#unless you're in the process of processing a portion of the collection

[capinejghafa]

There's something about going to work today and basically being like I can accomplish the same thing at home.

[ember-owlet]

⋆♱ flip! clementine moodboard & headcanons ♱⋆

a/n: headcanons under the cut because i refuse to be silent about her (/lh) she's been with me for almost a decade now and gives off such cool older sister energy. one of my favorite fictional apocalypse characters. ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

caregiver! clementine

an extremely reliable caregiver that teaches her kiddo everything she knows as their survival in such a harsh environment is her top priority.

and there is, quite literally, almost nothing that could keep her from you.

comes up with silly nicknames that'll never outgrow you, you may be in a bigger headspace or physically older but you're still just as precious to her.

she tries to give as much verbal praise as she can, despite her moments of silence she always wants you to know that she's proud of you.

likes to savor the quiet moments alone with her regressor, taking in the sights and sounds of your eerily quiet world, and takes every opportunity to make something a learning experience.

wants to give you a balance of life outside of surviving with the ericson kids. despite her actions she does want you to know that there are good people to build a safe community with.

the ericson kids help around with caretaking on the side, wanting to give clementine moments to herself to relax and be a kid as well.

quietly gives you have the larger portion of food or rations, insisting that she had already eaten her share.

very good at remembering the things you enjoy, and will do her best on patrols to bring back toys/craft/regression supplies and gear to keep you entertained.

loves to see your smile and puts her at ease to see you giggle, its one of her favorite things in the world. in those moments she's able to forget the weight of her responsibilities.

regressor! clementine

doesn't have many opportunities to regress, and even then won't let herself fully slip into the headspace unless she's certain that AJ/her little one is being looked after by someone she completely trusts. it can be very hard for her to maintain a regressed headspace since most of it is voluntary, and is always ready to fight at the drop of a pin.

a mostly independent and quiet regressor. she takes care of her needs first (patching herself up/refueling with food and water) but needs a gentle reminder now and then from the people around her that its alright to have wants and to vocalize them.

puts WAY too much pressure on herself to be useful; needs to be told that things are alright and she did a good job before she can relax and play.

most of her regression is spent napping or doing low energy activities now that her body and mind has time outside of survival mode.

if she's completely alone she'll allow herself to process the trauma and survivor’s guilt that she's been through and grieve her loved ones, crying while holding her hat close to her chest.

tends to self isolate when she involuntarily vent regresses out of habit, worrying that her flashbacks or headspace will bring danger to herself or others (i think she unknowingly has a deep fear of turning into or ending up like sarah a LOT, but still misses her friend). in this way she finds regression a helpful coping mechanism for her PTSD, though it’s not always a positive experience for her.

because of this (and despite being an independant regressor) clementine HATES being alone. her deepest fear is being left behind and being around people makes her feel safe, even if they aren't physically in view. as long as she knows there are other kids walking the school grounds while she's regressed she'll feel at ease.

doesn't keep many regression items on her since she's always ready to leave personal belongings behind when things go south, but now that she's felt safe at ericson's she keeps a very small collection of trinkets from her favorite people that she'll take out and stare at or draw. it's her way of feeling closer to them and remember that she can allow herself to be vulnerable, taken care of, and loved.

bonus hc:

after receiving a prosthetic leg from the kids at ericson she had to re-teach herself how to walk. some of the kids would tease her with arms outstretched as though she were taking her first steps or others would be there to support/encourage her but respecting the fact that she didn’t want to be babied. and though she hated the attention the smallest regressed part of her felt so happy to be taken care of again in that way.

[glassfullofsass]

Taxes 2024: glass's quick and gritty guide to free filing those bitches

By god I hate doing my taxes but what I hate more is paying money for someone to do them for me.

Here's the thing. If taking your W2s and property taxes to someone with the training and paying them $70 makes you feel better. Do it. BUT if you're stubborn and bitchy, you CAN do it yourself and if you're reading this post I'm going to make the assumption that your AGI is less than $79000 and therefore you qualify for free file. (and if you don't know what an AGI is then yes, you qualify).

It's honestly going to be okay. We will get through it together.

This guide is not going to be thorough, and while I will try to answer questions if you ask them, I'm not an expert: my knowledge comes from filing my own taxes for the fourth (fifth?) year in a row using the free file program and going through a number of life changes that I have to reflect on my taxes.

The post includes a link and screenshots. I will describe the bare minimum information of the images in Alt Text, but will not fully transcribe the full text as all the images will be from the IRS website which has accessibility options.

Here we go:

I want you to go to this page and then chose the first big blue button (unless you want it all in Spanish, then click on Spanish and I'll pray for you that it's all the same process)

If you are a brave, brave soul then take the fillable forms and be free, my children. I cannot help you there.

BUT if you chose the guided software options it's going to take you to these options

You may chose to browse options on your own. This does feel somewhat choose-your-own-adventure and I'm not your mother or your boss. HOWEVER. I implore you to take the guidance as far as you can. Chose the big blue button that says "Find Your Trusted Partner(s)" (very polycurious, if I may say).

This survey is meant to be straightforward. There is a little blue questionmark that opens to explain the filing statuses very clearly and in detail. Chose the right status for you, then some other questions will show up. Answer the questions that come up (again, this general page should be info that is straightforward. most of us should be able to answer the general questions with just what's in our heads), then click next when the questions are done.

Now, you will need to know your income for this page, which probably mean you need your W2s or whatever other forms you might have that reflect/summarize your 2023 income. You don't need to get into extreme detail, you just need totals. Worked a couple of jobs and have W2s for all of them? Add "box 1" from each W2 together, select the first box under "Income" and type in your total in the fillable box that opens.

Further down this page is space for adjustments to your income, so stuff about student loans and health savings would be helpful, but again this survey isn't about the nitty gritty. Round numbers are fine.

Once you're done here, you'll click next and then it'll ask you about the Earned Income Tax Credit which is really just about if you have kids or not. Answer that question, click next and BOOM

This is the only free file partner that I qualify for this year (again, life changes), but in previous years I have used HRBlock and Tax Slayer. All three sites have been guided similarly to this survey and as easy to use as can be possible given the US tax system.

Thus ends my guided portion, as going to 1040(.)com will show you a great deal of my personal info, but I will give you a few more notes:

Throughout the year, collect your tax forms/important papers in a safe, secure place that YOU WILL NOT FORGET. (preferably a safe or at least a heavy fireproof security box).

Once you get to the tax website you're going to use, you will need all those papers.

Start your filing early. I like to start when I get my W2s.

For one, you'll get everything done and then in April when someone, stressed and anxious, asks if you remember that taxes are due, you can smugly say you filed ages ago. For another, if you do run into significant issues, you have lots of time to resolve them.

Don't necessarily file super early. Sometimes congress does stuff that affects taxes as late as March. It's easier and less stressful to edit your pending forms than it is to file a correction.

When you have all the information in, look up the local and national news and see if there's anything going on regarding taxes. This year there's talk about extending the child tax credit. I haven't kept up with that because it doesn't apply to me, but it might be important to you. If there's nothing happening that might affect you, go ahead and file.

If you have a question, ask! Even the free file services have a help section

I lied, one last snip. This is from 1040. They have an FAQ section, and it's not just about the site itself. I have submitted questions to all three services I've used and all of them have answered me.

They won't hold your hand through every step, but if you have a specific question, they'll do their best to answer it.

You can also do a general internet search! "what this form?" and "do i need to include XYZ on my taxes" are all things i've found the answers for by searching them on duckduckgo

HRBlock has a huge amount of accessible information that I've used often.

I'll wrap here by just saying - if you get frustrated, save your work and walk away.

I called my employer's HR to ask something, waited a couple days then started an email to them, and realized the answer as I was writing the email.

The earlier you start, the more time you have to figure things out. You can do it. Good luck.

[encryptedlunacy]

Prime example of every rant I've had about moss collection ever. TW: I'm about to have another, there's a TLDR at the bottom if you don't wanna emerse yourself in it or you're welcome to skip unless you plan on doing this yourself in which case please read on

Despite the praise moss receives for it's "fast spreading" qualities, moss takes an EXTREMELY long time to grow and cutting out a section like this is a huge loss on that patch that will take probably over a year to regenerate.

Moss is so important!!! It not only provides habitats for an abundance of insects and other micro-organisms which sustain the ecosystem and soil health, but are also a vital food source for larger animals due to nutrient rich qualities as well as it's inhabitants!! Birds use moss as a source of nesting material, and some amphibians spawn their young in moss due to it's common growth habits and moisture retention qualities. All of these species need to have enough moss to sustain their populations and that's really difficult to do in it's own right with growing habitat loss without the consumer market taking it a step further. Carving out this much in one sitting - from one area - not only completely destroys any hope another species' may have had for using it but will stress the moss out and this clump likely will not even survive the transition, and the two pieces left by the road may even decay as well.

If that doesn't suffice, moss has so many benefits for the environment, it lays the groundwork for other plants to grow by stabilizing environments and trapping organic matter as it grows to basically make it's own soil for other plants to establish themselves in, filters air far more efficiently than trees and grasses, and can store CO2 for longer and trap nutrients for other organisms to process.

Another important role it plays is that scientists use moss to detect changes in our environment, purify waters and other substances, and restore habitats for other life forms - and all of these different areas are not only vastly more important than aesthetic preferences for a living room, but also require a healthy and thriving population!! Sphagnum(/peat) moss particularly is praised for a lot of different reasons, but if you ever get the chance just research the effects the loss of peat bogs has had on places like Canada and Chile because it's so crazy it's actually ridiculous - and sphagnum is probably the easiest thing in the world to propagate yourself as well!!

When people do this in mass quantities, it can be so harmful to the environment I cannot even begin to tell you. With the rising popularity of moss for the plant/herp community for terrariums, etc, and usefulness in crafting projects, the demand for it is increasing, which means that people are capitalising on an easy source of income by making businesses out of harvesting "fresh moss" as it's a readily available item for them to go out and grab. Etsy is rife with sellers using "fresh wild moss" as a marketing strategy to gather more interest, because hey if it's grown in the wild it's good quality right? And then the moss being distributed by these sellers is likely "foraged" unsustainably and having videos like this where they make this collection process seem so simplistically enjoyable and easy to do encourages other people to do the same. We (and yes I mean we, I'm not gonna stand on a soap box and pretend I'm Florence Nightingale, I've done stupid shit too, we're all learning) are so quick to trust that it's okay to do something because we assume somebody else knows better because they're doing it, and it breeds a whole community of bad practices.

I'm not saying buying moss or collecting moss is bad but PLEASE if you are going to harvest moss, there are so many videos on how to do it so that it doesn't destroy habitats (or at least lessens the damage done) by taking small portions from the middle of a patch where you can pat the other moss down around it to fill the gap and decreases the stress you're putting on it - or better yet! Take small clumps that have already dropped or been picked off by birds (our magpies love chucking moss off the roof, there's nothing we can do to stop them from tearing it up, but we can certainly make sure that it doesn't go to waste.)

There are more videos than I could swing a seal at showing you how to propagate moss as well, simply by cutting it into small pieces, spreading it out across a wider surface area, and you have even more moss to utilise in the future. P l e a s e, I am on my hands and knees begging you to challenge people who are doing this and politely inform them of the destruction it causes.

TLDR: Moss is really important for the environment and we need to make sure we're purchasing CULTIVATED MATERIAL ONLY or harvesting sustainably. Let's stop destroying habitats and harming the environment further!

If you would like yt links to video tutorials or simply channel recommendations I am happy to provide my favourite people I seriously do not mind just stop harming my moss please

DIY Terrarium

[abboudlawfirm-omaha]

How long does a judgment last in Iowa?

Judgments are an essential part of the legal system, offering creditors a way to collect on debts owed. If you're in Iowa and wondering about the duration and enforceability of a judgment, you're not alone. Whether you're a creditor aiming to secure payments or a debtor navigating financial obligations, understanding the time limits and processes around judgments in Iowa is crucial.

This article will break down how long judgments last, how they can be renewed, and what both creditors and debtors need to know to protect their interests.

What is a Judgment?

A judgment is a court's official decision that legally obligates a debtor to pay a specified amount to a creditor. It often results from lawsuits over unpaid debts, breached contracts, or other financial disputes. Once issued, judgments can provide creditors with various enforcement tools, including wage garnishment, bank levies, or liens on real estate.

How Long Does a Judgment Last in Iowa?

The duration of a judgment in Iowa depends on the type of enforcement sought:

Statute of Limitations for Judgments

Judgments in Iowa are enforceable for 20 years from the date they are entered. During this time, creditors can pursue collection actions to recover the debt.

Judgment Liens on Real Estate

When a judgment is issued, it automatically creates a lien on any real estate the debtor owns in the county where the judgment is recorded.

These liens last for 10 years but can be renewed for additional periods if necessary.

For example, if a creditor obtains a judgment on January 1, 2025, the lien on any property in that county will remain active until January 1, 2035, unless renewed.

Renewing a Judgment in Iowa

Judgments don’t automatically renew. To keep a judgment enforceable or to maintain a lien on real estate, creditors must take proactive steps before the judgment or lien expires.

Steps to Renew a Judgment

File a New Action Before the Expiration Date: Creditors must file a renewal action within the 20-year enforceability period. Failing to do so means the judgment can no longer be enforced.

Renewing Judgment Liens: To extend a lien on the debtor’s real estate, creditors must file a renewal action before the 10-year lien period expires. A renewed lien ensures the creditor retains leverage over the debtor’s property.

Why Renewal is Important

Renewing a judgment keeps it active and allows creditors to continue pursuing collection efforts. It also ensures any liens remain valid, preventing debtors from selling or refinancing property without addressing the debt.

Collection Tools Available to Creditors

Iowa law provides creditors with several ways to enforce a judgment:

Wage Garnishment: Creditors can request a portion of the debtor’s wages to be directed toward the debt.

Bank Levies: Funds in the debtor’s bank account can be seized to satisfy the judgment.

Real Estate Liens: Liens ensure that the judgment must be addressed if the property is sold or refinanced.

These tools remain available as long as the judgment is active, emphasizing the importance of renewal for long-term collection efforts.

What Happens if a Judgment Expires?

If a creditor fails to renew a judgment within the applicable time frame, it becomes unenforceable. This means:

No Further Collection: Creditors lose the right to collect the debt through legal means.

Removal of Liens: Any liens attached to the debtor’s property expire, making it easier for the debtor to sell or refinance.

For creditors, letting a judgment lapse can mean forfeiting thousands of dollars. For debtors, expired judgments can provide a fresh financial start.

Practical Tips for Creditors

To maximize the enforceability of judgments, creditors should:

Track Deadlines: Mark your calendar to ensure you don’t miss the 10-year lien renewal or the 20-year enforceability deadline.

Start Early: Begin the renewal process 6 to 12 months before the expiration date to avoid procedural delays.

Engage Legal Support: Consulting with an attorney can help ensure all renewal actions comply with Iowa laws, avoiding costly mistakes.

Keep Records: Maintain thorough documentation of collection efforts, payments received, and any communications with the debtor.

Advice for Debtors

If you’re a debtor facing a judgment in Iowa, here’s what you need to know:

Judgments Can Be Renewed: Don’t assume that a judgment will go away after 20 years. Creditors can file for renewal, extending their collection efforts.

Property Liens Are Binding: If you plan to sell or refinance property, you’ll likely need to address any liens tied to judgments.

Seek Legal Guidance: An attorney can help you understand your rights, negotiate with creditors, or explore options like debt settlement.

Key Takeaways

Judgments in Iowa last 20 years and can be renewed before expiration.

Real estate liens tied to judgments last 10 years and also require renewal for continued enforceability.

Creditor actions, like garnishments or levies, remain viable as long as the judgment is active.

Both creditors and debtors must understand the timelines and procedures to protect their interests.

Conclusion

Whether you're a creditor seeking to enforce a judgment or a debtor managing obligations, staying informed about Iowa’s judgment laws is vital. By understanding the time limits, renewal processes, and available enforcement tools, you can navigate the complexities of judgments with confidence.

For creditors, timely action ensures continued collection efforts. For debtors, awareness of your rights can help you negotiate or settle debts effectively.

If you need help understanding or managing judgments in Iowa, contact our personal injury attorney in Omaha, NE for professional guidance. Don’t wait to get the support you need—let us help you take the next step!

[thewitchpaint]

How I Paint

Hello everyone!

The title of this post is simple, yet self explanatory. I in no way consider myself to be an expert, but I don't paint badly (unless I feel like it. You'll know.). I wanted to give you a glimpse into my process and to maybe give you the inkling to want to pick up a brush and paint. My method is solely with acrylic paints, not oils or watercolors (though I dabble in those too), so I wouldn't use everything here to do those other media. I also work primarily from photographs because my subjects are usually a pet, and pets are hard to keep still. This allows me to paint a pet that I know I will never see in person or one that has sadly passed away and all that exists is photographs.

If anyone wants an idea of my particular style: I try for some realism, but often what I want to do is capture the essence and spirit of the subject and focus on that instead of perfection.

For my examples, I am using two different paintings, but showing the same processes because I am terrible at documenting (I keep painting and forgetting to take pictures!)

To begin, I make sure my setup is how I want it to be. My choice setup is my little portable table, which sits betwixt the legs of my easel. You can choose any easel you want, but I specifically got one that can adjust/telescope from table size to floor size without a lot of hassle. It's not the sturdiest, but it does the job. Keep in mind, this is all sitting on top of a canvas drop cloth because most places I paint are danger zones when it comes to drips. My water glass and brush rolls go on top of the little table. (Pic 1)

Speaking of brush rolls, they are very important if you have at least a modest collection of brushes. I will go into depth about those in another post!

I then grab my canvas of choice. I'm into oddly shaped ones, myself because they present a challenge. I do, however, offer four sizes of rectangular canvases as my basis for most commissions. It's much easier to price them if I know what shape/frame I'll be using. Sometimes too, my canvas might be watercolor paper because I like to make greeting cards. Sometimes I will paint on wood or wood slices because it offers a nice change. Really, the canvas you choose is what speaks to you for your project. There's no wrong thing to use as a canvas as long as you don't get in trouble, haha.

Let's get into my actual method now, since you've had to read through the prep:

I just slather the canvas in a background color! I know that some people may not like that, and that's obviously something you can change if you're being commissioned, but often I can't be bothered to do a crazy background to start. You can always add fantastic things later, but my particular method is emphasis on the subject and not necessarily the background. I have been known on occasions to do stripes or starbursts, but that is only really at the request of the commissioner or if the painting really calls out for it. Note, even if you want the background of your painting to be white like the canvas, it's best to actually paint it white and not rely on the empty canvas. (pic 2)

Once the background is dry, you can begin mapping out your subject. I tend to do broad outline shapes in white and just fill in with white because if you screw up, it's hella easy to just cover it up like you would with the canvas. (pic 3)

I fill in with the basic shapes of the subject in the approximate colors that you would be using. Up until a certain point, when I put in more details, I like to call this portion "The Roughs", as in "here's your rough draft, the rough shapes, the rough outlines". (pics 4-8)

Keep adding onto your roughs. Keep in mind playing with negative and positive space-- taking those shapes and making sure they all line up. Play also with shadow and light in the same manner. Try your best to color match what is actually in the picture and not what your mind thinks it is. Shadows aren't all black and highlights aren't all white. Snow is a tricky one, for example because it contains so many subtle colors that our eye still perceives as white.

A lot of times, I will use my thinnest brushes to make an outline of different parts of my subject. Sometimes the lines will end up in the final "draft", and sometimes they will be covered over in favor of softer edges, but it all just depends on what is called for in the painting.

Keep going smaller and smaller with your rough shapes, adding more detail each time. If you feel like you already reached that point a while ago, you can ignore this, but I feel up until you really go in with detail, you're in the roughs. (pics 9-10)

Add your detail! Once you get a lot of your highlights, shadows, spaces, shapes, and colors mapped out (whew!) and you feel satisfied with the result, go for it. Use smaller and smaller brushes. Be deliberate with everything you are painting (if you weren't already being so). Put meaning behind every stroke and don't give up before the finish line. (pic 11)

If you need to at any point during the process, take a break! It's very good to step away from your work, especially if you have been at it for hours. Give your eyes a break, take a drink, walk around. Try not to think about your work for a few minutes and come back with fresh eyes.

Go in with final details and do a check over. If you weren't already checking over the painting to get everything in there, now's the time to do it. Is your subject missing a non-missing digit? Is there anything that seems off? Go in and correct it. If there are corrections of any size that need to be done, big or small, it's best to go with the closest color to paint over it or else use white to start fresh.

Once you're satisfied ENOUGH with the painting--- freaking stop! You are your own worst critic and it's most likely that whatever you do will be much appreciated by your patron. Unless there is something GLARING that you forgot, it's probably fine. The goal is not to be perfect (hard, I know!), but to be finished and be satisfied with the work you've put through. (pics 12-14)

Now that your painting is finished ENOUGH, be proud of yourself. Since it is acrylics you don't necessarily have to put a finish on it, but you can. Once everything is dry you can send it out or hang it on your wall to show everyone.

[katrinafaire]

I'll preface this with: I am absolutely considering changing the series title, or at least the Luica portion of it - unless of course I snap the currently four book series into two duologies, but considering they take place one after the other that's unlikely.

The Luica Universe, as of the plans I have right now, consists of four linked series, sets of perspectives within a universe of my creation that I want to explore.

I am currently on book 1 (The Cure) of series 1 (Luica: The Forgotten, as it says on the cover) and I've written 37.4K as of the making of this post. I'm estimating it a bit over 1/3 done.

Collectively, the universe falls under a soft scifi / science fantasy banner with themes of survival and the strength of spirit, dealing with a post-apocalyptic earth, genetically engineered variants of humans, eventual space travel and aliens where you least expect them. There is so much worldbuilding done already and even more in process and planned for later and I have a living story bible to keep myself straight.

It's a current dream to put out a sort of an all-the-things companion "encyclopedia" after releasing book two, where people would have easy reference for biographies, historic timelines, location detailing, cultural breakdowns and basically anything in my story bible that doesn't spoil the later books. It'd be especially neat to write it from one of my MC's perspectives because it's highly in character. And maybe even release other volumes later.

At the moment, of course, I have to finish writing it, and once I do I'll put it through some editing and rewriting and post it up on Royal Road -- read it for free, maybe tip me if you're feeling generous. If I do publish to hard copy and ebooks (audiobooks are another thing I'd like to do but I'm not as sure of that process) it will be indie and likely funded by an eventual Patreon.

I have reserved my name on RR, so give me a pre-emptive follow if you like and drop me a note so I can check you out! Part of why I'm on tumblr is for the community and I legit cannot wait to get to know more people and broaden my horizons.

Under a cut will be links to additional, specific book information. For the moment, only Books 1-4 will be listed.

Series 1: Luica - The Forgotten

Book 1: The Cure (tba)

Book 2: -information not released-

Book 3: -information not released-

Book 4: -information not released-

[the-firebird69]

There are more things happening some of them are pretty big and they're court cases today and John remillard has several and he's over there now and he's going to be there until probably 2:00 p.m. it is a terribly disgusting crew but we do have to tell you that things are changing he's being sued for a lot of money and stuff and he's not going to last he's got about two or three days left of his local supply of cash and he's got to bring more in and he has only three Banks and we mean entire Banks and those will be gone soon they are huge huge deals what's going on here and it's terrible they're not very bright and their stuff is horrible we do see what's happening and it's nasty items of business yeah we have announcements we have huge businesses that we are acquiring today

-one of the businesses that we are the process of acquiring and we're supposed to have a pre-sign today meeting is Harley-Davidson for approximately 64% of the company several others have come into try and sell because they have nothing else they can do that's what they said and what we say is it's probably true if you don't sell now they'll be taking over by imminent domain anyways but it gives us an opportunity to collect everything and it's worth it and we're going in and it keeps the peace to a degree we're going in and we are going to sit down at one of the Harley-Davidson locations of theirs and discuss it they do have other businesses. We are acquiring this business to make sure that they build motorcycles they have slowed to a standstill and they're building only for their higher-ups and really it's causing a lot of fighting at the top Max too and foreigners but it's not worthwhile it doesn't have that much effect we're going into several areas they're too hot to have the meeting and we're saying where we think and they don't like it but it is something to have to do we are going to continue building the way they are and we have another meeting afterwards to make sure that the parties involved agree now this would be an agreement between us and them because we're assuming that portion of the business the others don't have a say in it they can say they're going to have this and do that but it doesn't matter we're going to be making the agreement and they don't have an influence on it unless they want to make it a condition of sale and we can argue at that time but we will try to get over this hurdles newer old and we are discussing it with them and they're saying no new bikes and the same method and they do have these stupid turn off thing but that can be disabled and everybody does and there's a couple other things that are odd it has this huge fuse box and we would like to change those and people will and it makes sight for an aftermarket business where you have to go modify them and people don't mind doing it because they modify other stuff and it's still a hassle but they want to keep that for 5 years and a new models and there is no real great reason motorcycles don't consume that much gas and people take the thing off but people do put it on other things and they used the fuses for other stuff too and they want to continue to make them and how you disable it is you just pull it out and it's disabled and most people figure out how to do it and if you're Harley-Davidson Rider you're going to know even corks get it done. So we're going to have to carry on doing it I guess and there's other things too that are pivotal to what we're talking about and we're going to get to that shortly there are a number of other businesses we're going to print it's huge

Thor Freya

Olympus

We don't have too many stipulations we mentioned a couple we have to have certain aspects of the company kept in place one of them is continuity of service and what they say is they hire mix and who's available and they do not do what these guys do shut everyone out and sit on it and it was ridiculous and it was done because of green fear and laziness however when you're working and people can be nasty but we see that they do hire a mixed group and sometimes they're not even there they say and he said that and it's true so we're interested in doing it because they'll keep the company going and their grandson and his brother are founders and more so his mom and dad who are here in flesh and blood and there's part here still and he he's probably alive but he came back he would want the company back and that's something to do from his son and it's a big company a lot of people want to see that happen even though his son got nothing which is kind of ridiculous you can't take it back if he doesn't have it and if he's not involved at all he just makes major decisions for us that could be going the other way we wouldn't know if you can't examine it so I'm kind of pissed off again and I do understand why but it's going ahead and I know he's going to keep with it with it and you understand the switch thing and really it's a lot of people who don't really video it's in the race movie so you see who it is and it's an obvious ploy they do it with the cars too and we hate them for it and it's annoying as s*** but they can't build themselves so we're going ahead with it on new bikes and we like their ideas on preserving the culture of the company we started to make assembly factories separate and we started to have their manufacturing of the parts in the same place and centralizing and it needed a lot easier they need to still do it kind of the same way or it's another shipping disaster so they're going to go ahead and do that and they said it and he said it's here also we are expecting new bikes that we designed and they are a little lighter and they're fast and there's a sport bike and we I guess are going to have competition and he designed the fuel the original one before and we liked it and he wants to do the Buell again there's a couple reasons to do it and one is that the party poopers didn't want to have anything to do with it and they tried to ruin the company and it was really founded by one of their group sort of and the spoil and it's our brand and we own it and it is a something we need to exercise so other people don't take it we are continuing for the process today we like what they're saying and we want to continue with the Harley culture and we want to continue with the proper name and emblems occasionally we do retro stuff but we will talk about that at that point they're talking about a couple of sport bikes and we like we're not into light cycles at this time and probably won't be but he has an idea I kind of like it too you might make a different division but the same company Harley-Davidson racing and dirt bikes and dirt track and superbikes and sport bikes and light cycles and it's an idea and it's kind of a style cuz it's big time

Mac Daddy

Olympus we did discuss it in setting it up that way and it's an effective way to do things and it needs to have some kind of pizzazz and that would do it

I like this idea and I think we should go forward with it and we're going to start planning to do it right now

Thor Freya

[joyce-stick]

Audrey's Best Girls Winter 2023

Video of recommendations of girls (And media) which halfway through turned into a Bocchi the Rock video essay.

Transcript under the cut.

Previous video essay/transcript: Adachi and Shimamura's Second Season

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Hello everyone, it’s Audrey. So, it’s been some time, I was writing a script about problematic things, and then Joyce came along and started a separate script about things we had to recommend. I finished that script, and the end result of this process was a great incoherent mess, so I’m taking it from the top.

First thing we have to talk about today is Moonshine!~

Moonshine is a doujin visual novel produced by the now seemingly dissolved doujin circle Sakura Mint, whose origins I don’t have the resources nor Japanese language knowledge to trace any information about. It was released in 2007, and then translated to English in 2008, and, quite frankly, the fact that a freely available English translation exists for easy online downloading is a goddamn miracle. It’s really short, like, about an hour, or two if you’re slow like we are. Nonetheless, this VN made us cry like a little baby child. The reason for that being, it’s about a trans girl. And the other reason for that being, it’s about a trans girl falling in love with a gender ambiguous main protagonist who is, well, gosh, really.

This is a really raw and emotionally powerful little story with a really strong theme of how to move on with your life. From a life where you didn’t belong or weren’t loved, or from a life that you love but that can’t follow you, and how either can be equally painful, how change is always painful, even if it truly is for the better, and it’s just a whole lot of feelings. A story that made us cry this much needs to be read. The English version is available freely, it’s only a bit of time, and it’s very well worth it. You might need to fuck around with your graphics settings to get it to display in proper 4 by 3 if you want to play it in fullscreen without it stretching to 16 by 9, but still, very very worth it. Probably one of the best pieces of queer fiction that we’ve ever read, and the fact that it got translated the year after its release is incredible.

It also has a sequel, called Tsugi no Terasu, which is probably not called “Sunshine” in English because that’s not what the kanji means. This sequel never got any sort of digital release either officially or otherwise and it looks as if the doujin group that made it has long disbanded given that the web domain name they used to occupy is now populated by casino advertisements, sooo all their work is probably just kind of, gone, unfortunately. As is often the case when independently produced niche media exists and no one is doing any work to preserve it. These things just sort of go and vanish.

Unless it hasn’t vanished, and someone does care! Like, I dunno, the girl reading this. I dunno about y’all, but I’d prefer that this thirteen year old VN that’s a sequel to a sixteen year old VN about a trans girl gets to be read, by someone, and hopefully continue to exist, and not evaporate into the mists of time. Sure, we can’t read it, but, details details. We’ll learn! How to read. I hope.

So I found a copy of Tsugi no Terasu for sale on akibaoo. Presumably this copy’s used, and there’s no guarantee it’ll work with our computer, or that it won’t be scratched to hell, but hey, you have to take some chances sometime in life. So, I bought it, with a portion of our, uh, meager, monthly Patreon earnings, so that we can collect it and take some form of action to preserve it in some form. Because this is what we’re supposed to do. I know we don’t have that much money, I know we’re probably going to have to eat a lot of rice for another month, but, what the hell, are we doing this youtube shit for, if not this shit? And I for one, am tired of watching hazel do all the awesome Japanese media preservation actions. I would like to have some of that glory! Somehow.

And that’s the thing.

So if you’d like to support the thing, that is to say, acquiring and assessing niche subcultural Japanese media so that we can talk about it and maybe help make it accessible to other people, and making video essays about these exploits and our emotional discoveries from them, or whatever else we do, which all apparently comes ahead of eating a proper diet because we’re insane… then please, please, donate money to us via Ko-fi, Patreon, or whatever. You will be rewarded in some way, I assure you, unless you don’t feel rewarded, and then you won’t.

So here, I’m gonna tell y’all about other interesting content that we’ve had a look at.

2,

Witch from mercury!

Okay so I had a whole thing written about this show. And then I had a whole other thing. And then Joyce simplified that other thing to its base components. And I don’t feel like summarizing what she said about what I said. But really I just think you should look at the tweet I wrote. Which says,

“So basically this is the story of what'd happen if us talking to girls in our discord chats but we had mechas and were all caught in the middle of corporate/government space politics-wars-ing

“I’m sorry”

And also,

Suletta didn’t do anything wrong.

I’ve thought about this quite a long time, and others have kind of said it more succinctly, but I think that Suletta made, not the best decision, but a reasonable decision in this circumstance, to protect her fiancee from the guy pointing a gun at her.

I think the appropriate thing to do then would have been to emerge from Aerial apologizing profusely for the traumatic experience that Miorine just had of watching a dude get killed, instead of what she did do. That would have been the human thing to do. But Suletta didn’t act like a human in this situation because her mom told her that this behavior was a show of emotional strength. And that’s what’s happened here. And that’s interesting, because it plays really well into the story, I think, in showing that the shonen protagonist pluckiness that Suletta was trying to approach her circumstances with, doesn’t really work all of the time! Suletta, the main protagonist of this series, acted the most protagonist like that she’d ever acted in this scene, and it was the most out of character she’d ever acted, and like, gosh, I’m looking forward to seeing how they follow up on this. That’s really what I have to say about that.

Oh and also the show was good.

So yeah, that helped.

3,

How Do We Relationship?

Which I’m going to refer to as Tsukiage, a shortened form of its Japanese title, from here on out.

Tsukiage is a story about lesbians.

And yes, yes, I know, there’s many stories “about lesbians” that I’ve told you about before. No. This isn’t like those. Tsukiage is About Lesbians. Tsukiage is about the experience of being a lesbian in This World, with all its gross bigotry problems. Tsukiage is about the experience of being in a group of heterosexual women and being asked what guys you like, and being unable to answer. Tsukiage is about the experience of being someone you know your parents would hate. Tsukiage is about the experience of being a teenager with no adults to trust in your life, but also about being an adult uncertain if you can trust the other adults in your life, and about the ennui of living isolated in a place you’ll probably never find your way out of, and about,

Tsukiage is about two twenty something lesbians who date each other because they’re the only lesbians they know and they have no idea what else to do, and who are really good at having a lot of sex with each other but are also really bad at dating and even worse at dating on the days when they're really bad at having sex with each other. And they're also both young and both had traumatic high school romance failures because, being a high school student is plenty traumatic in its own ways, and those wounds are still fresh to both of them even if they want to pretend they aren't, and it's bound to follow them still in this town they've lived their whole life in, and it's just a lot of spicy drama about that! I’ve been only three volumes in so far, and Miwa and Saeko are the first main pairing of a yuri manga we've seen to whom I’ve kind of ended up saying “nope”. I don’t get the sense that these two are made for each other in the same sense we got reading Adashima or Yagakimi or Sasakoi. They argue, they bicker, they feel jealous about each other, and about, maybe, 2 thirds of the way through the second volume, I realized I was reading a breakup narrative.

I mean, look at the back covers of the first four volumes. They telegraph it visually!

But also that makes this manga even more compelling for what it’s going for, because, um, conflict is good! And two people not made for each other is damn well better! Just yes, please do try to eventually get these two back together and sell me on this horrible relationship sorting itself. Or don’t, that’s also fine! I’ve not actually got to the chapter where they broke up, because, gosh, and tough, but yeah. And also this is probably the first manga I’ve read that actually shows how school can be traumatic, when it presents a supporting character who was deemed “gifted” in high school but ultimately wasn’t as good as their sibling and then was extremely othered by her family, and just is, generally, awfully maladjusted to, reality, because of the sheltered and overstructured way in which they lived being forced to rank as high as possible on exams, and like, shit! Like, I know Japanese high school is brutal, and it’s a plot point in a lot of anime and all, but this is the one time I can recall offhand when it was actually something that impacted the story and characters outside of a relatively contained studying arc, and it’s probably some of the realest fucking shit I’ve ever read.

Oh, also, um, Tsukiage is really damn funny. Like, the early volumes had me laughing involuntarily so much that I was seriously concerned about attracting noise complaints from others in our living space, or, around, generally? It’s a really good story, the art and faces are really good, the humor is really good and that's pretty damn essential, I think, for a story that deals in such heavy topics. The whole thing is good, so, yeah, read it!

4,

Bad End Theater!

So yeah, I already used this game as b-roll in the Adashima video, so if you watched that, you probably already know that we liked this. And we do. It’s quite good. This game starts with, as Joyce said, *ruffles papers* “an unawakened lesbian is eaten by a demon… and in the next part of the game, the lesbian meets a demon lesbian who wants to eat her in the other way… and in the later part of the game, a reply guy apologizes for replying with violence… or actually replies with violence.”

So anyway this game took us a couple hours to 100% all its Steam achievements. Very short game, very good game, nice little queer vignette about the tragedy of people from different social backgrounds not understanding each other, and then understanding each other, one hopes. It’s not free, but it’s quite good, and easily recommendable! So yeah.

5, Spark the Electric Jester 3!

It’s a Sonic game. It’s basically a Sonic game. It’s much like the earlier game, Spark the Electric Jester 2, which is much like the earlier games Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, the video about which we were going to make is apparently not coming out until it does, because we keep getting distracted by pointless bullshit. The developer of this series is a former developer of Sonic fangames and started with the 2D Spark the Electric Jester 1, which we could not finish because we suck at 2D platformers.

One really interesting thing about this game is how it treats the lives system. Yes, it has one, but only for the final level. I find this super super interesting, because while we were playing the Sonic Adventure titles with a friend of ours, we kinda generally came into the agreement that the lives system of all these games was a mistake. And Sonic Team seems to have agreed, because they, uh, removed it, from Sonic Forces onwards. But Spark 3 puts it back deliberately, only for the final level, and the final level is basically designed to make you lose lives. Not through difficulty, exactly, because while it is difficult, it’s not insurmountable, once you know the lay of the land- but rather, through compounding difficulty by length. Utopia Shelter doesn’t feel exactly like a level, it feels like a whole city. It feels like, I suppose, if at the end of Sonic 06, the whole of Soleanna became a level from which Sonic had to escape- oh, well, I guess that sort of did happen, huh. Sorry, just um…

Sonic 06 is cool? I’m very sorry to say so. It’s a horrible mess, but it also is cool.

Anyway, Spark 3’s acknowledgement of lives as a part of the Sonic Adventure experience feels like, kind of great? Like it doesn’t just go, “oh this part annoyed people, let’s throw it away” it says, no, dying in Final Chase repeatedly and falling out to the main menu is part of this kind of game, let’s just, give the player a chance to experience that, at least once. Let's make this a part of the game, but make it better, by making the level earn it, both by being an awesome level whose difficulty feels contextually justified, and also by being in a game with phenomenal 3D controls and platforming and movement physics where the appeal of such a difficulty modifier isn't spoiled by deaths that don't feel like your fault  And it’s done in a way that feels accessible, with the option of going back and just, playing more of the game more, if you feel like you need more lives to endure the stage, but odds are if you’ve done all the optional stages you don’t need that many. I got to the end of Utopia Shelter on my second try, with lives to spare.

And yeah, so, anyway. Spark 3. It’s a really good game. It’s got pretty great level design and a great sense of visual style, really good music, good movement except for those damn cars that glitch and start going sideways all the time… I started just doing the car stages on foot because I couldn’t be bothered. But other than those, great game!

And finally;

Bocchi the Rock!

Okay, so I’m not sure what about Bocchi I can say that isn’t already said by other people but y’know what, fuck it, Molly’s convinced me, I’m gonna tell the weird age gap crush story.

So, when we were like, 16, 17, thereabouts, we were presumed a cis boy, and about six entire feet tall, and because of this, non-attentive viewers would often mistake us for a college-age dude. This factor, alongside the color of our skin and the general, uh, emotional neglect, of our parents, lent itself to our delinquencies, i.e., doing basically whatever the fuck we wanted at the expense of getting verbally and/or physically harassed by our parents who weren’t happy with us doing whatever the fuck we wanted but were slowly giving up after whatever point at which they stopped paying for the therapy that didn’t fix this brain immediately. So it was one night, while we were out of the house, as we usually were, talking to people at a charity event for the community org we volunteered for back then, that we saw her.

That woman who played guitar. Who was, back then, about the age we are right now. Maybe a little bit older.

Don’t think I need to describe her elsewise, really!

We had played guitar, too, once, for several years even. But I think we’d given up on music, like, the year before, after our mom harassing us to practice the “right” way made it not fun for us anymore. Seeing that beautiful, talented, very nice, woman almost made us want to try again. Although, we didn’t, because our mom didn’t want us to ever touch an instrument again unless we were truly serious about trying to make money with it, because those lessons are expensive, and I guess that’s one of the many ways we disappointed her, by ostensibly wasting her money.

But anyway, this woman. She was nice. That’s most of what we remember about her. She was a nice, cool, and to our eyes then, pretty, older woman who felt easy to talk to, and seemed to empathize with our anxieties, as, little of them as we felt comfortable telling, and, we were awkward around here and didn’t say much other than to compliment here and to talk about Edgar Wright’s movies, but like, y’know, she was good. She was good. Remembering how she smiled and how she looked at us like… well, probably the same as she smiled and looked at everyone, but still, it seemed like she liked us, or liked having us around. Although, now, being a performing person, we understand it’s kind of in your best interest to smile at everyone who comes to see a show. But. Yeah.

And we knew we never had a chance with this nice older woman, and that our crush on her was inappropriate, but, still… we still thought about this nice, talented, tall, pretty, interesting woman, and how much we wished we could be closer with her, but alas, and curses, age gaps, strike something again. Our heart, most likely, but maybe something else too.

And you know where this is going, don’t you.

Yeah.

[Kikuri Hiroi, a clip]

Kikuri is far, far more unhinged than that woman. The woman we knew was, uh, hinged, enough, to not drink around the absurdly tall and cute 17 year old that kept coming to her gigs for unknown reasons. Kikuri meanwhile is hardly ever seen without a can of sake nearby. And she’s also a bit more, y’know, open, with Hitori-chan, whose face around Kikuri is constantly a mixture of mild terror and grand astonishment. And, yes, Seika and Kikuri, is definitely, the more appropriate ship, and the one more likely to happen in the actual story, if any explicit lesbianism did happen, which I don't expect it to, but Hitori and Kikuri, in my opinion, is much more compelling, precisely because of how inappropriate it is. There’s just something particularly compelling to us, anyway, in the thought of our dead-in-the-water teenage crush, or something adjacent to it, actually going, someplace. It’s true that had we acted on it in real life, assuming we weren’t just rejected and told to abscond permanently, it’d almost certainly have gone extremely badly, for all the reasons it’d have done that, but, y’know, fiction is meant for exploring those culturally taboo fantasies of these sorts without necessarily needing to consider those unsafe and undesirable consequences. Although… you can, cause that’s conducive to drama.

So anyway, as far as, the actual show, goes, I dunno, I think it’s all pretty clear in this moment. This entire surreal bit with the psychedelic rock concert, where Hitori sees Kuroi reach out to her in this imagined intimate moment and whisk her away through this weird and new aspect of music and life experience that she’s not felt before, and it’s just like… Yeah! Yeah, that’s how it felt to us back then, watching that nice older girl on that stage. It was really kind of nostalgic actually. So, there’s one layer of the appeal of Kikuri’s inclusion in the show, Hitori’s feelings for Kikuri as someone who is a mentor figure and has things to teach her. You could say the thing Kikuri has to teach is music, or, something else, and though Hitori isn't eloquent or brave enough to articulate whatever her crazy teenage feelings are, it's clear she… has some! Which are ambiguous enough that they could be interpreted as just her wanting to be like Kikuri, which was also an aspect of our teenage emotions about our cool guitar woman, or that Kikuri playing in front of her triggered a spicy homosexual awakening! Not wrong either way. Though I think it's both.

And the other layer of the appeal is just… well, Kikuri herself. And our adoration of and relation to Kikuri as not just a stand-in for our teenage age gap crush, but also as a character in our age range who is relatable to us as a young adult who feels similarly to her about life!

I don’t think I need to explain that one, but I will anyway.

Kikuri is an alcoholic.

At some point after we turned 21, when it wasn’t us, but Joyce, Joyce discovered alcohol, during one of the low points in our life when we were unstably housed, and gradually started to rely on it a fair bit more than she should have. For a good year or two there, Joyce was drinking off our ass about once a month, sometimes twice, and y’know, just sort of thinking, who cares. If I die, if I lose, if I go out. Who cares. cause I’m not going to! We only really stopped drinking as much as we did because it started costing money and we started finding ostensibly better ways to hurt ourselves, like buying the disc of an ancient Japanese-only doujin game and telling ourselves it’s media preservation. I don’t think we were ever as much of an addict as Kikuri but, just, watching Kikuri, and watching her ruin her life in, basically the same sort of a way, is extremely relatable and gross and eugh

And the whole gosh contrast of THIS WOMAN being Hitori’s mentor figure who she takes her cues from and then embarrasses herself trying to do it

Is just incredible and perfect and gosh

Both these lovely women are both ruining themselves trying to be cool and likable and awesome, and… SUCCEEDING, because, the… the people LIKE the women, ruining themselves! and it’s beautiful.

I’m sorry, it’s beautiful.

Anyway Bocchi good. Bocchi good.

We've been reading the manga of Bocchi since writing that bit, and I think the Bocchi manga is just, for one thing, somewhat inherently let down by not being an anime and not having songs play in it, but, it's got more humor, at least one more crazy adult, and it's got more happening in it, as there is in every manga, and I really like it.

[I had to transcribe this part because I ad-libbed it. - Audrey]

I also like how it goes about, y’know, putting forth the, general, thesis or idea that, you know um, quote, “Rock Touches People’s hearts, because it’s coming from a loser, but you can’t call it rock if it’s from a successful person” Because that’s a- that’s a statement to make. That’s a statement that I’m kind of into. because we’re very not successful and uh. Seeing characters like Kikuri, and Bocchi, and y’know, and her, underground band, and uh, characters like Aiko, and her… Shady Underground Journalism, and the fact that the manga presents all of them, all of these very unsuccessful women, as cool, because they are cool, and that’s, real, rock!

*giggling lightly* uhhhh ahaha and you know but also *mutters sheepishly* please donate to our patreon- *laughs*

And one thing that I’m, one thing that I, one other thing that I really like about the manga is that it, it focuses so much, it’s like- it’s not so school-centric as a lot of other manga about y’know, music teenagers, tend to be, like- They’re not the light music club! They’re- they’re, a real underground band and you know that’s…

That’s freaking cool! *chuckles* That they are, they are, y’know, actually doing concerts for money, and that’s, y’know, it’s about doing the concerts, for money, and about working with adults who also have been doing concerts for money! and drugs *laughing quietly*

And also the fact that so little of it is set inside the school, like, y’know, th-the one moment where like, th-the online journalist writer who’s just like spotlighting, who’s y’know, writing about bands, and looking for Hitori. And then she goes to the school and she’s just like… Kicked out of the school! Because she’s not- she’s… she’s a creep! Who doesn’t belong! In the school! A-And *laughs* And then y’know, in like, another manga where it’s the light music club that that’d just kind of be where the plot… stops! Where that plot line… stops! But she- But then she finds out that y’know, they don’t perform at school, because they’re not a school band, and then, she… goes to the live house… and advances the plot. And is also a kind of… fucked up, self-interested woman, who tries to… sequester Hitori into… agskjhgdkfhkdhjfdddd because she’s afkhjdhkhf she’s interested in money, and promising more than she’s probably able… able to give, she is……

[trails off laughing]

This- this chapter…! This is- This is a scene where, *hiccup* This is a scene where this woman tries to buy Bocchi, buy Hitori, with the promise of exposure! *laughing* That- That is literally: That is the literal description!

[long pause while Audrey gets herself under control]

Okay, I’m done ad-libbing.

One thing I wanted out of the anime, watching the anime, was to see the group grow and expand to the point where they actually do become a famous and successful band. That's basically what I figured it'd head for since, Hitori is already a successful YouTuber, as YouTubers go, and since Nijika said that's where she wanted it to go, that she wants to grow the band and become popular and help everyone reach their dreams. We kind of do have the whole "high schoolers become music celebrities" thing in Love Live, but I'd love to see that sort of thing be done in a way that feels more grounded and believable in a world where people actually seem to worry about money, outside of the fantasy confines of a nationally famous school club, and have it done in a way that the story doesn't stop happening once they graduate! Given how much the story already focuses on adults who are implied to be varying levels of fucked up just as well and seriously as its lead teenage characters who are implied to be varying levels of fucked up, it feels like the sort of story that's kind of made to transition to follow these girls out of their school lives. And I hope it goes there, and I also hope that the anime eventually gets further seasons because the material of the later manga chapters has itself a fantastic foundation if the rest of it is adapted in the same way, so, yeah.

And that's just the feelings I have on that. If you're interested in more bocchi content then um, sakugablog has a couple writeups and translated interviews which talk about the production which is itself its own really interesting story! It also got us to read the manga, because the way that the anime's character designer expresses such passion for Hamaji's work is utterly palpable and gosh things. Also I think it's really funny that Kerorira decided to animate the Bocchi ice bath scene with her wearing a school swimsuit because that adds another deeper layer of hilarious cringe that isn't quite present in the manga version of the scene when you see that she's so mentally conflicted about the merits and demerits of this scheme that she can't bring herself to fully expose her own body to the ice water which would, uh, probably make the intended effect of catching a cold more likely and thus make the plan work better, and also the scene probably couldn't have become as much of a twitter meme if they'd decide to illustrate her without the school swimsuit like the manga does, since then instead everyone would be mentally and sometimes textually debating the merits and demerits of bath scenes in anime, again, except it'd be funnier than that because it'd be about *this* scene and that would be goshdarned hilarious.

I think that’s really kind of it for this one. We’re out of time. So we’ll see everyone next time. And thanks to our patrons.

Brea,

Dorian Newlin

hikari no yume

L Tantivy

pigeon

Sally

Scimitar

And Thijs

And everybody else.

oh wow that was, that was a, that was almost 48 minutes, okay um—

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[halfmoth-halfman]

Mothie, you have me on choke hold 😭😭😭 I'm rereading for the 1000th time.

I hope I'm not being invasive, but do you know how many chapters 'addfhaydwr' will have? And how is your creative process? Do you plan the plot in advance? Do a rough sketch of the chapters? Or you write as it goes? I'm curious because I'm genuinely in love with this work and your writing style, it's fascinating.

Hope you're well!

you're not being invasive at all!! 💜

so fun fact: it was originally going to be 10 chapters!! with what i have planned i think now it's at 13??? 14 if you count the epilogue!!

for a series, i'll usually do an outline!! tbh, i do titles first and 98% of time i base what happens in the fic on the vibes of the title unless it's a request or st like that. after that, i'll try and plan out the overarching story and like the basic plot for what i want to happen and then after that i'll do a more in depth outline for each chapter. there's a lot of pinterest board planning, playlist making, quote collecting and daydreaming during the outlining portion LOL

after i get everything outlined (and if i'm not burned out on the idea) i'll start writing from the first chapter on. a big problem i have is i'll have certain scenes or chapters stuck in my head that i really want to get to, but i for the life of me cannot write out of order, so i go through all the chapters leading up to it so when i finally get to write the scene/chapter i've been thinking about, it's like a reward 😂

i'm not super strict on sticking to my outline either, if i'm not vibing with a scene or stuck on a certain plot point i'll change it for something else. sometimes i go into expecting to write one thing and the story decides to go a different way so i just go with the flow!!

i hope you're having a wonderful day/week!!

[makeste]

Question. Do you think BNHA has been too fast? Like. Everything that's happened, from Deku not having a quirk, to gearing up to taking on the big boss who even his mentor - who no hero has previously been able to surpass - wasn't able to defeat at full power. Has happened, pretty much, within a single year. That's... an incredibly short time-frame honestly. Would it have been better if there was more timeskips and training involved before the final battle?

a lot of this actually depends on what you mean by "too fast." because the thing is my answer changes depending on what the question actually is.

do I think BnHA has been too rushed at times? - yes.

do I think BnHA has been too short/would be better if it was longer? - no.

let me start by saying that I'm often curious about what portion of BnHA's readership has actually read the three iconic early 2000s-era series which collectively used to be known as Shounen Jump's own "Big Three" -- Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. all three of these were long-running flagship WSJ series much in the same vein as BnHA, and in fact BnHA is often seen as a spiritual successor to them. and all three series ran for a very long time. Naruto and Bleach each ran for 15 years and upwards of 600 chapters (Naruto actually ended on chapter 700, and Bleach came close, clocking in at 686). One Piece, meanwhile, is somehow actually still running, currently at 1031 chapters. all three series include all of those bucket list items that readers of BnHA are constantly clamoring for:

loooong, long arcs with plenty of room for the plot to breathe

numerous one-on-one showcase fights for all of the main characters, and a good chunk of the supporting casts as well

training arcs where we spend time watching the heroes learn their new upgrades

and last but not least, timeskips

all that stuff. and all three of these series had one other thing in common as well: they all fell completely off the rails after about five years, and spent the next decade afterwards lingering on as shadows of their former selves. (OP is maybe the one exception, because it still has fits and bursts of energy from time to time, and actually seems to be moving steadily (if very slowly lol) towards some kind of thoughtful, actually-planned-out resolution. that said, it has absolutely had a sharp decline from its glory days, and I will stand by that hot take even if I still enjoy the series.)

there's a gap, I think, between what people imagine a long manga will be like, and what it actually is like. actually it's less of a gap and more of a chasm tbh.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to explore all those interesting plot threads and angles that he keeps glossing over and never elaborating on"

what it actually is like: you know that cool side character/sideplot thing we got introduced to a couple chapters back? here's an entire arc focused on them and their life story! unfortunately this means that we won't actually get back to the main plot and characters for approximately six months. but hey at least we're expanding our worldbuilding.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to focus on character development"

what it actually is like: FOR EVERY. LAST. CHARACTER. including all of the characters that you don't actually give a shit about, unless you're one of those miraculous but lovely people who are genuinely fond of every single one. either way, once again I hope you're good with saying goodbye to the main cast for half a year or more.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to write realistic training arcs and develop the characters' abilities at a more reasonable pace"

what it actually is like: do you know what training montages are. do you know why they were invented. I will tell you why: because realistically-paced training arcs are actually the single most boring thing on the planet. training is literally just repetition of something. the process is always exactly the same, every single time. there's a reason why most writers tend to avoid focusing on it, realism be damned.

what people imagine: "a timeskip would make it more believable for the characters to be at the level that they're at, and would make the story more mature"

what it actually is like: we miss out on months or even years of character development. the characters for some reason always split up over the timeskip period, and so they miss out on months and/or years of relationship development with each other. every single battle suddenly becomes "here is so-and-so's shiny new upgrade, now watch as they either effortlessly win their fight, or else struggle to do so thus making us question whether all that time spent training was even worth it." and also suddenly the series is inexplicably trying to be more mature, which for some reason always seems to mean (1) more character death, and (2) romance!! and not the kind of romance tumblr actually likes, lol. we're talking that good old-fashioned forced heterosexual EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET PAIRED OFF WITH SOMEONE romance up in here.

what people imagine: "a long series would give Horikoshi more time to breathe so that he doesn't feel pressure to keep rushing everything"

what it actually is like: imagine being forced to continue doing something for literal decades of your life, long after all of your motivation and inspiration has dried up, all because your work is continuing to bring in $$$ and the fans don't want it to end. imagine just phoning it in each and every week, pulling new story arcs and new characters out of your ass until the plot has become so convoluted that there's no hope whatsoever of ending it clean, and no chance in hell of every character getting a satisfying resolution, because your cast has simply grown too expansive.

that's what long-running shounen series are like. that's what Horikoshi is trying to avoid (and in fact some would probably argue he's already reached that point lol). yes, the series has been rushed lately. a lot of people have been saying that Horikoshi is burned out; I personally have gotten more of a vibe that he is close to being burned out, and so he's trying to rush to the ending before that happens so that he can give the series the send-off he feels it deserves. I think he has a clear plan for the endgame, but the path to the endgame isn't quite as thought-out, and so he's chosen to fudge a lot of it simply because he doesn't have enough fucks left to waste on stuff that ultimately isn't important. which might not be ideal, but it is what it is.

but just to be clear, no matter how rushed things are, or how rushed they continue to be, I will always, 10 times out of 10, take this over the Naruto/Bleach/OP route. because I have seen that play out more than enough times already, thank you very much lol. and honestly, if the latest arc has taught us nothing else, it's that history would easily repeat itself with BnHA given half the chance, because Horikoshi is just as human as those other writers, and has already spent the past seven years throwing all of his best ideas at us one by one. and eventually he's going to run out, you guys.

so yeah. all good things, etc. this may be one of my most unpopular opinions, lol, but I stand by it.

[retroateez]

1980s horror film - s.mingi

hello all!!!

it’s been a lot longer than i intended, but a bunch of stuff came up and i both didn’t have time and didn’t feel like writing. this also wasn’t what i initially planned on posting, but life works weirdly and here we are. that being said, i wrote this in a way that is different to how i typically write so i apologise if it sounds/feels weird or awkward. regardless, i hope u enjoy! (also i didn’t realise it was all lower case so please ignore the inconsistency lmao)

//

pairing: song mingi x reader genre: unrequited love?? idk how to tag it oops word count: 1660 this is inspired by a song titled ‘1980s horror film II’ by wallows! 

//

mingi had been waiting for eons to score a date with y/n. way too long. all of his friends (mainly wooyoung), teased him constantly about her, but he had never gathered the courage to do anything about it.

they'd been friends for a long while, even hanging out a few times together at the cinema, or just going out for lunch before mingi realised he had an absolutely huge crush on her.

recently he'd been avoiding her like the plague, using volleyball practice, or band rehearsal with the boys as an excuse not to hang out with her. 

that was, until one sunny saturday afternoon, when she called him out of the blue. he took a few moments to collect himself, staring at the ringing phone in his hand like it was a ticking bomb seconds away from a devastating explosion.

"hey dingus!" y/n called down the phone once he had collected himself enough to answer. "what are you doing?" she asked.

"nothing. why?" 

"i'm bored." she declared. "wanna come over?"

"s-sure!" mingi agreed straight away.

"sweet. see you soon then!" y/n hung up, and mingi was convinced he might pass out.

he'd never been to her house before. maybe she really did like him back? oh god, he was starting to internally panic now; how was he supposed to act? he didn't want to be a creep but he didn't want to be painfully awkward either. oh god. oh god oh god oh god.

"get it together, mingi." he scowled at himself in the mirror, shaking his faded red hair side to side. he couldn’t make a fool of himself in front of her; he absolutely would not allow it. 

this could be his chance, to finally muster enough balls to ask y/n out before it was too late. yes, he'd decided; today would be the day.

-----

half an hour later, an exceptionally nervous song mingi knocked on the door of his highschool crush. he reached up and brushed a shaking hand through his hair, wondering whether his legs were numb from fear or the chilling bite of the surprisingly cold weather. 

a few moments passed, then the door swung open to reveal y/n. she was dressed in her usual style, comfy, stylish, beautiful, very y/n. in truth, she could be wearing a trashbag and mingi would still say she looked gorgeous.

she gave him a wide, toothy grin and stepped aside to let him in.

"welcome to mi casa!" she motioned to the hallway dramatically, one arm sweeping out in front of her and almost bashing her elbow into the kitchen doorframe.

"i wanna watch a movie!" she said, once she had recovered from the near injury. "i've already got the snacks ready, so let's go!"

she began bounding up the stairs, mingi following her before realising where they were headed and freezing abruptly in his tracks.

"we're going upstairs?" he breathed, anxiety flooding him from head to foot.

just what exactly was she expecting from him?

"yeah?" she shrugged. "is that a problem?"

"no!" he replied, perhaps a little too quickly. "no, that's not a problem at all."

-----

he was scared.

bordering on terrified.

y/n's bedroom was dark; having pulled the curtains before mingi's arrival to avoid the sun glaring onto the television.

as the minutes went on, mingi became less and less sure just what she was planning this afternoon.

she paced over to the tv set, opening a dvd case and slotting a disc into the player.

"it's a 1980s horror film," she explained. "i've been wanting to watch it for ages, but i didn't want to watch it alone... you don't mind, do you?"

mingi shook his head quickly. he did in fact mind, not being the biggest fan of the horror genre, but he'd made it this far, and backing out now was definitely not an option. plus, if wooyoung caught wind of mingi chickening out, he would never hear the end of it.

"here," she motioned to her bed; a double, with lilac sheets and an appropriate amount of cushions bundled up by her pillows. "take a seat."

unsure of whether he should, but not wanting to be rude, mingi crawled across her bed, sitting down amidst the cushions and crossing his legs like an obedient, yet timid child. he watched y/n grab her desk chair, dragging it across the room and placing it beside the bed, distanced but still close enough to mingi to completely throw him off his guard.

"don't you want the be-"

"nonsense!" she cut him off before he could even get the words out. "you're my guest, so you get the bed."

mingi was bewildered. never in his life had he expected to be in this situation. it appeared that y/n had absolutely zero intentions of doing anything romantic. which, don't get him wrong, was totally fine, but regardless he was still confused.

all the cheesy high school romance movies he’d watched, and all the young adult fiction novels he had read hinted that when you were invited to your crush’s house, alone, it usually indicated they wanted something romantic. or something more. absolutely nothing had prepared him for, or even suggested that the current circumstances would ever occur in a million years. mingi felt rather cheated, to be honest.

was she making him wait on purpose? deliberately staying away from him in the hopes that he'd just cave in and sweep her off her feet? y/n didn't seem like that kind of girl, but mingi had been wrong about a lot of things when it came to y/n. 

the movie began to play, and they sat surrounded by darkness, mingi decided he would simply go with the flow. he was a nervous wreck, but he wasn't a pervert; he wouldn't do anything unless y/n initiated it. the last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable. 

despite reaching a solution, he couldn't get it out of his mind how close they were in the moment. glancing to his side, he could very much reach out and gently touch her hair. or softly caress her cheek. 

obviously, he wouldn't, because that would be weird. and that was a vibe he was trying to avoid today.

halfway through the movie, y/n jumped up, explaining she had to use the bathroom and scaring the shit out of mingi in the process.

he kept his gaze fixed on the movie playing in front of him, but his mind wandered to other places. he sighed deeply.

he didn't even know what to say to her.

she's always on his mind,

and yet,

he's too afraid to say anything. how long would this pathetic pining go on for? surely it would be better for him to take wooyoung's advice and just go for it? otherwise he'll be playing this game for god knows how long. 

that was it.

he simply couldn't help the way he was feeling; he needed to get it out, to tell her how he truly feels.

and maybe, just maybe, she'd feel the same way too.

y/n comes back, and mingi gears himself up for his confession. digging into the deepest corners of his mind to find the right words to use. deciding to abandon his previous resolution to let y/n initiate, he convinces himself to take charge and follow the lead of every heteronormative teen movie in existence, and sweep the girl off her feet.

until she ditches the chair, motioning for mingi to scooch over and then she lays down right beside him. 

the bed is fairly large, but then again mingi is no regular sized teenage boy, his lanky frame taking up a considerable portion of the bed.. as a result, his right side and her left are pressed flush against each other, and poor mingi thinks he's about to explode.

but still, he inhales deeply, surveying the situation.

the lights are off, 

the mood was right.

perfect.

mingi lets her settle for a short while, which is really him internally psyching himself up, before setting his masterplan into action.

he turns his head slowly to look at y/n, noticing how invested she is in the movie and he pouts a little.

he wants her attention.

she still doesn't notice, so he opts for placing his hand on her cheek as gently as he can and guides her gaze towards him.

her eyebrows furrow together in confusion, but she makes no effort to move away.

frozen anxiety that mingi misinterprets as a green light.

his eyes fall shut, and his upper body leans forward the tiniest amount. he's so close. so close to finally being able to show y/n how he feels. he's seconds away from having a weight lifted off his shoulders. he can't wait to shove it in wooyoung's face either, all the times the younger boy had called him a pussy had pissed mingi off to no end, but look at him now wooyoung, look at him now.

all he needed was for y/n to bridge the gap between them.

but instead, a small hand on mingi's shoulder pushes him back, and his eyes snap open abruptly, and he feels his stomach fall straight through his ass.

"y/n, i-"

the look on her face stops mingi dead in his tracks, because he can't read her expression.

is she mad? is she super pissed that he tried to kiss her? he'd understand if she was, it probably wasn't the best course of action but it was the best he could come up with. is she angry? is she hurt? disappointed? he searches her eyes, burning into his, for answers but comes up short. all he can do is try and guess how she's feeling, but realistically he's no expert, he's no mindreader, how is he suppo-

"mingi, i'm really not that into guys." 

oh.  

[danorth]

After like 6 back-and-forth decisions, removals, and reinstatements, LPT has decided to remove the post entirely. So this is the primary hosting point now. Those of you that saved it, look here. I'm sorry that the link you bookmarked doesn't work now.I have redacted some of the legal portions and replaced it mostly with a warning.Do not try to frivolously sue a $17B companyStep Number One.OhRelax. Your info isn't likely to be used unless you lose the lottery I talk about later. And nobody is playing the lottery until about 90 days from now. So relax. But take it seriously. This is still important.Purpose:I am making this because I see a lot of younger or more inexperienced or just unknowledgeable comments and questions about this breach. If you don’t know if you’ve been affected, or it affects you, or what the effects in question even are that’s okay! Especially for you younger folks, teen adults, people that haven’t worked with credit or law a lot you aren’t expected to magically know everything. Since I’m seeing advice scattered everywhere I thought I would consolidate it the best I can.What Happened?Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the United States, was breached and over 140,000,000 people had their entire credit history stolen. Credit history includes your Social Security Number, past addresses, all previously held accounts, all inquired accounts, any bankruptcies within the last seven years, and more.How do I know if I was affected?Are you an American adult that has ever held or inquired about a credit card, loan, car, bank account, cell phone account, electric service, water service, internet service, a security clearance, most jobs, most schools, most apartment complexes, or renting a house? Congratulations! You’re affected! I’m seeing a lot of “Well, if you ever did X…” Or “If you ever signed anything with this fine print…”Nope. If you’ve ever applied for anything financial related in the United States then Equifax has been spying on you. Not like Big Brother, but Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian spy on you via financial history which every lender and creditor in the nation sends to them.When did I consent to this?You didn’t. Shame, but that’s the reality. It was likely hidden in the fine print of the first checking account you tried to open or when you inquired about buying a car but let’s be honest – it isn’t consensual regardless. You have no choice because it is pretty much impossible to actually live so off the grid you’ve never had any credit history. If someone used the same leverage to pressure you into giving them sex instead of your SSN it would be considered rape. Will this hold up in court? Almost definitely not. So you’re stuck with the rest of us.How is this different than other breaches?A lot of people brought up the US Office of Personnel Management Breach, or Target, or Yahoo, or PlayStation Network. This one is not very similar to those at all. The closest you’re getting in past examples is OPM. Here’s why: Target, Yahoo, and PSN don’t keep track of SSNs. They don’t keep track of every bill you’ve ever paid. They don’t keep track of everything you’ve ever thought about buying through financing or credit card. Target, Yahoo, and PSN’s biggest damages were your Debit or Credit Information being compromised. Big deal; cancel the card and get a new one. With Equifax, we can’t do that. You can theoretically request a new SSN but that request is not likely to be answered, especially on this scale. OPM was the only one similar to this, but that only affected government employees and it was stolen most likely by the Chinese Government. Fortunately for us, probably to spy on us rather than ruin our lives.So what happens now that my information has been stolen?Well now you get to play the anti-lottery. 140,000,000+ people, virtually every adult in the United States, has been entered into a lottery of epic proportions. Only in this case you don’t want to win. What does this mean for you? Well, it means if you have luck as bad as or worse than mine you ought to be concerned. Is the chance of you being the unlucky loser likely? Nope. But you sure as hell don’t want to be.What happens if I lose this lottery?Then you get to spend literally years fighting to prove to everyone that you are the real you and not the identity thief. During this fight you will not likely be eligible to do anything that requires credit – no cars, no house, no loans, maybe even no utilities or home rentals. If you’re like me and don’t have family to fall back on for a few years in this scenario then you should be the utmost concerned because this will make your life a living hell for 3-4 years.How can I improve my chances?This is where we get to your actual LifeProTip. Here are the processes you should undertake immediately if it applies to you.1) Get a copy of your credit report today.Regardless of freeze, alert, or regular credit monitoring get your current credit report to keep on file so you can identify anything new that shouldn’t be there in the future.Fuck CreditKarma, Fuck FreeCreditReport, Fuck all that shit, you want the real stuff.Annualcreditreport.com (We killed it, Jim. Try again later when not everyone on reddit is trying to access it.)REEE HAIL CORPORATE PLUGGING THEIR SITE REEEENo. The Federal Government of the United States requires each of those three credit agencies give you a free copy of your credit report every year and this is the only authorized site to actually collect on that. Usually I’d suggest not getting them all at once but if you can’t afford to keep paying for all this crap then go ahead and pull all three at once. Again, if you’re like me and move around a lot the website may not like you very much. Jump through its stupid hoops to get it mailed if you have to. The credit agencies have to honor your request. Document this shit well.If you don't believe me see any of the following links. This is the only real free credit report site.http://ift.tt/2f30BCR Karma et al are not free. They might not charge you, but somebody is paying them to do that service. Keep that in mind.2) Freeze your credit. Right. Fucking. Now.Call the three credit agencies, the same bullshit enterprise that allowed this to happen, and put a freeze on your credit. What does this do? Well, it freezes your credit. Nobody, including yourself, can inquire into your credit for any reason until this freeze is unfrozen.This does not affect current accounts! Your current loans will be fine.Does this cost money?Does unfreezing cost money? Isn’t this a pain in the ass?Yes, but only slightly. It will cost about $30 to unfreeze all three when you need to finance something but here’s the bright side: $30 and a few minutes on the phone with an automated system is a hell of a lot easier than the hell that will be your identity being stolen. And besides, if you can’t afford the $30 and a day of preparation before financing something - you probably shouldn’t be financing anything anyway. And I’ll tell you a little later how to get it back.Ultimately the fee varies by State.Does this affect my credit score?Nope. Your credit will go on as usual, but nothing new can be added or inquired during the freeze. You will still be able to use your credit card.Here are the phone numbers to initiate a credit freezeTransUnion: 1-888-909-8872Equifax: 1-800-349-9960Experian: 1 888 397 3742You must call all three!You can do this online, but Equifax’s site has been crashing nonstop since the breach was announced and the system doesn’t like people like me that move around a lot. I’d suggest using the phone. It is an automated system so don’t worry about interacting with a person.Important!What is to stop the credit thief from lifting my freeze?A long PIN that will be supplied to you when you freeze it. This is pretty much it so make damned sure not to lose that. If there is another breach like this while you have the freeze, unfreeze it ASAP, then freeze it again to get a new PIN. Yes, this costs money. It costs less than having your identity stolen. And you might be able to get it back.TransUnion allows you to set your own PIN, Experian will send it in the mail, Equifax will set it for you and give it to you over the phone after your freeze is initiated. IMPORTANT! Do not hang up until you have it written down! You can make it replay the message over and over. Listen to the automated prompts.3) Initiate a Fraud Alert If you don’t do a credit freeze, at least do this.You are a victim of identity theft now. Contact your local police station, tell them you need to file the report to initiate the appropriate processes. They may not know what you’re talking about but they will do it if you explain.This site right here gives you a checklist on how to initiate the fraud alert.This normally costs money but you’re a victim now. This is why you need the police report/Identity Theft Report. This makes it free. This requires that anyone who wants to run your credit is going to have to jump through extra hoops to verify your identity. This may be a pain for you, but sure as hell a lot less pain than fighting through identity theft for four years.4) Opt out of prescreened offers of credit while you’re at it.This incident is probably gonna inspire you to get off the grid a bit more. You tired of junk mail? Well here’s how you reduce a ton of it:888-5OPTOUT (888-567-8688)Call the number or click the link I embedded into it. Either way will work. This will remain for five years at a time but if you return the signed Permanent Opt-Out Election Form to each credit bureau it will remain forever.ExperianOpt OutP.O. Box 919Allen, TX 75013TransUnionName Removal OptionP.O. Box 505Woodlyn, PA 19094Equifax, Inc.OptionsP.O. Box 740123Atlanta, GA 30374-0123Innovis Consumer AssistanceP.O. Box 495Pittsburgh, PA 15230-0495Alright. Done. Now how do I get some of this money back? What is our legal recourse? How do we punish Equifax?I want you to do something right now while you’re angry. I want you to type up a clear, polite, but strongly worded email. Prepare it as if you’re sending it to the President himself.Click this link and send it to everyone on that list, both Federal and State.Will this get my money back?No. Not yet. But let’s get started on that.Your legal recourse comes down to small claims court, personal formal suit, or class action.For all of these cases DO NOT ENROLL IN EQUIFAX’S “IDENTITY PROTECTION”. Fuck that horseshit. We don’t trust these people anymore, remember?Your legal recourse comes down to how you were affected. Consult a lawyer. Please read the bottom of the post. You cannot sue without evidence of some kind. DO NOT get into a lawsuit with a $17B company without talking to a lawyer and having a damn good reason.If you are directly impacted, here are the possible options. Again, talk to a lawyer.So here’s the pros and cons of each other recourse:Small ClaimsThis is the most likely in which you actually get anything back, but that doesn't make it easy. Your limitations will vary by State and County. Some jurisdictions allow you to sue for up to $25,000 in small claims. Most limit it much lower at like $3,500. The amount you choose is totally up to you but we’ll get to coming up with a number in a moment.Pros:Most likely to actually get you paidDo not need a lawyerLess formal court processIronically, this will likely do the most damage to Equifax if enough people do it.Equifax will probably not even send a lawyer to deal with it if they get served with enough of them.Cons:Difficult process for someStill costs court feesActually getting the judgement and collecting the judgement are two totally different thingsThere is no discovery process in small claims.Formal LawsuitThis will get you the biggest personal payout - if you win. Keep in mind you’ll be going up against a $17B company so even when fighting many lawsuits they will likely have more firepower than you in almost any case. The good news for us little guys in this case is some very wealthy people would have also gotten their info stolen so if we’re lucky some other big guns will be taking them to court personally, but I wouldn’t count on it.Pros:Biggest possible personal payoutThere is a discovery processWill cost Equifax even if they winCollecting on these judgements is going to be way simpler since you have a lawyerLess personally intense for youCons:Most expensive optionRequires a lawyer (going without one would be suicide)You will need a cyber security expertYou will need a financial sector expertYou will need to be able to prove that Equifax could have done moreClass ActionMost of us will fall into this one.This one is already in the works. It will likely cost Equifax somewhere in the $100M range, the lawyers will collect 40% of it, and the few millions of us that apply to be part of the class will get a few bucks out of it. Equifax is already preparing to pay out for this and it won’t even phase them if this is the worst thing that happens.Pros:Super easy. All you need to do is send the lawyers your info. They will probably set up a website in a few months for all of us to do that.Much easier to win. Hell at this point I’d say its guaranteed to win.You get a few dollars.ConsYou will only get a few dollarsThis won’t even phase Equifax as a company.You lose your ability to sue them as an individual if you sign on as a member of the Class.Which is right for me?Consult a lawyer. Do not try to do this completely on your own. Even with Small Claims at least consult one first.Last Steps!File your tax return as soon as possible from here on out. With your credit frozen and a fraud alert in place your biggest risk of direct impact is going to come from a fraudulent tax return. Unfortunately, the powers that be at the IRS don’t bother to confirm identity on tax filings except for a SSN. If somebody files with your SSN you will not be able to file. You will have to dispute it. I have seen people have to go through this battle before and it is very long. Hound your employers to get your W-2 ASAP.If your identity is stolen and used this way TurboTax keeps a webpage to make fighting this battle a little easier.The IRS will never contact you by phone or email to verify your identity! However, if you contact them they will be willing to verify over the phone. If you get a call from anyone claiming to be the IRS for this purpose hang up, look up the IRS number, and call them instead.Here is the IRS official page on the subject.Is there any part of my identity that is secure?Our birth certificates and passports are about all we've got left right now.Birth CertificatesIf you only have one copy of your birth certificate look up your County of Birth's rules on requesting a new one. This will probably cost about $20 as well. The birth certificate is one of the end-all-be-all points of our identity. Keep them in locked and fire proof boxes. Worst case scenario for you is having your identity stolen and then having a fire take these documents. Make sure both can't happen at the same time at least.Since it relies on birth certificates I highly suggest reading further on Passports.PassportsIf you don't have one look into getting a Passport. This will prevent one from being made in your name with your birth certificate in the future, may help you prove your identity if necessary, and you can also travel to Europe, Canada, and Mexico without a visa in most cases. Win-win-win.Passports use various methods for confirming your identity but the lynchpin is your birth certificate. You'll have to send a 2"x2" photo and a certified original copy of your birth certificate off the State Department to get your Passport. The photo can be done at a UPS Store or CVS or similar places and costs like $5. The Passport fee itself is closer to $100.The State Department will send back your birth certificate when they are done with it but I would suggest having more than one original on hand. Photocopies are not good enough for either case.Additions for non-AmericansCanadaAccording to the news I can find it is likely the Equifax breach compromised information for Canadians but Equifax Canada won't saw how many. Their only official comment was that they have nothing to add to what Atlanta-based Equifax already announced. According to their website they have no idea how many were affected yet. However, judging by how large the compromise was for Americans unless Canadians and Britons are kept on entirely different networks with no trusted relationship, its likely going to be all of you as well.All of the following information is subject to research I've done solely today so allow some room for error:Canada only has Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada, so things are 33% easier.Steps you can take:1) Monitor your credit score. Get a report. TransUnion Click here. Equifax Click Here. In Canada the free reports are done by mail.2) According to CreditCards.com Canadians can request a Credit File Alert which is their equivalent of a credit freeze.3) If you find out you were affected and your SIN was stolen, file a police report and alert all of your banks.UKSame as Canada, all of this is based on research from today only. I am far from an expert on foreign personal credit and finance law.Media reports, largely sensational in appearance claim up to 44m Britons may have been compromised. However, judging by how large the compromise was for Americans unless Canadians and Britons are kept on entirely different networks with no trusted relationship, its likely going to be all of you as well.Steps you can take:1) Check your credit reports. Unfortunately it doesn't look like truly free reports exist in the UK. Instead there is a Statutory £2 Credit Report.Experian Click HereEquifax Click Here2) UK equivalent to a Credit Freeze is [CIFAS.](www.cifas.org.uk) CIFAS – The UK’s Fraud Prevention Service 6th Floor Lynton House 7 - 12 Tavistock Square London WC1H 9LTOnce active, creditors will have to jump through a few hoops to verify who you are.3) If you find your information has been stolen call 0300 123 20 40 or click the link embedded.For American ParentsYou can freeze your child's credit once they have an SSN! They probably don't have an Equifax file unless you've had them apply for banks and credit cards already, but freezing it when they are young is not a bad idea!Advice from an actual lawyerContact your own lawyer if you want to file a suit but here is a comment from a lawyer here on reddit that I think is the most realistic.Equifax was very, very negligent in letting their systems get breached. But until there's an actual injury, you can't win any lawsuit unless there are statutory damages, which almost certainly brings it into the federal court realm. You can't just pick a random-ass number and say "I was harmed for this amount." No, you can't get it for emotional damages. No, you can't get it for pain and suffering. Unless your ID was actually stolen and used to open a line of credit, your best option is to remain in the class action./u/edsbf1Lawsuits are not clear cut. This is why law school is three years and after that there are State Bar Exams. via /r/YouShouldKnow