#just sell your game for thirty bucks and be done with it

[lesbianpegbar]

if i ever were to sell any ps2 games i collect which idk if i ever would but if i ever do i am not selling that shit for a billion dollars i dont even care. oh it always goes for $200+? thats cool im putting it on ebay for $25. if im selling i just want someone else to be able to experience the game idc about making a million billion dollars i want everyone to be able to access this game that is all

[alexiskddt808]

From Around the Web: 20 Fabulous Infographics About Gta Online Name Generator

He will do the like the others however prices much less money. To unlock Packie as a break-in crew member, you have to finish his random occasion where he is robbing a store near Franklin's house and needs a getaway motorist. This random event takes place at the Buck Tablets Drug Store in Strawberry. BothRed Dead Online andGTA Online have plenty to commemorate throughout the Xmas period. The former just released as a standalone game, with sufficient material to satisfy in the meantime.

With the current Cayo Perico break-in upgrade, it even has more of a focus on the single-player experience. The cash should automatically open after thirty minutes of play once this is done yet, if you're a brand-new player in either game, you need to make certain you've completed the tutorial prior to the free cash money will certainly be provided. The very first time you authorize right into GTA Online today, you'll protect yourself GTA$ 750k. Each extra day you log in between currently and also November 26, you'll gain GTA$ 100k.

Possibly this is a technological problem, possibly they just desire individuals to experience the very first parts of GTA Online without having a million to spend instantly.

The perfect way to attract back expired gamers ready for the game's release on PS5.

The most effective GTA updates been available in the type of free money, and also there's a large portion of change ready and awaiting anyone who plays GTA Online on PS4.

All they need to do is log in at any kind of factor this month as well as they will obtain GTA$ 1 million deposited into their in-game account.

In the grand scheme of points in the present state of that game's economy, a million won't obtain you all that far, yet in case you were wondering where that money is, this is the deal with that.

This problem doesn't directly give you any type of money yet it aids you to fast-track your heists so that you can earn money quicker in the gameplay. Glitches in GTA Online are a wonderful means to take advantage of your gameplay.

The free money you build up will be delivered to your Maze checking account by December 3. There have been a lot of games to do well in regards to sales, and then there are video games that re-define the video gaming market in its entirety. Its open-world sandbox has actually assisted it go on to attain so much commercial success. Actually, it was recently called the best-selling game of the years. This timing is terrible, as Superstar Games assured gamers $500,000 in-game just for visiting during April. " Actually the only things I have left are my garments, money, rank, as well as a base sector workshop with none of my upgrades," one gamer claims on Twitter.

Gta V Online Money Glitch: Unlimited Cash Money Offered To Those.

It appears that Rockstar Games is not done giving out free money inGTA Online, however, as the programmer has actually recently announced that there is one more GTA$ 500,000 up for grabs, and also without a doubt it is exceptionally simple to claim. Out there you'll discover countless web https://greghumblo.livejournal.com/680.html sites and also Videos over the Youtube that are asserting the free GTA 5 Money online through the 'Grand Burglary Automobile 5 hack & generator' yet ended up by using you to download and install the data or some type of method which cyberpunk could play all the time. However right here we're offering you the accessibility of all those methods so-called GTA 5 Cheats & Guide for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, and PC. Another essential idea for newbies is to knock senseless your daily goals whenever feasible. They're fairly basic to achieve and compensate a good piece of adjustment each day ($ 25K when you complete all three), yet a lot more significantly, there are cumulative awards for constantly knocking them out over much longer durations of time. Complete every day-to-day purpose for a week as well as you'll net a wonderful $100K; consume a month's worth and also a huge $500K will certainly pad out your bank account. A great deal of the dailies can be knocked senseless throughout various other tasks, so they stand for a convenient and lucrative method to rack up some fast cash money while functioning towards your next huge acquisition.

My Time At Portia Is Todays Free Game For The Legendary Video Games Store Holiday Free Gift.

Grand Theft Car Online gamers that are logging in for money as well as loot are locating themselves with absolutely nothing to their online names. While there's nothing incorrect with some gamers mistakenly receiving more money than was planned the records of players not obtaining the bonus offer whatsoever is a lot more frustrating. Other individuals likewise reported having actually gotten the message upon visiting greater than when, yet not obtaining any extra money. Grand Burglary AutoOnline is familiar with pests as well as glitches, yet the good news is most of them have actually often tended to be less major than the two-headed skeletal systems which showed up inGTA Online's equivalent, Red Dead Online. This most recent problem, nevertheless, is far more lucrative, at the very least for some gamers. GTA Online has actually been giving out free money simply for finalizing in, yet instead of it just occurring as soon as some players are obtaining numerous bonus offers. All the latest gaming information, game evaluations and also trailers The best source for comics as well as superhero film fans.

Relocate Your Company Online.

There's a spectacular selection of stuff to do in modern GTA Online so you would certainly be forgiven by having no concept where to start-- as well as what to focus on to draw out one of the most pay early. One of the very best tips for newbies is to stay in touch with what's taking place in-game with the Superstar Social Club or the convenient promo dash screens that appear while the games lots. They'll let you understand what's new to the game and, much more notably, what activities or occasions Superstar is prioritising, including which of them will certainly compensate double Online reputation and cash. However large break-ins like that aren't much excellent when you're just beginning in GTA Online, since you'll require some sources to take them on. The exact same goes for several of the other systems, which can call for a first investment of GTA$ 1.2 million prior to you can really start.

If you're really feeling stuck with your development inGTA, then it may be a great time to attempt a few of these glitches bent on give your pc gaming job that additional push. Last month, any type of gamer that logged intoGrand Burglary AutoOnlinehad a free GTA$ 500,000 deposited straight into their Puzzle Checking account.

For a game that is currently more than 7 years old, Rockstar remains to strive on GTA 5, patching and also taking care of troubles extremely quickly. Although it was a lot of fun for players who have the vehicle and also found out the glitch, it was a problem for gamers that encountered one and really did not have their own. GTA 5 will certainly make the jump to next-gen when the new consoles are launched following month. That will certainly suggest the game, which has actually currently gone on to come to be the third finest selling game of perpetuity, will have extended three generations of console. The rollout of online elements shows no indication of slowing down either, with Rockstar adding a lot of brand-new solutions and also spots today. The Center Break-in Glitch helps you to fool the GTA system into believing that you are purchasing both the preparations as well as the setups of a heist, despite the fact that you are just spending for the preparations.

[madelainesvixens]

CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT: CHAPTER SIX | ME AND MY BROKEN ARM

Saturday, October, 10th

4:21

Turned out it was indeed broken.

Or, at least, that's what Dr. Richard said. He used to patch up soldiers in the military but lost a foot during an explosion and was forced to retire. Now, patch up people who can't afford hospital fees in an old basement on Southside.

Dr. Richard casted FP's arm without asking questions. With Serpents frequently coming in with gun/knife wounds, the old man knew better than to ask. The less he knew, the safer he was.

Once they were done with the cast, Alice walked FP home, saying she had left her bag there. Truth was, she didn't brought her bag tonight; she simply wanted to make sure his dad wouldn't aim at him again.

FP couldn't help but feel like an infant as Alice helped him undress - it was a struggle with his cast. His arm would hurt every time he'd try to move it. How was he supposed to take off his jeans and tee shirt with one arm without moving his right arm? It was impossible without someone's help.

''If I can't undress by myself, how am I going to have sex with this damn cast?'' the teenager asked as Alice pulled his tee shirt over his head.

She snorted. ''Tell your big dick not to worry. The swelling will go down and the painkillers will kick in. You'll be fine.''

''The painkillers?'' 

Dr. Richard wanted to sell them for fifty bucks but FP's wallet was dry...so they didn't get them. That's what he thought.

Alice pulled out the bottle from her leather jacket's pocket and wiggled them in front of FP's eyes.

''Did you steal them?'' he asked, popping open the painkillers's cap and swallowing two pills dry.

''No, Dr. Richard keeps his good shit locked up. He has like, five padlocks on his cupboard.''

''Wow. That...intense.''

They moved to the jeans and FP undid his belt, working on the button and zipper. ''How did you get them, then? Please tell me you didn't pay-''

''You're a good fuck, Jones, but, I wouldn't spend fifty bucks on you. I just showed him my boobs and he let me the bottle.''

''You did what?! That man's a fucking perv.''

''You didn't have anything to pay, I wasn't going to let you in pain.''

She helped him out of his jeans and FP pulled her onto his lap before kissing her. ''I'm the one you should be showing your boobs to.'' He dipped his head and bit at the part of her breast that was peaking out from her bra.

The blonde laughed and swatted his good arm. ''Stop it, you're gonna pierce my shirt.''

FP snickered. ''I'm not a fucking shark.''

''I know. I wouldn't let you go down on me if you were.''

A smug grin spread on the boy's lips. ''You love when I do that, don't you?''

She hummed, closing the gap between their lips, tongue sliding in. FP's hand snaked under her shirt and she pulled back. ''I should get going. It's almost four-thirty.'' Standing from the Bulldog's lap, she straightened her clothes and headed toward the door. ''Night, Jones.''

.

16:09

When FP woke up, he quickly realized the painkillers had stopped working their magic. He groaned, rolling over and grabbed the bottle of medicine from his nightstand, taking two. Checking the time on his alarm, FP almost couldn't believe he it was ten past four. He had never slept in this late before. Maybe it was the painkillers's fault?

The stillness of the house told FP that his dad hadn't returned from work. He let out a breath, relieved. After last night, the teenager didn't feel like sharing a room with his old man. He fucking broke his arm, it wasn't some little bruise he could cover. People would ask questions at school. Around town. At work. Can he even work with his cast?

''How am gonna explain this to everyone, Ali?'' FP asked as they were taking the turn on Elm Street. He raised his cast. ''I can't tell them what happened.''

Alice pursed her lips. ''You have time to figure it out...or I can push you down the stairs.''

Standing from his bed, FP made his way to the bathroom to shower. He took one after the game but with everything that happened last night, FP doubted he was still smelling fresh. Like always, the water was on the colder side - thanks to his dad for not replacing the water heater. To add to his unpleasing shower, he had to put a plastic bag around his cast to keep it from getting wet - very trendy if you ask him.

The doorbell rang mid-shower but FP ignored it. At this hour, it's probably an Avon ambassadors or hawkers.

To his annoyance, the sound persisted and the teenager quickly rinsed off, wrapping a towel around his waist. He went downstairs and opened the door, leaving a trail of water behind him. A tall man with slicked back salt-pepper hair, a matching beard and a heavy, worn in leather jacket stood of their doorstep.

''Is Forsythe here?'' the man asked, skipping presentations and greetings.

''Who's asking?''

''A...friend.''

FP pursed his lips, judging the man.

Beside his work buddies, his dad didn't have many friends and FP was pretty sure he had never seen this man before. Who was this man and why was he trying to pass for father's pseudo friend?

''Do you know what time he'll be back?'' the man pressed.

''Erm, no,'' FP lied, having a bad feeling.

Jaw clenching, the man cursed. ''You're Forsythe's son, aren't you?'' He raised an eyebrow at FP, seeing a resemblance with his dad. ''Tell your old man he better bring us the money soon or else he won't be walking on his two legs,'' he threatened before turning around, leaving the Jones's property, giving FP a full view of the patch on the back of his jacket. A beige skull with a red ring around it and one word at the bottom of the design: Ghoulies.

.

18:45

Forsythe came home half an hour after the man left. He didn't stay long though. He changed out of his work uniform and headed back out for the night - probably to some bar. A part of FP wanted to confront his dad about the man who came this late afternoon, last night's fight came into his mind as he glanced down at his casted arm and he decided to ask another time. He already one invalid arm, he didn't want to risk another injury.

Taking advantage of the absence of his father, FP turned up the sound of his and put on one of his favorite cassette tape - thanks Fred for the birthday present. He laid on his back, only clothed of plaid boxers and an old band tee, letting Nirvana's Come as You Are fill his ears. The music was so loud he almost didn't hear the phone ringing downstairs. If the song hadn't ended and the caller hadn't persisted, he honestly would've never heard it.

FP paused his music and headed to the kitchen, picking up the device from its receptor. ''Hello?''

''Hey, FP, it's Gladys. My dad is letting me borrow his car for the night, wanna go to the drive-in with me? There's a special showing of Dirty Dancing.''

FP scoffed. Dirty Dancing? Not really his genre... ''Why would I go see Dirty Dancing?''

''There's some steamy scenes in it...and we don't have to actually watch the movie,'' she said suggestively.

Although a good fuck would've helped him releave some tension, FP couldn't say yes to Gladys. He would have to explained how he got his arm in a cast and, honestly, he wasn't feeling up for that. He also didn't want her to scribble pink hearts all over it with a marker.

His left hand and crumpled magazines will have to do for tonight.

''Tempting. But, I'll have to pass.''

''Since when do you pass on a good fuck?'' There was a short pause and Gladys blurted out a new offer, afraid FP would hang up. ''I'll suck your dick. I know you love my lips around you.''

''Another time.'' FP laughed, shaking his head. ''Bye, Gladys.''

.

21:03

Around nine, FP's stomach felt funny and he realized he had been popping painkillers all day on an empty stomach. Very bright. Knowing better than checking in the fridge - he knew it was empty -, he put on a thick flannel over his tee shirt and a pair of ripped jeans and headed to Pop's.

The diner was empty when he walked in.

''You know it's your day off, kid?'' Pop said from behind the counter as he saw FP walking in.

''Can't I crave a good burger on my day off?''

Pop smiled. ''Sure can.''

The elder man went to the kitchen and got started with FP's order. Two cheeseburgers, on large fry and a chocolate milkshake. Once everything was ready, he returned to the front and set the teenager's order on the counter.

''What happened to your face?'' Pop asked as he put FP's burgers down, catching sight of the cut on his forehead.

''Partied too hard last night. Fell on the way home,'' FP explained, lying through his teeth and lifting his cast.

Pop hummed. ''You should go lighter on the beer, next time,'' he suggested with no judgement. ''Still able to come in tomorrow?''

''I guess so.'' FP took a large bite of his burger, calming down his stomach.

''I've seen a blind man flipping burgers. You sure can take orders and clean tables with one hand.''

Two girls walked in, taking a seat at one of the booths. Pop went over to take their orders, telling FP he'll be back shortly.

''A brunette with brown eyes passed and asked for you earlier tonight.''

Gladys, FP guessed. She must've passed to see if he was working before calling.

''Is she your girlfriend?''

FP snorted. ''No, Pop.''

The man hummed. ''Why not? She seemed nice. And beautiful too.''

''We're just fooling around. Nothing serious.'' He'll admit, Gladys was a beautiful girl but, FP couldn't see himself dating Gladys. She was a bit too eager for his taste. ''Since where are you interested in my love life?''

''I've known you since you were barely two foot, FP. I've seen you grow up and become the handsome man you are today. I'm just surprised that the Bulldogs's MVP isn't already taken.''

Just as Pop finished his sentence, the bell dinged and Alice walked in, looking dashing as always in her ripped denim and leather jacket.

''Rumor has it, FP Jones has some erectile trouble.''

FP turned, a frown on his face. ''What the fu-?'' His eyes softened, catching sight of her. She had a grin on her lips, knowing very well it wasn't true.

''I was at the drive-in with friends and I heard a group of girls saying Riverdale High's BMOC had problems below the belt. Is that true, Jonesy?'' She raised an eyebrow and took a seat beside FP, stealing a fry from his plate.

He flashed her a smug smile, holding her gaze. ''You're best placed to know, don't you think, Alice?''

''You came here to drown your sexual frustration in burgers?''

''Pop's burgers are the best, can't you blame me? Oh, that's right, you haven't tasted them yet.''

She rolled her eyes, stealing another fry.

''Did he mention today's his day off?'' Pop informed her, butting in from behind the counter.

FP narrowed his eyes at his boss.

''It's your day off?'' She gave him a judgmental look. ''Who in their right mind go to their work place during their day off?''

''Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want. These are still fucking delicious.'' He took a large bite of his burger and exaggeratingly moaned at the taste.

.

21:51

Secluded in FP's bedroom, the raven haired boy pushed the material up Alice's torso until her breasts were exposed to his hungry eyes. He pressed a kiss right between her two breasts before moving his mouth to the side, closing over her nipple and Alice moaned. She arched her back as FP sucked gently, stopping for a brief second to switch and take her other nipple in his mouth.

Alice sat up, reluctantly pushing FP's mouth off her body. ''Let's play a game tonight, Jones.''

FP cocked an eyebrow, pushing that annoying piece of hair away from his face. ''A game?''

The blonde nodded, a mischievous look on her face. ''Since Dr. Richard said you had to rest, I thought...maybe I should be in control tonight. What do you say, FP?''

It wouldn't be the first time she'd take control. She had the ridden the stallion before and - wow - that girl was something. She knew what she was doing and wasn't the kind to get tired after two minutes, she was a strong one.

''I say it's a fucking brilliant idea.''

She rose from her spot and removed the rest of her clothing, laughing as FP was still in the process of removing his belt. He gave her the finger and she laughed even more, clearly amused.

Once he was ridden of all clothing pieces, FP sat comfortably against his pillows. ''Ma lady.'' FP took Alice's hand and pulled her over his lap, one leg on each side.

''Do you still have condoms?''

He nodded and reached to his bedside table, ripping the packet with his teeth. At least he knew how to do that with one hand.

Guiding Alice closer with his good arm, she closed the gap between their bodies, pressing her lips to his. Her hands moved to the side of his head, fingers lost in his dark tresses as FP's dick brushed her entrance. He groaned at the contact, jerking his hips up to meet her but she fled his touch, an amused grin on her lips.

While it was fun to tease FP, she too was horny for the good dick so she reached back, holding FP's erection and sunk down without warning, feeling his fingers curl on her waist, digging into her skin as he disappeared inside her.

"Fuck, Ali," he muttered under his breath, feeling her tight walls around him.

She rose up on her knees and sunk down again as FP licked into her mouth and met her every moves. At that, she let out a small noise that he wanted to hear for the rest of his life...so he did it again.

.

Sunday, October 16th

6:53

When FP arrived at Pop's on Sunday, he was surprised to see Pop alone behind the counter.

''Morning, Pop. Where's Fred?'' he asked his boss.

''At home.'' FP pulled his eyebrows together. ''He called saying his father had been admitted to the hospital during the night.''

''Mr. Andrews? How come? I've seen him no later than Friday at the game. He was looking in great shape.''

Pop shrugged. ''Fred didn't say a lot. He sounded pretty shaken up. You should give him a call. He'll need the support from his best friend.''

FP nodded, taking note. ''Will do.''

.

19:30

After his shift, FP headed straight to Fred's. If he's not home, he'll go to the hospital.

FP pushed the doorbell and a few seconds later, the door opened, revealing a tired looking Fred. Without saying anything, Fred stepped away from the door and FP followed him inside. They sat in the kitchen, Fred at the head and FP to his left.

''I heard from Pop about your dad.'' FP paused, seeing his friend stiffening. ''How is he?''

''He's stable. The doctors was sketchy, though. I think they're holding something from me.''

That can't be good, FP reasonned but said nothing. He was there to show his friend support, not make him worry and feel worse.

''What happened?''

''Heart attack,'' Fred replied. ''I-I found him on the floor when I got home from the party. I shouldn't have gone-'' Fred put his head into his hands.

''Hey, it's not your fault. You couldn't have know, Freddie.''

''The doctor said if I had found him five minutes later he would-''

''Stop. Your dad's alive. That's all that matters.'' Fred rubbed his eyes, nodding. ''Whatever happens, he'll get through it. Your dad's a strong one.''

Fred nodded and FP pulled him in a bro hug.

''I'm scared for him. I...I can't lose my dad, FP.''

.

Monday, October 12th

10:10

In English, Hermione took Fred's seat and sat beside FP.

''I saw you.''

FP glanced at her, eyebrows pulled together.

''With that Southside hoe at Mantle's party,'' she continued, scribbling down on her worksheet, making it look as if they were discussing about the lesson. ''Lowering your standards, I see. Let me guess, did all the hot girls saw through your player game and ditched you for your teammates? Next thing, you'll be hitting on Penelope Blossom.''

The raven haired boy snorted. ''As if,'' he said, chewing one his gum.

''Maybe that's not such a good idea, after all. I heard tiny dicks gets caught between brace archwires.''

''Thinking about my dick, uh?'' FP called back with a smirk.

She wrinkled her nose. ''Ew, gross.''

''What exactly is going down with you and Alice?''

''Nothing serious. We're just messing around.''

''Does messing around include a pain kink or? Last time I saw you, your arm was fine and that was before you left with that blonde psycho.''

''Shut up, Hermione. You don't know shit,'' FP replied through gritted teeth, defensive. ''I was drunk and fell on the way home.''

She laughed, shaking her head. ''Disreputable. At least Hiram can hold his alcohol.''

Why was she bringing Hiram into this? Wasn't she into Fred at the party?

FP scoffed. ''Such an admirable Romeo.''

The sarcasm in his voice made Hermione narrow her eyes at him behind her glasses.

''Laugh all you want, Forsythe. One day, I'll be on the edge of glory with Hiram and you'll be at the rock bottom, scrubbing toilets in one of our properties all because you got downgraded from the football team in high school. Why was it again? Being caught pants down on school grounds?''

''Fuck off.''

NEXT CHAPTER (COMING SOON)

[estie-ellie]

so this is a thing i have been working on

it’s a story with my oc and katey’s oc AND SURPRISE it’s not damie and maggie. i did some tweaking and minor edits, but i can’t quite get the rest on the page atm... any feedback is really helpful. keep in mind too that there’s a huge skip forward in story, because i usually write out of order okby

Day 1: .My dad’s friend Damien came over for dinner last night. My dad knows him through work, but he feels like a distant uncle. He’s pretty cool. My dad mentioned once that he was gay and that I shouldn’t ask any personal questions because it wasn’t polite (and that he was special like me, but he doesn’t look like one)

 Since he’s the only adult I know who is both Not My Parents and Not Straight, I asked him what I should do if I was confused.. about everything. He told me to write it down, be honest. If I can write truth, eventually I’ll see it for myself. Here’s hoping..

 Day 5: Two weeks after the dance, I found out. He told me after we practiced swimming. That was a month ago. Everything seems so blurry and messy and strained. How do you be honest, if you don’t know what you’re doing? What is this? Why can’t it be simple? I want you to be my friend. I want to make you laugh and smile. I want to hold your hand. I want to be close. I want to press my lips against your skin. But I shouldn’t want all of that, I should just want to be friends. Right?

 Day 7: In study hall, he sat next to me and smiled. My heart skipped and I couldn’t breathe right. Even though we spent the period together, it felt like he was floating away. Come back and stay. Come stay. I don’t need to breathe.

 Day 9: We walked to the bus in silence. Hey are you mad? I was so scared he’d say yes. No. He didn’t look at me. Oh. Good. Do you want to hang out tomorrow? No. I’m kinda tired. I think I’ll stay in. Oh.. Okay.. I’ll talk to you later. Yeah.

He walked off and I waited for my bus alone.

 Day 15:  He hasn’t talked to me in five days. We got paired up in lit. We sat in silence and did our worksheets by ourselves. I tried to apologize. The bell rang, he didn’t hear me. 

I don’t know what I’m sorry for.

Day 17: I caught him in the hallway at his locker. I wanted to kiss at edges of his frown. He didn’t see me. In lit he said “pass me the handout”. His hand brushed mine and my stomach ached. It was like being homesick. 

 Day 20: He said ‘hi’ in homeroom when he sat down. It was the last seat. I tried to keep quiet. “Do you think we’ll have group work in lit?” he shrugged and turned the other way. I watched his back scrunch and tighten.

 Day 24: He found me behind the quad with Taylor and Christian wailing on me. 

What the fuck, Kai? He looked disgusted. 

Called you a bitch. My words were bloody. 

We’re not friends anymore.

 He got me to my bus stop and left without a word. His fingertips burned more sinister than the bruises. 

 Day 25: He looked at me with pity. Like I was a dog about to be put down. He sat down next to Hazel in homeroom. Hazel looked up at me like I was stabbing them both in the back. ‘I’m sorry’ I wanted to say. I’m sorry. All my fault, I’m so sorry. I laid my head in my arms where the bruises wouldn’t touch. 

 Day 28: Picked another fight, this time nobody to stop it. Brand new bruises to replace the old ones. More punishment; need to repent somehow. I’m the reason they talk about him. I’m the reason we’re not friends. Just wish in the fights they would aim lower though. It’s hard to look my parents in the eye with a bloody face. They’re worried. My grades are still the same. Except history. He used to help me with it. They don’t know what to do.

I don’t either. 

 Day 40: Everyone avoids me. Either because I look like a loser, they heard I was a loser, or because they already know I’m a lost cause. It’s okay. It’s the right idea. 

 Day 51: It’s hard to pick fights. Even the most sadistic, special-hating barbarians are bored. Got their fill. Won’t look at me. The game’s not fun. Old news. Not even worth the effort. I’m invisible.

 Day 57: Bruises are healing. Feathers are growing back. My parents look relieved when I come home free of new blemishes, no bloody clothes to clean. When I’m home, mom checks in on me every now and again, I try to act like I’m reading or playing games. Dad opens my door at night when he thinks I’m asleep. Homework is still done, dinner is still eaten. I’m mild and cooperative. They are confused. I don’t want to make it any harder on them. I don’t want them to worry. I wish I knew how to fix everything. I am breaking everything. I am broken, too.

 Day 64: We have started to change seats each period. In lit, I am off to the left in the back. He sits in front with Allison and Liam: new friends. When he smiles and laughs, I let myself pretend we are back in his room playing video games, in my backyard on the grass. That his smiles and laughter is because of me.  I look away before I feel nauseous. Before I can cry.

 Day 68: All the bruises are gone. At least, the worst of them. Some of them are slight and small on my chest and shins. No more fights to pick, no taunts to tip. Everyone avoids me or has forgotten. That was inevitable. It’s better that way though, I think. It’s better for him.  But what do I do now?

 Day 69: He wasn’t in school today. I think he got sick. After math, Hazel caught me by his locker. I only stopped a second. She noticed me staring. You have to stop, Kai. She grabbed my arm to pull me aside. I know. I don’t think you do. Everything that’s happened… You can’t keep doing this. I know. She wavered, as if my words set her on a balance beam. She looked at me as if she couldn’t tell whether I understood. Don’t worry, I know I ruined everything. I know I need to stay away.

  She backed away, tugging her books to her chest.  Take care of yourself. She took one last look and walked away.

Day 72: Swim season starts in a couple days. Eli, the varsity captain, begged me to stay on the team. I told him I’d think about it. I hadn’t actually thought about swim season at all this year until he asked why my name wasn’t on the sign up sheet.  I’ll probably stay on. Swimming is the only thing I might do right. Maybe. Day 79: Swim season starts today. My body welcomes the water, but my muscles reject the work. Haven’t practiced, mechanics are off, flip turns too early. I push anyway. I push until my lungs ache and my limbs cramp. At home, I collapse in bed, body too weak, lungs too tired. When I sleep, I don’t dream and I’m grateful.  Day 86: It’s hard to focus in the downtime between school and practice. At home it’s worse. Hours to myself, nothing to do. At least before I had bruises to tend.  Day 92: I saw him at the park on my way home from the deli. He was on the swings, talking to two of his friends and smiling. I don’t think any of them saw me. I rushed toward home with my head down. He’s happy without you.

Without you, he’s happy. 

Day 97: I skinned my knee on the floor of the pool. For the rest of the day, it ached and itched and bled, and before I knew it I was home in bed and I hadn’t been thinking of him. 

Day 101: I always wondered why people would cut. I thought it was too extreme, stupid, a futile attempt at comfort. I get it now though. If you can zero in on the pain, the world is blotted out. It’s easy to numb out all the other thoughts if pain is controlling you. I won’t go overboard. I just need something to pick at. If it aches, I can get through the day.  

Day 112: The cuts are easy to hide with our trunks and briefs, but I went too high this time. I had to lie and say I got it while working outside with my dad. It wasn’t a hard sell, and we went back to flip turn drills. Day 115: Between practice and homework I’ve been pushing myself farther and harder. It’s the only way I don’t break down. In our meet against Northtown High, I beat three of my records. Wish it was good enough to fix everything else. Day 118: After practice, some of the team went out for pizza. I tried to get out of it, but Eli wouldn’t let me. My mom was elated that I was invited anywhere and handed me thirty bucks with an enthusiastic wave goodbye from the minivan. When we got there, Eli gathered our party to sing praises of our previous glory and especially gossip about the hottest girls that came to cheer us on. I smiled and laughed at the right times, but it felt like lying to say that I was interested in anyone who had shown up. ---

I don’t know why I’m going to this party. I have nothing better, I guess. Maybe there’ll be booze.  --- Kai walked inside the mini mansion that was Eli’s home. The party was still in full swing, music pumping throughout the house and conspicuous red cups floating from hand to hand. He decided he had to pick a safe spot, someplace he could be without attracting attention to himself. Kai went alone after all, he needed the cover. The kitchen was too obvious. Too many transactions of alcohol, not enough to stay and graze off of the assortment of snacks and finger food. In the back, a grill was being manhandled by a member of the football team while a few boys and girls on the swim team hugged the edges of a massive pool.  The yard was adorned with buckets of ice topped with various cans and bottles of beer. Kai made his way out and grabbed a bottle, clipped the top with his keys, and retreated inside to investigate further.

From time to time he passed a teammate or an acquaintance that would draw his attention for a moment, but conversations didn’t linger. Kai was glad to have a distraction, though. The booze was finally hitting him and he floated around until settling in the family room in the basement. It was lit in soft yellow candle light, which was probably for function as much as it was aesthetic; it covered the scent of alcohol with a light vanilla puff.  He figured the party would settle down and he could leave, Eli & Co. happy that their fellow teammate showed up for once.

And the party did in fact wind down. Couples eventually left, clumps of friends relocated to various parts of the house, and the backyard became a haven for dimly lit poolside make out sessions. This meant that the couch Kai had been inhabiting soon became possession of a clump of kids in his grade slowly approaching, talking among themselves. 

“You mind if we..” A boy from the group--Nate, Kai recalled-- extended his hand which grasped a bottle of liquor, towards the coffee table in front of Kai’s feet. Kai nodded and scooted to the end of the couch as the group closed in on the living space. He hadn’t quite realized who exactly was in the group, until he Hazel emerged from the back of the group with Gabe in tow.

 "Hey, maybe we shoul-,“ she began.   “It’s ok, I’ll leave,” Kai gathered himself up quickly. He avoided their gaze as he was about to move away.  “Stay,” Gabe’s voice piped up, as they sat across Kai in a loveseat next to Nate. Kai’s eye’s shot up to Gabe and halted. Hazel looked wearily to Gabe, sharing an silent exchange of permission. “It’s okay,” Gabe replied finally.

 Kai looked to from Gabe to Hazel, the ultimate approval resting with her. She looked to Gabe. She nodded once in affirmation. The exchange took mere seconds but Kai had felt like an hour past. He silently sat back down and took a swig of his drink. The rest of the group seemed unfazed by the microcosm and readied themselves for their drinking game. Evidently it was "Truth or Drink”. There was no dare involved; the dare was inherently “get wrecked on Costco brand liquor”. Kai mostly tuned out the noise, the soft snickers and cackling from his party-mates, the clinks of shot glasses. He only made noise enough to apologize when his foot hit Mark Elsen’s who had taken up a spot on the couch next to him.

It seemed like they were having a good time, already a couple rounds in. A few beers in himself, Kai was pleasantly buzzed. The peaceful calm of the booze melted his tension, and for the first time that night, Kai allowed himself to enjoy the party. It was nice to see Gabe smiling, laughing. Nate had his arm wrapped around Gabe’s shoulders and they swayed back and forth with a giggle from Hazel’s joke. The yellow light danced in the chesnut browns in their hair. He had forgotten how pretty it was.

“What about you?” Mark tapped his shot glass to Kai’s shoulder.  “Hmwha?” Kai’s trance was broken and the group looked to him expectantly. “Have you ever cheated on a test?” Mark repeated. Kai looked to Hazel and Gabe again, searching for permission to speak. His eyes fell back to Mark, “A couple times, I guess. On spelling tests, I think.” “That’s pretty lame, man,” Nate replied, pouring shots into the empty glasses, now an additional shot sitting for Kai. “Okay, Hazel. Your turn.” She dutifully began to think of a question and when she came 

[themoneybuff-blog]

Why frugality is an important part of personal finance

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker shared some thoughts on why many ultrarich people aren't satisfied with their wealth. There seem to be two reasons. First, people tend to ask themselves: Am I doing better than I was before? Do I have more today than I did yesterday? All the way up the income-wealth spectrum, one researcher told Pinsker, basically everyone says [they'd need] two or three times as much to be perfectly happy. It's the hedonic treadmill in action.Second, people can't help but compare themselves to others. They ask themselves: Do I have as much (or more) than the people I'm comparing myself with? Do I have more than other folks in my family? Do I have more than my friends? Do I have more than my co-workers? We measure our personal success by comparing what we have to what other people have. This is the proverbial keeping up with the Joneses. While Pinsker's article is about the ultrarich, I think these tendencies apply to nearly everyone. Even me. People in the middle class are just as inclined to hop on the hedonic treadmill. They're just as likely to compare what they have to what their friends have. The same goes for those who aren't well off. Even people in poverty get sucked into the comparison game. In fact, I'd argue that for the poor and middle class, there's an added element. Time and again, statistics show that folks with lower incomes watch tons more TV than people who earn more. (Also here and many more studies.) When you allow yourself to succumb to the other world of film and TV, you're exposed to more ideas about how people should and do live even if these ideas are baseless. (It's like The Grand Illusion by Styx: Don't be fooled by the radio, the TV, or the magazines. They show you photographs of how your life should be, but they're just someone else's fantasy.) [embedded content] The rich compare themselves to themselves and others. The poor do too but they also compare themselves to fictional characters on film and television. The bottom line seems to be that comparing your situation to anyone is likely to lead to trouble. Whether you're comparing yourself to yourself, your family, your friends, or to people in Hollywood productions, doing so leads to a desire for more. But it doesn't have to be this way. Non-Consumer Advocates Over the past few years, the early retirement movement has risen to prominence. People have figured out that they don't have to work for forty or fifty years at jobs they hate. If they manage to increase the gap between their earning and spending if they can maintain a high saving rate then then they can achieve financial independence at age fifty. Or forty. Or thirty-five. Boosting income is a very important part of this equation, of course, but it's not the only piece of the puzzle. The fundamental equation of personal finance is this: Your wealth equals what you earn minus what you spend. Your spending plays a crucial role in how quickly you're able to build wealth and/or achieve your financial goals. If you want to spend less, it's vital you resist the urge to compare yourself to others. This is one of the FIRE movement's greatest virtues. From my experience, the folks in the early retirement community have consciously opted out of the comparison game. Thanks largely to the work of Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (authors of the classic Your Money or Your Life), financial independence is frequently framed as a life of non-consumption. Here are some sample quotes from Dominguez and Robin: If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world.Americans used to be citizens'. Now we are consumers'.Consumption seems to be our favorite high, our nationally sanctioned addiction, the all-American form of substance abuse.Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of. Dominguez and Robin helped to found the financial independence movement, and they founded it as non-consumer advocates. It helps too that Mr. Money Mustache, who has helped popularize FIRE in recent years, is also a non-consumer advocate. He's written extensively about topics like hopping off the hedonic treadmill and the virtues of frugality. Obviously, not everyone interested in early retirement wants to be thrifty. Some people want to achieve financial indendence in order to pursue lives that cost money. They want fancy houses and fancy cars. They do want to have more than the folks around them. And that's fine. Most of us, however, have come to realize that this fancy shit won't make us happy. Note: While it's great that there's no pressure to spend in FI circles, I don't want to pretend that it's without competition. In fact, there's a sort of perverse opposite pressure. Too many people want to participate in frugal shaming and financial one-upmanship, racing to see who can spend the least. This sort of bragging is just as unhealthy as competitive spending and I wish that it would stop. But at least competitive frugality helps your finances instead of hurting them. The Virtue of Frugality While the non-consumer core of the FIRE movement naturally leads followers toward frugality, frugality has very real financial benefits regardless whether you care about consumption. The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your lifestyle.The less you consume, the less baggage you have in your life.The less you consume, the sooner you can retire. Like me, you've probably seen this math a million times. But I hope that, like me, you never tire of its beauty. Let's say you have an average job. Maybe you're a box salesman (or saleswoman). You earn $50,000 per year selling corrugated packaging to industrial clients in your hometown. If you earn $50,000 per year and you spend $50,000 per year, you have no margin. If something goes wrong you get sick, you lose your job you have no choice but to cut back because your living expenses are the same as your income. If, on the other hand, you spend only $25,000 per year, you have a buffer. If you suffer some sort of catastrophic box injury that prevents you from working for six months, you'll be better able to cope with the crisis. If you lose your job, you only have to find a job that pays $25,000 instead of a job that pays $50,000. By spending less, you give yourself more options for work. The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your current lifestyle. And the less you consume, the sooner you can retire in the future. By maintaining an ambitious saving rate of 50 or even 70 percent in your twenties and thirties, you can retire when you're 40 years old instead of 65. This gives you forty years of freedom to do what you want with life rather than fifteen. This table demonstrates the power of profit margin, the power of frugality:

Spending less makes all financial goals easier to achieve. As Dave wrote in his guest post earlier this week, frugality buys discipline and discipline equals freedom. Depriving yourself of certain standard choices now means you don't have to lead a life of deprivation when you're older. When you choose to spend less, you're not just boosting your bottom line. You're also gaining the time and freedom that would have been required to earn that money. Thrift isn't deprivation. It's wealth. (This reminds me of Dave Ramsey's famous quote: If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.) Frugality and Me So, why am I writing about this? Why have I been thinking so much about frugality lately? After all, I'm hardly a poster boy for thrift. I am by nature a spender. This is a known issue and has been all of my life. That said, I do aspire to frugality. I admire frugal people. Because frugality is a core value of the early retirement movement, and because I spend much of my time with the FIRE crowd, their inclination toward frugality tends to act as a brake on my own spending. This is a good thing. And because many of my colleagues are non-consumer advocates, I find myself thinking about frugal alternatives (even if I don't always follow through with them). This year, in particular, I've been focused on spending less. After writing about my plans for 2019 earlier this month, I've done my best to get back to basics. Here are some examples: Kim and I are both actively trying to spend less on food. So far, we're succeeding. (Minor victory: We both wanted to eat out at our favorite bar last week. Instead, she picked up a $5 frozen pizza on her way home from work. That probably saved us forty bucks!)Both of our cars are beginning to show their age. Kim's 1997 Honda Accord has never had any major issues, but currently has a variety of minor mechanical problems. My 2004 Mini Cooper has had two major repairs in the past two years. Right now, the sunroof is leaking, which isn't good during a rainy Oregon winter. We've talked about buying a new vehicle. (And we still might.) For now, however, I bought a 1993 Toyota pickup for $1900. We've become a three-car household but those three vehicles have an average age of 21 years and an average value of $1500.After spending so much on home repairs during our first eighteen months in this house, we've been diving deep into DIY mode. This month, Kim has been painting the bedrooms. I'm repairing fences and faucets. There's still plenty that needs to be done around here, but we're going to take our time and learn how to do much of it ourselves.We're both out of shape and we know it. Our gym contracts have some time left on them, so we'll keep going for a while. Meanwhile, we've begun to set ourselves up for success here at home. We re-arranged the family room so that it's yoga-friendly. I set up an indoor bike trainer so that I have no excuse for not pedaling thirty minutes per day. We've both decided to reduce our alcohol intake.We've stopped thinking new and started thinking used. Twice this month, I've shopped at local thrift stores instead of defaulting to Amazon. I recently traded some concert tickets to my ex-wife for my old Nintendo Wii. We've been giving our used clothes and dishes to friends. Instead of meeting friends in restaurants for dinner, we're planning to meet at each other's homes. (How old fashioned!) Frugality may not a natural thing for me but I can do it. Plus, it's fun. It's fun for me to challenge myself, to look at how and why I engage in consumer behavior then to think about ways I can opt out. As I mentioned at the start of this article, even the ultrarich compare themselves to others (and to their past selves). I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I always want more. Nothing is ever enough for me. I'm not sure why this is the case but it is. It's a reality that I have to deal with. It's because of this constant craving that it's so important for me to spend time with my friends in the early retirement community. They apply peer pressure, but it's positive peer pressure. I see the frugal choices they make and I want to make similar choices. I hear how they get by with less and I want to get by with less. As you take your eyes off the false prize (of more, better, and different stuff), you put them on the real prizes: friends, family, sharing, caring, learning, meeting challenges, intimacy, rest, and being present, connected, and respected. In other words, those best things in life that are free. Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life

Author: J.D. Roth In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals. https://www.getrichslowly.org/frugality-is-an-important-part-of-personal-finance/

[theliterateape]

Hope Idiotic | Part III

By David Himmel

Hope Idiotic is a serialized novel. Catch each new part every week on Monday and Thursday.

A MONTH LATER AT WORK, JUST BEFORE LUNCH, CHUCK BURST FROM HIS OFFICE into the area where Lou and I sat. He ran his hands through his short hair, clawing his scalp.

“Fucking Jesus!” he said.

Lou and I swiveled our chairs toward him and leaned back ready for the meltdown.

“Department meeting!” Chuck said. “Now! Cuba Café! Neal, you drive!”

“I can’t. I have to get gas.”

“Good. Get it on the way back.”

In the car, Chuck kept ripping at his head and cursing under his breath.

“You want to tell us what’s going on?” Lou asked.

“I need a beer first.”

Our department was going to be dissolved. “A restructuring,” is what the Palm Gaming executives called it. Although the three of us loathed the corporate humping we had to do to earn a buck, we had a pretty sweet seat up. While our department was independent and served much like a communication agency to the four Strip properties, the restructuring would require each property to manage its own internal communications. We were being split up. Worst of all, our positions would fall under the umbrella of the Human Resources Department.

Beyond the occasional legitimate sexual harassment problems or veiled threats of retaliatory violence from a disgruntled former employee, HR served little necessary purpose. It existed mostly as an employee party planner. Companywide emails from HR regularly looked like they were written in crayon. Lots of big, colorful fonts and clipart and seasonal-appropriate .gifs of Cupid, leprechauns, jack-o-lanterns and Santa Claus. I once brought in a flyer I received from Stephen’s daycare about an upcoming event. The flyer for young parents with babies looked just like an email HR sent to 70,000 adults employed at a casino regarding changes to the Employee Dining Room’s soda fountain. (There would be two Diet Coke dispensers — part of a new health initiative.)

A lot of the information we dispersed was at the behest of HR, but knowing that we weren’t technically HR employees was important to us. The days of freelancing on the Palm dime, joking around and extended drinking lunches were numbered.

“Melvin Wilson is going to be my direct supervisor,” Chuck said. Melvin Wilson was the company’s diversity golden boy: A mid-forties black man with an ex-wife and five children under the age of seven. He was a reformed juvenile delinquent, having served a stint at age 15 for selling crack to an undercover cop. After prison, he found Jesus, and from there, a job in human resources. If HR had a cheerleading team for the company, Melvin would be its captain. “And they’re making me the senior manager of communications at Tigris. So I’ll have a more hands-on boss to micromanage me while I’m managing a smaller department. The upgraded title is bullshit.”

“It comes with more pay, right?” I asked.

“Fifteen hundred a year,” said Chuck. Lou and I laughed.

“So what does this mean for us?”

“Nothing is official yet, but you’ll probably stay with me at Tigris. I’m worried about you, Lou.”

“Are they going to fire me?” Lou asked.

 “No. You’ll be sent to one of the other properties. And the whispers are that Lancelot’s Kingdom is gunning for you.”

Lancelot’s was Palm’s unloved, ugly stepchild of a property. Built to look like a medieval castle and themed as such throughout, it had become a glorified motel with rooms-by-the-hour since falling into disarray when Vegas outgrew its family-friendly identity. It was where hospitality careers went to die and where visitors checked in with hopes of hitting the jackpot but checked out emotionally empty and financially broke, having realized how hard exploitive capitalist dreams can crash.

“When does all of this take effect?” Lou warily asked.

“Probably by the middle of June.”

“Well then, I wouldn’t worry too much about me.”

“Why?”

Lou took a big bite out of his Cuban sandwich, which had just been delivered to the table. “I’m moving to Chicago at the beginning of June.”

“What the fuck for?” I asked.

“To make something of myself. Become a real writer in a real city,” he said with his mouth full.

“Are you saying I’m not a real writer because I live in Las Vegas?”

“No! Of course not. I was trying to be funny.”

“Because you’d be right.”

“What are you talking about? You’re a real writer. You just published your second book.”

“I write corporate masturbatory dreck and hump editors’ legs for twenty-five cents a word. My book is being outsold 500-to-1 by The Twinkie Cookbook. I’m not a real writer. I’m a hack with a dusty PhD who changes his son’s shitty diapers in his spare time. The only time I see my wife’s tits is when she’s feeding my son. Chuck, you can’t let him do this. He can’t leave us here.”

Chuck was a clawing at his scalp even harder. A few more ounces of pressure and he would have separated it from his skull. But there was nothing he could have done.

Lou’s mind was made up. He was in love and he was going to leave us behind for the big city and the girl. His commitment to the grand gesture surprised even him.

My book is being outsold 500-to-1 by The Twinkie Cookbook. I’m not a real writer.

He had sworn off the idea of love after his last serious relationship four years before. It’s not that he didn’t believe love existed, but that love was a hassle. Back then, he’d just bought his house and had settled in nicely to the bachelor life. Without a girlfriend, he was free of relationship trappings like constant accountability and awareness of someone else’s moods and feelings. Without a girlfriend, he was able to come and go as he pleased, do what he wanted, when he wanted, with whom he wanted. He liked being on his own — alone but never lonely. Girls came and went without much emotional effort from either party, which Lou found idyllic. He never felt anxious or hurt as a result of another person. When he was younger, he wanted to have a wife and kids, but after experiencing the spoils of bachelorhood, he had decided that he would have been perfectly happy never being married or having a family of his own, but rather always be free and available for the excitement of first kisses and the wonderful strangeness of sleeping with strangers. He figured that his friends would have kids, and he could be their cool Uncle Louie.

But then Michelle happened. In only a few months, her affection for him, and his for her, made him feel that real, workable love could exist. They had already been friends for eight years. That meant she knew who he was. She knew his idiosyncrasies, and she didn’t seem to mind them one bit. She may have even loved him more because of them.

And now, as for the move, Michelle was the perfect catalyst. Lou’s return to Chicago had been in his plans since first arriving in Las Vegas ten years earlier. Since he had a job straight out of college, he decided that as soon as his career had outgrown Vegas, he’d make his way home again. The decade was staring him in the face, his career was in the best shape it had ever been in, and Michelle would be at his side. He had what he referred to as trajectory.

“What about your house?” Chuck asked.

“Glad you brought that up. I’d like to sell it and use the money to buy a place in Chicago. Until it sells, how about you live in it and pay me rent? You’re moving out of your place now anyway, so what the hell? You won’t find a better place for the money.”

“And when it sells?”

“I’ll give you thirty days to get out.”

“I’ll talk to Lexi about it.”

“Lexi?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’re moving in together. Moving into your place, Lou, while we look for our own doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“Everything discussed at this lunch sounds like a bad idea,” I said.

We ordered another round of beers before driving back to the office in silence.

✶

AS LOU’S EXODUS APPROACHED, THERE WAS A SHARED ANXIETY BETWEEN THE THREE OF US and especially between Chuck and him. It was more than painfully apparent that their more youthful, troublemaking days were behind them and that their time together was limited. Therefore, every moment together had to be savored. So, on a typically bright spring Sunday morning in Las Vegas, Chuck and Lexi came bursting into Lou’s home while he made breakfast in nothing but white boxer shorts.

“Let’s go!” Chuck yelled.

“Good Christ! What’re you doing?” Lou demanded.

“We’re going to the Grand Canyon today. The three of us. Get dressed.”

“Nice boxers, Lou,” Lexi teased.

“You’re lucky I’m wearing anything at all.”

“I rented a Jeep. It’s goddamn gorgeous out. Come on. We’ll get breakfast in Boulder City.”

It was a day well spent. They walked out onto the new Skywalk and laughed at the magnitude of how disappointing it was. They threw big rocks down and took bets with each other on how many seconds it would be before they heard a thud. They reveled in the idea that they were making changes to the earth through destruction. Lexi took a photograph of Chuck and Lou standing at the edge of a ridge with nothing below it but the absolute bottom. They went off-road through the Joshua-tree forest, and Lou made his case against the band U2 — pompous and riding its own coattails. They stopped at a quiet desert bar for a few beers and a couple games of tabletop shuffleboard. Lexi asked Lou if he thought he’d miss Las Vegas. “I’ll certainly miss being able to have days like this,” he admitted.

✶

A WEEK LATER, CHUCK AND LOU WERE DRIVING THROUGH THE DESERT AGAIN, this time one-hundred-twenty miles north to the small mining town of Beatty, Nevada. This was a routine getaway location for the guys. It was on the edge of Death Valley, so there would usually be a couple of geology students from some university there studying its soil and plant life and temperatures. At night they drank at the Sourdough Saloon, situated on the main road just before the only stoplight in town.

The Sourdough Saloon had a large horseshoe-shaped bar where an Amazonian bartender served cold beers at two-fifty each, whiskey and tequila for four bucks, and generic frozen pizza from the supermarket for five dollars a pie. Old rifles and taxidermied heads of big-horn sheep adorned the walls. The jukebox was loaded with Dion and The Belmonts, and Johnny Cash.

This trip, like all the others, was a raucous spectacle. Lou drove them to Beatty in record time. When they walked into the bar, the bartender was in a shouting match with an equally large, though slightly less masculine, patron. From what the boys could tell, things were about to get out of hand.

“What the fuck is going on?” Chuck asked Lou.

Lou noticed a short, older man at the other side of the bar watching them. He must have sensed their confusion, because when he and Lou made eye contact, the man nodded slightly and began to walk around to them. He didn’t look like the average local. Instead of worn work jeans and a tattered undershirt with a trucker hat, this man wore khaki chinos, a blue button-down and a faded blue baseball cap. When he reached them, the bartender had a handful of the enemy patron’s hair and was shaking his skull the way a dog shakes a dead rat in its mouth. Lou whispered to Chuck, “I think this guy is going to fill us in.”

The old man smiled with one corner of his mouth as he reached into his pocket, then brought his hand to his neck and spoke in a slow, humming robotic voice. “iT’S oK. THeY’Re BroTHeR aND SiSTeR.”

Lou at first didn’t see the stoma in the man’s neck because he was too far away. And by the time he was close enough, Lou’s focus was on the battle at the bar. The man had to speak through a mechanized voice box. Chuck laughed. Lou thanked the man and offered him the barstool next to them. “Buy you a beer?” Lou offered.

“BuDWeiSeR. ThaNK YoU,” the man buzzed.

The fight ended shortly after that. Chuck and Lou drank heavily. When the old man was drunk enough and had left the bar, nerdy geology students replaced him. Chuck told the bartender he wanted her to show him her tits. She threatened to kick his ass. Lou offered to kick her ass instead. Then he apologized, bought her a shot and she backed down. They dropped twenty-eight bucks in the jukebox and played Dion’s “Runaround Sue” on repeat for an hour. With the little cash either of them had left — a couple of ones and a five — they scribbled messages on them and stapled them to the ceiling amidst other paper currency. They read:

Help! I’m lost. If found, please call Chuck Keller at 702-353-8068; This dollar bill was once touched by a real live Jew; Figure it out. – CK and LB, May 2007.

At one point, Lou escaped to the bathroom to vomit. When he returned, Chuck was gone. “Did you see my friend?” Lou slurred at the bartender.

“The little bastard was asking to see my tits again. I threw him out. Next time I’ll kill him.” Lou laughed. “Fuck you!” she yelled. “Get the fuck out of here!”

Chuck didn’t make it far after being tossed out on his ear. He ended up passed out in a heap in the street, using the sidewalk curb as a pillow. “Let’s go, asshole,” Lou said, as he kicked him. “We have to get off the street.”

They had enough sense to secure a hotel room before going to the bar, and once they found Lou’s car, which was in the Sourdough’s rear parking lot, Lou drove them to the hotel. He tried to anyway. All the booze rendered his short-term memory and global cognitive ability completely useless. He knew what the hotel looked like — a series of white, aluminum-sided trailers. He knew it was only two blocks from the Sourdough. But instead of driving there, Lou blew through the stoplight and drove away from town, north on U.S. 95 with Chuck comatose in the passenger seat. Where the fuck am I? he wondered.

After an hour of weaving the lane and the shoulder, he saw a small red light ahead and thought, Great, a whorehouse. I’ll pull in, and we’ll just sleep there. He and Chuck had been to brothels before. Not as customers, but as curious journalism students on a road trip to Lake Tahoe. He knew these places had what were called trucker rooms, which could be rented by the hour — much like the girl — for the long-haul truckers in need of sleep who passed by on America’s loneliest road.

But no one answered the door of the small house when Lou knocked. So he went back to the car and drove toward what he hoped was back to Beatty. An hour later, he was in town but still couldn’t find the hotel. He thought, Fuck it, I’m parking it right here and going to sleep.

He woke up to Chuck slapping him in the face. The late-spring desert sun was pouring through the car windows, cooking them both.

“Hey! Wake up, you fucking asshole. Why are we sleeping in the car? And in a gravel parking lot?”

“Because I couldn’t find the damn hotel last night. Drove more than an hour on the highway. Was just going to rent a trucker room for us at a whorehouse, but no one answered.”

“What do you mean, you couldn’t find the hotel?”

“I mean I have no idea where it is.”

Chuck pointed straight ahead through the windshield and laughed. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

Lou had given up looking for their hotel in the hotel’s parking lot. The white, aluminum-sided trailers were about ten yards away from the car. It was morning, and they had to head home, but, since they spent the money, they figured they should get some use out of the room. They stormed the place like savages, ripping the bedding apart to get between the sheets catch some proper sleep for a few hours before showering and heading back to Las Vegas.

Dehydrated and hung over, the drive back felt much longer than the ride there the night before. Plus, they had reached the end of what was going to be their last adventure together for a while. Lou was leaving in a week.

“When did you know you loved her?” asked Chuck.

“Maybe when she first kissed me.”

✶  

IT WAS THE DAY BEFORE NEW YEAR’S EVE 2006 — her birthday. Like always, Michelle was back in Vegas to celebrate the holidays and her birthday with her parents. After a birthday dinner at a steakhouse inside the high-end neighborhood casino resort with her parents, she invited Lou to join them at one of the casino bars. Her parents were both smashed and giving away twenty dollar bill after twenty dollar bill to the bartop poker machines. Michelle was drunk, too, but sober enough to refuse to get into the car and go home with her mom and dad in the sloppy shape they were in. Lou offered to give her a lift. On the way home, they made a stop at her favorite taqueria.

“You know, you really missed your window with me,” she said.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Your window to be with me. All of those times we were each other’s stand-in dates to things, you never once tried to kiss me. And now it’s too late. You missed your window.”

“I didn’t know there was an open window.”

“That’s exactly your problem, Mr. Bergman. You. Don’t. Know.” She flipped her blond hair as she turned her head to look away from him out her window. This was how she flirted — by giving him a hard time.

When Lou pulled into the drive-thru, Michelle unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to face him, her back against the passenger door. “When you finish ordering, I’m going to kiss you,” she said.

Lou looked at her and laughed.

“Welcome to Los Tacos. Order when you’re ready,” the voice crackled from the intercom.

“I’ll have three regular tacos, two chicken soft tacos and…” he turned to Michelle who was still perched against the door. “What do you want again?”

“Two tacos and an order of nachos. And a Diet Coke.”

He turned back to the intercom. “Two tacos and an order of nachos.”

“And a Diet Coke!” Michelle said.

“I know. Relax. And a Diet Coke. Please.”

“That’ll be seven-fifteen. Second window.”

Before Lou could even depress the clutch, Michelle pounced. She swung her right leg around so that she was straddling him. It was a tight squeeze, and their faces were close.

“You’re kidding me,” he said.

She looked deeply into his eyes for a moment, then leaned in and kissed him. It was soft and slow and hard. It was deep and shallow. It was passionate. It was incredible. And when it was over, it left Lou dazed.

Michelle looked at him and said, “Okay. Now that that’s done, we can go back to being friends.” She swung her leg back around, plopped down in the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt. The car in line behind them honked. Lou looked at her.

“You can do that again if you want.”

“Nope. That’s it. Just showing you what you’ve been missing out on.”

He pulled up to the window, paid and drove her home. As they divided the tacos in her parents’ driveway, Lou asked her, “You’re still going to be my date for my New Year’s party tomorrow, right?”

“Of course. We’re friends. And friends don’t stand each other up. Besides, my parents are going, too. I’m not going to stay home alone.”

“All right. Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Then I guess you will. Goodnight, Mr. Bergman. Thanks for the birthday tacos.”

“Thanks for the birthday kiss.”

She smiled at him and headed into the house.

By the morning, he was over the kiss. It was no big deal. He kissed girls all the time. But when she showed up at the party wearing a perfectly fitting little black dress, he felt butterflies in his gut. And at midnight, they kissed again. And when the party was over, they drank the last of the champagne on his bed. And she spent the night with him. And as they lay together, Michelle Kaminski took Lou Bergman’s head in her hands and said, “This face… I’ll never look at it the same again. What have we started?”

✶  

“WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?” Chuck asked. “To fall in love?”

“Just like you remember. Except better.”

They drove a few silent miles. Then Chuck said, “I met a girl.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her name is Gina Acerbi. She’s that pretty Italian girl who works up in sales and catering. Tiny little thing; great tits. She was in my diversity training class. I don’t know what to do.”

“What is there to do? Nothing wrong with knowing a cute girl.”

“There is if I’m fucking her.”

“Jesus Christ, Chuck. You and Lexi are moving in together in a week.”

“I didn’t plan on it. Jesus, man. Like Michelle, she just came out of nowhere.”

“It’s not the same.”

“I want to feel what you feel. I want to know what it’s like to love someone so much — and know that they love you just the same — that you’re willing to throw away your entire life just to be a part of theirs. I want that. I want that passion of making out in a fast-food drive-thru. I want those goddamn butterflies. You know what I get now? I get to move in with a girl — who I care about, and yeah, I love her — but a girl who reads the Bible in bed. You can imagine what my sex life has been like with her.”

Chuck had a point. He’d always been a sexual animal, often a crazed beast with an enduring tumescence. And whenever he and Lexi had a mini-breakup, he made sure to do as much migratory humping as possible.

“The Bible is sexy. In parts. Violent, too. That ought to turn you on,” Lou said.

“The Bible doesn’t give me butterflies.”

“And Gina does?”

“And Gina does.”

Part I Part II

[freevbucks96172-blog]

10 Best Processes Free of charge Fortnite Skins

What Is Fortnite And The Digital Currency V

Fortnite is a house sandbox survival video game developed by Folks Can Journey and Epic Games. This was a newly discovered spot before an individual from the Epic Games forums - it seems a number of Fortnite "movie" stores were truly damaged or corrupted. According to Marksman, selling Fortnite codes is a safer choice than going broken-into accounts, although the accounts may be added beneficial (one seller I spoke with was offering the balance with exceptional skins for $900). Participants could claim stolen report by contacting Epic Games' care with replacing their details. The systems are immaterial.

The Fortnite World Cup Online games begin on May 13 and will run weekly for five weeks across each spot. The semi-finals session takes place on the Saturday and is about three hours long, with a 10 match limit. If you place in the top 3000 players, you'll be able to take position in the closing in Wednesday. Fortnite Week 1 Concern of the Time 8 Battle State are now, including the visit all Pirate Camps plan with large face locations. Clear at least some in the eight problem to make 5,000XP. That set was relieved by January 28, 2019.

If you've been watching a certain skin or want to save up to get some new equipment you'll know all about Fortnite V-Bucks. They're the in-game currency that will let you to acquire new items like skins and gliders for your Fortnite character with load-out. Comprehend the lowdown on Fortnite: Battle Royale, which is today into year 7. In most multiplayer shooter games, the wish is to kill. This is not the box if you are likely to perform Fortnite. Your target is to survive, not eliminate. For instance, even if you kill 50 opponents, people might lose.

These cheats for Fortnite is 100% driving with legitimate to use from the sport. You can quickly get Unlimited V Dollars for PS4 by using these approaches. Don't you worry, you will and become V Cash For Xbox One, COMPUTER, iOS and Android with the same technique. Traps are remarkably helpful in Fortnite, especially to protect the back. It is not recommended to remain even, if you choose for a passive game, try to recover the different types of traps (with the ground, on the edges) so as to help obscure you.

This swagbucks link will allow for you to move a complimentary 3$ value of beliefs when you earn only 3$ worth. It will enable you to get at least the nice supplies in fortnite. Squad up with your friends and get the Xbox One X 1TB console, Xbox wireless controller, Fortnite Battle Royal, Legendary Eon cosmetic fixed, with 2,000 V-Bucks. How For Free V Responsibilities In Fortnite? Here really is the doubt that Suddenly being spread with all the Fortnite Game Players. The primary purpose is because; with V Bucks, it is possible to quickly access most from the products in Fortnite game. fortnite vbucks

Part of Fortnite's progress to dominance has no doubt become its cross-platform availability, with everyday mobile gamers on the move able to get involved with great bedroom gamers on even footing ( Sony was cautious , but cross-play performance has just become enabled for PS4 players ). Most in the FORTNITE V BUCKS GENERATOR websites out there are try to assure you to somehow their developers managed to hack into the FORTNITE Database, and thus they can easily get the unlimited free v-bucks in Dispute Royale game.

Figure 1: Data indicates the estimated revenue of Fortnite compared to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds between May 2017 — June 2018, based on the Edison Trends dataset. While you can't directly gift V-Bucks to another person, you have a couple of options to help them get their Fortnite fix: accept them something license regarding their software of choice, or get a package with special content.

The Structure Of VBUCKS

Accumulate resources: Unlike other Battle Royale, one of the basis of Fortnite lives which shape is very important. From a ramp that allows you to climb to an elevated position into a wall behind that to mask yourself, or treat as a guard to flee if you are at a disadvantage, take a potion. For the first time ever, Fortnite Battle Royale players have the chance to compete with one another for a big quantity of V-Bucks, the game's virtual currency.

Well, Fortnite's success isn't based exclusively for the fact that it is free, but instead, it is because of how well their free-to-play asset interlocks with the premise and features of the game itself. Which means that the fact that Fortnite is free for the second is a great basis to strongly supports the other part we will be discussing. Clearly the elections are in and that been officially confirmed - Fortnite is the best Battle Royale game off here.

Unfortunately, some Fortnite players, especially teenagers with teenagers, still fall to the thousands of scams online then on YouTube offering them V-Bucks. You can use the Fortnite Generator to generate Free Fornite V Bucks, the procedure to do that is appealing simple, when you got the application next to your own computer, just start Fortnite then put the amount of Fortnite V Challenges that you want to have in your account, once you are done you just have to click on the Generate Buttons.

Being the best at Fortnite Battle Royale is no easy feat, and there's no sure-fire way to receive a Win Royale every time. But, while we can certainly guarantee you'll finish in the top five whenever you participate in, our leader to playing Fortnite Battle Royale should help you out-survive your peers often than not. That important to tell exactly where chests are put into Fortnite - Battle Royale. That gives you an massive advantage. You can remember every individual spot but the easier way is to look at them in this effort.

Epic Activities are trying to produce a minuscule form of Fortnite Battle Royale for players to enjoy with their supporters with creative mode, using a smaller starting crowd. With rapid, I discovered a backdoor breach into the databases of several large gaming circle. The Fortnite Battle Royale database allows us to pile as many resources as I want in any Fortnite Battle Royale account.

The Enigma Of VBUCKS

Watch the latest episode of our Fortnite talk show Squad Up to date Patrick Warburton play around controversy royale. One of the best things about building a MACHINE for Fortnite exists to, instead of an excellent in-game performance, people simply really need 2 or more CPU cores. Products can sometimes buy V-Bucks without the parents' knowledge, as their parents' status or debit cards are connected to the gaming account that they benefit to perform. Although the issue isn't exclusive to Fortnite, the issue with Fortnite has invited particular attention because the game is popular right now.

And so these were some of the best ways which may be used to obtain free v jumps in fortnite game without spending any real money. Fortnite Battle Royale is an online multiplayer survival shooter developed by Epic Games , in which 100 players fight to get the last part suffering with games lasting less than thirty seconds. It is a free game using some mechanics from the original Fortnite, a success sandbox game, and many aspects in the battle royale” kind of sport.

Good news on V-Bucks being used to launder cash is anything but surprising, since crooks are operating Fortnite to make money in a mind-boggling number of ways. Similar to Snow in Period 7, Discovery awards any player that completes all eight weekly challenges with a solution loading screen resulting in a disagreement star or hidden banner. Doing this is a lot of control, but for the most dedicated Fortnite players, that essential.

Teenagers in america are supposedly preferring cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and in-game currency Fortnite ‘V-Bucks' over traditional holiday gifts that will include gift certificates and fiat cash. Of course, later you can think of Fortnite Battle Royale tactics a little more elaborate, such as interesting the opponent inside of your stand with breaking in several hole that you have left completely on purpose, to impart your earlier with information. That is much more confused than it can.

Fortnite season 6 is out today and ready to purchase but Epic Activities have sent out a warning about V-Bucks purchases. Fortnite gift certificate generator is a server-based tool. You can generate unlimited gift cards codes by using this tool. Each period of Fortnite (that last 10 weeks), you are yielded a Story Ranking. Simply playing the action with achieving problems may strengthen the Level List. And for every Tier Position you unlock, you'll make something different. That may be some benefit V-Bucks, a new skin before a good XP booster to grow your turn.

V-Bucks hack - V-Bucks lives live a very significant resource to accelerate the upgrade. Spend your Fortnite hack device and you might give the points. That's why you're now from the elementary point. If you have enabled Players vs Enemies” (PvE) manner or But the World” game fashion in Fortnite, you are the eligible to take cut in Regular Quests with the activity. Daily Quests are only serially open daily in-game tasks for you to finish them individually and make free v-bucks against the processes you realized on the same day.

Motion blur: Changing that at combines a shape make as going. That a visual deciding which about players enjoy, except for a competitive activity of Fortnite, that could make things harder to witness while jump on speed. Change this off is advised. Follow your stats for Fortnite battle royale, complete with global leaderboards for solo, couple and squad gamemodes. Unlike most multiplayer shooters, the goal of Fortnite Battle Royale is to live, not to get kills. This is perhaps one of the most important Fortnite suggestions to help remember: you may get 98 kills and still lose.

After you have lived agreed for the free gift, there will be an endorsement email. All you requirement is beginning this with following the lessons to motion hip near your Samsung account, download Fortnite game, then persuade the 15,000 V-Bucks plus the Galaxy skin for free. A now-deleted tweet from a fake Epic Games bill said: Fortnite will be shutting behind about Sept 26th 2018.

This trend should finish. That worked out here CS:GO as it would basically do the hitboxes larger, in Fortnite, operating with a modern game engine, that clearly smushes the character model down. Any perceived effect it has with your own chance to play is a excuse. The creator may think trail in Fortnite's footsteps and creating another, limited-time game modes that performance with the BR formula, or perhaps map-changing elements to keep the game environment new. Or Respawn could result PUBG then attach another, smaller records with something else server dimensions to mix things up.

[adelaidebatten-blog]

Take The Encounter Of The Online Games

Check out for casino critiques. It is accurate that Internet help us in numerous issues but it also assists those people with poor motives, and those people who just want to make simple cash by fooling other people and casino online can be spam and they want to know all the particulars about you so they can get cash from you. Beware and apply security precautions to avoid becoming fooled by these people. Checking out the reviews about them will be a large help. You can trust the larger sites that can be noticed in Television, or with professional gamblers.

We can use free-play hours or free spins to test the casino's website; if they do not have it we can declare it from them. If we discover that the http://Fvasienna058283.Wikidot.com/blog:2 is suspicious or there is something incorrect with it during playing with the free spins or free-play hrs, we have to leave the page right away before we shed cash. If we have invested some of our money for welcome deposit, then dropping it is a lot better than if we have to satisfy the risks we by no means want. In 2005 I went to korean casino to study their solutions. They had quietly created much better customer data services than I experienced noticed anyplace else in the world. SK Telecom's June service is a customer masterpiece. The assumption is that a lousy web-site - particularly in gambling - will not last for lengthy in between the a number of beneficial types. Also you truly don't want to place money in a internet-site that will all of a sudden vanish without a warning. Not much from these South korean casino site and Hong Kong millionaire tutors is Phang Yu Hon in Singapore. Phang started out teaching physics and was creating about $220 for each month. Over the many years his student foundation has developed and he now makes over fifty percent a million bucks for each year - and his annual income keeps growing. Phang teaches physics to teams of college students and is regarded as one of Singapore's best and greatest-paid tutors. Samsung is 1 of the leading mobile telephone production businesses in the global marketplaces. This South Korea based company is an set up player in the consumer goods industry. Now, it has done well in the cellular business too by introducing some of the best promoting mobile gadgets. Samsung telephones are fashionable and trendy and therefore these are appreciated by the cellular enthusiasts globally. A number of contemporary features have been added in the handsets in purchase to produce a much better name in the cellular industry. Tensions are higher as the entire world appears to know what North Korea refuses to acknowledge. Atomic and nuclear testing is some thing we should have abandoned years ago. Not to point out atomic and nuclear threats. 1982 Trujillo & Lima ( Peru ). The U.S. ladies's volleyball squad claimed the bronze medal at the FIVB Globe Championships. In this match, The united states, led by Flo Hyman, was the only group to have crushed the Individuals's Republic of China-the world's most successful team. Hyman -1 of the taller athletes at 1. 94cm-- was an immense barrier during the IV World Cup in Tokyo (Japan), where she was named the very best blocker. False fall and maintain are the two elements that have brought new considerations in the casino industry. Although they are not new concepts, their influence on the game should be reconsidered. Consequently, it will be wise for gamers to consider note of these. The pace of the T1 is also a factor to behold. The medium is divided into 24 channels that use Digital Signal . Each channel has a capability of 64 kbps. Multiplying korean casino site each values gives rise to an astounding one.fifty four Mbps. That bandwidth is yours on your own which basically means that it does not falter. Currency problems will be the in the information these days as the so called G20 nation finance ministers meet in korean casino site to discuss international financial affairs. The bulk of the meeting is anticipated to revolve about talks aimed at avoiding aggressive devaluations and protectionist trade practices. You might remember a smaller team of these nations satisfied in Washington DC only two months in the past. About the exact same results are anticipated. Since the introduction, of http://Fvasienna058283.Wikidot.com/blog:2, the quantity of gamblers raises everyday. Much more and more individuals are signing up in the bingo internetsites. They no longer go to the land primarily based casinos. They perform bingos online at what ever time they want. They do not have to stroll to a bingo corridor. They see it as wastage of time and energy. The purpose as to why playing bingos online has grown quickly is because one can play from their personal home.Housing costs will take an additional hit as mortgage prices climb past 10%25, the ARM balloon payments reset monthly home loan payments for millions, banks finally sell their inventory, and a large part of those who are underwater just quit paying. Anticipate an additional thirty%25 drop in prices.

[andrewdburton]

Why frugality is an important part of personal finance

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker shared some thoughts on why many ultrarich people aren't satisfied with their wealth.

There seem to be two reasons.

First, people tend to ask themselves: Am I doing better than I was before? Do I have more today than I did yesterday? “All the way up the income-wealth spectrum,” one researcher told Pinsker, “basically everyone says [they'd need] two or three times as much” to be perfectly happy. It's the hedonic treadmill in action.

Second, people can't help but compare themselves to others. They ask themselves: Do I have as much (or more) than the people I'm comparing myself with? Do I have more than other folks in my family? Do I have more than my friends? Do I have more than my co-workers? We measure our personal success by comparing what we have to what other people have. This is the proverbial “keeping up with the Joneses“.

While Pinsker's article is about the ultrarich, I think these tendencies apply to nearly everyone. Even me.

People in the middle class are just as inclined to hop on the hedonic treadmill. They're just as likely to compare what they have to what their friends have. The same goes for those who aren't well off. Even people in poverty get sucked into the comparison game.

In fact, I'd argue that for the poor and middle class, there's an added element. Time and again, statistics show that folks with lower incomes watch tons more TV than people who earn more. (Also here — and many more studies.) When you allow yourself to succumb to the “other world” of film and TV, you're exposed to more ideas about how people should and do live — even if these ideas are baseless. (It's like “The Grand Illusion” by Styx: “Don't be fooled by the radio, the TV, or the magazines. They show you photographs of how your life should be, but they're just someone else's fantasy.”)

The rich compare themselves to themselves and others. The poor do too but they also compare themselves to fictional characters on film and television.

The bottom line seems to be that comparing your situation to anyone is likely to lead to trouble. Whether you're comparing yourself to yourself, your family, your friends, or to people in Hollywood productions, doing so leads to a desire for more.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Non-Consumer Advocates

Over the past few years, the early retirement movement has risen to prominence. People have figured out that they don't have to work for forty or fifty years at jobs they hate. If they manage to increase the gap between their earning and spending — if they can maintain a high saving rate — then then they can achieve financial independence at age fifty. Or forty. Or thirty-five.

Boosting income is a very important part of this equation, of course, but it's not the only piece of the puzzle. The fundamental equation of personal finance is this: Your wealth equals what you earn minus what you spend. Your spending plays a crucial role in how quickly you're able to build wealth and/or achieve your financial goals.

If you want to spend less, it's vital you resist the urge to compare yourself to others.

This is one of the FIRE movement's greatest virtues. From my experience, the folks in the early retirement community have consciously opted out of the comparison game. Thanks largely to the work of Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (authors of the classic Your Money or Your Life), financial independence is frequently framed as a life of non-consumption.

Here are some sample quotes from Dominguez and Robin:

“If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.”

“How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world.”

“Americans used to be ‘citizens'. Now we are ‘consumers'.”

“Consumption seems to be our favorite high, our nationally sanctioned addiction, the all-American form of substance abuse.”

“Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of.”

Dominguez and Robin helped to found the financial independence movement, and they founded it as non-consumer advocates. It helps too that Mr. Money Mustache, who has helped popularize FIRE in recent years, is also a non-consumer advocate. He's written extensively about topics like hopping off the hedonic treadmill and the virtues of frugality.

Obviously, not everyone interested in early retirement wants to be thrifty. Some people want to achieve financial indendence in order to pursue lives that cost money. They want fancy houses and fancy cars. They do want to have more than the folks around them. And that's fine.

Most of us, however, have come to realize that this fancy shit won't make us happy.

Note: While it's great that there's no pressure to spend in FI circles, I don't want to pretend that it's without competition. In fact, there's a sort of perverse opposite pressure. Too many people want to participate in frugal shaming and financial one-upmanship, racing to see who can spend the least. This sort of bragging is just as unhealthy as competitive spending and I wish that it would stop. But at least competitive frugality helps your finances instead of hurting them.

The Virtue of Frugality

While the non-consumer core of the FIRE movement naturally leads followers toward frugality, frugality has very real financial benefits regardless whether you care about consumption.

The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your lifestyle.

The less you consume, the less baggage you have in your life.

The less you consume, the sooner you can retire.

Like me, you've probably seen this math a million times. But I hope that, like me, you never tire of its beauty.

Let's say you have an average job. Maybe you're a box salesman (or saleswoman). You earn $50,000 per year selling corrugated packaging to industrial clients in your hometown. If you earn $50,000 per year and you spend $50,000 per year, you have no “margin”. If something goes wrong — you get sick, you lose your job — you have no choice but to cut back because your living expenses are the same as your income.

If, on the other hand, you spend only $25,000 per year, you have a buffer. If you suffer some sort of catastrophic box injury that prevents you from working for six months, you'll be better able to cope with the crisis. If you lose your job, you only have to find a job that pays $25,000 instead of a job that pays $50,000. By spending less, you give yourself more options for work.

The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your current lifestyle. And the less you consume, the sooner you can retire in the future.

By maintaining an ambitious saving rate of 50 or even 70 percent in your twenties and thirties, you can retire when you're 40 years old instead of 65. This gives you forty years of freedom to do what you want with life rather than fifteen.

This table demonstrates the power of profit margin, the power of frugality:

Spending less makes all financial goals easier to achieve. As Dave wrote in his guest post earlier this week, frugality buys discipline — and discipline equals freedom.

Depriving yourself of certain “standard” choices now means you don't have to lead a life of deprivation when you're older. When you choose to spend less, you're not just boosting your bottom line. You're also gaining the time and freedom that would have been required to earn that money. Thrift isn't deprivation. It's wealth.

(This reminds me of Dave Ramsey's famous quote: “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.”)

Frugality and Me

So, why am I writing about this? Why have I been thinking so much about frugality lately? After all, I'm hardly a poster boy for thrift. I am by nature a spender. This is a known issue and has been all of my life.

That said, I do aspire to frugality. I admire frugal people. Because frugality is a core value of the early retirement movement, and because I spend much of my time with the FIRE crowd, their inclination toward frugality tends to act as a brake on my own spending. This is a good thing. And because many of my colleagues are non-consumer advocates, I find myself thinking about frugal alternatives (even if I don't always follow through with them).

This year, in particular, I've been focused on spending less. After writing about my plans for 2019 earlier this month, I've done my best to get back to basics. Here are some examples:

Kim and I are both actively trying to spend less on food. So far, we're succeeding. (Minor victory: We both wanted to eat out at our favorite bar last week. Instead, she picked up a $5 frozen pizza on her way home from work. That probably saved us forty bucks!)

Both of our cars are beginning to show their age. Kim's 1997 Honda Accord has never had any major issues, but currently has a variety of minor mechanical problems. My 2004 Mini Cooper has had two major repairs in the past two years. Right now, the sunroof is leaking, which isn't good during a rainy Oregon winter. We've talked about buying a new vehicle. (And we still might.) For now, however, I bought a 1993 Toyota pickup for $1900. We've become a three-car household — but those three vehicles have an average age of 21 years and an average value of $1500.

After spending so much on home repairs during our first eighteen months in this house, we've been diving deep into DIY mode. This month, Kim has been painting the bedrooms. I'm repairing fences and faucets. There's still plenty that needs to be done around here, but we're going to take our time and learn how to do much of it ourselves.

We're both out of shape and we know it. Our gym contracts have some time left on them, so we'll keep going for a while. Meanwhile, we've begun to set ourselves up for success here at home. We re-arranged the family room so that it's yoga-friendly. I set up an indoor bike trainer so that I have no excuse for not pedaling thirty minutes per day. We've both decided to reduce our alcohol intake.

We've stopped thinking “new” and started thinking “used”. Twice this month, I've shopped at local thrift stores instead of defaulting to Amazon. I recently traded some concert tickets to my ex-wife for my old Nintendo Wii. We've been giving our used clothes and dishes to friends. Instead of meeting friends in restaurants for dinner, we're planning to meet at each other's homes. (How old fashioned!)

Frugality may not a natural thing for me but I can do it. Plus, it's fun. It's fun for me to challenge myself, to look at how and why I engage in consumer behavior — then to think about ways I can “opt out”.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, even the ultrarich compare themselves to others (and to their past selves). I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I always want more. Nothing is ever enough for me. I'm not sure why this is the case but it is. It's a reality that I have to deal with.

It's because of this constant craving that it's so important for me to spend time with my friends in the early retirement community. They apply peer pressure, but it's positive peer pressure. I see the frugal choices they make and I want to make similar choices. I hear how they get by with less and I want to get by with less.

“As you take your eyes off the false prize (of more, better, and different stuff), you put them on the real prizes: friends, family, sharing, caring, learning, meeting challenges, intimacy, rest, and being present, connected, and respected. In other words, those best things in life that are free.” — Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life

The post Why frugality is an important part of personal finance appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

from Finance https://www.getrichslowly.org/frugality-is-an-important-part-of-personal-finance/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: August 2018

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of August 2018 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

Apparently not learning from their “wrong type of Jews” debacle back in April, The Times, the BBC’s Newsnight programme, the Evening Standard, several on the Labour right (most notably Louise Ellman, and I’ll get to her in a minute) and various hacks with an axe to grind such as Hadley Freeman and Marcus Dysch all decided to push their “Jeremy Corbyn is anti-Semitic” agenda by trying to claim that Hajo Meyer, a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, was anti semitic for comparing Israeli treatment of Palestinians to Nazi treatment of jews during the Holocaust at a talk in 2010 - somehow all failing to understand that, when you start smearing a Holocaust survivor (who died in 2014) for having an opinion that doesn’t kowtow the official Israeli line, it makes you look remarkably antisemitic

Special mention, though, has to go to  Louise Ellman for appearing on Newsnight and claiming claiming to be shocked and appalled to learn about Meyer’s talk (while neglecting to mention that Meyer was Jewish at any point) - only for it to rapidly come to light that she was at the talk

Forgetting he’s supposed to be some sort of lovable oaf who occasionally says some not-so-lovable things, Boris Johnson not only bypassed lovable and went for downright ignorant with his comments about Muslim women in burqas in a Telegraph column, meaning he couldn’t even explain away how he both dehumanised and criminalised them with the comparisons to letterboxes and bank robbers, but he refused to apologise for his comments and, besides, he can't be disciplined as Parliament is on recess and he’s gone on holiday so ner ner ner-ner - which of course has nothing to do with him being one of the Tories who have met with Steve Bannon to discuss how being a racist imbecile can boost their careers

The response to Johnson’s comments has also seen a whole spread of dickheadishness: bonehead messiah Tommy Robinson was quick to jump on “letterbox” as his new favourite racial slur; the coverage the BBC’s Newsnight gave the story focused solely on the letterbox comment and acted as if the one comparison them to bank robbers hadn’t been made; within the Tory party we saw Jacob Rees-Mogg come up with some absurd suggestion that Johnson was only being criticised by some within his own party because he’s a threat to Theresa May’s leadership and, besides, focusing on this story something something Labour are responsible for the Holocaust; writing for The Spectator we had Rod Liddle actually make the argument that there isn’t enough Islamophobia within the Tory party; while Rowan Atkinson defended the joke at a time when reports were saying people were trying to shove envelopes into the front of a burka while a woman was wearing it as that too is apparently oh-so funny.

Of course, trust the Daily Mail to come roaring to Johnson’s defence with a story about how Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath at a cemetery in Tunis where the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacre were said to be buried - a story that even Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to jump on.  There’s just one tiny problem with that assertion: not a single one of the eight Black September members responsible are buried at that cemetary, which ever so slightly makes the Mail and Netanyahu look either misinformed or like they’re content to misinform the public - and since gullible idiot (and sometimes Transport Secretary) Chris Grayling later repeated the same mistake-laden falsehood, it’s clear which version is the most likely one.

Not to be outdone, Margaret Hodge decided to show that Labour MPs could also use this story to make the stupidest fucking comments when she stated there is “a fine line between being pro-Palestinian, and being anti-Semitic” while also claiming her being investigated for ranting like a swivel-eyed loon was akin to how the Nazis treated Jews - in doing so trivilising the Holocaust, blatantly using anti-Semitism as a rock to throw at people, lending some heavily Islamophobic undertones to her comments, while also shining light on the standard that Hajo Meyer can be smeared as antisemitic for his aforementioned comments, yet when Hodge makes an offensively trite comparison a week later there wasn’t a peep from any of the antisemitic witch hunters in the press who were baying for Corbyn’s blood 

A gang of Make Britain Great Again thugs (a gang which included UKIP members Elizabeth Jones, Luke Nash-Jones and Martin Costello) thought the best way to get their message across was to storm the Bookmarks bookshop in Bloomsbury and smash up the shop, threatening the staff and being oh-so-clever they filmed themselves doing it, because if you’re going to commit wanton acts of vandalism while threatening people and shouting Islamophobic abuse, the best thing you can do is make sure the public can see your faces

In the wake of the Morandi Bridge collapse, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Northern League Matteo Salvini initially said that the collapse was the fault of the EU for cutting funding to road and bridge maintenance before he spiralled off into some fuckwittery about immigrants.  And like clockwork it soon emerged that not only had the EU increased road and bridge maintenance funding, but the Five Star coalition which Salvini is part of had publicly rubbished a report by the Società Autostrade warning that the bridge had at best thirty years before it collapsed as a “fairy tale” - and they promptly thought deleting that quote from their website would make it go away, obviously forgetting that internet archives exist.

In a blatant example of punching down, Sky News hack Lewis Goodall not only attended a Jeremy Corbyn rally in Stoke to hurl barbed questions at his supporters, but when one of these supporters flubbed what they were saying he seized upon that and put it front and centre of his hit piece - even though the person in question had, after realising her flub and correcting it, requested it not be shown, and it took calls to both Sky News and Ofcom to have it removed, but by that time the damage was done and the clip was circulating the internet and she was receiving all manner of personal abuse online.  Yet it didn’t end there, as several days later The Last Leg repeated the clip in a similar sneering hit piece, and the process began all over again.

I’m sure that Yanny Bruere thought he was being very, very clever when he commissioned a blimp of Sadiq Khan to be flown over London, knowing full well that those loonie lefties would implode with indignation at the sight of it...only for Khan to approve the blimp while showing he has a sense of humour, while those on the right imploded in indignation that those on the left responded (contrary to what Paul Joseph Watson claimed) with either a shrug of the shoulders or derisive laughter that Bruere paid £60,000 while the Trump baby balloon cost a third of that, leaving those on the far right to implode with indignation to the point they were having to mock up Guardian headlines to pretend they weren't being laughed at

While there are people commending Omarosa Manigault Newman for recording White House Chief of Staff John F Kelly threatening her, let’s not forget that recording people without their knowledge or consent within the White House not only justifies her sacking as it;s against official protocol, but as a potential security issue it could land her in all manner of hot water

Having lost their title of The Antichrist of Gaming, Activision sunk a lot of thought in how they’d reclaim that infernal crown - and then it hit them, with physical copies of Spyro Reignited only containing the first Spyro game while the other two would have to be downloaded, and try and explain it away with some mealy-mouthed crap about games needing updates as if 2/3 of the games in the collection were mere updates

While their reputation as one of the good guys of the games industry means Bethesda usually get away with shitehousery, that was put to the test by the company siccing their legal firm Vorys onto somebody attempting to sell a copy of The Evil Within 2 on Amazon due to listing the copy as new due to their never having played it nor even removed it from its cellophane wrapper after purchasing it, not only blocking the listing but also threatening legal action

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, news of Alex Jones being booted from various social media platforms was met with the usual outpourings from the “REEEEEEEdom of Speech” mob who still can’t get it into their heads that, if someone violates the ToS of that social media platform, they are within their rights to terminate that account - although it does beg the question why his accounts were terminated now and not any other time he called Sandy Hook a hoax

Rather than take the time to play Dead Cells and compose his thoughts for an IGN review, instead Filip Miucin thought he could plagiarise a review by Youtube channel Boomstick Gaming word-for-word and get away with it...only for Boomstick Gaming to post a side-by-side comparison of their reviews to prove that Miucin was just regurgitating other channels’ reviews for a quick and easy buck which led to his prompt termination by IGN - yet rather than take the hint and skulk off under the nearest rock, Miucin posted the most pathetic excuse for an apology video (which he monetised...) since Logan Paul where he never once apologised to Boomstick Gaming, he did apologise to IGN for causing them problems with having to remove numerous videos, babbled some nonsensical conspiracy theory about Kotaku journalist Jason Schreier, and then challenged the internet to find any proof that he plagiarised anyone else’s work...which swiftly revealed several other examples of Miucin plagiarisng other people’s work, examples which wouldn’t have come to light if he kept his gob shut - and it was even pointed out his apology video was plagiarised from Quinton Reviews’ How to Make an Apology Video which was posted in February 2017

Having lost a vote of No Confidence, it was a matter of time before Frank Field was deselected - but he thought that nobody noticed and instead said something something anti-semitism was the reason he was leaving the Labour party, and nobody should mention the ten foot pole nudging him over a cliff which was repeatedly nudging him in the back in the general direction of the nearest cliff

You would think that even Fox News couldn't mess up a tribute to Aretha Franklin, but they managed to do just that by rushing the package to air so fast nobody bothered to check whether it featured images anyone other than Aretha Franklin - at least until it aired, when plenty of people noticed the image of Patti LaBelle which was prominently featured

Doing a fine job of undermining the tattered husk of the “REEEEEEEdom of Speech” argument, freedom of speech enthusiast MundaneMatt was exposed for abusing Youtube’s flag system so that any video that so much as mentioned him was purged from the service, going to the level of using an app to track down videos so he could flag them without even watching them - and he didn’t even have the sense to even attempt to cover his tracks, as he used his regular account to have the videos purged and left and easy to follow trail that killed his denials dead

Is anyone in the media actually capable of making a connection between Robert Chain sending death threats to the Boston Globe and some bloke currently sitting in the White House who keeps stating that the media is the enemy of the people?  Because it's not the first time something like this has happened in 2018, and the question is how many more times this will happen

According to Tory MP Simon Hart, because Maxine Peake has been critical of government spending cuts to the NHS it is “hypocritical” of her to lend her voice to an NHS recruitment advert, because of course criticising the government for underfunding the NHS is the exact same thing as lending her voice to a campaign looking to encourage people to work for the NHS...

Manly man at the height of his manliness Raymond Reinke took it upon himself to show a bison in Yellowstone who the dominant species was by squaring up to one as it was roaming past visitors - which wasn’t even the only example of him being a dickhead in a national park, as he’d also been arrested in  Grand Teton National Park a few days earlier due to being completely shitfaced at the end of July

Just when you thought the level of political debate couldn’t get any lower, along comes daft bint Kaya Jones whose entire output consists of her posting photos of her posing in a bikini while holding plastic drinking straws to “trigger” the “libs” - a message which doesn’t appear to be getting through, given the replies she receives all seem to be made by viagra sex pests 

Here’s a suggestion for Elon Musk: when the heat that came your way for calling somebody a “pedo guy” on Twitter dies down, you make sure it stays died down.  What you don’t do is come back a few weeks later and tweet how, as the person hasn’t unleashed the lawyers on you, that means your accusation is 100% accurate - not least because that’s the sort of behaviour the people trying to shove you out the door at Tesla will seize upon

In the middle of the biggest push of his career (even though it’s been dragging down the G1 Climax like a squadron of lead zeppelins) Tama Tonga took it upon himself to jump into the crowd and garb a random fan and put them in a chokehold...which promptly saw him publicly disciplined for such dunderheadedry and (presumably) saw his potential ceiling drastically lowered

And last but by no means least is Al Capone aficionado Donald Trump, who is was apparently so traumatised by the events he saw in a documentary called Star Wars that he is now diverting the US budget towards fighting this terrible and unjust war

[dunlaphead23-blog]

Online games are some of the finest kinds of entertainment in existence. Also, they are just about the most costly kinds of amusement, with unit online games ranging from $50 to $60, and consoles them selves from the a large number. There are ways to save cash on video gaming and console purchases, and you may learn about them in the following paragraphs.

Avoid chemical cleansers when cleaning away from your video game disks. When a video game disc is just not actively playing, you might be influenced to use some type of cup or home window cleanser on it. This could easily damage the disc additional. Locate a gentle, dried out towel and massage the disc clear from it instead. Know your charts from the video games you are playing. Knowing the ground is really important to profitable. Exactly where are Games are not just for kids! They feature various games that could work for individuals of any age. It is actually no wonder that contemporary burst traditions is really captivated by video clip video games by and large. This short article will provide you with some good suggestions, techniques and in many cases secrets and cheats to help enhance your game playing encounter. by which to cover and ambush the other players? Where by is it possible to acquire cutting corners to provide a better strategic situation? This kind of information provides you with a significant proper advantages. Preorder games when they offer a discount about the obtain. You may have the most up-to-date online game in regards out and save on the cost or get other special perks whenever you preorder it. Check out nearby video games stores or internet vendors for the best bargain on preordered video gaming. To further improve your speed and agility, turn down the music. When you really need to focus on a particularly tough game or stage, check the alternatives for a method to shut off the in video game audio. Even if you are not actively watching it, a tiny element of the human brain is. Transforming it well permits you to devote your total mind ability to the game. Take computer game smashes. Relaxing in the same position for too long could be harmful to your state of health. Push oneself every single thirty minutes to hit that pause button and go walking round the area for the bit. This helps your whole body along with obvious your brain. Will not neglect the supplementary niche for console games when searching for titles. You can get great condition applied video games at numerous places. On the web, these are readily available through person resellers and auction's websites, each as solitary titles as well as in selections. Are you thinking about video games? If no then welcome to a fascinating world of entertainment! A great deal of games are available that you can try out. This article will allow you to in about what game titles are the most useful in every style. , you can buy them employed from activity stores, online video and songs stores as well as flea trading markets. Don't discard old, used games simply because you don't enjoy them any more. There are numerous retailers that will help you to buy and sell in outdated games for money. You are able to position the income that you receive from trading inside an aged video game in the direction of the fee for buying a new computer game. Use game playing time to motivate your youngsters. Does your kids enjoy playing video games? Do you have a difficult time motivating him to a lot of something? When your youngster wraps up chores, permit him to experience a certain amount of game time. As an illustration, if you wish your boy to complete the meals, allow him to engage in for half an hour after he completes this. Wait around for online game of year editions of key titles. These typically appear annually or even more once the initial name, but consist of the vast majority of downloadable and further information which was introduced in phases after the first headline. These game titles offer a lot more bang for the buck. Preorder special deals offer you a great way to get an successful game get. Sometimes, preorders are done at savings to that particular video game publishers can have larger opening up time amounts and viral buzz. More frequently, premium improvements or added content articles are tossed in at no more charge so you have more activity to savor. In the event you don't hold the right gaming console, copy! There are several computer emulators which let you perform games for several consoles that you wouldn't have the ability to otherwise. Lookup the net for your personal preferred titles so you should certainly come up with a good duplicate at a reasonable cost. As a parent, you will need to carefully keep track of the words that your little one is presenting right after playing a youtube video activity. If their vocabulary has taken a transform for your most awful, you really should reduce the time period they can be investing playing video games which are explicit or unsuitable for their era. Irrespective of what your online game or amount of engage in, the world of video video games can really increase your lifestyle in numerous ways. You can just strike again and chill out, engage your pals in fierce competitors or learn something totally new and beneficial. With a little luck the content you just read usually takes your online game to the next level.

[backbenchershq]

Is the American Start-Up Business Dream Dead?

The drawback I see for new business people is the lack of a level playing field. Corporations have taken over like Walmart dooming new businesses from the beginning. From my perspective profits are made in the buying not the selling, which makes all the difference if a business lives or dies. The manufactures that sell to the big corporations don’t set a fixed retail price range, which was done in earlier times allowing everyone to earn a living. If a company under sold a product they lost the line. That’s how all businesses could grow, and the larger ones made more profit with their volume discounts. In my opinion, unless you have deep pockets taking a different approach might be your road to success. Here are some of my suggestions that have worked successfully for me, and can for anyone with a limited budget and great imagination…

The government and financial institutes seldom support the small business person anymore. Going into business today still means using other people’s money and labor, but in a different context. The word I love using is strategic partnership, translated you’re an independent distributor for the company. This means your so ahead of the game to begin with. You now have credit the bank refused, large purchasing discounts, shipping and labor included, and because of all this no need for location costs. All this adds into your bottom line, reducing costs increasing your profits not even started yet!! Next save money in setting up the business…

Instead of incorporating right away costing thousands, simply register for around a hundred bucks. Coffee shops are wonderful places for interviewing, hiring, training, coaching, and meetings. Just think purchasing a coffee a day is your occupancy cost. No electricity, no insurance, no heat, you’re getting my point. You don’t need a web page that costs thousands with building and maintaining. As an alternative why not make a business Facebook page, it’s free and easy to manage. Finally advertising the business that get immediate results plus much cheaper than traditional. Setup a referral program for your reps during the sale, providing clients with free stuff for providing qualified names. Advertising is a tax right-off.

Finally let talk in terms of cash-flow, if you’re product requires customization for the client, it justifies an upfront payment or at least 50%. Otherwise negotiate a rate for financing clients, incorporate into the price offering 0% financing. You pay right away and have thirty days credit with your strategic partner. All sales reps are independent agents no salary commission only, and same with everyone one else in your organization working independently at home. They submit and invoice to you for services rendered. This includes bookkeepers or anyone associated. You save submissions from deductions at source etc…

If you use some or all my advice above your odds have increased significantly. I don’t believe the proverbial American start-up business dream is dead; new entrepreneurs just need to think outside the box to succeed!

The post Is the American Start-Up Business Dream Dead? appeared first on The Backbenchers.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2LqEZuj via IFTTT

[acinom08-blog]

You might have previously questioned as just one of your greatest segments of your recent entertainment business: Online video games happen to be created and progressed to the present working day in which they've got consolidated from the daily lives of men and women as well as their people.

You could have previously puzzled as one of the greatest segments in the current enjoyment market: Movie games have been created and advanced to the present working day in which they have got consolidated while in the each day life of people as well as their family members.

While in the very last calendar year, this current market has moved all around ninety billion dollars throughout the earth, in line with knowledge from your consulting agency PwC. In Brazil, information with the Brazilian Affiliation of Digital Activity Developers (Abragames) show that this is really a sector with in excess of 61 million consumers and moves around 900 million reais for every calendar year.

But, how was the birth and progress of the remarkable marketplace? That is what we are planning to reply to on this very little journey as a result of time, demonstrating how the world, society, and video clip online games have evolved with each other over time.

1958: The war market also needs a cheerful Hour: Immediately after Environment War II, the globe was divided into two opposing sides. US liberal capitalism as well as iron curtain in the Soviet Union. These types of a division has set the entire world on the war footing and technological growth has proved a powerful weapon to get often one particular stage forward with the enemy.

The Pcs, which for the time were superpowered machines, meant to unlock the military services techniques of equally sides. They finished (even when involuntarily), furnishing a big evolution, owing for the huge sums invested while in the improvement of recent systems from the planet as being a complete.

Picture_Ociloscópio_tennis for tho_1958_EUA Inside of just one of this armed service labs an incredible revolution took place, but it surely was no new weapon or some wonderful key disclosed. An American physicist named William Higinbotham made the decision that he wished to participate in a game of tennis, but since he did not have balls, rackets and far significantly less an accessible tennis court docket, he made a decision to get it done on one particular with the oscilloscopes in his laboratory.

The first virtual video game from the planet, Tennis for 2, was born. On an oscilloscope, variations in ripples designed the simulation of a recreation of tennis about the screen of your equipment and controlling by way of tiny oscillators, which resembled the joysticks, the variants developed a match of tennis.

1961: A "curse" is thrown upon the Earth: Steve Russel, an MIT scientist, one in the world's leading engineering investigation facilities in the sixties, had a person from the major (full-size and technological know-how) computers of the time, the PDP-1.

The big computer was equipped to put in writing a few words and perform some elaborate mathematical calculations, however it is undoubtedly remembered as having been the birthplace with the to start with shooter in the record of video games.

Inside the midst on the Cold War plus the Americans' worry that at any place the Soviets would start some nuclear weapon from area, it made the game Spacewar! gain ground.

It had been the 1st activity to generally be distributed, as all PDP-1s experienced a replica on the recreation, which spread the space fight for US universities and certainly encouraged a lot of youthful experts from the 1960s.

The achievements was so fantastic, the creator himself states that: "From that moment I launched the online video recreation curse on humanity."

THE POPULARIZATION: BARS, Houses And much more Creativeness ...

1972 to 1975: Movie video games arrive at homes and pubs: From the late nineteen sixties, televisions were being now the great merchandise of any American citizen's house. And using the US entry to the Vietnam War, the strongest photos on the war arrived for the general public screen, the primary to get thoroughly recorded by photos and information reviews.

This made the Television "lifeless and complete and unhappy," but a person named Ralph Baer, ??a German engineer, a naturalized American, wanted to halt it. He made the primary console which was dispersed from the world, the Magnavox Odissey.

Image_Pong_Atari_1972-75_EUA The Magnavox was the 1st to attach to televisions and promised a brand new technique for fun for households. The console released some game titles that later on would inspire other brand names, amongst them Atari, with all the famed activity Pong, that even produced a judicial dispute because of the patent from the video game.

The game was the initial to generally be promoted in pub-ready machines for bars and pubs, thus inaugurating the era of arcades.

In 1975, Sears, a US organization that sold sporting items, started to generate Pong equipment offered, giving the place to begin of the business that would produce a ton of money from there.

1978: Room invaders have witnessed fashion: The very first movie while in the Star Wars saga was released in 1977 and George Lucas' massive production strike rocked the box workplace and hearts in the public.

Embarking on this wave and pushed by Japan's post-World War II technological growth, Japanese inventor Tomohiro Nishikado launched a single from the greatest hits of many of the situations, Space Invaders. The sport was highlighted by smaller alien ships descending to the Earth along with the participant needed to wipe out them, to guard our earth. House Invaders was a tremendous achievement equally in Japan and in the US and Western Europe, currently being the initial game to open the global video video game sector, producing tens of millions of bucks for its producers and distributors. 1980: The Atari income results as well as the well known "little face": Atari launched in 1980 an item with the homes that may be the initial the main popular console, the Atari 2600. The console sold about thirty million models and collected greater than a hundred million dollars, only together with the sale of cartridges. The Atari 2600 arrived in Brazil in the stop of 1983, getting a hit of sales until 1986. The Atari 2600 marked period, currently being currently a relic to your followers of your videogames and set the American mark within the preferred area. The best-selling Atari video game was Pacman (Come-come), the initial to impersonate a personality since the protagonist of your sport. The yellow circle with a mouth didn't want to destroy any individual, just eat, consume, try to eat ... It was developed with the Japanese feminine viewers by its creator and "father" Toru Iwatani, but before long grew to become a phenomenon for all genders. 1981: Nintendo Involves the planet Market: Nintendo, which entered the video clip video game current market in Japan just after almost crashing inside the nineteen sixties, developed arcades with relative success while in the Asian place but didn't offer beyond the island. Then, searching in the gigantic American current market, the business introduced its subsidiary, Nintendo The us. Following a handful of preliminary failures, the corporation kicked off using the development of Japanese designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Donkey Kong. The sport introduced two from the game's most legendary characters of all time, the gorilla Donkey Kong plus the plumber Mario. Profits skyrocketed along with the recreation was one from the biggest commercial successes of all time. 1985 to 1987: A Soviet products invades the world plus the consoles achieve new daily life: Betting on the survival in the particular person consoles in opposition on the arcades, Nintendo went in opposition to Atari, who began to get rid of its consoles from the current market, and introduced a different solution in the perception that this can be the longer term from the sector. The Nintendo Entertainment Method, or commonly NES, was launched by Nintendo in 1985, and all consoles already arrived which has a variation of your match Mario Bros., which brought match tales to your new degree, far more elaborate, extended and with differentiated scenarios for each phase. A different fantastic achievement of the console came in 1987 along with the activity on the exact same creator of Mario and Donkey Kong, Shigeru Miyamoto, Legend of Zelda, the 1st video game from the segment RPG to be successful within the marketplace. However in 1985, a Soviet solution invaded the global industry, but it wasn't an incredible weapon or industrial product, however the game Tetris, developed with the Russian Alexey Pajitnov. The game was the very first important Soviet export product or service in Western Europe and the Usa. A curiosity about Tetris is usually that given that from the USSR the mental residence of all creations belonged to your federal government, all revenue from your sale with the item went on the Soviet State right until its dissolution in 1991 and afterwards to your Russian governing administration right until 1996 , when ultimately its creator received economical recognition for your sport. ...  THE CONSOLIDATION: Pcs, SONY, MICROSOFT. Creativity AND CIVIL WAR ... nineteen nineties: Personal computer Games plus the Playstation Revolution: The nineteen nineties have been marked through the widespread sale of computer systems to regular people. After restricted to your fantastic scientists or even the substantial businesses, desktops now came to people's residences, and with each other they carried the video games. One from the 1st significant hits of this new platform was Doom, released in 1993, kicking from the period of first-person shooter game titles. Yet another significant industry revolution transpired in 1995 while using the start of Sony's PlayStation, a firm that was Nintendo's partner during the video sport business. PlayStation revolutionizes the marketplace by including games with stunning graphics for the time, with elaborate soundtracks and three-dimensional eyesight. The console marketed over a hundred million models and replaced Sony, following the achievements of the Walkman, in the entire world electronics market place. Once the September eleven, 2001 attacks, the online video recreation marketplace has adopted the amusement market by way of wars and conflicts, in particular from the Middle East. A person from the major names in this segment will be the Get in touch with of Obligation series, which was released in 2003 and has sold all around 250 million copies over the past thirteen many years. The stories from the games began for being more elaborate, remembering movies, only this time the spectator was also protagonist in the story, which put in convergence the industries of cinema and online video video games. Huge kinds products and solutions like GTA and Resident Evil captivated an more mature audience and grew up participating in movie video games back again. In 2005, large Microsoft launched the Xbox to compete together with the Sony PlayStation and given that then the two brands have already been competing to the public, in precisely what is referred to as "Video War". The volume of players grows each year, along with the graphic innovations of games and consoles. Video online games are definitely section of people's day-to-day life and are a crucial element of being familiar with the social and technological development on the earth over the past six decades.

Possess a very good time  gameplay

[narcessity-blog]

Exactly what is activity trading?

The sports buying and selling is an extremely interesting and beneficial market, despite the fact that it's not so well known in Brazil and still just a little recognized industry, but that moves somewhere around one hundred million bucks every day, is actually a place focused on investments associated to sports, such as its very own Name states, it truly is about producing investments before, or in the course of the system of the sporting function, such like a football match or an additional activity.

In this manner, the sporting activities trading requires place in the course of football matches, volleyball, basketball, horse racing and plenty of other sporting activities all over the world.

SIMPLIFYING Items:

To really make it less complicated to comprehend what sports buying and selling signifies, hold the stock current market in mind!

Did you concentrate on the stock exchange? Wonderful! It's possible you've heard about the inventory marketplace on Television suitable? For it can be described in the newspapers, in the radios, etc.

But exactly what does it have in widespread with the sports activities trading current market to produce our mastering much easier?

Perfectly, the answer is: inside the exact way that individuals enter the inventory exchange considering building cash, generating income, in athletics buying and selling the reasoning behind all the things is similar, for the reason that it really works fundamentally by doing this and using this type of very same target.

Many individuals enter the sports activities bag, to produce income, which is, to invest a worth and with the finish of the operation leave along with your investment decision and however a fantastic income within the hands.

During the circumstance of the inventory exchange, you trade stocks of companies outlined on it, already during the sporting activities bag you negotiate on odds of teams, athletes, and so on.

Check out listed here: futebol milionario

SIMILARITIES.

When it arrives out really undesirable news about a organization, a news that exhibits that it is in a negative financial scenario, what can occur?

A lot of buyers offer shares to obtain rid of the bigger decline or restrict their losses; on the flip side, other individuals consider benefit of this kind of celebration and purchase the shares for any low price, while in the expectation that afterwards the business will get from the poor predicament And enhance, as a result valuing the value of its motion.

If this happens, that is, if someone buys the stock inside a bad predicament, promoting it later in a good circumstance, then the investor would be successful and generate income.

But how much time can this take to occur with stocks? 6 months? A single calendar year? Two a long time?

It could choose a long time to transition from the bad situation to your fantastic scenario, or vice versa while in the inventory marketplace.

In sporting activities buying and selling points function really in the same way, on the other hand it really is achievable to financial gain inside a shorter period of time, rather of having to attend six months, a yr or even more, you can get in and out of an investment in fewer than two several hours, Doing this a number of instances a day and guaranteeing an excellent every month income, let's provide you with an instance which means you can understand it more quickly.

Inside a video game amongst Corinthians and Flamengo, the going to crew in such cases Flamengo will come out forward on the scoreboard, scoring a primary goal, should you be aware of this condition and possess done some study in regards to the recreation, you could see that though Flamengo Has long gone in advance, Corinthians will not typically get rid of in the home, features a superior report of home online games within the championship, etc.

Therefore, you're taking advantage of this unfavorable predicament and make an expense in the sports activities buying and selling in the expectation that Corinthians will flip the score of your sport, once you make this investment decision, you are doing anticipate Corinthians to turn the game, whilst he is losing by 1-0. Thus far so excellent, it really is easy to have an understanding of is just not it?

Check out listed here: futebol milionario

Continuing, as an example you truly did a great analysis ahead of the video game, and all the things went as anticipated, in this way Corinthians wound up turning the sport from the starting with the 2nd fifty percent! That's ideal, at first from the second 50 %, the sport hasn't even completed, though the result you necessary has now transpired and now?

For possessing invested in Corinthians in an unfavorable predicament, that's, when he was losing and afterwards closing the procedure in the favorable instant, after the turn, you assurance your revenue no matter of what happens in that match right up until the top.

The advantages OF SPORTIVE Buying and selling Amid several benefits of sporting activities investing is whenever you spend on this market, your procedure during the scenario within a soccer match, will take a lot less than 2 hrs to close.

This is specifically what makes the athletics buying and selling so intriguing and attracting countless folks, due to the fact studying the online games nicely you can do greater than a single procedure each day, that may ensure you an excellent profit through the thirty day period.

Study the way to gain dollars with soccer by clicking here: 

http://grabnershenna86.beep.com/blog-2017-08-03.htm

[homestudyhelp365-blog]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlHKhdDF1LI)

Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis contact

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

 Business Ethics

 Case Studies

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

 Prohibition is good and women would appreciate a policy of prohibition. However some state governments may scrap prohibition on the grounds that (i) the adjoining states do not observe prohibition, hence people visit those states to quench their desire for the beverage (ii) the existence of illicit distillation and the difficulty in stopping this (iii) the strain on government resources for implementing prohibition, including the loss of revenue from excise duty.

 Answer the following question.

Q1. Are the grounds shown in the above case ethically justifiable? Explain.

Q2. In your opinion what are the benefits of prohibition. Discuss.

 CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

In "The Buck Stops Here," a presentation for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Roundtable for Executives, Michael Hackworth talked about how he models ethical leadership in his role as CEO of chip manufacturer Cirrus Logic. "Employees take their cue from the CEO," he said. "In every situation, they ask, 'What does the boss want?' They give him what he wants when they talk about the business, when they talk about the law, and when they talkor don't talk about ethics. In general, people line up behind what the CEO wants." The Ethics Roundtable for Executives brings business leaders together to discuss the moral dilemmas they confront in the workplace. Using this case study, created with Center Executive Director Thomas Shanks, S.J., Hackworth encouraged members of the Roundtable to imagine how they might confront this challenge: Their company is planning to expand into a country where bribe taking is considered a normal part of doing business. Pegasus International Inc. is a leading manufacturer of integrated circuits (chips) and related software for such specialty markets as communications and mass storage, as well as PCbased

audio, video, and multimedia. With a focus on innovation, Pegasus is committed to "technology leadership in the new millennium." Its longstanding strategy has been to anticipate changes in existing and emerging growth markets and to have hardware and software solutions ready before the market needs them. The company has also made significant strides in wireless communications. The systems and products of Pegasus' wireless business have been selling well in its already existing markets in the United States, Japan, and Europe. But, like any company, Pegasus is eager to grow the business. At a strategy session with the Wireless Division, Pegasus CEO Tom Oswald and division managers decide to explore the potential of expanding their business to China. Initial research indicates that China is likely to develop into a huge market for wireless because its people do not currently have this capability and the government has made spending on wireless a priority. Wireless is really the only choice for China because of the high cost of burying the communications cables necessary in wired systems; further, in underdeveloped countries, copper wires are often stolen and sold on the black market. Subsequent research does raise one concern for Pegasus wireless managers. They tell Oswald, "We have this problem. China allocates frequencies and makes franchise decisions city by city, district by district. A 'payoff' is usually required to get licenses." The CEO says, "A lot of companies are doing business with China right now. How do they get around the problem?" His managers have done their homework: "We believe most other companies contract with agents to represent them in the country and to get the licenses. What these contractors do is their own business, but apparently it works pretty well because the CEOs of all those companies are able to sign the disclosure statement required by law saying that they  know of no instance where they bribed for their business." "I wonder if paying someone else to do the crime is the same as our doing the crime," Oswald says. "I'm just not very comfortable with the whole question of payoffs. So, let me ask you, if we don't expand into China, how much business will we lose, potentially?" His Wireless Division manager responds, "It will be huge not to do business in all the countries expecting payoffs. China alone represents easily $100 million of business per year. It's not life and death, but it is a sizable incremental opportunity for us, not to mention potential Japanese partners who will make significant capital investments. All we have to do is add our already existing technology. When you consider all that, we have a lot to gain. What will we really lose if our local contractors are forced to make payoffs every now and then?" Oswald wants his company to succeed, he wants to maximize shareholder value, he wants to keep his job, and he wants to model ethical leadership. He has made an effort to build a corporate culture characterized not only by aggressive R&D and growth but also by integrity, honesty, teamwork, and respect for the individual As a result, the company enjoys an excellent reputation among its customers and suppliers, employee morale is high, and ethics is a priority at the company.

 Answer the following question.

Q1. Give an overview of the case.

Q2. What should Pegasus CEO decide in this case? Why?

 CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Thirty-two sadhus from Punchamahal district, who were on a 72hour relay hunger strike at Godhra since Friday to canvass against the BJP candidate from the Lok Sabha constituency there, Mr. Shankarisinh Vaghela, from his role in the toppling of the Keshubhai Patel ministry after spearheading a revolt, called off their agitation today, reports PTI. Reports received from Godhra, about 80kms from here, said the mahanta and sadhus, along with the vicepresident of all India ShadhuSant’s Samiti, Avichanddas Maharaj from Sarsa in Anand Constituency, withdrew the fast, which was to end at 2.00 p.m. tomorrow. It was not immediately clear as to why they called off the protest prematurely. The sadhus had said they wanted to ensure the defeat of Mr. Vaghela in the election and alleged that he had betrayed them by dethroning Mr. Patel last October. They also demanded an end to ‘Khajuraho Culture’ in the BJP and noted that Mr. Vaghela had flown dissident BJP MLAs to Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh during the revolt by some rebels in the party. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, Mr. Suresh Mehta, at a press conference at the Chhotaudepur town in Baroda district, appealed to the sadhus to end their program of dharna ‘in the interest of the BJP and the nation’

 Answer the following question.

Q1. Give an overview of the above case

Q2. Explain the ethical aspects in the above case.

 CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Lucy is a second semester senior at a small private university near San Francisco. Coming into college, Lucy had to choose between two similar universities on opposite sides of the country, one in California and the other in New York. Lucy’s decision came down to location and she ended up selecting the California university because of its proximity to her home and family. Now, Lucy is preparing for her postgraduate life. She has applied to countless jobs in public relations, as her father has always told her that getting a job is a numbers game. Several positions have been on the East Coast, but the majority has been in California. Lucy knows her mother would like her to stay close to home. Lucy has a younger brother still in high school whom she could mentor, and an older sister who lives at home and commutes to her job in the city. Lucy’s dream job is to work for a global public relations agency in a big city like New York or Chicago. She isn’t really interested in doing public relations for the technology industry. California agencies largely work in technology, so if she stayed close to home she would likely have to work tech for part of her career. That being said, family is the most important aspect of Lucy’s life. She was raised in a home where family is No. 1, and there were no compromises when it came to the family’s wellbeing. Everyone in her family looks out for one another. She would absolutely love to stay near them if she has the opportunity after college. After a long and hard job search, Lucy manages to get an internship at one of the largest global public relations agencies in Chicago. She also gets several good agency jobs in San Francisco, including one at a global public relations firm working in technology. Lucy is struggling with her decision. She knows that she doesn’t really want to work in technology, but she does want to stay close to home if possible. Both agency jobs pay around the same, and she would be able to grow in each company with hard work.  She also could jump location eventually should she desire to experience working in a different city.

 Answer the following question.

Q1. What is more important, individual career goals or family responsibility and loyalty? Discuss.

Q2. Does Lucy have an ethical responsibility to consider family when preparing for her future career? Why or why

not?

 Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis contact

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224