I recently graduated with a Associates in Information Technology: Systems Security. I have been applying to every open IT job in my area that is near me and have my first interview this week on zoom.
It is a help desk I position starting at 39,500 on salary ( about 19.50/hr according to my calculations ) for a big corporate center.
Talking to a family friend he said that is way to low and I should keep looking. My current job is paying 19.75 but it is in the restaurant industry.
Both places are lower than the cost of living here ($20.10 an hour). I’m curious about what I can expect to negotiate to as I’m not sure what I qualify for. I know a lot which makes me wonder if I can just right into help desk II or even a Jr sys admin.
I live in Asheville, NC and have no certs/ prior IT work experience other than school. Do I have any leverage or should I take the small pay cut.

Firstly, I'm looking for someone who shares my enthusiasm for casual fun and adventure. I especially love things like going on road trips and nature trips - exploring the outdoors and seeing what new things I can learn - and I'd love to find someone to share these experiences with.
Aside from enjoying the outdoors, I'm also a huge foodie. I love to cook and I love to eat! Any restaurant near me or in the city? I'm up for it! And I'm also open to staying in and watching tv series or movies.
Finally, a little bit about me- I'm outgoing, fun, and caring. I'm single, no kids, and not married. I'm hoping to find someone who's up for adventuring, eating, and chilling out together!
So if you want a new friend that enjoys all the casual fun that comes with life, please reach out. I can't wait to hear from you!

35F, USA. 5’4” 170lbs, medications: Zoloft 50mg, carvedilol 3.125mg x2 daily, Norethindrone birth control, metformin 1000mg
Medical history: GERD, myocarditis in feb 2022.
I was eating a meal at a restaurant, nearly finished when immediately after taking a bite, I got a very sour, bitter taste and my mouth went suddenly dry - like extremely dry, extremely quickly- and chalky. I panicked and spit the food out with some difficulty, but still had the dry/chalky sensation and every area of my mouth had the bitter taste.
I swished with water and kept spitting until I got the taste out. I inspected the food and couldn’t see /smell anything wrong. My mouth/lips still feel dry.
I called poison control, but they couldn’t help without knowing what I had ingested.
I’m scared and grossed out. Would it make sense to get checked out? My mouth doesn’t seem to have an blisters or anything like that.
Thanks for any help you can give.

First
Capes and Conundrums
“Alright, watch and learn kiddo.” Deadshot says as he brings his gun into position. “Most people think that a rifle is a point and click answer to their problems. Point, pull the trigger and problem solved. Those people are idiots.”
“Oh?” The Merc beside him says. Since Deadshot was categorically a solo act and maybe on occasion has some mooks to do the heavy lifting having someone hang around close would be an issue. So the excuse was he was training another sniper. Franchising as it were.
“Okay, really quick out of character.” Silicon says.
“Yeah?” Pavel asks.
“How the hell are you going to cause half of that construction to come apart with a bullet? I understand it’s not massively up to code, but at the same time. A bullet is small. It has only so much kinetic energy it can carry and if you bring Axiom into this you’re setting up a flare.”
“Architecture and physics.” Pavel says as he adjusts the gun and then leans away from it. “Look down the scope. It should start to make sense.”
“That’s one of the main cables of that sign. But there’s at least one more and it only needs one to stay upright.”
“Look at the angle, also remember I’ve got a reinforced bullet for this one. It’s designed to stay intact and ricochet.” Pavel says and Silicon rises up to look at the back of the sign again and mentally trace where the bullet will go.
“You’re going to shatter one support and weaken the other.”
“Yes.”
“That is an absurd level of accuracy.”
“When the Undaunted claim to be better than the best of the best, it’s not idle boasting.” Pavel states as he takes a full shooting position again.
“So what’s the event in question?”
“We’re going to move along five positions and they have to find our ‘safe house’ in the point between them all. For that we’re going to need to leave some clues at each one. This first position to let people know they need to look is going to have the bullet casing, the bipod and of course the imprints we’re leaving on the roof gravel. For the next one we’re butting a type of polish on our boots that will get easily rubbed off so they get that, the casing and the imprint.”
“Are we leaving three clues at each place?”
“Yes. Some more obvious than others. Which reminds me.” Pavel says before digging out and tossing a wrapped bar at Silicon. “Eat that. It’s the third clue for the third location. Each one gets a bullet casing and the imprint of us hanging around.”
“What’s the fourth clue then?”
“A novelty sticker from a nearby business. It’ll let all the girls on the case know that Deadshot is staying nearby and has at least a hotel room, if not a full on base of operations.”
“And the last one?”
“Hardest one of all. Only two clues. The imprint and the casing.”
“And the ultimate place is in the middle of all of it...”
“Not exactly middle, but a place where you can reach all five locations without being spotted on a camera. Which is why we’re going there and then back out to relocate each time. So I hope you’re ready to take the stairs, because we got cardio in our future.”
“Oh joy.” Silicon says before a small timer goes off and Pavel grins.
“Show time.” He says as he double checks the wind, tastes the air and then slowly squeezes the trigger on his rifle.
The rifle is silenced and therefore the first sound that the danger makes is the calamitous clang as the grip of the frist cable is shattered and the still very active bullet goes careening downwards and slams into the base that holds the second cable. Cracking it ever so slightly.
Even from their position on the building, both men can hear the screaming groan as the metal slowly gives before the sign suddenly collapses forward and slams into the ‘civilians’ that Deadshot was hired to kill.
“Time to go.” Pavel says rising up as he disengages the bipod mount.
“Really? We’re just going down the stairs?” Silicon asks.
“The elevators have cameras, and the stairwells only have camera’s above the doors. However, the five buildings we’re using are in the middle of a maintenance upgrade that was massively overbooked as about fifteen different buildings decided they wanted the upgrades all at the same time. So these five are at the end of the list.” Pavel explains as he walks down.
“But the older security networks...” Silicon says.
“Pardon, I should have been more clear. The removal of the old equipment is already done for these five buildings, the actual replacement parts are not currently available.”
“And since the stairs are rarely used the security cameras in here are the last of the last priority.” Silicon says and Pavel nods.
“That’s right. Now we need to be able to get to our next location in a hurry. So time to skip some stairs.” Pavel says as he jumps down one flight and then flings himself down the next.
Silicon teleports down to the bottom but only has a few moments before Pavel arrives. He then waves for Silicon to follow him and then leads him through the building in a very strange, roundabout manner.
“We’re avoiding all the cameras they have left aren’t we?” Silicon asks and Pavel nods as he casually exits the building. He also points up and Silicon sees many Sonir in the air, a lot of them in Batman outfits of some kind and clearly scanning the upper areas and completely missing the two men casually walking around dressed like Deadshot with one of them lugging around a gun roughly as big as he is.
“Hey! Hey hey hey! You’re one of the actors right? Playing a bad guy?” A young Sonir girl asks flapping up to them. She’s tiny, dressed in all pink and clearly has gotten into at least a small amount of glitter lately.
“That’s right. Is there something you want?” Pavel asks in amusement.
“Can I take a picture?” She asks holding up her communicator.
“Sure thing little lady.” Pavel answers and she all but throws herself at him and turns in midair.
“Say boogers!” She exclaims.
“Boogers?!” Pavel demands before he hears the little camera go off a few times and she slides down with a giggle to examine her new selfie with the supervillain.
“Thank you mister badguy! Have fun!” She says rushing off with a laugh.
“Well that was adorable. Let’s keep moving.” Pavel states before they cross the street and make it into an a mall. A mall where he immediately leads Silicon into a side passage that’s lacking any kind of signs whatsoever.
“Where are we?”
“The building layout had some design fails. There are unregistered rooms back here. Well... not so much rooms as unused space, gaps between the stores. No security, no cameras, not even on the registration.”
“So is this tresspassing?’
“Even if we hadn’t informed the owners and legally rented the space? No. The place isn’t technically on the building plans so even if we squatted here it wouldn’t be a crime. But since we’re renting it, as is, we’re not only allowed in here, but are the only ones allowed.” Pavel explains as he opens a semi-hidden doorway to reveal.
“A sniper’s lair.” Silicon notes.
“That’s right.”
“This is an almost unfair test. They have to figure out that you weren’t spotted because you avoided the cameras, then look at a building’s blueprints and find out that there’s one place with none whatsoever.”
“That’s right. This is what level four puzzle challenge is about. If they catch us, it’s a win. But catching us is the hard part.” Pavel says and Silicon considers.
“I mean... this seems a little... I don’t know? Unfair?”
“It’s a riddle. Not every problem is solved by shooting things or using brute force.” Pavel replies as he fetches his replacement bipod. “Alright. Time to go. After I fire my shot the girls will all be given a warning about the second crime scene. They can then trace the bullet trajectory to our new location.”
“I still say it’s asking a bit much of people.”
“It’s far more data than Batman in the comic gets.”
“I don’t think comparing people to a person who’s superpower seems to be hyper-intelligence and a hefty dose of denial is fair either.” Silicon notes before Pavel leads him out.
“Probably not.” He admits and they’re shortly out of the mall and climbing up the stairs of another high rise.
•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•
She rushes to the scene of the next crime. It’s just like the last one. Massive collateral damage, one shot. A single attack, a single actioan and dozens of lives are done. It’s meticulous, it’s brilliant, it can only be Deadshot with that kind of aim and...
“Hey we got one too deep here!” Someone calls out and she’s pulled out of her head.
“What? That... I what?” She asks and looks around. The mannequins in a state of placement. The ‘explosion’ caused by the perfect unleashing of a gas valve that was sheered by a bullet. It blew out the front of a restaurant and left it a mess with all the mannequins in pieces.
“You were brooding girl! I could tell! You were forgetting to pull yourself out!” The other Sonir says and she holds her head.
“I was, wasn’t I?” Damn that’s not good.
“You alright there Batman?” The Undaunted playing the part of Jim Gordon asks.
“Fine, I’m... fine...” She says examining the area again. She lets out tiny pulses of sound and hears the place. The tiny hole where the bullet went through. The scalpel precise sheering of the pipe. No actual restaurants here used gas stoves, so it HAD to be part of the entire event. But still...
She lets out a little click and then imagines a straight line going backwards. Directly from the hole. She turns and sees the top of a large building nearby lines up nearly perfectly with it. “Up there!”
That said she takes off and gains altitude fast. Climbing upwards on the ash flecked wind until she crests over top. Empty already. She lets out a supersonic pulse and there’s a shape far different from the rest among the gravel atop the roof. A little cylinder. One that still stinks ever so slightly as she leans in close.
She steps around the slight indents suggesting where Deadshot laid and sees a slight smudging of some substance on the gravel as well. She doesn’t know what it is but...
“This... what is the puzzle?” She asks herself out loud. “There has to be some kind of answer to this.”
“There’s something up with you isn’t there?” Another Sonir asks as she alights on the landing. She looks back to where more are joining. “If you want it to stay private, keep it in your head. We all have good hearing sister.”
“I...” She begins before swallowing it.
“If you’re not up for these challenges then you’re not up for them and that’s that, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. These are for fun. No one’s lives actually depend on them. There’s no one getting hurt if you don’t do them.”
“Except maybe her ego!” One of the other Sonir calls out and there’s laughter from a friend that lands beside her.
There’s another indicator of the next part of the scene in just a few minutes and they all get the address. A police dispatch stating that a vehicle has had it’s tire shredded and gone wildly out of control.
She stays behind a bit as she thinks. Before sighing and deciding to fly away. Not really feeling her best today. Although completely unsure as to why. Something’s up, but she can’t figure out what.
She sends a message that she’s bowing out of the rest of the little context and will not be taking part of any more for the rest of the day. There’s a brief moment where she smirks as she confirms that no, it’s not something The Undaunted have done, she’s just not at her best.
She swoops downwards and lands at street level in a few moments.
•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•
“Excuse me miss.” Pavel says as he moves around the freshly landed Sonir woman and she outright stares at both him and Silicon as they move towards the next sniping positin. “Something wrong?”
“I bow out of the competition and I stumble on you moving?”
“Life’s funny isn’t it? Sorry, but I have to go.” Pavel says before rushign away with Silicon in tow.
​
First Last
PS: I really need to figure out what's killing my motivation. My mind keeps wandering and I just can't focus. I don't want to start guzzling caffeine again... but this is getting out of hand.

I apply for many Restaurant job where you need Food Handlers Card that cost money to study and take a test to get. the Restaurant job offer $15.50 an hour. base on the job description you have to be able to do many thing where that where if you forget what task you are on and made a mistake and can get someone sick. then many try without being able to get a Restaurant job I some how got a warehouse job with just 1 interview where they ask me can I left 40 pounds. the warehouse job pay $17/hr and my only task is to put the boxes from the conveyor belt to the pallets. less then 10% of the boxes is over 30 pounds. maybe 1% or 2% is near 40 pound. after month and I happy to get easier work that pay more.

The 3 basic parameters of hashtag #Valzubiriagenda:

1. We artists and everyone else can write and self-publish art- and artist-related books: memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs. Books are forever. Pamphlets and brochures are not books.
2. We announce a schedule of increasing prices of our art pieces, which includes quantities (scarcity numbers) per price point and overall (the total quantity of art pieces we might ever make). This helps art traders, art investors and art collectors speculate or even stop speculating and instead join a community of investors working together to hopefully skyrocket to the higher announced prices in a shorter span of time.
3. We can use the NFT world, because NFTs provide the tracking (who owns what) and trading.

We can also not be involved with NFTs. Stores and individuals can help sell art using online presence and our catalogs in the stores. If this trends, or once this trends, even expensive art can be sold by neighboring businesses, without exclusivity. Commission systems do not have to be standardized. Art investors can produce their own catalogs to leave at the cafés. Even the cafés can produce their own catalogs.
Valzubiriagenda NFTs
NFTs only came about a few years ago. But I had been working on this since the 1990s. I wrote a book, Valzubiriagenda, along with fellow artist Silverio Perez, and released it in 2018 (Amazon and elsewhere), tackling everything related to #1 & #2. We'll come up with #3 in a later book/ memoi marketing book.
Any artist, including tangible artists can release 10,000 NFTs if the artist chooses to do so. For tangible artists, the NFT first becomes an Art Commission Contract for sight unseen, yet-to-be made art. Once the art is made, the NFT becomes proof of ownership that the actual, tangible art is theirs.
Warehousing our tangible art
Another related idea is that the tangible art may be warehoused by the artist so that the NFT traders continue to trade. This means that even 10-ton 10-foot tall sculptures can be owned and traded by anyone without worrying about shipping, reshipping, scratches, smudges, parts breaking off, etc. The newness of the pieces remain because they are stored by the artist, source, gallery, etc. The art piece gets shipped to the art collector, the ultimate owner.
An artist who makes ceramic coffee mugs - smaller art pieces, can release 10,000 NFTs with a schedule of increasing prices so that NFT traders can trade immediately. The 10,000 coffee mugs can get damaged, so as they are made, they continue to be stored by the artist, until the time when art collectors decide to have the art pieces shipped to them.
Why only now?
I decided to write as many book-length memoirs as I can before I came out to promote this.
I'm an artist and an author. Both need time to "master." I would not even fully use "master" on myself, because there's always something new, even to my own art, my own writing and publishing.

I am now claiming that I'm the visual artist who has produced the most artist memoirs in the world. I have 5 on Amazon. I count Valzubiriagenda as both a marketing book and a memoir-of-sorts, because it has a lot of my own life lessons on writing and publishing. I would not care to contest my claim of having the most memoirs. I will release 5 more over the next 3 years.

BARTER! Get help to write, photograph art and publish your books!
Anyone can hire 11 ghostwriters for 11 memoirs. If you can make art, but you cannot write, then barter your forever art with those who can help you produce forever books.
I don't feel the pressure of writing and publishing because I feel my focus should be on art students and art experts who would study my art and my books 100 years from now. Don't expect relatives and friends to read your books.
I call myself the Dollman
For my NFTs, I am proposing to make dioramas - my original, costumed, bejeweled porcelain dolls in backdrops that will also have precious metals and gemstones. This way I can incorporate precious metals and gemstones in my work, to make sure that people perceive my art as expensive, just in case I myself don't become "famous" - there's no need to get world famous. We are artists and all we need to do is to satisfy the art niche.
Use your laptop now!
I will encourage you to start writing your book-length memoir. Write, Edit and then Self-publish it. Get help. Why wait a hundred years for someone to write about you when all you need is a laptop and a nearby coffee shop.
Don't start counting chickens before the eggs hatch. I have encountered a lot of would-be writers who immediately see themselves as bestselling. world famous assets to society. Two even wanted me to sign NDAs (Nondisclosure agreements), because they did not want me to steal their book ideas.
Here's a suggestion. I would not personally do it. From one manuscript can come 2 books: The Original Draft (unedited, with misspellings, considered to be an art piece, scanned pages(?) of your handwritten original effort), and The Final Edition (edited).
PROVENANCE!
Another way to enhance our investability, tradability and collectability is PROVENANCE - how art ownership proceeds through time. The way this can be done is also through publishing books. Everyone can write their memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs, including traders, investors and art collectors. In effect, we artists can continue to be included or mentioned in even more books, without any additional effort by us.
You as an investor, reseller, trader, art collector should be able to publish a catalog with 250 works by 250 different artists, but they need to agree to this right from the start - it's your money, you should require them to follow your version of the hashtag #valzubiriagenda parameters, which preferably should include permission for you to publish their art. Why would you track down 250 artists later?
No exclusive contracts
If you're a café, you can call for artists, and come up with a book with for example, 30 artists, with a chapter devoted to each artist's profile and images of the artist's art.
You can distribute your catalogs to businesses and individuals near and far and online.
The book Valzubiriagenda even cites that funeral homes and janitors closets can sell art, with or without exclusivity. Airline catalogs can include million dollar art pieces. Car manufacturers, showrooms and even car repair shops can sell art as well. Everyone should be able to do this, anywhere in the world, especially not just because of the pandemic, but right now, we are in really bad economies.
What's with the name #Valzubiriagenda
I was into conspiracy theories in 2018, and this term, "The Mandela Effect," was popular. I had read many times that an artist coined the term, but I had to research online, for her name, many times, before remembering it. I'm not good at remembering names. It took me a year and a half to finally tell you that Fiona Broome coined "The Mandela Effect."
I also thought I might have to research trademarks and copyrights just to come up with a generic name. So I decided on "Valzubiriagenda." I was not really sure at first, but I decided to use it as the title for my book (with co-authoartist Silverio Perez) so that there would be no turning back and I can move on.
Am I a FUTURIST?
Someone I recently met this May 2022 just called me a futurist.
In the 1990s, I proposed to a pension fund that they can raise billions of dollars, especially for emergencies, or as needed, or out of desperation, if the pension fund purchases a quantity of art from an artist who not only has a current, reasonable price, but an announced future price that the artist wants to reach.
That future price would obviously be higher than the current price. The art commission contract for multiple art pieces can be taken to the fund's financial lender for a loan. The higher future price can be used for financing purposes.
The pension fund's treasurer, a publicly elected official, said this idea might work, but we had to keep this a secret and discuss this some more, because other pension funds might copy and do this prematurely. This idea had to come from the two of us. The treasurer needed his votes and I needed credentials.
Added into the pot was my idea that I, as the artist, will also write one book-length artist memoir. This was and still is a strong factor, because the leadership and marketing books I had read then mentioned a strong tip. If you want to advance in your field, write a full-length book that is related to the field.
Unfortunately, the elected official, the treasurer of the pension fund, who was also a friend, passed away - he was old and had ailments. At that point in time, I cannot just approach another pension fund treasurer to share this idea with.
I realized I had to write a few memoirs. I needed to set an example for other artists, so I needed to write more than one memoir. Then I felt I should also make ready another book - the how-to of what I'm up to. I wrote Valzubiriagenda, which was a memoir of sorts. I knew how long it would take me to write a book, so I had to make sure I can also consider this book a memoir.
In 2008, I imagined that someone like Bernie Madoff, or a fund like Lehman Brothers, would be desperate enough to use this to save themselves and their companies. I was not ready. I had only written 1 manuscript for a memoir.
In 2012, I released Dollman the Musical, A Memoir of an Artist as a Dollmaker. Once again, I was not ready because writing it depressed me a little, and I knew I had to write more.
In 2014, I released 3 memoirs, and re-released Dollman the Musical. Besides releasing regular books, I released special editions of the 4 books, which had a "Special Secret Insert for Bankers," which explains my ideas of an announced schedule of exponentially increasing prices, to satisfy investors, and the publication of artist memoirs, to satisfy art collectors.
In 2014, I also issued out a press release. Google "Can Billion Dollar Artist Save Investors and World Economy Valentino Zubiri PRWeb August 19 2014" and you will see the press release.
What I did was stake a claim on my ideas. I did not promote my books and the press release. I just wanted them to stay online, like a sleeping giant or a dormant volcano. I even designed 3 of the book covers to look like indie books from the 1980s. I was planting the seeds, thinking they will eventually grow and bear fruit in the future.
In 2015, I was interviewed by Richard Syrett, about one of my memoirs, Hocus Pocus Lately. This book is my memoir with paranormal stories. I could have pursued promoting my paranormal stories, but I wanted to be known first as a visual artist and memoirist, so I allowed myself one interview related to Hocus Pocus Lately. Richard Syrett has(had?) his own syndicated radio show, The Conspiracy Show with Richard Syrett, about the paranormal. He also guest hosts on Coast to Coast AM, another internationally syndicated show about the paranormal.
In 2018, I released Valzubiriagenda (co-authored by artist Silverio Perez, a fellow artist). Finally, this book is "the how-to of what I'm to."
I'm going to end this with some strangeness. In 1986, a lady at a religious gathering went into a trance and left a good number of messages. Supposedly, anyone who got into a trance would have messages, but once the trance was over, the person would not remember what was said.
I was not part of the group, but the lady turned her head to face me. She "foretold" that whatever I would decide to do in the future, it will take time, but it will be the right thing. This is one of my stories in one of my memoirs, Hocus Pocus Lately.
The Tulipmania of 1634-37
I discovered that there was this incident of rare tulips becoming collectible during the Dutch Golden Age. There were tulips so rare and so well-desired that their prices equaled to that of a house. You can read more about this online (Wikipedia) or watch a few YouTube videos about it.
Here is the most useful idea that I gleaned from the Tulipmania. The tulip bulbs remained safe inside nurseries. The traders were carrying the deeds of ownership to the tulip bulbs.
Then NFTs came to the forefront
I started learning PHP, an HTML scripting language, and MySQL, the database that PHP can connect to in the background, in 1999, when there were only 3 books about PHP and MySQL at the bookstores.
By 2014, I was trying to figure out how to make the "ledger," or database that can be used to update ownership and who can be contacted. If we are trading art, then the art ownership should be updated.
Then NFTs came about. This can be used as our ledger. Everyone can immediately trade NFTs of future, yet-to-be made art pieces, especially because it takes time to make tangible art.
NFTs actually went a step ahead, by allowing digital art to be traded.
The only setback with NFTs, in my opinion, is that it still lacks a commission system for resellers and representatives.
For example, if a café wants to represent me, then they can promote me at their café and on their online pages. If I make one piece of art that will be exclusively represented by a gallery, then that commission will be different and more specific. As ownership is transferred, the subsequent owners should be able to reset the commission. We should also have the option of giving commissions to hundreds of representatives at one time with different percentages if need be.
The recent crypto crash
Lately, we have observed that NFTs and cryptocurrencies have been behaving like the stock market and other markets. They have been fluctuating.
I believe that it is time for a trend which discourages fluctuation of prices.
I have also seen YouTube videos where social influencers are encouraging us to be on the lookout for exponentially profitable ventures, because we have all seen this happen with the exponential increase of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Let's see if #Valzubiriagenda trends
We can announce present and future art prices. The galleries won't do this (yet?) because they follow a more traditional approach to the business of art.
We have a choice of using incrementally or exponentially increasing prices. We still reserve the right to change things in the future, so everyone should know to follow the latest update.
If this trends, if you as an artist simply announces that you will write an artist memoir, or that you will include the future works in future art books, you might have more art traders, investors and collectors approaching you.
Get your pen, paper and calculator
Imagine yourself as an artist, where you are right now. Let's just say you still do not have a book about yourself and your art yet. Imagine now that you have a memoir out there. Don't you think it makes sense to charge more than what you are charging now? Writing and publishing books is just the beginning. I'm just standardizing this approach. The books also say to do other related projects. In my case, getting Dollman the Musical onstage is one idea. You will have other related projects, but the publication of memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs will help all of us.
You can also imagine that a law firm that has meeting rooms, with someone who wants to form a local #valzubiriagenda group, can have meetings. A local café can do the same. Local photographers for your art, writers, editors, book designers, proofreaders and others can join in.
I suggest have printed books to share. 15 copies of your memoir or art books will be better than an e-reader or laptop or your phone to show. These gadgets can be stolen, sabotaged, broken, have coffee spilled on them, etc. 15 printed books means simultaneously showing to 15 people. You can even give them away to potential resellers, investors, traders and collectors.
When it rains, it pours, as in the days of Noah
There's a saying, "When it rains, it pours." There is a negative interpretation and a positive interpretation.
Negative: When trouble comes, they cascade to even more.
Positive: When opportunity comes knocking, more follow suit. We can assume that if one gets our art because of #valzubiriagenda, more want to do it now, because of the rising prices, and FOMO - fear of missing out. What will they lose if they miss the boat?
As I have said earlier, if the #valzubiriagenda trends, if you announce a future memoir or art catalog, you might have an increase of investors, traders and art collectors who would want to check you out. You might encourage more sales. Just remember to write and publish that memoir and art catalog.
There's this saying, "As in the days of Noah." Imagine Noah, building his ark, with members of his own family, putting all his time and effort into it. Noah was a nice guy. I'm sure every once in a while a neighbor offered him coffee, or chai latte, or whatever refreshing drink they might have back then.
Here's the lesson to be learned. Just because they offered him some type of bubble tea drink, or coca cola, they still didn't make it to the ark. Rubbing shoulders with actors does not make you an actor. I have told my artist friends to write their memoirs. They told me that once they see me succeed, after all these many years of seeing my seemingly useless efforts, then they will write their memoirs and follow the road that I had paved for them.
Good luck to them, but if I were you, act now, get my art or make art. Support the 5-year old artist whose parent promised to release a comprehensive art catalog. If you get that 5-year old's art, and mine, I would be honored to be in the same art catalog that you will produce. I'm already successful at that point. You have gotten the mission just right.
I have already claimed to have written the most book-length artist memoirs in the world. Dethrone that claim. Barter. Use ghostwriters. Success to me means facing God one day and saying, I wrote my memoirs and left the world a legacy of books and art. I will not tell God, smiling and proudly, that I encouraged a run for my art by announcing a schedule of exponentially increasing prices that reached 9 figures. I'm sure God knows we had fun.

JOIN THIS GROUP

If you want to try out #valzubiriagenda, in any capacity, join this group. Let others know about this group as well.
If you are an artist, you can let everyone know here that you will produce your memoir, art catalogs, etc. It's okay if you don't know how to go about publishing yet, I will discuss this. Please be honorable enough to produce what you promise to produce.
If you want to meet fellow artists, investors, resellers, etc., join us here.
If you are a book writer, editor, proofreader; if you can photograph art pieces; if you are a book designer, etc., join us here. Let us know if you charge, barter for art, or both.
If you have your own tips and knowledge to share, join us here.
If you have underaged artists you are managing (parents, etc.) join us here.
Join this group if you want to sell works. Post your works. You web links. I'm sure I will.
You can announce meetings in your area. You might have meeting rooms, a café, restaurant, etc. where people can meet. In the future, you can have the regular show and tell, where books can be shown and shared.
​
Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I need to edit some parts. Please share and join this group. - Valentino Zubiri, Dollman, Artist, Memoirist
Underaged artists are welcome here, so please be mindful of your language. We cannot post your adult-oriented art pieces, but you can direct us to a separate page or community. There will be limits to your posts, and there will be adult-oriented art that we cannot allow to be posted.
Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I need to edit some parts. Please share and join this group. - Valentino Zubiri, Dollman, artist & memoirist

HELP !! I have never quit a job before therefore not sure how to write my resignation letter, I’m a 22yo female that is back from university for the summer and got a job in a local barestaurant. I have been working at the place for two months they have underpaid me recently by about 200 pound however I haven’t mentioned this to them but this was almost predictable by how disorganised this whole place is ran. I have been working on bars since I was 18 and do this as a way to get money on the side of university. The place I have been working at has a MAJOR ant infestation like crawling all over the bar over cocktail shakers matts near the ice ! They seem to not be doing anything about it except recently starting to put down some anti ant powder on the bar. They also are very disorganised making it a really stressful place to work keeping all there stock upstairs and having a bar that can only fit two staff on for a full restaurant that is normally very busy. Tonight I pulled my boss for a chat as they where overstuffed and they put me on the glass wash for hours since I had been in (I’m a fully trained barmaid yet I’m washing glasses on my own in the back for hours !!!) anyway.. I pulled him for a chat upstairs and said I’m thinking of quitting but want to do it in the nicest possible way he basically said he couldn’t give me a reference in the future and I’m completely fine with that as I have so many other bar jobs and past experience with good references but he also told me to go home and think about it and write a resignation letter !! What do I even say !!! Help

I am talking about 2021, I always remember how beautiful those days were, my friends, our old house, I, I wish to go back that night when it rained and my friends and I slept on the ground because of fatigue, I used to leave the house at 4 in the afternoon and enter the house at 2 in the morning, I used to go With my friends, we go to eat in the restaurant near our house, then we wear skateboards, play and wander everywhere, nothing else is louder than the sound of music and the sound of our laughter, I remember my old school and how my personality was, my only friend I always drew during class time and I had imaginary friends that I used to be I come back from school and go to sleep and go out to enjoy our time with my friends as usual, and then I wake up in the morning, read my homework and go to school. I really wish I could go back!! Now my friends are not here, I moved from our old house, I threw the skate roll, I lost contact with my friends, I moved to a second school .. Really, all I can imagine is that another child's toys in my closet collapsed! I want to see that abandoned car parked in the corner of the branch, and I want to see that tree that we always thought was damned because it had little red dots on it, I want to go to that terrifying branch that my mother used to scold me for, and I want to want the kitchen of our house, my old room, The house is filled with the sound of the echo of strangers now, perhaps they have changed the furniture and painted the walls.., a step outside the threshold of the door, I realize then that it is not our home anymore..

Demographics:
Latina from NYC, 40K income >>, lgbtq+
Stats:
GPA - 96.51, SAT - 1360 (will retake, aiming for 1450 - 1500), my school does not do rank.
Extracurriculars:
- LEDA Scholars at Princeton for this upcoming summer!
- Brooklyn Public Library Intern (helped children with reading comprehension, leaded storytime, etc). This was done my Junior year, upcoming summer, and I will become "Peer Mentor" in my internship next year (for my Senior Year).
- Editor of School magazine (9-12)
- peer Tutor (10-12)
- NHS (Elections for leadership arrive soon), (11-12)
- For the summer after Freshman and Sophomore year, I tutored.
- I also worked in a grocery store for a bit.
- Volunteered at churches.
- Swimming (just for fun) (10-12)
Awards:
-NLE (Summa cum Laude/ Perfect Score)
-Questbridge College Prep Scholars
-Nominated for Posse (idk if this counts).
Other:
LORs - I love both of my teachers that are writing for me( I'd say a 9/10 for their rec letters)
Essay - I will be doing this in the summer, but will make sure it is perfection.
Classes - IB Diploma Candidate
College Qualifications/Needs:
-Must be near the tri-state area. Such states that are MA, NJ, NY, CT, PA.
-Must meet 100% of financial need.
The colleges that I like are Wesleyan, Wellesley, Smith, NYU, Barnard.
​

Weekends mostly are not planned specially for me but sometimes crazy thing happens
Since it was raining for sometime today, we were finding new places suddenly comes palm arabiana near RGI airport. A tour of the restaurant is worth if you are totally bored by seeing only cemented infrastructures. Palm arabiana is an open place with almost everything from food to entertainment park, cricket and football ground, Go karting.

I've been a longtime horror reader, but stumbled onto Christopher Buehlman because I read his fantasy, The Blacktongue Thief.
I loved the prose, the characters, the world building - everything. So I dove into the rest. I read these books all by audio, so the narration plays into my thoughts.
A word on narration: most authors aren't that good at it, but Buehlman is a killer. He's so adept that he could do other people's books professionally. When an author can narrate, I think it adds a layer of authenticity to it. He knew his intent when he wrote the words, so he can emphasize and push narratives faster and better.
#6: Those Across the River: You can tell that this was his first novel. However, it was clear reading this that the guy has a great command of story and character. Like all his books, this one shines in great part due to the beauty of the prose. Buehlman set his pattern for taking traditional monsters and giving them their own mythology in this novel. The title itself is so ominous that it sold me on the book. I don't know what I expected to be across the river, but not what it ended up being. My mind kept thinking that Frank's ancestor Savoyard was some kind of cursed cultist, and that we'd be seeing him. What we got was more guttural in that the werewolf colony wasn't some wealthy bunch like vampires. They were cursed, lepers and miserable. I didn't like how anticlimactic Frank's final confrontation with the werewolves felt. Usually authors over-write, but this felt a little hurried. I wanted more, given what they'd done to him.
Buehlman didn't narrate this one, and while Mark Bramhall did a fine job, I think Buehlman elevates his books when he narrates them.
#5: The Suicide Motor Club: This was another traditional monster book that sold me on Buehlman's vision of vampires. The book spent a lot of time on characterization and the backstories of both our protagonist and villain. We go from the inciting incident, where Judith's family is murdered into a long run about her recovery and what happened in her life. As we eventually get back into the story, we start getting snippets of Nixon's life. He's a damn compelling villain whose backstory never bores me. The pacing of this book may not be to your taste if you like a faster moving story.
The narration in this one is again excellent, but not as riveting as some of his other forays.
#4: The Necromancer's House: Buehlman made an interesting choice when he chose to write this in a present tense voice. It may be personal preference, but that always takes me out of the story. The first-person, past-tense narrator in The Lesser Dead drew me tight to the story, while this separated me from it to a degree. That aside, I nearly rated this higher because it's so amazingly original and terrifying. At the same time, I think it's the book that showcases Buehlman's humor the most.
Haberkorn does a great job narrating, to the point I didn't miss Buehlman as much, even though I'd prefer that.
This is where it gets hard to rank the novels because everything is so great.
#3: The Lesser Dead: How can I rank this third? It's a compliment to the next two books, not a slight. I love Buehlman's habit of setting his novels in the past, but this one is so good. Joseph's romp through seedy NYC of the 1970s sounds so much better than if it were set in today's NYC, where Times Square has chain restaurants and many of the biggest plays are Disney and Potter properties. Where Suicide put me off a bit with its pace, this grabbed me and never let me go. The dread and discomfiture you feel are all the more compelling when you realize that the protagonist is a relatively powerful vampire and drinker of human blood. The Cvetko twist caught me completely by surprise and I love when someone can do that. Especially when the seeds were there and I didn't see them.
Narration was another reason it scored so well with me. Buehlman's Joey Peacock invested me in him so deeply. The best narrator working is probably Stephen Pacey, and I don't think he could have done this better.
#2: The Blacktongue Thief: Buehlman stretches his fingers off into fantasy, but keeps his toes in horror in Blacktongue. Many fantasy writers think they're actually supposed to build a world in their novels, and it's a trap that always sabotages the story. However, if you're writing a fantasy set in a world of giants, thieves, magic and hungry goblins, you must build that world. Buehlman does this by sprinkling it in, when it's relevant. You don't get the information dump normally associated with fantasy novels, particularly first time fantasy novels. You get the rules of the world when they're relevant as part of the story.
I'm a Dungeons & Dragons geek and in D&D, Goblins are considered trash monsters - minions you kill on the way to the real baddies. Buehlman's Goblins are sheer, man-eating terror. The split city tug-of-war alone was a gut punch. The little, poisonous, sharp-teethed, hungry bastards.
Buehlman's narration elevates this novel more than any other. As great as his Joey Peacock was, his Kinch is somehow better.
#1: Between Two Fires: This is becoming Buehlman's The Stand - his novel that helps define all the rest, but I could just as easily have put Thief or Lesser in this spot. The reason I chose this one is that it's just so different: from his other novels, and from most anything I've read. It's bleak, difficult and has a conclusion I had to read three times. But that's a good thing. If you ever attempted Blood Meridian, I read that conclusion even more and still think I could take something different from it every time. The end of Two Fires isn't quite like that, but you will want to read it more than one time.
The most terrifying scene in the book to me wasn't one of the many great horror scenes, but the battle with the English. The terror I felt when the English archers started raining arrows on the Normans sold me that he could build a fantasy battle even better. I hope we get a large dollop of fantasy battle in any Blacktongue sequels.
My only regret is that I've now got to wait on any new Buehlman novels.

This sub helped me out a lot so thought I'd share my experience in Japan. Hope I can bring a bit of a different perspective because unlike most of the people that seem to post here, we are definitively not early risers and rarely left the hotel before 1pm every day. Still had a great time and crowds were only an issue in a few places.
We're an early 30s Asian-American couple traveling from Germany, so we're coming at this from a bit of an in-between of Western and Eastern perspective. I have been to Japan when I was 15 with family, but remember basically nothing. It was my wife's first time. We had an absolutely wonderful time and both thought it was the best vacation we've had in years.
The trip was pretty last minute (for my standards at least). I started planning the trip from scratch (no flights, hotels or anything booked) in early April and our trip was May 18-30. We spent 5 days in Tokyo including DisneySea, 2 nights in Hakone, 3 nights in Kyoto including day trip to Nara, and 1 night in Osaka. We flew in to Tokyo Narita and flew out of Osaka Itami. We decided to fly from Osaka to Tokyo instead of bullet train back to Tokyo so we didn't have to buy JR rail pass and worry about luggage.
Tokyo

• We stayed in Ginza, which was significantly cheaper than similar hotels in Shibuya or Shinjuku. Maybe it was because I was planning such last minute, but I enjoyed the area just fine. Lots of restaurants and close to Tokyo Station which was convenient.
• Shout out to Star Club in Shinjuku. Had a wonderful Saturday night there drinking til 4am, chatting with other patrons and the super friendly bartender. Mix of locals and tourists.
• T's Tantan Ramen in Tokyo Station was one of my favorite ramen places of the trip (tied with the Michelin star one from Kyoto, but minus the wait). The bowl had a good variety of vegetable ingredients (which didn't seem that common in Japan, most ramen was just noodles and meat) which I really appreciated. Small queue but didn't wait more than 10m.
• The only restaurant reservation we made all trip was at Bon. Vegetarian multi-coursed meal. I would recommend, it was very nice, though sometimes a tad under salted for my taste. My wife loved it though. You get your own little private room to eat, even for two people, which was unexpected and very lovely.
• Asakusa has a tourist center with air conditioning, bathrooms, and an 8th floor view. Nice place for a rest
• Akihabara did nothing for us, as we're not really into anime or games. Pretty skippable if you are similar.
• I thought Ameyoko Shopping District was a disappointment. More like a flea market, it was similar to many Taiwan street/night markets that we've been to before. We also had probably our worst meal in Japan here, at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant where the food was extremely mediocre. I would have skipped this place altogether and go to Ueno Park or something instead.
• Character Street in Tokyo Station was very fun to explore, we did a lot of shopping there. Nice place to visit before taking the Shinkansen.
• We enjoyed Takeshita Street in Harajuku. As mentioned before we went at around 8pm and it wasn't too crowded.
• When planning I had thought about skipping Shibuya Scramble but I'm really glad I didn't. Something about witnessing the sheer number of people bustling about was so epic and grand. Reminded me of Saturday midnight at EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) when the atmosphere is electric and everyone is moving from one main stage to another.
• Golden Gai was interesting to look at, but way too claustrophobic for us. Very small alleys and very small bars.
• I enjoyed Tsukiji Market a lot. This is one of the places I would agree with people here and advise you get there early. Take advantage of jet lag and get here before 7am, and it is literally a buffet of delicious fresh foods. (not much choice for vegetarians though sadly). By 8am it was starting to get REALLY crowded. I prefer picking out my sashimi this way as opposed to a restaurant tbh, you can look at many options and pick whatever looks freshest. First time eating Wagyu here, had it on a stick. Delicious. Not the cheapest, but I figured if I ate it at a restaurant I'd also be paying for table service and atmosphere. I'm not big on the "restaurant experience", I'd rather just eat my food and be on my way.
• I thought Hamarikyu Gardens was wonderful. I love city parks where there is green, peaceful nature in the fore ground, contrasted by enormous skyscrapers towering in the background. Hamarikyu Gardens fits that perfectly. Got there right when they opened after visiting Tsukiji Market and it was a perfect way to walk off the big hearty breakfast. ~1 hour at a moderate pace should do it.
• Ginza Corridor after work was very interesting to see around 5-7pm or so. Simply packed to the brim with business folks wearing suits and having a good time after their work day

DisneySea

• We checked the weather and specifically went on a rainy weekday. I highly recommend, it was not crowded at all. Almost all the rides are indoors anyway and most of the queueing is either inside or covered. We got to the park at 2pm and basically rode everything we wanted before the park closed at 9pm with time to spare.
• Popular rides still had 40m-1hour wait, but we used premier pass for Center of the Earth and Soaring. Most we ever waited was 20m for Finding Nemo (similar to Star Tours, all in Japanese but very fun). I checked the app the next day when it was sunny and saw the wait times for each attraction were 3-4x longer.
• Another thing I think the rain helped with was that the premier passes did not sell out. We were able to buy them as late as 6pm to Journey to the Center of the Earth. (Fun ride, but I can't imagine waiting 1.5 hours for it)
• I think Soaring is pretty meh, I'd probably skip it next time. I've been to the one in CA ages ago and remember thinking it was just okay too, but we had extra time so decided to try it here.
• Sinbad was excellent, the ride that most exceeded expectations. It's basically "It's A Small World" but way better animatronics and story telling.
• Indiana Jones is worse than in the one in California (less exciting, no fire effects), but the line was nonexistent so we went on it twice.
• It stopped raining at night too so we were able to catch the Believe show with no issues. It's a good show but it is very long, about 40m. Much longer than I thought. After show is over, there's only about ~1 hour before the park closes, so good time to catch a last ride at one of the popular attractions while the locals are heading home.
• I love how every restaurant has a display in front that shows you what the food will look like. They were all extremely accurate and not at all misleading!
• (not a tip but a rant, is it really necessary to have 10 thousand parking spots when the vast majority of people are going to arrive on Tokyo's world-class public transit system?)

Hakone

• Open Air Museum was really nice on a pleasant day. It's mostly outdoors. We spent a leisurely two hours there, but you could probably do it in one hour at a brisk pace.
• We left our Ryokan at 1pm to do the Hakone Loop and still completed it comfortably with plenty of time spent on shopping.
• Speaking of shopping, Cat Goods near Gora station was a wonderful little store full of cat stuff!! Our shopping list in Japan was basically to buy as much cat-themed home goods at possible, and we went crazy here. They also do tax-free! Recommend this place if cat-themed goods sounds interesting to you, the shop people were super nice!
• We stayed 2 nights 3 days in a Ryokan. I purchased Hakone free pass for 3 days, which was maybe not worth it. The first and last day we only took transport to leave Hakone to Odawara station, so I think it would have been cheaper to use the IC card to pay for it ad-hoc instead of an entire extra "free pass" day. Might be worth looking in to.
• If you have the Freepass, don't tag IC card at the stations. Show your Freepass to the attendant instead. It can't be a screenshot, they need to see the day
• Google Maps was great everywhere except Hakone. For some reason it was especially unreliable here, it led us stray a few times.
• Busses are faster for getting around, but have very little space for luggage and seemed packed with locals. If time is not an issue, I'd ride the Hakonetozan Line with your luggage, much more comfortable and more space.
• If you can spare the money, getting a private onsen was really really nice. Plus you can drink while you chill!

Kyoto

• Had an excellent time at Gion Bar M16, favorite bar experience we went to in Japan. The owner was super friendly and welcoming, and was himself a very interesting person that has lived a full life and travelled all over the world. Very interesting to talk to. He was also very knowledgeable about whiskey and drank whiskey with us while letting us try some different whiskeys and giving recs about what to buy and bring home. Also gave us lots of delicious and interesting snacks while we got drunk together. We also met a friend of the owner there who is a foreigner that has been living in Japan for 8 years, and gave us some recs.
• One of his recs was Eikan-do Temple as a less-crowded temple option. Good rec! We really enjoyed this place a lot. Probably our favorite temple out of the 5 or so we visited. They have this really extensive "shoes-off" wooden walkway on support beams. It felt like exploring a big tree house, because the wooden part went up the cliff as well. The insides areas were also very extravagant and intricate. Not so many tourists, even Sunday middle of the day. I really recommend as well!
• Another of his recs was Men-ya Inoichi (has a Michelin star). You line up when the shop opens to get a ticket, and then come back at a designated time, though there's still a wait before you actually eat. We probably waited ~50m in total, 20m at the beginning and 30m when we returned. Even then, thought it wasn't worth the time. Don't get me wrong it was very good, but IMO not significantly better than other ramen places.
• Kodai-ji Temple was a miss for us, especially after Eikan-do. Thought it wasn't that interesting, would have skipped.
• Kiyomizu-dera was indeed very nice, but very very crowded. Another place I would actually either going early or late for.
• The shopping street in front of Kiyomizu-dera was super fun to browse, but also very crowded.
• Had lunch at this tucked away Soba restaurant in an alley that was very nice, one of my favorite meals in Japan. Owner was friendly and spoke in Japanese to a translator that replayed his words in English. Noodles nice and chewy. Good experience, felt very personal!
• We visited Yasaka-jinja Shrine and Maruyama Park both in the evening and during the day, and much much prefer it when it's dark. Less crowded and there are cute little lamps that are lit up and make the whole place look magical.

Nara

• Arrived in Nara station at ~2:30pm and left at 7pm. Felt like we saw plenty.
• Nothing new to add, the bowing deer are fun to visit and feed, though they can be quite aggressive. We went on Saturday and there was large crowds of children in their school uniforms, but we didn't really mind it too much.
• Isuien Garden and Yoshikien Garden are both very nice gardens, good place to get away from crowds for some peace and quiet.

Osaka

• Didn't spend much time in Osaka, but Dontonburi was fun to walk through and shop.
• Ate at a very nice Okonomiyaki restaurant. It was our first time eating it so can't compare it to anywhere else, but the staff was super friendly and bubbly and we had an excellent time there. They also have a little dice game you can play to "gamble" on getting a drink for free, or "lose" and get the drink double sized and also pay 2x the price
• Shout out to our hotel, Hotel Royal Classic Osaka. We were only there for one night, but my god this hotel was so convenient. Directly connected to the subway station via an elevator, and also has a 24-hour FamilyMart you can enter from the lobby. It was also only 3m walking away from a airport limousine bus, which made going to the airport super easy. If we ever visit Osaka for a longer stay, we would definitely book this hotel again.

Random Tips

• The flipside to getting to a popular tourist spot early, is to get there very late. We visited Takeshita Street in Harajuku at 8pm at night and it was very comfortably not crowded. Also noticed other tourists spots tended to clear up near closing time, like Senso-Ji in Asakusa.
• As everyone says, toilets are generally as clean as you can reasonably expect, everywhere from parks to gardens to subway stations. Nastiest toilet I saw was in Don Quixote at 1am, trash everywhere.
• 7/11 seemed to have English featured more prominently on their products labels compared to other convenience store chains. All the convenience store food options seemed very similar, so I started to favor 7/11 for the language convenience. (FamilyMart had English in super tiny letters on the side of the label lol)
• In one of those small counter seating type restaurants, I saw someone take the wrong backpack when they left (didn't know it was the wrong backpack at the time ). A few minutes later, the person who's backpack was taken got up to leave, and was very confused trying to find his backpack. He spent a long 10m talking to the restaurants folks (in Japanese), before the original guy came back super apologetic. Anyway keep an eye on your stuff. I know Japan is a safe country, but accidents do happen.
• One trick we had was to tie a little charm or hair tie to the handle of our umbrella, making it less likely someone would accidentally take yours from the sea of indistinguishable white plastic umbrellas.
• Yes there's a lot of walking. My feet tend to get damp if I'm out all day and foot powder works wonders, highly recommend it. Picked up this trick while attending music festivals.
• No issues with tax refunds and customs. We packed some of our stuff in carry-on in case they inspected, but nothing happened.
• Used Ubigi esim and it was perfect. I bought 10gb and used 7gb over our trip, doing most of the navigation and planning. My wife bought 1gb and used about 700mb with just random internet surfing. I will 100% be using this service for travel to other countries in the future, not just Japan, it was so damn convenient.

Transportation

• Definitely leave extra time for navigating subway stations, those things are like enormous underground malls.
• Shinkansen app didn't work for our iphone country (Germany), but I was able to use the mobile web browser pretty easily. Great for free, last-minute rescheduling of Shinkansen tickets when we inevitably take too long shopping.
• Apple Wallet Suica / IC card worked like a charm (with AMEX and Mastercard). One thing though it that it can sometimes take up to 1 minute for the money to load onto the account, so don't wait until the very last minute and accidentally hold up the bus.
• Taxis are green when someone is in it and red when they are free (at least in Tokyo?). Confused the hell out of drunk me at 4am in the morning. I think in Kyoto it is orange instead when someone is in them, and the orange/red difference is quite hard to spot from far away.
• On that note, I had sorta assumed the metro runs all night in Tokyo, but this is definitely not the case. They stop service from about midnight to 5am, so keep an eye on the last train if you do intend to catch it. Otherwise you'll have to take a more-expensive-than-usual taxi (captive markets), but not a big deal. We thought it was typically priced in comparison to most other US and European cities.
• We had a choice between a 1 hour or 3 hour layover in Tokyo NRT and we chose 3 hour because we weren't sure how long it would take to transfer from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 in NRT. In actuality it took less than 30m, so the 1 hour would have probably been fine. We didn't mind the extra buffer time to relax though.- Absolutely enormous plane flying between Osaka and Tokyo. Like literally it was the size of a transatlantic plane, with 10 seats in each row, for a sub 1 hour flight, completely full with business travelers (judging by their suits and brief cases).

Food

• We aren't big foodies; we like Japanese food a lot but food isn't really a top priority for us while traveling. Some of our favorite meals were from 7/11 (kelp & bonito flavoured tofu stick, sukiyaki beef over rice, fish flavored cheese snacks, grilled squid. Yum!)
• Most meals were good, if a bit straightforward. At least the places we ate at, main courses seemed to be carb heavy, with a side of meat, and little else. I know we could have gotten side dishes, but the portion sizes were too big for us to order more.
• Very few vegetables in general, and if there were some they were pickled. (Guess it makes sense for an island country). I usually bring fiber pills with me when traveling and do recommend it for Japan too.
• Wife is vegetarian, I am not. Japan is not particularly vegetarian friendly if you don't like tofu, which fortunately my wife does. Most places did have at least one tofu option, so it worked out okay for us. She doesn't follow it super strictly though. A few times she would order a dish and I would just pick out the meat from her bowl.
• Portion sizes were a LOT bigger than I thought they would be. I think maybe we are just small eaters. US and European portions are a little bit bigger I suppose, but Japanese portion sizes were too big even for us. Especially ramen! It was crazy to see folks wolf down an giant bowl of ramen, then ask for an extra helping of noodles with their remaining soup, and finish that up too.
• We only made one reservation beforehand and waited in line over 10m once. Worked out fine for us.
• Restaurants tend to do last call an hour or more before closing, so don't get there too late. Happened to us twice before we learned our lesson, got to a restaurant about one hour before the listed closing hours and they turned us away.
• The Japanese palette seems to be much more subtle than typical western palette, and notably less salty. We often find Asian food at US/German restaurants too salty or saucy. Even then, some of the food we ate was bordering on the minimum range of my taste buds to almost be bland. Just my opinion, most of it was good but sometimes the lack of salt was pretty noticeable to me. My wife tends to like things less salty than me though and she thoroughly enjoyed all of those meals no problem. Soup noodle places like ramen and udon are excluded from this, those were usually perfectly salted to my taste.
• Walking while eating seemed fine. I saw at least 3 different instances of Japanese people doing it.
• Apparently there are no laws banning public drinking in Japan. You can drink alcohol on the street no problem, but I rarely saw people doing that (unlike here in Germany where people seem to take full advantage of it and also leave trash everywhere). I did see a few groups of Japanese people doing it at night in Tokyo, usually near bus stops, and the next morning saw the empty bottles and cans. Guess there are litterers everywhere. We had a beer in the park at night, weren't loud about it and took our trash with us. That was very pleasant.

Hotels

• Hotels always have liquid or foam hand soap! I hate the bar soaps that most Western hotels provide in the room, so I usually bring my own liquid hand soap. Was totally not necessary for this trip.
• Lots of people on this sub have mentioned check-in time being very precise, as in you rarely can check in before the designated time. We didn't experience this first hand. But on the flip side, we did find out that check out time is very precise too! They start calling your room about 15-20m after your check out time. This is in contrast to most American/European hotels that we've stayed at, which are in my experience very lax about their check out times. We can often get away with leaving the room at 1-2 hours after the stated check out time (we're late risers). Not so in Japan.
• Agree with other people's advice that booking a hotel close to a big subway station is probably the most important factor. It sucks having to walk 10m to the station every single day, and it is amazing when it is close. Also being close to a 24/7 convenience store was also very nice for late night munchies.

Language

• We only knew sumimasen, konichiwa, and arigato gozaimasu and got alone just fine (lots of hand gestures!). We do know a bit of Mandarin Chinese though so that was helpful with reading signs.Some places knew Mandarin better than English and would switch to that if they thought we could speak it. Chinese tourism seems like big business (we saw a ton of Chinese tourists everywhere) so I guess it makes sense for people in tourism industry to cater towards that. Announcements (like over train stations) always went Japanese, English, often Chinese, then sometimes Korean.

Luggage Forwarding * I thought it was kind of expensive, but it does make things easier.- ○ Tokyo -> Hakone: 2310 yen- ○ Hakone to Kyoto: 2630 yen- ○ Kyoto -> Osaka: 1940 yen. * I feel like for that price you could take a taxi to and from your hotels to the train station and it wouldn't be much more work. There was plenty of space on the Shinkansen to put smaller checked luggage overhead. Then you don't have to prepack things the day before. * For the first leg Tokyo -> Hakone, we shipped two checked luggage which was about ~32 euros. After that we only shipped one, not two. * The middle ground we found was to designate one suitcase as souvenirs and dirty laundry and forwarded it every time. We would then travel with two carry-ons and one checked luggage. YMMV depending on your number of luggage and ease of carrying them.

Rutgers vs. Pomona
For PreMed Track (Major: Molecular Bio)
Pomona - Very high med school acceptance (85%) w/ grade inflation + accessibility to their pre-health resources - Ability to explore the 5Cs - Has the prestige (in terms of grad school). Next to major city (LA) - Love the liberal arts feel— I am not overwhelmed, I get to know my professors, and I can learn to love learning
Cons - Not sure if Pomona is known to be good with appealing financial aid. - $36k a year ?!!?!?????!? - Location is beautiful but it’s in a quaint old-person town (which is also kind of a pro) - Transportation is limited, cost of living is high in California
Rutgers Pros - If I were to be the TOP premed student at Rutgers, I would have the same chances as anyone for med school - Probably lots of volunteering considering how close its university hospital is - East coast and NY-NJ-PA tristate is good, better than West Coast for jobs (will go back for med school) - Cheaper ($8k/year) - Better accessibility to food (it’s a college town with common-name stores + restaurants) - Traditional feel - Most important: I graduate nearly debt-free
Cons: - Too large 💀, I feel like I’ll miss catching the bus to class all the time - NJ is depressing - Student body isn’t a great fit for me - Asbestos in the dorms, SA assault cancels Orientation Week, Professor Strike— Reputation is….. scary. - More competition with other people for access to resources, less time with professors -Some have told me their premed advisors discourage some med school applicants - Might burn out easily then consider switch
So the thing is, I do not want to be in debt by the time it hits medical/dental school, which we would most definitely have loans to take out. Has anyone had any experiences with paying off their financial aid at Pomona (loans, etc.) to go to law/med/grad school?

Any recomendations on any of these restaurants? All on around Clark and Honore.
Bamboo Garden (near Publix)
Asian Kitchen (near Chick FilA)
Or any other good ones.
Thanks!
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I have several 5 star customer ratings. But not near as many “Customer Feedback” ratings.
And NO “Customer Compliments”.
For those that do have a good amount of any of those- what are you doing to go above and beyond?
My ratings are good, but I’d like to have more customer feedback 🫤.
I have a pleasant smile (aka- I’m not lost in thought, staring at the ground) - from the moment I park at the customer’s house and leave their food on their porch.
If I deliver to them in person, I’m friendly. But not at all chatty. I take the food out of the hot bag in front of them- and pleasantly say thank you and have a great night!
Could it be that I usually don’t park in their driveway? I park on the road in front of their house as to not take a chance on accidentally running into one of their cars. I don’t walk through their grass. I walk up their driveway.
I deliver on time, and I send polite courtesy texts if I’m waiting in the restaurant. I have a neat appearance and clothes.
Am I overthinking this? Should I do complimentary banter about their great choice of restaurant? 🤔😂
What am I missing?

So recently I (25M) went into a restaurant near my apartment with my roommate to pick up some pizza. I used to go to this place all the time but I stopped ordering out for a few months. Well when him and I walk in, there was this beautiful girl at the counter taking orders. I had never seen her before, but I was internally stunned. Nothing really happened at this point. We grabbed our pizza and left.
The next day I decided to go in again to see if she was there (that and I was also hungry lol). I walked in and there she is. She greeted me, and I said hi. I told her what I wanted for my order and she started to make it. I started talking to her for a bit, and we were having a nice little conversation about just general things. That and how the restaurant is opening up a new section soon. I made a remark saying “I know the owner, him and I used to talk all the time when I came her” and she laughed and was like “Well that would be my dad haha” I was surprised and caught off guard. It’s crazy because I had never known her before. She’s told me she’s only here helping out during the weekdays after school for the summer. I guess she does summer courses. So after all that she handed me my food. Before I left I asked for her name, she told me and I told her mine. The whole interaction was quick, smooth, and fun.
Well my REAL impasse here is her dad. So him and I get along really well. He’s given me free food before, first name basis, casual normal conversations etc… but one awkward thing is he would most likely remember me as having a girlfriend. I broke up with her about 2 months ago. But I’m afraid of asking his daughter out and her possibly telling him, and him being like “hey he has a girlfriend”. I guess I’m also just afraid of standard “dad” stuff when it comes to his daughter. Any advice on maybe how I should go about this? Or just keep things going the way they are.
I plan to try to go in maybe once a week and ask for her number at some point. If I get rejected that would be that, and that’s fine. My main worry is just dealing with the dad. I don’t want him to hate me lol.

Heading to the Lyric later today. Any recommendations for restaurants that serve dinner at the bar (my usual when I don’t make reservations!). I looked at Bar Mar, but couldn’t tell if they had open seating at the bar.
Thanks!

Hi all, lots of people gave me planning tips so I wanted to return the favor by summarizing my trip, in case it’s helpful. I traveled with my wife. We live in So Cal so we drove to the park the morning of. We did not buy any add ons (like Genie Plus or Lightning Lanes)
Rope drop: my wife and I went straight to Adventureland and boarded Indiana Jones (20 minute wait)
Immediately after, walked onto Jungle Cruise (no wait). Then walked into Pirates (no wait, but broke down for ten minutes). From there, got a churro (no line) and walked onto Winnie the Pooh (no wait).
Walked to galaxy’s edge. Lines were long so went to cantina (walked in without reservation, then left after a few minutes after the stormtroopers came in).
Went to Fantasyland. Rode Pinocchio (no wait), Snow White (ten minutes), the carousel (five minutes), and the storybook river cruise (five minutes). Then walked onto Small World (no wait).
This is when the park started filling up somewhat (around 11am). After, headed to Tomorrowland and rode Star Tours (25 minutes) and Buzz Lightyear (35 minutes). Got a pretzel (no wait) before hopping into Star tours line.
Crossed back to adventure land to get some dole whip with mango chimoy (can’t mobile order, so waited about fifteen minutes and soaked in the vibes). Then snacked on beignets at hungry bear (mobile ordered - no wait).
At this point, rise of the resistance had broken down. We went back to galaxy’s edge and ate lunch at the restaurant (I think it’s called landing port). Food was excellent. Atmosphere was amazing.
Then went to smugglers run (45 min wait). As we neared the end of the line I saw on the app that the wait ballooned to 180 minutes. Meanwhile ROTR was still closed.
After, went to chill in galaxy’s edge. Saw the mandalorian. Walked past ROTR. The cast members at the entrance were letting people in and told us the wait would be 40-50 min. In actuality the ride was still broken. As we waited, many park guests exited the line from the front. Several said they had waited two hours. We waited for an hour and then bailed. I checked the app throughout the day after and the ride stated down for another two hours or so.
After leaving ROTR, we veered to frontier land because we hadn’t seen it yet. We browsed the shops for a while, then went to Main Street to get coffee at Starbucks (15-20 min wait). It was definitely worth the wait because we were really tired and needed the coffee. We sipped our coffee and relaxed, pursuing the main street sites, shops, and exhibits.
After, we did the tea cups (10 or 15 minute wait). Then the parade marched past us, so we got to see the parade. We didn’t have the best view (we were near small world), but we got a pretty decent view of everything and enjoyed the parade.
After, we stopped by toon town just to take in the sites. Rodger rabbit had an hour wait, but we didn’t want to go on it. The new Micky and Minnie ride was not taking standby wait anymore (just lightning lane). But toon town was really cute (spent about ten minutes just walking around).
Next, we headed to the Mark Twain for a sunset cruise. It was a highlight of the day. Really nice ride. Very impressive ship.
Then we hopped off and walked around New Orleans Square at night. Really beautiful when sun sets. Then, we did the same for Galaxy’s edge. We bought some dinner (sausages - pretty delicious and no wait) and then took in the sites. We also checked out the gift shop. (By this time ROTR was reopen but the lightning lane was over an hour wait because the ride had essentially been broken all day)
We ended the day by walking around fantasy land, through tomorrow land, to the front of the castle. We arrived around 9pm and waited for the fireworks show. We got a great spot and enjoyed the show.
After the show, we did some last minute shopping in Main Street and downtown Disney. After waiting out the crowds for a bit we took the tram back to the parking lot and were out of the parking lot around 10:30/11pm.
—————— Biggest tips: Be at the parking lot no later than 7:30am and make sure you rope drop. We got on pretty much every ride.
Don’t expect to get on ROTR or the new Micky and Minnie ride. It’s slammed. If you really want to go, you have to prioritize it and recognize you’ll have to pay for extras (stay an extra day, buy lightning lanes, and/or buy genie plus) or you’ll have to be willing to go on fewer attractions so that you can make it in one of these two rides. You also need a little luck - the reason I didn’t rope drop ROTR is because everyone rope drops it and because it’s often broken down at the beginning of the day. So I didn’t want to roll the dice and risk losing that two hour window where few people are in the park.
The rides are fun but definitely pick and choose what you go on. If a ride doesn’t interest you very much, then don’t spend an hour waiting for it. For instance, we skipped a few rides like Autopia because we didn’t care for that ride. Same with some roller coasters (they’re cool but my wife doesn’t like roller coasters and Disney coasters aren’t worth waiting more than an hour, to me. But I’ve been going for years so I’ve been on all the coasters a million times.)
Instead, one of the best parts of the park is soaking in the good vibes, hanging with a snack, and just appreciating all the immersive decor.
Similarly, I recommend revisiting parts of the park during different times of day. The ambiance totally changes at sunset and then during the evening. The best examples are Main Street, Galaxy’s Edge, and New Orleans Square.
I think one of the best things we did was rope dropping adventure land. Most people rushed to ROTR or Space Mountain, which had pretty big wait times. If you were one of the lucky few who made it to the front of the line, it may have been worth it, but most people probably had to wait a while. By contrast, rope dropping adventure land enabled me to go on a bunch of rides in the first two hours. It took stress off the second half of the day. I also saw that many of these rides had huge lines after eleven.
Bring a backpack. Pack an extra pair of shoes, water, and sunblock.
Lastly, I recommend doing a river cruise through the Mark Twain at sunset. I also recommend getting to the fireworks show at least 30 minutes early, but no more than 45 minutes early.
A final tip - research before you go. Familiarize yourself with the park layout, get the app, watch YouTube videos, and get a game plan. You should have a sense of what you want to do and how you’re going to accomplish it.

Hi! Does anyone know of any venues near downtown (restaurant, bar, gallery, museum, rental house, outdoor space…anything) that host private events and allow hosts to bring their own alcohol/food (e.g., cans of beeseltzer, some party snack trays).
I’m planning a low key, fun wedding welcome party the night before my wedding next summer in downtown Grand Rapids, and would like to host an informal gathering with some drinks and snacks for guests to mingle the night before the wedding. It would likely be a large group of 100+ on a Friday night.
I’m finding that most venues require a professionally catered baapproved caterers. Obviously, that makes sense for them from a liability perspective, and Fridays are a high earning night for bars and restaurants, so I do understand why they do it.
But it means that hosting a casual welcome event is starting to add up to the cost of a second wedding event (venue rental, catering, bar, bartenders, 22% service fee + 6% sales tax on everything)!
We’d be totally fine with just having a space and a bunch of coolers of drinks and snacks for friends to casually drop by and say hi.
Does anyone know of any places near downtown GR that might allow this? Thank you!

Kind of near Carolina opry; looking for really good seafood restaurant. Doesn’t have to be ultra fancy just want something great
Sushi recs appreciated as well

I was doing a pickup at a Rallys in a decent neighborhood. Had some graduation thing or something happening which had teens ordering like crazy and also filling restaurants. (Not my hometown.)
They had 1 drive-thru line marked for delivery drivers only. Waited for 10 minutes, but got my order and was ready to go. There was a car ahead of me with two teens in it. Apparently they ordered for like 10 people. I flashed my headlights once to let them know someone was behind them that needed to move. There were parking spots on the other side of a short concrete barrier just a few feet away. I was ignored. Waited about five minutes and then honked. Ignored again. After a few more minutes I got out of my car and walked up to the two kids standing next to their car. Kept a few feet away and said, "Hey, could you please move your car. There’s some parking over there and I need to make a delivery.
Kid lifted his shirt and flashed me a gun. I was like, "Hey I don't want any trouble, I just need to make a delivery." He responded, "Whatever" and moved his car barely out of the way.
I'm fairly certain that he was just posturing, but it pissed me off! I was in that neighborhood, because the busiest areas near my house are downtown in some rough spots and I don't feel like putting myself in danger for a little money.

The Itinerary—
Day 0: Nonstop flight to Rome
Day 1: Landed in Rome early in the morning and got an early check-in to the hotel. Got oriented to the city by walking around Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain
Day 2: Visited the Trevi Fountain quickly before our 8:55 guided tour of the Colosseum Arena and Forum. In the afternoon, visited the Capitoline Museums and walked around Tiber Island and a bit of Trastevere
Day 3: 7:45 guided tour of the Vatican and St Peters Basilica. After lunch, walked around Campo di Fiori and visited Piazza Navona as well it’s underground
Day 4: Attended a cooking class where we made pasta and tiramisu. Afterwards, visited the Roman National Museums
Day 5: Day trip to Orvieto. Visited the duomo, underground caves, and St Patricks Well
Day 6: Early train to Florence. Walked around the Duomo before lunch. Afterwards, climbed Brunelleschi’s Dome. For the rest of the day, walked around the Ponte Vecchio area.
Day 7: Took a guided day trip to 2 Tuscan towns. Spent time walking around Siena before a winery tour and lunch in a Tuscan winery. After lunch, visited San Gimignano before heading back to Florence
Day 8: Visited the Uffizi right when it opened and then climbed Giottos Bell Tower before lunch. Saw the David afterwards before relaxing in the evening and enjoying a Florentine T-bone steak
Day 9: Morning train to Venice. After checking into the hotel, visited St Marks Basilica, wandered Dorsoduro, and rode in a gondola
Day 10: Got up at 4:30 to watch the sunrise, wandered around the San Marco area without the crowds and then did the secret itinerary tour of Doges Palace. In the afternoon, walked around in the Cannaregio area before spending the evening at St Marks Square
💶 The Cost for Two People—
Attractions and Tours: €1200 ——I did a small group tour for the Colosseum, Vatican, and Tuscan winery
Hotels: €1700 ——All 3 star hotels near the city centers
Meals/Drinks/Gelato: €1000 ——Ate a light breakfast everyday and ate out at a sit down restaurants for almost all meals (skipped maybe 2 dinners if I had a big lunch)
Flights: €3300 ——Nonstop flight from the US to Rome and 1 stop from Venice back to the US
Transport within Italy: €300 ——Prima Class on Italo trains, ubers, vaporetto pass, transport to/from airport
TOTAL COST: €7500
Travel tips I learned: 1. Book tours for important sites and get into sites right before they open or close. I got the earliest tour for the Colosseum and shared the arena floor with the 4 other people in our group. Surprisingly, it never felt crowded in the Colosseum

1. Only book SMALL or private tours. Both tours for Colosseum and Winery had 6 people total whereas the Vatican tour had maybe 15. For me, having 15 people in a group was way too many. I think that for crowded/popular sites, spend the money for private tours or tours that have less than 10 people.
   
2. Don’t only visit the big cities. I enjoyed Orvieto and Siena way more than Florence and Venice. (Rome was my favorite stop though)
   
3. Get up early or stay up late. I got up for sunrise at Venice and it was magical. Completely different than during the day and 10 times better