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middlerelish82 · 2 years

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Bundle Your Merchandise Plans And Save Money

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#cho thuê tivi tại hà nội giá tốt

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kooktaebear · 3 years

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If Only I Knew

Status: ONGOING (this is my first AU AHHH I’m excited to write the next couple of parts, but I hope this story gets a lot of love :~>)

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

Summary: Y/N abruptly moved to Seoul after spending 21 years living alone in her hometown, Busan after the death of her parents. She now discovers through her best friends that drama can be a lot to handle, but as she starts to meet new people, she discovers that she had completely forgotten an important part of her past.

Warnings: mention of guns, blood and violence,

Genre: angst, WHOLE LOT OF FLUFF, slow burn

Word Count: 3.2k

Part One:

I step out of the bus and a gust of cold wind hits my face as I board the train. Why did I think of not wearing enough layers in the middle of winter? I take my seat and look out the window to see the number of people who are about to board the train. I grab my phone and start listening to ILYSB. I like LANY, their music is perfect for travel.

I know this isn't such an interesting event in my life since I know that many other people have flown to see Seoul, capital of Korea but hey, give me a break. I’m finally going to meet my best friends after living alone for 4 years. This is what pays to be travelling, a provincial girl like me? I doubt I would ever survive the city life.

As a 2 hours pass, I wake up to hear the advisory that I’m about to reach Seoul.

I look out the window, close my eyes, and whisper.

"Mom, Dad, I made it to Seoul."

I lost both my parents during a hostage that happened in our own home. My mom happened to answer the door and was shot first. The culprit saw me and asked me to go get my dad. At first I was confused, but it so happened that there was an issue with the family business and this guy was after the money. I was 13 at that time but I still couldn't figure out why something like this had to happen to our family. However, as soon as my dad had agreed to the terms of the killer, he pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger. I closed my eyes to prepare myself for the pain that comes next but instead, I felt warm liquid on my hands and felt something heavy fall on me, it was my dad. I screamed at the sight of both my parents suddenly vanishing from this world, a sudden pain struck my chest and I couldn't breathe. I fall to the ground slowly losing my vision as I see the blue and red lights of police cars approaching my house.

"Miss? Are you okay miss?" the person right next to me calls my attention and brings me back to reality, "Oh, yes I'm fine. Have we arrived?" I look around to see almost everyone out of the train. "Would you need any help getting off? Are you new to the city?" the lady asks me. I shake my head and give her a smile as I head down the aisle to the exit.

I follow the rest of the passengers to exit the station as I turn my phone on to contact Jennie and Lisa, my two best friends. Their parents had offered to get us three an apartment we could all share just so that they could both keep me company. Lisa and Jennie aren't sisters if you were wondering, they just had agreed to live under one roof with me and I'm eternally grateful for that. Not to mention they’re idol trainees.

"Y/N?" I turn my head to see Lisa's straight black hair, "Lisa!!!" We both jump around and giggle, "Wait but where's Jennie?" "Oh, she's getting us another cab because your arrival got delayed." She helps grab my luggage and we both start catching up with each other, as if we’ve never spoken in weeks. This was the first time I had ever seen both Lisa and Jennie in person, all our moms were best friends when they were younger too but since we couldn't visit them often, we met and talked through video calls.

"Well if it isn't our beautiful foreign friend Y/N." I turn around and meet Jennie’s eyes, "JENNIE!!!" I run to hug her and Lisa joins in and I finally don't feel alone anymore. "Girls, the cab is waiting outside, we better hurry." On our way to our new apartment we were all catching up with each other as if we really didn't talk as much already. "Oh hey, Y/N you have to make sure that you're ready to go to school by 7am okay?" Jennie cheerfully said. I was so confused, school started at 8am so why would I have to be ready an hour before school when our place was literally like 10 minutes away. "Wait why do we have to be ready an hour before school? I know our place is like 15 minutes away from school. It's not like you guys take that long to fix yourselves up right?" Lisa and Jennie smiled at me suspiciously, "Well....Y/N you know, you may not know everything about us yet..." "What's there not to know? I've known you guys since the moment I was able to talk." Lisa elbowed me softly, "We’ve got new friends! Like actual men type of friends." My eyes opened wide despite the tiredness I've been experiencing,

How could these two end up befriending guys and just suddenly "forgetting" to tell me about it when they know and are fully aware that we all don’t normally interact with the opposite gender?

"Fine, I'll be ready by 7am on Monday." I say as I roll my eyes, "YAYYY I'M SO EXCITEDDD!!!" both of them scream.

Ugh, 30 minutes have just passed since I arrived in Seoul and I'm already experiencing stress.

As soon as we got off the cab, both my friends had rushed to bring down all my belongings so that I could finally take a look at the place we rented out. Jennie reaches her hand out to me and in her palm, my key to our place. "Hey, have you guys figured out how we'll be getting to school on Monday?" Jennie giggles, "Y/N, you’re lucky we attend the same school. But the guys will pick us up! Plus..they promised to bring Jungkook." Jennie winks at me and flashes me her brightest smile.

Jungkook? I know I've heard that name somewhere, but I just can't remember where.

"We're here!!" The elevator door opens, "Apartment 735" I mutter to myself. I walk along the brightly lit corridor. "732....733...734..." I continue counting, "735!!" The girls rush to my side, "Y/N, this is your first time in our apartment, so you'll have the honor of opening the door with your key" Lisa says with a smile. I reach out for my keys, close my eyes and take a deep breath before turning the key to unlock the door. I hear the light switch turn on and I open my eyes. The apartment was beautiful. I walk in to see the kitchen, it has a small island where I could serve meals to my friends. I honestly enjoy cooking to relieve myself from whatever stresses me out, whether it be school, people or something about football. I’ve loved sports for as long as I can remember but it gets frustrating since I could be quite competitive.

I walked into the next room and I saw our living room, there was a large L-shaped sofa sitting in front of a huge television. In between the sofa and TV, I saw a small wooden table that is most probably multipurpose as being both a study desk and a place to put our snacks when we binge on shows during our free days. Beside the sofa I see a balcony that showcases a beautiful scenery of the city. I walk out and feel the cold breeze on my cheeks, I look up to the sky and I see that the sky had a welcoming gift for me as well. The stars greeted me as they shined brightly upon the night sky and I just can't help but admire the night sky. To my right, I see a bean bag that fits 2 people. I plop down to the bean bag and stargaze for a while.

Mom? Dad? I know you can hear me, I promise I'll make you proud, I'll succeed here in Seoul and become a great doctor.

"Y/N?" I snap back to reality and see Jennie’s head appear, "You haven't even seen your room yet! Come onnnnn!!" I stand back up and follow the girls in another small hallway, there I see 3 doors. "So basically, it's not that we don't want you to have your own room but we wanted one room to be our sort of walk-in closet because I mean who has not dreamed of having one?" I open the first door I see and the place is indeed full of clothes. There were 3 closets in the room, each of the closet doors have our first name initials on it to indicate who owns which closet. I laugh at my best friends, we all enjoy watching all those Barbie movies where they have spectacular closets and I guess you can say that this is the closest we can get to our childhood dreams.

I walk out of the room and take a few steps into the hallway. Lisa rushes to get past me and hold the doorknob, "Okay Y/N, this room is a little different. I know it's not really our style whatsoever but we created a study room." I scrunch my eyebrows, "A study room? Really now? For all of us or for me?" Lisa tucks a stray hair into her ear, "Well, more for you than for us since we know how hard you work and how much more you'll be working to get into med school. But it's a double purpose for a practice room for us too!" I take a step back to look at both my best friends and their grinning faces,

What did I do to deserve these two psychos in my life?

I call them in for a group hug, "You guys, I know you want to make me feel like there's nothing missing anymore in my life and I love you guys for that. I hope you all still remember I'm not a robot though and even if I'll be working hard to get into med school, I'll still be around to party and experience what any normal teenager should be experiencing." I hear Jennie sniffling at my right, "Aw Jen" I rub her back soothingly, "We know that Y/N, we just want the best for you too. We'll always be here rooting for you any time." We all take a step back, "Okay!" Lisa says, "Guys, it's our first night in our own apartment and we're already crying." Everybody laughs, "So I guess this last room is our room?" "It sure is." Jennie opens the door and I see three twin beds side by side. Just like our "walk-in closet" our first name initials are hanging above our head, brightly lit to recognize who owns which bed. I see my initial on top of the bed that lies in between both Lisa and Jennie's.

I drop my luggage off at our closet area and plop back down into the bean bag on the balcony. I take a deep breath in and close my eyes.

This is the start of my new life.

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"Take my hands now, you are the cause of my euphoria"

I woke up to the sound of Euphoria, my favorite song in the whole wide-

"WHEN I’M WITH YOU I'M IN UTOPIA"

And of course, the voices of my two best friends singing their hearts out and getting the lyrics messed up.

"Y/N!!! Come on!! It's your first day of school. Did you forget about our breakfast plan?"

Right. Their so-called "breakfast plan" before school. I stand up from my bed and stretch a little before I start making my bed. I stop by the closet first and pick my outfit for today, I pick out a tied crop top, white sneakers, and jeans. I grab my bathrobe and head to the bathroom. I step into the shower and play some music that would help wake me up and get ready for the day. As I continue to wash my hair, I hear a knock on my door,

"Y/N! Are you done?!!"

I roll my eyes. Jeez, they finally got themselves guy friends and now they're going crazy about finishing on time. I wrap a towel around my head to dry my hair. I head back to our dressing room and open my luggage. As I look for my blow dryer and straightener, Lisa barges into the room,

"Y/N Y/L/N, you seem to be too relaxed this morning. You have 30 minutes left to get ready and if you're not ready by then I'm going to drag you to the car." "Don't worry Jen, I'll be done on time. Now can you please stop bothering me so that I can start dressing up?"

I quickly blow dry my hair and put it up in a messy bun. With the remaining time left, this is the best I can do to tame my natural curls. I look at myself in the mirror and check to see if something is missing. I reach out to get my makeup bag and I put on a little blush and add a little lip tint. I search through my accessory bag and look for my small stud earrings. I get my glasses from the table and look at myself in the mirror once more. I'm ready for my first day of school. I leave the dressing room and meet my best friends in our kitchen.

"Oh my goodness Y/N, let's go! We're already 5 minutes late." I grab the schoolbag I prepared last night before heading to bed and leave the apartment. We head to the basement by elevator since Lisa got her license just recently. "Wait Lisa, if you had your license already by the time you picked me up, why did you guys use a taxi to pick me up?" "Oh, uh..I was too lazy to drive that late at night so I just got us a taxi." She starts the car and we head to the exit.

It was my first time ever seeing Seoul in the morning light, the sun hit the skyscrapers so beautifully that it was as if the city was welcoming me as their new citizen. Numerous cars were already out by the time we hit the road because of the rush hour most of them were experiencing. Our school, Seoul National University was just 10 minutes away, our apartment was located a couple blocks away As I was looking out the window, I saw some sort of diner come into view. It looked huge for my definition of a diner since I always saw diners as small joints made for meals, but this diner was different. As Lisa pulled up in the parking area I could see a little bit of the inside, students like us were dining in there as well and there seemed to be a game room on the other side of the dining area. It's around mid-February so the breeze was still cool, Busan was a little warmer during the winter so I had to find a way to adjust to the cooler weather in the city. As my friends and I make our way to the entrance, I notice three heads that turn our way. As we enter the diner however, the smell of freshly made bread, waffles, and eggs hits me and I feel my mouth water. I've been starving and I couldn't wait to try whatever the diner had been serving.

I see three boys in a booth and I make eye contact with one of them, the weird thing is...I felt butterflies in my tummy. I've seen those eyes somewhere, he feels familiar which is of course impossible because I've never met these people in my entire life.

I've never had any guy friends at all. I've always thought about making my parents proud and everything so I focused on getting good scores on all my tests so that I could get into med school. This is all so new to me...having friends of the opposite species. I mean okay, I've watched rom-coms and movies that revolve around love, seeing your friends being treated the way I see couples act in the movies is something I never thought I would be interacting with boys at this point of my life.

"Y/N? Earth to Y/N!" I snap back to reality as Jennie calls my attention. "This is Jimin, Taehyung and the guy still sitting in the booth is Jungkook." Jungkook? I think I know a Jungkook from back home but it's still pretty hard to remember a lot of things. "Sorry, I'm being rude." Jungkook stood up and walked to me, "Jungkook." He held out a hand for me to shake, "Y/N." I say in reply. As our hands touch, there's a familiar warmth that gives me goosebumps. I quickly try to mask the reddness in my cheeks. We all take a seat in the booth and based on the impression of these boys, they seem like athletes. "Hey Y/N," Jimin says, "You should try their Bacon and Waffles here. They sell out like crazy in the mornings." I take a quick glance on the menu and scan quickly for the meal Jimin was talking about. I raise my hand excitedly to call in the waitress to take our orders, "1 Bacon and Waffles, 2 Pancakes and, 3 orders of the Waffles and Chicken all with Orange Juice on the side." The waitress says, "Thanks." I give her a smile in return.

I glance back at my friends after giving the waitress the menu I was holding, Jungkook and I make direct eye contact, his big brown doe eyes, another flood of goosebumps crawl on my skin as he turns away to talk to Taehyung. Why is it that Jungkook looks at me as if he’s seen me before?

The waitress returns with the orders and I start to take a bite off my first meal of the day.

“So Y/N, how was your first night in the city?” Taehyung asked as he picked a strawberry off one of the pancakes, “I stayed up in the balcony just looking at the city lights, the stars were very bright last night. I couldn’t stay up for so long though, it got really cold.” “Y/N loves gazing at stars, she used to try to make Jen and I see the stars in Busan every time we video called.” Lisa says giggling, Jimin gasps and turns to point at Jungkook while eating his waffle, “Jungkook used to drag us out of our homes just to meet at a park to stargaze!” Jungkook shyly looks away and takes a sip of his juice, “Yah” he finally speaks, “You make me sound like a really weird kid Hyung” I laugh at his statement, “Don’t be too embarrassed Kook, looking at the stars are my favorite past time” He tenses up with the nickname as he looks at me, I realize I just gave this guy a nickname on the first day we met. Shit. “Uh, is it okay that I call you Kook?” He nods in return as a smile crept onto his face.

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xfulldreamerx · 4 years

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Why it's important for Peru's youth to have a Skam remake

Disclaimer: This is an informal essay. I'm not basing any of this on scientific studies, but in my own and other's personal experiences and general knowledge as Peruvian teenagers.

Being a Peruvian teenager is hard, as in every other country in the world. There's few to no representation of the LGBT+ Community, and the Feminism is so criticized and forced on screen that true attempts to make it work are drowned by TV companies who just want to achieve a social agenda that will get them more viewers. We have grown up in a society where, thought it's true that working women are everywhere, a lot of them still think that their children have to ask the father for permission. The political crisis is bigger than ever, with a now non-existent Congress because it was mostly conformed by the opposition political party and didn't want to approve a law that would assure gender approach and sexual education on public and private schools (and that's only the peak of the iceberg). Religion has a great deal to do with that: it's influence is so big here that people can’t get proper education on important matters, such as sexuality, gender equality, civilism and social science.

However, youth is rising. When the Congress tried to approve a law that meant superior institutes students would work for free for almost three years, the march that prevented it was huge and unstoppable. When the most shameful judicial scandal of our history was unveiled, we young people were on the streets, demanding a reorganization of the National Court. Marches and protests are an essential and constantly present event on our daily lives now, even if not all of us participate in them. Chile and Bolivia - not to mention Venezuela - have bigger and and more notorious issues, but that doesn’t make our country invisible. You will never hear a single Peruvian saying that they’re proud of their country because of its Government. We all talk about our delicious food (‘Best culinary destiny of the world!’) and our breathtaking touristic places (Peru: the world’s catalog!’). We always complain about politics and society, thought. Peru is a racist, misogynist, homophobic country who says is inclusive and loves its culture, but has so much centralization that most people don’t know and don’t care about what’s happening outside the capital, Lima. We scream that we’re one of the most biodiverse countries on earth, but not that we're also the least ranked country in Latin America regarding education. In fewer words, were hypocrites.

Now imagine you’ve grown up in this environment: nationalism and occidentalization is everywhere, you say you’re proud of your country because that’s what your family taught you, and, suddenly, you’re thrown into reality. Peru is beautiful, but so wasted that you notice it’s all an act. Mining and external private investments represent the highest economic income, but that money is not well used and the contamination is killing children of blood and lungs diseases. Education in public primary and secondary schools is a joke. There’s a lot of good public colleges, but they’re so inside politics that corruption has rotten their roots and young people do whatever they can to attend private colleges instead. We all wish to get out of this hellhole of a country, and our parents want us to - it's the least we can do, because Peru has no remedy. We're a third world, underdeveloped country, and that's never going to change because people is ignorant and do nothing to invest themselves into politics or society issues. It's sad, and frustrating, so you just want to finish studying, get a job and then fly out of here.

Daily life is another matter. Middle class is the biggest population here, with poverty close at 20 percent or something like that. That means some of us can afford food and some vanities, but not in excess. Supermarkets exist, but markets more common, often visited by middle-low class house wifes who only go to Metro and Plaza Vea - famous supermarkets chains here - when they want to show off or have additional income. Teenagers are so surrounded by American culture and European expectations that save money to shop on the mall and drink Starbucks. Believe me when I say those things are expensive here, because they are. We all want the most cliché stuff you can imagine: Adidas clothes, Converse shoes, Ariana Grande songs and Corona beers. I know that's a lot of generalization, but that's our perception of American and European culture: you're advanced, sophisticated and beautiful. Indigenous people leave their customs and traditions because they wish to be accepted by us, wanna-be's. We teach them to speak Spanish and then English, to dress 'properly' with t-shirts and pants, to not paint their faces and vanish their accent as much as possible. Teenagers are the firsts to fall for all that bullshit, because we think it will make us fit into society seamlessly.

Now, don't get me wrong. We have also learned to respect, but all the unconscious racists and homophobic comments are said too many times as joke to state that we've changed. As I mentioned before, education does anything for this, and a lot of families are very closed-minded. We're raised to believe in heteronormativity and white supremacy as if they were natural laws. Many of us are short, dark-skinned and dark-eyed, so every time we see a tall, blond and blue-eyed person we are awed and have this desire to be like them - they are more accepted, you know, cooler. Our indigenous heritage is something shameful, so that's why we say we're 'half-bloods': yes, we descend from the Incas, but also from Spanish conquerors, so it's all fine. Teenagers dance to reggaeton and pop, but almost none of them to huayno or saya, typical and amazing Peruvian dances. We value our culture, but distance ourselves from it. This new and modern generation is meant to be global, so we don't have to pay attention to them. We drink and smoke, we party and talk about Netflix shows. See? We're like you!

I don't know if my goal of making every person who reads this understand Peruvian context was accomplished. Nowadays, all TV is filled with the same Mexican Telenovelas copies, long, dramatic and unrealistic series that exaggerate society, and trash reality shows that are meant to give us pointless and cheap entertainment. All our pop culture (like going to a minimarket called Tambo and going home on microbuses) is forgotten, avoided, because they'll show the neglected streets, dirty sidewalks and all the other stuff that would put in evidence that we're not as pretty or exotic as the rest of the world thinks. A gay couple who dares to walk and kiss in public is told to leave that place. Sexual assault is diminished and not punished. Islam is almost non-existent and very judged. We need Skam because young people need the representation that awesome show would give us. They could talk about politics because we're also starting to, about feminism because the young women here are not ashamed of it anymore (for the most part), about the LGBT+ Community because homophobic marches and and gender discrimination are allowed and normalized, about other religions besides christianity because the church has to stop it's influence on the Government. My hope for Skam here comes from the wish of a country who is inclusive, multi-colored and respectful of it's multiculturalism. The need of something that shows us as we truly are, flawed but with the possibility of change, is bigger than ever.

#skam #skam italy #skam france #skam españa #skam germany #druck #skam belgium #wtfock #skam nl #skam austin #skam peru #peru

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financiallymint · 6 years

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Why They Don’t Teach us About Money in School

The reason I created this website in the first place was because of this: lack of financial education in school.

It made me angry and frustrated that governments simply don’t believe it’s an essential part of our education. Ever since I took notice of this huge lack of education, I’ve been thinking and writing a lot on the topic – but I’ve never had a proper sit down and thought about the why. Why have governments so royally messed up on this one? So I did a bit of research and asked a few questions – and I think I have a few answers.

Times have changed

This is how it worked before: study hard, get good grades and get a high paying job. Once you get the job, stay with the company for 40 years and in exchange they’ll pay you a pension with benefits and rewards.

It’s all very fancy and dandy but times have indeed changed. In the past 50 years the pension system, the tax system and the legal system have evolved and changed drastically. Now, you’re responsible for your own retirement and you’re the one who has to make sure you’ll have enough money at 70. So yay, government has decided to give us a bit more of space and independence (I’d say that’s a good thing). But there’s just one issue – we have no idea how.

Schools are still teaching us the whole get good grades and a high paying job deal – but the truth is, that’s not enough anymore. Now, people are job-hopping, the economy has had a few crashes and there’s a lot of robots about. If you want benefits, a secure retirement and something stable, a job isn’t the answer. Financial education is. And schools haven’t caught up yet.

Teachers don’t know

Working on from the last point, teachers are older than the students (normally). Since they’ve been taught through the old education system, they too have no idea about personal finance, and therefore don’t feel capable of teaching it themselves. As you see, it’s a vicious circle.

Governments and financial entities have to step in and offer education to the teachers before it can follow on to the students.

Teachers are also under a lot of pressure to get the students passing exams and getting good grades. This means they prioritize other subjects such as maths and chemistry, leaving personal finance forgotten next to sex ed.

Not only that, but personal finance is that: personal. If the teacher’s financial situation is a mess, they’re unlikely to know how to teach it to students.

So you see how it is – not only do the governments have to educate teachers on personal finance, but they also have to help them improve their own financial situation. This means fixing previous mistakes, encouraging self-education and self-improvement. Financial education starts with the individual, and will governments be bothered to help the individual teachers? Considering the current low pay and pension cuts, I think we have quite some way to go.

Parents don’t know

We learn a lot from our parents – habits, politeness, cooking, etc. Another big thing we learn from them: money. If parents take time to teach their children the important aspects of money and some good financial habits, the child will grow up with the essentials of financial education. But if the parents have no idea about finance… surprise surprise, neither will the kids.

This is especially true if the parents have bad financial habits: constantly in debt, making bad decisions, complaining about the lack of money. All this influences the child and will lead to future financial ignorance as well as bad money habits.

So once again, governments would have to step in and help the individual parents sort out their own finances before they could start relying on them to bring up financially aware kids.

No one knows where to start

From what it seems, no one really knows where to start. No matter how many times we shout ‘we don’t know what are taxes! Or mortgages! Or venture capitalism!’, the system will still be like ‘but what do we teach them?’.

Ok so maybe I’m being a bit mean – the British government did in fact add personal finance into the education curriculum in 2014. It’s now compulsory for schools to teach it in their maths and citizenship classes But guess what? Nothing has changed.

Why is that? Because the curriculum and teaching methods are lacking. And we shouldn’t be surprised: half of students dislike maths, reading, history, economy, etc. Simply because the education system is antiquated and we’re still teaching with boring theory books, memorisation techniques and lectures. But that’s another rant I won’t go on; the simple fact is that students aren’t being taught well in any subject, which is why personal finance isn’t any different.

Experts think people aren’t interested

Ewww.. finance? Is that some kind of disease?

Experts seem to think that the general population isn’t interested in learning the basics of money.

I have to say I disagree. I bet if you went into a classroom and shouted ‘Who wants to be rich?’ everyone would raise their hands. Once again, it’s about using effective teaching methods and making the topic interesting: activities, real life experiments, interactive games, etc.

In college, we get our first proper taste of money. More freedom, less supervision from parents, etc. Because of that, students go all out with their money: ‘let’s all see who can spend their student loan money the fastest’ (we’ve all done it). Honestly, it’s fine: college is there to experiment, to try out the weird stuff and allow the crazy to flow. If you get kicked out of your accommodation well that’s on you – better now than at 30 with a family.

Students want to go crazy with their money simply because they think budgeting is boring, saving means more restrictions and investing is only for the rich. But the thing is that financial education isn’t just about that – it’s about being aware, being in control of what happens and knowing what to do. Want to waste half your student loans on cheap alcohol? Go ahead, just make sure that you’re aware and know how to deal with all the problems that come next.

What I’m trying to say is that people are interested in managing their money and being financially stable – we’re just living in a culture that doesn’t teach us how to.

Consumerism

A slightly darker reason for the lack of financial education: it’s easier for others to steal your money.

Ignorance is bliss? Yes, but not when you’re money is slowly disappearing into the pockets of others. Banks, companies, media corporations, governments – they make more money when you don’t know what to do with your finances. The more debt you accumulate on a credit cardthe more you’ll have to pay back to the company. The more adverts out there convincing you to buy a new car the more money you’ll spend on something you should be buying second hand.

It’s scary and it’s sad, but I think we can all agree that it’s true.

It’s also the reason why people are scared of money and believe that it’s ‘evil’. All the financial jargon makes it hard to understand what really is going on. All we are taught is that we need money for food and for a roof over their heads, so we cling onto something secure, something stable: a job. And many times, it’s a job we dislike, or even worse – we tolerate. This common occurrence is called the rat race and it’s what a large part of our society is based on. A discussion for another time.

just look at that APR

It’s not all bad news:

I may have painted a pretty negative picture of our governments and society as a whole. Although there is a lot of work to be done on financial education, I’m happy to say quite a few organisations and charities have been campaigning for financial education for years.

Here are a few of them:

CAP (Christians Against Poverty): This British charity is all about counseling people out of debt and helping them back on their feet.

Young-Money: An organisation with resources on helping children understand money. They create programmes for schools to teach personal finance to kids.

MyBnk: Another cool organisation creating programmes and workshops to help young children learn about budgeting, saving, loans, etc.

The Money Charity: Very awesome charity that works on products and services teaching finance in schools – they also talk to policymakers and try to change the laws.

There’s a lot going on in other parts of the world. I see more and more personal finance blogs in America taking on financial education and talking about curriculums and the different steps to take. There’s work to do, but at least we’re getting started.

What we can do about it

It’s true that a lot of it lies in the hands of the government and the education system. They need to work not only on implementing an efficient personal finance class in the curriculum, but they also need to focus on the individuals: the teachers and the parents. And that’s not always easy.

As a member of society, we can also help out. You don’t need to go all out and create a blog (#me), but I think one great way to increase awareness is to simply talk more about money with friends, family and strangers. Money is still a taboo topic, and asking someone how much they make is like asking them how their sex life is doing – it simply gets awkward. So let’s make it less awkward: talk to your friends about your current money problems, ask them how they’re dealing with theirs and try to find a solution together. What you’ll learn will be with you for life.

Read more like this over at Financially Mint

#financialeducation #financiallymint #financial diy mentality #success #money management #moneytips

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askredrage · 6 years

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Open up your EYE (Thoughts on MLP Movie)

Has the show gotten one of those characters that doesn't know what a sense of humor is and fights back with combat? Or am I thinking of a lot of reformed characters from other media? Spoilers down below. Haven't seen the movie? Well the DVD/Blu-Ray aren't far behind.

Um...so that was the movie I had almost missed out on, huh? Well it was.........something... Ok, so I'm afraid this "review" is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to judge because the night before I actually watched Disney/Pixar's Coco first (by the way, 10/10, would DVD/Blu-Ray again). And sitting down to watch this movie second was probably a huge mistake as this movie left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps if I waited to see Coco later, then I wouldn't feel this...negative. I'm the kind of person that goes to the movies a ton so I'm pretty much judging this movie along with all the other movies I've gone to see in the past several years. So let's get an obvious good thing out of the way first; the movie's return to 2-D or 2.5-D animation. Never in a long time since Princess and the Frog in 2009 have I been glad to see the return of hand-drawn styled animation. It's actually quite interesting when you learn that the movie characters were actually made 3-D FIRST before becoming 2-D characters in a 3-D world. Speaking of which, a major chunk of the pony characters don't feel like repeatedly used poses like in the TV show. They've been given a similar design to the show but more expressive and created with greater, fluid movement in a few areas. So of course Pinkie Pie would be the one to mostly get the spotlight in this area. I think people were worried about the 3-D landscaping dampening the style, but I'll let it slide as they did create the landscapes beautifully. Plus 3-D environments have worked for 2-D movies in the past. Talk to a good chunk of Disney Renaissance movies like Beauty and the Beast's Ballroom. An interesting way to segue into this next part. Whereas the Disney Movies were mostly the movie first and merchandise later, Hasbro's the company that will make a product first then get their animators to make an episode or movie around it. Also I am aware that Hasbro has one hell of a leash on these animators. They've probably had a ton of amazing ideas for a My Little Pony movie to appeal to all audiences instead of the targeted one. But what I was given to view not fell into my low expectations...it went even LOWER! Perhaps being exposed to Coco first had ruined my enjoyment for this as there was much needed room for improvement. See if I can sequence this a bit. Let's start with the story. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship has created a massive party in an unusually-styled Canterlot that's looking a bit spacious than the busting city I'm usually seeing in the show. Through some comedic introductions, a song and a series of show-related cameos we are given the things that the outside audience needs to know. Things get shaken up when Tempest Shadow, an broken-horned unicorn visitor representing for the Storm King, arrives with an army to take over the entire kingdom in order to siphon the magic out of the four princesses. Now it's up to Twilight and her five friends (not six, Starlight Glimmer got shoved out of the spotlight) to find aid outside Equestria and take back their home capital. Interestingly enough, the one hour and forty-four run time actually felt kind of long when normally I'm sitting for two to three hour-long movies...but then it quickly sped through the story in a poor pace to show off their new toys/playsets and have money left in their budgets. I'm probably not the first to say this movie was poorly paced, am I? From memory, I think the longest we've stuck with a setting outside Canterlot was probably the desert city of Klugetown. You could probably argue that perhaps it was Hippogriffia/Seaquestria but events there kinda made me WANT to make it go faster. Get to that part in a second. Songs? As a 90's kid, you know that most of the songs are either set aside or forgotten (like the ones in this film) for the most important one: The Villain Song. And Tempest Shadow's Open Up Your Eyes (currently having its instrumental being spammed repeatedly during this typing) is indeed worthy of the title "Villain Song". The setting, the lighting, the flashback made by a different team (according to the credits), I loved it all. I'd say it reminds me of Unleash the Magic from Friendship Games but I rank this song much higher. Honorary note for Sia's Rainbow. I'm being told by some reviews that the song felt a bit too somber for a finale but I don't know, this felt like a calm, perfect way to wrap up the movie with. I haven't a clue what the problem with it was. Finally, how about the characters. We've got your familiar TV show cast along with a ton of celebrity voices, including Sia as Songbird Serenade at the beginning and end of the movie who is literally modeled after one of her actual outfits. I chuckled when I dug up her photo, I don't know how she manages to see through that hair. Other noteworthy celebrities that got a good chunk of screen time were Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schriber as the Storm King, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, Michael Peña as Grubber the Hedgehog and Taye Diggs as Capper the anthropomorphic cat. Most have been given the appropriate amount of screen time while others (STORM KING, MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THE FREAKING MOVIE), were held off until the end. Oh yeah, that one Parrot Pirate with the squawking and demolitions. Loved that guy. Sadly, the weakest of the group was the Storm King himself and not just because he was saved for the climax. Previous TV show antagonists have ranged from either self-motivated tyrants to strategic conquerors for their own kind. This knucklehead is literally announced as "evil" from Grubber and there just wasn't much from him to label him as an awesome villain. Even his own funny moments couldn't save him. And this is coming from a guy who isn't very fond of Starlight Glimmer yet she's still WAY more interesting than this cloud yeti. Oh well, maybe next time don't model your villain to be a lazy, wacky monkey. On the other side of the spectrum, however, is Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, the true antagonist of the movie, picking up all the work for the Storm King to restore her cracked horn. Compared to "her boss" this character has her own goals and motivations, sort of like a bounty hunter or mercenary. Kudos there as those areas would reach up into the top three MLP:FIM villains on my list. Sadly, as the movie is indeed called "Friendship is Magic", she's (OMG) reformed much like many of the other unicorns in this show (Anyone seeing a trend here?). Regardless, when she was a villain, this was a skilled and probably self-trained fighter trying to regain her happiness through any means necessary, even serving a clown. Even gave me a chuckle when she lost her cool in Canterlot in front of Grubber before realizing and calming down. The Mane Six and Spike are mixed in their performances and what they're given to do. I'll have to rate them all from best to worst...you're not gonna love who's on the bottom. Pinkie Pie stuck out the most with previously mentioned animations and tons of interactions with the girls and the strangers they came across. Side-note: She is mean with a barge of cupcakes; had they been red-frosting, that fight scene might have been banned. We even get a serious moment with her and Twilight where--getting ahead of myself. Getting there soon, promise. Rainbow Dash, despite causing some extra trouble, gives the "awesome" the movie needs including getting the Parrot Pirates off their rears to face off against their former employers...that doesn't last long. Rarity's charm and generosity got Capper the cat to not only change Tempest's army's course but gather the other characters for a full on pledged climax fight. Fluttershy has hardly anything except the funniest moment in the entire film regarding opening up with a Storm King soldier. Honestly want to know what became of those guys now. Spike, you trustworthy pal and weapon. The TV show might have given you terrible episodes but who would have thought you'd become a necessary Pyro tool? TF2 Workshop! Make a mod! NOW! Applejack...sold apple juice and roped a few people and rocks. That's uh....that's about it. ....you all hate me now for this: Twilight Sparkle ends up on the bottom heavily and deserves it all from actions, character writing and poor pace. Our beloved Princess of Friendship is still the nerdy and orderly princess aimed at saving her home kingdom enough to act grumpy, annoyed and careless in her actions. Said carelessness led to attempted robbery and created the biggest and most painful moment of the movie: When Twilight angrily lashes out at Pinkie by saying she'd be better off without friends like them. Not only was this stupidly painful, but it was the necessary tool for the whole "We're not friends anymore but then we get back together later" bit. And said apology was being shoved in a climax to be ignored for comedic effect. Now if perhaps both Twilight and Tempest were together during the end of the battle for apologies, that would not only be forgivable but an excellent moment for the movie. But no...more like the Princess of Pace-dumping. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I know, I know, this is a movie targeted towards children, but so was Coco. It would really help if some of that Disney magic could save the MLP Movie from its Hasbro chains. I know if the team wasn't being held back, they could have gotten away with much, much more to save the film from me giving it a 4/10. Well, this is the West Coast Psycho, and in the words of Max G, "I hope ya hated it."

#review #opinion #my little pony #my little pony the movie #tempest shadow #west coast psycho #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp:fim #other

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insurancepolicypro · 5 years

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(Español) Todo sobre la memoria. La necesidad del olvido para una memoria sana.

By Dr. Pablo Barrecheguren (@pjbarrecheguren)

We have a tendency to think about our mental capacities as single chunks and but skills akin to reminiscence are slightly a construction made up of various compartments. All of them are interconnected however on the identical time separate.

Proof of this are the illnesses that have an effect on reminiscence, as is the case with Alzheimer’s; Dr. Alzheimer himself even found that sufferers misplaced some recollections earlier than others. One among his sufferers, Auguste Deter, was the primary individual to be recognized with the illness; Auguste may say the names of the months with out making a single mistake however was unable to reply if requested what the eleventh month of the yr was. For artists with Alzheimer’s illness, sufferers are sometimes capable of proceed taking part in an instrument or paint even when they’ve hassle remembering their very own full title.

Kleine-Levin syndrome is one more instance. This syndrome is characterised by episodic temper modifications, hypersomnia (12-21 hours of sleep a day) and reminiscence issues, particularly in working reminiscence (which is liable for briefly holding info whereas we’re finishing a activity).

Lengthy-term reminiscence

When speaking about reminiscence generally, we normally seek advice from long-term reminiscence, which may maintain info for days and even a long time, and which is split into two fundamental sorts:

Implicit reminiscence: the reminiscence we use to carry out sure actions akin to tying our shoelaces, dancing or using a motorbike.Declarative reminiscence: the acutely aware recollection of factual info; such a reminiscence might be additional subdivided into:Semantic reminiscence is the information gained by research (e.g., the metabolic pathway of the citric acid cycle, the capital cities of Europe or realizing that Scotland’s local weather is wet although we’ve got by no means been there).Episodic reminiscence is autobiographical (e.g., realizing that it rains in Scotland as a result of it did on a trip we spent there).

These divisions into subtypes of reminiscence should not a whim however practical variations have been seen between them. For instance, we all know that human beings most likely retailer virtually all our life experiences (episodic reminiscence). The issue is that storing info and recalling it are two very totally different duties.

Multi-systemic course of

The research of the mind signifies that the temporal lobes are important for reminiscence storage and actually, it’s attainable to evoke recollections artificially: if electrodes are utilized to those mind areas and are then stimulated, sufferers in some circumstances can bear in mind utterly forgotten recollections to the purpose that they’ll even have hallucinations through which they relive previous experiences.

This phenomenon additionally happens in sufferers who develop issues in these areas. It’s documented within the case of an previous Irish lady who in the future wakened listening to songs from her childhood (songs she had forgotten a long time in the past). The music continued for a couple of months in her head and didn’t go away till she recovered from a small thrombosis in a part of her proper temporal lobe. When speaking about reminiscence, we should keep in mind that it’s a multi-systemic course of that additionally includes mind areas such because the hippocampus (particularly vital for spatial reminiscence) or the frontal lobes (essential within the retrieval of saved recollections).

Just a little forgetfulness

A really attention-grabbing aspect of the reminiscence world is the other of neurodegenerative illnesses and forgetfulness. There are individuals with mnemonic skills who really sound like superheroes. The clearest circumstances, though extraordinarily rare, are individuals who have ‘extremely superior autobiographical reminiscence’ (HSAM). People with HSAM are capable of recall, with appreciable accuracy, a lot of their lives in unbelievable element.

We may, for instance, ask them what they had been doing twenty years in the past at 9 p.m. and they’d inform us what they had been cooking at that second, the garments they had been carrying, what the kitchen smelled like and every part that they had completed throughout that day. The draw back is that these individuals are actually unable to neglect, so it is strongly recommended that they lead as quiet lives as attainable as a result of the lack to neglect makes it very tough for them to beat emotional trauma. For instance, one piece of medical recommendation is to not be a part of the army.

So, paradoxically, a bit of forgetfulness is the way in which to a trouble-free reminiscence.

References

Aslihan Selimbeyoglu and Josef Parvizi. (2010). Electrical stimulation of the human mind: perceptual and behavioral phenomena reported within the previous and new literature. Frontiers in Neurology. Quantity four, Article 46.Draaisma, D. (2012). Alzheimer, supongo. Editorial Ariel.Joshua Jacobs, Bradley Lega, and Christopher Anderson. (2012). Explaining How Mind Stimulation Can Evoke Recollections. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 24:three, pp. 553–563.Miglis, M. G., & Guilleminault, C. (2014). Kleine-Levin syndrome: A evaluate. Nature and Science of Sleep, 6, 19–26.Nanthia Suthana, & Itzhak Fried (2014). Deep Mind Stimulation for Enhancement of Studying and Reminiscence. Neuroimage, 85(zero three): 996–1002Richard W. Murrow. (2014). Penfield’s prediction: a mechanism for deep mind stimulation. Frontiers in Neurology. Quantity 5, Article 213.Sacks, O. (2002). Reminiscencias. El hombre que confundió a su mujer con un sombrero. Editorial Anagrama.Schacter, D. (2001). Los siete pecados de la memoria: como olvida y recuerda la mente. Editorial Ariel.

Should you favored this text written by Pablo Barrecheguren, PhD in Biomedicine, you would possibly discover the next attention-grabbing as effectively:

Pablo Barrecheguren

Physician en Biomedicina. En Materia, JotDown Spain, Principia, Neurocosas, TED, Huge Van Ciencia e Imperial School.

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gsmatthews95 · 6 years

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Life in a bulgarian hospital

Allo. I write to y'all today in an upbeat yet somber mood. Spirits are high, I'm excited for home, I'm excited for Oktoberfest and this has been an immense 2 months. Yet, as this trip draws to an end its sad: reality draws ever nearer, working life is calling my name and I've gotta make sure my friends haven't completely forgotten who I am. Yes, so we are on the plane, awaiting our delayed leave time (currently 25 minutes late) so we can get back to Berlin in one piece after the true oxymoron nature of the last week and a half. On the one hand it was highly stressful as Alina was in hospital, we had no information on when she'd be allowed out and I was basically her runner/nurse/helper, whatever you like to call it, but on the other hand her being in hospital paralyzed both my desire and my ability to be too active and adventurous as I had to be on hand and around in the evening to visit her, thus I was left in limo as I did very little all day and chilled out in the evening. So it was stressful in nature but also coincided with the most relaxed part of the trip for me (sorry Alina).

We have been in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, now for almost two weeks I think as Alina has had her appendix taken out and was subsequently hospitalised for five days before we had to stay and wait for her to recover before we could take a flight back to Berlin to officially finish the trip. The last week has kind of felt like already having been at home as it's been lots of TV, sleeping and eating (no complaints there). I will give a quick rundown to you guys of the hospital timeline and experience as I think that was the most striking and prominent part of our time in Sofia. So luckily for us Bulgaria is in the EU. Therefore Alina's insurance covered her fully and money was not an issue. From being diagnosed with appendicitis it was a quick process to getting her operated on as it is an emergency surgery and recommended to be done immediately with any delay being potentially fatal. This made our choice of whether to have it done in Sofia immediately or in Berlin after a flight a simple one. After a few tears and a short to call to mum Alina was ready to give the all clear and get operated on, prescribing herself to five uncomfortable, tough day in hospital. The process thereafter, as I say was swift. She was put on a wheelchair and whizzed around the hospital. It was immense. She probably visited 30% of the hospital in half an hour. Her nurse just sped her in and within minutes she was out and off to another room. I was left to sit outside each room and chase after him every time they moved to a new room. Sporting her new "oversized" and "vintage" (read vintage as old and pre used) clothes Alina didn't look impressed but she stayed strong and before long was off to the operating room. I was left to wait outside for this to finish having had no communication from anyone of how long it would take, I only had a guess of roughly an hour as Alina was told by one of the doctors. I waited, I blogged, I tried to sleep, I learnt about science. The time dragged. Two hours later in came the stretcher with a barely conscious girl lying on it. The surgeons told me it all went well and I could see her in a few minutes. 20 minutes later I was in. She was still very effected by the anesthetic so conversation wasn't as exciting as normal but she was fine. All my fears had been cleared. She however was freezing so we laid a few jumpers over her. After an hour I was kicked out and told to return at four for visiting hour. Yep you got one hour for visitation a day, seems a bit short to me. I was also told to come in earlier for info at 12.

I came in duly at 12 for info, I got nothing. All I could do was give a bag of her stuff to a doctor to take in for me. I left and returned at 4. It was nice to see Alina. She was still weak but improved from the night before. The hospital was pretty bleak. No WiFi, one tiny TV for the four patients and all in Bulgarian. I was feeling very sorry for her but we didn't think itd be long before she'd be out. The hour passed in a flash and I was kicked out again. This was why, by the way, I did so little as I was left in limbo by the doctors and with the lack of info it was hard for me to do much else in between going to the doctors and the 30 minutes walk each way. The next few days proceeded similarly as she for ever stronger, ate more and drank more. When the main issue was boredom and not pain, this is when my spirits rose as I knew she must be out soon. The main issue for alina was that very few of them spike any English and they paid her thus little attention. Especially, as it was so hard for her to ask for things or communicate at all with the nurses as they tended to her noisy neighbours. This brings me on to another point. One of the worst things about hospitals as we're all aware is that even if you are getting better, the people around might not be. This can lead to rough experiences and poor nights.

Sleep as Alina found on maybe her third night leading to me getting a message that I needed to bring ear plugs with me... Not good. Hearing the story made me cringe as apparently one person came in from surgery at 11 and then spoke to their family for an hour with the lights on full blast. After this the doctors were in and out operating, medicating and what not with the lights on and making huge noise. Eeeeek. Sounded butterz to me. Luckily she only had one more night to endure at this point. On the day of her release I came in early at 11 to pay some medical bills and went up to see if she could go. I literally snuck into the ward after a doctor as I was basically ignored by a previous one and found her. With no contact I had no idea what was going on but we spoke to a doctor and gauged that with her insurance card we could leave, this was exceptional news. Gearing up to leave we got ready but with ultimate Bulgarian style we were made to wait as I had to go sit outside for an hour with yet again no information before again forcing my way in to find Alina ready to go. The whole process was long and painful as we had no information on what was happening.

The days after went very easily as we got a private room and did literally nothing. It was awesome and then deciding Friday was the day to go back we booked our flights and here we are. Having just set off, we're ready to get back to Berlin.

Anyhow, what we actually did in Sofia was minimal. We went on a good free walking tour and I climbed up to the summit of virosha mountain which is right next to the city. An easy walk as I took a bus up maybe the first 90% of the mountain and just had a simple few hour walk to make it up to the top. As a city Sofia was awesome. Very livable, good history, nice buildings, a good chilled vibe and lots going on. As places we've been go it was a good place to be stuck for me and good for Alina because the hospital must have been better than in other cities we've been to.

I have only a few more pieces to write before I head home, maybe one on Oktoberfest and my time in Munich, a little recap of this trip and then maybe a cute reflective one on this year as a whole. Yay. Three more epic reads for y'all before this blog may be retired for some time.

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vincentbnaughton · 7 years

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Renovation Adventures With an Old Detroit Home

Amy Haimerl and her husband, Karl, bought a gorgeous, dilapidated home in Detroit in 2013 - just six weeks before the city declared bankruptcy.

It was a low point for the area, marking a tragic confluence of decades of job losses with an economic hammer blow from the housing crash. The result was thousands of abandoned homes, overwhelmed police, overflowing uncollected garbage, and streetlights that were rarely on.

Amy and Karl had recently moved to Michigan from New York City. Rather than go back, they found hope and inspiration in a historic home they call “Matilda,” and amid Detroit’s bulldozing and rebirth, they rebuilt the home. We chatted with Amy about her book chronicling the experience, “Detroit Hustle: A Memoir of Life, Love and Home.”

In the book, you make clear your love of your former Brooklyn neighborhood, Red Hook. You thought you’d return there after your fellowship at the University of Michigan. How did you choose Detroit instead?

What we loved about Red Hook was the community that we’d built there. It’s this post-industrial fishing village on the edge of New York City that has been forgotten about. It used to be the crack capital of America, and it’s risen to be this really beautiful and amazing community of people.

Red Hook is really hot right now, one of the “it” neighborhoods. But when I got there in 2007, it wasn’t that yet. It was this beautiful cast of characters who were iconoclastic and committed to each other.

When I got the fellowship at the University of Michigan, we left thinking that obviously we would come back. And then Hurricane Sandy hit, and devastated Red Hook in particular. I was a little nervous about what happens when it floods again.

It was a difficult decision, but we started exploring Detroit. And my husband really fell for the city, more so than I did at first. Once we found the crazy house, that sealed the deal.

The way you describe Red Hook when you lived there sounds a little like Detroit.

I always say that Red Hook is Detroit writ small: similar demographics, similar abandonment and disinvestment, similar tight-knit community, and a similar chip on our shoulders.

There’s a little bit of a chip on the shoulder here in Detroit, too, about newcomers and everybody wanting to study the city. There’s a huge population here - a middle-class, primarily African-American group - that didn’t leave the city when they had the opportunity, when everybody told them they should. Their stories get ignored. I try to be very clear that we are newcomers.

You had reservations about the cost and effort of renovating Matilda. What led you to go for it?

The best way I can describe it is when you fall in love with somebody, you just sort of know. There’s no great explanation. We’d looked at other houses, and there wasn’t a lot coming on market that was “move-in ready,” which at that time in Detroit basically meant it had power and water. When we saw Matilda, we just walked in and she felt right.

Photo of Jack Cat courtesy of Amy Haimerl

Everything was dim. There was mold everywhere. There was water running through the ceiling in places. I was kind of talking to the house and saying, “All right, are you our house?”

All of a sudden the streetlight turned on, which was amazing at that time. And then a giant white cat walked across the roof. [Editor’s note: Jack Cat, as the couple affectionately calls him, became a regular visitor.]

For some reason, the cat felt like a sign. And then this guy came walking across the street, telling us about how he [renovated] his house 15 years ago, and it’s going to be no problem.

We know that the house used to be owned by Arthur and Nona Herzog. Arthur wrote “God Bless the Child” with Billie Holiday, and my husband’s a jazz pianist - as a hobby, not as a profession - and I started to feeling all these signs and serendipitous moments.

You have a relationship with Nona, although you never met her.

She was, in many ways, the guiding voice in my head during this renovation. So many of our neighbors were really good friends with her, and one of them in particular has told us stories of Nona’s garden - she loved roses and peonies - and her great laugh.

As I struggled through the renovations with either a decision or feeling overwhelmed, Nona was sitting there with me. I had conversations with her about what we were doing, and [asking if they] were the right choices.

Walk us through the shape that Matilda was in when you found her. What was missing structurally?

Everything. I mean, we basically rebuilt the house inside three walls. I can’t even say four walls, because the south wall was stucco, and the stucco was sloughing off. There were no pipes, so it needed all new plumbing and all new electrical, all new heating - a new furnace, all the ducting.

Haimerl taking a break from tearing down the termite-infested back porch in 2015. Photo courtesy of Amy Haimerl

We had to buy all new toilets. We had to buy all new sinks. We had to buy all new kitchen appliances. We had no interior doors. We had to buy light fixtures.

Everything that you walk into a house when you buy it normally and you’re like, “Maybe I would like a prettier one someday” - yeah, there was none to begin with.

How much does a project like this cost?

We bought the house for $35,000, and we have about $400,000 in rehab costs. Had you told me that when we first started looking at Matilda, I would have thought you were crazy. We thought we needed about $130,000 to do the rehab. That was barely enough to start dealing with the mechanicals.

As we learned, the cost of renovation is about the same anywhere in the country, plus or minus 10 percent. There is no “you live in Detroit” discount at Home Depot.

We’ve been criticized for spending that money in Detroit, as if Detroit isn’t worth investing in. But it is to us. And maybe others could rebuild a house themselves for less - and that’s amazing! - but this wasn’t a DIY-level project for us. It’s a 100-year-old historic home we were trying to rebuild for the next 100 years.

So we worked with amazing contractors who are Detroit natives - Cal and Christian Garfield. I am the daughter of a small excavator who taught me never to be cheap. Always pay a fair price for quality work, because it saves so much money in the long run.

The money will sound crazy to some, but for us, our monthly carrying costs are less than they were in New York, and we get a beautiful home in an amazing community.

Photos courtesy of Amy Haimerl

What’s your favorite part of the home?

The salvaged wainscoting from an old local church is really amazing. It’s this deeply arched, almost Gothic paneling that the church had in its gallery. Even though it’s not original, it brings an extra level of history to the house.

The church was scheduled to be demolished, which is why we were able to get a bunch of doors and the wainscoting. And then it wasn’t demolished; it actually burned down under somewhat sketchy circumstances.

I was so glad that we were able to save these pieces, and yet it was like: this city has been scrapped. So many people have just come in and taken things - either souvenirs, or copper to sell, or whatever - for their own profit. That made it feel weird, but I’ve made my peace with it. Our Matilda has a piece of that Detroit history in it, and that’s really special to me.

Has Matilda been worth it? Would Nona love it?

I lost one of her prized rose bushes, so she might not be happy with me about that. We had to take the fence down to be able to get some stuff into the backyard, and the roses did not survive.

But absolutely, the house has been worth it for Karl and me. We love it. We love Detroit. We are not here to flip this house. We’re here as long-time community members.

This is where we plan to live our lives, to grow old, to retire. And so whatever we put into it, that was an investment in our lives and our community, and being a part of this wonderful place that is Detroit for the long term.

Understanding the Fine Print on Historic Homes

How to Budget for Home Renovations

How to Build a Home Renovation Team You Can Trust

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garynsmith · 7 years

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Renovation Adventures With an Old Detroit Home

http://ift.tt/2n8C0ft

Amy Haimerl and her husband, Karl, bought a gorgeous, dilapidated home in Detroit in 2013 - just six weeks before the city declared bankruptcy.

In the book, you make clear your love of your former Brooklyn neighborhood, Red Hook. You thought you'd return there after your fellowship at the University of Michigan. How did you choose Detroit instead?

What we loved about Red Hook was the community that we'd built there. It's this post-industrial fishing village on the edge of New York City that has been forgotten about. It used to be the crack capital of America, and it’s risen to be this really beautiful and amazing community of people.

Red Hook is really hot right now, one of the "it" neighborhoods. But when I got there in 2007, it wasn't that yet. It was this beautiful cast of characters who were iconoclastic and committed to each other.

It was a difficult decision, but we started exploring Detroit. And my husband really fell for the city, more so than I did at first. Once we found the crazy house, that sealed the deal.

The way you describe Red Hook when you lived there sounds a little like Detroit.

I always say that Red Hook is Detroit writ small: similar demographics, similar abandonment and disinvestment, similar tight-knit community, and a similar chip on our shoulders.

There's a little bit of a chip on the shoulder here in Detroit, too, about newcomers and everybody wanting to study the city. There's a huge population here - a middle-class, primarily African-American group - that didn't leave the city when they had the opportunity, when everybody told them they should. Their stories get ignored. I try to be very clear that we are newcomers.

You had reservations about the cost and effort of renovating Matilda. What led you to go for it?

The best way I can describe it is when you fall in love with somebody, you just sort of know. There's no great explanation. We'd looked at other houses, and there wasn't a lot coming on market that was “move-in ready,” which at that time in Detroit basically meant it had power and water. When we saw Matilda, we just walked in and she felt right.

Photo of Jack Cat courtesy of Amy Haimerl

Everything was dim. There was mold everywhere. There was water running through the ceiling in places. I was kind of talking to the house and saying, "All right, are you our house?"

For some reason, the cat felt like a sign. And then this guy came walking across the street, telling us about how he [renovated] his house 15 years ago, and it's going to be no problem.

We know that the house used to be owned by Arthur and Nona Herzog. Arthur wrote "God Bless the Child" with Billie Holiday, and my husband's a jazz pianist - as a hobby, not as a profession - and I started to feeling all these signs and serendipitous moments.

You have a relationship with Nona, although you never met her.

She was, in many ways, the guiding voice in my head during this renovation. So many of our neighbors were really good friends with her, and one of them in particular has told us stories of Nona's garden - she loved roses and peonies - and her great laugh.

Walk us through the shape that Matilda was in when you found her. What was missing structurally?

Everything. I mean, we basically rebuilt the house inside three walls. I can't even say four walls, because the south wall was stucco, and the stucco was sloughing off. There were no pipes, so it needed all new plumbing and all new electrical, all new heating - a new furnace, all the ducting.

Haimerl taking a break from tearing down the termite-infested back porch in 2015. Photo courtesy of Amy Haimerl

We had to buy all new toilets. We had to buy all new sinks. We had to buy all new kitchen appliances. We had no interior doors. We had to buy light fixtures.

Everything that you walk into a house when you buy it normally and you're like, "Maybe I would like a prettier one someday" - yeah, there was none to begin with.

How much does a project like this cost?

As we learned, the cost of renovation is about the same anywhere in the country, plus or minus 10 percent. There is no "you live in Detroit" discount at Home Depot.

The money will sound crazy to some, but for us, our monthly carrying costs are less than they were in New York, and we get a beautiful home in an amazing community.

Photos courtesy of Amy Haimerl

What’s your favorite part of the home?

The salvaged wainscoting from an old local church is really amazing. It’s this deeply arched, almost Gothic paneling that the church had in its gallery. Even though it's not original, it brings an extra level of history to the house.

The church was scheduled to be demolished, which is why we were able to get a bunch of doors and the wainscoting. And then it wasn't demolished; it actually burned down under somewhat sketchy circumstances.

I was so glad that we were able to save these pieces, and yet it was like: this city has been scrapped. So many people have just come in and taken things - either souvenirs, or copper to sell, or whatever - for their own profit. That made it feel weird, but I've made my peace with it. Our Matilda has a piece of that Detroit history in it, and that's really special to me.

Has Matilda been worth it? Would Nona love it?

I lost one of her prized rose bushes, so she might not be happy with me about that. We had to take the fence down to be able to get some stuff into the backyard, and the roses did not survive.

But absolutely, the house has been worth it for Karl and me. We love it. We love Detroit. We are not here to flip this house. We're here as long-time community members.

Understanding the Fine Print on Historic Homes

How to Budget for Home Renovations

How to Build a Home Renovation Team You Can Trust

from Zillow Blog http://ift.tt/2nDzhwY via IFTTT

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danielgreen01 · 7 years