WINNER: Twila Tanner (Vanuatu - 2nd)

and it wasnt even fucking close
u/SMC0629:
Twila is an excellent character, full-stop. Although I used to have her slightly character, I never stopped loving her. She's got an excellent personality, she doesn't take shit from anyone, and her dominant run in the post-merge is so entertaining. The true centerpiece of her character is when it all comes back to bite her in the end, as she's basically torn apart by the jury. It's honestly heartbreaking, even if she takes it well, but it's still a great downfall to her character.
~
u/DryBonesKing:
Which casting director found Twila? And which producer decided to go forward with her specifically on a gender divided season? I hope everyone involved in this decision is set for life! Twila is probably always guaranteed to be a perfect casting choice every time she’s cast, but in Vanuatu, she provides so much amazing content. Like, I don’t even know where to start on this; her relationship with Scout, her feud with Elizas, the dynamic between her and Ami, her friendship with Sarge that she promptly destroyed, everything about her relationship with Chris… I could go on. Honest to god, if I were doing her writeup, I’d be concerned it would not end. She might be one of the densest characters in Survivor history when it comes to meaningful content to discuss.
For the sake of these little “condensed” write-ups, I suppose it’s mostly fitting to just focus in on the moral dilemmas she faced when it came to swearing on her son. Twila’s story could probably be best described as Faustian as she digs herself multiple holes for the bodies of the Vanuatu castaways she ruthlessly slaughters on her quest for a million dollars, only to realize she had actually been digging her own grave alongside it. Twila really helps sell the idea that the road to hell is paved in good intentions, as you truly leave the season understanding why she did everything she did for her son, but also completely understand why nearly the whole jury – from Sarge to Leann to Eliza – just want to watch her suffer.
Vanuatu is actually my mother’s favorite season and the dynamic between both Twila and Scout is my Mom’s personal favorite. One of our favorite moments in Survivor history occurs right before Final Tribal Council when Chris and Twila are laying in the hammock and it just snaps on them. And then it cuts to Twila just belly-laughing the most genuine, sincerest laugh. After literally going through hell, and right before the hell gets worse, Twila is just shown smiling and laughing and relaxing, and it’s probably one of the single most endearing moments in the show’s history. Twila has a credible claim to the most tragic tale in the show’s history, and I will always love her forever for it. Even though she is only my number five of all time, I am fully expecting her to win this Rankdown, and I’ll be very very sad if she doesn’t. Cause goddammit, she deserves it.
Overall Rank – 5/821
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u/Tommyroxs45:
Twila is a huge badass and absolutely drives so much of the conflict that Vanuatu is known for. She’s is an incredibly entertaining character and never misses with her fights with people like Mia or Eliza, which also really culminate into a great story and a downfall for Twila.
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u/Regnisyak1:
Twila, Twila, Twila. A beautiful story on Vanuatu, she quickly becomes the heart and soul of the season, with her attitude on the season and the complexity around her storyline in bonding with the women on the tribe. She was never able to fit in, so her flip felt powerful and tragic for the women on the tribe, creating a tense endgame. However, Twila and her status as a villain is centralized by the concept of her swearing on her son’s life and it affects her entire game. “I Swear” effectively ruined Twila’s game, but also her character and how people perceive her, and watching her realize she lost the million dollars over such a critical mistake leads to one of the most fascinating FTC performances.
Personal Rank: 3/821. 10/10
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u/ninjedi1:
The real queen of Survivor! Twila is clearly one of the best character's on Survivor, and is the best part of Vanautu. Her not really connecting with the women on her tribe which causes the divide, her bonding with the men at the swap only to jump ship at merge to vote with the women, and then burning them later down the line after swearing on her son, all iconic. Then her FTC is so good to watch as she has to come to terms with what she's done with the game. Twila's whole story that season is just a roller coaster I never want to get off of!
~~~~~
u/Zanthosus:
Twila is one of a kind in the best way possible. I absolutely adore everything about her. She’s one of very few “perfect” characters in the show’s history that I can really point to. There’s no part of her story that leaves me wanting or disappointed. It’s an excellently crafted narrative built around an endlessly intriguing person who is my favorite runner-up in the history of the show. And for me, the thing that really makes her stand out above so many others is the way she’s unabashedly and unapologetically herself the entire time. All too often on Survivor, you see people putting on a mask or an act. And that can be fun in its own right from time to time, but Twila is genuine through and through and she’s all the better for it in my opinion.
Twila’s personality really drives conflict throughout her Survivor journey. We see this early on in the way you’d expect. She’s a hard worker who wants to get everything done right away while most of the rest of her tribe would rather spend the first day or two resting. This isn’t anything groundbreaking. Even at this point in the show, this is pretty standard early game conflict. But it is indicative of the kind of person that Twila is, and it sets a good baseline for how she plans to play the game. That being to her own tune; she’s not playing for anyone but herself. And during these early episodes on Yasur, Twila ends up in many spats with her tribemates. Notable examples are Dolly, Mia, and of course Eliza. These “sorority girls” as she calls them get on her nerves like nothing else. These conflicts are, again, pretty standard Survivor faire. Don’t get me wrong, they’re entertaining. But it’s nothing revolutionary. In fact, that’s how I’d describe the pre-merge of Vanuatu as a whole. Good, but not particularly remarkable in any significant way. But once the merge hits, all hell breaks loose. And this is where Twila really steps into her own and becomes one of the best characters in the history of the show.
After the swap, Twila had gotten a chance to bond with a few of the guys, namely Chris and Sarge. They had bonded fairly deeply on Lopevi and had gotten close. So when the time comes for her to choose a side at Alinta inaugural tribal, she sides with the women and takes out Rory. It’s this decision that sends shockwaves through most of the cast. The men are distraught that the person they thought they could trust just betrayed them. Meanwhile many of the women are surprised that Twila is even still interested in working with them after the time she spent on Lopevi. In fact, aside from Scout and Ami, she shocks everyone with this decision. And it’s this choice that kick starts her journey through the post-merge.
The fallout from the Rory vote is incredibly TV. There’s really no other way to put it. Seeing Twila butting heads with the likes of Chris and Sarge, two people she got so close with before, is incredibly engaging. And it doesn’t bubble over into anger or rage, but rather disappointment. Seeing these two guys express sadness and wishing for what could have been with Twila as part of their numbers is a legitimately interesting thing to see unfold and it helps to add layers to both of these men that we otherwise wouldn’t have gotten the chance to see. And its in these moments that we get a bit of insight as to how Twila sees the game. She’s not letting her emotions get in the way of what she believes that she needs to do in order to make it further. In stark contrast to the older women archetype you’d expect like T-Bird or Trish Hegarty, she’s willing to make the tough decisions if it means she survives another day. Maybe the best comparison would be to Sandra and her “anyone but me” mentality, but even then Twila takes a comparatively much more hands-on and active role during the season.
Because even despite Sarge and her taking a moment to reconnect a bit, and him reiterating that he wants her as part of his and Chris’s final four alliance, Twila sticks to her guns and takes him out, continuing the Pagonging of the men. At this point, Chris has largely given up hope of repairing the bridge that Twila burned, and instead finds himself scrambling, doing whatever he can to just not be the next casualty. Whether that’s winning immunity for himself, or making another player seem like a juicier target. And initially, this isn’t too much of a tall task for him. Chad is a fairly obvious next choice for elimination. But after that, he’s the sitting duck as the final man on the island. He’s a prime candidate for an easy vote. But Twila sees an opportunity there where others don’t. You see, even despite working with the women during the post-merge, she still hasn’t been getting along all that well with either Ami or Eliza. As a result, she’s interested in making sure they’re the next two eliminated. After all, Chris is an easy vote down the line. He can just be taken out at any point that’s convenient. But Ami? She’s dangerous. She has power in the game and has started to catch wind of Twila’s distrust of her. So the solution? Ami needs to be taken down a peg. However instead of actually going all the way and taking out Ami herself, they decide to target her right-hand-woman, Leann. To Chris, this accomplishes the same thing. He’s still in the game. But for Twila, this really doesn’t accomplish what she had hoped it would.
The fallout from the Rory vote was impactful and a wake up call to much of the cast. The fallout from Leann’s elimination though is a whole other beast in and of itself. Immediately, of course, there’s the fight that occurs between Ami and Twila back at camp. But in a more broad perspective, this is showing to both the jury and her tribesmates that she’s not afraid to cut throats and burn bridges if it means getting her way. Her loyalty lasts for as long as it’s convenient for her, and that’s a scary proposition for those sitting beside her and an unflattering look to those on the jury. “You’ve been had. Get over it. Screw you.” is a quote that particularly sticks out to me, both as a hilarious quip out of context, but also in showing how Twila’s character has stayed congruent to how we saw her even at the start of the game. It’s astonishing how brazenly herself she is willing to be, even to the detriment of her own game. Maybe even more unbelievable though is how she fails to see how with every decision and statement like this, her already miniscule chances of winning dwindle more and more. Swearing on her son’s life in particular puts her in the bad graces of everyone once she breaks that promise, and that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
And I know that this is where many detractors of Twila point to when explaining why she doesn’t work for them. “She’s way too mean-spirited and negative” is one that I hear most often as a point against her. And I do understand where that is coming from. One of my earliest writeups was talking about how Corinne’s ceaseless negativity in Gabon makes her insufferable to me. So I get why that would be a deal breaker in theory. But when it comes to Twila herself, there’s something so authentic about her that players like Corinne never manage to replicate. Twila is making these choices to further her game, and that is in line with not just her established motivations and personality, but it builds upon what we already know about her in ways that we’d otherwise be unlikely to see. Meanwhile with Corinne, it feels like she’s being cruel and nasty for the sake of it in a desperate attempt to get more screen time. So while I understand and can empathize to an extent with those who don’t find Twila to be as amazing a character as I do, I simply can’t agree. Because when all is said and done, Twila’s story is a masterpiece. And the magnum opus is the final five of Vanuatu.
Everything immediately after the Ami elimination is utter chaos. Twila and Eliza are constantly at each other’s throats, with Julie frequently joining Eliza in ridiculing and insulting Twila. Meanwhile, Chris is adamant on keeping the bond between himself, Scout, and Twila strong and steady, as that’s his only real option forward. Even if Eliza would be willing to work with him for one vote to take out Twila, he’s certain she'd immediately flip on him and take him out at four instead. After Eliza wins an important immunity, Chris decides that there’s value in letting chaos continue at camp and opts to vote for Julie, resulting in her elimination.
This final four is so fucking funny when you really think about it. You have Chris, the final guy who, realistically, should have been gone ages ago but has survived due to the women being at each other's' throats at every turn. Then there’s Eliza, the one who is seen as wholly undeserving of having even made it that far. Scout is perhaps the least intriguing of the bunch, though she herself isn’t very respected by most of the cast due to her general hands-off approach and seemingly apathetic attitude towards the game. And then there’s Twila. The one who nobody truly wants to win. Someone who has burned just about every bridge possible because she’s going to play the way she deems necessary. To those sitting on the jury, this is the worst case scenario. And it’s only going to get crazier. Because that beef between Eliza and Twila? It’s not stopping any time soon! The finale may be the crescendo of the rivalry between the two of them, but nothing truly gets resolved. By the end, they still hate each other's' guts, and that bitterness will carry into the FTC.
But before that, Twila has one last bridge to burn. You see, she wins the final immunity challenge and thus has the ability to choose whether she wants to take Scout, her constant ally throughout the game. Even if she couldn’t count on anyone else, she knew that Scout would have her back. Or, she could choose Chris. Someone that, if you asked any of the women, should have already been gone over a week ago. Someone who survived due to his ability to build relationships and keep in peoples’ good graces while Twila actively chose to do the opposite. It’s one of the starkest juxtapositions between two finalists we’ve maybe ever seen. Not just in how they got to the end, but in how their performances at FTC are so starkly different. Twila is still her same blunt self, not caring if what she says hurts feelings. She’s going to tell it as it is, and if you don’t like it, then that’s your problem. But with Chris, he’s willing to tell people exactly what they want to hear. He’ll lie to them and butter them up if it means it gives him a better chance to win. He uses those relationships he built, the very same ones that Twila refused to forge, to defeat her in a 5-2 vote. This FTC is a perfect encapsulation of Twila’s story this season. Vanuatu is a season that I have a lot of love for. The post-merge is damn near perfect, and Twila holds so much responsibility as for why that is. She’s one of few perfect characters, and is well deserving of a spot in endgame.
Well, there it is. My final writeup for Survivor Rankdown VIII. Not gonna lie, I’m kinda burnt out, but this was one hell of a fun ride. And what better way to cap off this incredible experience than one final love letter to one of my favorite characters of all time. Even through all the ups and downs of this rankdown, I had an absolute blast taking part in it. Thank you to everyone who has followed this experience and cheered us on throughout. It wouldn’t be the same without you. Love and cheers to you all!
SMC0629: 2
DryBonesKing: 5
Zanthosus: 7
Tommyroxs45: 4
Regnisyak1: 3
DavidW1208: 3
ninjedi1: 4
Average Placement: 4.000
Total Points: 28
Standard Deviation: 1.633 (Lowest)

I have wanted to start my own service based agency for quite some time, and I have serious confidence issues when I’m starting something new - let alone get paid for it.
So I took up a Google Digital Marketing & E-Commerce Specialization on Coursera [7 course series], and it’s almost finished. It taught me a whole lot of how Digital Marketing works, but I still feel a lack of real world expertise such as running ads, hiring contractors, agency operations etc. For context my background is in filmmaking (directing and shooting videos, films, music videos etc)
No finger pointing here but I’ve gone through some “$MM@ Gurus” online - they start with some mindset fluff, tell you how and why the agency model works, then straight up tell you to find clients - but wtf am I supposed to do once I do get a lead? How do I deliver a service worthy of MRR? It just feels like a disingenuous way to start and frankly disrespectful to actual agency owners.
I feel like no matter how much I look up how to run a digital marketing agency, there’s a big empty void - an elephant in the room waiting to be addressed. What are some potential paths for me to follow?
Some that came to my mind, feel free to add your own:

• Get an internship locally, wouldn't be paid but might get me the confidence
• Try getting a job, absolutely terrible pay but might get me real experience
• Do another Google Project Management Specialization (Coursera), along with my Digital Marketing one it might help me land a better role at some company
• Learn how to run PPC Ads myself and work as a contractor for some other agency owner
• I don't need to learn the technical aspects of running ads myself, as I will be delegating it to a contractor anyways, and just suck it up and try finding clients (after obv figuring out my niche, service delivery, and creating an offer)
• Get a remote video editing job with a decent pay, and think about building an agency around that business (will have to sell my phone & camera to get myself a decent editing rig)

I am also in a very terrible financial situation right now. My bank balance+wallet collectively have $22 - some personal/family problems came up and I'm left in a very bad spot. So I'm thinking I just try getting a job, learn on my own on the side, and save up - although I wouldn't be saving up anything with local jobs here, they would pay around $100-$250 per month. I'm a 27m and the pressure to earn and be financially stable quickly is increasing exponentially by the day.
Super confused. Because I am aware if I start earning online (in USD or whatever), it would be significantly more anyways, I just don't know how to go about it.
P.S. I might get super downvoted for even thinking this, but I also thought of doing a local job, saving up, and getting into one of these online "how to run your agency" programs. Thought it would be a fast-paced get-you-up-to-speed kinda deal.

Ok, so next week I'm directing a game of Mouse Guard and I'm really excited.
I have the 1st Edition Book (in spanish), and I have several questions:

• When you are answering the questions to calculate your Nature... Do you write down the answers? Are they relevant later?
• Does each answer grant you the related trait? (Because I read in some other place that it did, but my book seems to imply otherwise)
• If not, where does Traits come from?
• In the "Resolution" chapter, speaks of weapons and armor, though I can not find which armor and weapons each mouse start's with, or what does it costs, or which can you pick.
• Does being a tenderpaw grant any basic skill (beside those you can chose). Again, I think I'm confused because I read in another source that you did.
• When I ask my players to create a mouse each, I understand that the startuing party should be a Leader, a couple guards and a tenderpaw, is this right? Coming from D&D it's a little weird to me that each players beggins at different level.
• I'm goin to create a quest, I was thinking starting at Spring, doing something easy like carrying the mail, maybe being challenged by light snow, and then some kind of animal. Is this OK? any advice?

Im about to turn 21 in a month and i have no job, no money, no reliable parents or family members that are immediate, and no advice on life. Im trying to join the army but i have to get a job to pay off a dui i got when i was 19, but it seems like no one hires me. I look around at all my friends and family and see them in college or working a good job and i want that so bad, to be successful. I was in college at 19 for welding but living on my own and trying to go to school for 8 hours wasnt working so i lived with my older sister and she told me i wouldnt have to worry about paying bills or anything like that and to just go to school, then after i was about to graduate she up and kicked me out for no reason, and so i had to quit school to try and afford bills. I want to join the army and try to go back to school because i do enjoy welding and it pays fairly well, but if it doesnt work out im not going to be upset, ive kind of learned from being did dirty so many times that i can just kind of flip my emotions off. I used to cry and get angry when i didnt acheive or get something i wanted badly but now if like my lights turned off tomorrow, no electricity, i wouldnt cry i just kind of would accept it and feel nothing. Ive learned not to expect anything from life. I would have money because before my adoptive dad passed he left me life insurance money (up to 50k) and my older sister was the executor of it since i was 17 at the time. She was doing drugs behind closed doors and ran off with all the money that was left to me. She knows i dont have the money to hire a lawyer or PI to investigate, and it just feels like every direction i try to take to stem away from drugs ends up failing its like life is wanting me to do drugs and follow the path of my birth mom and dad and both my sisters and to do drugs and not be successful. (Ive never done drugs btw)

Have a dual economy, with private ownership of businesses allowed for most business types. Only centralize those industries that are heavily R&D dependent or benefit heavily from economies of scale, like heavy industry or provide necessary services like Health, Fire, Police, and Utilities. Empower co-ops by creating a legal framework through which employees can force a buyout of the company they work for. Provide no legal framework at all for the existence of corporations or stocks. Possibly apply restrictions to discourage formation of private equity firms and/or robber baron moguls.
Prescriptive instead of Descriptive legal and regulatory system. Basically, instead of laws telling you what you can and cannot do, the law follows a 'prescriptive' approach. Primarily with a "Do no harm" philosophy, and only prosecute when Harm occurs. No more making things illegal because they COULD result in harm. A legal system that puts faith in the individual to be mindful of their actions. But also a legal system that comes down hard on those who are reckless or unconcerned with the harm they do to others. That is, more severe punishments to balance the more permissive legal environment. Furthermore, greater discretion is given to the judges to decide punishments.
Have the legal/economic system mostly focused at the local level, with many smaller districts/neighborhoods with their own local judges and magistrates who can arbitrate issues and provide more timely judgement on local/minor crime. Respects biases, but does not allow 'life destruction' to enforce them. That is, local communities can engage in discrimination (such as denial of service) to maintain 'local character' but cannot resort to severe punishments like imprisonment or asset confiscations. If a community is found to be doing this, a federal court can intervene, undoing damages and collecting reparations.
While countering corporate corruption is easy, by simply not allowing/respecting the existence of corporations dealing with exploitative forms of private ownership is more difficult. While I believe private ownership must be an aspect of any truly anarchist economy that respects the individual, there needs to be placed certain limits to prevent malignant growth that harms the greater society.
I believe allowing the formation of unions and buyouts will do a great deal of the work, there could be further systems implemented.
Idea 1: progressive tax rate that becomes steeper the larger a private organization grows. A private organization can get out of these tax penalties by offering to sell to their employees, convert to a non-profit structure, or in certain cases sell to the state. Also perhaps tax breaks for forming/having a union in situations where the employees reject purchasing the company.
Idea 2: limit number of businesses a single person can own and/or apply antitrust principles to prevent monopolistic acquisitions. Likewise limit the ability for a business to own other businesses.
The Investment issue: Investment and start up capital are an important aspect of growing an economy. With the disallowment of Corporations and stocks there is little incentive for rich individuals to provide money to new companies and ideas. While Entrepreneurial Socialism has a systematized organization to handle this a Anarcho Communist state in the interest of maintaining as small a government as possible would not. While the state would primarily oversee the expansion of those areas it has direct control of, that is heavy industry and necessary services it would not be able to assist the development of other areas of the economy.
As such I believe a very healthy environment for banks and especially credit unions needs to be established. Where Entrepreneurial Socialism would nationalize banking, Anarcho Communist economies would have to rely on private banking and other forms of lending. Local governments could also provide lending at their local post offices.
It follows then that Debt would need to be handled in a way that both does not discourage banking but does not allow predation of the poor and unfortunate.
First and foremost those under pre defined income thresholds should be immune to asset seizure/wage garnishment. This would follow under the Do No Harm statute. Furthermore the usage of courts to badger plaintiffs (of any type, not just debtors) should be prevented. That is a limit on how frequently a person can be brought in to court to inquire about their assets/income.
On the other hand, the scope that debt holders have against debtors should be expanded for those with the ability to pay. Unfortunately this falls outside my areas of knowledge so I would need to leave it to someone else to figure out.
Taxes: I'm partial to the concept of the "revenue tax" that instead of taxing downstream forms of income, like wages or profits, taxes wealth at the point of creation. Of course, revenue tax rates would need to be small, as they cannot account for expenses. For instance, if a companies revenue and expenses equal out, a revenue tax could send a company into a loss whereas income or profit tax would not. Obviously exceptions and exemptions could be built in to alleviate this issue. Like simply not require taxes be paid if it would cause a loss, though perhaps with a time limit to prevent abuse. Non-profits would need a different tax model applied to them by default. More then likely some form of flat tax or sales tax.
Anyway Im tired, I'll work on this more later.

Earliest rumor from 2021.
Second rumor from a supposed random play tester. Posted in the Summer of 2022, but there is no mention of when the playtest itself occurred.
Third rumor from a now deleted username who believes to have taken a survey in Fall of 2022.
Fun fact: the working title for the game was at one point Life is Strange: Aperture, and Max's power was tied to her camera viewfinder.
Everything points to the same setting, plot, and power that the trailer has shown, but the matter of Chloe's fate is still up in the air. One rumor indicates that she will return depending on your choices from the first game. I find this to be the most likely, since Life is Strange 2 did something similar by having a short questionnaire at the beginning of the game.
Max is confirmed to be a "photographer-in-residence at the prestigious Caledon University," so the initial leaks about her occupation as a photography professor were pretty close.
One rumor mentions that for the first time, we might see more than one character with powers. This sounds very interesting. In each LiS game, we follow just one person with powers that seem to be tied to a traumatic event, so I'm curious to see if/how this is explored in Double Exposure.
A few other things are still unconfirmed. Talk of a possible expansion. Mentions of a customizable room or apartment, potentially with microtransactions like furniture, outfits and seasonal items. Also mentioned was a side quest that allows you to adopt a cat.
There is a gameplay reveal on July 13 so we should have more info soon.

So I’ve been eyeing up the game for the last couple of weeks and decide to get it since I didn’t have much to do. I loved it, it felt fairly balanced although by the end of the game the difficulty went down rather than up. I think having so many healing items made it a bit too easy.
I loved the visuals, the gameplay loop, the exploration and the story. I’m a bit frustrated that I didn’t go in a set order since I didn’t feel very connected to the charecters because I just wandered of in any other direction then where I was meant to go.
The only negative I have is the map, just let me zoom in/out and then maybe a full world map for good measure.
Anyway this was a great time, will play again eventually!

Would love some practical advice on how to get ourselves to adulting levels of personal financial management coming late to the game ..it is a long backstory: married (41, husband 43). I was self-employed for 13 years until I went back to school 5 years ago, he has been self-employed for the last 10 years.
We have three kids: ages 15 (shared custody with no child support) in public high school entering 10th grade, age 8 in private school entering 2nd grade has learning disabilities and will need additional support indefinitely and 2.5 in preschool full time, will probably have similar challenges to his older sibling. Our youngest two are adopted from foster care and we receive a monthly non-taxable stipend from the county (total of about $2,800 combined) to support them, 100% of which currently goes to daycare/tuition.
We rented for 17 years in a rent controlled apartment and because our expenses were low and we weren't extravagant spenders, had decent savings but never put much toward retirement or invested it due to distrust with and being unclear on how to even get into the whole thing. We used some of our savings for me to go to graduate school, but I was also lucky and received a ton of scholarships so when I graduated 2 years ago, we had replenished our savings and I had only $20k in student loan debt which we had taken out at the beginning of the pandemic being unsure what would happen with my husband's work, and then held onto while the interest was frozen.
Because of the littlest kid, who was a surprise addition to our family (long story, he's the biological sibling of our middle kid), we realized we couldn't continue to remain in our small 2 bedroom apartment with 3 kids and we couldn't leave our current area due to the shared custody situation of our oldest kid. We are in the SF bay area so our housing expenses are astronomical, when looking at market rate rent, we realized it probably made more sense to buy though we didn't have the down payment to buy on our own so we bought a house last year with the support of my parents. It totally wiped out every last penny of our savings to do this, including $10k from our 401k, and we had to use the $20k student loan we'd been holding onto because house buying is always more expensive than they initially tell you it will be. We own approximately 40% of the house and my parents own 60%. We pay 100% of all property taxes, maintenance, etc.
I am now in health care. I completed a one year fellowship following graduation which was low paying but made me more desirable for future jobs and completed that 8 months ago. For the last 7 months I've been in a new job and I am now making $212K per year, our benefits are completely employer paid. Our two youngest children are covered until adulthood by state health insurance. My husband grosses about $110k per year with his small business, filing schedule C, it hasn't seemed to make sense in prior years to make him an S-corp or LLC because of the additional expenses and payroll needs but maybe it's time? We are aggressively paying off my student loan over 12 months before the subsidized interest runs out (based on my income of the previous year, we have $0 monthly payments and interest is subsidized so we are accruing no interest on the loan currently but it will start to amass in October, by which time the loan should be paid off). We try to be liberal in deductions at tax time , we get professional tax advice and file our taxes with a CPA. We have no credit card debt. We own one car outright but it is starting to die a slow death, we lease another car and write it off under my husband's business. We needed a larger car that would fit two car seats and a growing teen so unfortunately ended up with a much larger car and car payment than I'd normally be comfortable with, currently paying $648 a month, lease ends at end of 2026. Mortgage is about $4,200 per month, property taxes are about $17k per year (I know).
The short version is I knew becoming cash poor with the home purchase was risky but I had assumed the loss of our savings would be temporary and we would rebuild over time once I was working a decently paying job but, 15 months after buying our home, we still have basically no savings. While I am thrilled we haven't gone into debt, I am horrified we have only $15k in a 401k. I assumed my new job would be our ticket out of this awkward spot but it also put us in a higher tax bracket and currently I am bringing home only about 60% of my income. We maxed out dependent and health FSAs when I enrolled in benefits but didn't feel like we had the bandwidth to start maxing out retirement given we are living check to check as it is. Obviously the already high cost of living here doesn't help, neither does it that every day things are getting more and more expensive and we have a lot of growing bodies we're caring for. I have been told time and time again that, in the SF Bay Area, property seems to only appreciate long term and our home is a savings of its own kind if held onto long enough but it does not feel like much comfort. Eventually we hope interest rates will go down and we can refinance and get a lower monthly housing payment but I'm not basing all my future plans on that hope alone.
I feel pretty overwhelmed by how hard I've worked for the last many years to get us to this spot only to find it is still not enough. I don't want to use it as an excuse to continue putting off planning for the future. It seems like our best plan is to figure out how to max out retirement though, I'll be honest, I'm just not sure how to do that and still pay our bills, though once the student loan is paid off that can be redirected to that endeavor. Our middle kid needs to stay in private school because of her learning differences, we have at least 2 more years of preschool for our youngest and hopefully he can do public school but no guarantee there. I keep very careful track of our spending and, other than eating out less, there are not really any places we can reduce our spending appreciably.
I'm just not sure what else to do. What else would you advise? Where should we start? Would super appreciate if you could refrain from "you SHOULD have done X" like, we know, we get it, but there's nothing I can do about what we didn't do in the past, only what I can do starting now. So forward thinking suggestions would be very appreciated. Please let me know if there's anything I forgot to mention that might help, or I can clarify. Thanks in advance.

There’s a women’s footballer I love, with about 2k followers. She inspired me to get into the game, and I really appreciate her. Yesterday, I send a 5 line dm basically saying that, not expecting a reply. Obviously I didn’t get one, but what would she actually have seen?

IP: sky.hardcoreanarchy.gay
Skyblock Anarchy, start your journey on your own island. This will test your technical knowledge of Minecraft. Build amazing mob farms, make long bridges through the sky, use flying machines to travel. Grief, Steal, Raid, PVP, or just Survive! No Rules! No Admins! No P2W!
The seed is public "420"

• TPA
• Use /home to return to your island or bed
• /spawn area to meet other players
• Use a seed map to find structures
• Minihud fully supported
• Distant Horizons works amazing with the server!
• Friendly and helpful community
• Follow in-game advancements for progression
• Fun cosmetic voting rewards
• Custom build of CarpetSkyAdditions running on 1.20.6

Join today and conquer the skies!

Hey all,
There's a new Skirmish Game Kickstarter out by Firelock Games who makes Blood & Plunder.
Port Royal is a campaign based, tactical, small-scale warband-sized skirmish wargame that is easy and fast to learn and play. Loosely based on the historical events following the 1692 earthquake that devastated the island of Jamaica. In Port Royal, players take control of small companies of pirates, privateers, Native Americans, African Maroons, or local government forces as they battle against opponents for their share of the plunder that litters the ruins of the place. Players will gain loot and experience between games while building infamy and growing in their piratical expertise. But take heed! The ruins are fraught with dangers! Falling buildings, wild animals, desperate civilians, and opposing companies can bring a quick end to members of your company.
Port Royal

Hi folks,
If you're on an M1, M2, and M3 mac and have found your device unusable since the latest update which rendered the screen so unstable...and to which a promised fix has never materialised I have good news.
[Below solution followed at your own risk!]
So despite Xreal claiming you can't go back...you CAN.
Firstly for the old install file....So Xreal may officially not supply it anymore and haven't linked it anywhere BUT the old download link actually still works. I was able to locate it and successfully download the old version right from Xreal themselves:
https://resource-cn.xreal.com/nebula-prod/web/android_apk/16981471587543268058372269882Nebula_for_Mac-v0.6.0-955-202310231934.dmg
Why on earth they put it in the android APK folder I have no idea...but this is v0.6.0 prior to the change.
Install it. Seems to work with 'keep both' so you can keep the most recent if you really want it and the old version.
The firmware is bundled with it....BUT there's no firmware version control for the glasses as far as I can see so when it connects to this it'll reflash with the old version quite happily then work....
HOWEVER, it will detect the more recent version and refuse to work if you just boot it up right away. You can switch wifi off when you first stop it and this should solve the problem...
I am planning to have a tinker with the below suggestions form gemini to try to block connection to xreal on the hosts file to see if that removes the need to keep blocking the internet. Would probably need to sniff network traffic when the nag starts to work out the exact update server it's checking...but something on the xreal.com website would be the most likely I'd think.
Instructions for blocking it form one of my previous posts (from gemini) below:
If switching off the internet when starting the nebula app gets you round the update nag on xreal and you'd rather wait until the team finally fixes this one it's worth a shot blocking xreal.com using your hosts file - that might mean you don't need to switch off the internet every time you start up. Not sure though - depends where the updates are stored. There's a process to do so on pretty much every OS (for android you'd probably need to be rooted) for MacOs I got the following instructions courtesy of google gemini (you'll need to undo them if you want to be able to visit xreal.com again once they fix it - by deleting the line you added). I would tend to use 'sudo nano' in terminal to edit the hosts file rather than the text editor programme (I'd be worried it'd try to convert the file to .rtf or something..but gemini probably knows what it's talking about and if not then I'd give sudo nano a shot (sudo runs it as root which you'll need to change the hosts file).
Do report back how you get on. I'm very jealous of those of you still on the old version. This update has been an absolute mess at least on M1 macbooks... Instructions from Gemini below:
f you still want to proceed with modifying the hosts file (use at your own risk):

1. Backing Up the Hosts File (Important): It's crucial to back up the original hosts file before making any changes. Here's how:

• Open Terminal (search for it in Spotlight).
• Type the following command and press Enter:
• sudo cp /private/etc/hosts /private/etc/hosts.backup
• Enter your administrator password when prompted.

1. Editing the Hosts File:

• Launch TextEdit application.
• Click on TextEdit menu in the top left corner and choose Open.
• In the Open dialog, navigate to: /private/etc/
• Change the dropdown menu in the bottom right corner from "Text Edit" to "All Files". (This is important to see the hosts file)
• Select hosts and click Open.
• Important Note: You'll likely need to authenticate with your administrator password to edit this file.

1. Adding the Entry:

• At the bottom of the file, add a new line with the following format:
• 127.0.0.1 xreal.com
• This line instructs your Mac to route any traffic directed to xreal.com to your local machine (localhost), effectively blocking it.

1. Saving the File:

• Go to File > Save.
• When prompted, enter your administrator password again.

Reverting the Change:

• If you experience issues or decide to revert the change, follow these steps:
  • Open the hosts file again using TextEdit as mentioned before.
  • Delete the line you added (127.0.0.1 xreal.com).
  • Save the file again, entering your administrator password when prompted.

Hoping this helps Mac users whose devices have proven unusable since the update! Just wish Xreal would deliver the promised update.
They should really update this stuff the plugin for the steamdeck is WAY better than their official firmware. I think they're just so determined to build a locked down ecosystem on smartphones they don't want to open source it and have people enable running of any app on it...Call me cynical!