#andy showing junior all the care his father never gave him

[streets-in-paradise]

Andy celebrating Junior's birthday while living in the middle of the woods

The sun had been up for a while now, maybe an hour. Andy was never sure about times anymore. All he knew was that he had a red velvet  cupcake in hand, with a candle sticking out from the top, and a gift in the pocket of his flannel. 

All that mattered was that today was September 26th.

Junior’s fifteenth birthday. 

Now, Andy knew he couldn’t do much to celebrate his kid’s birthday. They were living in the middle of the woods and he only went on supply runs once a week. No matter how hard he tried to persuade Junior to go back to “civilization”, he refused. So they both stayed still, feeling content in only each other’s company. 

But just because he couldn’t go all out for Junior’s birthday, doesn’t mean he still wasn’t going to make it special for him. 

Andy quietly went up to Junior’s room, gently knocking on the door with his free hand. “Jun? You awake?” He asked and the only response he got was a groan, signaling that Andy was the one to wake him up. But he still opened the door, entering with a big smile. 

“Happy birthday to you…” He began singing, resulting in Junior groaning louder. 

“Oh my gods…” 

“Happy birthday to you…” Junior put his pillow over his head but when Andy got closer, he snatched the pillow away and tossed it to the side, “Happy birthday, dear Junbug…” 

“That’s not my nam—”

“Happy birthday to you!” Andy sang the last part a little louder and sat down at the edge of Junior’s cot, pulling his lighter out of one of his pockets and lighting the candle on top of the cupcake. 

Junior stared up at him, his hair a wild mess from sleep and eyes tired but an eyebrow raised in annoyance. “It’s so early, Andy, what the hell…?” 

“It’s your birthday, Junior. You can wake up early on one day, you sleep in all the time.” 

“Yeah, it’s my birthday, I’m not supposed to wake up early on my birthday. And you wake me up early too when we go hunt.” The birthday boy whined, dropping his head back down to where his pillow used to be. 

“You enjoy hunting, so don’t give me that.” Andy chuckled before gently shaking Junior’s shoulders. “C’mon, Junbug. You gotta make a wish.” 

Junior’s eyebrow raised higher. “I’m fourteen, Andy, not four. I don’t need to make a wish.” 

“Fifteen,” The man corrected, “you’re fifteen today, Junior.” 

“Whatever…” Junior rolled his eyes before rolling over onto his back and slowly sitting up, “I’m still one year closer to reaching Death’s inevitable cold, clammy hands.”

“Jesus, kid…” Andy wanted to retort that he wasn’t this morbid at fifteen but even he knew that was a lie, “just…just blow out the candle. Come on, do this for your old man.” 

This got a giggle out of Junior for Andy “accepting” that he was old, closing his eyes for a few seconds and then blowing out the candle. 

Andy pulled out the candle and then handed the cupcake to the kid. “Here, breakfast.”

Junior’s eyes widened. “Sugar for breakfast?” His voice was small when he asked this and it made the grown man’s heart clench. 

Now, Andy didn’t condone murder…but if Logan Wheeler ever came back to life, he would treat him the same way he treated that decapitated Chucky head that he kept for four years, but keep Logan alive even longer. 

“Yes, kid. It’s your birthday, you can have a cupcake for breakfast. I’ll even make you pancakes too if you’re still hungry.” Andy said with a soft smile, pushing down his poisonous thoughts about Logan, and ruffles Junior’s hair. 

The teenager rolled his eyes again and lightheartedly smacked Andy’s hand away before taking the cupcake from him and taking a bite, humming in delight. “Thank you, Andy.” He said with a small smile, now not seeming to mind being woken up this early. 

“Well, don’t thank me just yet…” Andy started before pulling out Junior’s present from his pocket and handing it to him. 

Junior’s eyes lit up from realization and he quickly grabbed it while holding onto the cupcake with his other hand. “Is this…?” 

“Your very own switchblade!” Andy proudly announced and Junior began grinning. “You always talked about how cool switchblades were so I figured that’d be a nice gift. But I still want you to be careful with it, okay?” 

“Yeah, I will.” Junior giggled as he switched it open, his eyes lighting up more at the sight of the blade to the point where it was almost concerning to Andy. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” 

“You’re welcome, kiddo.” He ruffled Junior’s hair again but this time, the teenager let him. “Oh! I almost forgot…there’s still two Chuckys alive for you to play with.” 

“Can I use the blowtorch?” Junior asked, a maniacal look in his eyes. 

Maybe Andy shouldn’t have introduced the concept of fire being a main torture method for Chucky, the kid was getting far too fascinated with fire. 

He accidentally created a pyromaniac. 

“…okay, but you need to be—”

“—be careful, I know,” Junior interrupted with a little smirk, “Gods, you’re such a mother hen!” 

“I am not!” Andy denied but even he knew that it was getting a lot harder to deny that, so he decided to change the subject. “Just finish up the first part of your breakfast and we can keep celebrating, alright?” 

Junior giggled but nodded, taking another bite out of his cupcake and then resting his cheek against the man’s shoulder. “Thanks, Andy…” 

Andy smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of Junior’s head. “No problem…happy birthday, Junbug.” 

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY SWEET 💕💕💕💕

This becomes even more significant considering Andy hates birthdays. Like, he may hate his but he tried his best to give the boy a good one.

I love how cute the use of the nickname Junbug sounds, its adorable. The father and son energy this has despite neither of the characters acknowledges it's perfect.

They are so fucked up yet so adorable, little murderous thing and the dad he found in the wild having fun slaughtering all those dolls hehe

#asks #messages #submitted fic #andy barclay #junior wheeler #AU #andy celebrating junior's birthday #this fic is a caress to my soul #completely ignoring canon this totally happened #andy showing junior all the care his father never gave him #in the most misserable of contexts #totally hits my sentimental fiber #this kid is happier as a hermit in the woods that he ever was in his wealthy home

[ridiculousyoungicarus]

i wanna hide the truth, i wanna shelter you

a love letter to luxor’s zander driskell

I want to start off with a disclaimer that there’s a bunch more pre-Luxor content on this one compared to the girls’, but with Zander it felt extremely important to explore that aspect. There’s a note on the section where I’m finally playing him in the roleplay due to that, but anything before that point is before I started playing him in the group. Anyway, I’m proud to present a 3 hour Zander playlist, come help me judge him for the amount of references to his dad and Ches throughout this entire playlist.

Yet again I’d like to thank Lex for help throughout this process, and warn everyone that the usual Zander trigger warnings are all over this playlist (mental health, violence, abuse / child abuse, etc etc). Anything additional is noted on the sections.

‘cause i had a fire, passion and desire. now all i require are circuits and wires | pre-luxor:

zander before attending luxor additional tws: potential self harm (breathe me)

iRobot (Jon Bellion) [ I was a human, before you killed me and ripped my heart out. ] // Breathe Me - Acoustic (Jonathan Roy) [ I think that I might break and lost myself again and I feel so unsafe. ] // Tell Me Why (Taylor Swift) [ Why do you have to make me feel small so you can feel whole inside? Why do you have to put down my dreams so you're the only thing on my mind? ] // Weight Of Living, Pt. II (Bastille) [ All that you desired when you were a child was to be old. Now that you are here, suddenly you fear you've lost control. ]

happiness is beautiful to see, won't you box it up for me? | sophomore year:

zander’s sophomore year at luxor, and the introduction to one ches elswood. additional tws: bleed out can be extremely uncomfortable to listen to with the whole, bleeding out theme. please skip that song if you feel you need to

Cop Car (Keith Urban) [ You were thinking that running for it would make a good story; I was thinking you were crazy as hell. ] // Don't Trust Me (Phillip Phillips) [ So when I say I'm okay, don't trust me. ] // Burn Out (Imagine Dragons) [ Oh, give me strength, and give me peace. Does anyone out there want to hear me? ] // Crawling (Linkin Park) [ This lack of self-control I fear is never-ending. Controlling, I can't seem. ] // Bleed Out (Blue October) [ Will I bleed out? I gave it all, but you can't stop taking from me. And way down, I know you know where to cut me with your eyes closed. ] // Don't Sing the Blues (Bohnes) [ I was ridiculous, young Icarus. I flew too close to the sun. ]

do you remember all the plans we made? | helena:

a section dedicated to zander’s relationship with helena additional tws: sex (carry your throne), alcohol (tonight I wanna cry)

Carry Your Throne (Jon Bellion) [ If you're lost in this darkness I'll carry your throne. No, I won't let it swallow you whole. ] // Snake Eyes (Mumford & Sons) [ It's in the eyes. I can tell, you will always be danger. ] // Halfway Gone (Lifehouse) [ You were always hard to hold, so letting go ain't easy. I'm hanging on but growing cold. ] // The Promise (Andy Black) [ Tell me what ever happened to the love we gave, the promise that we both betrayed. ] // Tonight I Wanna Cry (Keith Urban) [ And I thought that bein' strong meant never losin' your self-control, but I'm just drunk enough to let go of my pain. To hell with my pride, let it fall like rain from my eyes, tonight I want to cry. ]

i say one day the valley is gonna swallow me whole, i feel like a photo that's been overexposed | junior year (‘18-‘19):

junior year of high school, fairly self explanatory additional tws: smoking (antisocial)

Flaws (Bastille) [ You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve and I have always buried them deep beneath the ground. Dig them up. Let's finish what we've started. ] // Battle Cry (Imagine Dragons) [ Just one more time before I go, I'll let you know that all this time I've been afraid, wouldn't let it show. Nobody can save me now, no. ] // 12 Rounds (Bohnes) [ I'm coming home, I've got some things to say. My gloves are on and my shoes are almost laced. ] // Novocaine (Fall Out Boy) [ Don’t mind me, I’m just the son of a gun. So don’t stop, don't stop 'till your heart goes numb. Now I’m just numb, I don’t feel a thing for you. ] // Machine (Imagine Dragons) [ 'Cause I've been wondering when you gonna see I'm not for sale. I've been questioning when you gonna see I'm not a part of your machine. ] // Antisocial (Ed Sheeran feat. Travis Scott) [ So antisocial, but I don't care. Don't give a damn, I'm gonna smoke here. ] // Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea (Fall Out Boy) [ Seems like the whole damn world went and lost its mind and all my childhood heroes have fallen off or died. ] // Never Going Back (The Score) [ I'm never gonna follow just because they say so. ]

consign me not to darkness | summer 2019:

the summer after the merge, where zander is stuck at home working for lance additional tws:  alcohol (if you’re going through hell)

Two Evils (Bastille) [ I'm the lesser of two evils or am I tricking myself nice? ] // Man or a Monster (Sam Tinnesz feat. Zayde Wølf) [ When you look at yourself, are you a man or a monster? ] // DNA (Lia Marie Johnson) [ Are the pieces of you in the pieces of me? I'm just so scared you're who I'll be. When I erupt just like you do, they look at me like I look at you. ] // Broken Crown (Mumford & Sons) [ So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down I'll never wear your broken crown. I can take the road and I can fuck it all away, but in this twilight, our choices seal our fate. ] // If You're Going Through Hell {Before The Devil Even Knows} (Rodney Atkins) [ I've been deep down in that darkness, I've been down to my last match. Felt a hundred different demons breathin' fire down my back. ] // Mud On the Tires (Brad Paisley) [ 'Cause it's a good night to be out there soakin' up the moonlight. ] // Pray For You (Jaron And The Long Road To Love) [ I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill, I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I'd like to. ]

but all the scars they prove that i fought my way through so, i always keep 'em showing | senior year of hs (‘19-‘20)

finally, the point in the timeline where zander is actually getting roleplayed by me. includes summer camp fun too

The Silence (Bastille) [ Tell me a piece of your history that you've never said out loud. Pull the rug beneath my feet, and shake me to the ground. ] // Stand Up (The Cab) [ Yeah, all of my demons are kicking and screaming but I'll never leave them behind. Yeah, maybe I'm crazy but don't try to save me, 'cause I've never felt so alive. ] // Only One (The Score) [ Tell me how it feels to know I'm not a puppet under control. I cut the strings a long time ago. ]

running from the devil, but the devil takes hold | fall & winter 2020:

a new school year, increased disdain for his father, a certain set of posters, and the start of realizing there may be something wrong with him.

Gold (Imagine Dragons) [ But now you can't tell the false from the real. Who can you trust? When everything you touch turns to gold. ] // Just Like You (Three Days Grace) [ You thought you were standing beside me, you were only in my way. You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you. ] // Bad Blood (Bastille) [ All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry? It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie? ] // Middle Finger (Bohnes) [ But I refuse to let you make me feel like I can't fly. Not only will I soar again, I'll own the fucking sky. ] // American Beauty/American Psycho (Fall Out Boy) [ You take the full, full truth, then you pour some out, and you can kill me, kill me or let God sort 'em out. ] // Homecoming King (Andy Black) [ You're standing there with the homecoming king; turn the silver spoon into a diamond ring. Can he make you disappear without anyone noticing? Yeah, fuck the homecoming king ] // Monster (Imagine Dragons) [ I'm only a man with a candle to guide me, I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me. A monster, a monster, I've turned into a monster. ] // Animal I Have Become (Three Days Grace) [ Somebody help me through this nightmare I can't control myself. Somebody wake me from this nightmare, I can't escape this hell. ] // Gallows (The Score feat. Jamie N Commons) [ Been turning my back on the sun these days, trying to walk the line but I'm losing my way. ]

i'm sifting through the sand, looking for pieces of broken hourglass trying to get it all back but it back together | spring 2021:

continuing to take a good look at his mental health, a desire to improve, and an appreciation for his support circle. additional tws: sex/masturbation mention (All Time Low)

All Time Low (Jon Bellion) [ I've been trying to fix my pride but that shit's broken, that shit's broken. ] // Bishops Knife Trick (Fall Out Boy) [ These are the last blues we're ever gonna have, let's see how deep we get. The glow of the cities below lead us back to the places that we never should have left. ] // Demons (Imagine Dragons) [ They say it's what you make, I say it's up to fate; it's woven in my soul, I need to let you go. Your eyes, they shine so bright, I wanna save that light, I can't escape this now, unless you show me how. ] // I'll Be Good (Jaymes Young) [ I never meant to start a fire, I never meant to make you bleed. I'll be a better man today. ] // The Anchor (Bastille) [ You were the light that is blinding me. You're the anchor that I tie to my brain. 'Cause when it feels when I'm lost at sea, you're the song that I sing again and again. ] // Ungrateful Eyes (Jon Bellion) [ Still lost, still feel depressed like I'm try to find a way in. I'm trying to figure this out, but my God I'm so human. And so I turned to my sister and smiled and asked this question, “all we wanna know is where the stars came from, but do we ever stop to watch them shine?” ] // Rise Up (Imagine Dragons) [ The darkness right in front of me, oh, it's calling out, and I won't walk away. ] // Bless The Broken Road (Rascal Flatts) [ Every long lost dream led me to where you are, others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars, pointing me on my way into your loving arms. This much I know is true, that God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you. ]

#musing ( playlists ) #no chains won't hold me down ( musings ) #violence tw #Smoking tw #alcohol tw #abuse tw #child abuse tw #self harm tw #blood tw #stabbing tw #bc implied

[optimistic-dinosaur-nacho]

Imprisoned - Chapter II

Chapter II

Story Rating: 14+ Warnings: Violence, Murder, Mentions of Murder, Language, Gore Summary: Y/N is Andy and Laurie Barber’s 14-year-old daughter who is a high-grade student in Archer Middle School. Her best friend, Alice Miller had been gone for a while. They search for the lost student and find out that Alice Miller’s body has the prints of Andy and Laurie Barber’s daughter, Y/N. 

DEFENDING JACOB SPOILER FREE FOR THIS CHAPTER!

(If my story is somewhat accurate for the series I DID NOT know! This is my story with my ideas based off the trailer I’ve seen)

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII

Author’s Notes: I’m kind of liking this series.

Song Inspired: Painted Staircase by Active Child (Defending Jacob Trailer)

~~~

The sun was just setting on that night, the lights going off in the huge house. “Thanks, dad,” Alice leans over and hugs her dad. Eric was his name, he was a gentle guy and he worked in a warehouse just a few miles out of the town of Newton. Her parents were really nice but her dad just seemed very intimidating sometimes.

“All right, you girls have fun okay? I’ll be back around 9 and we’ll drop off Y/N afterwards, okay?”

“Okay, dad,” Alice says, Eric grins, “Keep your phone on you!” Alice gives him a thumbs up and she grabs Y/N’s hand to drag her up to the house. Who knows if Emily had drinks at the house. Her family was rich. She was a ninth grader but their friend Henry was known to Emily and he asked if she could invite them. 

Which she did. She didn’t mind them. Or so they thought. They knocked on the door and they saw someone walk up to the door behind the colored glass before the door unlocks to Henry. “You made it!” He says. Alice walks in and hugs him, “We did!” Y/N then comes up and hugs Henry next before he takes them inside.

The party was crowded. A mixture of all the grades. Y/N turns to the dining room where the shouts and laughter came from. They were playing beer pong. Don’t drink. Don’t let someone urge you to drink. Her father’s words came into her head and she turns away from it.

“What’s going on?” Alice asked. Henry looks around, “Everyone here is drinking, some juniors from the high school brought in some drinks. Would you like to try some?” Henry asked. What the hell is wrong with them?

Alice paused for a moment.

Y/N turned her head to see the kids staring at her. Her hands twists into each other anxiously. Henry took Alice’s hand and guided them to the kitchen. Be careful, Y/N.

.

Andy was in the bathroom, scrubbing the dirt off Milo’s back after it just rained for an hour. Milo tends to be happy about rain and play in the mud. Andy pours water onto Milo, “You gotta stop with this playing in the mud, buddy.” Andy sees Milo plant his feet, knowing what had to come next, Andy pulls back when Mile shakes the water off of him.

“Bud, hey...” Andy gently takes Milo’s face into his hands and stroked his cheek, he smiled. Milo tries to lick Andy’s face who pulls away with a smile. “You’re a good boy.” Andy reaches for the cup in the tub and pours the water on the dog again, getting the soap off. His sleeves were rolled up but they were still soaked. His shirt was completely wet, he noted to himself a shower after this tub drains.

He unplugs the tub and reached for the towel on sink before heading over to Milo. “Out,” He says, Milo jumps out and shakes once again, getting water on the walls and mirror. 

“Okay, that’s enough, bud,” Andy kneels down and rubs the dog’s fur down. He had short fur so he wasn’t dripping much water. Andy grabs his paw and sees them, “You need your nails clipped, buddy.” Andy finishes drying off the dog before Milo is set off running. 

Andy takes the towel and drops it into the laundry basket, walking out. He steps into the living room and sees Laurie sitting down on the couch, searching for a show to watch. “What time is it?” She asked, Andy glanced at the clock and sighs, sitting down next to her.

“It’s 8 and a half,” He says. Y/N left around six and they hope she’d be tired by now.

“We can text her right now. See how she’s doing.” Andy takes out his phone and goes to his messages, finding his daughter’s name and clicks on the bar. How’s it going? He sends it and closes his phone afterwards. Laurie leans over, resting her head on his shoulder as she clicks on the show to watch. He brings his arm around her and sighs.

“She’s okay. I’m sure she’s having fun.”

Andy shuffles a bit while Milo jumps next to him and lays beside him. Andy puts his hand on the dog’s back and rubs it. “It’s just something I did in high school. I just hope she’s not doing something she’s not suppose to.”

“She knows. When she was little, she spitted your beer out on the carpet and dumped it into the sink.” Andy chuckles at the memory. “What did she say after that?” He completely forgot how she said it after she dumped the beer.

No, daddy. That’s bad for you!

“She said, ‘No, daddy. That’s bad for you!’ Then she gave you a water bottle,” Laurie smiles at the memory with a laugh. Andy’s smile never left his lips as he watched the show. He remembers having her on his shoulders as they skip rocks into the water. 

Go to the park she goes with Alice now, he’d find her in the forest collecting sticks. The smile that never left her face. He can’t seem to get his off at the moment. 

.

An hour had past. Andy was calling Y/N’s cell for 15 minutes and she never picked it up. “Is she answering?” Laurie asked. Andy doesn’t answer her and picks his phone up again, calling. That made Laurie put her hand to her forehead in fear.

The two stood in the kitchen. After two episodes that were 45 minutes long, they didn’t realize Y/N’s curfew was passed. 

“Hey, you’ve reached Y/N Barber. I can’t get to the phone right now.” Andy drops his phone from his ear and sighs, he rubs his forehead with his hand. “We shouldn’t have let her gone out.”

“An, I’m sure her phone died.”

“She said it was 100%. She couldn’t have been playing on it through the whole time there because I’m sure there were a lot of things to do there-” The couple turn to the door opening and closing. Andy looks out to see the dark car drive off and the two rush to the front door.

“Y/N,” Laurie comes up and hugs Y/N, “Hun, why did it take you so long?” Laurie asks. Y/N looked up at her mother, “I’m sorry. I tried to call you but my phone died.”

“Bullshit,” Andy spats.

Laurie looks at him, “Andy.” Y/N looks up at her father who was completely angry but she knew it was out of fear. Her eyes look down at the ground,  “I’m sorry. I tried to call...” She says. Laurie sighs and strokes Y/N’s hair, “Are you hungry?”

Y/N nods and Laurie turns away, “Okay. I made some dinner. You can sit at the dining table I’ll bring you a plate.” Y/N nods and walks over to the dining table as Laurie walks into the kitchen.

Andy follows his wife. “You don’t think that’s a little strange?”

Laurie pulls out a plate and grabs the food from the fridge. “Andy, she’s a teen. You know those kids get bored at some moment to go on their phones. Her phone is three years old, anyway.”

“She would’ve gotten my text then, right?” Andy asked. Laurie sighs once again, “Just relax. She’s home, she’s safe.” Andy couldn’t believe what came out of their daughter’s mouth. Yes, their daughter had a 3-year-old phone but she would’ve done everything else but on her phone.

That’s the reason she went out. Unless she didn’t expect it to be that boring once she got there. He’s gonna let this slide. He looks towards the dining room table to see Y/N playing with her fingers at the table. He walks away and heads into their bedroom, closing the door afterwards.

Laurie turns to look and walks over to the dining table. “Here you go, hun,” She says, Y/N gives her a small thank you. “How was the party?”

“It’s was good,” She says, putting food into her mouth. Laurie managed to grin, “I’m sorry about your dad. He just was...”Laurie gently shook her head.

“Scared?” Y/N asks, her eyes divert to her mother, who gazed at her. “Yeah... He was,” Laurie said. Y/N looks back at her plate and picks at it, now. Laurie looks at her hands and sighs.

“Why don’t you get some rest? I’m sure that party took the energy out.” Y/N takes her plate and takes it to the counter, putting it in the sink before walking past her mom. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, baby,” She says.

The sound of Y/N’s door closing, Laurie gets up and walks over to her bedroom. Andy sat at his desk with the one light on. “You should get some sleep as well.” He never turns to face her as he kept his eyes in front of him. “I will,” He replied.

Laurie doesn’t say anything else and goes into the closet to pull clothes out for a shower.

Leaving Andy at his desk.

.

Y/N woke up around 10 in the morning. Her head pounds as she lifts her head up to the light shining through her thin curtains. Y/N feels Milo leave her bed and goes straight for the door.

Y/N hears Andy and Laurie chatting outside in the dining room is sounded like. Milo gently scratches the door and Y/N stands up. She opens the door and Milo runs out into the dining room, meeting the couple who sat at the table.

Y/N comes out and sees them at the table in a bad position. She got the feeling they were waiting for her to come out soon enough to talk to her. Laurie and Andy look at her, her father seemed more upset than Laurie.

“Y/N, can you sit down for a minute?” Laurie asks, Y/N slowly walks over to the table and sits down in front of them. Andy didn’t even look at her, Laurie did. Y/N looks at them in fear as Laurie sighs.

“Y/N. How did you get home?” She asked.

Y/N froze in place. “Alice’s dad dropped me off-”

“Eric called us this morning saying Alice didn’t make it home last night. He didn’t see you there.”

Y/N was stuck. She waited for another question but it never came. She slightly flinched when Andy finally faced her, “Y/N, how did you get here?”

“I walked,” She spoke.

Andy and Laurie looked at each other at her response. “You walked home? You walked 3 miles from Emily’s house to ours? Where was Alice?”

“I left...” Y/N grips her hands, in fear she didn’t want to be yelled at. “You left Alice? Where did you see her last?”

“She was in the kitchen... I-... and then I just left,” Y/N closed her legs and felt the tears burn her eyes. Laurie looks at her, “Honey, what’s wrong?” Y/N diverts her eyes away from them, she shakes her head. “I’m sorry...” Was all she says.

Andy looks at her softly now, he looks at his wife who was torn as well. They hated to see their daughter like this. Andy reaches over the table, “Hey...” He says.

Y/N looks up, her red glistening eyes shining in the dining light. “It’s okay. We just needed to know where Alice was seen last. But you didn’t have to walk 3 miles to our home. You could’ve called us.”

“My phone... was dead...” She says, Andy looks at her and nods. Knowing they should’ve gotten it fixed a long time ago. “We’ll get that fixed. I’m sure I can take it in in a few days.”

Y/N gently nods and wipes the tears off her cheeks. Laurie looks at Andy, “Did he say he was gonna call the cops?” She asked.

Andy shook his head, “He’s not suppose to call them till 9. You’re to call a missing person after 24 hours,” Andy turns his head a little bit, realizing something. Laurie looks at him confusingly.

He looks at Y/N, “Hey, do you know where Emily’s house is?”

Y/N looks up, “I mean... she lives by the forest. You know by the park and stuff.” Andy diverts his eyes to his wife. “We can have a search team in the Cold Spring Park.”

“How will we get people to help-?”

“There are always people who search for missing kids. I can call Eric back and tell him about a search team,” Andy stands up and pulls his phone out again. “I’ll go out with the search team and you just stay with Y/N.” Laurie nods.

“How long will you be out there?”She asked.

Andy clicks on Eric’s contact and pulls it up to his ear. “As much as we need.”

.

A day went by and after that call, Andy got a search team for the look of Alice. He stood at the end of trail. There was a sign he read. Cold Spring Park. Him and his daughter would go down this trail sometimes. It’s the trail that leads to the school and to their home if Y/N would’ve taken herself.

He looked down the trail, knowing this trail goes on for miles. He turns to see Eric and his wife. “Hey, An,” Eric said, the two shook hands. “Eric.”

“I want to thank you for doing this,” Eric says, Andy nods, “My daughter is best friend’s with yours. She’s a good kid, she makes Y/N happy.” Eric smiles softly. The two look at the people who were in yellow and orange vests with the word search team.

Andy thought about the search team. If they don’t find her today. He could probably grab Milo for this search next time. He’s sure Milo can find her. Milo knew her.

Andy sighs. “Okay, let’s start. Would you like to explain to them about her?” He asked. Eric looks at him and nods. “Um...” He sees the people gather up, “Thank you all for coming to help us. My name is Eric Miller. I’m Alice’s father. She had bee missing for over 24 hours. Police had been notified and we gathered you to help us find our daughter.”

Andy nods and they started the search. People calling out to others, their eyes scanning through the woods. Eric and his wife were holding hands, hoping that their daughter would soon be found.

.

Hours had went by, Andy knew they went down for miles. It was starting to get late and so they had to end the search there. People wished and prayed the couple a good luck as they went on their ways.

Andy was left with the Miller Family. Eric spoke softly to his wife as Andy turned to them. “I’m sorry we didn’t find her today. I’m sure she’ll be found soon.”

Eric looks up from his wife. “We just hope she’s alive. We can’t live without her.” Andy nods reassuringly, he holds his hand out. Eric takes it and shakes it. “Thank you so much again for that.”

“We’ll be sure to check the park again.” Eric nods and they head back home. Andy enters his car and leaves the park, going back home to his family. It was messed up more than ever. Who knows what the Miller’s thought. What if they wished it was Y/N instead?

Hoped that Andy’s kid could get the same medicine.

They’re too nice to even think that. Andy gave them his prayers and hoped that they find Alice alive. 

.

Seven days later.

Seven days. And they still didn’t find Alice. After their last one, Police took the stand and went on the search. K9′s and policemen all searching the area for the missing girl.

Eric and his wife stayed home.

They couldn’t bare to see if they’re daughter was more likely to be gone for three days. Andy was at work on the gloomy day. He had his daughter at home, watching their dog Milo with Laurie. He needed to get work done so he could be able to see his daughter’s show. 

He was reading over the cases before his phone began to ring. He looked over and picked it up, “This is Andy Barber?”

“Mr. Barber, this is Officer Collins.”

Amber Collins is Henry’s mother. Andy stood straight, “Is there a problem?” He asked. It seemed to sound like dogs were going wild on the line with chatter. “We found her,” She says.

Andy felt relieved, “This call should be for the Miller’s, not me-”

“Mr. Barber, we found her body.”

He froze. That’s not what the Miller’s wouldn’t like to hear. After four days of missing, they find her dead. He inhales softly, “Where?”

“We’re in the park, on a trail that leads to the school. There’s a small pond.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” He says. He puts the phone down and gets in his car, driving off. He grips the top of the wheel. No wonder Y/N walked home. She couldn’t find Alice. Unless she told her she was leaving early and that gave an advantage for someone to take her.

He reached the trail to the park, seeing Officer Collins waiting at the entrance. Andy parks his car on the side and gets out. Amber smiles, “Mr. Barber, haven’t seen you in a while.”

Andy had his grey coat, he looks down the trail to see the people down there. Cop cars with their lights on and a few civilians looking. Andy looks over to Amber, “It has.”

The two walk down the trail towards the pond. The more he got closer, the more he would’ve gotten sick there. “One of our K9s picked her up at the last minute we were gonna leave the area for people to have their park back.” The smell was metallic and muddy like. Earthly and the mixture of blood, he knew this was bad.

They stop right at the small dip to the old pond that was below, people in hazmat suits taking pictures or looking down for remains. The air was taken out of Andy’s lungs as he saw it.

“Is that her?” Collins asked.

Andy saw the dress, torn apart from pieces. The blood seeped through the fabric by her chest. That dress she always wore to Y/N’s birthday parties. Amber didn’t need an answer when she could see his state right now. She turns away from him. “It’s nothing worst than a kid,” Amber spoke.

Andy hears someone come in view beside him and sees the detective. “Hey, Paula.”

“Good afternoon,” She says, Pam Duffy is a detective Andy would see sometimes during these types of things. It was rare though. “How you doing?” He asked. Pam inhales deeply before sighing, “You know, I just got a coffee from the Diner. Then I get called up for this,” She looks down at the body.

“How long before they get the prints?”

Amber sighs, “Well, there were no weapons around the area, but we might find some on the body. May take two days,” She says. Andy looks down at the body once again. The flashes around her made him feel sick in the stomach again. 

How would his daughter think? 

He doesn’t want to come home and say her best friend died. Murdered nearby their favorite park.

“Give me the papers after they are filed,” Andy says, Pam nods, “I’ll call you if anything comes up.”

“I’m sorry. I just... I have to go,” He said to them, they nod, knowing this was his daughter’s friend. The body was not yet to be proven it was her just yet. Her face was turned away from them, but he knew by the dress she wore. He heads out of the park trail and hopped into his car. 

He closed the door and grabs the wheel. He leans forward into his wheel. He’s taking the case of his daughter’s best friend. He’d have to investigate the students someday.

.

Andy reaches back home, leaving his car in the garage. He walks into his home and sees Milo run up to him. “Hey, bud...” He says lowly, petting the dog nonchalantly. He hears heavy steps upstairs as they come down. “Hey, dad,” Y/N says, she stops to see his face. “What’s wrong?” She asked.

He stared up at her but then managed to smile, “Nothing I just... I planned on going on for dinner tonight.”

“Really? Where?” She asked. He sees her come down the stairs, “The diner. I just thought we would like some family time, you know?” He says. She smiles and hugs him, “That’ll be nice... Thank you.”

He reaches up to caress her head, he stared at the wooden floor. The thoughts of Alice and her body in that pond. He wraps his other arm around her back. 

“You’re welcome.”

~~~

Oh, man...

I gotta work on that part two for that Chris Evans imagine

Hope you guys are doing well!

TAGS:

@joannaliceevans-fanficblog @jtargaryen18 @princess-evans-addict @chrisevans-imagines @elliee1497 @ifuseekamyevans @rororo06

Want a tag? Just ask!

#chris evans x reader #chris evans #andy barber #andy barber x reader #defending jacob #apple tv series #crime drama #cevans #jacob barber #avengers #captain america #laurie barber #daughter of the barbers #murder #crime murder #crime #tv drama #tv crime

[liamtsullivan]

-- && guests may mistake me as ( andy biersack ), but really i am ( liam sullivan + cis male + he/him ) and my DOB is ( 12/28/93 ). i am applying for the ( banquet manager ) position as part of the EHP and would like to live in suite ( #203 ). i should be hired because i am ( + loyal, charismatic, driven ), but i can also be ( - distracted, opinionated, pushy ) at times. personally, i like to ( watch documentaries, play poker, get tattoos ) when off the clock, but that won’t interfere with work. thank you for your consideration!

ooc;; it’s ya girl kay again, i’m so so sorry adfjlaksfj. this is liam, he’s a brain baby of mine that i played a little while ago and he’s been haunting me since i stopped playing him so here he is to be a part of y’all’s lives. hopefully you dig him, if not......... well that’s fine, too. can’t make you do anything, i’m not your mom unless you’re card; go to your room, card.

TW’s: Mentions of prostitution. Abortion. Drug use, drug addiction, drug overdose, & drug related death.

fast facts / personality details;;

( i put these first this time because the background is A Lot on this one okay )

has a rather protective and care-giving nature mixed in with his excellent work ethic and drive.

loves when guests ask for the manager and he gets to come out and see how much they didn’t expect the manager to be a 6′4″ beanpole with neck tattoos.

lives by the ideal “put your money where your mouth is” ; also just like, be genuine and up front with him in general, like he’s not an asshole, but also he knows how to deal with assholes, so let that be said

has a five year old german shepherd named Roxy that he rescued from shelter overflow when she was only a six month old puppy; Roxy still thinks that she is a small lap dog despite being a Big Girl

still wears the ring that his mom gave him for his eighteenth birthday every day, despite the issues that they had, and despite her being gone now.

has his nose pierced and his lip pierced, though the lip ring he takes out for stretches of time; the nose ring is always in, though.

absolutely covered in tattoos, in case that wasn’t already painfully obvious. he loves getting them and yes, still has room for more, will continue to get them probably forever.

prefers brown liquor over pretty much any other alcohol, though he’s not opposed to a good draft every once in a while

listens to more classical music than anyone would ever probably expect of him; that being said he also listens to a lot of classic rock and, naturally, a dose of pop punk, too, for fun.

he likes listening to true crime podcasts and watching various true crime / serial killer documentaries; criminal minds is also his favorite show. so like don’t piss him off, i guess ajdkfljasdklf

smokes cigarettes like he’s a motherfucking chimney; says he’s working on quitting, has yet to actually start that process.

generally just a supportive person; if Liam cares about you in any capacity - even if it’s just because you work together - you’ll know it. he likes to help the people around him, try to steer them in the right direction, offer them advice.

he’s not a shy person, in fact he’s rather social, and while there’s a dry humored joke or a sarcastic toy here and there, he’s a pretty genuinely nice dude. despite the things that he’s seen and been through in his life, he’s worked really hard to stay optimistic, and driven throughout and so far he’s been very successful at that.

dresses rather nice / got that business casual look down with the short-sleeved button ups or the long-sleeved ones with the sleeves rolled for work purposes. however, outside of work it's like a cat and his wardrobe were in a trash bag together. lots of black, and dark earthy colors, too. the duality of man.

background / life story;;

Liam Travis Sullivan was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, where his mother, Stephanie Sullivan, was an escort / call girl on The Strip.

Stephanie getting pregnant was a tremendous ‘oops,’ but she kept the baby anyway. The baby’s father was a client who had a wife and kids already, so he paid Stephanie a whole lot of money to stay quiet and out of contact with him. This money allowed for her to take time off from working to be able to have Liam and take care of him for a bit.

Liam really was Stephanie’s whole world once he was born; the best thing that she ever did, as she so often told him through the years.

Liam never knew his father, but he put two and two together once he was old enough to understand what it was that his mom did.

Liam was three years old when Stephanie finally returned to working on The Strip. He was left in the care of some of Steph’s other ‘working girl’ friends on the nights she happened to be working.

He got very accustomed to spending his time around females, having a heavy female influence in his life as he grew up -whether that particular female influence was always the best or not. It led to his respect for women, though, and his ability to feel very comfortable around them, even from a young age.

When Liam was six years old, Stephanie ended up pregnant again. However, this time she ended up actually having an abortion. Liam only knew about it because his mother rambled about it to him in an overemotional drunken state. She told him that “he was her good boy and all that she needed.”

Working The Strip -as notorious a place as it was- and making the money that she did left Steph open to a lot of drinking and drug use.

At eight years old, Liam found a stash of his mother’s cocaine in their bathroom. This earned a distressed meltdown from Steph about him staying away from that sort of stuff because it was bad. Though, as a developing child gaining understanding of the world around him, that proved to confuse Liam because he didn’t understand why his mommy had it and was doing it if it were so bad.

Liam was ten years old the first time that his mom overdosed. This instance just involved going to the hospital to get her stomach pumped and spend the night on a fluid IV, but it was still terrifying for the boy at the time.

Stephanie struggled with drug abuse for most of Liam’s life. Living where they did facilitated it so easily and also made any getting caught up in the law with it rare -it was Vegas, after all, not to mention Stephanie was in sex work, so the law wasn't always looking out for her anyway.

Right before Liam was about to start high school, the young teenager -already having had to do so much growing up so early and so fast- took it upon himself to give his mother an intervention of sorts. He told her that if she was going to keep taking time with her away from him that he was going to run away, figure life, out himself, even if he did end up in the foster system or something. He pleaded with her that he didn’t want to lose her, that he wanted her there for all the things his life could still have in store for him. Ultimately, after many tears and a lot of convincing, Steph let her fourteen year old son flush her drug stash and they made a very rushed plan to finally get out of Vegas.

Moving to California was really good for the both of them for a while. Being in a new place meant starting fresh, moving forward. Stephanie didn’t know anyone she could get drugs from; between that, the support of her son, and finding help at local NA meetings, she managed through the withdrawal and the struggling. She got a stable, more normal job, working at a sports bar -bartending and waiting tables.

Liam easily adjusted to the change of environment. He practically thrived in Los Angeles. Before he knew it, he had friends, got into playing football at his high school, was losing his virginity. Fast-paced and unconventional were ways that Liam was used to living his life, so getting into things like physical relationships with girls, despite how young he was in reality, felt normal to him in all his adjusting.

Things stayed going really well for pretty much the whole first year they were in LA. Liam did well in school, got a part time job to help his mom out. Steph ended up picking up a second job to stay busy and keep money coming in. They were good, they were better than they had been, and they had each other.

The summer before Liam’s junior year of high school, he caught his mom using again. Evidently it had been going on for a few months already at that point, and because of how busy he was with school, friends, and work, he had caught on late. Stephanie argued with him on the matter, told him that it wasn’t his business to worry about, among other unexpectedly harsh things. It was the first real, legitimate fight he ever really had with his mom, at least the first one that really mattered.

With too much riding on his focus on school and football -given he had since come up with the goal to go to a good college, to make something of himself and do good things- Liam shut himself off from his mom for a little while. They lived together, came and went about their lives, but they spoke minimally, Liam didn’t fight more with her despite knowing that she was still using at the time. It was very odd for him, to have any sort of bad energy between him and his mom -it was so rare, it had always been just the two of them. He decided, though, that he had to focus on himself and his future.

Senior year came with the promise of scholarships, multiple college scouts having their eyes on him, more than one girl interested in dating him, a wide friend circle, a basic car he had been able to buy for himself, and a growing savings account. Liam was doing great, he was on the right track, focused. Stephanie, however, had downward spiraled. Her using had gotten out of hand to the point of losing both of her jobs, having to get a new one in a setting that was dangerously close to the things she had been doing in Vegas -a strip club.

It wasn’t until Liam’s Winter Formal that year -Stephanie deep into her continued cocaine addiction- that something changed. He was in his suit, getting ready to leave to go pick up his date when his path crossed with Stephanie’s. Upon finding out where her son was heading, who he was going with, the friends he was meeting -details she hadn’t been knowledgeable on for some time at this point- the woman burst into tears. She sobbed apologies to her son, begged him to forgive her for missing out on his life, made promises to him that she would get better for him -promises Liam tried not to take to heart; he had learned.

They did get Stephanie into a rehabilitation clinic shortly after the holidays. She had to sober up a little bit and once again Liam shouldered the responsibility of getting rid of the drugs that she had in their apartment. He spent two months alone in their apartment while his mom worked through her issues, sobered up fully, came back to him. It was an exhausting couple of months for him, trying to be a self sufficient adult in an apartment that had to have things paid for in it, while also juggling school and football, but he managed.

Stephanie came home a different woman than she left, and upon getting a more functional version of his mother back, Liam had the tiniest glint of hope that maybe things would be okay again. Graduation was looming, and he had a few different schools that were more than willing to offer him full ride football scholarships to their universities. Notre Dame, Duke, UCLA, among other state-based colleges all had eyes on him. It was something he could finally talk to his mom about.

While Stephanie encouraged him to follow his heart, follow wherever his dreams were gonna take him, Liam couldn’t shake the idea of being far from home -or, in particular, being far from where she was. Things were so fragile with her and her addiction, it was so much more possible for something bad to happen and him to have absolutely no idea about it if he went far away. So despite the incredible opportunities he could have had elsewhere, he chose to accept to scholarship from UCLA out of all the schools who chose him.

Going to college, let alone such a prestigious and well known state school like UCLA was like something out of a fairytale for Liam. Looking back on what his life had been up to the point of graduating high school and moving on to bigger things, he was amazed at what he had accomplished. Given the healthy and sober way that his mother still was at the time of his high school graduation, she, too, made it a point to make sure he knew how amazed and proud she was of him.

College wasn’t quite as easy for him as high school was, but that just drove Liam to work even harder. He wasn’t going to waste the opportunity he was given. He was double majoring in business and marketing; even though he had little idea what sort of business he wanted to be a part of, he knew that he wanted something for himself, something that could do good, give back in some way shape or form. Those subjects would do a lot to help him get there, he knew that much.

Stephanie stayed sober for most of Liam’s college experience, after the help of going to rehab, and the continued going to NA meetings. He popped back to the apartment every now and again -having moved into campus living during the semesters- and that helped her, too. Things seemed really good for quite some time, but having the other shoe drop once again unfortunately didn’t come as too terribly much of a shock to Liam. She had been getting involved with some guy she knew from work, they’d been sleeping together, and what Liam didn’t know is that they frequently went out for drinks. Drinking slowly but surely progressed into getting high together; something easy for Stephanie to fall into, particularly because of her habit, but also because of the familiarity of the circumstances -it was awfully similar to when she was working on The Strip and would get wasted with clients.

Liam was in his last semester of college, just about three months shy of graduating with his bachelor’s degree. It was a huge deal for him, it was something that he wasn’t going to give up for anything in the world. Still, he made it a point to help his mother after she called him absolutely high out of her mind and apologizing to him while he was pulling an all-nighter on an assignment one night. He didn’t ask many questions, just the basics, and he looked into a place himself -a rehab center that was further away, lengthier and more in depth with their programs. Before, they had gone with what was convenient, facility-wise, but he wasn’t going to make that mistake twice. If his mother needed more special attention, he was going to get her to that.

Getting his degree was a gift, a blessing he in reality never thought would be his. While his mom was still in rehab at the time of his graduation -Liam insisted that she not leave treatment just to come to the ceremony- she still wrote to him consistently, sent him a congratulations card right around the day of the ceremony. Liam was in a position in his life that awed him in a way, ready to take on the world.

Pursuing the concept of his own business sort of took a back seat; having just gotten his degree, it wasn't like Liam could immediately leap into much, not to mention he didn't have the funds. He had been working and saving all through college - served, cooked, and bartended at a grand total of six different restaurants in Los Angeles by the time he graduated - but on top of any business itself being expensive, school itself was expensive, too.

By the time Liam was twenty-four years old, he was managing two bars, and co-managing a restaurant out in Los Angeles. He was living on his own, keeping tabs on his mother sporadically, but mostly working toward a goal for a business of his own. He was teetering between a pub of sorts, or a burlesque club - two wildly different ideas, but both with the same idea in mind; somewhere entertaining but somewhere that also provided a sense of community, somewhere he could give jobs to people that needed them - perhaps that was inclined to women, from his subconscious protection of his mother, but that was beside the point.

A coworker of his at one of the bars he was the bar manager of ended up being who presented a move out of Los Angeles to him. There was potentially more business opportunity somewhere out of that location, out of the state of California, even. Chicago was brought to the table, this friend having heard of a program that offered employee housing at a luxury hotel. Liam was apprehensive about the Malnati at first, given he didn't want to have to start on a bottom rung in terms of his job once again. As it turned out, however, there was a management position that was generally up his alley. Seeking opportunity and further growth wherever he could find it, Liam made the move to Chicago.

Things between him and his mom had been more distant over the year since he graduated college, and in his move to Chicago, he couldn't say he was surprised to end up hearing about things getting bad again for his mom. It was a moment of true growing up for Liam, realizing that he had to be responsible for himself, he had to do what he needed to do, he couldn't carry his mom anymore. If she didn't want to get better and stay better, he couldn't be the one derailing his life to continue to try to make her do so.

That first year of him living in Chicago, working as the banquet manager at the Malnati, his mom overdosed for the last time. It was unexpected in the same way that it wasn't; Liam went through a brief period of a numb sort of grieving - he was of course sad to have lost his mom, to have to come to terms with the fact that he'd never get to see or speak to her again. He also, though, had to face the fact that as dark and upsetting as the circumstances were, they were out of his hand, they were not his responsibility. He mourned his mother as she deserved, and he went on with his life; because deep down he knew that she would want that for him, anyway.

Liam has been living in Chicago and working as the Malnati's banquet manager for the last nearly-three years now. He oversees more than just a restaurant and a bar now, and it's expanded his career experience in ways that he is very thankful for. It's a little bit on the backburner once again, but definitely not forgotten, that he intends to have his own business some day. Perhaps more than one, even. He loves the organization and the hard work and dedication that go into leading - whether that be a kitchen or a bar or an event. He likes to be supportive as much as a leader - Liam wants to see his team succeed; if there's slack that needs to be picked up and he can help, he will. He's not going to bark orders and call it a day, that's not what he's about, that's not what he considers his job. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and a good work ethic, and he likes doing what he does.

wanted connections;;

IT’S TIME ONCE AGAIN FOR ME TO FAIL AT THESE LMFAO

Liam in his job oversees chefs, bartenders, servers, room service runners, and musicians, so like we got a whooooole lineup of connections to be had there; he’s their boss yeah, but as I’ve said like a million times now he’s really active in trying to help his team succeed. he’ll help out on the bar and running food and covering breaks or callouts or whatever, so like there’s a lot of good potential relationships to be had there.

other managers bc we love seniority adfjlkasdfjk no i’m just kidding, but still we love some manager pals why not

idk i think it’d be really funny to have someone who’s like intimidated by him simply because of the way that he looks and he’s like look i’m really not that bad i just like tattoos a lot okay lmAO

a casual hookup here or there is chill; he’s not super into the fwb thing? like he’ll stay friends after a hookup if the other person is cool with it, but as an ongoing thing it just gets too complicated for his liking.

pet parent friends; his girl Roxy is a friendly giant baby and he adores her, bring him some parent friends and her some dog friends

tattoo pals of some variety?? even if it’s just him constantly encouraging people to go get tattoos, or talking them through processes? going with them for moral support because he barely even feels it when he gets tattoos now?? who knows

honestly we been knew i’m up to just talking shit out and winging it a lot of the time too so just hit me up if you wanna figure some stuff out with this inked up beanpole okay? okay ily.

#liam. | about #liam. | headcanons #this is EXCEPTIONALLY LONG LMAO I'M SO SORRY #there's a lot to take in #if you made it through the whole thing you may be entitled to emotional compensation

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 147

So Goku’s healthy again, but he knows he’s no match for the androids or Cell.  So before he tackles them, he’s planning to train himself to surpass the Super Saiyan form.    He doesn’t know if it’s possible, though, so  he figures that if he can’t pull it off in one year, he’ll give up.   

Of course, the situation right now is pretty desperate, and the world may not have that much time, but Goku’s got that angle covered. 

He asks Chi-Chi if he can bring Gohan in on his plan, and Chi-Chi agrees, since she knows there’s no point in arguing with him on this.   She only asks that he get the job done right, because she wants him to study hard when he gets back.   Also, she wants Goku to get a job when this is all over.    Ha ha, the joke’s on her, he’ll be dead by then.

Then Goku kisses her goodbye.   The Funimation dub uses a pretty distinct sound effect for this.   The Japanese version, less so, although you can hear something.   Honestly, the lack of a sound effect makes it more apparent just how long this lasts.   It’s like a Big Red commercial.   The gum, not the soda.  

Does anyone remember Big Red soda?   I always thought it was weird how there was a gum and a soda with the same name.   I’ve never tried the soda because it looked nasty.  

I looked it up and apparently the soda is still around.    They also make Big Pineapple, which I think I’ve seen at the store before.    Also, they used to make Big Orange, which explains this Andy Griffith bit my dad used to listen to, where Andy portrays a hillbilly who sees a football game for the first time, and the only thing he understands is the Big Orange he gets at the concession stand. 

Apopros of nothing, “Big Orange” is the name I gave to the big goldfish that swims at the edge of the lake outside my apartment.   There’s more than one, but whatever.    They call all be Big Orange.

So then Goku teleports to the other Z-Fighters, just as Krillin is wishing that he were back.   Yamcha’s plan to pursue Cell in an aircraft isn’t panning out, because it’s too slow to get them where they need to go before Cell leaves.  Goku could teleport them, but he’s been laid up all this time, until now.  

Krillin jumps on Goku like my mom’s dog jumps on me.   This is nice and all, but it begs the question: Why doesn’t Goku just use instant transmission to help Piccolo hunt down Cell?   It never gets answered, although I suspect at this point Cell’s already become too strong for Piccolo to beat, and right now he’s the strongest good guy.  

Goku addresses Piccolo as “Kamiccolo” because he already knows that Kami  and Piccolo have merged, but Piccolo hates that name, so he tells him to just call him Piccolo.   Seriously, did he just now realize that this was going to be an issue?    This is probably the most Piccolo thing ever.   Telling everyone you’re not Piccolo anymore, and that you no longer have a name, but then realizing days later that people will need to call you something, so it might as well be Piccolo. 

Goku’s planning to use the “Room of Spirit and Time”, which he used once before while training on Kami’s Lookout to fight Piccolo at the 23rd Budokai.   The dub calls this the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which I’m going to be using from here on, because it’s a much cooler name.   The gimmick here is that one year passes inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, while only a single day passes in the outside world.    So Goku could get a year’s worth of training while Cell only gets one day to hunt for the androids.  

Like Dr. Gero, the Time Chamber is a retcon.   I remember watching the original Dragon Ball hoping to catch either one of these being mentioned, but it just never happened.   There were those filler episodes that showed Goku using a special room that seemed to send him back in time.   But we never saw him use a room where time moves slower.    So that’s why he has to talk to Kami about using it again, and since Kami is now part of Piccolo, we need Piccolo to recall the time Goku used it as a boy.   

Of course, according to Piccolo, Goku couldn’t stand to use the Time Chamber for more than a month, which would be about two hours to the outside world, so maybe it’s just as well that the 23rd Budokai arc never covered this. 

Of course, Goku’s a lot stronger today, so he ought to be able to handle a full year inside the Chamber.   He collects Gohan, and prepares to teleport them away, but Krillin asks him a question before he leaves.   With this new crisis, is Goku scared, or is he happy to face such a terrible foe.   Goku replies: “Both”.

Goku’s next stop is to find Vegeta.   Trunks is there with him, though he complains that he isn’t getting anywhere.   Vegeta refuses to work with him, and as far as Trunks can see, Vegeta isn’t actually doing anything.  

He’s just been staring out into the distance like this for three days.   Yeah, Vegeta’ll do that.

But Goku takes one look and immediately understands what Vegeta is really doing.    He’s beginning to grasp the concept of ascending beyond the Super Saiyan form.   He can’t pursue the goal until he first understands what it is.    I’m not sure I get why it takes three days of contemplation to do that, but I like that Goku gets it and validates Vegeta’s behavior.   

This is an important part of Vegeta and Trunks’ relationship.    It’s easy to side with Trunks, since Vegeta is very clearly a dick, but there are times when he knows best, and in situations like these, Trunks isn’t always able to appreciate his father’s wisdom.    It’s also kind of a lonely thing for Vegeta, because the only person in the universe who seems to understand him is Goku, whom he considers his worst enemy.  

So Goku invites him to spend a day in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.    Vegeta is too intrigued by the opportunity to pass this up, although there are some terms.   The Chamber is designed to accommodate two people at a time, and since they don’t have much time to work with, it’s important that they double up.    So Vegeta won’t have to train with Goku, but he will have to share the chamber with Trunks.   Vegeta agrees, but only so long as he gets to have his turn in the HBC first. 

Meanwhile, the androids have finally arrived at Goku’s house.   They apparently trashed the place when they didn’t find anyone, and 18 is helping herself to Chi-Chi’s wardrobe, thought she can’t find anything she likes.   However, she’s wearing a new outfit, which I always assumed belonged to Chi-Chi as well, but the anime doesn’t make that clear.   Did they stop in some other town on their way here?   I have a hard time seeing that, considering how remote the location of Goku’s house is.    And yet, this doesn’t look much like something Chi-Chi would ever wear.   Then again, we never saw Goku in his Fred Flintstone outfit before or after the Driver’s Ed episode.  I like to think he and Chi-Chi run around in those clothes every once in a while.   

18 to Goku: Damn, bitch, you live like this?

They ask 16 if he knows where Goku is, which seems like something they should have asked a long time ago, but whatever.   Doesn’t matter, because 16 doesn’t know where Goku is at this moment, but he does know that if he’s not home, then he’s probably at Capsule Corp. or Master Roshi’s island.    Kame House is closer, so they decide to check that one out first.    This time, they just fly, so I guess everyone got sick of the frozen food delivery van.

Meanwhile, Cell’s still at it, and the Z-fighters still can’t catch up to him. 

The Saiyans all go to the Lookout.    You notice how the Nyoibo is sticking out of the bottom?    I’m not entirely sure when that came back, but I’ve been halfway paying attention to this, because I never understood when/if Goku recoverd the Nyoibo after his first trip to the Lookout.   He had it with him when he arrived at the 23rd Budokai, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t attached to the Lookout during the Saiyans Saga or the Garlic Junior Saga.    But here lately, it’s back. 

Popo leads the group to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which has been stocked with food.   It also has plumbing, however that works.  

Vegeta asks why Goku would let him in on this secret, since he’s made no secret of his ultimate goal to surpas and kill him.   Goku explains that their current enemies may be too much for either of them to handle alone, so it just makes sense for them both to get as strong as they can.    The unspoken message here is that Goku doesn’t sweat Vegeta.    If they both use the Time Chamber, then they’ll both get the same amount of time to improve, and Goku thinks he’ll come out ahead, or at least stay even with Vegeta.  

As agreed, Vegeta and Trunks take their turn first.   From the outside, the HBC just looks like a big wooden door.  

But once you step through the door, you end up in some other dimension.   The only feature here is a small structure that serves as living space for the occupants.  

Beyond that, there’s just nothing but empty white space.    There’s some sort of ground here, but it’s not really clear what it’s made of.   I wonder what it feels like to touch it.    Also, as Trunks observes, the air is thinner, and the temperature is hot.    The gravity is also higher. 

Trunks is beginning to wonder what he signed up for here...

Vegeta’s more optimistic about the harsh conditions.   This isn’t a spa, after all.  It’s supposed to be a harsh environment for the sake of better training.  Even so, you can see the sweat running down the side of his face.   Even he’s a little unnerved by this.  

About a day later, Picccolo and the humans haven’t made any progress in chasing down Cell.   We find them here, sleeping on the floor of Kame House.   Pretty sure Piccolo doesn’t sleep, which is why he’s watching TV instead.   Whose coffee is that?

Then the androids drop in.   

Piccolo refuses to tell them where Goku is, so that means they gotta fight it out.  So Piccolo leads them to a larger island where they can get it on.   He tells the others to stay behind, since they wouldn’t be strong enough to help.

Cute shot of 18 here.   17 plans to fight Piccolo himself, since 16 never wants to fight anyone but Goku, and 18 took care of Vegeta last time.    17 tells Piccolo that he really will kill him this time unless he talks, but he doesn’t know that Piccolo’s gotten stronger since their last encounter.  

Then Piccolo turns a bright mauve color.   Well, not really, but I have no idea what they palette swapped him like this. 

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #imperfect cell saga #imperfect cell #cell #goku #chi chi #master roshi #piccolo #vegeta #trunks #gohan #tien #krillin #yamcha #android 16 #android 17 #android 18 #mr popo

[goodproofingwater]

Wildfire Records: Breaking America - Chapter Three

Word count: 1813

“For God's sake Patricia, it shouldn’t be so difficult to find a vein in a junkie surely?” The harsh sound of who he assumed was the matron berating a more junior nurse was what brought him back to the world. His eyes flickered and he immediately squinted as fluorescence attacked his corneas, flinching slightly as the nurse apparently found a vein.

Andy blinked as he looked at those at his bedside, trying to swallow in a mouth dryer than the Sahara.

“Here..” the younger nurse spoke and handed him a cup of water with a straw once she had finished ensuring that the drip was properly attached to him, “you shouldn’t be awake yet, you’ll probably fall back to sleep soon..”

“Wh—“ he tried to speak but his throat wouldn’t allow him, so he sipped more water with a wince. Why did his throat feel like it had been ripped to pieces? “Where am I?” He managed a whisper, and the nurse took the cup back from him once he had finished.

“You’re at University College Hospital sir, your—one of the girls you were with called an ambulance when you overdosed in your hotel room.”

Well shit. Now he wished he’d bothered to remember their names. One of them had saved his life.

“I’m going to need to take a few details from you before you got back to sleep Andy” The nurse spoke, and he could feel the drugs working to lull him back into that dreamless sleep.

“Mm..” he responded, nodding.

“I need your last name and your emergency contact. One of the girls gave us your phone but we couldn’t get hold of your dad.” Typical. Andy had been on the brink of death and his dad hadn’t even bothered to answer the phone. Maybe he wouldn’t be disappointed after all, maybe he wouldn’t care. It was both a comforting and traumatising thought.

“My last name is deMaine.” He spoke, sipping water from the mug the nurse had filled but passing it back to her as he felt the drowsiness kicking in even more. “And uh I don’t really have anyone.”

What a horrible truth that was. He used to be able to count on Danny and Josh, used to introduce them to others as his brothers and now he had pushed them away along with everyone else in his life. Scared, and properly sober for the first time in years, he wrote down a number and a name for the nurse to call, hoping to God that they would show.

He awoke to the soft sound of a guitar, the room still bright but he somehow felt better. Azure hues moved to an uncomfortable feeling in his arm where the drip was still attached to him, and when his eyes scanned the room he could have sworn he was hallucinating.

Josh sat on a chair with one foot resting against the bed, his soft guitar tones tinkling through the room as Danny turned a page in the book he was reading. Neither of them seemed to have noticed he was awake, and this was so strange that he was starting to think that he wasn’t.

He moved only to push himself up on the bed slightly and the two men looked up immediately, the relief in their eyes something he had never seen before. He had never known people to be concerned for him, at least not to the point where they would actually come and wait by his hospital bed.

“Oh thank God..” Danny sighed, his entire body relaxing. He hadn’t even realised that he was so tense until he saw his friends eyes open, and he glanced at Josh who had stood and placed his guitar in his chair.

“How are you feeling, man?” Josh spoke, worry in his eyes. He had given Danny’s name to the nurse in the hope that he would come, but he had never expected Josh to come too. He had forced himself on his girlfriend only hours ago. Wait.. how long had he been asleep?

“I..” Andy tried to speak but his throat was dry again, and Danny offered him a cup with a straw. When the cool water had soothed his throat a little, the redhead pushed himself further up. “I feel like I’m on the world's worst come down, but I’m alright..”

He glanced at Josh who was watching, and although Andy could see now that there was a flash of anger in his friends' eyes, he didn’t blame him.

“Well yeah..” The blonde spoke, “The nurse told us you had almost 5 grams of coke in your system, and like 120mgs of MDMA.” Josh shook his head, and Andy's eyes widened at the numbers. He hadn’t realised he had taken so much, didn’t look or ask as to the doses of the pills that were given to him. “You were partying for like three days straight, I don’t know how you’re alive..” His tone was jovial, a small laugh accompanying his words, but the redhead could tell that he was being serious.

“Wait, what day is it?” Andy spoke, eyes darting to the clock on the bedside table, guilt wracking through him as he realised how much studio time he must have missed.

“It’s Wednesday… you’ve been asleep for almost two days.” Danny spoke, moving the straw back to the redhead's lips and he gratefully sipped as the seriousness of the situation settled in.

He had lost almost a week of his life, and what for? Sure it had been fun to have an orgy with four girls but had it been worth almost dying? Those girls didn’t even stick around to see if he would live.

“I’m—“ he choked up, shaking his head in disbelief, “I’m sorry for that night at the gig..”

He glanced up at Josh and saw the blonde's jaw clench. Obviously being called to see Andy on his deathbed hadn’t helped him deal with the situation and he redhead didn’t blame him. He had full on kissed his best friends girlfriend, and in front of him.

“Listen, I’m not saying I forgive you because I don’t. Not yet. It’s too soon after the incident. But I know that..” he sighed and licked his lips, “I know that it’s not entirely your fault.”

“I really did think she wanted me to kiss her..” he spoke although he wished he hadn’t. Josh brought his hand to his face and pinched the top of his nose as he struggled to maintain composure.

“Now is not the time to talk about this..” Danny spoke before either of the men could make it worse, “we came because we want to make sure you’re alright..”

“You didn’t have to..” The redhead spoke once more although he was so glad they were here. He had expected Danny to be the only one to show, the only one who cared, but it was Josh that shook his head and furrowed his brow in disbelief.

“Yeah we did..” he uttered, clenching his fists against the bar of the bed once more before seeming to calm himself, “it doesn’t matter what you did, you’re still our friend.”

Andy had never felt affection like this before. In his 26 years on earth, he had come to terms with the fact that no-one gave a shit, not really. And yet here were his friends, men he had treated so badly, standing by his hospital bed and proving otherwise.

The redhead cleared his throat as he fought back tears, moving to sit even straighter and taking the cup from Danny.

“I uh... I’ve been thinking you might be right.” The redhead directed at the brunette. “I think I might need some help.”

Danny and Josh let out a small laugh at the understatement, and Andy couldn’t help but chuckle too. It was stupid, this whole thing. He should have listened to his friends months ago when they had tried to get him to at least cut-down. At least they were still here.

“I’ll get the nurse and we can talk about some options hm?” Danny spoke, and Andy nodded. “There are some others who want to see you too..”

The drummer opened the door and called the others in, and Josh pursed his lips as Andy’s ECG spiked as Victoria walked into the room.

“Oh thank God, I thought you were going to die..” she spoke, moving over to him and wrapping her arms around him, the ECG bleeping faster as he ran his fingers through her hair for a moment. She pulled back only to punch him in the arm, “don’t you dare fucking do that again, you hear me? We were so scared!”

She stepped back, her hand absentmindedly reaching for Josh’s and Andy swallowed a knot which formed in his throat. For a second he had thought that Victoria felt something again, he had remembered his dying thoughts of how much he loved her. This beautiful woman had been his only thought, apart from a stupid image of his father, as he descended to Hell. He knew then what love really was. He no longer prioritised having her, holding her, kissing her. He just needed for her to be happy. The world would be right if she was happy.

Juliet’s arms were next to wrap around Andy, and he held her close for a moment before she pulled back with a sad smile. “We’re gonna get you a nurse and some information on facilities… you know you might have to go into a residential place, right?”

Andy sighed and nodded, “I'll do whatever is best, I.. it sounds stupid but I just didn’t realise something like this could happen.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid,” Victoria spoke, and he realised that she was probably the only person in the room qualified to agree with him. She had been doing drugs with him for months when they were together. God what hell he had forced upon her. “You always hear about it, you just don’t think it will happen to you..”

He nodded, glad that someone could relate even though he was the reason she could do so.

“Well it did, and it’s done,” Juliet spoke, her logical tone shining through and Andy was glad for it. “Now we just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The redhead nodded, looking toward the door where the nurse from before came in with a sympathetic smile. He hated when people looked at him like that, hated false sympathy but he supposed it went hand in hand with being hospitalised for an overdose.

She sat on the end of the bed and the others moved to sit on the side of the room, Danny’s hand squeezing Andys shoulder slightly before he retreated.

“So Andy,” the nurse began, “let’s talk about how to get you clean.”

#wildfire records #lauren writes

[theladyofdeath]

Friday Night Lights {ACOTAR}

Chapter 11

Summary: Inspired by the series Friday Night Lights. In a town that is obsessed with football, a group of teenagers are glorified for what they bring to the field. But what the people of Velaris don’t realize is that there is a lot more to life than football, and it’s not always pretty.

Revolves around Cassian, Nesta, Elain, Lucien, Azriel, Morrigan, Amren, Feyre, and Rhysand.

*Warning: This fic deals with sensitive material.

*Note: A chapter will be posted every Sunday & Wednesday.

Click here for previous chapters.

Author’s Note: SURPRISE CHAPTER!!!! Enjoy. This connects us to the second half of this beauty (and by beauty I mean trash)....!

Cassian watched attentively as Nesta approached him, gesturing to the grand mess surrounding them.

High school students sure didn’t give a shit about making messes. There was trash in every nook and cranny of the gym, and Cassian found himself terrified of going anywhere near the bleachers. The juniors and seniors of Velaris High left the gymnasium without a second thought, his teammates included. And they had left their garbage behind.

Animals. 

“Well,” Cassian sighed, as Nesta stopped in front of him. “Where do we start?”

“Janitor’s closet,” she said, then turned on her heels, expecting him to follow.

“Speaking of,” Cassian said, jogging after her. “Not that I’m complaining, but why were we gifted with the task of cleaning this shit up?”

Nesta shrugged. “I don’t know. I just do what I’m told.”

Cassian should have figured he would get an answer like that, even though he swore they were getting somewhere. She had been less hostile to him over the past week. In their detentions, he often found her watching him, and they even began to make small talk that often turned into something a little bit deeper, each day.

Although, no one would ever know that by the way she was walking two feet ahead of him now.

By the time they reached the janitor’s closet at the end of the hall, the school had emptied. Cassian had a good feeling that they were all out preparing for the big game. He would never grow tired of the homecoming games – looking out at the crowd and seeing their signs, their painted faces, representing their school colors.

It made him feel proud, accomplished. 

Unlike his current assignment. 

Cassian followed Nesta into the closet and let the door shut behind them as he found the light switch. “What do we need?”

“Gloves,” she said, looking around. There was so much junk crammed into the small space, it was hard to locate even the simple things. “Trash bags.”

Cassian didn’t even bother glancing at the shelves for the things she had mentioned. All he could see was her, underneath the dim light in the closet. She wasn’t wearing her typical dress wear, but jeans and a tee-shirt with the school mascot on it: a knight in shining armor.

She turned to look at the opposite shelf, and froze, catching his stare. “What?”

“Can’t I look at you?”

“No. It’s inappropriate,” she said, as if it were obvious.

“You keep saying that,” Cassian said, leaning back against the closed door. “But I don’t understand why. You don’t teach here. You’re an aide. Besides, I’m an adult. And you’re only a year older than me.”

“Mr. Collins would fire me, and I would never be able to teach in this district.”

“Collins is an ass,” was all Cassian said.

Nesta rolled her eyes.

Cassian had decided Headmaster Collins was an ass the same day he decided his son, Tamlin, was also an ass.

“Nesta,” Cassian began, but she shook her head.

“Don’t say my name like that.”

“Like what?” he laughed, humorlessly, irritation beginning to settle.

“Like….” She hesitated, exasperated. “I don’t know! Like it means something more than just my name!”

Cassian shoved his hands in his pockets, and crossed one ankle over the other. He stared at her, at the way she crossed her arms, at the way her forehead wrinkled, at the storm raging in her eyes.

“I’ve tried to come up with a list of reasons not to pursue you,” he said, at last. “You’re difficult. You’re snooty. And to be frank, you’re a pain in the ass.”

“Is this supposed to mean something to me?” she asked, pointedly.

“Yes!” he laughed, shaking his head. “It means that you and I are terrible for each other, and yet, you’re all I can think about. I have tried to get you off my mind, Nesta, and I have tried to forget about you. But you’re like a disease that is spreading throughout my entire body.”

“That’s disgusting,” she said, but there was no longer a bite in her voice.

“Maybe so,” he said, and it was in fact a terrible analogy. “But I don’t care. You can ignore the obvious feelings you have for me, or you can kiss me right now, but either way, I’m never going to sto –“

She fell into him like she was drowning and longing to be saved.

The memory of their lips sweetly brushing against one another’s evaporated as Cassian opened his mouth and her tongue swept inside.

At first his body was rigid from shock, but he quickly relaxed as his hands found her waist and pulled her toward him. She tasted of raspberry and mint, and there was almost a fearful glint in her eye as she pulled back and looked at him. Her eyes were unsure, but her hands clasped to his chest.

She was afraid, and he had a feeling it went far deeper than him being a student, and her an aide.

“We should….um…..we need to clean the gym. Mr. Collins –“ her sentence dropped off. “We need to go.”

“Okay,” Cassian said, but neither of them moved. Then, “Will you come over after the game tonight?”

“Come over?” she asked. “To your house?”

Cassian chuckled. “Yeah. Unless that makes you uncomfortable. Then –“

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay,” he said, too.

They stood like that for another minute before he leaned down, and kissed her softly before they finally found what they needed, and walked back, a little bit closer to one another, toward the gym.

 Alana had Cassian’s number painted on her cheek, thanks to Mor.

She was also wearing a tiny Velaris High Knights cheer uniform.

“You look awesome,” Amren told her, as she walked with the squad toward the field.

The five-year-old could barely contain her excitement. “I know!”

Mor chuckled, tossing her arm around Alana’s shoulders.

She caught a glance of Andromache, who was standing by the fence that surrounded the field, wearing her own Velaris High Knights tee. She gave Mor a smile, and a wave, before heading up to the stands.

Amren cleared her throat, and raised her brows. “Andi?”

Mor tried her best to react accordingly, but she could feel herself blushing. “She’s a friend.”

“Friends don’t look at each other like that,” Amren grinned, giving her a wink. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Mor said nothing.

She was grateful, but she felt guilty. Why did it matter? Why did it matter if people knew she liked a girl? Then, her father’s face popped into her mind, and she remembered.

Not everyone was as accepting as Amren, or Azriel.

“Hey,” Amren said, as quietly as she could in the herd of people. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Mor smiled, shaking it off. 

It was going to be a good night. Nothing would ruin her mood.

But then she thought of how Eris was out of jail, and found herself wondering if he would show up to the game for one last showdown.

Azriel’s heart was pounding as he took the field, Cassian by his side. It was the start of the second half, and they were ahead by three. 

He had to admit that Cassian was having one of his best games to date, and Azriel had a hunch it had to do with the scouts that were sitting in the stands.

His grandma was there with Declan, at least they had been there at the start of the game. He hadn’t seen them when he looked in the stands after half time, when they had come out of the locker room. She had probably taken him home. It was after his bedtime, after all.

His eyes drifted to where the cheerleaders stood, their hands on their hips. Elain caught his gaze and gave him a small wave, which Mor caught, and grinned wickedly.

Azriel rolled his eyes, although she couldn’t see it through his facemask, then waved back at Elain.

“Stop flirting,” Cassian mocked, a growl in his tone. “We have a game to win!”

He slapped Azriel on the back of his helmet before running down the field to take his position. Azriel wished his head was further into the game, but it wasn’t. At least, not as it once was. Maybe he had been through too much. Maybe life had finally taken its toll, and a game no longer seemed all that important.

A scholarship would help him after high school, but he could only go to Velaris University. He had to stay close to home. He had to stay at his grandma’s, with Declan, until he could properly, and successfully, support them both.

“Are you okay?” Rhysand asked, coming up behind him. “You look out of it.”

“I’m fine,” he said, then froze.

Because on the sidelines, behind the cheerleaders, was the last person he wanted to see.

“Az?”

He couldn’t hear Rhysand behind him, couldn’t hear the words of concern that demanded a reply. There was a ringing in his ear, an extra layer of sweat that wasn’t there before. He was seeing red as she caught his eye, and flipped her long, blonde hair over her shoulder.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” he asked, but it barely came out a whisper.

“Uh, Az,” Rhysand put his gloved hand beneath his friend’s shaky elbow. “Are you ok –“

“I have to go.”

Azriel was taking off his helmet and sprinting off the field before Rhysand could call after him. He ran by Coach B, not caring that he was causing a scene. He had to get to her. He had to get to Declan. He had to make sure she wouldn’t find him.

She couldn’t find him.

He wouldn’t let her.

Because if Ianthe found Declan, all hell would break lose.

“Is he….leaving?”

“Huh? What?”

Vassa sighed. “If you would have been watching the game – ya know, the thing you’re supposed to be photographing, you would have seen Azriel Draeven run off the field.”

Lucien’s eyes snapped to hers, and narrowed. “Azriel?”

“Oh my gods, Lucien,” Vassa said, exasperated. “Are you even listening to me?”

Something like guilt shone in his russet eyes as Lucien lowered his camera. “I’m sorry. I’m just….distracted.”

Vassa looked from Lucien to Elain, the only cheerleader he had been photographing all night. The only girl he had been talking about all week.

She wanted to grab his shoulders and shake some sense into him. She doesn’t like you. She’s avoided you all week. Hell, so has her sister. JUST GIVE UP.

But instead, Vassa took a step closer to her best friend and said, “Hey. How about we go to the dance tomorrow together? As friends?”

By this point, the crowd was losing their minds. One of Velaris High’s best players had run off the field, with no explanation, if Coach B’s pissed off expression had anything to say about it. And here they were, talking about the dance tomorrow.

Lucien snuck a glance at Elain, and Vassa was sure she wasn’t supposed to notice. He looked back at Vassa and forced a smile. “Sure. That’s fine.”

FINE?! She wanted to shout, suddenly embarrassed. Out of all the things he could have said, he said “that’s fine”. After everything they had been through, Vassa thought she deserved better than “that’s fine”.

She would never say it aloud to him, though. She simply smiled, and gave him an awkward thumbs up as their football team attempted to make sense of the chaos.

Ianthe looked in her review mirror, her ruby red lips in full display.

She didn’t know what she loved so much about seeing her exes squirm, but it made it all worth while. She’d already scared Lucien, and his pretty little plaything, last Friday night at Rita’s.

But Azriel.

Oh, his face was priceless. The color quickly drained from his tanned features, and she could see how his eyes widened through his mask from the sidelines.

She had to admit – she was curious. She was curious about what her baby looked like after all those months, if Azriel had even kept the kid. She didn’t want to deal with the adoption agency, didn’t care to know how all that mess worked.

So, she had dropped him off at his father’s house, and left without another word, fleeing south only a month later, after a short fling with Vanserra.

She was only eighteen. She wasn’t ready to be a mother yet. She had a life to live.

And oh, she had lived in the last few months.

But the curiosity….

She wouldn’t mind checking up on little Declan. Azriel’s father’s house was empty, though. She had already stopped by earlier in the week.

And judging by Azriel’s expression when he saw her from the field, he didn’t want her to know where he was now.

She would find out, though.

She always found out.

#tacmc fnl #my writing #acotar #fanfic

[briangroth27]

The Exorcist Season 2 Review

I came into Season 2 wary of the show’s direction—in Season 1, I loved the Rance family plotline but found the papal conspiracy boring—so I was glad the show shifted focus almost completely to the “possession of the season.” Not only is a family in peril easier for me to relate to and invest in, but the conspiracy element has never felt very “Exorcist” to me and I’m glad it all but disappeared by the end of the season (even if the homage to Exorcist III’s famous hospital hallway scene was well done). In Season 2, a family was once again under siege by a demon and only Fathers Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) and Keane (Ben Daniels) could help them. This time, the family consisted of Andy Kim (John Cho) and the several foster children under his care (Brianna Hildebrand, Cyrus Arnold, Hunter Dillon, Alex Barmia, Amelie Eve, and eventually Beatrice Kitsos). I liked that the kids’ diversities—be they blindness, homosexuality, developmental issues, etc.—were utilized for characterization, but those were never the kids’ sole defining characteristics. I really hope fans didn’t take issue with the kids, Andy, and Rose (Li Jun Li) all representing some facet of diversity; this is what the world looks like and I’m glad the show fully embraced it. It’s also cool that a foster home run by a single dad was treated as just as viable a family as a traditional nuclear family.

Full spoilers…

I liked what all the kids brought to the family, particularly when their differences collided with each other, like Shelby’s religious beliefs and Verity’s torture at the hands of “pray out the gay” conditioning. However, it did seem like there might’ve been one too many children to fully dig into in terms of screentime. It felt like they all had solid, distinct personalities; they just didn’t have much to do. Early on it seemed like Caleb might have a bigger role to play, but outside of his initial adventure on the old well and a few moments of his blindness being used to create tension when he couldn’t see the possessed Andy, it felt like his story was a little thinner than it could’ve been. Ditto for Truck, who was sent away midway through the season. I definitely expected Shelby to become something of a junior exorcist when Marcus and Tomas arrived at the Kim household, but not doing so didn’t feel unfinished (particularly when you take into account what we learned of Marcus’ past with eager exorcists). I liked that he was identifying the unholy signs early on, though, and perhaps they could’ve nodded at him wanting to become an exorcist one day in the future. Harper didn’t get much time at the Kim house before things went crazy, but I did like that we got to see how the family adjusted to a new kid through her introduction. Verity got the most mileage out of the writing and Hildebrand crafted a compelling teen who didn’t always get along with her new family, but clearly loved them despite the front she sometimes put up. Going back for a book Andy had given her was a touching moment and I was happy she was the one to stick by Andy longest. I totally fell for the trick that “agoraphobic” Grace wasn’t real, though her “brave face”—the creepiest pillow case-turned-mask ever—should’ve been a major clue.

John Cho brilliantly balanced Andy’s grief over his wife Nicole’s (Alicia Witt) suicide, guilt for not seeing the signs of her depression, care for the kids, affection for Rose, and the demonic side that overtook him as the series progressed. I loved the layers of hallucinations the demon inflicted on him as it attempted to bond with him permanently by enticing him with a “fairy tale” life with his wife. Witt did a great job playing both the caring and troubled Nicole and the maliciously tempting demon trying to entrap him. I’m a fan of puns, so “the kids are in the garden” was a particularly fun bit of dark and ominous humor from her. The battle for Andy’s soul was intense and I liked that Andy had moments of lucidity where he was able to keep the demon from harming Verity, despite the demon’s attempts to convince him the kids distracted him from seeing Nicole’s depression and that Verity might’ve had a hand in driving Nicole to suicide by mocking her issues. Andy’s final act���keeping the demon tethered to his soul so it couldn’t possess anyone else, even if killing it meant dying with it—was tragically perfect. I wanted him to survive, but Verity was right: once he started killing people, no one would believe him. It wouldn’t have been much of a life for him to be arrested for murders he didn’t commit, but maybe he could’ve gone on the run with the priests or something. As things turned out, Andy’s sacrifice worked on an emotional level and the final battle with the demon was tense, touching, and scary in all the right ways; Andy’s goodbye to his kids almost made me cry. I liked that the kids got to start a new family with Rose, who Li Jun Li had made into a solid, supportive, and strong presence the entire season. I also liked that Rose was so open to inviting exorcists into the home to examine Andy; usually there’s a lot more skepticism to break through before the people around the possessed open themselves up to that possibility.

The tests of Tomas’ resolve when it came to saving Andy this season worked very well. I had a hard time knowing when he was in reality and when he wasn’t, making for some great twists and putting me in his confused mindset perfectly, particularly when the demon turned the exorcism around on Tomas. The demon dangling a vision of Tomas as a bishop was great, especially when it included Casey Rance (Hannah Kasulka) to try and guilt him for leaving his parishioners in Chicago to become an exorcist. I was a little surprised they didn’t have the demon play up Tomas’ temptation to stray from the strict celibacy commanded by the church, as we saw in Season 1, but I suppose we’ve already seen that and Tomas has grown. His apology on behalf of the church officials who tried to force Verity to be straight was a great moment and a nice recognition that not everyone in the church—even priests—is opposed to homosexuality. It was good getting to know Ben Marcus’ past more this year. Both his tragic family history and his past with Mouse (Zuleikha Robinson) worked well to illuminate him. I was surprised he left Mouse behind after her possession and I liked that his inaction then was juxtaposed with his resolution to stay and kill the demon possessing Andy in the present. Not wanting to repeat that mistake has probably driven much of his dedication to exorcising demons, even after falling from grace within the church. Marcus’ father killing his mother was also a clever tie to the island’s history of parents killing their families. Finding a bit of romance with Peter (Christopher Cousins) rather than continuing to drown in sadness was another nice touch. I wonder if Marcus actually did get a message from God at the end. If so—and if they can do something different than what Supernatural and Constantine have done—bringing in angels and God could be an interesting, fresh spin on The Exorcist mythos. Mouse joining Tomas as his new partner should make for a cool change in the exorcist dynamic, given she’s much quicker to jump to killing whoever needs to be killed as long as the demons are vanquished. That should play off Tomas’ relative pacifistic nature very well, unless he’s been changed by the experience with Andy. Mouse having been possessed herself and Tomas’ mental link with the demon here—opening him up to being possessed as well—should also give them a unique background to bond over. Since Tomas’ true desire was to see the demon die moreso than an eventual shot at the papacy, I wonder if Mouse will propel him along a more violent path or if she’ll recognize her own past eagerness to be an exorcist in him and council him against it. Either way, the two of them are going to have some very interesting discussions about a lot of things, including being mentored by Ben! And if Marcus has a new directive that’s different from anything we’ve seen from exorcists or the church, it should throw the three of them into an even more interesting dynamic. What if he shows up saying that demons possessing people is somehow part of God’s plan and they should stop exorcising demons altogether?

I really enjoyed the evil history of the island and the season’s shift to a self-contained demon after revisiting Captain Howdy (Robert Emmet Lunney) and Reagan MacNeil (Geena Davis) in Season 1 proved the series doesn’t need to rely on direct connections to The Exorcist to create compelling monsters. The demon forcing multiple parents to kill their children was scary, particularly played against a found family like this one, where the foster kids depended on Andy to keep them together. The series once again found a polished yet creepy aesthetic that didn’t avoid gore, but also never reveled in it. That worked very well to set the tone and setting things on a remote island gave the season a totally different feel than Season 1’s Chicago. Making everything more remote worked to establish classic horror tropes, but the season never felt derivative. If the show gets another season, I wonder where they’ll take it to create an entirely different feel this fall.

Like last season, I'm content with where the story ended with the priests and the Kim family, so if they end up not getting a third season, I would accept it. I like that it's mostly contained each year; focusing on a single family in danger makes for smart insurance against cancellation. It would be a shame to lose characters like Tomas, Marcus, and Mouse, though. Even if I’m not a fan of the papal conspiracy, seeing them grow with each new case and the threat of each new demon makes for a strong series arc for them. A message from God does seem like it holds more promise than whatever the demons are planning with the papacy, so it would be a shame to see this always solid show end here.

#the exorcist #fox #tomas #marcus keane #ben daniels #alfonso herrera #andy kim #john cho #nichole kim #alicia witt #rose #li jun li #verity #brianna hildebrand #mouse #Zuleikha Robinson

[roslinadama-sinequanon]

Major Crimes Re-Watch-Cheaters Never Prosper.

“Why am I here at 3:30am?”

This just struck me now. When the team is called in the middle of the night they still get all dressed up in their suits and ties? You wouldn’t think it would be quite so formal at 3:00am.

“And the body is still in the stall a half-hour later because?”

Andy the Junior Lieutenant seems to know more about crime investigation than his Sr. Lieutenant Provenza? I wonder if when he was a detective Andy specialized in  forensic gathering as he seems to know more about it than the others on the team—except Mike.

“Hey, I’ve been there before but I always got up.”

More Andy back-story. As I suspected Andy seems to have been more of a functional alcoholic. If he always got up that means he never got drunk enough to pass out in public or have blackout binges, but he may have been headed that way had he not quit and joined AA.  Also, he asks why the bartender didn’t stop this guy before he got this bad—so I suspect he was used to bartenders cutting him off.

“Andy can I have that badge?”

This case seems to be hitting close to home with Andy. A police officer dead in his own vomit in a bathroom in a bar.  I think he’s probably thinking that could have been him if he hadn’t quit drinking and gotten his life together.

“Guys stop drinking, they throw out all the alcohol, the wife’s happy, then they get the urge and they sneak out into the garage and strain the anti-freeze thinking it will be OK and they end up dead.”

Andy gets a lot of insight from his time in AA. After almost 20 years in the program, he’s probably pretty much heard everything. As MC progresses we get to hear Andy often refer to what he has learned in AA to help profile victims and criminals. I think it’s great that he is so completely open and unselfconscious about his alcoholism and being part of AA and since we didn’t get much of any of the character’s histories on TC, it’s nice to hear more about them and who they are as people.

“Sorry I’m late.” “One minute Mr. Dunn.”

Oh, Dunn does not know what he’s walked into. Sharon puts him off and Andy levels a long stare at him—again it is Andy backing Sharon up and helping to make Dunn uncomfortable and put him on the defensive. Dunn is definitely feeling the chill in the room.

“Anti-freeze isn’t the only thing that feels off here.” “You got that right.”

Love Andy and Provenza’s disgruntled remarks and the way they watch Sharon head off with Dunn. These guys are really in this with her and aren’t any happier with Dunn than she is. All three of these veteran’s have instincts telling them this guy is trouble.

“What’s the problem?”

Dunn seems very clueless. He isn’t being belligerent he is just so selfish and insensitive he doesn’t comprehend why everyone is angry with him.

“I didn’t realize that being late was such a big deal.” “To a child who was abandoned by his mother at zoo then stood up by her at a bus station not showing up is a very big deal and I will not make Rusty go with you today because frankly I find your behavior both insensitive and suspicious.”

Sharon can totally see through Daniel. She calls Daniel on the fact that she’s not heard from his parents or his sister and if he was truly embracing Rusty and ready to accept him into his life that would not be the case. Instead he’s just going through the motions trying to see if Rusty is going to fit in his life and if not he can just walk away and no one will be the wiser. When Dunn admits that he hasn’t told his family about Rusty and then refers to him as a “problem” it raises bright red flags for Sharon.

“Rusty is the one with the difficult situation Daniel and the fact that you don’t understand that, I find that disturbing.”

Sharon really has no patience for deadbeat dads. Again, I see a lot of this coming from her experience with Jack. Dunn and Jack are both selfish, worrying more about how things will affect them rather than the well-being of their children. Sharon is used to going into mama bear mode to protect her cubs from the selfish men who fathered them.

“Usually when people tell me I don’t understand their situation they end up under arrest” ”How can I fix this?” “I’m looking forward to seeing you try.”

While Sharon was wary of Daniel in the beginning, she gave him the benefit of the doubt and had been willing to try to help him gain insight into dealing with the difficult being that is Rusty Beck, however, now she is clearly done. She’s not going to give him any more advice to help him out. For better or worse, he’s on his own. Sharon has very strong enabling tendencies but she is definitely no pushover and once you’ve crossed a line with her, you have to deal with your own mess—hence her making Jack call Ricky and Emily and not buffering that for him.

“Calling when you’re going to be late is just good manners.”

So, Rusty really is starting to learn something about respect from living with Sharon.

“I’m going.”

Sharon is surprised that Rusty has chosen to go with Dunn, and not exactly jumping for joy over the decision. She immediately looks at Dunn; he catches her eye and looks down and away from her, like an omega dog backing down from the alpha LOL.

“I know when people want something from me and he wants something.” “I wish I could go with you.” “Me too.”

They both know something isn’t ringing true with Dunn—everyone’s instincts are screaming not to trust Dunn. This is the moment that leads to the first Sharon/Rusty hug. Sharon is a toucher and you know it’s been killing her not be able to comfort Rusty with a touch or a hug, but she finally initiates this with a “come here” which also gives Rusty an out. If he really didn’t want her to hug him he didn’t have to step into it, he could have backed away. But he does step into it, rather stiffly at first, but then slowly his arms wrap around her and then his eyes close as he savors the warmth and emotion of the hug. While Rusty’s eyes are closed Sharon’s laser in on Dunn letting him know and see that Rusty is not just her foster son, she loves him and he better not f*** with him or he’ll have to deal with her.

“Rusty be----Have a good time.”

Sharon stops herself from saying, “be careful” though that is what she is thinking. She is still trying her best to make sure the evening goes well and to not influence Rusty or prejudice him in any way.

Sharon is sitting along in her condo doing some work and listening to classical music when Rusty texts her.  

In this scene, we get to see yet again what a good person Sharon is. She is smiling and clearly delighted to see that Rusty is having a good time. A more selfish person might have been hoping that he had a bad time so he’d want to stay with her, but Sharon has always been about what is best for someone else, not what is best for her.

Observation:

This is the first episode we get to see casual Sharon in jeans. I had begun to wonder if she even owned any by this point. Even in jeans, Sharon always looks so “pulled together”.

“I have spent almost my entire career in internal affairs and I am this close to calling your department and starting an inquiry into your conduct.” “She ain’t kidding pal.”

This is such a great Andy/Sharon team episode. They work so well together. Andy gets to play the tough guy while Sharon is the calm rational one, which is exactly who they are personality-wise. And all it takes is one touch of Sharon’s hand to de-escalate Andy’s temper. Her touch has a remarkable effect on him. Actually I think they both have a remarkable effect on each other, even in this very early stage of their relationship-to-be. Stacey K. Black directed this one and she always seemed to understand that these two belonged together.

“This Elkin’s woman was Mike’s type.”

Love the look on Andy’s face and that he is thoroughly disgusted by Det.Adam’s and his actions. He may have been a player but the idea of a detective using his power to prey on women is as disgusting to him as it is to Sharon.

“You could have called the Las Vegas police and turned him. You could have told your husband, refused to go to a bar with antifreeze in your purse or maybe never slept with the guy to begin with , but that isn’t any of my business, but if I were you Mrs. Elkin’s, I’d stop talking before you explain yourself onto death row.

Detective Adams was a real creep and it was hard not to feel for Laura Elkin’s however, I loved Sharon’s response to her--because Sharon rarely judges or lets on to what she is really feeling--and here she does.

“Watch out Dr. Goofball, you’re next.”

LOL Julio, great line. He certainly respects Captain Raydor’s interrogation techniques.

“Connor, I’d say I feel sorry for you, but you earned it.”

Again--I liked seeing this side of Andy. We don’t really know a lot about Andy other than the fact that he is more a stickler for the rules of conduct than Provenza, but also that he has a pretty thick file of stepping very close to the line in his work. However, it is nice to see here that he is NO proponent of the “blue code” in which he would let another officer victimize innocent civilians and not report it to his superiors. He might let the little stuff go, but  he would not allow something like this to happen and is disgusted by an officer who did.

Observation:

In the last scene, Sharon enters her condo with her glasses on. Even though we don’t see her face, you never see her hands rise to take her glasses off, yet when she turns the lights on in the living room her glasses are off. Just something I noticed this time around.

“Don’t worry I didn’t hit him back.”

Again, we see that Rusty is learning from Sharon and taking what she says to him to heart. However, in this case I doubt she would have minded him slugging Dunn back. Rusty also tells her he used the $100.00 she slipped him in case he needed it. LOL, most parents might slip you a 20 but Sharon makes sure she covers all the bases. This is also telling in that A. she really never trusted Dunn and B. Sharon is always prepared for any eventuality.

“My mother’s boyfriend used to do this sort of thing to me once a week…until I beat the crap out of him… and the next day they dropped me off at the zoo.”

So, now Sharon has the whole story of how Rusty was dropped off at the zoo. I wonder if he didn’t tell her the whole story because like most children of abuse, he blamed himself. “If I hadn’t beaten him up they wouldn’t have abandoned me” etc, and he didn’t want Sharon to blame him as well. Also, we can see from Sharon’s face that she is realizing that what she knows about the abuse in Rusty’s childhood is probably just the tip of the iceberg and each new thing she learns only horrifies her more.

#sharon raydor #andy flynn #shandy #Major Crimes

[eurekahq1-blog]

BASICS

NAME: Susanna Marie Turner. DATE OF BIRTH: October 15th, 1994.  AGE: Seventeen. GRADE LEVEL: Junior. FACECLAIM: Shannon Purser. PRONOUNS: She/her.

STUDENT FILE

GPA: 4.0 — Susie isn’t in any honors classes, but that’s strategic: she knows she can maintain As in regular courses, and a 4.0 with straight As looks great on college applications. She’s very smart, astute, and loves history. EXTRACURRICULARS:  Susie always wanted to be a cheerleader, but never got the opportunity to try out once she hit a growth spurt in middle school and was promptly barred from attempting by Abbie. Now, she does theatre to appease Ella, and is an active member of the history club. She’s also student council treasurer, and the founder-slash-president of the anti bullying club. DISCIPLINARY HISTORY: Squeaky clean, Susie isn’t exactly a teacher’s pet — she stays out of their way for 179 days of the year, but the last day before holiday break she always bakes them cookies. She attends almost every school fundraiser. STUDENT SINCE: September 2006.

FIELD TRIP INFORMATION

ITEMS ON PERSON: Seventeen dollars, a hairtie, and a movie stub from when her and Ella saw Paranormal Activity 3 two months ago. She also carries a pocket guide to sign language with her at all times, for if her and Keller ever want to talk without anyone else knowing what they’re saying.   ITEMS IN OVERNIGHT BAG: Clothes and undergarments for the next day. She also brought her, Ella and Keller’s favorite snacks so they can stay up late in the hotel room. REASON FOR ATTENDANCE: She’s in the history club.

BIOGRAPHY

Tragedy hit Susie young — her mother died mere hours after childbirth due to postpartum preeclampsia, and her father killed himself three months later, unable to deal with the loss of his wife. Quickly, baby Susie was shipped off from Portland, Maine to Eureka to live with her grandparents. She doesn’t remember her parents, but she has a photo of the three of them in the hospital just after she was born. It was the last and only time all three of them were alive, and though she loves her grandparents, she cherishes that photo more than anything.

Susie’s mother was a history professor, and in order to be closer to her mom, Susie has always devoured anything having to do with the past. From the Aztecs to the French revolution to culture of the 1980s, Susie knows it all. She aces every history test, and her prime annoyance is inaccuracies for the sake of drama in television, film, and anything else.

Even though Susie’s parents had her relatively young, her grandmother and grandfather were older when they gave birth to Susie’s father. Her grandfather still buzzes around, attending all of Susie’s performances and taking her out for dinner every Thursday, but her grandmother is bedridden and often needs Susie’s help to take care of herself. Thus, sleepovers between the trio of Keller, Ella, and Susie are very often held at the lattermost’s residence. Keller is allowed to sleep in the same room as the girls because her grandfather thinks he’s gay — but Grandma Turner is willing to be his wingman, at least, often propping Keller up on a pedestal much to all of their chagrin.

PERSONALITY

Susie’s easily the most responsible and level headed of almost any group she hangs out with — typically being the mom friend, giving advice and handing out snacks. She even writes for the town’s advice column under the pseudonym of Andie — the section is called Asking Andie, and she purposely chose another ie name as her own petty callout to Abbie.

Speaking of pettiness: as chill as she can be, Susie’s vengefulness and incredible attention to detail can sometimes be a mean combination. When Art was in the hospital, she teamed up with Henrietta Faulkner to sew dog shit in Xander Nichol’s varsity jacket pocket, and after Keller was rejected for homecoming, she used her good standing with the staff to have the janitor open the newspaper office, where she deleted the newest copy of the paper of Hayden Zhang’s flash drive. Susie can be downright scary when she wants to be, but unless someone hurts her friends, she’s as sweet as can be.

CONNECTIONS

ABIGAIL SHABAT— No one really knows why Abbie hates Susie so vehemently, but she does. The primary object of her annoyance seems to be Susie’s name. The ie’s were adopted by the cheer squad and for the cheer squad, and it does not matter that Susie has always been, well … Susie. Abbie calls her Susanna, and no one ever knows who she’s talking about.

KELLER MARSHALL & ISABELLA ALESSIO — Best friends since preschool, and as far as Susie is concerned, best friends for far far after that. She would do anything for the two of them, and they for her.

CARLOS TORRES — Carlos works lights on the theatre productions Susie is often in, and has developed a ridiculously obvious crush on her. Well, obvious to everyone except for Susie herself. Usually intuitive, she’s completely oblivious to Carlos’ multiple advances, and often drags Ella and Keller on to what Carlos thinks are dates until she shows up.

XANDER NICHOLS — She dated him in middle school, until she grew quicker than he did and was promptly dumped for being too tall. She doesn’t really think about him anymore, but sometimes she thinks back to better days when the tormenting gets to be too much.

SUSANNA IS OPEN.

#susanna. #open.

[lastmover]

2007 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (Morning) Transcript

1. Jimmy Buffett sings “Berkshire Hathaway-ville”

ANNOUNCER: And now, please welcome the charming, insightful, witty, rather brilliant, debonair, influential, well-heeled yet down-to-earth, talented, surprisingly modest, handsome, and refined exemplar of unflappable character, Mr. Buffett.

(Applause and cheers as musician Jimmy Buffett comes on stage with a guitar)

JIMMY BUFFET: Who were you expecting? My junior partner? (Laughter)

For those of you who don’t know, I’m the distant cousin, Jimmy Buffett.

This would be a good day to rob a bank in Omaha. Everybody’s here, you know, so — (Applause)

I couldn’t be around for the game with LeBron James. I was busy working on my wardrobe for this surprise appearance.

This is my first time in the Qwest Center, so I feel very at home in large spaces like this. It’s great to be back in Omaha. (Applause)

That’s the good news.

The disturbing news is, as a long-time Berkshire Hathaway stockholder and shareholder, the big question is, you know, those guys are getting up in age, you know, Charlie and Warren.

Who are they going to leave it to?

Well — (laughter) — I got news for you. We did a genetic test, Warren and I did. You won’t see that in your program or in the shareholders report. And somewhere back about 6,000 years ago, in some ancient village in Scandinavia, they were trading Buffett genes, and I got the talent. He got the business.

So, later on in life, after Doris [Buffett, Warren’s sister] introduced us — I don’t know, 30 years ago — I started figuring out, so I better get that business thing going as well.

So, since blood is thicker than water, I am your new chairman. So, I hope you like that. (Applause)

Don’t run out to sell. I’m keeping my mine. (Laughter)

So, on the way out here on the plane, I figured — it was an interesting day, if you read The New York Times business section yesterday. There was a lot going on.

So, I thought I would — this song has done very well for me, so I thought I would bring this for my first appearance in Omaha at the Qwest Center — I would rewrite a little “Margaritaville” with a little Berkshire — well, actually we’re wasting away in Berkshire Hathaway-ville this — today.

I’ve never sung this early in the morning, except on the [NBC] “Today” show, so you’re not paying, so don’t worry about it, so — (Laughter)

Don’t worry, I’m a semi-professional. This is OK.

I will be looking at these notes. As you can tell, Warren gave me a really big budget for a teleprompter here. (Laughter)

All right. So, you can sing along if — but you will not know — you’ll know a few of the words to these songs. But then I’ll try to do this slowly, and I have my bifocals, so I think we’re in good shape here, so —

We’ll start the morning off with a little hymn.

(Singing to the melody of “Margaritaville”)

Nibblin’ on sponge cake,

And Omaha beef steak,

Watchin’ you stockholders buying the rounds.

The Qwest Center’s rockin’,

The press is all blockin’.

There isn’t a doubt

Warren’s big in this town.

Wastin’ away in Berkshire Hathaway-a-ville,

Searchin’ for my lost box of See’s.

Some people claim that Charlie Munger’s to blame,

And you know, Rupert Murdoch is peeved.

From World Books to sofas,

Jet planes, diamonds, and (inaubible),

(Inaudible) in euros,

Let’s not forget euros.

(Spoken)

Uh oh. I made a mistake here. All right. Hold on.

You won’t pay for that, OK?

Are you going anywhere? We’ll start again.

From — from —

Let me get these bifocals off here.

(Singing)

From World Books to sofas,

(Inaudible) and (inaubible),

Jet planes, diamonds, and underwear cover the floor.

(Spoken)

It was the Fruit of the Loom that got me.

(Singing)

Tool books (inaudible).

Let’s don’t forget euro,

Make all those —

(Spoken)

Oh, this is a good line. I got to —

(Singing)

Make all those hedge funders

Want to go and buy stores.

Wastin’ away again in Berkshire Hathaway-ville,

Searchin’ for some good companies to buy.

Some people claim privatization’s to blame,

But we know, this holding company’s on fire.

So, who was the wizard,

Who thought up the lizard,

To sell car insurance to humans while making some jokes?

Projects we’ll surmount,

But I still want that discount.

Can someone show me where they’re sitting those rich Geico bulbs?

Wastin’ away again in Berkshire Hathaway-ville,

Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.

And some people claim that Doris Buffett’s to blame,

But I know this is all Warren’s fault.

And some people claim that ukulele’s to blame,

If there’s a God, he’ll turn that thing into (inaubible).

(Applause)

(Spoken)

All right.

So you thought I was kidding about that running the company stuff, didn’t you?

So — I was. (Laughs)

That’s a big relief there. So, with a great bit of pride and admiration, please welcome my junior partners, Warren and Charlie. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: Separated at birth. Separated at birth. (Laughs)

Thanks, Jimmy.

JIMMY BUFFETT: All right.

WARREN BUFFETT: OK.

I actually had asked Charlie to do that number — (Laughs)

2. Opening remarks

WARREN BUFFETT: Got a lot of people to thank, starting off with Jimmy. Wonderful.

We hid him out — came in last night kind of late and we — to be sure it was a surprise, we stashed him away over at the Hilton, and I just want to say thanks to him.

We both got the commercial gene, but unfortunately, he got the singing gene. I got this voice you’re hearing.

We — the movie, as we mentioned, we get a lot of help from a lot of people. They all do it just for the fun of it.

I particularly want to thank Andy Heyward of DIC who did that cartoon. He’s done them now for a number of years. They come back here to get my voice recorded and to get Bill’s [Gates] voice and Charlie’s voice. They do it all themselves just to participate in the movie.

Andy and I — I’m working with Andy on a cartoon series that will be out pretty soon, which we’re aiming toward younger people to try and work a little financial education into a good time on Saturday morning for kids.

And we’ll see how that all comes out. But Andy is wonderful to work with. It’s been — (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: My daughter Suze puts that movie together. It’s a lot of work and it’s a labor of love. She does a terrific job, and I just want to thank her for — as usual. (Applause) Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: Then finally I want to particularly thank the grand impresario of this whole affair is Kelly Broz.

And Kelly puts this all together, the exhibition hall. I just turn it over to her. I forget about it, and Charlie and I just show up on Saturday morning.

And Kelly is having her 50th birthday tomorrow. So, Kelly, would you stand up and take a bow, please. Yeah.

(Singing) Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Kelly. Happy birthday to you.

For Kelly. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: Now, today we’re going to follow the usual format. We have a number of microphones placed around this room and we have overflow rooms. We will go from one station to the other, keep going until about noon or thereabouts, and then we’ll break for 30 or 45 minutes for lunch.

We’ll come back here, and we will then go until about 3 o’clock, continuing the same routine.

We don’t prescreen the questions or the questioners. It’s whoever got in line first for the microphones.

At 3 we will take a break for a few minutes. We will reconvene at 3:15 for the official business meeting.

We have an item of business — normally we take care of business in about five minutes, re-elect the directors. But today we have an item on the proxy relative to our holdings of PetroChina.

We were not required to put that on the ballot. The SEC told us we didn’t have to, but we really thought it would be a good idea to do it so that all of you that are interested can hear about our reasoning and the reasoning of the people who disagree with us. We’ll give them plenty of time to tell you why they think we’re wrong and we’ll respond.

And I hope anybody that’s interested at all on the subject, I hope you stay right until 4 o’clock when we will adjourn, because Charlie and I are then going to greet, perhaps, as many as 600 shareholders who have come from outside of North America.

We have a record number. I think we have a hundred or so from Australia, and we have close to that number from South Africa.

We have shareholders from all over the world. So we feel if they come all the way to Omaha, Charlie and I would at least like to shake their hands, and we have that from about 4 till 6:00 o’clock, and then we’ll be doing some other things this evening.

But that is the drill for this meeting. We won’t elect the directors until the regular meeting, which commences at 3:15, but I would like to introduce them at this time and we have a few special announcements in that connection.

3. Berkshire directors introduced

WARREN BUFFETT: But we start off — this is Charlie, this fellow that’s been making all the noise over here. (Laughter)

He’s quite hyperkinetic. But we seem — I think he’s on his medicine. (Laughter)

Charlie, incidentally, can hear quite well and I can see, so we work together. I have a little — I thought I was doing pretty well when I remembered his name, actually.

But our combined ages are 159 for those of you who can’t work with big numbers.

So Charlie. And then we have — and if you’ll stand as I read your name — Howard Buffett. (Applause)

Bill Gates. (Applause)

Sandy Gottesman. (Applause)

Charlotte Guyman. (Applause)

A former Omahan, Don Keough. (Applause)

Tom Murphy. (Applause)

Ron Olson. (Applause)

And a lifetime Omahan, Walter Scott. (Applause)

Now, in addition, we have with us a director whose family has been involved with Berkshire Hathaway and its predecessor companies for over a hundred years. His father played a very key role in Buffett partnership obtaining control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965.

He was supportive in every possible way, as his father, and now his son. And Kim Chace has been on our board for a great number of years. He’s been a — just like his father before him, he’s been a wonderful director.

He’s been a great friend. He will be leaving the board this year, but Kim is here with his family and, Kim and the family, if you would stand up, I’d like the shareholders to recognize you. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: And then finally we will have a new director get elected, and I’ve got the votes in my pocket so there’s no question about it, and that is Sue Decker. And, Sue, if you will, please stand. (Applause)

4. Q1 earnings are “good”

WARREN BUFFETT: Just one or two items of business the — before we start the questioning.

We did report our earnings yesterday after the close, and I can’t see the — are they up on the monitor?

But it was a good first quarter. We had a good year last year. The insurance earnings are going to go down. There’s no question about that. How much they go down depends on Mother Nature and a few other factors.

But it’s been an extraordinary period for insurance. I mean, nothing bad happened last year, and the same was true in the first quarter.

As you might expect, that favorable experience has caused people to lower prices in some areas quite dramatically. And the nature of insurance, if you write a one-year contract, say, six months ago, you were still getting premium at the old rate, if you write at a one-year policy, for another six months.

So there’s a lag effect when things are getting either better or worse. And the lag effect from this point forward, we will — our insurance rates results will show the effect of lower prices.

They will probably show — certainly we have the most benign hurricane season imaginable last year. We have less hurricane exposure that we’ve written this year but, nevertheless, as natural catastrophes occur we will be paying out lots of money if and when they occur.

It couldn’t get any better than it was last year from our standpoint. So things in the insurance world, our insurance earnings, underwriting earnings, are bound to decrease.

Now, what we really hope over time is more or less to break even on the underwriting of insurance. So when you see a significant profit like last year or underwriting profit this year, just look at that as kind of the good side of what will later be an offset to it in a way of an underwriting loss.

But if we break even in insurance on underwriting, we do very, very well because we generate lots of float and we earn money on that float and our float is at an all-time high.

So this is really the frosting on the cake when we have an underwriting profit, and it’s not to be expected to necessarily — well, it won’t occur year after year. Ever since we’ve been in the insurance business, about half the years we’ve made money underwriting and half we haven’t.

I think our mix of business now is such that we’ll even maybe do a touch better than that in the future, but we won’t do anything like what we did in the last year and in the first quarter this year.

There’s one unusual item in our balance sheet that you should be aware of. March 31, you’ll see our receivables went up by about $7 billion. That was because of the Equitas transaction I described in the annual report.

On March 31st, the deal, basically, was closed at the end of the quarter. So we had a receivable of 7 billion, and then a couple of days later we were given 7 billion of cash and securities. So that receivable very quickly turned into liquid assets, cash.

And we sold all those securities we got. So we had 7 billion transferred from receivables to cash very early in April.

Other than that, most of our noninsurance businesses did fine. The residential construction-related businesses are getting hit, in some cases getting hit very hard, and in some cases getting just — but still reflecting decreases in their business.

And my guess is that that continues, perhaps, for quite a while. So you will see lower earnings coming from the companies that are related to residential construction such as Shaw, Johns Manville, ACME Brick, and that group.

But overall, compared to the companies they compete with, our managers continue to do an absolutely sensational job.

We have the greatest group of managers and, for that matter, we’ve got the greatest group of stockholders, of any company I know of in the world, and Charlie and I are very grateful.

You saw in the movie Charlie and I going over there to give the fellows in Israel a lot of advice on how to run their operation better.

And Charlie might want to — you might want to comment on ISCAR.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, that was a great experience, and ISCAR is a very great company. I have never seen anything as automated as that ISCAR operation. I think they regard it as a disgrace if any human hand has to do anything.

WARREN BUFFETT: We bought it without looking at it, but after we looked at it, we really liked it. (Laughter)

For those of you who won’t be around for the 3:15 — and I hope everybody that’s interested sticks around for that — it will be an interesting discussion.

But we do have a preliminary vote. Again, I can’t see the vote up there. But, [CFO] Marc [Hamburg], is the vote up there? Unable to hear anything there, but I assume it.

The — basically, I can’t see it from here, but it’s about 2 percent are in favor of the resolution and about 98 percent opposed. And that was true of both the A and the B stock.

So there really wasn’t any great difference in the way people voted on the proposal. And even if you leave out my personal vote, which was against, it’s about a 25-to-one margin that voted in opposition to it.

And anybody that wishes to vote in person or to change their vote, be sure and stay for the meeting at 3:15, and I think you’ll find the discussion very interesting if you care to stay.

5. Buffett sees no private equity “bubble” about to burst

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s get a map here. Here we are. We will start with area 1, which I think is over here, and there we are and we have a questioner.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good morning, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger. My name is Kevin Truitt (PH) from Chicago, Illinois.

Thank you both for, again, hosting this “Woodstock for Capitalists” for your shareholders and fellow capitalists. I have two questions. My first question is for both Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger.

WARREN BUFFETT: I don’t like to interrupt you, but we’re only letting everybody do one question, so pick whichever one you feel the strongest about getting an answer for, please.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: OK. First, given the ocean of equity money that is out there — private equity money — that is out there today chasing deals, and with the quality of the deals continually diminishing as the quantity of good deals continues to go down, and given the fact that these private equity funds are getting their equity portion of the money from pension funds and college endowments and using very high levels of borrowed money from the banks, this has the look, feel, and smell of a bubble that is about to burst and is likely to end badly for many of the deal-makers and the investors.

What events, in your opinion, could cause this bubble to burst, and how do you think this is likely to all end?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, as you were reading off that list, we are competing with those people, so I started to cry as you — (laughs) — explained the difficulty we have in finding things to buy.

The nature of the private equity activity is such that it really isn’t a bubble that bursts.

Because if you’re running a large private equity fund and you lock up $20 billion for five or longer years and you buy businesses which are not priced daily, as a practical matter, the plug will not — even if you do a poor job, it’s going to take many years before the score is put up on the score board, and it takes many years, in most cases, for people to get out of the private equity fund even if they wished to earlier.

So it does not — it’s not like a lot of leverage can lead to in-marketable securities or something there. And the investors can’t leave and the scorecard is lacking for a long time.

What will slow down the activity — or what could slow down the activity — is if yields on junk bonds became much higher than yields on high-grade bonds.

Right now the spread between yields on junk bonds and high-grade bonds is down to a very low level, and history has shown that periodically that spread widens quite dramatically.

That will slow down the deals, but it won’t cause the investors to get their money back.

There’s one other aspect, of course, that — of this frenzied activity, you might say, in private equity is that if you have a $20 billion fund and you’re getting a 2 percent fee on it or $400 million a year, which seems like chump change to those that are managing them but sounds like real money in Omaha — if you’re getting 400 million a year from that $20 billion fund, you can’t start another fund with a straight face until you get that money pretty well invested.

It’s very hard to go back to your investors and say, well, I’ve got 18 billion uninvested and I’d like you to give me money for another fund.

So there’s a great compulsion to invest very quickly because it’s the way to get another fund and another bunch of fees coming in.

And those are not competitors for businesses that Charlie and I are going to be particularly effective in competing with.

I mean, they — we are going to own anything we buy forever. The math has to make sense to us. We’re not given to optimistic assumptions, and we don’t get paid based on activity.

But I think it will be quite some time before — it’s likely to be quite some time — before disillusionment sets in and the money quits flowing to these people that are promoting these. And whether they can continue to make deals will depend on whether people will give them lots of financing at what I would regard as quite low rates.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. It can continue to go on a long time after you’re in a state of total revulsion.

WARREN BUFFETT: The voice of optimism has spoken. (Laughter.)

6. I didn’t do enough to “sell” Berkshire internationally

WARREN BUFFETT: We’ll go on to 2. And I should have mentioned at the start. We really only take one question per person because there’s a lot of people waiting and some people get very talented about rolling four or five into one, but we — we’ve gotten more talented about unraveling them, so try to keep it to one. Area 2, please.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Greetings to all of you from the Midwest of Europe from the city of Bonn in Germany.

My name is Norman Rentrop. I’m a shareholder in Berkshire since 1992, as well as a shareholder in Wesco and Cologne Re.

I’m a great admirer of both of you and want to thank you again for sharing your wisdom with us and for continuing to stay humble by managing Berkshire for the benefit of all of us without any big 2 and 20 percent fees, without stock option plans. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: Be careful. You’re giving Charlie ideas here. (Laughter)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: And I want to applaud you in setting another great example by donating most of your wealth to charity and for donating — (applause) — and for donating it in a very intelligent and selfless — that it’s not your name on the foundation — way.

Now, I’m a little disturbed by the remarks from another great investor, from John Templeton, who continues to say that you are narrow-sighted in not investing more overseas.

You do focus on the U.S. with relatively little, so far, internationally. You explained that it doesn’t really matter whether a company is headquartered in the U.S. or London or Munich or Paris, and that you would pay almost as high an amount for such companies as for similar U.S. companies.

You were audacious to invest your petty cash in South Korean stocks.

Coca-Cola went totally global many years ago; whereas, Hershey’s missed the opportunity to go global, leaving the chocolate globalization to Swiss-based Lindt & Sprungli.

Now, what would it take you to go totally global with Berkshire by investing internationally in a big way?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, that’s a very good question. And I would say that I know I probably bought my first stock outside the United States at least 50 years ago.

It is not that we have not looked in the marketable securities field beyond this country, and we’ve made some investments there.

It really wouldn’t make any difference to us if Coca-Cola was based in Amsterdam or Munich or Atlanta as long as they had the business they had.

So we’re very involved in international business, but the hard fact is that in terms of buying entire businesses, we were simply not on the radar screen to the same extent — close to the same extend —outside the United States as we became in the United States.

When we started in the United States, really, nobody knew anything about Berkshire, either, so we had — we had a selling job to do here, but we did not do the selling job — or I did not do the selling job — well abroad.

And thanks to Eitan Wertheimer, he found us. And I think has contributed in a very significant way to getting us better known.

We have no bias against buying either marketable securities or entire businesses outside the United States.

Eitan is even planning a little procedure to get us even better known — get Berkshire even better known — outside the United States, and I’m going to participate in that with him within the next six or eight months.

But we can be very validly criticized for not being a better effort to get on that radar screen.

I think we’re — I think it’s improving. We own a number of non-U.S. securities. We own stock in — just stock, marketable securities — we own two that are based in Germany, and we own others — as it’s been pointed out — we own, for example, 4 percent of POSCO, which is based in South Korea. That’s over a billion-dollar investment at current market.

And we have — I can think of a half a dozen or so marketable securities investments outside the United States.

We don’t have to report those in the 13F — I believe I’m right on this, [CFO] Marc [Hamburg] — so they don’t necessarily get picked up the same way as do our domestic investments by reports we make to the SEC.

There’s a problem — for example, in Germany we have to report our holdings in Germany if our holdings exceed 3 percent.

Well, if you’re talking about a company with 10 billion in market value, that means at $300 million we have to tell the world what we’re buying, and telling the world what we’re buying is not the favorite activity of Charlie and myself.

So — and it tends to screw up future buying. So that 3 percent threshold, which exists in the UK, exists in Germany, is a real minus to us, in terms of accumulating shares.

But I can assure you that the entire world is definitely on our radar screen, and we hope to be on its.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well yes. I’d say that John Templeton made a fortune going into Japan very early and having the Japanese stocks go up to 30 or 40 times earnings.

And that was a very admirable piece of investment. But, you know, we did all right in the same period. (Applause)

7. CEO compensation is a “joke”

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go to station 3, please.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi. (Inaudible). I lived most of my life in India, but now in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Warren, first thank you for replying to my letter. I misspelled your name, and where I come from if I did the same thing, the reply would have been, more on, get my name correct before asking a question. So thank you once again.

Investment managers nowadays are benefiting a lot more at the expense of the investors and the (inaudible).

My question is both to you and Charlie is, what do you think is the best structure/fees that managers should have that will give him an opportunity to maximize the time (inaudible) and money (inaudible) over the next few decades and being fair to the profession — the investors and himself? Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: Before I answer that, I think I should tell you a very short story. It’s a little embarrassing, but I got worried a few years ago about Charlie’s hearing.

But I mean, the guy’s been my pal for 45 or 50 years. I didn’t really want to confront him with this apparent evidence of old age.

So I went to a doctor and I said, “You know, I got this good pal. I don’t think he’s hearing so well. I really don’t want to confront him with it, so what do you suggest I do to check this out?”

He said, “Well, stand across the room, talk in a normal tone of voice, see what happens.”

So the next time I was with Charlie, I got across the room and I said, “Charlie, I think we ought to buy General Motors at 30. Do you agree?” Not a flicker. Not a flicker.

I went halfway across the room. I said, “Charlie, I think we ought to buy General Motors at 30. Do you agree?” Nothing changes.

Get right next to him, put my voice in his ear and said, “Charlie, I think we ought to buy General Motors at 30. Do you agree?”

Charlie said, “For the third time, yes.” (Laughter)

So, Charlie, would you like to address that question? (Laughter)

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yes. The question addressed the problem of unfairness of executive compensation and the effects of that unfairness on investors. And now that you know the question, you can solve the problem. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, Charlie and I have plenty to say about compensation, and some of it makes our stomach turn.

I will say this, though. There are more problems with having the wrong manager than with having the wrong compensation system.

I mean, it is enormously important who runs — you name the company — Proctor & Gamble, Coca-Cola, American Express — and any compensation sins are generally of minor importance compared to the sin of having somebody that’s mediocre running a huge company.

That said, Charlie and I think that compensation has — there’s a natural tendency — because of ratcheting, because of the publicity of what other people get, and because of the lack of intensity in the bargaining process.

I mean, you read about labor contracts, you know, where impasses go on for weeks and where they negotiate till 3 in the morning and, you know, both sides take their case to the press and everything.

I ask you, when have you heard of a comp committee, you know, working until 4 in the morning, declaring an impasse for a week, not being able to make a deal?

It just doesn’t happen because the CEO cares enormously how he or she is paid, and to the comp committee — and they’re doing, perhaps, a little better job now — but it’s basically play money.

And, of course, as I’ve pointed out in the past, I’ve been on 19 boards. They put me on one comp committee and they regretted it subsequently.

You know, they are looking for cocker spaniels with their tails wagging to put on comp committees and, you know, they’re not looking for Dobermans.

And I try to pretend I’m a cocker spaniel just to get on one, but it doesn’t work. (Laughter)

But it is not — there is not a parity of intensity in the bargaining process. One guy cares enormously and the others don’t.

And as Charlie has pointed out in the past, what really drives a lot of this ratcheting impact is envy.

I saw that on Wall Street. You can talk about greed, but if you paid somebody $2 million, they might be quite happy until they found out the guy next to them made 2 million-one, and then they were miserable.

And Charlie has also pointed out that envy, of the seven deadly sins, is probably the dumbest, because if you’re envious of somebody, you feel terrible and, you know, the other guy isn’t bothered at all.

So all you get out of envy is this miserable grinding in your stomach and all that sort of thing.

You know, compare that to some of the other sins like gluttony, which we are about to engage in. (Laughter)

You know, there’s some upside to gluttony. I’m told there’s upside to lust, but I’ll leave that to Charlie to explain. (Laughter)

But envy, where the hell is the upside, you know? But it does produce this ratcheting effect in pay.

The comp committee sits down. The human relations person comes in. The human relations person knows what the CEO thinks of them is going to determine their future, and the human relations department recommends some comp consultant. The comp consultant knows that his recommendation to other firms is dependent on what these people say about him.

So under those circumstances, you know, can you imagine that it’s anything like a fair fight? It’s a joke.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yes. The process is contributed to by a wonderful bunch of people called compensation consultants.

And that reminds me of the old story where the mother asked the child why she told the census taker that the man of the house was in prison for embezzlement. And the child said, “I didn’t want to admit he was a compensation consultant.” (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: We’ll get around to the rest of you later on, too. Don’t feel smug because we haven’t attacked your —

I just had a note handed to me. We do have about 27,000 people here. The overflow rooms are full, and we will have a whole bunch in the exhibition hall as well. (Applause)

8. Corporate jets can be good

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go to number 4.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes. Good morning. I’m Rob (inaudible). I’m from the UK, and I traveled from Switzerland to be here today.

This is a question that Charlie will like. There’s a study by David Yermack that companies with private jets underperform their peers by 4 percent.

What is the yardstick that you use to judge whether people are good stewards of money — management?

WARREN BUFFETT: Did he direct that to you, Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, he referred to private jets being a possible indication of executive excess.

I want to report that we’re solidly in favor of private jets. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: We even pay for them ourselves. (Laughs)

Charlie used to only — he traveled on the bus, and only then when they offered a senior citizen’s discount.

But in recent years I’ve shamed him into getting his own NetJets share — I have my own — I have two NetJets shares.

Actually, Berkshire is significantly better off in a number of its businesses, and including at the corporate level, because we use corporate jets.

I don’t know which deals wouldn’t have been made, but I do know that — excuse me — I would not have had the same enthusiasm for traveling thousands of miles to go after deal after deal and so on.

And I see what it produces at our — a number of our other businesses. So it has been a valuable business tool.

It can be misused like anything else. I remember many, many years ago, we owned stock in a public company, and the CEO stopped off in Omaha on the way to see me, and he explained that they use some grocery chain in Idaho or something to be sort of their test case on all new products.

And they would go visit it because they also had this lodge out there. I mean, you can abuse any system. But properly used, I would say that corporate jets have been a real asset to Berkshire.

I would go back to this comp question just one second, too.

I mean, comp is not rocket science. I mean, we have very simple systems that compensate those people whose pictures you saw during the movie.

They’re terrific people. We compensate them based on things that are under their control and that we care about. And we don’t make it complicated, and we don’t pay them for things that are happening that they have nothing to do with.

I mean, we talked last year about what you do in a commodity business like copper, oil. I mean, if oil goes from $30 to $60 a barrel, there’s no reason in the world why oil executives should get paid more for what’s going on. They didn’t get it to $60 a barrel.

If they have low finding costs, which is under their control, and which is important, I would pay like crazy for that, because a person who finds oil and develops reserves at $6 a barrel is worth a lot more than somebody that finds and develops them at $10 a barrel, assuming they’re similar quality reserves.

That is the job that you hire the person for. But the price of oil, they’ve got nothing to do with it, and to hand them huge checks because oil goes up or to cut them back because it goes down — if oil went down and somebody had the lowest finding costs that was working for us, we would pay them like crazy.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. Well, I’d like to go back to that corporate jet thing.

If the trappings of power are greatly abused, I think you would find a correlation that some of those companies would be disappointing to investors.

And, you know, man has known for a long time that getting too enchanted with the trappings of power is counterproductive.

The Roman emperor that’s most remembered as presiding over a period of great felicity was Marcus Aurelius, who was totally against the trappings of power even though he had them all — he had all the power.

So I think all these things can be abused, and I think the best way to tackle a subject is to provide examples of contrary behavior.

WARREN BUFFETT: Charlie, have a (inaudible) —

CHARLIE MUNGER: I think I’ll go over here.

WARREN BUFFETT: This is our idea of corporate benefits up here, lots of fudge, lots of peanut brittle. I recommend the diet to everyone.

9. “Extraordinary” things can happen when people panic

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go to number 5.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: David Winters, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.

Could you please explain what you believe the impact and, hopefully benefit, of a credit contraction would be on Berkshire Hathaway, and maybe higher interest rates as well?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, we do benefit when others suffer.

That doesn’t mean we enjoy their suffering, but times of chaos in financial markets, the situation that existed in junk bonds in 2002, the situation that existed in equities, you know, back in 1974.

So I don’t think you’ll necessarily see a contraction in credit. That — I think most authorities are very reluctant to really step on the brakes. You know, it’s too easy to figure out who did step on the brakes.

But you could very well see some exogenous event that starts feeding on itself in markets.

In fact, I think it’s much more prone to feed on itself in markets than in most periods in the past, if you really got a shock to the system.

And that would result in a huge widening of credit spreads, cheaper equity prices, all kinds of things that actually are helpful to Berkshire because we usually have at least some money around to do something at times like that.

There will be periods like that. If you go back 30 or 40 years, when credit contracted, it just really wasn’t available.

Charlie and I went through a couple periods like that. We were trying to buy a bank in Chicago 40 — 40 or so years ago, and the only people that would lend it to us in the world — because banks weren’t lending for acquisitions — we found some people over in Kuwait who said they’d lend it to us in dinars.

And we thought, you know, it might be fine to borrow it, but when it came time to pay them back the dinars, they would probably be telling us what the dinar was worth, so we passed on that particular deal.

But you had real credit contractions then. And, of course, the whole reason — not — I would say the major reason the Federal Reserve was established was the huge contractions in credit that were felt, particularly here in places like the Midwest where they were dependent on correspondent banks in the larger cities, and when those banks had problems, the banks here got shut off.

And we really needed a system that would not have that happen except by design. And I would say the Fed, by design, is probably not going to produce any credit crunches.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, the last time we had that credit contraction, we made, what, a quick 3 or $4 billion? And we were acting with vigor.

The whole investment world is more and more competitive, and if you talk about a real credit contraction, which gums up the whole civilization, no one would welcome that.

And I would predict that if we ever had a really big credit contraction after a period like the one we’re in with all this excess, which is causing so much envy and resentment, that we would get legislation that most of us wouldn’t like.

WARREN BUFFETT: There’s a book by Jonathan Alter that came out about a year ago that talks about the first hundred days after [President Franklin] Roosevelt took over [in 1933], and by the nature of the book it tells about some of the days before that, too.

But if you want to get an example of — I mean, this country was close to the brink at that point, and, basically, Roosevelt got anything passed he wanted, just as fast as they could write the bills there, initially. And that was a good thing, you know, with banks closing and people dealing in scrip and that sort of thing.

So nobody wants that to come back, and we’ve learned a lot more about that sort of thing since the Great Depression.

I don’t think you’ll see an orchestrated credit contraction.

Now, you had in 1998, in the fall, when Long-Term Capital Management got in trouble, you had a seize up of the credit markets.

It wasn’t an orchestrated by the Fed-type contraction. You simply had people panicked about even the most — even the safest of instruments and credit spreads doing things that they’d never done before.

And that’s rather an interesting example, because that was not a hundred years ago. It was less than ten years ago. You had all kinds of people with high IQs in Wall Street. You had all kinds of people with cash available.

And you had some really extraordinary things happen in credit markets simply because people panicked and they felt other people were going to panic. And you get these second- and third-degree type reactions in markets.

We will see that sort of thing again. It won’t be the same but, you know, as Mark Twain said, history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes. And we will have something that rhymes with 1998.

10. Munger reminds people “too much of John Adams”

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 6.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello. My name is Andrew Paullin (PH), a former Michigander now from Woburn, Massachusetts.

My question is for Charlie, though Warren, please add your thoughts as well.

Charlie, you were quoted in “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” as saying, quote, “Ben Franklin was a very good ambassador and whatever was wrong with him from John Adams’ point of view probably helped him with the French,” end quote.

If you are willing, I’m curious to hear your additional thoughts regarding John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, of course, they were wonderful people, both of them. And —

WARREN BUFFETT: Did you know them personally, Charlie? (Laughter)

CHARLIE MUNGER: No. No.

But if you wanted to have a really jolly evening, I would have taken Franklin every time. And the French love Franklin.

I think I remind many people too much of John Adams and too little of Ben Franklin. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: He does pretty well in respect to Ben Franklin, too

11. Corporate profits can’t stay at record highs

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go to number 7.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: My name Takashi Ito (PH) from Japan.

In addition to the global excess liquidity, corporate profits are very high compared to the share of labor. Does that make it extra challenging for you to find investment opportunities? Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yes, corporate profits in the United States are — except for just a very few years — are record, in terms of GDP.

I’ve been amazed that after being in a range between 4 and 6 percent of GDP, they have jumped upward. And — (coughs) — you would not think this would be sustainable over time.

Excuse me just one second. Charlie, want to talk for a second? (Laughter)

You’ve just heard him on the subject.

But corporate profits, when they get up to 8 percent plus of GDP, you know, that is very high. And so far it has caused no reaction.

One reaction could be higher corporate taxes. You have lots and lots of businesses in this country earning 20 or 25 percent on tangible equity in a world where long-term bond rates are 4 3/4 percent — government bond rates.

That’s extraordinary. If you’d read an economics book 40 years ago and it talked about that kind of a situation persisting, you wouldn’t have found a book like that.

I mean, that does not make sense under pure economic theory, but it’s been occurring for some period of time and, as a matter of fact, it’s gotten more extreme.

Corporate profits continue to rise as a percentage of GDP. That means somebody else’s share of GDP is going down.

And you’re quite correct that the labor component of GDP has actually fallen fairly significantly.

Whether that becomes a political issue — maybe in the next campaign — whether it becomes something that Congress does something about — Congress has the power to change that ratio very quickly.

Corporate tax rates not that long ago were 52 percent and now they’re 35 percent and a whole lot of companies get by with paying 20 percent or less.

So I would say that, at the moment, corporate America is kind of living in the best of all worlds, and history has shown that those conditions don’t persist indefinitely.

What brings it to an end, when it happens, I don’t know. But I would not expect corporate profits to be eight-and-a-fraction percent of GDP, on average, in the future.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. Of course, a lot of the profits are not in the manufacturing sector or the retailing sector, either. A lot of them are in this financial sector.

And so we’ve had a huge flow of profit to banks and investment banks and investment management groups of all kinds, including various kinds of private equity.

And that has, I think, no precedent. I don’t think it’s ever been as extreme as it is now. Do you agree with that?

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. And Charlie and I would have said 20 years ago — and we’ve done things in banking from time to time, including owning a bank.

But if you had said to us, in a world of 4 3/4 percent long-term governments, will one major bank after another be earning more than 20 percent on tangible equity, dealing in what is basically a commodity — money — we would have said that that condition just wouldn’t persist.

Now, part of that is because the banks are geared up more. So if you earn 1 1/2 percent on deposits, you know, and you have — or 1 1/2 percent on assets — and you have assets of 15 times equity, you’re going to be earning 22 1/2 percent on equity. And by gearing up more, it does improve the return on equity.

But you still would think that would be self-neutralizing. You’d think that after one guy did it, another guy would do it, and then instead of earning 1 1/2 percent on assets, you’d earn, you know, 9/10 of a percent or 1 percent on assets, but it hasn’t happened. It’s gone on for a long time.

And, you know, we are living — I’d have to look at a chart on it, but there may have been a year or two post-World War II, but I don’t think that — I would bet there haven’t been more than two or three years in the last 75 when corporate profits, as a percentage of GDP, have been this high.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Some of this has come from consumer credit, which I think has been pushed to extremes that we’ve never before seen in the history of this country.

Some other countries that pushed consumer credit very hard had enormous collapses. Korea had one, for instance, that caused chaos for, what, two or three years? Maybe longer. So I don’t think this is a time to just swing for the fences.

WARREN BUFFETT: And the chaos in 1997 and 1998 when the IMF stepped in, I mean, it was bad in Korea for a while.

It produced some of the most ridiculously low stock prices that I’ve ever seen in my life.

In fact, I mean, you could go back to 1932 in this country and you wouldn’t have seen things any cheaper. And in the meantime, the companies rebuilt their balance sheets and their earning power.

So things do turn around in financial markets. You will — if you’re young enough, you will see everything and then some.

I mention in the annual report, in looking for an investment manager to succeed me, that we care enormously about finding somebody who’s not cognizant of everything risky that’s already happened, but that also can envision things that have not yet been experienced.

That’s our job in the insurance business, and it’s our job in the investment business.

And there are a lot of people that just don’t seem to — they’re not — they’re very smart, but they just — they’re just not wired to think about troubles that they haven’t actually witnessed before.

But, you know, that’s the problem Noah had. You know, the first 40 days, it was tough sledding for Noah, but he got revenge eventually.

12. We welcome short-sellers betting against us

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go to number 8.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello. My name is Brian Bowalk (PH), Fremont, Nebraska.

With the growing number of fail-to-deliver trades happening in our stock markets, including investors’ cash accounts, Roth IRAs, and other retirement accounts, it seems like the problem is getting worse.

With some companies being on the Regulation SHO list for hundreds of days, what can be done to make Wall Street deliver stock that they have sold but never delivered? Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. The so-called fail to deliver and naked shorting, I think is the question. I don’t know exact — I’ve never been in a position where I’ve asked a broker from whom I bought stock to give me the certificate and have them decline it for any period of time.

I would think that you might have some action against them. But I’ve never — I do not see the problem at all with people shorting stocks.

I mean, I would welcome people shorting Berkshire Hathaway. I mean, it — if you own stock, and they need to borrow from you, you can get some extra income from your stock. And the one sure buyer of your stock eventually is somebody who shorted it. I mean, that guy is going to buy it someday.

And I have no problem with shorts. If there’s some kind of a game that’s played — and I’ve read about it — I’ve never seen it happen to anything that we’ve owned.

Like I say, if anybody wants to naked short Berkshire Hathaway, they can do it until the cows come home, and we’ll be happy to. We’ll have a special meeting for them.

But — and I would say this: the shorts generally have the tougher time of it in this world. I mean, there are more people bowling stocks for phony reasons than there are burying stocks for phony reasons.

So I do not see shorts as any great threat to the world. If enough people shorted Berkshire stock, they would have to borrow it and they would pay you to borrow your stock and that’s found money.

We did that on USG. When USG got hammered after they went into bankruptcy — or maybe just before — one large brokerage firm came to us and they wanted us to lend them millions of shares and they paid us a lot of money.

And we happily lent them the stock. We wished they borrowed more. In fact, we insisted that they borrow it for a given length of time just so that we could collect a large premium.

And I don’t know how many — I’d have to look it up but — I don’t know whether it’s in the hundred thousands or, maybe, low millions, but we were better off.

And they didn’t do too well shorting USG at $4 a share either, but it was immaterial to us.

So I do not regard — I do not regard shorts as — it’s a tough way to make a living.

It’s very easy to spot phony stocks and promoted stocks, but it’s very hard to tell when that will turn around.

And somebody that’s promoted a stock to five times what it’s worth, may very well promote it to ten times what it’s worth, and if you’re short, that can get very painful.

Charlie, do you have any thoughts on shorting?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, not on shorting. But those delays in delivering sometimes reflect a tremendous slop in the clearance process, and it is not good for a civilization to have huge slop in the clearance processes for its security trades.

That would be sort of like having a lot of slop in the management of your atomic power plants. It’s not a good idea to have slop that causes a lot of financial exposure that people are ignoring.

WARREN BUFFETT: Charlie, reach back into your law practice. If I buy a thousand shares of General Motors, and my broker doesn’t deliver it to me, and I ask him to deliver it and he doesn’t deliver it to me after a week or two weeks or three weeks, what’s the situation?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, if you’re a private customer, you may wait a while. And a lot of the other trades — the clearance systems do cause people to put up collateral and so on.

But a lot of — take derivative trading. There’s a lot of slop in derivative trading. And the clearance problem would be awful if a lot of people wanted to do something at once.

WARREN BUFFETT: But if I demand delivery after three weeks, can I walk into court and say I want my stock, I’ve given you the money?

CHARLIE MUNGER: I don’t think there’s any court that can issue you a stock certificate just because you want it.

No, the clearance system is failing you. Why, you can scream a lot, and you may have some ultimate remedy, but there’s —

WARREN BUFFETT: I’ll get somebody else to represent me. (Laughter)

13. “Gambling is a tax on ignorance”

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 9.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello, hello. My name is Johann Fortenberg (PH) from Hanover, Germany.

Do you think gambling companies will have a great future? Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: What kind of company?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Gambling companies.

WARREN BUFFETT: Gambling companies. Gambling companies will have a terrific future, if they’re legal.

You know, which ones or anything, I don’t know anything about that.

But the desire of people to gamble and to gamble in stocks, incidentally, too. Day trading, I would say, very often was — came very close to gambling as defined —.

But people like to gamble, you know. I mean, it’s a — if the Super Bowl is on — better yet, if a terribly boring football game is on but you don’t have anything to do, and you’re sitting there with somebody else, you’re probably going to enjoy the game more if you bet a few bucks on it one way or the other.

As you know, I mean, we insure hurricanes, so I watch the Weather Channel. But that’s a — (Laughter)

It can be exciting. (Laughter)

But people — the human propensity to gamble is huge. Now, when it was legalized only in — pretty much in Nevada — you had to go to some distance, or break some laws, to do any serious gambling.

But as the states learned to — you know, what a great source of revenue it was, they gradually made it easier and easier and easier for people to gamble.

And, believe me, the easier it’s made, the more people will gamble.

I mean, when I was — my children are here, and 40 years ago I bought a slot machine and I put it up on our third floor, and I could give me kids any allowance they wanted as long as it was in dimes. I mean, I had it all back by nightfall. (Laughter)

I thought it would be a good lesson for them. Now they weren’t going to Las Vegas to do it, but believe me when it was on the third floor, they could find it, you know.

And my payout ratio was terrible, too, but that’s the kind of father I was. (Laughter)

The — but gambling, you know, people are always going to want to do it.

And for that reason, I particularly think that access — you know, in terms of friendly gambling or anything like that, I’m not a prude about it, but I do think that to quite an extent, gambling is a tax on ignorance.

I mean, if you want to tax the ignorant, people who will do things with the odds against them, you know, you just put it in and guys like me don’t have to pay taxes.

I really don’t — I find that — I find it kind of socially revolting when a government preys on the weaknesses of its citizenry rather than acts to serve them. And, believe me, when a government — (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: When a government makes it easy for people to take their Social Security checks and start pulling handles or participating in lotteries or whatever it may be, it’s a pretty cynical act.

It works. It’s a pretty cynical act. And it relieves taxes on those, you know, who don’t fall for those or who don’t — who aren’t dreaming about having a car instead of actually having a car or dreaming about a color TV instead of having one.

So it’s not government at its best, and I think other things flow from that over time, too.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: You know, I would argue that the gambling casinos use clever psychological tricks to cause people to hurt themselves.

There is undoubtedly a lot of harmless amusement in the casinos, but there’s also a lot of grievous injury that is deliberately caused by the casinos.

It’s a dirty business, and I don’t think you’ll find a casino soon in Berkshire Hathaway. (Applause)

14. How to be a better investor

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 10, please.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good morning. I’m Thomas Gamay (PH) from San Francisco. I’m 17-years-old and this is my tenth consecutive annual meeting. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: You must be a Ph.D. by now at least.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger, I’m curious about what you think is the best way to become a better investor.

Should I get an MBA? Get more work experience? Read more Charlie Munger almanacs or merely is it genetic and out of my hands?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I think you should read everything you can.

I can tell you in my own case, I think by the time I was — well, I know by the time I was ten — I’d read every book in the Omaha Public Library that had anything to do with investing, and many of them I’d read twice.

So I don’t think there’s anything like reading, and not just as limited to investing at all. But you’ve just got to fill up your mind with various competing thoughts and sort them out as to what really makes sense over time.

And then once you’ve done a lot of that, I think you have to jump in the water, because investing on paper and doing — you know, and investing with real money, you know, is like the difference between reading a romance novel and doing something else. (Laughter)

There is nothing like actually having a little experience in investing. And you soon find out whether you like it. If you like it, if it turns you on, you know, you’re probably going to do well on it.

And the earlier you start, the better, in terms of reading. But, you know, I read a book at age 19 that formed my framework for thinking about investments ever since.

I mean, what I’m doing today at 76 is running things through the same thought pattern that I got from a book I read when I was 19.

And I read all the other books, too, but if you — and you have to read a lot of them to know which ones really do jump out at you and which ideas jump out at you over time.

So I would say that read and then, on a small scale in a way that can’t hurt you financially, do some of it yourself.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, Sandy Gottesman, who is a Berkshire director, runs a large and successful investment operation, and you can tell what he thinks causes people to learn to be good investors by noticing his employment practices.

When a young man comes to Sandy, he asks a very simple question, no matter how young the man is. He says, “What do you own and why do you own it?” And if you haven’t been interested enough in the subject to have that involvement already, why, he’d rather you go somewhere else.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. It’s very — that whole idea that you own a business, you know, is vital to the investment process.

If you were going to buy a farm, you’d say, I’m buying this 160-acre farm because I expect that the farm will produce 120 bushels an acre of corn or 45 bushels an acre of soybeans and I can buy — you know, you go through the whole process.

It’d be a quantitative decision and it would be based on pretty solid stuff. It would not be based on, you know, what you saw on television that day. It would not be based on, you know, what your neighbor said to you or anything of the sort.

It’s the same thing with stocks. I used to always recommend to my students that they take a yellow pad like this and if they’re buying a hundred shares of General Motors at 30 and General Motors has whatever it has out, 600 million shares or a little less, that they say, “I’m going to buy the General Motors company for $18 billion, and here’s why.”

And if they can’t give a good essay on that subject, they’ve got no business buying 100 shares or ten shares or one share at $30 per share because they are not subjecting it to business tests.

And to get in the habit of thinking that way, you know, Sandy would have followed it up with the questions, based on how you answered the first two questions, that made you defend exactly why you thought that business was cheap at the price at which you are buying it. And any other answer, you’d flunk.

15. When you don’t need a huge margin of safety

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 11.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger, I’m Marc Rabinov from Melbourne, Australia.

I just wanted to ask you, how do you judge the right margin of safety to use when investing in various common stocks?

For example, in a dominant, long-standing, stable business, would you demand a 10 percent margin of safety and, if so, how would you increase this in a weaker business? Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: We favor the businesses where we really think we know the answer.

And, therefore, if a business gets to the point where we think the industry in which it operates, the competitive position or anything is so chancy that we can’t really come up with a figure, we don’t really try to compensate for that sort of thing by having some extra large margin of safety.

We really want to try to go on to something that we understand better. So if we buy something like — See’s Candy as a business or Coca-Cola as a stock, we don’t think we need a huge margin of safety because we don’t think we’re going to be wrong about our assumptions in any material way.

What we really want to do is buy a business that’s a great business, which means that business is going to earn a high return on capital employed for a very long period of time, and where we think the management will treat us right.

We don’t have to mark those down a lot when we find those factors. We’d love to find them when they’re selling at 40 cents on the dollar but we will buy those as much closer to a dollar on the dollar. We don’t like to pay a dollar on the dollar, but we’ll pay something close.

And if we really get to something — you know, when we see a great business, it’s like if you see some — somebody walk in the door, you don’t know whether they weigh 300 pounds or 325 pounds. You still know they’re fat, right, you know?

And so if we see something we know it’s fat, financially, we don’t worry about being precise. And if we can come in, in that particular example, at the equivalent of 270 pounds, we’ll feel good.

But if we find something where the competitive aspects are — it’s just the nature of the business that you really can’t see out five or 10 or 20 years because that’s what investing is, is seeing out.

You don’t get paid for what’s already happened. You only get paid for what’s going to happen in the future. The past is only useful to you in the extent to which it gives you insights into the future, and sometimes the past doesn’t give you any insights into the future.

And in other cases, like the stable business that you postulated, it probably does give you a pretty good guideline as to what’s going to happen in the future, and you don’t need a huge margin of safety.

You should have something that — you always should feel you’re getting a little more than what it’s worth, and there are times when we’ve been able to buy wonderful businesses at a quarter of what they’re worth, but we haven’t seen those — well, we saw it in Korea here recently — but you don’t see those sort of things very often.

And does that mean you should sit around and hope they come back for 10 or — you know, wait 10 or 15 years? That’s not the way we do it. If we can buy good businesses at a reasonable valuation, we’re going to keep doing it.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. You’re — that margin of safety concept boils down to getting more value than you’re paying. And that value can exist in a lot of different forms.

If you’re paid four-to-one on something that’s an even money proposition, why, that’s a value proposition, too.

It’s high school algebra. And people who don’t know how to use high school algebra should take up some other activity.

16. Health care is too tough for Berkshire

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 12.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: — morning. Good morning.

WARREN BUFFETT: Morning.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: My name is Mike Klein, and I’m a general surgeon from Salinas, California.

Given your resources and experience in underwriting insurance, do you have any thoughts of entering into, or helping to solve, our health care mess?

Time is right for a new approach with Berkshire’s clarity brought to the formula. Let’s acknowledge the stakes are huge with implication for our economy and our future as a country.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Let me try that one. It’s too tough.

WARREN BUFFETT: I would —

CHARLIE MUNGER: Warren and I can’t solve that.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, we can’t solve that one.

We try to look for easy problems because those are the ones we find we have the answers for. And you can do that in investments. We don’t really try tough things.

Now, sometimes life hands you a problem, not in the financial area in our case, usually, but it will hand you a problem that is very tough and that you have to wrestle with.

But we don’t go around looking for tough problems. I would say this: we do very, very little in health insurance. You know, if we were to have — if we were looking for a solution through the private sector, we would be looking for something with very, very low distribution costs.

I mean, you do not want a lot of the revenue soaked up in frictional costs between the benefits paid and the premiums received.

I don’t know how to do that, and I haven’t seen anybody else that’s very good at doing it, and you can say if you’re paying close to 15 percent of GDP for health costs, you know, somebody ought to be able to figure out something, but I haven’t heard it.

Maybe we’ll hear it in the upcoming political campaign but Charlie’s views reflect mine at the present.

17. Munger on what’s driven Berkshire’s “extreme” success

WARREN BUFFETT: Now we’re going to go to the grand ballroom. We have these two overflow rooms that are full — or more or less full — and the grand ballroom is number. 13. Would they come in, please?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: This is Phil McCall (PH) from Connecticut.

I wondered if you could comment on a subject I don’t think you like to talk about very much, which is intrinsic value, and the evolution over the past 10 or 12 years of going to — off and on — but giving us investments and then giving us the operating income and suggesting that might be a good guide to us.

I find it extremely helpful. I’m not sure other people do when looking out the 20 years you’re talking about, looking ahead on both those two parts. Any comments you might have, I’d surely appreciate.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Well, the intrinsic value of Berkshire, like any other businesses, is based on the future amount of cash that can be expected to be delivered by the business between now and judgment day, discounted back at the proper rate.

Now, that’s pretty nebulous. Another way of looking at it is to try and figure out the value of the businesses we own presently, and we try to give you the information that will enable you to make a reasonably close estimate at that.

We own lots of marketable securities. It’s probably safe to say that they’re worth more or less what they are carried for. And then we own a number of operating businesses, and we try to give you the figures on those businesses that are the figures that we use in making our own judgments about the value of those businesses.

Now, that tells you what we have today and more or less what it’s worth. But since Berkshire retains all of its earnings, it becomes very important to evaluate what will be done with those earnings over time.

I mean, it is not only a question what the present businesses are worth. It’s a judgment on the efficiency or the effectiveness with which retained earnings will be used.

If you had looked at the intrinsic value of Berkshire in 1965, we had a textile business that was probably worth about $12 a share. But that was not the only part of the equation, because we intended to use any cash generated to try and buy into better businesses than we had, and we were fortunate to be able to buy in the insurance business in 1967 and build on that.

So it was not only a combination of the business we had, but the skill with which retained earnings would be used, that determined what the present value actually should have been at Berkshire going back that far.

It’s the same situation today. We will put to work billions and billions of dollars this year and next year and the year after. If we put that to work effectively, each dollar has a greater present value than a dollar has simply in cash or distributed. If we do ineffectively, it has a value of something less.

The businesses today, you know, we have whatever the figure is in the annual report — roughly $80,000 in marketable securities.

If our insurance business breaks even, that $80,000 is free to us, in terms of using it. And we have a group of operating businesses and we show their earnings in the report and we’re going to try to add to those and they’ll try to add to their earnings.

But if Charlie and I were each right now to write down on a piece of paper what we think the intrinsic value of Berkshire is, our figures would not be the same. They’d be reasonably close.

And I think with that, I’ll turn it over to Charlie.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. What’s hard to judge at Berkshire is the likelihood that you’ll have anything like the past to look forward to in the future.

Berkshire has gotten very extreme, in terms of investment results. In fact, it’s gotten so extreme that it’s hard to think of another similar precedent in the history of the world.

And the balance sheet is gross, considering the small beginnings of the place. Now, what on earth has caused this extreme record to go on for such a very long time?

I would argue that the young man who was reading everything he could read when he was 10-years-old became a learning machine, and he got a lot of power early, and then he got a very long run when he kept learning.

If Warren had not been learning all the while, I’m telling you having watched the process closely, the record would be a pale shadow of what it is. And Warren has improved since he passed the retirement age of man.

In other words, in this field, at least, you can improve when you’re old.

Now, most people don’t even try and create that kind of a record. They pass power from one 65-year-old to one 59-year-old and then do it over and over again. But you get an enormous advantage from practice in this field.

And so what happened accidentally in the case of Warren has helped you shareholders greatly because you had this long run with power extremely concentrated, and with the man holding the power being a ferocious learner.

Our system ought to be more copied than it is. (Applause)

This idea of passing the power from one old codger to another, in a settled way, is not necessarily the right system at all.

WARREN BUFFETT: We have a very strong culture now of rationality, of being owner-oriented, that will go on long after I’m not around. And we have a talent on the operating side in place to do a lot of wonderful things over time.

We will need, in capital allocation, to keep doing intelligent things. We won’t get to do brilliant things because you don’t get to do brilliant things with the kind of sums we’re talking about. Maybe once in a blue moon or something, you know, you’ll get a chance.

But we will need somebody that never does — basically doesn’t do any dumb things, and occasionally does something that’s reasonably good. That can be done.

And we have — we’re on that road already. It does not — fitting into this organization as an investment officer or a capital allocator, you’re getting in the right vehicle. It has the right standards. It will reject ideas that really are irrational.

I’ve been on a lot of boards. Charlie’s been on a lot of boards. You would be amazed at the number of things that are responding to “animal spirits” rather than to rationality that take place. And we have our animal spirits but we devote them to other areas.

18. “Deficient” auditing of derivatives will cause problems

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go on to number 14. That’s in — that’s in the junior ballroom.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes. Hi, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger. This is Whitney Tilson, a shareholder from New York.

For many years both of you have been warning about the dangers of derivatives, at one point calling them “financial weapons of mass destruction.”

Yet every year, tens of trillions of dollars of derivatives are bought and sold. It just seems to be getting bigger and bigger and almost certainly improperly accounted for.

And so I was wondering if you could comment, and, specifically, if you have any thoughts on how much longer this might go on.

Do you see anything imminent that could derail this ever inflating bubble? What might trigger it? And who should be doing what to try and mitigate this looming danger?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, we’ve tried to do a little to mitigate it ourselves by talking about it, but the — you’re right, the — and it isn’t the derivative itself. I mean, there’s nothing evil about a derivative instrument.

As I mentioned, we have 60-some of them at Berkshire, and on Monday I’ll go over with the directors — I’ll go over all 60-some and, believe me, we’ll make money out of those particular instruments.

But they — usage of them on an expanding basis, more and more imaginative ways of using them, introduces, essentially, more and more leverage into the system.

And it’s an invisible — or largely invisible — sort of leverage. If you go back to the 1920s, after the crash, the United States government held hearings.

They decided that leverage — margin, in those days, as they called it — leverage contributed to, perhaps, the crash itself and certainly to the extent of the crash. And it was like pouring gasoline on a fire was — when people’s holdings got tripped, you know, when stocks went down 10 percent people had to sell, another 10 percent, more people had to sell and so on.

Leverage was regarded as dangerous and the United States government empowered the Federal Reserve to regulate margin requirements, regulate leverage, and that was taken very seriously.

And for decades it was a source of real attention. I mean, if you went to a bank and tried to borrow money on a stock, they made you sign certain papers as to — that you weren’t in violation of the margin requirements, and they policed it.

And it was taken quite seriously when the Fed increased or decreased margin requirements. It was a signal of how they felt about the level of speculation.

Well, the introduction of derivatives and index futures, all that sort of thing, has just totally made any regulation of margin requirements a joke.

They still exist and, you know, it’s an anachronism.

So I believe — I think Charlie probably agrees with me — that we may not know where, exactly, the danger begins and where — and at what point it becomes a superdanger and so on.

We certainly don’t know what will end it, precisely. We don’t know when it will end, precisely.

But we probably — at least I believe — that it will go on and increase to the point where at some point there will be some very unpleasant things happen in markets because of it.

You saw one example of what can happen under forced sales back in October 19, 1987, when you had so-called portfolio insurance.

Now, portfolio insurance — and you ought to go back and read the literature for the couple years preceding that. I mean, this was something that came out of academia and it was regarded as a great advance in financial theories and everything.

It was a joke. It was a bunch of stop-loss orders which, you know, go back 150 years or something, except that they were done automatically and in large scale by institutions and they were merchandise.

People paid a lot of money to people to teach them how to put in a stop-loss order. And what happened, of course, was that if you have a whole series of stop-loss orders by very big institutions, you are pouring gasoline on fire.

And when October 19th came along, you had a 22 percent shrink in the value of American business, caused, essentially, by a doomsday machine. A dead hand was selling as each level got hit. And three weeks earlier, you know, people were proclaiming the beauty of this.

Well, that is nothing compared — it was a formal arrangement to have these — this dynamic hedging or portfolio insurance — sell things.

But you have the same thing existing when you have fund operators operating with billions in aggregate, trillions of dollars, leveraged, who will respond to the same stimulus.

They have what we would call a “crowded trade,” but they don’t know it. It’s not a formal crowded trade.

It’s just that they’re all ready to sell if a certain given signal or a certain given activity occurs. And when you get that, coupled with extreme leverage which derivatives allow, you will someday get a very, very chaotic situation.

I have no idea when. I have no idea what the exogenous factor — I didn’t know that shooting some archduke, you know, would start World War I, and I have no idea what will cause this kind of a thing, but it will happen.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. And, of course, the accounting being deficient enormously contributes to the risks.

If you get paid enormous bonuses based on reporting profits that don’t exist, you’re going to keep doing whatever causes those phony profits to keep appearing on the books.

And what makes that so difficult is that most of the accounting profession doesn’t even recognize how stupidly it is behaving.

And one of the people in charge of accounting standards said to me, “Well, this is better, this derivative accounting, because it’s mark-to-market, and don’t we want current information?”

And I said, “Yes. But if you mark-to-model, and you create the models, and your accountants trust your models, and you can just report whatever profit you want as long as you keep expanding the positions bigger and bigger and bigger, the way human nature is, that will cause terrible results and terrible behavior.”

And this person said to me, “Well, you just don’t understand accounting.” (Laughter.)

WARREN BUFFETT: If four years ago, or whenever it was, when we started to liquidate Gen Re’s portfolio, we had reserves set up for in the hundreds and millions and all sorts of things.

And our auditor — and I emphasize any other of the Big Four auditors absolutely would have attested to the fact that our stuff was mark-to-market.

You know, I just wish I’d sold the portfolio to the auditors that day. (Laughs) I’d be 400 million better off.

So it’s a real problem. Now there’s one thing that’s really quite interesting to me. If I owe you, on my dry cleaning bill or something, $15, and they’re auditing the dry cleaners, they check with me and they find out that I owe you $15 and it’s all fine.

If they’re auditing me, they find out I owe the dry cleaner 15 bucks. There are only four big auditing firms, you know, basically in this country.

And I will — so in many cases, if they’re auditing my side of the derivative transaction, you know, what I’m valuing it at, the same firm may often be valuing — or attesting to the value of the mark by the person on the other side of the contract.

I will guarantee you that if you add up the marks on both sides, they don’t equate out to zero.

We have 60-some contracts, and I will bet that people are valuing them differently on the other side than we value themselves, and it won’t be to the disadvantage of the trader on the other side.

I don’t get paid based on how ours are valued, so I have no reason to want to game the system. But there are people out on the other side that do have reasons to game the system.

So if I’m valuing some contract at plus a million dollars for Berkshire, that contract on the other side, it’s just one piece of paper, should be valued at a minus 1 million by somebody else.

But I think you probably have cases — and this is — I’m not talking about our auditors, I’m talking about all four of the firms — but they have many cases where they are attesting to values that — of the exact same piece of paper — where the numbers are widely different on both sides.

Do you have any thoughts on that, Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I — as sure as God made little green apples, this is going to cause a lot of trouble in due course.

As long as it keeps expanding and ballooning and so on and the convulsions are minor, it can just go on and on. But eventually there will be a big denouement.

19. Dangers of short-term investing and advanced mathematics

WARREN BUFFETT: Let’s go back to number one.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi. I’m Stanley Ku from Hong Kong. My question is about a proliferation of short-term mindset to investing.

As more and more money is being placed under absolute return mandate, these managers, as you just said, responded the same response, and tried to trade issues.

So with credit spread on — I should say, risk premium — on various products declining across the board and correlation across markets increasing, can we read into it and say what is healthy or not healthy for the economy or the markets? And can we arguably say the portfolio insurance dynamics is already in place today?

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I think you put your finger on it. And, you know, we do think it’s unhealthy.

Obviously, if you take — and no way of precisely measuring this, but I’m quite certain I’m right — if you take the degree to which, say, either bonds or stocks, the percentage of them that are held by people who could change their minds tomorrow morning based on a given stimulus, whether it be something the Fed does or whether it be some kind of an accident in financial markets, the percentage is far higher.

There is an electronic herd of people around the world managing huge amounts of money who think that a decision on everything in their portfolio should be made, basically, daily or hourly or by the minute.

And that has increased turnover on the New York Stock Exchange — and I don’t know the exact figures — but I think it was down around the 15 or 20 percent range 40 years ago and it’s increased it to a hundred percent, I believe, plus, now.

So — and certainly in the bond market, the turnover of bonds has increased dramatically. People used to buy bonds to own them and they’d buy bonds to trade them.

And there’s nothing evil about that, but it just means that the participants are playing a different game, and that different game can have different consequences than in a buy-and-hold environment.

And I do think it means that if you’re trying to beat the other fellow on a day-to-day basis, you’re watching news events very carefully or watching the other fellow very carefully.

If you think he’s about to hit that key, you know, you’re going to try to hit the key faster, if that’s the game you’re playing and if you’re getting measured on results weekly.

So I think that you describe the conditions that will lead to a result that we’ve been talking about expecting at some point.

It’s not new to markets, though. I mean, markets will do crazy things over time. Every time — when Charlie and I were at Salomon, they’d always talk to us about five sigma events or six sigma events, and that’s fine if you’re talking about flipping coins, but it doesn’t mean anything when you get human behavior involved.

And people do things that — and intelligent people do things — very intelligent, educated people do things — that are totally irrational, and they do them en masse.

And you saw it in 1998. You saw it in 2002. And you’ll see it again. And you’ll see it — it’s more likely to happen when you have people trying to beat currency, bond, stock markets, day by day.

It’s — I think it’s a fool’s game. But — you know, it may be what’s required to attract money.

When I set up my partnership, I told the partners, you know, you’ll hear from me once a year.

And I even thought — in 1962 I put the partnerships together and in May of 1962 the market got terrible — and I actually thought of sending all my partners a letter, and then sending it down to Brazil to have it reshipped back up, just to sort of test them out, but — how they felt about things.

But, you know, I had a few with bad hearts. I decided it wasn’t worthwhile.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. When people talk about sigmas, in terms of disaster potentialities in markets, they’re all crazy.

They got the idea that bad results in markets would be predicted by Gaussian distributions. And the way they decided on that outcome was it made everything so easy to compute.

They don’t follow Gaussian distributions. You have to believe in the Tooth Fairy to believe that.

And the disasters are bigger and more irritating than [German mathematician Carl Friedrich] Gauss would have predicted.

WARREN BUFFETT: It was easier to teach as well.

CHARLIE MUNGER: It’s easier to teach, too.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.

CHARLIE MUNGER: I once asked a distinguished medical school professor why he was still doing an obsolete procedure, and he said, “It’s so wonderful to teach.” (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: There’s more of that in finance departments than you might think.

It’s very discouraging to learn advanced mathematics and, you know, how to do things that none but the priesthood can do in your field, and then find out it doesn’t have any meaning, you know.

And what you do when confronted with that knowledge, after you’ve invested these years to get your Ph.D., you know, and you’ve maybe written a textbook and a paper or two, having a revelation that that stuff has no utility at all, and really has counter-utility, I’m not sure, you know, too many people can handle it well. And I think they just generally keep on teaching.

20. Quantitative approach to intrinsic value and investments

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 2.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello. Burkhardt Whittick (PH) from Munich in Germany.

I would like to get some more transparency on how you make investment decisions, particularly how you determine intrinsic value.

You mentioned that the theoretically correct method is discounted cash flow, but at the same time you point out the inherent difficulties of the methodology.

From other books, I see that you use multiples on operating earnings, or (inaudible) multiples. Your [former] daughter [in law] Mary, in one of her books, describes another methodology where you apply compounding economics to the value of the equity.

Could you give us a bit more transparency which quantitative approach you use and how many years out you try to quantify the results of the investments you’re interested in?

WARREN BUFFETT: I understand the question, but I’m going to pretend I don’t and let Charlie answer first. (Laughs)

I really do.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. When you’re trying to determine something like intrinsic value and margin of safety and so on, there’s no one easy method that could be simply mechanically applied by, say, a computer and make anybody who could punch the buttons rich.

By definition, this is going to be a game which you play with multiple techniques and multiple models, and a lot of experience is very helpful.

I don’t think you can become a great investor very rapidly any more than you could become a great bone tumor pathologist very rapidly. It takes some experience and that’s why it’s helpful to get a very early start.

WARREN BUFFETT: But if you’re — let’s just say that we all decided we’re going to buy a — or think about — buying a farm.

And we go up 30-miles north of here and we find out that a farm up there can produce 120 bushels of corn, and it can produce 45 bushels of soybean per acre, and we know what fertilizer costs, and we know what the property taxes cost, and we know what we’ll have to pay the farmer to actually do the work involved, and we’ll get some number that we can make per acre, using fairly conservative assumptions.

And let’s just assume that when you get through making those calculations that it turns out to be that you can make $70 an acre to the owner without working at it.

Then the question is how much do you pay for the $70? Do you assume that agriculture will get a little bit better over the years so that your yields will be a little higher?

Do you assume that prices will work a little higher over time? They haven’t done much of that, although recently, it’s been good with corn and soybeans. But over the years agriculture prices have not done too much. So you would be conservative in your assumptions, then.

And you might decide that for $70 an acre, you know, you would want a — if you decided you wanted a 7 percent return, you’d pay a thousand dollars an acre.

You know, if farmland is selling for 900, you know you’re going to have a buy signal. And if it’s selling for 1200, you’re going to look at something else. That’s what we do in businesses.

We are trying to figure out what those corporate farms that we’re looking at are going to produce. And to do that we have to understand their competitive position. We have to understand the dynamics of the business.

We have to be able to look out in the future. And like I’ve said earlier, some businesses you can’t look out very far at.

But the mathematics of investment were set out by Aesop in 600BC. And he said, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Now our question is, when do we get the two? How long do we wait? How sure are we that there are two in the bush? Could there be more, you know? What’s the right discount rate?

And we measure one against the other that way. I mean, we are looking at a whole bunch of businesses, how many birds are they going to give us, when are they going to give them to us, and we try to decide which ones — basically, which bushes — we want to buy out in the future.

It’s all about evaluating future — the future ability — to distribute cash, or to reinvest cash at high rates if it isn’t distributed.

Berkshire has never distributed any cash, but it’s grown in its cash producing abilities, and we retain it because we think we can create more than a dollar present value by retaining it. But it’s the ability to distribute cash that gives Berkshire its value.

And we try to increase that ability to distribute cash year by year by year and then we try to keep it and invest it in a way so that a dollar bill is worth more than a dollar.

You may have an insight into very few businesses. I mean, if we left here and walked by a McDonald’s stand, you know, and you decided, would you pay a million dollars for that McDonald’s stand, or a million-three, or 900,000, you’d think about how likely it was there would be more competition, whether McDonald’s could change the franchise arrangement on you, whether people are going to keep eating hamburgers, you know, all kinds of things.

And you actually would say to yourself this McDonald’s stand will make X — X plus 5 percent — maybe in a couple years because over time prices will increase a little.

And that’s all investing is. But you have to know when you know what you’re doing, and you have to know when you’re getting outside of what I call your circle of competency, you don’t have the faintest idea.

Charlie.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. The other thing, you’ve got to recognize that we’ve never had any system for being able to make correct judgments on the values of all businesses.

We throw almost all decisions into the too hard pile, and we just sift for a few decisions that we can make that are easy. And that’s a comparative process.

And if you’re looking for an ability to correctly value all investments at all times, we can’t help you.

WARREN BUFFETT: No. We know how to step over one-foot bars. We don’t know how to jump over seven-foot bars.

But we do know how to recognize, occasionally, what is a one-foot bar. And we know enough to stay away from the seven-foot bars, too.

21. What Buffett wants as he hires portfolio managers

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 3.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: John Stevo (PH), shareholder from Chicago. Mr. Buffett — Mr. Buffett, Mr. Munger, thank you for the great weekend.

In your annual shareholders letter, you stated that you’re looking for someone younger to possibly work at Berkshire, and I was wondering if you could expand on that, and how would I apply for that job? (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: I think you just did. (Laughter)

The — we’re looking for one or more. I mean, I would — I don’t think it’s at all impossible we might even find three or four that we would decide to have run some money and to take a closer look.

We’re not looking for someone to teach. I probably didn’t make that clear enough in the annual report. We’re not — we’re not going to be mentors or teachers or anything of the sort.

We’re looking for somebody that we think knows how to do it. And there are people like that out there. We’ve heard from 6- or 700.

I did hear — I heard from one that had a four-year-old son. I thought that was quite a compliment that — I mean, I knew a caveman could do my job, but a four-year-old? (Laughter)

The — but we’re looking — and we’ve heard from a number of very intelligent people. We have heard from a number of people that have had good investment records for — in recent years, and in some cases some time.

The biggest problem we have is whether they would scale up, because it’s a different job to run a hundred billion than it is to run a hundred million.

And incidentally — and you can’t do as well running a hundred billion as a hundred million, in terms of returns. You can’t come close to doing it. That doesn’t bother us.

But we do want to find somebody that we think can run large sums of money mildly better than the general performance in securities. And I emphasize mildly.

There’s no way in the world somebody’s going to beat the S&P by 10 percentage points a year with a hundred billion dollars. It isn’t going to happen.

But we think maybe we can find somebody or some group, several of them, that can maybe be a couple percentage points better, but we really are interested in being sure that we have somebody that, under conditions that people haven’t even seen yet, will not blow it.

You know, anything times zero is zero. And I don’t care how many wonderful figures are in between.

So we are looking for somebody that’s wired in a way that they see risks that other people don’t see that haven’t occurred, and they’re plenty cognizant of the risks that have occurred.

And those people are fairly rare. Charlie and I have seen a lot of very smart people go broke, or end up with very mediocre records where, you know, 99 out of the 100 things they did were intelligent but the hundredth did them in.

So our job is to filter through these hundreds and hundreds of applications, find a couple of them that we think can do the job who are much younger, perhaps give them a chunk — two, three, five billion — have them manage it for some time, have them manage it in the kind of securities that they would scale up to a larger portfolio because — and then either one or more of them will get the job turned over to them at some point.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. Our situation in looking for this help reminds me of an apocryphal tail about Mozart. And a young man of 25 or so once asked to see Mozart and he said, “I’m thinking of starting to write symphonies, and I’d like to get your advice.”

And Mozart said, “Well, you’re too young to write symphonies.” And the guy says, “But you were writing them when you were ten-years-old.” And Mozart says, “Yes, but I wasn’t asking anybody else for advice how to do it.” (Laughter.)

CHARLIE MUNGER: And so if you remind yourself of young Mozart, why, you’re the man for us.

WARREN BUFFETT: We will come up with, probably, a couple of people. And, you know, it’s — I’ve known people over the years.

I’ve been in the job before. I mean, in 1969 I wound up my partnership, and I had a lot of people that trusted me, and I wasn’t going to just mail the money back to them and, you know, say good-bye, because they would have been sort of adrift, most of them.

And so I had the job of finding somebody to replace me. And there were three absolutely stand-out candidates. Any one of the three would have been a great choice.

Charlie was one of them. Sandy Gottesman was one of them. And Bill Ruane was one of them.

Charlie wasn’t interested in having more partners.

Sandy was interested in individual accounts and took on the accounts of some of my partners and they were very, very happy and they’re still happy that he did it.

And Bill Ruane set up a separate mutual fund called Sequoia Fund to take care of all of the partners, whether they had small amounts or not. And he did a sensational job.

So I really identified three people in 1969 that were not only superior money managers, but that were also the kind that could never get you a terrible result and that were terrific stewards of capital.

Now, they were about my age at the time so it was a universe that I was familiar with, and now I have the problem that at — the people I know that are even close to my age, we don’t want anyway, and besides, most of them are already rich. They don’t care about having a job.

So I have to look into an age cohort where I don’t really know lots of people, but it can be done.

And like I say, we did it successfully with three people in 1969. And it was done successfully in 1979 with Lou Simpson for GEICO.

And I never knew Lou Simpson before I met him down at the airport here, and I spent a few hours with him, and it was clear that he was a steward of capital. He was going to get an above-average result, and there was no chance he was going to get a bad result.

And he’s been managing money for GEICO now for 28 years, roughly.

So it’s doable. It’s a little more work than I like to do. I’ve been kind of spoiled. But I’ll — I’ve got a job to do on it, and I’ll do it.

22. Buffett and Munger differ on climate change

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 4?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good morning. I’m Glen Strong (PH) from Canton, Ohio.

Please tell us where you stand on the global warming debate or where your managers at General Re stand.

In particular, perhaps you can give us your thoughts on the science of global warming and how serious you believe it is, and whether warming is actually more harmful than helpful. Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yep. Well, I believe the odds are good that it is serious. I’m not enough of a — I can’t say that with 100 percent certainty or 90 percent certainty, but I think that there’s enough evidence that it would be very foolish to say that it’s 100 percent certain or 90 percent certain that it isn’t a problem.

And since it’s — if it is a problem, it’s a problem that once it manifests itself to a very significant degree, it’s a little too late to do something about it.

In other words, you really have to build the ark before the rains come, in this case. I think if you make a mistake, in terms of a social decision, you should, what I call err, on the side of the planet.

In other words, you should build a margin of safety into your thinking about the future of the only planet we’ve got a hundred years from now.

So I think — I take it seriously. In terms of our own businesses, you mentioned General Re. Gen Re writes less — way less business — that would be subject to the annual increments in global warming that would have an effect on their results than the reinsurance division of National Indemnity, where we write far more of the catastrophe business.

It’s not going to affect, you know, in any measurable degree at all, you know, excess casualty insurance, property insurance. You’re thinking much more of whether it’s going to produce atmospheric changes that change materially the probabilities of really — of catastrophes, both their frequency and their intensity.

In my own mind, and in the minds of the people that run National Indemnity’s reinsurance division, we crank — we think the exposure goes up every year because of what’s going on in the atmosphere, even though we don’t understand very well what goes on in the atmosphere.

And the relationship between damage caused and the causal factors is not linear at all. I mean, it can be explosive.

So if temperatures in the waters of the Atlantic or something change by relatively small amounts, or what seem like small amounts, it could increase the expectable losses from a given hurricane season by a factor of two, three, four or five.

So we’re plenty cautious about it. It’s not something that keeps me up, in terms of our financial prospects, at all at Berkshire. But it’s something that I think every citizen ought to be very cognizant of and make a decision on.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, of course carbon dioxide is what plants eat. And so — and generally speaking, I think it’s a little more comfortable to have it a little warmer instead of a little colder. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: I hope you don’t get a chance to test that after death, Charlie. (Laughs)

CHARLIE MUNGER: It isn’t as though there’s a vast flood of people trying to move to North Dakota from southern California.

And so you’re talking about dislocation. It’s not at all clear to me that, net, it would be worse for mankind in general to have the planet a little hotter.

But the dislocations would cause agonies for a great many places, particularly those that would soon find themselves underwater.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. I was going to ask you. How do you feel about the sea level being 15 or 20 feet higher? (Laughs)

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, that’s very unfortunate, but — (Laughter)

Holland lives with what, 25 percent of the nation below sea level? With enough time and enough capital, why, these things can be adjusted, too.

I don’t think it’s an utter calamity for man that threatens the whole human race or anything like that. You know, you’d have to be a pot-smoking journalism student or something to — (Applause)

CHARLIE MUNGER: — believe that.

WARREN BUFFETT: We’re finally unleashing him, folks. (Laughter)

Well, we’ll continue to have people in charge of insurance who are plenty worried about global warming, I promise you.

But it — we don’t know — we do know that 2004 and 2005, there was a frequency, and more particularly, there was an intensity of hurricanes that would not be expected at all by looking at the previous century.

And we were spared — even though we had Katrina — we were spared what could have been a far worse case by a couple of Category Fives that didn’t hit the mainland.

So I do not regard Katrina as being anywhere near a worst-case scenario.

And, like I say, I don’t know whether — how much of — I don’t know whether the water is a half a degree or 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than 30 years ago, but I don’t know — and I don’t know all the factors that go into hurricanes.

I mean, I know that, obviously, the water temperature, you know, contributes to energy and all that sort. But there could be 50 variables.

All I know is, on balance, I think they’re probably getting more negative for us and I know we ought to be very careful about it. And I know that it would be crazy to write insurance in 2007 at the same rates that it was being written a few years ago, in relation to catastrophes.

And since we’re in the catastrophe business, that is something I think about, and the people that actually write the policies think about it as well. So it’s a factor with us.

23. Bank problems don’t mean China will collapse

WARREN BUFFETT: Five.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi. I’m John Golob from Kansas City.

I have a question about the Chinese economy. Some observers have suggested that the Chinese banking system looks a little like Japan back in the 1990s.

Are you concerned that China could experience similar disruptions as Japan in ’90 or is China possibly — with different institutions — possibly more resistant to economic disruptions?

WARREN BUFFETT: I would have to say I don’t know the answer to that. I mean, it’s a very interesting question. It’s a very important question.

But, you know, I didn’t necessarily understand what was going to happen in Japan before it happened, and my insight into Chinese banks is about zero.

We’ve been offered chances to buy into various Chinese banks and, again, because I don’t know anything about them, I pass. It’s no judgment that there’s anything bad.

It just means that sitting in Omaha, Nebraska, not knowing what some item of loans and advances — what composes it or anything about the real operation of the place — that I can make a decision whether it’s worth X, half of X, 2X, a quarter of X, I just don’t know.

And I really don’t know — I just have no notion as to the answer to your question, but maybe Charlie does.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, if you stop to think about it, all of the remarkable economic progress that we’ve seen in China in the last 15 years has been accompanied by practices in their government banks that would make you shutter if you compared them to normal banking standards.

So everything you see in terms of progress has occurred despite — the banks were almost doling out money for aid as distinguished from doing normal banking.

So I’d be very leery of predicting that that’s sure to cause a huge economic collapse in Japan — in China.

They’ve been doing it for a long time, and they may actually be getting better now.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. We’ve had our share of banking troubles in this country. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago in terms of the savings and loan crisis and all kinds of things.

And strong economies come through those things. So, you know, if ahead of time you’d seen all the problems with foreign loans that the commercial banks got into and all the problems with real estate loans that the savings and loans got into, you could have said, you know, it’s going to be terrible for the American economy, and it did produce a lot of dislocations and all of that.

But if you look at the regular American economy, it’s come through all kinds of financial crises with the real output per capita rising at a very substantial rate just decade after decade.

I don’t know what will happen in China, but I think it’s pretty amazing in terms of the gains that have been made.

And I think they’ll be — I think they’ll continue to be made, and I don’t know what will happen with the banking system, though.

24. Easy decision: stocks over bonds

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 6.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good morning, Warren and Charlie. My name is Frank Martin from Elkhart, Indiana. I’m a shareholder.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. You’ve written a good book too, Frank. (Laughs)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thanks, Warren. I’ll do my best to be succinct with this question. As you know, my long suit is not brevity in the written word.

Recently, I sequentially read everything that you and Charlie have written, or that has been written about you, since 1999, including your help wanted ad in the annual report, which sought not a Ted Williams, but the consummate defensive player in your forcefully worded quotations in last Monday’s Wall Street journal.

When contemplating the chronology, I sensed a gradual but unmistakable sea change in your perspective on the investment environment for marketable securities.

The intensification of your preoccupation with managing risk is conspicuous by its absence among the other biggest players at the margin — hedge funds, private equity, mutual funds — who are shamefully mute both about what are likely to be anemic prospective returns and the unconscionable risks assumed to achieve them, all the while charging a king’s ransom for such low value-added services.

When I give free rein to my intuition, the post-1999 Warren Buffett reminds me of the Warren Buffett of post-1969.

Back then, when Berkshire was a small fraction of its current size, you spoke of the difficulty in playing a game you did not understand, that there was little margin of safety in the equity markets in general.

You weren’t forecasting what in its own time became the bear market of ’73-’74, but you were surely intuitively aware of what [former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan] Greenspan years later has repeatedly warned: the inevitable day of reckoning that follows long periods of low equity risk premium.

Imagine yourself, if you are willing, cast overnight into a new role with a clean slate as head of the investment committee of a $10 billion pension fund.

Today, would your decisions reflect the same risk-averse mindset that dominated your behavior in the post-1969 period? And might you anticipate that following all of this might appear opportunities that were as mouthwatering as appeared in ’73-’74?

Please explain, and I hope Charlie will weigh in on the subject as well. Thank you.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah Frank, when I closed up to the partnership, if I’d had an endowment fund to run then, the prospective return — and actually, I wrote this in a letter to my partners that I’d be glad to send you a copy of — the prospective return — and I was looking at them as individuals on an after-tax basis — was about the same, I felt, from equities and from municipal bonds over the next decade, and it turned out to be more or less the case.

I would say that I do not regard that as being the same situation now. If I were managing a very large endowment fund, for one thing it would either be a hundred percent in stocks or a hundred percent in long bonds or a hundred percent in short-term bonds.

I mean, I don’t believe in layering things and saying I’m going to have 60 percent of this and 30 percent of that. Why do I have the 30 percent if I think the 60 percent makes more sense?

So — and if you told me I had to invest a fund for 20 years and I had a choice between buying the index, the 500, or a 20-year bond, you know, I would buy stocks.

You know, that doesn’t mean they won’t go down a lot. But if you — I would rather a have an equity investment — I wouldn’t rather have an equity investment where I paid a ton of money to somebody else that took my stock return down dramatically.

But simply buying an index fund for 20 years of equities or buying a 20-year bond, I would — it would not be a close decision with me.

I would buy the equities. I’d rather buy them cheaper, you know, but I’d rather buy the bond with a bigger yield, too. But in terms of what’s offered to me today, that’s the way I would come down.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. I don’t think that was the answer that was expected, but that’s the answer. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: It doesn’t have a thing to do with what we think stocks — we don’t think at all — but where stocks could be or bonds could be.

We don’t have the faintest idea where the S&P will be in three years, or where the long-term bond will be in three years, but we do know which we would rather own on a 20-year basis.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Warren, we’d also expect that the current scene will cause some real disruption, not too many years ahead.

WARREN BUFFETT: That’s true, but if you go back a hundred years, you could almost say that, you know, in almost any period, you will get disruptions from time to time, and it’s very nice if you have a lot of cash then and you have the guts to do something with it.

But predicting them or waiting around for them, that sort of thing, is not our game. And I mean, we bought $5 billion worth of equities in the first quarter, something like that.

And, you know, we don’t think they’re anything like — well, they aren’t — they’re not — it would be a joke to even compare them to 1974 or a whole bunch of other periods. But we decided we would rather have them than cash, or we would rather have them than sit around and hope that things get a lot cheaper.

We don’t spend a lot of time doing that. It — you can freeze yourself out indefinitely.

So any time we find something — what we think is intelligent to do, we just do it, and we hope we can do it big.

25. Buffett bought and sold silver early: “Other than that, a perfect trade”

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 7.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: My name is Nathan Narusis from Vancouver, Canada.

Mr. Buffett, Mr. Munger, my question concerns your previous silver bullion investment. I’m curious to hear more about why you sold when you did.

More specifically, whether you sold your bullion to the organizers of the silver exchange-traded fund in return for cash plus, perhaps, important noncash consideration in order to keep silver markets from either rising or falling sharply.

Thank you very much for anything you would care to share with us.

WARREN BUFFETT: I’m not sure who we sold it to, but whoever we sold it to was a lot smarter than I was. (Laughs)

I bought it too early. I sold it too early. Other than that, it was a perfect trade. (Laughter)

Charlie, do you have anything to add? Charlie had nothing to do with the silver decision, so that one falls entirely on me.

CHARLIE MUNGER: I think we demonstrated how much we know about silver.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. (Laughter)

The very fact you asked us a question on silver flatters us because nobody asks us about silver anymore. (Laughs)

But we’ll come up with something else at some point.

You know, the last part of your question, there was a small implication, I think, of perhaps a silver conspiracy.

We — as soon as we started — it got known that we bought silver, we started getting all these letters in the mail from people who had all these different theories about the fact that hedging was killing things or these kind of traders were doing something.

In the end, silver responds as supply and demand just like oil responds to supply and demand. Oil is — the price of oil at 60 or $65 is not a product of a bunch of oil executives conspiring or anything of the sort. It’s supply and demand on a huge commodity.

Silver is a small commodity, but on any kind of commodity like that, supply and demand is what determines prices over time. Although the Hunt brothers, I must admit, for a short period there, in a few years, managed to change the equation and they forever wished they hadn’t.

26. Why Buffett “outsourced” his philanthropy

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 8.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello, Mr. Buffett. Eben Pagan, Santa Monica, California.

You seem amazing at keeping your composure in tough situations. I would be very interested to know what your thought process was when you were in that incredibly stressful situation, you knew the world was watching, and you went head-to-head with LeBron James. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: The game was rigged. (Laughter)

He was the one that had a problem. (Laughs)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: What I’d really like to know is, I’m a real big fan of you and Mr. Gates and your philosophy of channeling all the value you’ve created back into the world.

And I have a successful business, and I’d like to do the same, but maybe in 20 or 30 or 40 years, and with a time horizon like that, I’d love to know what advice you’d give someone like me.

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, there’s nothing wrong with your time horizon, in my view, as long as you’re going — as long as you plan to give it back, I mean, A) the decision is yours entirely, anyway, whether you want to do it.

But assuming you want to give it back, or give it to society in some way, if you’re compounding your money at a rate greater than people generally do, you are, in effect, an endowment fund for society.

And, you know, all kinds of organizations in the nonprofit area have endowment funds, and they think it’s wise to have it, and they do that in order to get standard returns, usually.

And if you can compound it more and you’re going to give it back later on, let someone else take care of current giving, and you can take care of giving in 20 or 30 years. But, you know, I regard that as a personal decision.

I always felt that I would compound money at a rate higher than average, and it would have been foolish to give away a significant portion of my capital to somebody who would spend it within, you know, months, when there could be a really much larger amount later on.

And, on the other hand, the time had come, I’d really thought my wife would be doing that, and when that didn’t work out, the time had come to do something with it.

And, fortunately, I had some great options available, and I get to keep on doing what I love doing and I let some — I farm out all the work.

But, you know, when my wife had a baby, we hired an obstetrician. I didn’t try and do it myself. I mean, when a tooth hurts, you know, I don’t have Charlie fix it. I go to a dentist.

So when I have money to give away, I believe in turning it over to people who are — and I’ve got five different organizations, including my three kids — and I believe in turning it over to people who are energized, working hard at it, smart, you know, doing it with their own money, the whole thing.

And I get to keep doing what I like doing. So as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t given away a penny.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I think it’s wonderful for the shareholders that somebody else is giving away the money. (Laughter)

I tell you, if all Warren wanted to talk about was interfacing with applicants for donations, we would have a different life. And we wouldn’t be very well adapted to it, either.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. You know, actually on the smaller ones I send them all to my sister Doris, and she does a great job with it, and enjoys it, spends lots of time on it, good at it, and I’m glad she does it and I don’t.

You know, the truth is, I haven’t given away anything in a practical matter. I have everything in life I want. You know, there’s no way I can sleep better, I can eat better. Other people might think I could eat better. (Laughter)

I haven’t given up anything.

Now, if you think about it, you know, somebody that gives up having an evening out, somebody that, you know, gives up their time working on something, somebody that doesn’t take their kids to Disneyland this year because they’ve, you know, they’ve given the money instead to their church, I mean, those people are changing their lives in some way with what they give.

I haven’t changed my life at all. I don’t want to change my life. I’m having a lot of fun doing what I do. And, you know, it’s just a bunch of stock certificates that one way or another they’re going to go someplace.

And what I really want to do is keep doing what I enjoy doing, and feel that the claim checks that I accumulate that comes about for this, are going to get used effectively for the same general purposes that I would want to use them for if I really had the energy and the interest in doing the job myself.

But somebody else can keep doing the work.

27. You can always earn big returns with small amounts of money

WARREN BUFFETT: Number 9.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi. I’m Eric Schline (PH) from Larchmont, New York.

My question is directed at Mr. Buffett. Mr. Buffett, you claim you can do 50 percent a year.

If you had to start over with a small portfolio, would you still be doing buy and hold, buying quality companies at a good price, or would you be doing arbitrage and really getting down to the nitty-gritty Benjamin Graham cigar butts that you did in the Buffett Partnership?

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. If I were working with a very small sum — and you should all hope I’m not — (laughs) — if I were working with a very small sum, I would be doing entirely — almost entirely — different things than I do.

I mean, there’s — your universe expands. I mean, if you’re looking, there’s thousands and thousands and thousands of times as many options to think about if you’re investing $10,000 than if you’re investing a hundred billion.

And, obviously, if you have that many — you’ve got all the options you got with a hundred billion, except buying entire businesses, and you’ve got all of these other options.

So you can earn very high returns with very small amounts of money, and it will always be such.

I don’t mean that everybody can do it, but if you know something about values and investments, you will find opportunities with small sums, and it will not be with a portfolio that Berkshire itself owns.

We can’t earn phenomenal returns putting 3 billion, 4 billion, 5 billion in a stock. It won’t work that way. It won’t even come close to working that way.

But if Charlie or I were in a position of working with a million dollars or $500,000 or 2 million, we would find little things here and there — and it wouldn’t always be stocks — where we would earn very high returns on capital.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. But it’s — there’s no point our thinking about that now. (Laughter)

WARREN BUFFETT: But he’s thinking about it, Charlie. (Laughter)

28. Subprime mortgage defaults won’t be “huge anchor”

WARREN BUFFETT: OK. We’ll take one more, and then we will go to lunch and then we’ll — after that we’ll come back. So we’ll go to number 10 now.

Is the microphone open on 10?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello? Hello?

WARREN BUFFETT: Do we have a problem here?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Warren and Charlie, my question is, what’s your opinion regarding the subprime market relative to the foreign national market?

CHARLIE MUNGER: We can’t hear that.

WARREN BUFFETT: We can’t hear that.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: What’s your opinion regarding the subprime market relative to the foreign national market? Sorry. My name is Calvin Chong (PH). I’m from New York.

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, the subprime market, encouraged by both lenders, intermediaries, and borrowers themselves, resulted in a lot of people buying a lot of houses that they really didn’t want to own or that they can’t make payments on for once the normal payments were required.

And the people, the institutions, in some cases the intermediaries, are going to suffer in various degrees.

Now, the question is whether it spills over and starts affecting the general economy to a big degree, and I would — my guess would be — it’s quite severe some places.

But my guess would be that if unemployment doesn’t rise significantly, and interest rates don’t move up dramatically, that it will be a — it will be a very big problem for those involved, and some people are very involved. Some institutions are very involved.

But I don’t see it — I think it’s unlikely that that factor alone triggers anything of a massive nature in the general economy.

I think it — you know, I’ve looked at several financial institutions. I’ve looked at their 10-Qs and 10-Ks, and I’ve seen that a very high percentage of the loans they made in the last few years allowed people to make very tiny payments on the mortgages, but, of course, those subnormal payments increased principal so that they had to make above average payments later on at some point.

And I think that’s dumb lending, and I think it’s dumb borrowing, because somebody that can only make 20 or 30 percent of their normal mortgage payments the first year is very unlikely to be able to make 110 percent of their normal mortgage payments a few years later.

Those people and those institutions were largely betting on the fact that house prices would just keep going up, and it really didn’t make any difference whether they could make the payments.

And that worked for a while until it didn’t work. And when it doesn’t work, you have an abnormal supply of housing coming on the market, similar to what happened in manufactured housing, the business we’re in, six or seven years ago, and that changes the whole equation.

From people on the demand side, you no longer have people thinking they’re buying something that’s bound to go up, and then you have the supply coming on from the people who were anticipating that before and really don’t want to hold the asset unless it’s going to go up.

So you’ll see plenty of misery in that field. You’ve already seen some. And I don’t think — I don’t think it’s going to be any huge anchor to the economy.

Charlie?

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. A lot of what went on was a combination of sin and folly, and a lot of it happened because the accountants allowed the lending institutions to show profits on loans where nobody in his right mind would have showed any profit until the loan had matured into a better condition.

And, once again, if the accountants lay down on their basic job, why, huge excess and folly is going to come inevitably, and that happened here.

The national experience with low-interest starter home loans to what I would call the deserving poor, has been very good. But the minute you pay a bunch of people high commissions to make loans to the undeserving poor, or the overstretched rich, you can get loan losses that are staggering.

And I don’t see how the people did it and still shaved in the morning, because looking back at them was a face that was evil and stupid.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. (Applause)

WARREN BUFFETT: You’ve seen some very interesting figures in the last few months on the number — on the percentage — of loans where people didn’t even make the first or second payment. And there’s really — that shouldn’t happen.

That happened, incidentally — you had a prelude to this in the manufactured housing industry.

I mean, in the late 1990s — and securitization accentuated the problem, because once you had somebody in Grand Island, Nebraska, selling a mobile home — or a manufactured home — to someone and they needed a $3,000 down payment and the salesman was going to get a $6,000 commission, believe me, you start getting some very strange things going on.

Now, if the person doing that had to borrow the money in Grand Island, the chances are the local banker would have seen what was happening and said, you know, we don’t want any of this where the salesman fakes the down payment and all that.

But once you just package those things and securitize them so they get sold through major investment banking houses and sliced up in various tranches and so on, you know, the old — the discipline leaves the system.

And securitization really accentuates that, and we have had that in subprime loans, just as we had it in manufactured housing six or seven years ago.

And, like I say, that has not all worked its way through the system, but I don’t think it’s going to cause huge troubles.

Now, we do see certain areas of the country where it will be at least a couple of years before real estate recovers.

I mean, the overhang is huge compared to normal monthly volume in certain sections. And the people that were counting on flipping things there are going to get flipped, but in a different way.