#lucky for all $2.60

[hadeschan]

item # K20F05

RARE Pra Somdej Gor Kŏr, Luang Phu Sai, Wat Bang Rak Yai, Nua Pong Pasom Gra-dat sa. A Buddha amulet with bas-relieves of a meditating Buddha seating on a 3 tiers platform, Thai Alphabets, Gor Gai at the right shoulder of Buddha, and Kŏr Kai on the left which refer to Huay Gor Kŏr, an instant lottery issued by the Gambling Houses in the reign of King Rama VI of Bangkok. Made from holy powder blended with holy water, pieces of wet mulberry paper and plaster cement. The holy powder was made accordingly to the process of making holy powder of the famous Pra Pidta amulet of the Holy Luang Phu Iam of Wat Saphan Sung, and the mulberry paper or Gra-dat sa in Thai, the paper was written with holy Yant Maha Larp (wealth fetching cabalistic writings), made it as small fragments blended with holy water, holy powder, and plaster cement to from this Buddha amulet. Intentionally made for a wish for winning lottery, and gambling, made by Luang Phu Sai of Wat Bang Rak Yai, Nonthaburi Province in BE 2518 (CE 1975).

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BEST FOR: This amulet is a lucky charm which was blessed with lucky rituals to better your fortune. It would bring you the big-money jackpots at gambling house. Maha Larp (it brings Lucky Wealth / wealth fetching). It brings endless food with wealth & prosperity. Anything you wish for, and it could change your life for the better, Klawklad Plodpai (it brings safety, and pushes you away from all danger), Kongkraphan (it makes you invulnerable to all weapon attack), Nang Nieow, a rock-hard skin that is completely impervious to damage with bludgeoning or piercing weapons. Maha-ut (it stops gun from shooting at you), Metta Maha Niyom (it helps bring loving, caring, and kindness, and compassion from people all around you to you), and Kaa Kaai Dee (it helps tempt your customers to buy whatever you are selling, and it helps attract new customers and then keep them coming back. Ponggan Poot-pee pee-saat Kunsai Mondam Sa-niat jan-rai Sat Meepit (it helps ward off evil spirit, demon, bad ghost, bad omen, bad spell, curse, accursedness, black magic, misfortune, doom, and poisonous animals). And this amulet helps protect you from manipulators, backstabbers, and toxic people.

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Luang Phu Sai, an ex-abbot of Wat Bang Rak Yai, living between BE 2444 to BE 2530 (CE 1901 to CE 1987)

Luang Phu Sai was born in BE 2444 (CE 1901) in Nonthaburi, and ordained as a Buddhist monk at Wat Bang Rak Yai at the age of 24. Luang Phu Sai was a disciple of Luang Phu Klin of Wat Saphan Sung, and Luang Phu Klin was a Chief Disciple of the Holy Luang Phu Iam of Wat Saphan Sung, one of Thailand’s BEST makers of Pra Pidta (Closing Eyes Buddha) amulet. Luang Phu Sai was also a disciple of Luang Phu Rian of Wat Bang Rahong, and Luang Phor Chum of Wat Ya Sai. The amulets made by Luang Phu Sai are rare, for instance; a cabalistic writings banner made from pieces of his monk robe, Buddha amulet made from holy powder blended with mulberry paper written with cabalistic writings, Pra Pidta made accordingly to the style of Luang Phu Iam, Tagrut, and magic rings. Luang Phu Sai passed away on February 22, BE 2530 (CE 1987), 86 years old, and 62 years as Buddhist monk, and his body is incorruptible, it is believed that Luang Phu Sai used meditation to ensure his body would reach the state of natural mummification after his death. The body of Luang Phu Sai is currently displayed in a glass case at Vihan Luang Phor Hin (Temple of Luang Phor Hin, the stone Buddha Statue) at Wat Bang Rak Yai, where the Kuang Phu Sai used to serve as an abbot.

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DIMENSION: 3.80 cm high / 2.60 cm wide / 0.80 cm thick

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item # K20F05

Price: price upon request, pls PM and/or email us hadesamulet@outlook.com

100% GENUINE WITH 365 DAYS AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEE.

Item location: Hong Kong, SAR

Ships to: Worldwide

Delivery: Estimated 7 days handling time after receipt of cleared payment. Please allow additional time if international delivery is subject to customs processing.

Shipping: FREE ThailandPost International registered mail. International items may be subject to customs processing and additional charges.

Payments: PayPal / Western Union / MoneyGram /maybank2u.com / DBS iBanking / Alipay / Wechat Pay / PromptPay International / Remitly / PAYNOW

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[formeryelpers]

Tacos Papo, 2617 Decoto Rd, Union City, CA 94587

This is the only second time that I’ve had quesabirria in the Bay Area (the first time was at Habibi’s) though I’ve had it a couple of places in LA. I liked Tacos Papo way more than Habibi’s. Maybe I got lucky and ordered just the right thing at Tacos Papo but I LOVED the quesabirria quesadilla.

The menu includes tacos, quesadillas, sopes, tortas, nachos, burritos, plates, and menudo on weekends. Street tacos are $2.60 each. Proteins: Asada, pastor, pollo, carnitas, cabeza, lengua, chorizo, tripa, buche, birria. They also have fish and shrimp tacos.

Quesabirria quesadilla ($14.99) on fresh handmade flour tortillas, includes lime wedges, radish slices, pickled carrots, grilled jalapeno, grilled onions, consommé with onions and cilantro, beef birria in a flour tortilla with cheese, onions, and jalapenos. Drooling just thinking about it. The quesabirria quesadilla was cut into four pieces. Each piece had way more birria than you’d get in a quesabirria taco. The flour tortilla was thin and very crispy. The beef was stewed and very juicy! So much beef flavor, cheese pulls – there was no need to dip it into the consommé because it was already so moist (yet crispy). I appreciated how it wasn’t salty. The consommé wasn’t salty either but had a sweetness to it. Liked the veggies on the side. Also, the quesadilla had a scorching hot filling that stayed hot while I was eating it. I wish they had included some salsa but I think it was the best quesadilla that I’ve ever had.

My father had the fish tacos ($5.72 each) which came with fried fish with cabbage. Those looked okay.

Quesabirria is available every day except Tuesdays. Breakfast is served all day. Online ordering available. If you pay in cash, you get a discount.

4 out of 5 stars

By Lolia S.

[100yearoldcomics]

July 28, 1922 Mutt and Jeff by Bud Fisher: "Mutt Always Was a Lucky Guy."

[ID: Mutt and Jeff chat casually on the sidewalk. /end] Jeff: Mutt, on the level, I'm so hungry I could eat a boiled shoe! But I'm broke! Mutt: I was broke, too, but I just packed in a swell feed!

[ID: Mutt leans over to stick his pointer finger in Jeff's chest. /end] Jeff: How did you do it? Mutt: I ate the meal and then I told the waiter I was broke. The only thing they could do was throw me out!

[ID: Jeff chows down on a three-course meal in a fine restaurant. /end] Jeff: I gotta hand it to Mutt! This is some feed! After the dessert comes the bum's rush and I land in the street! Soft enough!

[ID: The waiter comes up with Jeff's check - his meal comes out to $2.60. He gives Jeff the stink-eye as the little fellow cheerfully explains his financial situation. /end] Jeff: I'm broke, waiter! All I ask is that you use no hooks! Waiter: ? [INFLATION GUIDE: In 2022 dollars, Jeff's meal costs $45.84. /end]

[ID: Jeff, with a fresh black eye, stands angrily in the restaurant's kitchen, scrubbing dirty dishes with a washcloth. The dishes pile up several feet above the sink's basin. /end] Waiter: And after we close up, you'll scrub the floor! Get me? Jeff: !

[noahbradley]

A few notes on signing fees, artists, and GPs

My price sign at GP Bologna kicked off a bit of online discussion on signing fees for artists at GPs and I wanted to address a few points. And by that I mean, “rant like a madman about it.” I’ve been meaning to talk about this stuff for a while now. It seems like as good a time as any, particularly since my signing fee is going up to $3/card in DC next month. You, as a player or fan, know what a signing fee means from your side of the table, but here’s a little glimpse of what GPs mean for us, the artists.  

We (mostly) pay for our own travel and accommodation.

We almost never have anything paid for us any more. The lucky artists will get their hotels paid for, but never their travels. I’m not getting my hotel paid for in DC, but I will be getting it for GP Richmond. If an artist flies to a GP, they pay for the tickets. There are a few exceptions with the bigger name artists, but I’m sure as hell not famous enough. Trust me, I’ve tried. If we drive and accommodation is cheap, then this might mean we only spend about, say $400 (DC will cost me $500 for accommodation, plus gas to get there). If we fly and the only accommodation options are expensive, it’s not surprising for this to hit $1000. We have to bring quite a lot of product to bring and sell, so flying is a further pain/expense.

There is a huge cost to not painting for 5+ days.

3 days of GP and 2 days of travel and that’s a large chunk of time taken out of our working life. There ain’t no paid vacation in the freelancer life, so for me to attend a GP, I need to earn a week’s income. If I don’t earn at least as much as I could from painting during that time, I should (and will) just stay at home and do my job that I love. My income is always directly tied to the time I put into it. If I’m not working, I’m not making money. This applies on a smaller scale at a GP, too: if I take a break to go to lunch, I’m not making money during that time. It’s part of the reason I almost never take a lunch break at a GP. Yes, if you have an assistant you can have them sell while you’re gone–but it’s not free to have someone else there taking care of things. Nor is it free to provide them with travel and accommodation expenses.

Buying inventory is a pain.

Inventory is expensive. It is not uncommon for us to buy $1k+ worth of prints, playmats, and canvas prints for a show. We have to appropriately estimate and then purchase the inventory we need for every show. Too little inventory of the right pieces, and we lose out on sales (it’s rare that people want to buy any ol’ print–they want to buy that print). Too much inventory, and we have this next problem.

We sit on unsold inventory.

We buy product before we know it will sell. And guess what? Sometimes it never does! Sometimes a piece is incredibly unpopular for whatever reason and nobody wants print/playmats of it. There ain’t no returning that stuff. It’s just a loss for us. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on products that will very likely never sell. And before someone suggests it: sure, I could mark the prices down to something incredibly low in an effort to get rid of them. But if I market myself as the Wal-mart of the artist world, why would people bother paying the higher prices of my other work? I don’t really want people showing up at my table looking for a bargain. I’d rather them be there looking for me and my work because they like it.

Sharpies are not free.

Those little fuckers die fast.

We pay higher taxes.

There’s this great thing known as “self-employment tax” which is a nice way of the government saying “fuck the self-employed.” It’s a tax tacked onto the top of my annual bill that makes sure I pay just a little bit more since I did the insulting thing of not having a full time job at a corporation. It’s super fun.

Health insurance

I can get great health insurance if I pay for it. But no, no one will provide that for me.

We pay credit card processing fees.

It is a 2.5% + $.10 fee on all transactions. So if you buy $100 worth of product, I pay about $2.60 to make that happen. No, it’s not much, but hey, it’s an expense and it does add up.

Sometimes there will be a dud GP for an artist.

The universe conspires against us and decides that at a particular GP we will make less than half of what we usually do. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. It just happens.

Many artists are barely breaking even at events.

These are the artists still smiling when you come to their table, despite being deep in the red for the event. They’ve lost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to be there and are doing their best to put on a good show for the fans.

The one guy you’re not incredibly nice to will be the one who tells everyone on the internet.

Three long days of yelling over speakers in a convention center to have conversations with hundreds of strangers isn’t relaxing for the stereotypically introverted artist. And trust me: that one time you slip up, let go, and go a little quieter than usual? That one time you’re not too talkative or give them short answers? They’re going to make sure everyone hears their tale of woe. They’re going to do what they can to let everyone know “how much of a dick _____ is because when I saw him he _______.” The strain of busting our asses to make fans happy all day only to hop on reddit and see the only comment about our attendance be “I don’t know, he seemed pretty rude to me” really sucks.

Your ideas for how to improve our business at GPs are probably wrong.

You’re welcome to share them, but try to realize that we do this for a living and we’re not particularly dumb. I know it seems like maybe if I signed for free I would sell so many more prints and playmats that I would have more money! But I won’t. I’ve tried. And trust me, I love having more money and happier customers/fans. That sounds great. I’ve tried a lot of things and I’ve talked to tons of other artists at events to find out what they do. I’ve heard the failures and successes and the way I do things is the best way I’ve found to make GPs both a fun and profitable experience. I don’t think I know everything, but I do know a fair bit about this stuff.

Yes, we still love coming to GPs.

Even despite all of these factors and issues, we do our best to overcome them and we do often make a good profit there. We like being there, we like the fans, we like interacting with y’all, and by and large, GPs are a blast. We all want to keep coming to GPs.

Signing fees are good for artists (and good for fans, too)

When I first introduced my signing fee at GPDC several years ago, I knew I had found something great. It removed the awkwardness of the looming tip box–players never knew how much to tip. It also meant that I didn’t have to stare down a stack of 100 cards with the hope of maybe earning a few bucks (yes, plenty of people did that). When you remove the awkward, nebulous nature of the interaction, you leave room for both parties to chill out and have a good conversation. Sure, money is changing hands, but nobody needs to be a dick about it. Since I’ve introduced my signing fee, I’ve enjoyed GPs a lot more. They’re more consistently profitable for me. That makes me happier and less stressed. Here’s how signing fees have been from my experience: Free/tips - Misery and tendinitis $1/card - Good $2/card - Great $3/card - ?

I don’t need to sign every card in existence.

I know signing fees scare away some people. Hell, I know writing this little rant will scare away some people. But I’m not in the market to please everyone and sign every damn card with the name “Noah Bradley” on it. I’d rather love signing the cards for people who really like my work and/or the card it’s on.

  So there we have it. Just a few things to consider the next time you question why artist’s have signing fees. I hope you found this enlightening. I’ll see y’all at GPDC next month. <3

[lillann12]

The problem with supermarket succulents

Theses were the succulents I brought over the week end st my local supermarket.

I brought two aloes and three echeveria. These were the problems with them.

This echeveria has damaged leaves and a few of the leaves under the plants have been pulled off and some are half rotted.

(Different echeveria). This echeveria has tiny roots so it will need water therapy. The roots are too small to plant and the pot was too big for the size if the roots.

Just by looking at this echeveria you know there is issues. My nan gave me this one because the supermarket was trying to get rid of their old succulents. These succulents are £2/$2.60/€2.32 but in the sale my nan got it for £0.20/$0.26/€0.23! The succulent is stretched, it has root rot and the leaves have rooted on the ends.

This aloe is missing leaves. I'm going to guess children have pulled them off since the plant section is right next to the toy section.

This was the only decent succulent the supermarket had. The aloe is a little stretched but it's not bad.

I'm not shaming supermarket brought succulents. Just look at all of my other supermarket brought succulents. They're arnt damaged and they are healthy. Most of my succulents actually come from Tesco.

The supermarket should care for the plants more and they shouldnt sell them only for the fancy and luxury looking pots they come in. To get decent succulents from the supermarket you just need to be lucky and go in every so often.

[ahnsael]

So going to work for five hours overnight wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I mean, yes, I’m exhausted. I woke up yesterday morning to text messages about the bar, and haven’t slept since. I didn’t eat before going to work (I gorged myself on donuts that a guest gave us -- if you can call four donuts “gorging” -- and made myself sick, but was okay after a trip to the restroom).

But after work, I decided to drive one block on the opposite direction of my way home to use $10 in free play I had at another local casino. I figured it would get me 25 40¢ bets on a Buffalo slot machine (for you non-gamblers, Buffalo is probably the single most popular machine in casinos -- it can pay huge, or you can lose your shirt; as I often tell guests who are unfamiliar with it, “the Buffalo sometimes giveth generously, but most of the time the Buffalo taketh away harshly). I have seen people lose their shirts time after time on those machines...but I’ve also paid out wins of over $1,200 on a single 80¢ bet.

I figured maybe I’d get $5 back out of the $10 free play, but was hoping for enough for dinner Thursday night (payday is Friday, and I’m a little broke).

There are a lot of Buffalo machines at this casino (even at my own casino, which has something like 280 machines, 18 of them are Buffalo -- this other casino is larger, and has more than that). I saw a couple that had just paid out over $100 (for all I know someone put in $500 and lost $400 of it -- all I can see is what was cashed out, and the result of the last game). I saw a few that had just paid out pennies. My own superstitious strategy (look below for why it’s all superstition -- there’s literally no such thing as a “hot” or “cold” machine that you should play or avoid; the results of previous spins have NO effect on future spins; a machine can pay out over and over again for days, or it can rob everyone blind for days; the only caveat is that Nevada has a minimum payback percentage that must be met at each machine, but even that 1-10% [I don’t know the mandated percentage, but I also know that in the short term, machines deviate from that but it’s LONG TERM where they have to meet that percentage, so a cold machine could be cold for weeks at a time before paying a single player enough to bring it back up to par]) is that I want a machine that just paid out a moderate amount. I chose a machine that had paid the last player just over $10 when they cashed out.

I hit one bonus of eight free spins about $1.60 into my free play which won me $13. Perfect. I knew that even if I lost the rest of my free play without hitting anything good, I was covered for dinner. And I also know, because my casino uses the same system as this one, that I can’t cash out and move to another machine; since I downloaded all $10 of my free play onto this machine, I’m stuck there until I use it (or cash out, but leave the free play behind since free play cannot be exchanged for cash in Nevada -- in Illinois, if I remember right, I once received a coupon for $100 with which to gamble at a riverboat casino, but state law mandated that I could walk in with my voucher, ask for my $100, they would hand me $100 in cash, and then I was free to leave with that $100 in legal tender -- which I did).

But exactly $5.20 into my $10 free play (I was keeping track of how much I’d used so I could be sure to stop when the free play was gone and not gamble away any winnings), I hit another free spin bonus for eight more games.

And I retriggered that bonus...maybe a dozen times? I lost count. I know it was AT LEAST 50 free spins by the time I was done; it may have been as high as 100. I don’t know. I know I retriggered for 8 more games twice, 15 more free games once, and 5 more free games...well, there’s where I lost count. But that happened so many times that I was glad there was nobody around except for a single employee to be jealous (and, yes, I get jealous sometimes at work when I’m in the middle of a losing streak and see someone else keep hitting it big -- especially if I know that person is a jerk).

Only one of the wins in that free spin bonus was what I would consider large (but boy, was it large -- about $60 on a 40¢ bet), but...the small wins added up as well.

By the time that bonus was done, I decided to up the bet to $1.20/spin, because I was covered, plus it was drop night and the drop team was approaching and I didn’t want to be in their way when they got to the machine to pull out the cash and put an empty container into it (I know they are fine with players being there, as is my casino, as long as the player steps away from the machine for the 5-10 seconds it takes), but...I was cool. I figured the machine was probably done paying off (see below where I talk about random number generators -- just because I had just won big didn’t mean there wasn’t another big win ahead of me, but...I was more than satisfied and just wanted to use up the rest of the free play). I think the last four spins at $1.20 each won me a total of $2.60 on top of the bonus wins.

I walked into that casino with exactly $0 in my pocket (and exactly 91¢ at home, plus a little bit in the bank that I don’t want to touch). I walked out of there with $133 in my wallet.

That one bonus round took 15 minutes to play, and I was loving every minute of it. Every time I retriggered and that bell rung again, I’d just laugh.

Anyway, now I have to try to get back on a swing shift schedule, since I go back to work Friday at 3:00pm, but...I’ve got that “winner’s adrenaline” at the moment. I had planned on hopefully winning enough for dinner when I get up tonight and then coming home and sleeping, but...now I’m not tired. I actually had to fight the urge (and let me tell you, this urge is the biggest curse of gambling) to try my luck at another casino (sometimes when you win big, you feel like you’re “hot tonight” and want to keep going -- but it usually ends badly; I’ve seen people win THOUSANDS of dollars and an hour later they can’t afford a cab home).

As Kenny Rogers famously sung (he was singing about poker, but the same applies to slots), “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, know when to run.” The upside of playing machines is that you don’t have to count your money when you’re sitting at the table. The machine will tell you exactly what you have left.

But hey, if I had not worked tonight, I would not have won what I won. Gambling is all about getting lucky and playing the right machine at the right instant (the way slots work is that, even if I’d hit the spin button a half second later, the results would have been different -- the results are based on a random number generator that generates random numbers every millisecond or so, and whatever that number is at the EXACT MOMENT that you hit Spin is what determines your outcome). I was going to go in Thursday afternoon to use the free play. Maybe I would have gotten even more lucky than I was this morning and I could have won more. But odds are, with the house advantage, that I would have won much less (or just lost it all).

[american-girl-in-a-belgian--blog]

Amusement parks, Classes & The Bus strikes again?

October 2nd, 2017

Today marks the 38th day that I’ve been in Belgium which is absolutely mind blowing since it feels like I just arrived yesterday XD. The time difference isn’t helping much either since being nine hours ahead of a lot of the people you talk to already makes it feel like time is passing you by. Its an odd feeling, but I guess it makes sense. After all, by studying abroad you’re essentially reliving your entire life, up to this point, plus a year in a year, so of course time seems accelerated. If anything, I think this new time perception is helping me develop some odd thing vaguely resembling time management skills. I say vaguely cause if it was actual time management skills this would’ve been up Sunday as advertised, but I got lazy and decided to play Egg inc. and watch Kpop videos instead.

So last week was pretty good. I didn’t have school on Wednesday due to the Fête de la Communauté française which basically meant that everyone over in Flanders still had school and such, but everyone here in Wallonia gets the school day off. It was nice not having to go to school for two Wednesdays in a row ^^.

Friday was quite eventful. For one thing, the bus dropped us off at a different spot and the clock wasn’t about to wait and gather my bearings. Lucky for me, I ended up recognizing the area and made it to school no problem so clearly the bus is set on giving me a sense of direction with all these bus stories XD. Before coming to Belgium I could safely say that I was directionally challenged, but it doesn’t seem to be as accurate anymore. I’m just bad with directions now XD.

Then I ended up having to read something that I wrote about pigeons in history class because of some random lady that showed up for some reason. Its just as odd and random as it sounds. Some lady literally took over our class for the two hours, had us write anything about pigeons and then had us read it to the class so she could judge it or something like that. Mine was so bad XD. It was more like something a 6 year old would write rather than a 16 year old and it had all the errors of a 6 year old too. No one said anything about it though which is always good.

After that wonderful class, I had Physics and a free hour which actually turned out to not be so free at all XD. Basically, I accidently skipped class since I figured that because my french teacher wasn’t there earlier, he wouldn’t be there for the last hour and I didn’t bother to check XD. I saw him after school and we talked about it so I’m not in trouble or anything and I didn’t really miss anything either, but I still feel bad for unknowingly skipping. At least now I know to check cause most of my teachers aren’t as chill as my french teacher. Also I forgot to mention this before, but hes a really good pianist and now I know that hes totally the kind of teacher to randomly play the piano in class. 

And to make a already wonderful day better, I ended up missing the bus and having to walk home from the town over cause they moved the bus stop to the train station again and I just had to stop and debate on whether or not I should get a waffle from the place I’ve been wanting to try. But the best part of this whole fiasco was when I saw the bus pass me when I was almost at my stop. I literally spent a few minutes debating on whether or not I should wait to see if the bus miraculously showed up before I got on the different bus and after I got to the town over (the one I got stranded in earlier) and if I had just waited I wouldn’t have had to walk the 25 minutes.

But Saturday made up for it cause we went to this amusement park  that was pretty fun.The only issue was that it made me feel really conflicted cause they had animals there as apart of the attraction and the enclosures were quite small. But other than that, It was a good day. You could tell that the park was more aimed at kids though and everything was so expensive. Like all the vending machines wanted like 2.60 euros for a can of soda and I ended up getting a 5 euro waffle that wasn’t nearly as good as the around 2 euro waffles I can get at Australian? 

Also, my host sister broke my earbuds on the way home, but I have a spare so it’s all good.

See you on Sunday or Monday,

Raychel

(P.S. On Friday I also lost a game of super intense Uno, so I had to go up to this guy in my science class and kiss him on the cheek as my dare XD)

[greenandbluebubblegum]

Hi! I saw your post about the festival and I wanted to ask an advice if possible? I have a friend who has a small flat in Torrejón de Ardoz and she said I can crash there if I need it and I saw it’s pretty close to both the airport and the festival venue but about 1 hour away from center. Is that a good zone? Or should I tell her that I already found another place to stay at?

Hi!! Of course!! don’t a problem at all!! 💕 

Ok, first Torrejón de Ardoz is in the Comunity of Madrid and it’s also in the metropolitan area of Madrid but It’s a different municipality of Madrid, I know confusing Jiji Like the metropolitan area has like 23 (If I’m not wrong) municipalities one of them is Madrid and other is Torrejón. 

About the transport, I’m not sure because I don’t go there but almost sure the tube doesn’t have a line that goes there, you will have to take the train (cercanias) or the buses (interurbanos that are green and not blue like in Madrid) The train has two lines that connect with Madrid, 

-C-2 green.svg Guadalajara - Madrid Atocha - Madrid Chamartín (- Cercedilla/Segovia-El Escorial/Ávila)-C-7 red.svg Alcalá de Henares - Madrid Atocha- Madrid Chamartín (- Las Rozas - Príncipe Pío)

For example, I just saw that the Line C-2 (green) take you to Nuevos Ministerios, then you will only have to catch Line 8 of the tube. The “problem” is until November they are reforming the train lines so you’ll have to do a little transfer in another station (Chamartin and changed lines that will take to  Nuevos Ministerios).  I saw the time its approx. of 45 minutes or maybe less if you are lucky. From Nuevos Ministerios, you are already in Metro Madrid so there you could go to the centre or other places in Madrid. Torrejón is in the Zone B2, so you will need a ticket for 4 zones and a single ticket costs  2.60 euros. And I think the lines closed at midnight. Also, it’s a different card that the tube one. 

Sorry, I can’t help you too much with the buses because I don’t know about them, but sure your friend could tell you how many are they and where to take them! I’m sure there’s a night service too. 

Also, Torrejón is a big town so it has all the services and touristic things too. I mean, I’m sure like every city has its zones that are better and others that are no so good but I will don’t worry about it, it’s safe. Also, they have a park (Parque Europa) that have copies of European Monuments like the Eiffel tower and the tower bridge. 

I hope this helps you a little if you have any other questions write to me, don’t a problem at all!!

[slarty1]

WRITTEN JOURNAL # 31

July 5th 2017

I forgot to date the last entry.  I'll have to fix that with an edit. That reminds me...sometime I'll have to edit all my videos on YouTube.  For the description of your video to tag correctly you have to separate with commas, which I was only able to discover when I got a computer.

Well...I waited too long before writing this entry.  I can't remember what I did clear back on the 2nd.  I'm lucky if I can remember what I did today.  I still think era 3 is a good idea.  Both my cousin Mike, and Lisa have put a like on my Facebook page for my Tumblr activity recently, and it seems to coincide with era 3.

I still have no Obamaphone, but I did get a letter in the mail congratulating me that I was approved for 1.  It said to expect the phone in 10 days, so I do.  I don't remember which day I got it.

Today would have been the day I went back to Free Geek if that guy hadn't come along.  That my computer has a 32 bit architecture may be causing me grief.  I eventually downloaded iTunes (yesterday), but it doesn't seem to do anything.  Part of that may be because I had to download an older version of iTunes due to my 32 bit architecture.  I have given up trying to get my music on my SD card and only my SD card.  It seems to be something that the phone simply does not allow. My phone usually registers in the USB port now, but there's no telling why.  I have successfully transferred my phones music to my computer, but to play my tunes I have to highlight all the files and right click open with Banshee media player each time I turn my computer on.  I'd like to have Banshee know I want to play those files without me going thru that process, but I don't yet know how. I think it was the day before yesterday, that I told MWR who still didn't think you could comment on my blog, that all you had to do was click on the thing that looks like a comic voice box to comment. I've as yet seen no reply to the email wherein I told him that.  I think I should get someone else to comment on my blog so that he knows he's wrong.  I'm almost certain comments are enabled on my blog.

I did in fact take a shower and wash my clothes the day before yesterday.  Scott was @ STP where I wash my clothes, and I told him I now have a computer and asked whether I could just put the albums on my Nano myself.  He said he didn't see why not.  He set up an appointment for me for the following day (July 4th _yesterday) @ 2:00pm, there @ STP.

While I was @ STP washing my clothes I shot video of a visually intriguing top that happened to be lying around in the laundry room. I think I may have spent the rest of the day @ the library.  I took my clothes home and put them away 1st.  I may have relaxed @ home, and done some more things, but I don't remember.

I did in fact go shopping the day before yesterday, too.  I had to psych myself up @ home 1st to go shopping.  The library closes @ 8:00pm on Mondays, so it was getting pretty late by the time I got going.  I think it was already dark, so I guess it must have been sometime after 10:00pm.  I took a few pictures on the way to Safeway.

I bought:

1)  4 cans of Nalley Hot Chili.  The label says “Con Carne With Beans”.  I'm pretty sure con carne means with beans.  They were on sale if you bought 4.  I've already eaten 2.  1 while writing this entry. I ate them both from the can.  I've promised myself that I'll eat @ least 1 cooked, @ least nuked, if not cooked on the stove.

2)  A jar of Signature kitchens Dill Pickle “Slicers” (long cut pickles).  I love dill pickles, and I hate sweet pickles.

3)  A box of Wheaties.

4)  4 avocados.  They were on sale if you bought 4.

5)  Some mushrooms.

6)  A jar of Value corner Mayonnaise.

7)  A jug of milk

8)  4 2 liter bottles of Coca-Cola.  99 cents each if you bought 4 or more.

9)  A huge sack of Signature kitchens Fine Granulated Sugar.  I'm running out of sugar.  Now I won't have to buy sugar for like ever. I bought the largest size the store carried.

10)  2 12 packs of Lucerne Dairy Farms Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches.  They were buy 1 get 1 free.

11)  A loaf of dark rye bread.  I used most of it for burger buns, and have no more of it.

And that I think covers it.  I had a hell of a time getting that all home, what with the 4 2 liter bottles of Coke, the jug of milk, and the huge sack of sugar.  I think it was something like 11:30 when I got home.  So thats why I didn't write this entry then; and yet I think I may have stayed up until about 2:00am to 2:30am.

I don't remember when I woke up yesterday morning, but I had some activity I was doing which had the secondary effect of killing time before my meeting with Scott.  I still got done with whatever it was a bit before 1:00pm ( I now remember that it was making burgers.  The burgers I made had pepperochinis and mushrooms cooked into it, and were cooked in a layer of BBQ sauce.  They were on dark rye bread, with avocado, ketchup, Grey Poupon, and mayonnaise.  I used up all my burger for this too.)  I was running very low on smokes.  

So I showed up @ STP around 1:00pm.  While smoking a cigarette, I suddenly noticed Scott smoking 1.  As soon as I was done with my smoke,  I walked across the street to where Scott was, and said I was ready to get started as soon as he was.

He asked me if I had iTunes.  I told him I did not, and that it was difficult to get iTunes on a Linux machine.  He was under the impression that because it was an Intel machine, it should be easy. I had to firmly correct him about that.  

He said anyway I would need to have iTunes installed to put the songs I had on my computer on the Nano.  I thought he could just use the Nano as a disk drive and put the songs on that way, and maybe he could, but he denied it.

So the meeting was short.  I think I then went home, but I don't recall why.  I think it was that I needed to get my doubled up bags of cans to see if I could get enough money to get some cigarettes.  I figured if I could then great, and if not, then I would @ least have enough to go to Starbucks (I'd just be smoking rollies).

So I eventually got around to going to Whole Foods.  On the way there, who should appear, but Scott.  I hit him with another work around I'd thought of.  He could get the songs from off my phone.  He said his computer didn't have a USB port, which made 0 sense.  

I said I had a micro-USB to USB converter cord, but he came up with some reason that wouldn't work.  Theres nothing much I could do or say @ that point, but I'm getting quite tired of what seems to me to be Scott's BS.

When I got to Whole Foods the machine was up.  I think I got $2.60 for my efforts.  Added to the dollar and a few cents I had that did not make $4.05, but before I resolved to go to Starbucks, I realized I  could use the WI-Fi @ Whole Foods.  

The WI-Fi @ Whole foods is pretty iffy, but it was worth a shot. Whole Foods has a cafeteria where you can buy a pop or whatever on food stamps, and use their WI-Fi, so if that option worked it was well  worth it.  Saves using cash.

It seemed to be working OK.  It was there and during that time that I finally got a version of iTunes unpacked installed or whatever, on my computer.  The version wine (a Linux program for installing Windows programs) put on my computer doesn't do much of anything, tho, so congratulations would be premature.

After about 2 hours I rediscovered that the WI-Fi @ Whole foods quits after about 2 hours.  I eventually got around to trying my phone for more time, but the cafeteria was closing, by that time.  But I got a lot done, so no big deal.

I took a picture of my burgers for MWR.  My plan for celebrating the 4th was to go out to Beaverton to a place I knew where you can view several fireworks displays @ 1ce (thats what I cooked all those burgers for), but it was getting late and I was concerned that I wouldn't get a bus home on time even without that.

So I went to Pioneer Square.  I don't remember how I got there.  I think I went part of the way on the Max; but when I got there,  I decided to go sit outside the Starbucks, and upload my stuff, and see if MWR had anything else to say.  Thats what I did.

By the time I got thru with that, it was getting close to dark, so with a sigh, I decided to give the trip to Beaverton a miss.  I decided to check out the show @ Waterfront Park instead.  My phones power was down to 30 some odd percent.

So I took the Max down to 1st.  The park was very crowded. I got food out of the trash, several cans, and some videos of peoples amateur fireworks before the professional show began.  There were lots of boats on the Willamette for the 4th, so I also shot those, the whole time concerned about my phone's low juice.

 I then shot 8 videos of the professional display.  The longest is 5 minutes 52 seconds, and the shortest is 29 seconds.  I'm disappointed with that.  The videos aren't as high quality as real life and I missed a lot of the real thing, looking @ the view on my camera.

I then shot 3 videos of the aftermath.  2 of them are of people playing guitar.  1 of those is 2 people playing guitar, with 1 singing of his love for marijuana.  The 3rd is a 6 second video of a man lying in a pool of blood.  Cops on the scene said he fell.

It's 6 seconds because thats when my phone ran completely out of juice.  I'm lucky it automatically saved those 6 seconds before dying.  2 ambulances eventually came for him I think, but if I'm right about that, I don't know what the 2nd ambulance was for.

Some time around then, while walking home (the max was crowded to the limit) I found a huge doubled up bag of cans with a sign on them saying “free cans”, so I put the cans I had in it (I had already had to switch from my backpack to my doubled up sacks) and continued on, leaving my bags there.  With the 2 collections together the bag was so full, cans and bottles were falling out the top of the bags.

About half a block to a block away I suddenly saw that the bags were leaking quite a lot.  That would not do; so I took the cans back to where I found them, and put them 1 by 1 back into my doubled up bags.

It was getting close to my curfew, but I got the liquid out of all the bottles and cans.  2 or 3 were almost full.

I ended up getting home at about 12:40.  I think it took me until about 2:00am to 2:30am to get to sleep 1ce again.

I didn't wake up today until about 11:30am.  I think I relaxed, smoked, and played some Nethack to prepare myself for turning in my giant overflowing doubled up bags of cans and bottles.  Before I turned them in I went to Caron Kepic's building to see if she had made good on her commitment to bring me in a bag of cans.

She hadn't.  Fine.  I don't know what I'd do with all those cans and bottles anyway considering what I already had.  I called, and got her voice mail, and told her as much.  After I got back it was eventually getting to be about  2:00pm, so I resolved to do my labor in the heat of the day.

@ whole Foods I turned in my limit of $14.40 worth of cans and bottles (Oregon law demands a limit of 144 cans and or bottles per day per store).  I then sat and had a rolly, and decided and committed to turning in the rest at Fred Meyers, or if that looked like too much of a wait, @ Trader Joe's.

The Fred Meyers machines were pretty packed so I made my way to Trader Joe's.  There I turned in almost my limit there, so now I know the approximate capacity of my bags.  I got $13.80.  I then took the 20 to my new smoke shop and finally got some store bought smokes, and went home.

I started this entry @ about 7:00pm, and the time is now 1:17am.  I have $28.29.  I'm in affluence.

[hadeschan]

item # K21E32

RARE Pra Pidta Luang Phor Paan, Wat Khrueawan, Pim Yai Lang Bàep, Nua Pong Jùm Ruck. A Closing Eyes Buddha amulet with an imprint of a small Closing Eyes Buddha in the back. Made from holy powder, blended with holy powder of Luang Phor Kaew of Wat Khrueawan, the maker of Thailand’s BEST, and MOST expensive Pra Pidta amulet, and coated with black lacquer. Made by Luang Phor Paan of Wat Khrueawan, Chon Buri Province between BE 2486 to BE 2517 (CE 1943 to CE 1974). Luang Phor Paan made Pra Pidta amulets that contain holy powder of Luang Phor Kaew as souvenirs given to visitors who visited Luang Phor Paan at Wat Khrueawan.

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“A first impression can have significant social consequences, people form judgments about others’, this amulet is with magic spell that makes people around you temporary blind to the charm of you. People will be kind to you, and support you no matter what.”

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BEST FOR: Pra Pidta signifies continuous growth and multiplication in wealth, money luck, and good fortune. Pra Pidta blinds people who are going to harm you. It casts magic charm and love spells on people around you. It creates confusion inducement to encourage customers to buy whatever you are selling. Pra Pidta also has a magic power of hypnosis, it turns you to a convincer, you could put any people around you under hypnosis, and take over their minds to do whatever you want. It has a tendency to draw positive energy. Wealth Fetching, Maha Larp (it brings lucky wealth), Metta Maha Niyom (it makes people around you love you, be nice to you, and willing to support you for anything), Kaa Kaai Dee (it helps tempt your customers to buy whatever you are selling, and it helps attract new customers and then keep them coming back, Klawklad Plodpai (it pushes you away from all danger), Maha-ut (it helps stop gun from shooting at you), and warning of danger. And Ponggan Poot-pee pee-saat Kunsai Mondam Sa-niat jan-rai Sat Meepit (it helps ward off evil spirit, demon, bad ghost, bad omen, bad spell, curse, accursedness, black magic, misfortune, doom, and poisonous animals).

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Pra Pakawamphee or Pra Pidta (Closing Eyes Buddha)

The Closing Eyes Buddha was an Arhat (one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved nirvana), and a disciple of Lord Buddha whose appearance was charming and gorgeously handsome, and people always mistaken him to Buddha and offered him better offerings than other monks, so Pra Pakawamphee turned himself to a fat monk and sealed his face with his 2 hands when he was in his meditation (Pra Pidta / closing eyes Buddha), to blind people around him. So the gesture of Pra Pidta became type of amulet with magical influence to blind people around you with magic charm, and your gaiety and wit would enchanted them all…

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DIMENSION: 3.20 cm high / 2.60 cm wide / 1.00 cm thick

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item # K21E32

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[biofunmy]

A Traveler’s Guide to the Best Bets in Las Vegas

I have spent a lot of money in Las Vegas, and I don’t gamble much. I’ve paid $250 for a Cirque du Soleil ticket, taken a gondola down the faux canals of Venice for $60 and, on occasion, vastly exceeded my wine budget.

Las Vegas thrives on convincing visitors to splurge, which I considered when Lady Gaga opened her concert residency at the Park Theater. Recently, tickets for the back-row center balcony were selling for $466 (fans in the front row were paying $2,500).

Value, of course, is subjective. But price creep on the Strip, as the casino-lined stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard is known, is objective, as resort fees at several high-end casinos rose $6 to $45 a night this year. Rooms, food, drinks and entertainment are increasingly important money makers for casinos, where gaming revenue has fallen from nearly 62 percent in 1984 to a little under 43 percent in 2018, according to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

On a quest to find value, I spent three days riding buses, hunting for cheap and tasty eats, and sampling bargain entertainment. Here’s what I found.

Take the bus

There is one certain money-saver in Las Vegas: the bus. The city of endless traffic lights and taxi fleets is a tangle to transit. Even ride shares are expensive; I took an Uber less than one mile one evening and it cost $8.

But the bus system is affordable and reasonably efficient, especially if you stick to the Strip. A double-decker bus called the Deuce runs 24 hours between downtown and Mandalay Bay resort. A two-hour pass costs $6; an all-day pass costs $8.

I bought a $20 three-day pass and got access to the entire transit system, including a clean, spacious and uncrowded bus from the airport to the Strip, which paid off on that first ride.

Everything about taking the bus, of course, takes a little longer. I waited for 10 minutes at the airport terminal, rather than just hopping in a cab. After a few stops, I connected to a Strip-bound bus at the South Strip Transfer Terminal, a mass transit hub, which was easy to navigate.

The payoff to this relatively slow form of travel was a scenic ride past the Welcome to Las Vegas sign and other landmarks. Other than the Deuce, which can be dominated by tourists, most of the buses I rode were used by local workers and students, with a rare sprinkling of visitors.

Eat off the beaten path

On the suggestion of a friend, I bussed from the airport directly to Tacos El Gordo — a 60-minute trip (I missed the 108 bus, which gets there in about half the time). With roots in Tijuana, Mexico, the cheerfully crowded taco stand in a nondescript strip mall between downtown and the Strip features a row of meat carvers behind the counter, ready to shave spit-marinating pork into pliant corn tortillas ($2.60). Two tacos topped with chopped onions and cilantro made a bargain meal. I was lucky to get a table.

It’s not that you can’t eat cheaply on the Strip. Donald Contursi, the owner of Lip Smacking Foodie Tours, introduced me to several specials, including the $29 three-course lunch, which includes creamy Greek spreads such as tzatziki and grilled fish at Estiatorio Milos, and $5 happy hour appetizers at Mr. Chow. At Eataly, a bustling new food hall that anchors the Park MGM hotel in a space that could double as a train station, focaccia slices sold from $2.90.

But by wandering farther afield, I found intriguing and affordable food. Downtown, I wandered from the dimly lit Downtown Cocktail Room, lively with locals during “halfy hour,” when my $12 Paloma was $6 (Monday through Saturday 4 to 7 p.m.), to the new robata bar Hatsumi at Fergusons Downtown, a former motel now housing restaurants, shops and co-working spaces. Decorated in cartoon monsters, Hatsumi served skewered meats ($2 to $6 each) to the mostly under-40 urbanites who are repopulating downtown Las Vegas.

A friend who lives in another gentrifying neighborhood, the Arts District, guided me to Able Baker Brewing Company, an industrial spot with the brew kettles in the back named for the first two atomic bombs, Able and Baker, detonated at the Nevada Test Site north of town in 1951. Here we had juicy I.P.A.s (most pints, $5 to $8) and generous pork banh mi sandwiches ($9). On the cusp of the Arts District, I paid $6.50 for a chicken-stuffed arepa, or corn cake folded taco-style, at the Venezuelan Viva Las Arepas, a low-key quick service spot where I watched Latin American telenovelas with the office lunch crowd.

Through Eater, which has a thorough guide on cheap eating in town, I discovered Takopa, a tiny and friendly Japanese spot where I sat at the bar and watched the cooks prepare their specialty fried octopus fritters (four for $4.95) in Chinatown, a neighborhood filled with pan-Asian dining deals that required two buses to reach, but worth every bite.

Beware resort fees

Cheap hotels aren’t hard to come by in Las Vegas, though rates vary with business and event traffic. My spacious $40 room at the El Cortez Hotel & Casino downtown was $100 the previous week when several conventions were in town.

Wherever you stay in Las Vegas, you’re bound to have sticker shock because enticing offers — $19 a night! — don’t include resort fees, which run about $25 to $45 a night. The $25 fee at El Cortez brought my nightly rate to $65, still a good deal for an updated room — with lime green walls and Art-Deco-style, black-and-white décor — in-room coffee and a ground-floor gym.

For a real retro stay, downtown’s 1906-vintage Golden Gate Hotel & Casino has 10 original rooms — small but updated for those who just need a bed — that often sell for $25, plus a $25 resort fee.

Attractions worth the admission

When it comes to cultural attractions in Las Vegas, expect to pay. The Mob Museum charges $29.95 admission, but if you’re interested in history, you’ll get your money’s worth learning about the role of Prohibition in establishing organized crime at the former post office and courtroom where hearings were held on the subject in 1950.

Also uniquely Las Vegas, the Neon Museum preserves the city’s castoff signage. I paid $24 for the 25-minute night show “Brilliant,” which syncs light and sound to reanimate the otherwise dark signs. The separate tour of the regular collection, called the Boneyard, costs $30.

During my stay, the lowest ticket available for “Run,” the new Cirque du Soleil show, was $79, or $105 with fees. Instead, I spent $37 ($52 with fees) to take in “The Mac King Comedy Magic Show” at Harrah’s Las Vegas, a daytime-only delight starring the Kentucky-born star who manages to entertain all ages with surprising tricks, sly humor and hilarious interactions with audience volunteers.

“Being the affordable show has been good for me,” said Mr. King, who started out in 2000 with tickets at $10. “Now it’s like buying an airplane ticket with all the fees.”

Freebies by the mile

In three days, I walked 22 miles and didn’t really notice given the entertaining hustlers en route. On my walks I saw costumed showgirls posing for pictures, listened to a classical violinist and passed up one gentleman who offered, according to his sign, “to do something weird” for $1.

When I needed a break, I went to the wildlife habitat at the Flamingo hotel and casino. At 2 p.m. daily, a keeper feeds two rescued California brown pelicans, Bugsy and Virginia — named for Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, who built the original Flamingo in 1946, and his girlfriend Virginia Hill — and calls out to the other exotic waterfowl, including Chilean flamingos. The rare smoke-free haven provided benches (also rare) and complimentary Wi-Fi.

Among free tours, I attended an “open house” at “Ka,” the high-tech Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM Grand. It essentially functions as a 30-minute sales pitch for the show, but offers a fascinating look at the 80,000-pound rotating stage and other wizardry.

Another morning, I signed up with the concierge at the Park MGM for a free art tour of the garden-themed resort and was introduced to contemporary works by Guy Yanai and David Hockney. Similarly, the nearby Aria resort offers tours and a self-guided map to sculptures by Maya Lin and Henry Moore.

Downtown’s free attraction, the Viva Vision light show at the Freemont Street Experience, projected on a 1,500-foot-long overhead video screen, attracted more buskers. But the real payoff was at Gold Spike, a former casino billed as an “adult playground” (free admission). Instead of gambling, there’s a bar, co-working spaces and indoor games like cornhole, and a vast outdoor yard where I caught a soulful set from Cimirriar Deniece, a local singer.

On my return to the airport, I stopped at the nearby Pinball Hall of Fame (free admission) and spent $5, one quarter at a time, playing games that went back as far as 1964, the kind of slot machines that pay off in joy.

Bottom line: The cost of my trip was about $350 for a three-day stay in Las Vegas.

Sahred From Source link Travel

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[chrysaliseuro2019]

On the Road Again

After a pleasant three days in Kiato we decided to head to the medieval town of Dimitsana. A couple of hours drive though would be quite a focussed one as we were heading for the mountains. Some around the 1500-2000 metre mark. Plenty of hills and switchbacks which was as it turned out. We had a slow start being night owls so left our apartment around 11.00am. First thing was a top up of petrol. This was a bit of a fright as price around $2.60/litre. Luckily we have an economic car. Of course that's just the going price and nothing you can do about it if you want the flexibility of the car. We had two choices of route, one via freeway and the other local roads. Opted for the local roads. Pretty soon we were heading upwards and occasionally downwards then back up again. Prolific numbers of olive trees, plenty of vineyards and sleepy hollow villages that appeared uninhabited. The odd larger town which always seemed characterful with its cafes which invariably had several older gents sitting outside watching the world go by, chewing the fat and thinking heaven knows what. One of the things that seems to characterise Greece is older men and more occasionally older women clustered outside cafes and tavernas or just sitting on their porches, balconies and in their gardens - watching and chatting. From early in the morning till late at night. As you approach they watch you. If you nod to them or say Yassas (hello) they will respond but rarely do they instigate. It's all very inscrutable. I want to know what they are thinking. It's disappointing really that language is such a barrier especially in more domestic destinations such as Kiato where English speaking is rare and certainly my Greek vocabulary doesn't get beyond hello and thank you - ooh I forgot souvlaki. I suppose hello me old souvlaki would not go down too well but it would be great to break the ice, sit down and have a natter about what's troubling them. I'm guessing that taxes, the price of fags (there's still a lot of smoking here, perhaps a little less tax paying), global warming might be high up there. It's a pretty small world. Anyway we pressed on on our journey through some pretty dramatic countryside through the mountains with fantastic views on all sides. We noticed when we came to towns that the Greek version of the "Pink Batt" policy must be in place. Everywhere there seemed to be brand new iridescent red roofs being put up. These contrasted with the old stone walls supporting them but presumably are the most effective way to preserve old buildings. Around 1.30 we fancied lunch and stopped off at a small town (Kandila) to look for refreshments. We missed the main turning in towards town so followed our nose via the only other turning down some very windy and narrow streets to reach the town proper. Why take the easy route? This place was sleepy hollow. As ever temperature 30+. We parked up in front of a taverna but there seemed to be another 3-4 in town. Who is patronising them? As there were two men and a dog there? We went into one where they could give us a meal but it sounded more than we wanted - the chicken stew that I think the owners were having for lunch/ dinner. Someone was summoned out of the local mini market to speak English to us and explain this. All very convivial. The suggestion was to head to the coffee bar down the road which should be able to deliver a toasted sandwich which we were after. Wasn't far and it seemed more like a taverna though again no English so we were back to square one. Plenty of efforts to explain what we were after but the solution was to call someone up who spoke English, put Liz on the phone and then toasted cheese and tomato toasted sandwich was communicated to our new hosts with much knowledgeable nodding. Tactical error we asked for two. When they arrived they would have fed the Prussian army for two days. Did the trick though and we sat outside in the shade gazing down the tranquil street with a couple of cokes. I had brought a couple of kangaroo design ink stamps the sort that kids press onto their arm and we donated one to the delightful little girl who was daughter of the landlady. It was all pretty pleasant and they donated a couple of cokes to us as a thank you. Nothing too much but just one of those nice and slightly amusing touch bases with complete strangers which these environments encourage. We pressed on to Dimitsana through more dramatic and very green high country arriving around 3.00pm. We had no other plans for the day other than to chill a bit and check out Dimitsana but first prob was to find the hotel we had booked, the "Enastron". Google told us which laneway it was in so we parked up and Liz went looking. No luck. I foraged a bit too. No luck. Up some steps at the top of a narrow lane an unusual incident was happening. Some tourists (English or Aussie we weren't sure) had driven their car over the top step of a series of steps. The front was now wedged over that step resting on its axle. Several guys were attempting to lift the front two wheels back over the step while one guy sat in the driver's seat and revved in reverse madly. To assist they placed several large rocks against the steps to aid the process of the front wheels going back up. Problem was once they started revving and reversing the front wheel crushed some of the rocks and sent them flying and Liz was very lucky to not have one hit her. It landed within a couple of metres and was probably 20 cms long and quite dense. Would have caused some damage if it hit her. Luckily for the tourists the lads got the car back over the step and even more lucky no casualties. We still couldn't find the hotel but after asking some locals they indicated that it was right where Liz had been watching the car incident in fact the flying rock was virtually outside the front door. Problem was the sign was in Greek so she had wandered past several times without being able to identify it. This is a 3 room hotel so though 24 hour front desk availability it's not manned 24 hours (not much point with 3 guests) and a note was pinned to the door with a number to call. 10 mins later we were in. Charming and very urbane host Dimitri who welcomed us very generously. Delightful place. Score 9.8 out of 10 on Booking.com, great host, great room with a balcony and good bathroom and surprisingly reasonable. We settled down, had showers and chilled for a while and then headed out to look around town and have a refreshing drink - much needed. Town is small and seems mostly cafes and tavernas with a few knick knack shops. It's perched high with great views and the architecture is quite old being a medieval though that seems like yesterday in this part of the world with Ancient Greek history pervasive. We walked to the top of town through some very narrow laneways and views, very picturesque. A number of churches and plenty of other attractive buildings. I also liked the soccer pitch which we could see at a distance perched at least 1500 metres up. Have to say though that the surface looked like gravel from afar which Liz confirmed a day or so later. Not inviting to fall over on and the goalies must concede a lot of goals or spend their days covered in gravel rash or dress up like Michelin man which is not really conducive to shot stopping. Finally time for a drink and we stopped at a local taverna at a table outside. A few tourists in town but when we arrived at the pub we seemed to be the only non Greek speakers. Certainly out the front facing the street our co-patrons were all locals. This meant that a variety of people pulled up in their cars or trucks/Utes and carried on conversations from the driver's seat with others sitting at tables out front. One minute we had a view up the street the next there was a smelly ute in front of us. All part of the local colour. They might get a coffee to take away or park up and join in. In due course the local priest rolled up in his robes, a very dapper and handsome guy who also spoke pretty good English though he was more interested in chatting to his parishioners. The priest seemed to be on the coffee, nothing alcoholic. After a pleasant hour it was time for dinner. Our host had recommended a restaurant which overlooked one side of the valley and we headed there. Menu was classic Greek with plenty of meat. We settled for the lamb chops and Greek salad and sampled various wines - rose, red, white. All pretty ordinary. Poor Liz is struggling to find much she can drink apart from the one vodka and tonic before she has to up stumps in case of migraine and many tavernas don't stock vodka and of those that do some may not stock tonic. Even I, with, shall we say, my more accommodating, alright, less discerning palate am struggling with the local plonk. How do they like this stuff? The white is pretty sweet and the rose and red have been well "rough". Now, we haven't gone for the bottles of wine given Liz can't drink more than one glass so it's been wine by the glass ie house wine - but still. Anyway food has been fantastic. Lamb chops were voluminous in number and we just had a half serve. Liz was in her element, the chops were picked up there was finger licking and not a skerrick left on the bone at the end. I was more circumspect in my Pommie way and cut bits off here and tentatively but demolished large quantities of bread and Greek salad with some gusto, if I say so myself. You can take the girl and boy out of their respective countries but you can't necessarily change their preferences. Headed home and watched England lose another World Cup semi final. This time to the USA at the women's World Cup. Very painful though fantastic game. It was a travel and lay day really but we really enjoyed the nondescriptness of it laced with the Greek way of doing things.

[foodsic1]

🎧 #nowplaying #TheGrouch & #DJFresh #TheToniteShowWithTheGrouch (2018) Foodsic Stats: 2.60 / 0% 🔥 . 🔥 (5-Star) Tracks: None . . --------------- Ratings System --------------- . o 5.00 = Masterpiece o 4.75 = Near Masterpiece o 4.50 = Instant Classic o 4.40 = Near Classic o 4.25 = Outstanding - This album is 🔥 and will be in rotation for years to come o 4.00 = Solid - Damn good album w/ replay value o 3.75 = Pretty Good - Most of the tracks I can get into (3's, 4's & a few 🔥 tracks) o 3.74 to 3.00 = Good to "Ehhh... Whatever" - The album might have a few 🔥 tracks but that's probably all that's happening here. o 2.99 to 2.00 = Mostly Garbage – If you're lucky, you'll be gifted w/ one 🔥 track for the holidays. o Below 2.00 = Pure Shit. . * Album scores can fluctuate over time as an Album's replay value is tested. . . About me: I'm hip-hop. Fall '17 I set out to play every album I possibly could hear throughout hip-hop's history & along the way, update my current album ratings & issue initial ratings for the albums I had either yet to hear or rank. Once I finish covering every year (on 2005 currently), I will be posting all my data, rankings (i.e., Top 100 hip-hop albums each year, Best years in hip-hop, Top 1,000 albums of all-time, Top 100 producers, etc.), scores, charts, etc. to foodsic.com, which should go live by 2020. My technology: * Google Pixel 3 XL (aptX compatible) * V-Moda Crossfade Wireless 2 (aptX compatible) . https://ift.tt/2R4UCOQ

[hadeschan]

item # K21D49

RARE Pra Somdej Luang Phor Koon, Roon Koon Chareon-sub, Longsi, Tagrut Thongkum Sipgao Dok, Tit Senn Gaysa. A holy powder Buddha amulet painted with oil color, inlaid with 19 real gold tagrut, 5 in the front, and 14 in the back, aslo patched with hair of the head of Luang Phor Koon. Made/consecrated/blessed by Luang Phor Koon of Wat Ban Rai, Nakhon Ratchasima Province in BE 2537 (CE 1994). This Batch of amulets was named “Roon Koon Chareon-sub” which means “the Batch of multiple increasing property/assets/wealth”.

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BEST FOR: This amulet helps grow wealth, increase your income with abundance prosperity, attracts money luck, and greater financial abundance into your life with success, growth, abundance, and financial stability. It gives favorable omens, and strengthens auspicious omens which bring positive role in your life. Anything you wish for, and it could change your life for the better. This amulet has a tendency to draw positive energy. Klawklad Plodpai (bringing safety, and pushes you away from all danger), Kongkraphan (making you invulnerable to all weapon attack), Maha-ut (stopping gun from shooting at you), Metta Maha Niyom (helping bring loving, caring, and kindness, and compassion from people all around you to you), Maha Larp (bringing Lucky Wealth / wealth fetching), and Kaa Kaai Dee (helping tempt your customers to buy whatever you are selling, and it helps attract new customers and then keep them coming back. Ponggan Poot-pee pee-saat Kunsai Mondam Sa-niat jan-rai Sat Meepit (helping ward off evil spirit, demon, bad ghost, bad omen, bad spell, curse, accursedness, black magic, misfortune, doom, and poisonous animals). And it helps protect you from manipulators, backstabbers, and toxic people.

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Tagrut

Tagrut is an early amulet worn by Thai men as necklace and as cord belt dated back over 800 years ago. Tagrut is usually made from sheet of metal or animal skin or bamboo or palm leaf inscribed with cabalistic writings, and then rolled as a tube.

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Senn Gaysa / hair of the head

The hair of the head of Guru Monk is considered a relic, “relics come from masters who have devoted their entire lifetime to spiritual practices that are dedicated to the welfare of all. Every part of their body and relics carries positive energy to inspire goodness.”

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DIMENSION: 3.80 cm high / 2.60 cm wide / 0.70 cm thick

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item # K21D49

Price: price upon request, pls PM and/or email us hadesamulet@outlook.com

100% GENUINE WITH 365 DAYS AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEE.

Item location: Hong Kong, SAR

Ships to: Worldwide

Delivery: Estimated 7 days handling time after receipt of cleared payment. Please allow additional time if international delivery is subject to customs processing.

Shipping: FREE Thailandpost International registered mail. International items may be subject to customs processing and additional charges.

Payments: PayPal / Western Union / MoneyGram /maybank2u.com / DBS iBanking / Wechat Pay / Alipay / INSTAREM / PromptPay International / Remitly / PAYNOW

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