#tax the landlord he's already bleeding me dry

[reikunrei]

feeling incredibly averse to posting this but i'm just gonna drop my kofi link here in case anyone wants to help me get out of my increasingly shitty situation living with my parents

more info below ig

after having given my parents nearly $100k over the last four years, i'd love to be able to actually leave. my future job situation is still up in the air (i've submitted for about a dozen positions and the only one i've heard back from and interviewed for hasn't gotten back to me yet), and i haven't been able to build up any savings because, again, i was (and still am) helping my family afford rent and bills, and probably the taxes my parents are behind on, but if i think about that, i'll get too angry. no joke, i've given my family, at the bare minimum, 85% of my income over the last 4 years. the rest of it has gone toward medical stuff and, now, my car

at this point, with the combo of my mom refusing to lower her standards and my dad's seeming refusal to hunt for a new full time job, i don't see how they won't continue to bleed me dry. my dad even has a bad habit of taking money out of my old savings account that he's a joint owner on or whatever from when i got it set up when i was 16, even when i stopped actively putting money in it, so now any time it gets its automated $1 transfer from my checking account, he'll just take that $1 without consulting me. i'm not exaggerating, even if it has $1-2 in it, it'll be gone within a week

i've even put off starting on testosterone because of this. i wanted to start it like 3 years ago, but kept putting it off because of money issues and wanting to save as much as possible. i got really close to actually starting it this year, but because of how messy everything is, i put it off again bc having one more thing on my plate, especially when my parents are already weird about me being trans, was not something i wanted to deal with

not to mention, we're still currently not living under a lease in our house that we're, as far as i'm aware, still tens of thousands of dollars behind in rent on (again, my dad refuses to disclose our financial position honestly with any of us) and it's developed many, many issues bc the landlord, even before we were behind on rent, is shit and refuses to actually fix anything. and my dad loves to just ignore things unless we beg him to do something

i'd love to be on my own (in the, much more affordable, midwest) by the end of summer. i by no means want to rely on donations and i have other avenues i'm working with to make money (i still have my current full time job, but i'm going through my old belongings and selling a lot online), but i'll take any help i can get atp because i'm truly at my wits end. i'd start doing art commissions again if i could, but doing that from 2020-2022, partially on top of my full time job, absolutely wrecked my right hand and i'm still in enough pain that i can't make it a regular activity

idk how much else there is to say. there's more i could say but... i don't really wanna air all my dirty laundry here. i'm miserable in so many ways and it's just become increasingly clear that my dad expects me to constantly cover his ass. my younger brother gives money too, but he manages to go on big cross-country and overseas trips with friends, so i think i've been stuck with the burden of giving the most money. there's so many more things going on in the world rn and everyone is stretched thin so i don't expect much, or anything, but. idk. might as well throw it out there, right?

i’ve also since taken down the gfm i set up last year when we got our first eviction notice bc, while we still need the money, i don’t feel right keeping it up for multiple reasons, including “i don’t want to give any of that money to my family” and it feels too… serious to keep it up when i could just throw out my kofi instead

i just want to make sure i have some sort of safety net to catch me if i move before anything job-wise is finalized. i need to be able to afford a place to live for at least a month so i can job-search while physically being in the area i wanna move to, which would ultimately make it easier for me to find a job at all. i'm working on being more firm with giving less money so i can actually have the means to move and be safe and comfortable, but... that never lasts long in this house

anyway. that's it, i guess. thanks for reading

[coraclavia]

Cora Watches: Kate Mulgrew in "Manions of America"

Today on Cora Watches, we find ourselves back in 1981, watching a 6-hour miniseries (5 without commercials) set in the mid-1800's. And yes, it's Manions, not Mansions. At first I had assumed that was a typo.

The story follows Rory O'Manion, a young Irishman working in the stables of the English aristocrat, whose daughter is Rachel (Kate's character). We see the local Irish population suffering under English oppression during Great Famine and potato blight. Rachel's father is Rory's landlord, and the English are bleeding Ireland dry in rent and taxes while Ireland starves because their staple crop (potatoes) won't grow. Things happen, tensions rise, and Rory leaves for America, and if you're thinking he just happens to see Rachel again there, well. That's an excellent guess.

This is just the beginning; it's an epic story that covers many years, stretching all the way through the American Civil War.

Regarding spoilers: I'm not going to spoil this one too much for you, so feel free to read through and enjoy the pretty pictures.

Most notably, this miniseries stars Pierce Brosnan. This is right before he got Very Famous; Manions of America premiered in 1981, and Remington Steele started in 1982. His first James Bond film was GoldenEye (1995).

First of all, let's get the obvious out of the way. They are a damn attractive couple. Look at that Hint of Scruff™.

It's such a great pairing: she's the rich English aristocrat, he's a rough-and-tumble Irish stablehand, and you better believe they're verbally sparring from the literal moment they meet. Mulgrew and Brosnan have amazing chemistry. I think this is an instance of a script that's already perfectly fine, and is then blessed with two leads who definitely elevate it.

Trivia: Have you heard the story about Kate Mulgrew flatly refusing to ride horses for anything on Star Trek because of a bad experience? It was in this series! Her horse got spooked one day during filming, and apparently Pierce Brosnan had to gallop in to save her. She got freaked out, understandably, and decided, Nope, no more.

But at least she got to wear this badass riding outfit.

Honestly it's like every costume is more fabulous than the last one. I could make an entire post of just pictures of her in increasingly awesome dresses, and let's hear it for her curling iron. It worked hard in this production.

We really get to see the personal side of the conflict; Rachel's English, in love with an Irishman, and her English brother falls for an Irish girl. It's really nice to see the conflict so present and real for these characters. There is angst, there is secrecy, there is Clandestine Kissing.

She is Very Very into Rory, and I don't blame her.

Sneaking outside to talk to this hottie? I'd do it.

I won't spoil it all--the story covers years, and a lot happens--but this.

Here's something I thought about while watching: Kate studied acting in NYC, and often her delivery in historical things like this reminds me of older-school actors. She was born in 1955; she grew up in the era of westerns on TV like The Rifleman and Laramie, and she probably saw and learned from actors trained with that stoic, semi-British delivery handed down from the theater. It is very weird watching her do a British accent sometimes, especially because I happen to know she was born and raised in Iowa. But that could just be a me thing.

Reminds me a little of her gothic holonovel, no? 😂😂

Other interesting cast: Pierce Brosnan's siblings in this include Nicholas Hammond, who played Friedrich in The Sound of Music (1965), and Linda Purl, who would go on to play Pam's mom Helene Beesley in The Office.

Do I recommend this: Yes! Wholeheartedly. It's a little soap-opera-y, but not in a bad way. Brosnan and Mulgrew are absolutely wonderful. And production value is great, especially considering it's made for TV, not a feature film. Pierce Brosnan and Kate Mulgrew make this such a joy, and I wish there were ten more movies with them together.

As of writing, it's viewable on youtube (part 1, part 2, part 3).