's school events since he was four. I don't need to have a conversation with her. I know her type well by now.”

    Mark just looked at me wide-eyed. “You realize what a hypocrite you're being right now, right?”

    I was undeterred. “She knows you can't afford to keep her in those fancy clothes, doesn't she? I mean yeah, you own your own business but...”

   “Fancy clothes? What are you talking about? She's in jeans and a t-shirt!”

   “Oh my god you men are so clueless!” I shot a look out at the sales floor where Shannon was still talking to Stephanie, who had become a little more animated. Maybe she realized she wasn't going to be spending the evening at a kegger with a bunch of pierced and tattooed degenerates. “Those are, if I remember correctly, $700 jeans. Or close to it. I'm betting that jacket goes around 3K. What the hell does she even do for a living?”

   Mark frowned and squinted and looked Stephanie over again. “She runs some sort of firm that fundraises for nonprofits. I don't think it actually pays that much.”

   “Well Santa Claus sure didn't bring her a four thousand dollar purse,” I said. “Does she have some stable of sugar daddies or something?”

   “Why do you care so much what she's wearing? Her ex probably bought her that stuff before they got divorced.”

    I pouted and rolled my eyes. “She's obviously used to a lifestyle that doesn't include meals for three out of ramen noodles and a package of cut up hot dogs.”

   Mark put his hands on his hips and glared at me. “Now you're just being ridiculous. We haven't lived like that since Jayce was a toddler. If you would just take the time to get to  know her...”    

   “She barely looked at Jayce. Did she know you had a son? How much do you know about this woman that you're bringing around Jayce.”

   Mark huffed but his face softened. “Jesus. Did I sound this crazy when you started dating Shannon?”

   “What? This is not even the same thing!” I protested but I already had a sneaking suspicion that it was. The words coming from my mouth were eerily familiar. “She looks at this place, she looks at us, like she is too good to be here.”

   “You're just projecting. Stephanie hasn't even been here for five minutes yet.”

   “Nadia noticed it too,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

   “Nadia? When did you discuss this with Nadia?" Mark demanded.

   "We had a look..."

   "A look? Really? You two share some psychic bond or something?" Mark shook his head like he thought I was crazy. Hell, he was probably right. "So now you and Nadia are best friends? Since when do you care what she thinks?”

    “Since you insisted I make friends with her," I retorted.

   “I just asked you to be nice to her, not...” Mark gestured wildly at me as he spluttered, “... team up to start an evil empire.”

   “Okay, now who's being ridiculous,” I asked as I rolled my eyes at him.

   “I am not having this argument with you right now, Blue. Get to know her and then we'll talk.”

   “But...”

   “No. I'm done.” Mark stormed out of the office but he had pasted a smile on his face by the time he got back to Stephanie. He slipped his arm around her waist and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Sorry about that, babe.”

   “Everything okay?” Stephanie asked, her eyes focused on me.

   “Yeah, everything's fine,” Mark assured her. “Just a small inventory problem. Rotating out the old stuff to make room for new stock,” he added with a smirk in my direction. I wanted to take my shoe off and hit him with it.

   Nadia quickly stepped between us. “So why don't Mark and Stephanie follow us up to Jared's in their car since we can't all fit in Shannon's?”

   “Jayce, you want to ride with me of your mom?” Mark asked.

   Jayce gave Stephanie a distrusting glance. “I'll ride with Mom.”

   “Do you have everything you need?” I asked him. He pointed at his backpack and nodded. I figured the faster we got out of there the faster I could get away from Stephanie.

   “Great,” Shannon said, swinging his keys around on his finger. “Let's go.”

      Nadia and I spent the entire ride up the hills discussing Stephanie while Jayce played on his phone with his earbuds in and Shannon tried to referee. Once we met up with them again at Jared's, Stephanie's attitude was much nicer. She smiled sweetly as Shannon introduced everyone. Jared was charming and surrounded by people as usual, including a skinny, big-eyed brunette who was practically draped across him.

   Nadia's attitude changed once we got to Jared's too. All the bounce that she had been full of back at the shop just went out of her. When Jared ushered Jayce away to show him some drawings Nadia slunk off as well, grabbing a beer out of a big washtub full of ice that was strategically located on the patio. Matt wisely took Stephanie and disappeared into the crowd in yet another direction, leaving me and Shannon alone for the moment.

   I should have let it go then and just enjoyed my day with Shannon but I couldn't shake off the specter of Stephanie that easily. It wasn't really the fact that she was wearing expensive clothing or that she had a fancy haircut. It was just the way she looked at me, at everyone around her, as if she were so above it all. “I can't imagine what it is she's doing with Mark if she thinks we're all so trashy. But if she thinks I'm going to stand by while she hurts him, or Jayce...”

   “You realize you sound just like Mark, don't you?” Shannon asked as he handed me a beer.

   “Yeah probably. The difference is I'm right.”

   Shannon laughed. “How about we forget about Stephanie and I introduce you to some of my friends?”

   I was so caught up in the Stephanie debacle I had forgotten to be nervous about being introduced to Shannon's crowd. My stomach immediately did a back-flip and my palms grew sweaty at the mention of it. I shouldn't have worried though. Everyone Shannon introduced me to was lovely and seemed genuinely thrilled to meet the woman that Shannon had apparently been going on and on about to anyone who would listen. I was so touched by how welcoming they were and how sweet Shannon had apparently been in praising me. I found myself quickly relaxing and enjoying myself as we flitted from group to group, watching over Jayce from what I thought was a reasonable and non-helicopter-mom distance. Mark and Stephanie were nowhere to be seen, and everything was just peachy until I heard a crash and raised voices. Shannon immediately took off toward the disturbance and I followed, only to find Nadia at the center of it, swaying drunkenly while the skinny brunette from earlier shouted at her in a language I didn't recognize.

   “Fuck me sideways,” I exclaimed, rushing forward to grab Nadia while Shannon went for the girl, who he called Marta. Our eyes met as we pulled them apart. This was not exactly the weekend together we had planned.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I was really struck by something I read in one of your earlier replies to an ask, which was "we’ll never know what Rachel would have done after the war ended", and I wondered if perhaps you may actually have some thought about what might have happened if she did? How WOULD Rachel, who thrived in war, adapt to the mundane life after?

Jake

After a while Rachel’s aunt and uncle get so used to her stopping by that they just make her a copy of their house key; it’s easier than answering the door all the time or leaving a window open for her, besides which they’re grateful because she’s there almost every day to bully Jake out of bed and into the world to go do something.  Most days it’s just attending Habitat for Humanity builds in the devastated areas downtown or visiting kids from the local hospital who idolize them both.  Rachel doesn’t mind dragging Jake out of his room at all, because while Tobias is good for taking random college classes or exploring new parts of the country with her, there are still plenty of stupid things that she can only talk Jake into doing.  Together they surf during hurricanes, skydive without parachutes, swim to the bottom of the ocean as orcas and throw themselves off cliffs as birds of prey.  

Rachel doesn’t pretend to understand what he’s going through, because she quite simply can’t—if she even tries to think about what it would be like if it was Jordan or Sarah she’d had to kill during that last battle, she tends to lose the ability to breathe.  But while she can’t give him empathy she can give him this: the scream of wind rushing past their bodies as they hurl toward the ground at nearly a hundred miles an hour, the incomparable thrill of the ground approaching them faster than an oncoming train, the moment of simple euphoria during that millisecond decision to once again open one’s wings and tell death not today.  He doesn’t smile much, and never laughs, but that’s always been true to some extent.  She doesn’t concern herself with making him smile, but with forcing him to gasp for air in his refusal to give up on life, to morph when not doing so would mean drowning in the cold Pacific, to swerve a second away from spattering on the ground.  Because she’s the only one who understands the power of those moments to make them forget everything in the world except the heady rush of being so goddamn alive they can barely even stand it.

Marco

It’s strange, really, how tough and showy they can be around each other most of the time… and how vulnerable they can become when no one else is around.  Rachel’s pretty sure she’s the only one who ever saw Marco cry after they all watched Eva’s body tumble hundreds of yards to its apparent death, and she knows for certain that she’s the only one to whom he says “it’s like we never really got her back at all,” the day his parents announce their divorce.  In public Rachel and Marco become even more themselves, one-upping each other to see who can come out with the most embarrassing story in round after round of interviews and bantering at lightning speed as live studio audiences laugh and cheer.  Rachel gives a hysterical, exaggerated account of Marco’s failed attempt at gatecrashing William Roger Tennant’s award banquet; Marco comes back with a heroic narrative of how his llama-self saved an entire television studio from the crocodile Rachel conveniently forgot to mention she had puked out backstage.  When talking about the time Helmacrons invaded Marco’s nose, they each manage to make the whole mess entirely into the other one’s fault.  

In private, they sit on the back porch of Marco’s primary house once a week and work their way through a bottle of triple sec they’re definitely too young to own.  It’s during those long evenings as the sun sets over the Newport Beach mansions that they air the things to each other they’ve never told a living soul before.  Marco talks about the hard bright-edged joy of watching 17,000 yeerks sucked into space and only being able to imagine their screams.  Rachel confesses to having cried herself to sleep after she and Ax dropped David on that island.  They air their sickest thoughts, lance their most pus-rotted wounds, spew poison at each other because they know that they are both strong enough (hard enough, cold enough, ruthless enough) to take it and give back in turn.

Cassie

Rachel’s honestly not sure how far Cassie would have gotten, politically, if not for her help.  Because that girl might have passion and conscience and common sense to spare, but Rachel’s not sure she’s met a more appearance-clueless person in her life.  The world of politics runs on fashion and makeup, though, especially if one happens to be a woman, and any time Cassie’s about to go tell the United Nations why they need to update the Universal Declaration of Human Rights today to include the hork-bajir and taxxons, or to scold Congress into giving the ex-hosts war reparations and not murder charges, Rachel is there in the background helping.  She shows Cassie the power of stalking into a room in a pair of towering heels, the ways to make a string of pearls or a Chanel handbag into a weapon of power.  Cassie laughs incredulously every time Rachel shows up at her house with a literal truckload of perfectly-tailored business suits and evening gowns, but over time she starts to understand just how much her reputation for being as elegant as she is fierce can work in her favor.  

Rachel, in turn, starts to put out patents for the kind of clothes Cassie would love: comfortable and practical items that can be worn for years without needing replacement.  Rachel figures that if she’s an international trendsetter already (and she is: her line of perfume makes millions every year, while black leotards are debuting on Paris runways) then she might as well have her best friend and the world of high fashion meet in the middle.  Of course Rachel doesn’t explicitly mention that her patent-leather pumps with arch support and heel padding are inspired by the experience of trying on Cassie’s Timberlands, or that her choice of size-16 models for all her advertisements comes from making dresses that would fit Cassie and sizing up or down from there.  But what’s most amazing to her is that the other dressmakers and shoe lines start to emulate her choices, emphasizing the comfort and sturdiness of everything they make even as they tout it as “cutting edge.”  If Rachel has dragged Cassie into being a fashion icon, then it turns out Cassie might just have dragged Rachel into being a social justice warrior along the way.

Ax

Ax seems somewhat dumbfounded when Rachel explains that there’s an Earth tradition that any ship’s captain can perform a marriage ceremony, and that even if there’s no law on the books about this particular power she wants him to do it anyway.  She’s not sure herself how her and Tobias’s small private ceremony (at least, that was the intention) has grown so much, but even she has to admit that somewhere between the 230-person guest list, the custom chuppah to be hand-embroidered by a team of local artists, the five-tier cake imported from a German bakery, and the dress which is personally designed by Alexander McQueen, things might have gotten slightly out of hand.  Ax takes the duties very seriously, practicing the strange mouth sounds he has to recite more than once in advance and promising solemnly that he will not eat any of the cake until Rachel and Tobias have had the chance to cut it.  

He serves as their best man as well (probably breaking with tradition, not that they care) and the speech he makes afterward is surprisingly heartfelt.  «There has been no greater honor in my life than to fight by your side,» he tells them, «and I owe you both my life many times over.  I owe you more than that, of course, for you have made this strange planet my home when I came to you lost and alone.  I am not sure what humans traditionally wish for each other with a bond such as this, so I will wish you this much: may your lives be long, may your battles be easily won, may you be loved and feared in equal measure, and may your chili always be perfectly seasoned.» 

Tobias

It’s not like they get jobs, or hold down formal obligations, or do anything more structured than attend occasional classes at UCSB or consult with the fashion agency that sends Rachel freelance checks.  So there’s really no reason they can’t continue their odd lifestyle, only in the same form at the same time for two hours at most.  At least, that’s how it is for the first several years… and then one day Rachel comes out of the bathroom, a tiny white stick in her hand, and they both realize their lives are never going to be the same again.  Tobias is terrified, of course: he’s been abandoned (voluntarily or not) by two parents, four guardians, and countless authority figures, and he’s got no reason to believe he’ll be any different.  But he knows what the first step will be in committing to raising this baby for real.  And so he morphs human for the very last time.  

In the years that follow, after their daughter eventually gets a little brother as well, Rachel and Tobias become more boring than they ever could have hoped for.  Rachel starts working full-time as a fashion designer, while Tobias finishes an advanced degree in graphic design and gets a job with the marketing branch of the same company.  They go to PTA meetings and teach their daughter softball, buy a sedan with good gas mileage and a two-story house in Mendocino County where the reporters can’t find them.  They still get restless sometimes, leaving the kids with Loren or Sarah for a week or two at a time to go white-water rafting on the Colorado River or to climb mountains in Tanzania, but they always miss the kids enough to come home before long.  They donate thousands of dollars to end world hunger every year, and they fundraise millions more.  Someday they’ll retire.  Someday after that they’ll die.  For now, however, they’re alive, and that’s enough.  

[tanyaodebra]

You 2.2: “Just the Tip” – Of the Iceberg

“Just the Tip” opens on a fish market, because so many things about both Joe and Love are very fucking fishy. Catfish, anyone? (The penis-y title paired with a vaginal allusion has not gone unnoticed, btw.) Our resident cool girl saunters from table to table loudly demonstrating her seafood savvy, so I’m holding strong to the idea that she might be baiting our antihero to serve him on a platter. Unable to stay in reality for two consecutive minutes, Joe takes a stroll down memory lane to the moment he believes his Love story began – one whole week ago with his arrival at LAX. There he spots a celeb to whom he immediately and favorably compares himself by employing the ultimate backdoor brag, praising himself for being so humble. Must be tough to be perfect.

The next stop on Joe’s journey to Love brings us to the inception of his new identity, where the real Will Bettelheim shows just how much he deserves everything that’s coming to him by daring to bitch about GMOs and the state of animal farming in Joe’s presence. Joe has hired Will to scrub his identity, but that’s not good enough for our Joe. As usual, he wants what he can’t, or shouldn’t, have; in this case, it’s Will’s identity. In a moment of cosmic irony, Will blurts out the whole conceit for You, that no one ever suspects white guys. He quickly feels the consequences of his own miscalculation as Joe cracks his skull with a cement brick. The timeline jumps ahead close to where we left off at the end of the last episode, when Joe is trying to figure out who Jasper is and why he came looking for Will. Shocker, the guy Joe hired off Craigslist and who had to scrub his own identity is into some shady shit. Looks like Will owes Dark Web Jasper three large for services never rendered. This is no sweat for a professional book counterfeiter like Joe, especially since LA is full of dumb-dumbs who will buy anything. Something about this feels a little too easy.

Back to the fishmonger’s ball where Love, who is serving major Liv Tyler in Empire Records vibes, demonstrates that she has absolutely zero healthy boundaries by kissing Joe for the first time completely out of the blue. A sucker for “romance,” Joe takes his own slapshot in this game of tonsil hockey and gets nothing but net with the catch of the day. Uh-oh, look out. Is that… Beck lurking in the shadows? Ex-girlfriends, amirite? They just don’t know when to stay dead and buried. Lucky for Joe, she’s vanished as swiftly as she appeared. In the meantime, Joe the daydreamer has missed Love’s proposition: lunch with her friends. If memory serves, Joe wasn’t too fond of his old girlfriend’s pals. In fact, he even murdered one (RIP Peach Salinger). That Love is pressing Joe to meet her buddies so soon might be another hint that she is fucking with him. Or maybe she’s a big old roll of cling-wrap attempting to cover the world’s deepest black hole, and now he’s going for a walk on the stalk-ee side of the street. Either way, it’s pretty karmic.

Out at the dumpster behind Anavrin, an affable fellow calls out to Joe, or rather, to Will. Jasper (Steven W. Bailey) isn’t nearly as scary as we may have imagined, and it seems Joe will be able to pay up and be done with the whole messy business – that is, until Joe discovers Will owes fifty grand, not three. And here’s where the joke in the title of the episode pays off. Jasper cuts off the tip of Joe’s pinky finger, throws it on ice and keeps it as collateral for the balance of the debt, all with a smile on his face. Looks like Joe should have listened to his mentor, Ellie, when she called the guy a creep. When Joe circles back to the plexiglass prison where he’s storing the real Will, he finds a sniveling mess in dire need of his meds. Even though Will can barely function, he’s somehow able to recall a fifty thousand-dollar IOU Joe can claim. In order to hunt those ducats, Joe must cancel his lunch date with Love and her squad. Upon receiving the news, Love, who knows no bounds, returns a text with a fucking phone call. Like, I don’t believe in The Rules, but come on. Show a modicum of chill. Of course, Lonely Boy doesn’t have any boundaries either, so he finds this adorable. He comes up with an alibi blaming Forty, which Love does not seem to buy, and decides to go to the lunch anyway in the capacity of a cap-wearing creep peeping from behind a plant. To Joe’s surprise, the group decides they like the sound of him, and he reciprocates with his own stamp of approval. It seems Beck’s ghost does not approve of Joe’s happiness, because here she is again, cockblocking from the other side.

Remember Joe has a severed finger? He finally does, too. Joe must endure a noontime LA party to find Will’s debtor, Rufus, endearingly named in a nod to Penn Badgley’s Gossip Girl father. Guests at the party just will not believe that Joe is not John Mayer, and they honestly might be right. Dude looks EXACTLY like John Mayer, a true fact that I hadn’t noticed before. As he traipses around the party, he spots the celeb from the airport –  a comedian named Hendy (Chris D’Elia). Guess who else is at this party? Delilah the landlady. Small world made smaller by the fact that she knows Rufus, and also Hendy. When he notice’s Joe’s hand, Hendy recommends the same microsurgeon as Jake, which shores up Joe’s good opinion of Hendy earlier earned in a brief Google search. Delilah vehemently disagrees, storming out of the party. We learn later that Hendy raped her when she was seventeen. Delilah points to this experience as the reason she sees right through Joe’s bullshit – she knows he’s bad news and she warns him to stay away from her and Ellie. Back at the party, Joe finds Rufus who hands over a huge bag, not of money but of pills – Will’s meds.

Joe doubles back to his (or Will’s) place to tend to his wound, and of course Love turns up uninvited, and she is displeased. You guys, I fucking love soap operas. Guess who Forty is to her? Her fucking TWIN BROTHER! I live for this shit. According to common knowledge, twins share everything, so now Love knows Joe lied about his reason for bailing on her friends. While Joe spins some wild yarn in his head about doing all this crazy shit so they can be together, she whips out the dead husband card in order to emotionally strongarm Joe into being her boyfriend. And since this is exactly the type of shit Joe lives for, everybody’s favorite ghost steals the scene again, which makes Joe flip his lid. It’s like, can’t a guy do a few little murders and then live in blissful peace? Love draws the line at yelling (boy is she in for a surprise if she gets to see his true colors) and hightails it out of there. Perfect, because Joe really needs to see to that finger.

Joe meets Jasper at the storage unit. Seeing that he’s never going to raise his dough from the whimpering puddle otherwise known as Will, Jasper lunges at Joe. But Joe is a seasoned killer and he takes Jasper out lickety-split, butchering him Sweeney Todd-style and ditching trash bags filled with his ground-up body in a dumpster. Right alongside this scene, Love hacks away at a rack of lamb with a large butcher knife. As she prepares the rest of her dinner, she cracks a couple of eggs with one hand. Vivisected balls much? Joe shows up at Love’s door – even that psychopath knows to text first – and he bravely drops the knowledge he learned from Beck’s ghost; it’s not that he’s afraid of getting hurt, it’s that he’s afraid of hurting her. Love does all the heavy lifting for him and warps this loud siren into whatever she wants to hear, which is that they need to be in a relationship. Let me remind you once again that it has only been ONE WEEK. Love pulls the classic high school move of claiming friendship when her motives of partnering are so, so transparent. Both are playing this game, though, so Joe is delighted by her willingness to wait for him. Aw! Gross!

And just like that, old Joe is right back in his comfort zone – panty-snatchin’ and trophy-hidin’. This is a pretty high bar to set for episode two; Joe’s only been in LA for one week and he’s already got a body count. Can’t wait for episode three! See You then!

[newsbiteswithjennysok]

Sept 6, 2019

1. Theo Campbell, known for starring on MTV’s “The Challenge” as well as reality show “Love Island” in the UK, has opened up in depth for the first time about the accident that left him almost completely blind in one eye.

The 28-year-old reality star appeared on Britain’s “This Morning” show Friday, and said that a young woman accidentally popped a bottle of champagne in his direction while on vacation in Ibiza, Spain, causing the injury.

“It’s a very eerie pain,” he said. “I couldn’t open either eye at first, and I just had my hand over [one], and I couldn’t see anything at all. I was stumbling.”

Campbell shared that he was in disbelief for two minutes until he looked down at the hand that was covering his right eye, and saw blood.

“From there, the security grabbed me, they took me to the medical room, and the medic looked at it,” he said, adding that doctors realized he needed to be taken to the emergency room right away.

Campbell said he “in constant pain for the first two days,” even after he had eye surgery.

The former track athlete said he is hopeful that he will heal, but doctors don’t have much hope, and have told him, “You’ll never be able to see the same again. It might be a very long time before you start seeing anything, like, even in a blurry way.”

“But if I look now, I can see light,” Campbell added. “That’s the good part, but I explain it as looking through a stain glass window, because I can see, but everything is a massive blur.”

He posted on Instagram on Aug. 27 that he had been involved in an accident involving a champagne cork and thanked his girlfriend Kaz Crossley for her support.

He is also raising money for charity by running a 10K to support the Cure Blindness foundation.

2. Charlie Sheen has been accused of not paying up.

Sheen’s ex-wife, Denise Richards, claimed in court documents in August that the former “Two and a Half Men” star owes $450,000 in child support for their two daughters, Sam, 15, and Lola, 14, The Blast reported. The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, 48, requested a judge force Sheen, 54, to pay.

“[Charlie] has squandered over $24,000,000 from the sale in his interest in ‘Two and a Half Men’ to pay his personal debts and to support his extravagant lifestyle at the expense of support payments for his children,” read the papers, obtained by the publication.

Richards filed for divorce in March 2005 after nearly three years of marriage. The former couple finalized the process the following year.

The “Drop Dead Gorgeous” actress also claimed Sheen failed to pay the $450,000 and instead diverted “over $600,000 in assets to adult family members and converting thousands of dollars into cash for his own personal use.”

Sheen’s rep had no comment.

Sheen, however, slammed his ex-wife in a statement to The Blast.

“D and her legal posse traffic only in fiction my day in court is painfully overdue,” he said. “She is behaving like a coward and the truth will prevail.”

3. Gym. Tan. Breakup.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro and Jen Harley have reportedly called it quits again after she accused the “Jersey Shore” star of spending time on a boat with another woman over the holiday weekend. Harley, 31, made the allegations via now-deleted Instagram stories.

“Is this love???!! Or is this a mistake??” she captioned a now-deleted photo of what appeared to be Ortiz-Magro, 33, and a woman on a boat. “This is Ron this weekend with another girl again,” she wrote in another story.

She continued the roundup by posting a quote from Shelly Lewis about addiction: “Addiction not only hurts the addict. It hurts the family, kids, friends and the people who try to help them.” Ortiz-Magro completed a 30-day stay in treatment for depression and alcohol abuse earlier this year, and said on a recent episode of “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” that he feels “really good.”

She ended her Instagram story by going after both MTV and Ortiz-Magro by saying: “I’m the one bullied and abused by everyone just bc I don’t post the things that happen to me doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen !! Isn’t it weird you never hear my side?? Bc I don’t need to tell it.”

A source told People that they are indeed “broken up. She’s moved out of the house. Ron wants to focus on his daughter and her well-being.”

4. Demi Lovato wants her fans to know the truth.

The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer, 27, conquered her “biggest fear” when she posted an unedited picture of herself wearing PilyQ’s jungle bandeau top ($76) and matching high-waisted bottoms ($72) on Instagram to show fans what she really looks like without Photoshop.

“This is my biggest fear. A photo of me in a bikini unedited. And guess what, it’s CELLULIT!!!! I’m just literally sooooo tired of being ashamed of my body, editing it (yes the other bikini pics were edited – and I hate that I did that but it’s the truth) so that others think I’m THEIR idea of what beautiful is, but it’s just not me,” she wrote alongside the photo.

“This is what I got.”

Since surviving her near-fatal drug overdose last year, Lovato explained she’s starting a “new chapter” in which she wants to live an “authentic” life instead of caving to Hollywood’s pressures.

“So here’s me, unashamed, unafraid and proud to own a body that has fought through so much and will continue to amaze me when I hopefully give birth one day,” she shared, adding that she’s done committing herself to an unrealistic diet and exercise lifestyle.

“It’s such a great feeling to be back in tv/film while not stressing myself with a strenuous workout schedule before 14 hour days, or depriving myself from a real birthday cake rather than opting for watermelon & whip cream with candles because I was terrified of REAL cake and was miserable on some crazy diet s–t,” Lovato explained.

5. Jeremy Renner is shutting down his app after trolls impersonated the “Avengers: Endgame” star on the platform.

“The app has jumped the shark. Literally,” Renner said in a message posted to the app. “Due to clever individuals that were able to manipulate ways to impersonate me and others within the app I have asked ESCAPEX, the company [that] runs this app to shut it down immediately and refund anyone who has purchased any stars over the last 90 days.”

He added, “What was supposed to be a place for fans to connect with each other has turned into a place that is everything I detest and can’t or won’t condone.”

The 48-year-old actor apologized to his fans and asked that they still connect with him on other social media platforms.

“My sincere apologies for this to have not turned out the way it was intended,” he said. “To all the super-fans who have supported me with your words or encouragement, amazing art, stories and time shared on the app, a genuine THANK YOU and I hope to see you on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.”

Renner launched the app in 2017 to connect with his fanbase and share exclusive content.

[ossyuche]

Should I Marry a Man Who is a Late Bloomer?

I’m 36 and he’s 38. We both want to get married and have kids. He finished grad school 2 years ago and so he’s only been working in his new profession for 2 years. He was doing odd jobs before that and so he doesn’t have any savings, but he does have student loans. I’ve been working and saving for 15 years and I’m finally in a place professionally where I’m making OK money for the first time in my life. I don’t have a lot, but I’ve been carefully putting money aside, while also helping my mother out. While I’m not crazy about the fact that my boyfriend has no money saved and actually owes thousands of dollars, I love him very much and I accept this fact about him. He’s had life experiences that have made him the man who I love today. I am more interested in how he’s going to move forward with his life from this point on. But here’s where I don’t see him being proactive and I’m not sure how to handle it or how poorly it bodes for our possible future together.

As I said, I’m already 36 and if we are to wait another 1.5 years until we get married (as you recommend) I’ll be almost 38 and kids will be around the corner. We’ve talked about about this timeline for marriage and kids (if we decide that we want to be together) and we’ve started talking about our finances and his career plan for the next 3 years. He says that he could make about 20% more in his next job, which would be life-changing for him. He’d be able to pay off his loans far more quickly, get far more affordable health-insurance, be able to work on exciting new projects. Maybe we’d even be able to go on vacation in Europe instead of just dreaming about it! But so far it’s just been talk.

I’m not a therapist, but based on what he’s told me, I think part of the reason that he’s dragging his feet is because he’s conscious of his age and feels embarrassed by the fact that he’s 38 and looking for a lower-level job in his field. I have told him that people change careers all the time. I feel that I can help bolster his confidence and I am happy to do it–my last boyfriend did that for me and his confidence in me really helped me take the next step I needed to in my own career. But my question is how do I create a supportive environment and make him feel totally accepted, while also making sure that I get what I need–which is seeing that his is doing what he needs to do to help create the conditions for us to start a life together? I know that men don’t like to be pressured (who does??) and I don’t want to give him an ultimatum, but I need see that he’s serious about moving ahead professionally, both for his own sake and for ours. But I also want him to feel motivated on his own.

Sorry that was long and a little convoluted. I don’t want to sabotage this great relationship because I’m scared of investing precious time into a relationship that may not pan out. But I also want to be clear with him about what my expectations are. And yet I know that some things need time to play out. I am struggling with how to balance these things.

Thank you for all your sound advice and ample wisdom!

Renee

Flip the genders and you have a pretty similar picture of my relationship a decade ago.

I was 36 and was finally starting to make and save money.

My girlfriend was 38 and $40,000 in debt.

I was taking control of my life as an entrepreneur.

She was working at the same company for 14 years without health insurance, making less than 60K/year.

That’s the simplistic view, anyway. In reality, everything is more nuanced. My wife’s debt was largely the result of a divorce where she received no alimony because her ex lost his job, and the fact that she took $15,000 advance on her credit card to help her best friend who was facing eviction. In other words, my girlfriend wasn’t a profligate spender; she was just in a bad situation.

Her job, while not lucrative, offered a comfortable work environment with women she loved and incredible five-star travel perks.

Once I accepted who she was — my favorite person on the planet — we could start building our future together.

Even so, my default was to be critical. After all, I’d never accrued a dollar of credit card debt. I’d never work at a company without greater financial upside and insurance. But here’s the thing: my girlfriend was a great human being who was content with her life choices. She didn’t need a prestigious job or aspire to greater things. That was MY narrative and I had to consciously not impose it on her. Once I accepted who she was — my favorite person on the planet — we could start building our future together.

For us, it was me, paying for everything for nearly 3 years while she paid down her own debt to get back to even and clear her credit.

For you, it will be determining if you’re content with a husband who may not be a worldbeater, but is a wonderful man in every other way. If, in fact, he aspires to a job where he makes 20% more, it’s within his reach, and you believe in him, I see no reason for you to abandon ship.

It sounds to me like a good heart-to-heart is necessary — the equivalent of reading him the letter you just wrote to me. You don’t want to pressure him. You don’t want to offer ultimatums. You don’t even want him to change. You just want to know that if you’re investing your future in him that you want the same things out of life, which includes a greater level of financial stability. If, after he tells you that he’s on the same page, he continues to drag his feet instead of getting his ass in gear, you’ll know who he really is.

And THAT’s the point where you’ll have a real decision to make.

Good luck.

The post Should I Marry a Man Who is a Late Bloomer? appeared first on Dating Coach – Evan Marc Katz | Understand Men. Find Love..

Related posts:

How Do I Figure Out If My Boyfriend Loves Me or Money More?

My Ex Left Me With A Large Debt And I Don’t Know How to Explain It.

Do I Need to Be Financially Stable to Have Something to Offer a Woman?

Original source: https://www.evanmarckatz.com/blog/marriage/should-i-marry-a-man-who-is-a-late-bloomer

from WordPress https://hotandsizzlingonline.com/should-i-marry-a-man-who-is-a-late-bloomer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=should-i-marry-a-man-who-is-a-late-bloomer via IFTTT

[elizabethcariasa]

Know what's taxable or not before filing your return

Money courtesy Pictures of Money via Flickr

Most of us can't afford extravagant wardrobes. And we own, at most, one house. But for many of us, there's one thing that most of us share with lavish-living Paul J. Manafort.

We, like the former lobbyist and political consultant, are not fans of paying taxes, especially really big Internal Revenue Service bills.

Rick Gates, Manafort's former right-hand man, today told jurors hearing the tax evasion and bank fraud charges against his former boss that Manafort disliked paying a lot of taxes.

But, I hope, that we aren't following Manafort's alleged method to reduce our tax bills.

Under reporting income: Federal prosecutors contend that Manafort, with Gates' help, failed to properly report all of his earnings.

Gates, seated in the Alexandria, Virginia, federal courtroom's witness stand, echoed earlier testimony from a tax accountant that Manafort opted to classify some of his income as nontaxable loans.

Meanwhile, as the tax trial of Donald J. Trump's former campaign manager continues, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump's former personal attorney also could be facing tax evasion charges of his own.

The newspaper says investigators are assessing whether Michael Cohen under reported income from his taxi-medallion business. That income reportedly included hundreds of thousands of dollars received in cash and other payments over the last five years.

Taxable vs. nontaxable income: Prosecutors, defense attorneys and ultimately jurors will decide whether former Trump confidants evaded their tax responsibilities.

But the charges offer a good opening for us regular folks to review what the Internal Revenue Service considers taxable or nontaxable income.

Basically, Uncle Sam does get his cut of a lot of our money at tax time. But not all of it. Here's an overview of taxable, nontaxable and may be taxable income.

Taxable Income

Alimony. Alimony you receive from your ex-spouse is taxable income, but only through the end of this tax year. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), alimony payments won't be counted as taxable income for tax years 2019 through 2025. Also during those years, alimony payments will no longer be deductible by the payer.

Barter payments. Barter income is taxable. This means that if you, for example, build a cabinet system for your dentist in exchange for a root canal, you must pay tax on the fair market value of the dental services. Yeah, I know, tax insult added to dental pain.

Bonus from employer. If you receive a bonus, it is in most cases taxable income. Your boss should include the extra income on your W-2 form.

Canceled debt. You finally got out from under a big part of your debt when you convinced the lender to forgive it. Sorry, but the IRS isn't nearly as nice in these cases. In most instances, a debt that is canceled or forgiven is considered taxable income.

Cash. One of the biggest filing misconceptions is that cash, or at least some of it, is not taxable. Not true. All cash payments for your work are taxable, regardless of how much or little. The confusion comes from the IRS requirement that payers don't have to report such payments if they are less than $600. But that $599 in various dollar denominations you got for pool cleaning services is all taxable. Even if you don't get a 1099-MISC.

Gambling payouts. Gambling income is taxable at the federal level to the extent that it exceeds your gambling losses for the year. Some states, however, don't tax certain types of gambling proceeds.

Hobby income. Hobby income is taxable. You used to be able to deduct expenses incurred to participate in your hobby from any income it produced. But that was limited by the miscellaneous itemized expense threshold of 2 percent of your adjusted gross income. Now even that is gone, at least for tax years 2018 through 2025, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. If you are making money from your hobby, you might want to consider turning it into a business, where you'll have more expense deduction flexibility.

Interest and dividends. This investment income is known as unearned income. But it's still taxable. This is true even when you reinvest the dividends. So are profits you make, at capital gains tax rates, if you eventually sell the assets that are producing the interest and dividends. A key exception here is interest paid on certain government obligations, such as municipal bond interest. These amounts are not taxable by the federal government and, depending on where the bonds are issued, by some state tax departments.

Jury duty pay. Jury duty pay is taxable as miscellaneous income. If, however, you turn over your jury duty pay to your employer so that you were still paid while you were off the job serving on a jury, you can deduct that amount.

Side hustle earnings. You're still getting a regular paycheck, but you drive for an app-based transportation company or do odd jobs for your neighbors for a few extra bucks. That supplemental gig income is taxable. You might be able to reduce the amount somewhat by claiming legitimate side-hustle expenses. But don't try to just ignore these extra earnings.

Traditional retirement plan withdrawals. Money that goes into these accounts is made before taxes are computed. That means that you'll owe the tax that's been deferred while the retirement plan has been growing over the years. This applies to traditional IRAs and basic 401(k) company retirement plans.

Unemployment benefits. It's definitely no fun to lose your job. The only thing worse is that when you collect unemployment benefits, that money is taxable.

  Not Taxable Income 

Roth IRA withdrawals. You can take money from a Roth IRA without paying income tax in a couple of situations. First, since you paid tax on the money before you put it into a Roth retirement account, you can take that contributed money out at any time. As for the account's earnings, those are tax-free as long as you are at least age 59½ and have held the Roth IRA for at least five years. If you take the earnings out earlier, you'll owe a 10 percent penalty on these so-called early distributions.

Child Support. Money you receive that is designated as child support is not taxable. While tax law regarding alimony will change next year, the tax-free status of child support money will remain.

Combat pay. Combat pay is not subject to income tax.

Inheritance received. A lot of folks, swayed by political complaints about the misnamed death tax, think that the $10,000 Uncle Buck left them is taxable. It's not. All inheritances are tax-free, at least at the federal level. The estate tax is paid by just that, the estate a person leaves, before any heirs get their bequests. But be sure to check with your state tax department. A few states do tax the recipients of inheritances.

  Maybe, maybe not taxable

Gain from the sale of a home. If you sell your home at a gain, up to $250,000 in profit (or $500,000 if you're married and file a joint tax return) is tax free. That means that most of us will never face a tax bill for selling our primary residence as long as we've owned and lived in the home for two of the last five years. However, if you're lucky enough to make an even bigger profit, the amount in excess of those exclusion amounts is taxable. But at least it's at the lower capital gains tax rates.

Social Security benefits. If your only source of retirement money is Social Security, those benefits aren't taxable. But if you have other income, either from a part-time job or your own savings or investments, depending on your income you could owe income tax on up to 85 percent of your Social Security benefits.

Court awards and damages. These are taxable depending on what the legal payments cover. Any awards you receive for lost pay, punitive damages, business damages or the like are taxable. But damages for physical injury or sickness or for emotional distress are tax-free.

Disability benefits. You generally pay tax on disability benefits if your employer paid the disability insurance premiums. However, if you paid the premiums yourself, the benefits are not taxable.

Garage sale proceeds. Most garage sale items go at bargain prices, meaning you sold them for less (usually much less) than what you originally paid for them. Since you don't make a profit on the yard sale items, then you don't have any taxable gain. If, however, you sell that painting Aunt Millie gave you and which turned out to be a portrait of her by a young Pablo Picasso (you knew she had a secret life!) for a nice sum, that gain is taxable, again at capital gains rates.

Gifts. A gift if just that. It's something you got from someone — often family, but also your very good friends — who just wanted to do something nice for you. In this case, Uncle Sam also does something nice. He says you don't owe tax on gifts you receive. This includes financial gifts, such as money to help you purchase your own home, or other assets, such as a family heirloom you can use to help furnish your new place.

More taxable or not situations: As this overview shows, there are lots of things to consider when it comes to taxable or nontaxable income.

A more complete collection is in IRS Publication 525, aptly name Taxable and Nontaxable Income. The current edition is up to date as far as 2017 taxes, but the IRS will issue an update with the TCJA changes. So bookmark the publication's web page and keep checking.

And remember, if you have any concerns about whether something is legally within the IRS' reach, talk with a tax professional.

It's always wiser and more cost-effective to get the pre-emptive tax help than have to hire a tax accountant or attorney later, like Manafort and possibly Cohen, to deal with IRS tax evasion questions.

Advertisement

// <![CDATA[ // &lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;gt; // ]]&gt; // ]]>

[christophergill8]

Know what's taxable or not before filing your return

Money courtesy Pictures of Money via Flickr

Most of us can't afford extravagant wardrobes. And we own, at most, one house. But for many of us, there's one thing that most of us share with lavish-living Paul J. Manafort.

We, like the former lobbyist and political consultant, are not fans of paying taxes, especially really big Internal Revenue Service bills.

Rick Gates, Manafort's former right-hand man, today told jurors hearing the tax evasion and bank fraud charges against his former boss that Manafort disliked paying a lot of taxes.

But, I hope, that we aren't following Manafort's alleged method to reduce our tax bills.

Under reporting income: Federal prosecutors contend that Manafort, with Gates' help, failed to properly report all of his earnings.

Gates, seated in the Alexandria, Virginia, federal courtroom's witness stand, echoed earlier testimony from a tax accountant that Manafort opted to classify some of his income as nontaxable loans.

Meanwhile, as the tax trial of Donald J. Trump's former campaign manager continues, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump's former personal attorney also could be facing tax evasion charges of his own.

The newspaper says investigators are assessing whether Michael Cohen under reported income from his taxi-medallion business. That income reportedly included hundreds of thousands of dollars received in cash and other payments over the last five years.

Taxable vs. nontaxable income: Prosecutors, defense attorneys and ultimately jurors will decide whether former Trump confidants evaded their tax responsibilities.

But the charges offer a good opening for us regular folks to review what the Internal Revenue Service considers taxable or nontaxable income.

Basically, Uncle Sam does get his cut of a lot of our money at tax time. But not all of it. Here's an overview of taxable, nontaxable and may be taxable income.

Taxable Income

Alimony. Alimony you receive from your ex-spouse is taxable income, but only through the end of this tax year. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), alimony payments won't be counted as taxable income for tax years 2019 through 2025. Also during those years, alimony payments will no longer be deductible by the payer.

Barter payments. Barter income is taxable. This means that if you, for example, build a cabinet system for your dentist in exchange for a root canal, you must pay tax on the fair market value of the dental services. Yeah, I know, tax insult added to dental pain.

Bonus from employer. If you receive a bonus, it is in most cases taxable income. Your boss should include the extra income on your W-2 form.

Canceled debt. You finally got out from under a big part of your debt when you convinced the lender to forgive it. Sorry, but the IRS isn't nearly as nice in these cases. In most instances, a debt that is canceled or forgiven is considered taxable income.

Cash. One of the biggest filing misconceptions is that cash, or at least some of it, is not taxable. Not true. All cash payments for your work are taxable, regardless of how much or little. The confusion comes from the IRS requirement that payers don't have to report such payments if they are less than $600. But that $599 in various dollar denominations you got for pool cleaning services is all taxable. Even if you don't get a 1099-MISC.

Gambling payouts. Gambling income is taxable at the federal level to the extent that it exceeds your gambling losses for the year. Some states, however, don't tax certain types of gambling proceeds.

Hobby income. Hobby income is taxable. You used to be able to deduct expenses incurred to participate in your hobby from any income it produced. But that was limited by the miscellaneous itemized expense threshold of 2 percent of your adjusted gross income. Now even that is gone, at least for tax years 2018 through 2025, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. If you are making money from your hobby, you might want to consider turning it into a business, where you'll have more expense deduction flexibility.

Interest and dividends. This investment income is known as unearned income. But it's still taxable. This is true even when you reinvest the dividends. So are profits you make, at capital gains tax rates, if you eventually sell the assets that are producing the interest and dividends. A key exception here is interest paid on certain government obligations, such as municipal bond interest. These amounts are not taxable by the federal government and, depending on where the bonds are issued, by some state tax departments.

Jury duty pay. Jury duty pay is taxable as miscellaneous income. If, however, you turn over your jury duty pay to your employer so that you were still paid while you were off the job serving on a jury, you can deduct that amount.

Side hustle earnings. You're still getting a regular paycheck, but you drive for an app-based transportation company or do odd jobs for your neighbors for a few extra bucks. That supplemental gig income is taxable. You might be able to reduce the amount somewhat by claiming legitimate side-hustle expenses. But don't try to just ignore these extra earnings.

Traditional retirement plan withdrawals. Money that goes into these accounts is made before taxes are computed. That means that you'll owe the tax that's been deferred while the retirement plan has been growing over the years. This applies to traditional IRAs and basic 401(k) company retirement plans.

Unemployment benefits. It's definitely no fun to lose your job. The only thing worse is that when you collect unemployment benefits, that money is taxable.

  Not Taxable Income 

Roth IRA withdrawals. You can take money from a Roth IRA without paying income tax in a couple of situations. First, since you paid tax on the money before you put it into a Roth retirement account, you can take that contributed money out at any time. As for the account's earnings, those are tax-free as long as you are at least age 59½ and have held the Roth IRA for at least five years. If you take the earnings out earlier, you'll owe a 10 percent penalty on these so-called early distributions.

Child Support. Money you receive that is designated as child support is not taxable. While tax law regarding alimony will change next year, the tax-free status of child support money will remain.

Combat pay. Combat pay is not subject to income tax.

Inheritance received. A lot of folks, swayed by political complaints about the misnamed death tax, think that the $10,000 Uncle Buck left them is taxable. It's not. All inheritances are tax-free, at least at the federal level. The estate tax is paid by just that, the estate a person leaves, before any heirs get their bequests. But be sure to check with your state tax department. A few states do tax the recipients of inheritances.

  Maybe, maybe not taxable

Gain from the sale of a home. If you sell your home at a gain, up to $250,000 in profit (or $500,000 if you're married and file a joint tax return) is tax free. That means that most of us will never face a tax bill for selling our primary residence as long as we've owned and lived in the home for two of the last five years. However, if you're lucky enough to make an even bigger profit, the amount in excess of those exclusion amounts is taxable. But at least it's at the lower capital gains tax rates.

Social Security benefits. If your only source of retirement money is Social Security, those benefits aren't taxable. But if you have other income, either from a part-time job or your own savings or investments, depending on your income you could owe income tax on up to 85 percent of your Social Security benefits.

Court awards and damages. These are taxable depending on what the legal payments cover. Any awards you receive for lost pay, punitive damages, business damages or the like are taxable. But damages for physical injury or sickness or for emotional distress are tax-free.

Disability benefits. You generally pay tax on disability benefits if your employer paid the disability insurance premiums. However, if you paid the premiums yourself, the benefits are not taxable.

Garage sale proceeds. Most garage sale items go at bargain prices, meaning you sold them for less (usually much less) than what you originally paid for them. Since you don't make a profit on the yard sale items, then you don't have any taxable gain. If, however, you sell that painting Aunt Millie gave you and which turned out to be a portrait of her by a young Pablo Picasso (you knew she had a secret life!) for a nice sum, that gain is taxable, again at capital gains rates.

Gifts. A gift if just that. It's something you got from someone — often family, but also your very good friends — who just wanted to do something nice for you. In this case, Uncle Sam also does something nice. He says you don't owe tax on gifts you receive. This includes financial gifts, such as money to help you purchase your own home, or other assets, such as a family heirloom you can use to help furnish your new place.

More taxable or not situations: As this overview shows, there are lots of things to consider when it comes to taxable or nontaxable income.

A more complete collection is in IRS Publication 525, aptly name Taxable and Nontaxable Income. The current edition is up to date as far as 2017 taxes, but the IRS will issue an update with the TCJA changes. So bookmark the publication's web page and keep checking.

And remember, if you have any concerns about whether something is legally within the IRS' reach, talk with a tax professional.

It's always wiser and more cost-effective to get the pre-emptive tax help than have to hire a tax accountant or attorney later, like Manafort and possibly Cohen, to deal with IRS tax evasion questions.

Advertisement

// <![CDATA[ // &lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ // &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;amp;gt; // ]]&amp;gt; // ]]&gt; // ]]>

from Tax News By Christopher http://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/2018/08/taxable-nontaxable-maybe-taxable-income.html

[beardedwinnerobject-blog]

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

"Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://insureinfo.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

RELATED QUESTIONS: 

Acting career where do i start?? where is safe and affordable places to live in LA?

Hi everyone first let me just say thank you for your time in advance. I want to move to LA and start my acting career but i have never been in LA so i dont exactly know where would ...show more

What's the most & best but reasonable/affordable Health Insurance??

in/for Indiana

Can a 73 year old man get life insurance for $100K? What would the approx premium be if so?

I know it would be expensive-anyone have an idea? Thanks so much!!

2nd job: Car porter+car insurance?

I want to get into a second job and the idea of being a car porter has popped into my mind! I was wondering if the company provides the insurance though, or if i have to provide my own. I know that it varies on location and the company if they provide it or not, but i still want to ask the general community for help! thanks for the help!!! :)""

Vw lupo gti insurance!!?

hi there, im nearly 17 in a few days and i want to buy a VW Lupo GTI for my first car but im not sure how much the insurance will cost because it is a GTI. does anyone have any ideas how much it will cost????? thanks :)""

Im looking for people with private health insurance or no insurance?

if you have medicare, medicaid, or group insurance at work, dont answer. was it difficult to get insurance? who is ur carrier? do you have pre existing conditions?""

Cheapest young driver car insurance?

i done endsleigh, i-kube, go compare, zura (or w/e), aa, swift, any i havent heard of that specialise i have googled specialist young driver insurance (had licence 3 months and im 18) Male""

Car Insurance?

How much would it cost to insure a red 2007 new beetle+hatchback?

Car insurance question?

I have my own car but the title insurance and registration isnt in my name its in my girlfriends step dad name so I could have really cheap insurance. And some girl hit the back of my car the other day but didnt make no police report because I knew her. So she just gave me her policy number agents name and phone number. But my main concern is that will my car be able to get fixed because im not on the insurance? My girlfriends step dad has plpd insurance and so does the girl that hit me and I live in michigan.

Car insurance: Proof of no claims?

I just got a letter through today from my car insurance provider asking me they want proof of my no claims. I renewed earlier in the month however i didn't change providers so seems a bit pointless them wanting proof when they hold the no claims information themselves. I didn't renew in the straight forward way as i planned to sell my car but ended up changing my mind but wanted to make some changes to my policy so just created a new policy using my online account i have with the insurance company, it turned out to be cheaper doing it that way but obviously because of the changes i made, could this be why i have received this letter? Should i just notify them of the situation in a letter and attach my original renewal letter which has the no claims information on it? Or will i need to get a so called proof of no claims certificate to get this sorted?""

Car Insurance Issue's? HELPPP!?

I lost my job so I couldn't pay my car insurance for about 3 months. Then it got expired my license also got suspended because of no car insurance:/. But right now I'm back on my feet and I want to get my license reinstated and get car insurance again. I want to know how can I do that? And do I have to pay the amount I owed back to my other car insurance company or can I go to another and not pay them back? PLEASE HELP ME!

How much will I be paying in car insurance if I'm a 23 year-old person?

Im a 23 year-old college student and have just gotten a car. I have always gotten a ride with my friends. My father just added me into his policy and it looks like I will be paying $224.11 for 6 months liability coverage, is that normal? I will be driving a 2001 Mazda Millenia. Also, what are the cheapest insurances for young adults? Thank you!""

""Liability only car insurance, does it matter what car you get?

I'm pretty sure you pay more if you get a mustang than a honda 4 door civic. Just liability only - not full comp and collission. No notes that if you have a loan in the car you have to carry full coverage. I know that already. Car would be cash and use same year for both cars.

Car insurance question?

Ok, car insurance questions..? we have car insurance through a really CHEAP company, not a big name one. When we signed up, the do the multi car thing, but they add all the cars under one name and the others as drivers. We had a relative come stay with us, and they added their car and name to our policy, than they moved and registerd the car else where, the policy is under our name, with them as a driver, is this legal? what should we be doing, the policy is good for like 6 months .""

What is the estimated cost of repairing a knocked down motorcycle? (assume only aesthetic damage)?

Girlfriend knocked down a motorcycle while parking...trying to determine if we should go insurance or out of pocket.

How do you pay an insurance deductible?

Well i sadly wrecked my car today i have full coverage because i have a loan from a bank and im still making payments on it. I let the insurance company know. But my deductible is $1,000.00 and i dont have a thousand dollars. Can you like make cheap payments on that or do you need it all upfront? Or do i not have to pay it right away?""

What are peoples opinions of the affordable care act?

I am not that informed about it and curious how people feel about it

How much will i get from insurance company?

I got into an accident last weekend, and i just met with the apprasial guy from Nationwide(the guy who hit me insurance company). He said he is going to mail me a check and the amount is going to be his estimate..So im just wondering how much the check is going to be...There is about 8-9 scratches on my front bumper, and he said the garage is going to take off the bumper, repair it, repaint it, and then put it back on. So based on that, how much do you think the check will be? Car Details: Honda Accord EX 2000 Black Front bumper. Thanks in advance!""

What's the best insurance option for a private car collector?

What's the best insurance option for a private car collector?

How do I go about getting life insurance?

I need life insurance, who do I need to speak with?""

Is it cheaper to insure your child under your insurance even if they have thier own car?

Is it cheaper on your child to insure them under your insurance even if they have their own car? We have leased a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze for our 18 year old daughter and after researching some rates that were as high as $500 per month, we thought it might be cheaper to insure her under our current policy as an additional vehicle. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? This is in the state of TN, and the lease and vehicle will be in my daughters name, we're just making the payments on everything. She is a student at a college less than 50 miles away. She does live there however, and only comes home once or twice a month.""

Do pcv holders get cheaper car insurance?

Do pcv holders get cheaper car insurance?

""Can't get insured, what to do?""

In April 2008, my wife totaled out my Impala(at fault, fault of my wife). In Jan 2010, some lady totaled out my Saturn which was sitting in front of my house, we were inside the house at the time. I had full coverage, but the lady did not have anything. Of course my insurance went up. I am trying to get insured for a motorcycle that I want, but all I keep getting is that I am uninsurable. I personally have not had any at fault accidents. How can I get around this, Is there an easier way? I have to get full coverage 500 deductible and collision on this motorcycle. THIS SUCKS! HELP Please!""

Cheap Insurance companies for a Piaggio NRG 50?

I just bought a Piaggio NRG 50 and wondering who is the best company to get insured with and how much will it cost at the least? Thanks!

Health and life insurance?

im needing to look into health and lfie insurance for myself, and was wondering where to start? What is everyone using? i need something reasonable and something where i dont get the run around with!! Any help appreciated!""

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Do i have to have insurance?

i live with my parents. an my mom told me that our car insurance company says i HAVE to be insured, cause i have access to my parrents cars... can they do that?""

20 and a Marine but auto insurance companie's want to charge me 500$ a month??? HELP?

I just got my license a couple months back i am in the marines and joined when i was 17 and in california it cost 350$ to get your license before you are 18 and i could not afford it. i am a very busy guy and it took time before i could get it. i make 600 every 2 weeks and i am about to get a car i am stationed at camp lejeune NC. for the auto loan i will be paying about 350 to 400 a month. its not that bad i am paying 5 % interest on the loan for 11,500 not that bad for not having any credit. but the insurance companies want to charge me anywhere from 450 to 700 a month i have only looked at a couple companies but it takes forever to fill out the info and some of them do not read my address because i am on a military base so i have to call them and you all no how that goes. so my question is what is a auto insurance companie that will be cheap. i have to get full coverage because of the loan. please only serious answerer's and from personal experience. sorry if i spelled things wrong i am not in a prestige college i am a Marine. but think you for your help and have a great day.""

Will my car insurance go up?

So I was at the red light and the car behind me randomly hits my car there's a medium size dent right in the middle of my bumper it doesn't look terrible but it's deep and noticeable also some paint was chipped off ... My car insurance ppl know about it.. Will my car insurance go up? Even if it wasn't my fault at all?

Health insurance and pre-existing conditions.?

Hello, question. If I have health insurance now, find out I have a condition, then get a different job and change health insurance, am I in the pre-existing condition status with the new insurance? I'm curious because as of now the only reason I keep my health insurance is just in case as with any insurance and I don't want to have to pick up insurance after finding out something is wrong, as I understand it doesn't work that way, that's the catch. However, what if I find a condition while I have insurance, go off of it between jobs and get insurance back? Does that mess with things? Is there a way around it? Thanks""

Can your car be towed if you have no insurance?

Can your car be towed if you do not have insurance on your car? I was in an accident where the other car did not have insurance on the car that was not his. The police gave us a ticket, which it was our fault, I'm not denying that, but the police drove off not having the car towed . It kinda makes me wonder if the cop let them go with no ticket or anything.""

Car insurance prices?

i just got a 1993 BMW 325i for my 17th birthday. Can anyone tell me how much car insurance is going to be on it? i have a 2.5gpa so the discount doesn't apply. and i live in florida. Also how much does it cost to get your license plate and registration

Best health insurance for woman?

Looking for health insurance and reviews on basically the health insurance companies. I'm a really picky person and having reviews eases my mind a bit lol

Motorcycle insurance in MA ?

Hi i have called several insurance companies about insurance for a motorcyle in MA. i havent found one that offered it. Geico, even nationwide and allstate dont offer it. i dont understand how Allstate doesnt offer motorycle insurance in all states but any suggestions or cheap insurances for a single 18 y.o in MA would help. thanx""

With pretty good insurance what would the average cost to have?

a hospital monitor my heart over night? I have been having chest pains and went and got a EKG done my doctor said he thinks I am fine I may have just pulled a muscle. But I am having shortness of breathe and my chest has been just a little sore for over week and a half.

Can i get a rough estimate on car insurance if i dont have a car yet?

I passed my test on friday and i will be buying a car this week .. i wanted to look into car insurance so i have a rough idea on how much it will cost, but they are all asking for car details .. can i get a rough idea before i have a car if so where? thanx""

Car totaled. Other drivers fault but have no insurance.?

I was the designated driver for my friends. Was driving friends car home and got in a car accident. Other driver ran the red when I turned. She admitted to it to the police but my friend has no insurance. Will he be penalized and will he receive any sort of compensation from the other drivers insurance for totaling his car. He also has $1200 left with his finance company. Will they charge him anything even though he will pay the remainder off?

How much is car insurance monthly in Oregon with a Dealer License?

A buddy of mine who lives in Washington registers their cars with their dealer license. My buddy claims that his car insurance is only about $20.00 a month because of his dealer license. My family and I are beginning to pick cars up on craigslist and flipping them and are getting a dealer license so I'm wondering if in the state of Oregon, if the car insurance will be cheap like that or is that a Washington only thing? Thanks for your answers- Paul""

I haven no health insurance?

i have no health insurance and apprantely i cant get medicaid or anything like that but i'm sick and i'm about to loose my job due to the rescission like millions of others..but my question here is what can i do to get medical help if i have no type of insurance?

Where can I get free life insurance quotes?

I need a website that gives free life insurance quotes?

*****Why is its called Life Insurance?*****?

If I can only get if I'm Dead? And then someone else is spending my money!

Best Car Insurance Quotes?

Hi I'm about to turn 18, am female and passed my driving test on Monday. I just bought a car. It's so tedious getting insurance quotes. I've checked all the comparison ...show more""

Car Insurance quotes for people aged 24.?

Hi, I'm 24 and my car insurance is due in March, rather annoyingly I go 25 in April. Will the fact I go 25 in April affect my premium I get in March? For instance currently if I get insured with Aviva my excess is an extra 200 because i'm under 25. Come April would this clause be void? Would I be better getting a months insurance then getting a full insurance once I officially turn 25?""

""At age 60 without employment,i need affordable insurance please help.?""

At age 60 without employment,i need affordable insurance please help.?""

What is the best Insurance company for car quotes ??? (Cheapest)?

Im looking for a cheap reliable insurance company i can get a qoute for a 2003 Vauxhall Corsa 1.2

What is the cheapest insurance for a 17 year old driver?

What is the cheapest insurance for a 17 year old driver?

""Does paying in full for car insurance cover 6 months, one year, or what?

Progressive has the option of paying in full for car insurance instead of paying monthly. The total is about $1500. Does this only cover 6 months? Or one year?

What is the average cost for insurance on a 2009 Yamaha R6?

Im going to get it tomorrow. I am almost 19, and i have one accident. I think it was a fault from both drivers. not sure. just let me know what you are paying and on what kind of bike thanks.""

Can anyone be added to insurance?

I was curious if my dad could get me on his insurance plan (medical)? I can't afford insurance and I'm suffering from tooth pains, psychological illnesses, and need medical attention. I'm supposedly too old (26), but I wanted to know if my father could add me onto his insurance another way? Thanks.""

Which of the following are proof of insurance?

i wanted to know is $35,000 cash to dmv, dmv certificate of self-insurance, insurance policy card from car insurance, or all of that is proof of insurance""

How much is car insurance for a new female independent driver in the UK?

I was just wondering how much it costs for a new female to get insurance on a car .. anyone have a ny ideas ... and is 1.1 L engine big enough for a new driver answers needed asap please !! xx

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

How did they steal my car? It a 2001 Lexus is200 . Stock immobiliZer fitted! Will insurance cover this?

Whill the insurance cover this? What todo? :(

What Dog breeds lower home owners insurance?

My hubby and I just bought our 1st home and heard that owning a certain type of breed of dog such as a German shepherd will lower homeowners insurance because its considered a good guard dog that can protect the home. I'm wondering if they're any more breeds that we can choose from since we're looking to add a dogie addition to our family. Thank you in advance!!

How much would insurance cost. The car is a 2000 Lincoln Continental.?

How much would it cost I would mostlikely be put on my parents policy. Just wondering how much it would cost. Im 16.

Would disability insurance premiums be deductible if you are self employed?

Would disability insurance premiums be deductible if you are self employed?

Will insurance still able to view my previous ticket record and raise my car insurance?

I got a ticket in April of 2004. I paid the fine and went to traffic school. Just two days ago, i got a ticket for speeding (48 at a 35 limit). 1) will I still able to go to traffic school for this ticket? (I'm in CA, my friend told me we are allowed to take traffic school if it's over 18 months since the last citation, is this correct)? 2) i read some yahoo answer on car insurance and someone is saying the insurance company will still able to view the previous citation and raise the car insurance if we get the second citation within 3 years of the 1st one. the point will be unmasked for insurance company to see. is this true? 3) if it is true, does that mean even if i'm able to go to traffic school for my second citation, the insurance company can still raise car insurance for my 1st citation?""

Canceling car insurance?

i got some car insurance for a car i was purchasing today as i did not want to drive it home over 100 miles with out none , i only took it out yesterday but when i went to pick up the car it had obtained some problems that it did not have before so i have not brought it. i was told when i got the insurance that i would have 14 days to cancel it but when i rung them up today to cancel it they have said i can not and i will have to pay all of the premium in full, i explained to them why i was needing to cancel it and was told it is not their fault and i still have to pay all outstanding monies , is this right . this is with swinton if it matters.""

""I'm looking to buy car insurance, how much should it be? MG ZR?""

Its for an MG ZR 1.4 I cant go on my parents policies because my dads left my mum and my mum don't drive, so theres no way, plus i have no over family, so its impossible for that option. Of course it wont be cheap but i didn't expect it top be extortion, im male, so i know its higher, ive done some online quotes, it said around 6000 a year, how can a 17 year old even buy that, unbelievable, i was hoping it be around max.. 2000 even that's really high. Lol I ain't exactly rich lol. First ill buy a older rubbish car to get my confidence up with driving, then try to go for this car, its my dream car tbh, i find it beautiful. Im gonna name it Phoenix. lol. i am sad. But i was just wondering about it.. if you have any other advice about insurance, such as, what would make it cheaper ( year the car was made, door numbers etc) or what cars li should buy first.. i would appreciate it highly. Thank you in advanced. :) God Bless you all.""

Comprehensive Auto insurance?

I'm sure someone has already answered this question, but i couldn't seem to find it. Ok I have AAA comprehensive auto insurance and my question is if i was parked outside at a meter and someone hit me would i be covered? Also same scenario just in a parking lot. Thank you, for anyone that answers this question""

Car Insurance?

If I take a car loan under my name, do I need to take the insurance under my name as well? Any possibility of using the insurance under my husband's name instead?""

""If you had to guess, do you think my insurance will be high?

i am an 18 years old male. i have been driving for close to two years and i had one speeding ticket that i took to court and they let me off. i got no points. i drive a 2000 mercury cougar and with liability coverage it costs $90 a month. im on my moms policy. im want to get a 2005 chevy monte carlo lt that im gonna have to get full coverage on because im financing. i am also gonna be on my moms insurance. do you think my premium is gonna increase by alot? thank you. and please just give me estimates and dont tell me to call the insurance company. i just want ballpark estimates and answers. thank you :)

What is cheap full coverage car insurance?

What is cheap full coverage car insurance?

How much would insurance cost in Vancouver BC...?

I'm a new driver, 20 years old. I'm going to buy a new car (2011). I want to use it to drive to school since over the past 2 years I have a lot of things to do and don't ...show more""

Buying a car in NJ from a Private seller but want Georgia Insurance?

I have a Georgia License and am currently away at College in New Jersey (My family has a house here and in Georgia). I want to buy my first car, but insurance in NJ is extremely expensive. How do I get Georgia insurance, Registration, and my Georgia address to show on the vehicle Title? When I purchase the car from the private seller, how will I be able to get my car home with no plates?? Is there a way to get temporary plates in New Jersey and Temporary Registration? Will I need to get a New Jersey License? HELP !!! Can someone give me a step by step walkthrough of what I have to do to get the Georgia Insurance? Thank you !""

Subsidized health insurance for age 55+ in California?

Is there a subsidized health insurance program for people age 55+ in California? I used to live in Massachusetts where my father-in-law has MassHealth insurance coverage. Any program similar to that in California? Thanks!

Price of insurance on a scooter for a 17 year old?

Ive been looking at a Pulse Lightspeed 2 125cc Sports Scooter Automatic Twist and Go, is it a good first scooter for a 17 year old and how much is the insurance around. If not a good scooter could you give some examples of good ones in the comments.""

Where can i find affordable life insurance for my 81 yr old granmother?

I live in Illinois, and I work for the UI, but im not sure if I can add my grandmother on my insurance...So Im trying to find somewhere that will take senior citizens, but something i can afford..""

What's affordable about obamacare?

or the Affordable Care Act that so many want us to call it so that Obama hopefully isn't yoked with this monstrous failed program for the rest of time.

Under Obamacare you can't be turned down for insurance because of preexisting conditions but at what price?

What stops the insurance company from charging you and arm and a leg?

Motorcycle insurance estimate after DWI?

I'm 21 and had a pretty clean driving record untill 2 years ago when I was charged with a DWI and was convicted of it 1 year ago and lost my licence for a year. I'll be able to get my licence back in 2 weeks. I just purchased a Harley that I want to insure with liability I'm wondering what other people in the same situation are paying for insurance? I'm hoping to keep it under $80 a month for liability on a motorcycle. I was paying $55 a month for 2 older vehicles with liability before the accident and motorcycle insurance is typically cheaper. Any suggestions on good high risk policies that insure motorcycles?

Im a 16 year old and got my drivers license how long should i wait to get my motorcycle license?

Since im 16 and got my license. if i wait will the cost of motorcycle insurance go down? if so by about how much?

I am looking for a good insurance company. Do you have any recommendations?

I am a full time student and require more insurance than just what I can get from being a student. Does anyone know of a good insurance company for the state of NC?

""I got a job but my wife pregnant , but I can't find any healthy insurance?""

My company was closed 16 months ago . I got a contract job this month , and it will start middle of this month . But one serious problem with my wife's insurance . Before I find this job , we made about 2500 per month , and we have medi-cal insurance . My new job is a six months contract without any benefit , and 6000 per month . So we can't have medi-cal anymore . When I called a lot of insurance agent , the only one answer I got is I can buy insurance for my wife , but insurance will not cover any fees for pregnant . My wife will delivery my 2nd baby this oct. and my job will star 2 weeks later . Please help me to find out the way to help my family . Best Regards, Joseph PS. I live in California""

""How much does fire insurance cost, building damage insurance cost, more on details?

1.) Fire Insurance 2.) Building Damage Insurance 3.) Property Damage Insurance 4.) Any other insurances out there? Please name some for me. The building is 1000 sq. feet with only one floor. How much would insurance cost? HOW MUCH MONEY PER MONTH? Thanks so much!

Is it possible to obtain a learner's permit without having my parents' insurance rates go up?

I am a 16 year old in NY and my parents do not want me to obtain a learner's permit because they are afraid that their insurance rates will go up and they cannot afford it now. Now, a friend told me that I could go to the NY DMV without my parents and get a learner's permit. Is this possible? I would like a learner's permit not only for the ability to drive, but also as a solid form of photo ID (like, instead of a passport). What should I do about this? PS. My parents won't be convinced.""

How much does disability insurance cost?

my 28 year old non smoking healthy wife who works at a computer for 30 hours a day was quoted $130 per month for $3000 per month of disability insurance. is that reasonable?

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Can't pay my insurance?

I paid my tickets and was going to renew my license but was told I was suspended from paying insurance till next year, is there really anything I can do?""

Car payments and insurance?

is it possible for me to finance a car in my name but put the car under my parents innsurance? so the innsurance would be cheaper

""Motorcycle blown over in 35MPH wind, would the insurance company cover it? And would I be declared at fault?

07 zx6r. Left it outside while I was away came back to it on the ground. Heavy winds last night.

Can I drive my sisters car without being on insurance?

My sister lives at home with me and my parents and I just got my license back. I'm not on the insurance, but am I able to drive my sister's car even though she still lives home? My mom said I can't legally.""

How much should i insure my house for?

My house and land (combined purchase) cost $185,000.I have stainless steel appliances, (combined D/W, microwave, fridge, electric stove, central air and water heater. Furniture (contents) not purchased as yet and will be added later. How much should i insure my house for? *Note -land is not to be insured* Any suggestions on what i need to do, types of coverage and flaws to look out for? THKS for your kindness""

Do 'normal' car insurance companies insure exotic cars as well?

I've gone to multiple popular car insurance agencies websites and tried to get a quote for a Lamborghini, but in the drop down menu there is never an option for it. I'm beginning to wonder if they even do insure these kinds of cars?""

Can you buy a car if you don't have a license in CA? Can you get car insurance without having a license?

My friend has a driver's permit. She wants to buy a car and practice driving in it so she can get used to it. Then she wants to use that car when she goes for her driving test at the DMV. Can she buy and register the car without having a license? If so, can she get insurance on the car without first having a driver's license? Thanks for your help.""

Buying a new car..insurance help?

So need some help.ive bought a brand new car which is coming on the way from suppliers so will take a few weeks.so i have a car im trading which ive never done before so im unsure wot to do about insurance as the insurance on my current car expires 13th feb and the garage will nd a cover note of new insurance to tax car..and as i dont know the reg plate yet.same for tax of car what do i do when renewal letter comes through(renewal date 31st jan)as hopefully will hv car by then.

Honda Fit insurance question?

I was planning on getting a Honda Fit and I was wondering about the insurance rates. I was thinking of getting a 07-08 Sport model. I don't know if transmission plays a role in the insurance, but I would get a manual. I am a 17 (turning 18 in June) year-old male. I would get full coverage. I would figure that it will be expensive but okay because of safety features, and that it is a fuel economy car. Any information would help. Thanks.""

How much would the insurance be for a Porsche Cayenne Diesel a year?

The insurance would be for a female driver with over 25 years of experience. How much would it cost a year, and also how much would the monthly diesel bill be? Thanks""

If i was to buy a car 300 miles away from where i live what would i do about insurance and driving back?

Hi Question pretty much says it all, , I cancelled my insurance few months ago when i sold my car, so it wouldnt be a matter of ringing them up and transferring over. I dont know how it works could i just drive it back and say i have just bought it if for whatever reason if i get pulled??""

What happens to my car insurance with 2 speeding tickets?

I got a speeding ticket and took a defensive driving class in December 2012 and was put on probation for I think 6 months? Now, only four months later, I got another speeding ticket. Will both of these tickets go on my record? And if so how much do you think my AAA car insurance rates will go up? I am 19 and have nothing on my record except for these two tickets. Also, what will I have to pay in court?""

Where can I find the cheapest health insurance in California?

Basically I am enrolling in this EMT course and they REQUIRE that you have proof of health insurance before enrolling in the class. Where can I find the cheapest insurance just to fill this basic need? Doesn't matter about coverage and co-pays, etc. just need something to suffice until I'm done with the course, then I'm going to drop the insurance once I get it from my job as an EMT, ya know. Me: married 23 yr old female in perfect health.""

Should Keep or Look into term Life Insurance Quotes?

I have a whole life policy which I have been paying 45.00 per month for 16 yrs. I have to pay this amount until age 99 so they say. The amount it was for when I bought it was 50,000. It builds cash value. I am now 62. Should I keep this policy or look into term insurance?""

Can I get Motorcycle insurance for a hired motorcycle in Thailand?

I am planning to spend two weeks in Phuket and intend to hire a motorcycle. Is there anyway i can get compriensive insurance for this? Thanks Phil

Still waiting to hear from car insurance if car is a write off?

its been a week since this guy hit me from behind. he was 100% at fault. how long do i have to wait to find out if my car was a write off? the car is fixable and i need to know how much to fix? want my car back!!!!!

Where can I find affordable life insurance for sr citizen in-laws?

I read a previous thread suggesting MediCare, but I am not talking about HEALTH insurance. They only have term life insurance tied to current job, and they need to retire. They have ...show more""

Does anyone know of affordable health insurance for college students?

Does anyone know of affordable health insurance for college students?

""Need cheap car insurance, already looked into geico and progressive?""

what's a good, AFFORDABLE company i can go to for auto insurance? i'm a 19 yr old female, living in dallas, tx marital status: separated""

How much is health insurance in arizona?

How much is health insurance in arizona?

Looking for insurance with marcs and sparks?

I need an insurance for an 82yr old to go to america

How much would insurance cost for a 17 year old?

I'm going to be seventeen soon and I'm just curious how much it will cost to insure me. My parents have USAA and they have some kind of family type plan with me my sister and both of my parents. I will probably be driving this car http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-NIssan-350Z-custom-body-work-and-paint-/320645191467?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4aa7f1572b#ht_930wt_1123 I don't care about your opinion of the car, and I don't need a lecture on the fact that I shouldn't street race I just want a ROUGH estimate of how much it will cost per year or per month or whatever you can find""

Cancel Geico Insurance Online?

Is it possible to cancel my insurance online?

Do you need insurance for a 50cc (49cc) scooter in California?

Do you need insurance for a 50cc (49cc) scooter in California?

Whats the average pay for Car or Auto Insurance ??

What is the average amount that people pay for Car Insurance a month for one car?????? PLEASE SOMEONE ANSWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

Adirondack New York Cheap car insurance quotes zip 12808

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-select-insurance-quotes-brianna-todd/"

[kidsviral-blog]

How Men's Rights Leader Paul Elam Turned Being A Deadbeat Dad Into A Moneymaking Movement

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/how-mens-rights-leader-paul-elam-turned-being-a-deadbeat-dad-into-a-moneymaking-movement/

How Men's Rights Leader Paul Elam Turned Being A Deadbeat Dad Into A Moneymaking Movement

Paul Elam has become the face of the modern men’s rights movement by rallying against false rape accusations and divorce courts that favor mothers. But exclusive BuzzFeed News interviews with his estranged daughter and ex-wife show that his pet causes are very, very personal.

The first time Bonnie met her father, Paul Elam, he cried like a baby. It was a summer day in 2005, nearly 25 years after Elam relinquished his parental rights in court and refused to pay child support for Bonnie, whose name has been changed, and her younger brother. Bonnie and Elam felt awkward at first as they smiled through their tears across a restaurant table, marveling at how much they looked alike. Elam told Bonnie that he was sorry he had failed her and that he wanted to develop a relationship.

The last time Bonnie saw Elam was in 2011, after Elam spanked her son for opening a refrigerator door. In the years between, Elam struggled to be a good father to Bonnie and a good grandfather to her sons, and Bonnie and Elam eventually became strangers to each other once more. But Elam did become a father figure of sorts to scores of men who feel disenfranchised from what they see as an increasingly feminized society. They call themselves men’s rights activists. Over the past few years, Elam has established himself as their most vocal and controversial leader.

The men’s rights movement, which emerged in the 1970s as a response to second-wave feminism, may still be a fringe phenomenon in the United States, but Elam has revitalized it for the social media age. In 2008, he founded A Voice for Men, now the movement’s most popular website, which has birthed a broader online community where aggrieved men swap memes and commiserate. His work has helped fellow activists attract sympathetic media attention, launch franchises all over the world, and seek mainstream acceptance. Some politicians now use the movement’s talking points to enforce antiabortion laws and attract voters who care about “fathers’ rights.” Popular conservative pundits echo the movement’s critiques of feminism when talking about the government’s response to sexual assault on college campuses.

View this image ›

Paul Elam Adam Serwer / BuzzFeed News

Elam’s takes on gender are often attractive to men dealing with the painful aftermath of divorces, custody battles, and rejection. He preaches the gospel that men’s failures and disappointments are not due to personal shortcomings or lapsed responsibility, but rather institutionalized feminism and a family court system rigged against dutiful fathers, as well as a world gripped by “misandry,” or the hatred of men.

The men’s rights movement has some dedicated critics, such as David Futrelle, who has chronicled the movement’s rise on his blog, We Hunted The Mammoth, for years. But A Voice for Men is often portrayed in the media as a relatively sober voice of reason in the abrasive world of men’s rights. “If Men’s Rights Activism has a Gloria Steinem, it is Paul Elam,” Emmett Rensin wrote this week for Vox. “The website is one of the oldest and, if there is such a thing, most respected hubs for MRA activity. Elam and his staff do, at the very least, engage in genuine advocacy on behalf of men.” Rensin didn’t cite any examples of said advocacy. This is not surprising, given that the site’s advocacy efforts are difficult to discern.

What is clear is that Elam has amassed tens of thousands of followers — and lined his pockets with their donations to the for-profit AVFM, which are estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. (When asked how this money is spent, Elam told BuzzFeed News that A Voice for Men’s finances were “none of your fucking business.”)

Elam is equally tight-lipped about where his inspiration comes from. He likes to remind his followers that he knows the sacrifices men make thanks to his own experiences, which he speaks of often. But in telling his life story again and again, Elam has conveniently left much out.

Now, exclusive interviews with Elam’s ex-wives and daughter and newly uncovered court records shed light on a man who, they told BuzzFeed News, has depended on and emotionally abused the women in his own life.

For example, although Elam compares the family court system’s treatment of fathers to Jim Crow, he abandoned his biological children not once but twice. Although Elam says that “fathers are forced to pay child support like it was mafia protection money,” he accused his first wife of lying about being raped so he could relinquish his parental rights and avoid paying child support.

His ex-wife and his daughter said he has only been able to make A Voice for Men his full-time job because of the women who have supported him throughout his life.

“People come to Paul for advice on parenting, even though he has two estranged biological children that he did not raise or take care of,” said Bonnie, who, along with her mother Susan, Elam’s first wife, spoke publicly for the first time to BuzzFeed News. (Susan’s name has been changed, because, like Bonnie, she fears Elam’s followers will retaliate against her.)

When Bonnie tracked Elam down back in 2005, he told her that he would understand if she hated him for abandoning her as a baby.

“I said hatred wouldn’t solve anything, and he was floored,” Bonnie recalled. “He thought I would be this maniacal, stark-raving crazy woman. Or at least, that’s what he wanted me to be.”

View this image ›

Elam was born in 1957. In his own words, his father, Gerald, was a “rigid, authoritarian” Army veteran who was “physically abusive and violent” to Elam and his older brothers. His mother, Ann, was a nurse, as well as a “very hardworking housewife” who took care of the children. Yet, as Elam recalled in a recent interview on AVFM, “There was something wrong with the picture. It took me a long time to figure out that it wasn’t my father who was in charge.”

Men’s rights activists often cite the first time they realized it’s a woman’s world. They call these “red pill” moments, after the scene in The Matrix when the main character is faced with the decision to swallow a red pill and recognize the true nature of the world or take a blue pill and continue living a lie. For Elam, that revelation came at age 13, when his mother tried to force him to take his diarrhea medicine.

Elam’s brothers held him down on the kitchen floor while his mother screamed and hit him with a wooden spoon until a concerned neighbor knocked on the door. “I felt like I was engaged in the battle of my life,” Elam said. “I was a rebel from that moment on … I’m still that 13-year-old kid on the floor that won’t take the medicine.”

When Elam was 17, his mother grabbed a photo of his high school crush out of his hands without asking him first. When Elam took it back from her, his father belted him. Elam’s analysis of the incident was that his father’s life was solely about serving his mother — “and nothing else.”

“I followed in many ways in my father’s footsteps,” Elam said. “If I was attracted to a girl … it was my job to please her, and to be and do anything to please her. My instant reaction to women was to please and serve without question.”

Elam wrote in his biography on the site that he did a quick stint in the Army before he met 18-year-old Susan in San Antonio, Texas. As Susan recalled it, Elam first approached her at a local bar, where they played pinball. Susan’s parents didn’t approve — they thought she was too young to date — but the two were married in March 1978 regardless. Susan was 19 and Elam was 21.

They had no money and no place to live, so Susan joined the Army and started basic training. Eventually, she was assigned a placement and the two moved to Tacoma, Washington. In the meantime, Elam was drinking heavily and using drugs, and sold Susan’s belongings to go on a trip to Florida, Susan said. According to records, he was arrested in Fort Lauderdale just three months after their wedding for sleeping on the street. (When asked about the incident, Elam told BuzzFeed News that he had “no idea what you’re talking about.”)

Elam expected Susan to “run around the house barefoot taking care of everything,” she said, but also didn’t appear to be very interested in making money or supporting her in other ways. One day, Susan said, she was raped by a friend of Elam’s. Soon after, she was pregnant, and too scared to tell Elam what had happened.

When Bonnie was born in 1979, Susan breathed a sigh of relief: Her daughter was white, like Elam, and her assaulter was not. Soon, the truth came out. “I couldn’t hide it anymore,” Susan said. Elam told her she had asked to be raped, and that she had slept with his friend because she was bored with her marriage. “I told him he had no idea,” Susan said. “How could he have? He wasn’t even there.”

When asked if what Susan said was true, Elam told BuzzFeed News, “My personal history in a relationship from fucking 20, 30 years ago — is this how desperate you’re getting?”

Two months after Bonnie was born, Elam was arrested for violation of Washington’s drug laws and illegal fishing, according to state records. A few months later, Susan was pregnant again. Before her son was born, Susan left Elam, who, she said, was drinking and using drugs regularly.

Susan received full custody of both children after their divorce in February 1981. Elam was granted visitation rights every other Sunday afternoon, but only if he wasn’t “under the influence of alcohol or drugs or in the company of people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.” He was also ordered to pay child support every month as well as some previously owed child support and a variety of other debts and court fines. But he didn’t. So Susan took him to court again. Finally, he wrote a petition to the court explaining that he didn’t believe he should be held in contempt of court or pay attorneys’ fees because he didn’t think Bonnie was his.

“Susan has a history of promiscuity which never, to my knowledge now, ceased during the three years that we were married,” Elam wrote in the petition. He said he would take a paternity test, but that he felt he had “paid enough for the unfaithfulness” of his ex-wife. Susan said she never read the petition in which Elam questioned her fidelity. But, at the time, her parents convinced her to end the legal battle and cut Elam out of her life without forcing him to prove his paternity. They had never liked Elam, and told her they’d help her raise her children.

According to records, Elam was ultimately held in contempt for failure to pay child support. His punishment was a $100 fine and 30 days in jail. He was ordered to pay $1,200 in unpaid debts, upon which, both parties agreed, his parental rights would be terminated.

Susan didn’t hear from Elam again for years, until he sent her parents a letter apologizing for his actions, chalking them up to his drug use. She didn’t write back. Less than a year later, Elam was married to another woman.

Now, Elam often writes about false rape allegations. “Should I be called to sit on a jury for a rape trial, I vow publicly to vote not guilty, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the charges are true,” he once explained in a blog post, due to how often he believes women lie about being assaulted.

Another favorite topic is how unfair family courts are to fathers. He once wrote, “The day I see one of these absolutely incredulous excuses for a judge dragged out of his courtroom into the street, beaten mercilessly, doused with gasoline and set afire by a father who just won’t take another moment of injustice, I will be the first to put on the pages of this website that what happened was a minor tragedy that pales by far in comparison to the systematic brutality and thuggery inflicted daily on American fathers by those courts and their police henchmen.”

While Elam has written many more posts on these pet causes, he has never publicly acknowledged his own turbulent history with rape accusations and divorce courts.

View this image ›

Growing up, Bonnie only knew two things about her biological father: his name, which was on her birth certificate, and her mother’s recollection of him as a deadbeat, drug-addicted loser. “He’s probably in jail if he’s not dead,” Susan used to tell Bonnie.

But Bonnie didn’t have an easy childhood without Elam, either. She says she was molested by a neighbor and physically abused by someone Susan was dating. When Bonnie was 26 and pregnant with her second son, she decided to track Elam down for herself so she could learn more about her genealogy.

After his divorce from Susan, Elam became a successful drug and alcohol addiction counselor; he’s said he was the clinical director of three substance abuse recovery programs as well as a private contractor. But by around 1999, Elam said he quit to be a truck driver. He had also been married and divorced two more times.

His second wife did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ repeated requests for comment. His third wife would not speak on the record — because she believes Elam will retaliate against her if she does — other than to say: “I never want to have any contact with him ever again, ever.”

Elam has said he was a “zombie” before he read MRA founding father Warren Farrell’s The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex, published in 1993 and considered the bible of the men’s rights movement. After reading it, Elam fine-tuned his melodramatic flair for writing about “evil women” in a series of published letters to the editor of the Houston Chronicle about “opportunistic feminism.” “Male-bashing feminists, contemptuous of the patriarchy and the traditional role of women in it, are alive and well and more politically powerful than ever,” he wrote in a July 1999 letter to the editor.

But by the time Elam received Bonnie’s letter, he was still years away from launching his own website. He wrote her back on May 30, 2005:

I was totally shocked to get your letter today, but I am glad to tell you that your efforts have paid off. I am the person you have been trying to find.

Elam went on to explain that he wasn’t sure he was her biological father, despite the letter he had sent Susan’s parents years ago, apologizing for his behavior while under the influence. But, Elam said, he didn’t want to focus on logistics:

If I can divert things for a moment here, all this business is rather sordid and cold, and there is something else on my mind I’d rather be saying. Bonnie, I hope I am your biological father. [Your brother’s] too. I owe both of you a tremendous debt whether I am the man who fathered you or not. There was a time that I held you while you went to sleep and looked at you seeing the most beautiful thing in the world. I just said some unflattering things involving Susan, but the more important truth here is that I failed both of you.

Elam offered to pick up the tab for a paternity test, and they agreed to meet to discuss further. But when the two locked eyes, Bonnie said, Elam wept. “Now we know,” she remembered him saying. They decided it would be a waste of money to go forward with testing.

“It wasn’t even like, do we kind of look alike?” Bonnie said. “I was looking at myself. I saw myself in him from my face to the bend in my elbow. It was weird. Your whole life, you go around not looking like anybody, and all of the sudden your doppelgänger is sitting right in front of you.”

Bonnie and Elam hit it off right away. They didn’t just look alike: They both loved sushi, hated American politics, and shared the same dry, sarcastic sense of humor.

Elam was on the road for weeks at a time and wasn’t around all that often — Bonnie guesses she only saw him for a total of two weeks over six years — which is why she thinks it took some time for “the honeymoon period to end.” The first time Bonnie remembered noticing Elam had anger issues was around eight months in. She took a trip to Houston to visit him on her own without her husband and kids. They planned to eat Vietnamese food and play Rock Band. Bonnie heard Grandmaster Flash was playing at a local museum event, and asked if Elam and his girlfriend wanted to go.

“He freaked out for no reason,” Bonnie recalled. “He said, ‘Absolutely not, I’m not listening to this n****r rap shit.’” (“Of course I didn’t say anything like that,” he insisted to BuzzFeed News.)

This outburst made her cry. “I was like, wow, it’s only OK to have a relationship with my dad when I’m agreeing with him.” Still, the relationship continued to progress. One night, the Elams went to dinner as a family: Bonnie, Paul, Susan, and Bonnie’s brother, from whom the family is now estranged — he’s been in and out of jail on drug charges for years. Unsurprisingly, it was awkward.

“I looked at Paul and said, ‘You accused me all these years of being unfaithful, and I never was; the only time I ever was, was when you put me in a situation where I got raped,’” Susan recalled. “He got up and walked away mid-sentence, and that was that.”

She told Bonnie she wasn’t happy that they were in touch, but said she knew Bonnie had to make her own decisions about her father for herself.

When Elam was on the road, he would entertain himself by participating in what Bonnie called “internet troll wars” about men’s rights. Elam has said that he “started AVFM from a semi truck, with a laptop, driving 10, 12 hours a day.” (“I’m a determined person,” he told BuzzFeed News.) By 2008, he was blogging under the name “The Happy Misogynist.” Bonnie was his first subscriber. He wrote to her in August 2008 from his brand-new blogging email address to thank her for her support, calling her “Lonely Girl” since she was not only the first subscriber, but also the only woman.

At first, Bonnie was happy her dad had a hobby; she was interested and supported his passion and was proud when he began to gain a real following. As the mother of two sons, she was concerned about resources for young men, and thought his perspective — he said he was a drug abuse counselor and noticed men were getting abused so he made it his mission to find them resources — was admirable. She said she remembers Elam made thousands of dollars through online fundraising in just days to launch A Voice for Men that year.

“I thought, Wow, this is the culmination of all his hard work,” Bonnie said. “He wanted to be a writer, and now he had a platform. Who doesn’t want something like that to happen for them? He was doing work he loves, he was getting people excited about a topic that needs more light, and I thought he was really going to change things.’”

What she termed her father’s “shock jock” rhetoric didn’t bother Bonnie in the beginning. But by July 2009, he was penning things like “A Message to Women”:

There is a problem with the women in this culture… And the “freedom” women gained on this frenzied path of vengeance and victimization went to its final end? It doesn’t appear to have settled well. Women are growing increasingly violent. They are matching men in domestic violence, blow for blow, and they are causing the lions share of injury and death to children in the home.

None of this quite resonated with Bonnie, who thought of herself as “the antithesis of everything” Elam was describing. She had been abused and molested, and had a tough childhood, but had raised two sons with her husband of 17 years. She didn’t even consider herself a feminist, but “pro equal rights.”

Elam assured Bonnie that he was only being sensational to drive his point home. “He does a lot of stuff just to get a rise out of the public,” she said. “He said there’s no such thing as bad press. He knew in order to get something out in the spotlight, especially something as niche as men’s rights, you have to overblow it.”

When asked how AVFM has grown so quickly, Elam told BuzzFeed News, “By provoking the feminist establishment. The readers come to our site and find out they’ve been lied to.”

View this image ›

Men’s rights activists say they are driven by what they see as gender-based prejudice shaping culture, driving disparities in unemployment, education, criminal justice sentencing, and outcomes in family court. They complain that laws like the Violence Against Women Act discriminate against male victims of sexual or domestic violence because men have been demonized by feminists and their allies as inherently violent. Since women can choose to terminate a pregnancy, they argue, it should be easier for men to opt out of paternity. They believe there is an epidemic of false rape claims shattering the lives of innocent men.

Comprehensive data on custody battles is difficult to produce because of the multiplicity of relevant factors such as age, legal representation, income, employment, and child-rearing responsibilities at the time of divorce. Mothers are almost always the custodial parent in the event of a divorce, but the vast majority of custody arrangements are not contested, and the percentage of women gaining sole custody has decreased sharply since the 1980s. Though many in the men’s rights movement are convinced of an epidemic of false abuse and sexual assault accusations, studies show that there are few false accusations of rape and abuse, even in the context of custody battles.

“You don’t have to look too hard to see that for the most part men are in charge of the Congress, of the major corporations, of income and wealth and opportunity, and at the same time a lot of men aren’t benefiting from that,” said Kim Gandy, a former president of the National Organization for Women who now runs the National Network to End Domestic Violence. “Men are disproportionately benefiting from it compared to women, but there are plenty of men who have been left out of that.”

Many of the issues men’s rights activists point to are real, or at least grounded in reality.

Many of the issues men’s rights activists point to are real, or at least grounded in reality: There is a growing gender gap in higher education — though an increasing number of both men and women are earning college degrees. Studies have found gender disparities in criminal justice sentencing that can be explained by multiple factors, but likely also involve internalized stereotypes about men and women. Men are actually less likely to attempt suicide but more likely to succeed at it. In a society where prison rape remains a familiar punch line, male victims of domestic and sexual violence are often ignored or stigmatized.

Other claims are less grounded. The Violence Against Women Act is so named because women still suffer the brunt of domestic violence, but gender nondiscrimination is written into the statute. Fatal intimate partner violence has fallen drastically since its passage, but more dramatically for violence against men than violence against women. (Elam himself has written, “I am 6’8” tall and 285 pounds. If a woman five feet tall and 110 pounds soaking wet hits me, I am going to hit her back.”)

Men’s rights activists have attacked the “ever-expanding definition of rape, for women” by the Centers for Disease Control and the FBI, accusing them of ignoring male victims of sexual assault. Yet the definition of rape was indeed expanded in 2012 — to include men. The prior language defined rape as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”

Elam calls AVFM “the largest men’s human rights group of its kind anywhere,” though it does few of the things human rights groups typically do. It provides no services, offers no legal aid, and litigates no cases. It does not regularly lobby lawmakers, advise candidates, produce public policy proposals or original research. Elam told BuzzFeed News that A Voice for Men focuses on “bringing attention to injustices” by “pushing for a change in the dialogue” and publicizing the plight of men mistreated by society. On occasion, A Voice for Men has drawn attention to custody battles on behalf of men they feel are being railroaded by the legal system.

And it does provide villains, most frequently women, feminists, and their male allies, mocked in MRA circles as “manginas” and “white knights.” Elam’s efforts have also gone into podcasts and other ancillary projects, like the website Register Her, which once listed the personal information of women who were deemed to be hateful toward men or were believed to have made false rape allegations, and a recent online imitation of a domestic violence charity. Last year, one podcast featuring Elam promised to help men deal with “crazy” women, positing that “getting rid of her without resorting to the use of duct tape, plastic bags, and shovels can get a lot more complicated.”

In 2011, after feminist writer Jessica Valenti’s personal information was added to Register Her and Elam went after her on his radio show (“We’re gonna be all over her like Ron Jeremy on a drug-addled bimbo,” he said, calling her a “chickenshit” and “scared little girl”), Valenti was so inundated with threats that she contacted the FBI and, she said, left her house until things died down.

Projects like these are why Elam and his website have become known less for political or policy advocacy than for his abrasive approach to debate. In one post, Elam wrote that “all the PC demands to get huffy and point out how nothing justifies or excuses rape won’t change the fact that there are a lot of women who get pummeled and pumped because they are stupid (and often arrogant) enough to walk [through] life with the equivalent of a I’M A STUPID, CONNIVING BITCH – PLEASE RAPE ME neon sign glowing above their empty little narcissistic heads.”

“The claim that Elam and his friends are merely trying to have a conversation about the rights of men in modern society is bogus. What it’s really about is the defamation of women as a group; that’s called misogyny,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has described AVFM as part of a network of “misogynists” and “women haters.”

Bonnie said she and Elam stayed close as he continued to grow his audience. Once, he even posted a photo of himself and his grandsons to social media. “It is a matter of pride and love,” he wrote. “These two are a gift from my beautiful daughter. Of all the amazing art she creates, these two are without compare.”

“The unfortunate thing is that there were really good moments, where he wasn’t totally narcissistic and self-centered and mad at the world, or if he was he hid it well,” Bonnie said. “Sure, they were few and far between, because he never really had to raise a kid and only had concern for himself, but we did have good times.”

Things started to fall apart in 2011. Elam told Bonnie he stopped working due to an injury and stopped responding to her, shutting himself in for months. He used to take her out to dinners and pay her cell phone bill, but now Bonnie was paying his. When she didn’t hear from him, she would drive to Houston to make sure he was OK and try to snap him out of it.

“I am struggling to find work, living off Stacy and have used up every dime of savings. I am in a state so bad the only thing I can compare it to is when I was shooting dope,” Elam wrote in an email to Bonnie in 2010. “I have buried myself in writing because it numbs the pain and makes me think of other things, like instead of feeling like a failure.”

She said that he would “flake” on her to spend time with his girlfriend, Stacey, whose father was ill. When Stacey’s father died in 2011, the couple moved into the apartment her father had been living in, according to public records. Eventually, Bonnie said, the two weren’t even dating — she called them “roommates” — Bonnie said he was driving Stacey’s car and spending Stacey’s money. He didn’t go back to truck driving.

“Here he is on the internet bashing women, yet he’s living off a woman,” Bonnie said. “She facilitated him living off his passion. And online, he was like, ‘Don’t give that bitch a dime,’ or whatever. That’s when I realized he was making excuses.”

Elam invited Bonnie and her family to see his new place, decorated with “expensive furniture and a big Sub-Zero fridge.” The trip didn’t go well: Bonnie felt like he just wanted to show off his new stuff, and he didn’t seem to have the attention span to spend much time with her children. Then, Bonnie said, Elam spanked one of her sons for simply opening the fridge. That’s when she decided to leave.

The two didn’t talk for three months, until Elam called Bonnie on her birthday and left a message with an apology that wasn’t enough for her. Bonnie didn’t call back, figuring she had been easy enough on Elam by letting him into her life so quickly — she wanted him to try harder. That was over three years ago.

“I think it’s weird that he advocates for fathers and he had an opportunity to step up, but the one time something got uncomfortable he bailed. He didn’t fight for me. He should fight for me. I think I’m worth fighting for.”

As she’s watched his star grow, she thinks that he probably rationalizes her actions. “I think he probably feels somehow that this is all my fault because I wasn’t willing to call him back and beg for his forgiveness, even though he hit my child and put me in an uncomfortable situation,” Bonnie said. “He probably compartmentalizes fuel for justifying how he feels about women. He’s probably found some way to explain that it’s my fault we are not close anymore, or that he’s not obligated to me.”

Elam told BuzzFeed News that his personal life was “none of your business,” but he did not deny any of Bonnie and Susan’s story, other than Bonnie’s allegation that he referred to Grandmaster Flash’s music as “n****r rap shit.’”

“You talk to whoever you want to, you print whatever you want; you fuckers are not digging into my personal history,” he said. “I owe you nothing.”

View this image ›

Illustration by Jonathan Rodriguez for BuzzFeed News

Last June’s international conference on men’s rights was not just an important moment for the movement, but also a bid for mainstream attention and acceptance. Originally slated for the DoubleTree Hilton in Detroit, the conference had been moved after local feminist activists protested the venue and there was a demand for further security costs from the hotel after it was deluged with threats.

Elam has credited Farrell’s writing with being a catalyst for Elam’s immersion in the movement; Farrell returned the favor by presenting Elam to around 200 of his fans.

“I saw that [A Voice for Men] was not just a website,” Farrell said. “This was a person who had reached out to thousands of people, all around the country and the world, that was piecing together pieces that no one else in the history of men’s issues had ever been able to piece together.”

Elam told reporters at a Q&A session set up for the press that this was not “a gender war.”

“What we’re talking about in a men’s movement to address these issues is not pointing at where women got it wrong, but where society got it wrong.” Elam referred obliquely to his past incendiary remarks by comparing them to the moment at the 1968 Olympics when black American athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists in a black power salute to protest racism in the United States. “Have there been moments in the rise of this burgeoning movement that have resembled a raised fist in the face of a shocked society? Yes, but that is the nature of all movements for justice denied,” Elam said.

Many speakers at the conference were representative of Elam’s rhetorical style — and many were women, a fact that Elam and his followers often emphasize.

View this image ›

Photograph by Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork

Before the conference, seeking to raise money to “defray the costs of added security and insurance,” Elam raised more than $32,000 in a short time, blaming “fascists and ideological thugs who would use heinous threats to maintain control of a public discourse that is in dire need of balanced, sane change.” Shortly after the conference, and after he had used the alleged threats to raise cash, Elam wrote that he believed the threats had been “concocted nonsense on the part of the Hilton.” He did not say whether or not he would be returning the money.

A Voice for Men is a for-profit limited liability corporation, and so its finances are nearly opaque from the outside. Asked repeatedly by BuzzFeed News how the donations were spent — including those raised for “security” related to the conference — Elam said, “It’s none of your fucking business.”

View this image ›

The first meeting of A Voice for Men’s International Conference on Men’s Issues at a VFW hall in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, on June 27, 2014. Fabrizio Costantini For The Washington Post / Getty Images

Later, however, Elam acknowledged in a post excoriating “dumpster divers from MSNBC” that “every dollar goes right in my pocket,” but that it is nevertheless well spent in advancing the cause. “The way I look at it is that the donations are given freely by people who get a really great website (that they could just get for free) and who believe that I use this operation to further issues that they think are important to them.”

One place where it does not appear to go is to the more than 30 staffers who, according to Elam, work for A Voice for Men.

“Everybody who came in is a volunteer,” said John Hembling, the site’s former editor who has since left A Voice for Men and has dedicated himself more to writing and his own activist group — named Community Organized Compassion and Kindness — which he said will soon offer a domestic violence hotline for men. “For a short period of time I was getting paid a fairly token amount as an AVFM employee, but as far as I know nobody else is getting paid simply because we’re really too small for that to be viable at this point.”

Asked by BuzzFeed News whether his staff was compensated or volunteers, Elam replied, “Volunteers.” A 2014 assessment by the firm Dun and Bradstreet cited one employee on the books and estimated “sales” at $120,000 a year. The site’s store, called The Red Pill Shop, sells T-shirts, cell phone covers, and Christmas ornaments.

“I really don’t think Paul is making an income from this,” Hembling said. “I think he’s basically floating at about level and he’s got some other sources of income that help to keep things running. I’ve been part of the fundraisers for a number of years while I was with AVFM and I know that we’re always looking at, are we gonna break even this month?”

View this image ›

Illustration by Jonathan Rodriguez for BuzzFeed News

Bonnie still holds out hope that Elam might use his platform and funds to create real change.

“I really believe in and care about men’s rights,” she said. “If they were focused on legislation, or even just creating an open dialogue, I could see a true validity for what they are doing, but they haven’t done that. They have no intentions of actually creating a solution. It’s been almost 10 years and they have nothing to show for it.”

It makes her angry that Elam has made himself into a martyr when his history speaks to the contrary. “Here you have men asking him for advice on how to get kids back, and he doesn’t say, ‘I was a really shit dad and a drug addict and I hate women and I’m not going to talk about my estranged kids or spanking my daughter’s son for opening up a fridge.’ He says women are awful, but I’m a woman. I raised two boys. I’ve been a victim of abuse but I didn’t let it affect me. He says women are needy, but I reached out to him in his time of need. The list goes on.”

Susan and Bonnie have repaired the rift that opened between them when Bonnie decided to give Elam another chance.

“He sits there taking all these people’s money and all he’s doing is sucking them dry,” said Susan. “That’s what he’s done all his life — to say it’s the woman’s fault, and not make men look at their own mistakes.”

Bonnie said that if Elam wanted to change and “show some accountability and humility,” she would still be open to a relationship with her father, but she isn’t holding out hope.

“It’s his loss,” she said. “I have a great life, and he chose not to be a part of that. I don’t want to be a prisoner of my past.”

Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for our Sunday features newsletter, and we’ll send you a curated list of great things to read every week!

View this embed ›

update

This piece was updated to include a portion of a 2010 email from Elam to Bonnie clarifying his living situation and state of mind at the time. BF_STATIC.timequeue.push(function () document.getElementById(“update_article_update_time_4888540”).innerHTML = UI.dateFormat.get_formatted_date(‘2015-02-06 15:22:21 -0500’, ‘update’); );

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/adamserwer/how-mens-rights-leader-paul-elam-turned-being-a-deadbeat-dad

[tylersdaze-blog]

If I Die Young

INVOLVED: Tyler Blackwell, Isaiah Miller, and Sechrest Jones TIME FRAME: Saturday, June 3, 2017 LOCATION: Undisclosed WARNING(S): Drugs, Gun Violence, Graphic Birth SUMMARY: -

Tyler was a ball of nerves as he sat in his car. His stomach was turning flips and his palms were sweaty. After all this time, sneaking around and coming home late and had never felt this way before. Something just didn’t feel right. It was an eerie feeling that crept up the back of his neck and pulled at the tiny hairs there. His mouth watered and his fingers gripped the steering wheel tight as he inhaled and exhaled deeply trying to will the feeling away. Closing his eyes, he rested his head back against the headrest. For a little over three months, Tyler had helped Isaiah sort, package, and deliver the largest quantity of drugs that he had ever seen in his life. He had lied to his wife, his family, and his friends, just to do something that he honestly didn’t want to do.

Several years ago, Tyler had put this life behind him. He had gotten into much too much trouble selling drugs and it almost ruined his life. He and Isaiah got into a run in with a rival seller of theirs and things turned from bad to worse when Tyler pulled that trigger. He nearly ended a man’s life and was going to go to jail for it. Has Isaiah not have stepped up and took the wrap for him, Tyler would have spent 6 years locked up. That was the only reason he was doing this. He owed Isaiah his life, however, he wasn’t sure if it was worth it anymore.

Who was he supposed to be more loyal too: his family or his friend?

He just wasn’t this person anymore. He hadn’t been for some time now. Even before Mia, Tyler had put this stuff behind him. Mia only pushed and drove him to want to be a better person. With Mia, he had a life. He had love. They were married. They had two children. She had birthed him his son. His son. The child that would take on his legacy. The child that would follow in his footsteps. The child that looked up to him. Robbing, stealing, and killing wasn’t the example that he wanted to set.

His family meant more to him and he didn’t want a price on their heads. Not over something so stupid. His family was his everything and he couldn’t put himself in anymore danger than he already had and he couldn’t drag them down with him just to help a friend. He refused.

Sighing deeply, Tyler ran his hand down his face before he opened his eyes. After all that he had already done, his debt was paid. He didn’t owe Isaiah anything but an explanation, face to face. Reaching over, Tyler popped open the glove compartment and pulled out his gun. He eyed the heavy material as it weighed his palm down. He quickly checked the load, counting the bullets inside before he closed it up and turned on the safety. He spun the gun around his finger a few times before he shut the glove compartment and slid out of the car.

Looking around, he eyed the neighborhood. He had purposefully parked several blocks away to avoid getting stuck in any drama. He didn’t need his license plate being a part of the crime and he surely didn’t need whomever Isaiah was working for knowing there he lived, where his family lived. Licking his lips, he pulled his hood onto his head and tucked the gun away, sticking it behind his back, in the waistband of his jeans as he began walking down the street.

As he got closer and closer, the feeling began to cripple him. That tingle on the back of his neck turned into a hand holding his throat and the churning of his stomach became a sea of doubts and regrets. He was mentally kicking himself for agreeing to get involved in the first place. He could have told Isaiah no from jump street. Then maybe he could be home right now, lying in bed next to his wife – telling her how much he loved her and appreciated her and trying to create another baby to expand their family.

Dropping his head low in shame, he moved further down the street, keeping a watchful eye out for any threats. When Tyler reached the cut, he stopped for a moment, his eyes searching the area. He looked up at the street light, shining brightly before he sighed. This was his last chance to turn around go home but he wasn’t a little bitch and he wasn’t going to run like one. He needed to look Isaiah in the eye and tell him man to man that he was out. With a deep breath, Tyler turned and began to walk down the dark alley.

That hand around his neck began squeezing tighter and tighter and his stomach was flooded with water as he moved slow and steady. He rolled his sleeves up slowly, his tattoos on display as he stepped. A weight pressed down on his chest and he could prominently feel the cold metal of the gun pressed against his warm skin as he came to the end of the alley way. He stopped there, looking back down the long dark path that he had just traveled before he let out a breath and stepped forward, entering the drug zone. His eyes mulled over everyone carefully. There was a lot of people, more than he had ever seen working the smaller operations and he assumed this that this must have been everyone. Each operation coming together to create one big drug company, if you could even call it that. He watched as people scattered around, pilling bags of money and drugs into the back of cars. There were men standing off to the side counting what looked to be a couple of thousands of dollars. There were woman in nothing but their underwear packaging and sorting through drugs. As he looked around he spotted Isaiah standing off to the side, just watching over it all.

His heart thudded hard in his chest as the anxiety to get away from it all coursed through him. All he kept thinking about was the love that he and Mia made earlier this morning before he put her to sleep to leave. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to Isaiah.

“Yo…” Tyler said as he approached, slapping hands with Isaiah.

Isaiah looked at him, head cocked to the side. “Nigga you late! I was starting to think you weren’t going to show but I knew I could count on you.”

Licking his lips, Tyler nodded. “Yeah, I know. Look that’s what I came to tell you…” he trailed off a bit before he shifted on his feet. “I can’t do this shit. I was trying to stick it out and help you but I can’t do this anymore. I paid my debt and I feel for you man, but this ain’t me.” Pulling the gun from his waistband, Tyler held it out to Isaiah. “Here man.” He said as he handed it over. “I have a wife. I have a family. I can’t get caught up. I got to bounce,” he said as he started to back away.

Staring at Tyler, Isaiah shook his head as he took the gun. “It don’t work like that nigga. You can’t just leave. Your name is attached to this shit just like mine. You got to stick this shit out.”

Tyler shook his head. “Nah. This is you. You got me into this.” He said pointing towards Isaiah. “Unlike you, I have a family. Man, I love my wife and I love my children. What do I look like out here selling dope and putting them in harm’s way. I’ve already done enough. When I met Mia, she made me want to be a better person and I have been. I can’t go back. Not for you and not for anyone else.”

Isaiah sucked his teeth. He was sick and tired of Tyler and his family. They made him soft. “You don’t understand Nigga. You can’t leave and I can’t bail you out of this ‘cause Sechrest, the motherfucker that runs this entire operation, is expecting you. He said he wants to talk to you directly.”

Tyler blinked slow. “W-who?” He questioned. “Who is Sechrest?” Sechrest. Mia’s ex-husbands name was Sechrest.

“Yeah. Sechrest. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He owns a bunch of clubs out here in Miami but that’s just for show. That’s nigga really does this shit all day. He’s one of the biggest drug dealers in Miami.” Isaiah told Tyler. “Everybody call that fool Sea but don’t cross him. He been real ruthless since his wife left him.”

Tyler took a step back shaking his head. “Nah. Man I got to get the fuck out of here.”

Isaiah eyed Tyler. “Calm down man. It ain’t all that. He cool.”

“Nah man! You don’t understand. The wife that left him, that’s Mia. Mia left him for me.” Tyler explained.

Isaiah’s mouth dropped before he caught sight of a jet-black with tinted windows rolling up slow. Isaiah shifted on his feet, turning the safety off and cocking the gun that Tyler handed to him. “Run.”

Tyler looked back slowly watching Isaiah as he cocked the gun. He squinted at the car, watching as the passenger side window rolled down to reveal Sechrest, Tyler had never seen the man before but at Isaiah’s words, Tyler didn’t hesitate to take off.

Tyler sprinted as quickly as he could, his heart racing. That feeling around his neck began to slowly fade and the water in his stomach began to settle as the loud popping sounds began to bounce off the nearby buildings. Shots had been fired. Everything began to move in slow motion as people started to duck and scream out in terror. Car tires began squealing and breaks screeched as the hundreds of people fled. Pop. Pop. Pop. More shots rang out loudly.

Tyler didn’t know who was shooting and he didn’t care he just wanted to get the hell out of dodge. Sechrest was seething with anger as he leaned out the window, watching as Tyler ran. He had been watching from a distance since the moment Tyler has walked up. He was hooded so it was hard to see his face but his tattoos were a dead giveaway and Sechrest was ready for payback. “GO! GO! GO!” He yelled at his driver before he fired three more shots.

Tyler let out a yell of agony as one, two, three bullets lodged themselves into his body. In an instant, his body went tumbling to the ground, hitting the pavement hard as tears filled his eyes. His ears were ringing and his vision was blurry as he laid there. He thought he was still running, still trying to get away but his body was sprawled out as he laid motionless on the cold concrete.

Tyler could practically feel her eyes glued on him as he faced her and he bit his lip, smirking. He looked at her then back at the nails before nodding slowly. He picked up the framed drawing and hooked it on the nails. He stepped back and looked at his work smiling. Turning to her, he leaned against the desk. “All done.”

"I think it looks amazing, just perfect." Mia smiled at the artwork on the wall before turning to him. “Thank you so much, again, this is amazing.” She told him sweetly. “Still not hungry… or even thirsty? The least I could do is feed you. I can cook… take you out to lunch?” she asked him.

Tyler beamed proudly at her. “You’re welcome and thank you.” He shook his head. “No, no. I’m alright.” He leaned back on his hands staring at her. “C’mere.”

"Okay, if you say so." Mia smirked at him. She raised an eyebrow before making her way over slowly. “Yes?” she asked softly smiling at him.

Tyler smiled down at her, gently placing a hand on her hip as he allowed the other to caress her face gently. “You’re gorgeous.” He breathed.

"So, you’ve told me before…" Mia trailed off scrunching her nose at him before rubbing her cheek against his hand.

Tyler smirked, scrunching his nose back at her. He stroked his thumb across her cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He shifted his hand from her waist, wrapping his arm around her, pulling her a little closer. He searched her eyes slowly, licking his lips as his gaze dropped to hers.

Mia wrapped her arms around him laying her head on his chest before lifting it back up, staring into his eyes biting her lip. “…I’m like… really hungry.” She whispered smirking and looking down, before up at him.

Tyler felt her arms coil around him and he smiled. A deep chuckle passed his lips. “What do you want to eat?” He asked softly, dipping his head to brush his lips against hers.

"Anything. I am not picky," Mia giggled covering her mouth slightly before wrapping her arm back around him. Feeling his lips brush against her, she stood on her tippy toes slightly capturing his with her own.

Tyler hummed softly against her lips, pulling her flush against him. “We’ll leave in a second.” He breathed against her lips, savoring the tender kiss. He gently licked the seam of her lips, smiling. “You taste like strawberries.” He whispered as he pulled back, looking down at her.

Mia nodded at him. She softly moaned into their kiss, reluctantly pulling away when he did. She snorted shaking her head at him. “My lip gloss? Its strawberry favored.” She smiled at him.

Tyler chuckled. “I like it.” He smiled at her, gently threading his fingers though her hair as he pecked her lips softly. Pulling away completely he reached into his pocket for his keys.

"Good, I guess." Mia said looking down. She smiled against his lips as he pecked hers. “I’m gonna go get my purse and lock his office up, okay. You can go, I’ll be right out.” She told him pulling away, running her hand down his chest before walking out the office.

When it finally registered with Tyler that he was lying on the ground, he grunted out as he tried to lift himself up, his arms feeling like limp noodles. Vaguely he would hear the car speeding away.

Tyler took a sip of his wine, smiling at Mia. He danced his way over to her, placing a gentle hand on her hip. He pressed his lips to her ear, “dance with me?”

Mia looked around at the other partygoers, standing with her back against the wall. She felt someone’s hand on her hip and quickly turned to face them, only to see it was Tyler. She downed the rest of the wine from her glass and sat it down on a table. “No thank you,” she said faking a smile before walking off slowly headed towards the backyard.

Tyler frowned softly when Mia turned him down. Chugging the rest of his wine down he sat the empty glass on the table beside hers. He watched her head to the backyard for a moment before trailing after her. He fell into step with her, “why not?”

Mia didn’t notice Tyler following behind her. And when she stepped outside for fresh air, well to get away from him, another couple that was already outside went back in. She sighed softly before she heard his voice. “Not in a dancing mood” she said not turning around to face him.

Tyler sidestepped out the way as another couple passed by him. He looked at Mia biting his lip softly, to suppress a smile at the simple sight of her. “Awe c’mon. Just one dance wit’cha boy.” He smiled at her, dipping his hips and shimmying around.

Mia sigh heavily hearing him beg her for a dance and she turned around. “Whatever” she said sadly. “One dance,” she repeated to him folding up one finger.

Tyler poked out his bottom lip and began to let out puppy-like whimpers, all the while still shimmying. And when she agreed he smiled brightly, his dimples creasing inward. He took her hand and tugged her to him gently, spinning her around with a small chuckle. Releasing her he began to hit the cabbage patch.

Mia shook her head at him as he tugged her to him and spun her around, causing a small smile to form at the crease of her lips. And when he let her go she furrowed her brows only to see him start cabbage patching randomly. She giggled besides herself and covered her mouth with her hand. “You’re crazy” she said softy.

Tyler smiled at the sight of her smile and hearing her giggle he chuckled softly. “I know, I know.” He said as he stopped playing and tugged her to him, placing a hand safely on the small of her back as he began to gently sway them back and forth. “You have a pretty smile.”

Mia bit her lip shaking her head at him and how goofy he was. She allowed him to pull her close once more and a shiver ran down her spine when Tyler placed his hand on the small of her back. She looked down grinning slightly as they swayed together. “Thanks” she said softy looking back up at him.

Tyler bit his lip as he stared down at her, humming softly to the music. “You’re welcome.” He stared into her eyes as he rocked them back and forth, holding her close.

“Mia,” Tyler cried out as the pain began to truly set in. In agony, he used his elbows to drag his body across the pavement, still trying to get away.

Mia snorted at Tyler rubbing his back lightly. Grabbing the gun Mia started to load herself with paintballs as well. She looked at him shaking her head. “I got this in the bag. After this you’ll treat my glorious ass to some food and not any McDonald’s, boo.” She said walking away with a swish in her hips. “I hope you ready.” She said softly. 

Tyler chuckled at Mia. He loved how quickly she went from nervous to trash talking him. Watching the sway of her hips, he licked his lips as he followed behind her. “I can do that but we’re also going back to my place for my victory celebration.” He smirked. He followed the instructor into the course, grabbing Mia and hugging her quickly before he ran and got into position. Over the loud speaker, the instructor gave them a quick overview of the rules again before he began the count down. “5… 4… 3…” 

“Only if you win.” Mia looked back at him knowing that it would probably end that way anyway. Mia hugged Tyler back before moving towards one of the objects hiding and preparing herself for Tyler. Mia listened as the instructor counted down making it to… 1 … and she hesitated slightly before moving around the object looking for Tyler she quickly moved to the next hiding behind it before getting up to look over it. 

Tyler smirked. “Oh, okay.” Tyler crouched behind a big X, biting his lip as he tightened his grip on his gun. When the instructor hit one, Tyler poked his head out looking around for Mia. Seeing her head poke out over one of the objects, he chuckled softly, swiftly running around the field to catch her from the side. He ducked behind an object before he aimed his gun around the side hitting the trigger twice, shooting her in her left side. 

Mia looked around for Tyler biting her lip as she thought about her next plan of action. She heard the gun as it went off looking over at Tyler she watched as he shot her twice in her side. She knew that it would hurt but she wasn’t expecting this. She bit her lip gripping her side shaking it off as she aimed for Tyler and darted off as she shot his way missing both times. Mia moved to a new location. “He is about kill my ass at this.” She mumbled to herself as she squatted down to the ground. 

Tyler laughed out as Mia gripped her side and he ducked back behind the object snorting as he watched the two paintballs fly past him, splatting against the balloon looking thing. Tyler stood, bolting behind another big X as he looked around for Mia. “You can run but you can’t hide!”

Mia heard Tyler’s words and darted out into the middle of the field looking for Tyler. When Mia couldn’t find him, she started to shoot in certain areas before she turned to look around for him in the opposite direction. 

Tyler watched as Mia moved into the middle of the field shaking his head as she left herself completely exposed. He stood there chuckling softly as she looked around. When she turned her back to him, he shot three times - one hitting her shoulder, one hitting her in the middle of her back, and the last on her left butt cheek. 

Mia looked around moving slightly to the side. She hated that she challenged him already, she hesitated feeling the first hit to her shoulder, she whined when another hit her back, and another to her butt she shook her head turning around to Tyler. “You are cheating!” She squealed shooting towards him. 

Tyler snorted out, ducking as Mia shot towards him. “How?” He called out as he sprinted right past her shooting her twice. 

“This is how.” Mia giggled trying to dodge the shots but she failed being hit twice. “Ouch” She said biting her lip as she tried to shoot him back. “Come here so I can shoot you!” She yelled out. 

Tyler laughed out as he stopped running and stood a few feet away from her gun down, arms open. “Like this?” He asked her smirking. 

“You not funny, jerk” Mia said standing still gun down gazing at him. “I would like for you to know I am sore in places… too sore to celebrate your victory.” She smirked shooting him once in the chest. 

Tyler snorted as he stood there, listening to the instructor laugh over the loud speaker. He stood there listening to Mia chuckling as she shot him. “Mhm.” He laughed as he aimed his gun and shot her four times before he ran. 

“You suck.” Mia said trying to shoot him, missing each time. She ran away from him, finding a new hiding place.

Tyler laughed as he ran, squatting and ducking around one of the objects. He took a minute to catch his breath before he poked his head out looking for her. 

Mia stood from her squatting position but quickly dropped back down to the ground not wanting Tyler to see her. Mia started to crawl like an army man to another area of the field. 

Tyler looked around for Mia tucking and rolling behind various objects and balloons. Not seeing her, he bit his lip duck walking around the course hiding behind things. 

Mia continued to crawl until she bumped into Tyler. She looked up. “Shit!” She spat biting her lip and putting her head down in shame. She knew Tyler was going to shoot her at least ten times. 

Tyler crouched and walked looking for her when he felt something bump into him he looked back and snorted as she put her head down. He sat his gun down and leaned against a balloon howling with laughter. “Really babe?!”

“It’s not funny!” Mia said lifting up her head slightly before dropping it back down, laid out across the grass she sighed. “Just shoot me already and win the game.” She mumbled through her mask. 

Tyler snorted with laughter as he reached into his pocket pulling out his white flag waving it around. “You win.” He chuckled as he moved to stand holding a hand out to help her up. “I surrender.” 

His body began to tremble and convulse, his arms failing him as he collapsed one more. There was a trail of blood in the ground making where he began crawling and there he finished. It was a short distance but it was something. Slowly his eyes began to droop, blood oozing form his wounds.

Tyler smiled as he sat next to Mia sipping his drink with his arm thrown around her, watching the natives perform.

Mia smiled dancing in her seat as she sipped from her pineapple cup doing the movements with her hips. Mia slid into Tyler’s lap sucking up the sweet pineapple drink as she leaned back against Tyler beaming, stress-free and happy. She planted a big kiss on his cheek lovingly.

Tyler smirked watching Mia move her hips, mimicking the female dancer’s movement. “Ayeee, get it baby.” He laughed as he gulped down more of his drink, wrapping his arm around her as she sat in his lap. He smiled at her, turning his head to kiss her cheek back. “I love you.” He hummed as he squeezed her hip.

“I love you more." Mia said rocking her hips in time with the music being played. She laughed happily, amazed by all the festive things going on around them. Mia slid Tyler’s hand up to her stomach, watching as other vacationers joined in on the dancing.

Tyler smiled at her as she rocked her hips against him to the music. He chuckled, sitting his drink down and wrapping her up in his arms as he looked around at all the smiling faces. He placed his hand on her stomach, rubbing it gently with a smile. He looked up at one of the dancers as she invited them to dance and he smiled. “C’mon baby. Let’s try it.”

Mia sipped her drink more savoring in the taste before she wrapped her arms around Tyler’s. Mia looked at the women. Sure!” She said jumping up putting her cup down as she grabbed Tyler’s hand. Mia pulled Tyler towards the rest of the dancers, watching the women intently until she picked up the moves and started dancing herself.

Tyler beamed, his dimples creasing, when Mia agreed. He stood up with her, walking over to the dancers watching them closely before he started wiggling his hips and shaking his butt as fast as he could.

Mia smiled as she turned in circles and repeated the hands movements as well. Seeing Tyler, Mia snorted loudly moving towards him, she held his hips helping move them correctly.

Tyler laughed out watching Mia as he worked his hips and butt. When she placed her hands on his hips and began to guide him his face turned red and the tips of his ears heated but he smiled at her and allowed her to help him.

Mia hugged Tyler moving his hips with hers. She moved beside him grabbing his hand in hers moving along with him in rhythm with everyone else. “You go boy.” She smiled at him sticking the tip of her tongue out as she turned around in a circle.

Tyler smirked at Mia as he moved his hips to the female dance. He took her hand swaying his hips and smiling. “You go girl.” He licked his lips looking down at her dress as it rose with her hip movements. “You’re going to shake out of that in a minute.” He poked his tongue back out at her as he watched her turn and he pulled her to him, pressing her back to his front as they moved to the music.

Mia giggled. “I’m sorry,” she said knowing she wasn’t. “I wore it for my baby.” She said to him as he moved her to him. Mia continued to wind her hips into him taking his hands and wrapping them around her. Mia laid her head back against his chest allowing the music to take control everyone else around them disappearing.

Tyler’s eyes fluttered as he tried to keep them open. He had to keep them open. His clothes were damp and stained with his blood and there was no one coming to save him but he had to keep them open. He had to try. He had to fight. He had to been there for his son’s first birthday. He had to.

Mia licked her lip and she inhaled and exhaled gently, groaning slightly as she grip his hand tighter in hers. “Ty” Mia breathed in and out “the pain…” she breathed out tilting her head back again. Mia shifted in the seat parting her legs slightly as she panted softly, breathing in and out, in and out.  

Tyler glanced over at her as they sat not moving on the freeway. He allowed her to squeeze his hand as hard as she needed knowing that she was going through excruciating pain. “Deep breaths. Don’t tighten your muscles, try to relax as best you can.” He told her gently. “If I need to pull over to the shoulder, I will.”

Mia grunted again and she nodded her head. “Yes” she told him at his last statement. Mia tugged on her seat belt lightly as she bared down slightly, feeling more warm liquid soak through her bottoms and his seat.

Tyler hit the blinker, slowly but surely maneuvering over until they were resting on the shoulder of the freeway. He put the car in park, turning the engine off and their hazard lights on before he turned to Mia. He unbuckled her seatbelt for her gently rubbing her shoulder and her back. “Do I need to help you get your pants down?” He asked her.

“Yes” Mia nodded her head urgently as he moved to take her seatbelt off and she allowed it to snap back into place beside her. She growled as she pushed feeling the strong urge to do so, one hand on her stomach the other on the door handle. Mia moved her hand trying to untie the sweat pants. “He’s coming!” Mia said, “he’s coming out Tyler,” she breathed a shaky breath. 

Tyler watched Mia closely and at the urgency in her voice he quickly unbuckled his own seatbelt, untying the drawstring on her sweatpants and pulling them down her legs. He pulled the sweats around her ankles before he pulled her panties down too. As she pushed he nodded, his hand rubbing her stomach as he watched her, encouraging her. “It’s alright.” He told her. “Let him come out.” He said calmly as he shifted in his seat.

“Uh, uh, uh,” Mia panted as she pushed with all her might as Tyler moved to pull her pants and her panties down. Mia looked between her legs, “do you see a head Ty?” she asked him a tear finally rolling down her cheek from her nervousness. “Do you see his head or his feet” she asked him again concerned as she gripped the side of the door sinking down in the seat a bit as she felt the building pressure in her pelvic area.

Tyler moved his hand from her stomach as he moved to push his seat back some, giving him more room in the SUV. At her words, he looked between her legs and saw the top of their baby’s head. “It’s the head,” He told her placing his hand back on her thigh. “It’s okay baby. It’s the head you can push him out without a problem.” He told her softly, letting out a breath of relief himself.

Mia nodded her head at him relieved that all her pain from their prior procedure was not in vain. Their son was no long breeched and it was as if the heavy weight she felt was lifted off her shoulders now. She licked her dry lips as she looked down again, the pressure was intense. “It hurts” she moaned out grabbing his hand again, she laced hers over his, resting it on her thigh, she shifted again in the seat her back arching from the pain.

Tyler gave her his hand, letting out a breath as she laced their fingers. He slid as close as he could to her, leaning over the middle console as she arched. “I’m going to put your seat back a little.” He told her as he carefully reached over her with his free hand and allowed her seat to lay back a bit. “You can put your feet up if you need to.” He told her. “Get as comfortable as possible.”

Nodding her head again, Mia allowed him to reach over her adjusting her seat and she was grateful. It took so much pressure off her back. She closed her eyes and groaned lowly as she pushed roughly against the strong contraction. She continued to grip his hand for dear life, beads of sweat pouring from her forehead. “God, I have to take this jacket off,” she said noticing the round sweat stand from the neckline of her shirt. “You gotta take this off Ty,” she said unzipping the jacket as she continued to pant in the stuffy truck. Mia looked down again feeling the stickiness between her legs as more fluid expelled from her as her son’s head forced its own way out. Mia let out an unexpected scream in the night air as she pushed against the pain again.

Tyler noticed her sweating and he began to help her unzip the jacket before realizing that it wasn’t going to work out. He quickly turned the car back on and rolled the windows down giving them a nice night breeze. He looked back to Mia unzipping the jacket all the way and pulling it back against her a little before he saw Mekhi’s head pushing out of her. He reached down and cupped his hand under Mekhi’s head, supporting him gently. “I got him babe.” He reassured her.

Mia tucked her lips in as she continued to push her eyes squeezed shut. She stopped releasing another loud breath into the car as the contraction subsided. Mia looked down again before she rested against the seat she looked up to the car ceiling wiggling her shoes off as she moved to plant her feet firmly on the dashboard of Tyler’s car. Mekhi was killing her, she could feel the strain she was placing on herself with each passing push she gave. Another tear rolled down her cheek as she bit her lip, her small hand still gripping onto Tyler’s as she laid there.

Tyler held onto Mekhi’s head gently, looking at Mia as she began to cry some more. “He’s almost out baby.” He told her. “One more big push and he’s out.” He told her. He gently stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. “You’re strong baby. You got this.”

Mia heard Tyler but his words were a blur as she leaned up pushing down and against Tyler’s hand. Mia pushed with all her might as she tried to birth the big child, she hardly made a noise however the ripping, tearing, and pulling she felt between her legs cause a strain cry to leave her lips as she pushed the child out completely in one big push. Mia let out a loud breath that she had held, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. Her burning lungs trying to fill with air as she let Tyler’s hand go finally.

Tyler got quiet as Mia bared down once more and he allowed her to do whatever she needed to do. As the pushed the baby out, his hand shifted as he held Mekhi’s big body in his freehand and held her hand in his other. It was clear to him that Mekhi’s chubby body had caused some tearing and he bit his lip not even being able to fathom the pain that Mia had to be feeling. As Mia let his hand go, he carefully lifted Mekhi, turning him over, his palm holding his stomach as he gently patted his butt and rubbed his bare back. It was only moments later that Mekhi’s cries began to fill the car.

Mia tried to calm down, though the pain she felt was immense, the blood that coated their son and the blood seeping from her told the horrible story of what Mekhi had done. She tried to sit up a bit looking to Tyler as he held the baby “is he okay?” Mia asked him before Mekhi started wailing out into the car and Mia looked to the newborn instinctively grabbing him from his father’s hand as she pulled him to her chest, she lowered her feet looking to Mekhi as he cried loudly against her. Mia held his back and his head with one hand as she readjusted his umbilical cord with her other. “Ty” Mia sniffled hard as she held Mekhi to her gently resting her head above his as she closed her eyes tears streaming down, still wrecked with pain and soreness.

Tyler nodded slowly at Mia’s question. “He’s fine.” He told her gently. “As far as I can tell.” He corrected himself. As Mia took Mekhi from him, he smiled softly, watching them interact. “Baby?” He said softly as he started the car back up and slowly began to cruise along the shoulder. He moved forward until he was able to get off the freeway and he began taking the street towards the hospital, figuring it would be faster than the freeway.

Mia held their son as Tyler drove down the side of the freeway, moving to get off the freeway. She inhaled and exhaled softly trying to breathe through the pain. She shifted trying to take the jacket off to wrap the child in for warmth as he continued to scream in her ear. She hadn’t cared as long as he was crying. One arm at a time, she struggled to take the jacket off before she wrapped it around him. “We had a baby in the car” she told Tyler as she looked to him as he drove.

Tyler cruised down the street, moving towards the hospital. He looked over at her as she took her jacket off slowly and he attempted to help with one hand as he drove with the other. As she wrapped the infant up, he smiled softly nodding. “We did.” He said softly, knowing she had to be exhausted and in pain. “We’re almost there baby.” He told her as he turned down the street.

Tyler’s eyes finally drooped shut, his body going completely numb. As he laid there on the cold, hard ground, his final thoughts traveled to Mia. He let out an ear-piercing scream of frustration and agony before his world went completely black and he lost touch with everything.

The minister then turned to Mia, “Mia, as you place the ring on Tyler’s finger, please repeat after me: I, Mia, take thee Tyler, to be my Husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in joy and sorrow, and I promise my love to you and with this ring, I take you as my husband, for as long as we both shall live.”

Mia looked to Tyler as he repeated the words back to her as instructed and she smiled a great big smile gracing her full cheeks. Now it were her turn, she gazed at her ring with even more admiration now. “I, Mia, take thee Tyler, to be my Husband. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in joy and sorrow, and I promise my love to you and with this ring, I take you as my husband, for as long as we both shall live” she recited. And she slid Tyler’s ring onto the proper finger before she looked back up to his eyes her cheeks creasing from all of the smiling. She dabbed her face again quickly as pure bliss and happiness radiated from her, causing a glow to form as the sun set began to slowly set behind them.  

Tyler smiled at Mia lovingly as she slid the ring into his finger. He gazed at her with soft eyes, his heart finally slowing down in his chest. He was feeling pure and utter bliss. Nothing could ruin this day. This moment.

The minister looked at Tyler and Mia, then Adrian and Gabrielle, staying quiet for a moment before he continued. “May these rings remind you that your love, like the sun, warms all that it touches, like the moon, brightens up the night, like the eye, is a gateway to your innermost soul, and your love, like the arms that embrace you, makes everything right with the world.” He told them tenderly as he once again placed a hand on both their shoulders.

“Remember that your love is the basis for this marriage; desire nothing else, fear nothing else and allow your love to blossom into what love was meant to be. Allow for spaces in your time together, giving each other room to grow. Love one another; allow that love to be a source of strength, which feeds your soul. Fill one another’s cup, but drink each from your own. Share your bread, but have each your own slice. Sing and dance together, but remember that though you may move together, you each must dance your own steps. None of us knows what the future will bring … the important thing is to live today to the fullest and face tomorrow with the certainty that you can accept and handle what it brings.”

Nodding her head agreeing with the man before them, she took what he was saying in. Again taking notes from his wise speech to them. Mia continued to hold her husband’s hands and she let go only to tuck some hair behind her ear again, the wind picking up slightly as day seemingly turned to night in their background. Mia hummed out appreciatively as they man concluded some more wise words. Mia shifted in her heels again looking to Tyler playfully before looking back to the man.  

Tyler gazed upon Mia, his smile widening by the second. At his point his nerves were subsiding and he was feeling jittery and light. He couldn’t wait to kiss this woman before him. His wife.

“Tyler and Mia, you have expressed your love to one another through the commitment and promises you have just made. It is with these in mind that I pronounce you husband and wife. You have kissed a thousand times, maybe more. But today the feeling is new. No longer simply partners and best friends, you have become husband and wife and can now seal the agreement with a kiss. Today, your kiss is a promise. You may kiss the bride.”

The moment the word kiss passed the ministers lips, Tyler pulled Mia close by her hip. His arm coiled around her body as he held her flush against him. His eyes gazed into hers, just taking her in as his wife before he dipped his head and captured her lips.