Question - I had a credit card and a car loan with the same credit union. Things were bad for me in 2019 and I ended up getting a judgement against the credit card. I ended up paying off my car loan last year, but they never sent me the title (because of the cross collateralization). The engine just gave up, but there’s nothing I can do to get rid of it because I don’t have the title.
My kids dad told me to part it out and then just junk the frame or whatever’s left.
Is this legal? I don’t want to get into even more trouble.
Tia

Note to self 93,
Made it back to the library. "A Tale of two cities" was still there waiting for me, thankfully (the beauty of having niche interests!). I moved on to the chapters speaking directly about the two case studies and copied the most interesting passages.
These were the most noteworthy parts on Kamābarha:

1. Kamābarha – Establishment and growth
Though there is still a certain degree of debate, scholars speculate that Kamābarha is the earliest of Arhada cities. It would be expected, considering its proximity to a great number of Middle Pottery sites and its strategic location at the intersection of the Great lake and the southern basin, offering opportunities for a higher degree of cultural interaction – which inevitably leads to cultural maturity.
Indeed, the rise of Kamābarha has left tangible markings in the archaeological record: the construction of Kamābarha III, the layer that first gives us some indication of a level of state control over the region (in the form of contract tablets and other material remains, symbolism associated with governance and a mature elite power, as well as the sheer size of its palace and granary) has been unanimously placed in the 6th century BD. For the purposes of this text, we are interested in understanding what the city looked like before and immediately after that date, in order to understand its peculiar character, as well as the ingredients that brought its success.

[...]

Kamābarha's wealth was chiefly in its copper reserves. The stretch of land between the Great lake and the southern Tritonean lakes, traversed by what the Arhada referred to as Green River, contained plentiful mineral deposits, ranging from pure copper, silver, and zinc-contaminated copper, otherwise known as "natural brass". This naturally occurring alloy was perhaps Kamābarha greatest export, although the metallurgical culture of Formative Tritonea was rather scant, and most uses for these metals were either decorative or for the production of cold-worked arrowheads. These items are found as far west as early Hortens sites and as far south as the Aluwa. They were either transported as fully formed arrowheads or as plates which were then worked locally by the importers. Within the confines of Kamābarha and its environs, however, we can find a higher ratio of copper artisanal goods and artistic objects than weapons: an indication of a lack of pressure to militarise. Brass is found on the decorations of Kamābarha's palace, in the form of mirrors, bracelets, jewellery. The oldest example of a painted copper plate – a typical Arhadan decorative items consisting of a flat copper surface covered on both sides with oil paint, was found in Kamābarha III. Chemical analyses confirm that what appears today as a simple oxidised copper disk was in fact coloured with bright pecan oil based paints.
That is not to say that the production of military gear, or, indeed, warfare, was inexistent. The dispersal of arrowheads along the north shore of the Great Lake gives us a clear indication that Kamābarha's influence was not based only on agricultural wealth or cultural influence: some amount of force was indeed employed in the creation of its political network.

[...]

2. Kamābarha –Internal Politics
Kamābarha's political structure was the natural evolution of the typical characters of pre-formative Arhada centres, as discussed earlier. At the top of the hierarchy were the "famous", as the nobility was known, and below was everyone else. Tracing the rise to power of the "famous" clans is no easy feat, but its clear that, through generations of wealth accumulation, a set of dynamics which allowed the flourishing of a restricted group of landowners culminated in a clear class divide between this group of hereditary leaders and the manpower contributing to their wealth.
At the time of Kamābarha III it seems like four or five clans shared the spaces of the palatial district, with the number dropping to three, either through the merger of two clans or the extinguishing of the families, in the 7th century. This has been suggested by the symbolism prevalent on funerary urns found within the site, with each clan being associated with a specific symbol: in early Kamābarha III we find the tortoise, the heron, the parrot, and two variations of the burning house motif – one flanked by two pecan trees, the other standing on its own. It's unknown whether the last two represented a single clan or two separate ones. As the period progressed, however, we find that later urns are only marked with heron, parrot and burning house logograms. These three clans probably included a great deal of people, between the matriarchs, the leaders and a third class of non-inheriting clan members.
Power was seemingly based on seniority, passing from the son of the eldest matriarch, who would hold leadership within the village, to the next; his second in line – either a brother or the son of the second-senior matriarch – would act as a representative. Note how power passes from the matriarchs, and not from the men themselves: it's the eldest mother that produces the city's leader, but that does not mean that the leader is necessarily the senior nobleman.

[...]

One aspect of this system that is currently under debate is whether the wealth of the four (later three) clans was pooled together or if they maintained some additional independent wealth: it would seem like that was the case. It is now believed that the Ibosso hadân (marriage vessel) was treated as a person's independent wealth: each clan would put the wealth of their Ibosso hadân together with the other members of their clan, but separate from the common wealth of the city; non-inheriting clan members would keep theirs separate shares. All other goods – the herds, the harvest from the paddies, and items produced by the clan for the treasury – were handled communally by the Council of the matriarchs and the two male leaders: the internal leader, or "First Leader", handling issues pertaining to the administration of the city at large, and an external one, a "Second Leader", whose duties involved diplomatic journeys to client villages and the collection of payments.

A diagram of power relations in Kamābarha, for reference. I was impressed by how mobile social classes were, even within such a hierarchical society. There's an entire chapter dedicated to this:

2.b Kamābarha –Lower Classes and social mobility
Overall, two other social classes were recognised aside from the members of the famous clans; the commoners and the clanless. The commoners formed the bulk of the population: there could have been anything between one and two hundred minor clans inhabiting Kamābarha, most of which were farmers and horticulturalists, but many of whom were moving towards specific arts and crafts as the quality of life increased due to the higher level food security provided by the state. The men of this social class would be called for military duty by the leadership in times of war – when the time came to exact payment by force from a client city, for example – but all evidence points to this being a rather rare occasion. Clans mostly contributed to the palace economy, in the form of corvée labour (wherein each clan had to provide a fixed number of workers for the paddy) or the production of specialised goods. Because of this, having a clan could prove to be expensive, and when those payments could not be met, clanhood would be revoked: this gave rise to the Clanless, a more generalistic group comprised of those without the means to provide work to the palace as an organised force as well as all prisoners of war, foreigners or recent immigrants that have not yet entered the social fabric of the city. These people worked the paddies in exchange for wages, paid in the form of zizania or tobacco, and would be the first group to which the most labour intensive jobs were assigned.
That is not to say that people statically belonged to one class or other; People of a famous clan could intermarry with commoners – this was somewhat rare, as the preference was to marry within one of the other famous families or with the upper class of the other cities, both client and independent. But in times of need, when there weren't suitable partners of the same generation, the Matriarchs who regulated upper class unions, could allow a commoner to enter their group. Another means of social betterment for commoners was being chosen as a favourite at the palace: when an artist or artisan – commonly a woman, but sometimes a man as well – was considered to be highly skilled by a member of the four inner clans, they could chose to sponsor them, sacrificing personal wealth to allow them to live at the palace, where they would continue their craft for the benefit of the palace's treasury. Within the palace, Favourites were then allowed to marry and reside until their death: their children, growing with the children of the famous clans, often grew up to be considered suitable marriage partners. The Clanless had ways to climb the social ladder as well: becoming a Kabaima, a helper, for the inhabitants palace was considered to be an honourable post, the highest honour for someone without a Clan. They were similarly allowed to live and marry within the palace, and where often given some payment for their descendants at the end of their service, when they reached old age or died.
In an intermediary position the commoners and the famous where the non-inheriting children of the latter. The sons and daughters of the men of the clan were not included in the matrilineal passage of power and had to find themselves a position in society: the men were often encouraged to join the "high guard", responsible for the private property of the clan within the city, and both men and women could become "Shrine keepers", organising religious functions and overseeing the community who took care of the shrine's upkeep. These positions were open to commoners too, but Famous commoners, due to their closeness to the clan (and thus, to leadership), were preferred for this kind of position.

I was fascinated about the "Shrine Keeper" figure, but I could find very little about it. I found this on shrines, though:

5. Kamābarha – Early Tritonean shrines, the rise of an architectural typology:
Within the context of northern Arhada cities, we can see the emergence of a new building type: specialised shrines, independent of the palace district. These prove to be an evolution of the domestic type: the courtyard framing a centred, central-plan building was a clear re-elaboration of palaces; the difference however is in the proportions between the single parts. The courtyard building surrounding the shrine proper, now a mere framing device, grew narrower and shorter, while the central building acquired prominence, both in size and in height. The central structure contained one large square room where votive statuettes, offerings and precious materials were gifted from people honouring the spirits to whom the shrine was dedicated. Because early shrines were made of wood, we have little direct information regarding their appearance, for which we need to employ pictorial and sculptural sources (clay models of shrines are a common pottery item, used for votive purposes). It has been proposed that early shrines were often rebuilt as the object of devotion changed according to the needs of the city – it's believed that this rebuilding of the shrine often corresponded with the promotion of a new Shrine Keeper. Eventually, shrines would be built in more durable materials, making rebuilding less practical, but in this early stage the reconstruction of the shrine was probably a ritual occurrence.

[...]

It must be noted that shrines had their way of accumulating wealth, through the management of the offerings given by the devout: some shrines in Kamābarha had enough to surpass a number of the wealthiest non-famous Clans. Because the appointment to shrines was handled by the council of Matriarchs, however, the Famous Clans always had a way to indirectly handle those resources, through the appointment of a family member.

I copied some more drawings: one is a fascinating scheme of how temple typologies became more and more complex through the ages (though the last example is some 1000 years outside the timeline of the essay) and the other is an axonometric view of temple "E".
I will be briefer on Amadahai, skipping all the things that are shared between the two cities. There are a couple of divergences that I think shed some light on how differently the political environment of the two cities evolved.

1. Amadahai – Establishment and Growth
One key difference between Amadahai and Kamābarha was in their location: while Kamābarha was built along the coast of the Great Lake, Amadahai was founded in a strategic location at the head of the land bridge that closes off most of the small lake Thidorovôdjo from the larger Odjohivôdjo. This thin strip of land was reinforced with rows of paddies on both sides, creating a lush environment for the agricultural production of the urban centre. The warmer climate of Amadahai also provided the locals with a longer growing season, ensuring a higher production of high quality fruits and fruit products – wines, preserves, oil – that would be traded all over Tritonea and beyond. It seems that Amadahai's initial wealth was derived especially from this production and a booming trade of cosmetics in the form of spiced and perfumed oils, the large scale production of pigments such as indigo dye, ochre, and oil paint. It is worth dedicating a few words to this last product: while oil paints, as mixtures of pecan oil and pigments, had been used throughout Arhadan territory for some time (especially within the Southern Pottery School), Amadahai is the first site where the chemical analyses of archeological findings detected the use of hempseed oil – which acts as a better drying oil. Indeed, the high quality of the paintwork in pottery is one of the key feature of the Southern Pottery school, and some examples of painted pots, pipes and oil vessels are still visible today, with several exemplars being held at Newtown's Royal Museum of Horean Archaology. Tobacco was another notable export of the city and its wider political network: its climate was well suited for the cultivation of the leaf which was then carried throughout the lake system.

[...]

Amadahai also served as a centre of agricultural development, with the innovation of at least two very important crops being connected to the site of Amadahai II (contemporary with Kamābarha III). The first is Taraxacum ceratophorum, the wild Tritonean Dandelion, which the Arhada domesticated around the 5th Century, and began to select over the course of the next Centuries to obtain a series of crops we commonly eat to this day. Taraxacum was used for a number of different functions: the roots could be used to create brews, the leaves could be eaten raw, the petals could be crushed into dyes or used as aromatics.
Even more economically important was the creation of the Cattail variant Typha domestica var. lanifera, also called "Southern Cattail" or "Wooly Cattail". The fluff of wild cattails was hard to spin because of the shortness of the strands. As such, hemp-cattail blends started off as a common alternative to either of the pure fibre, softening the roughness of hemp and supplementing the scarcity of workable Typha fibre. Over the years, as cattail-flower fibre goods became more prised for their soft texture, the plant was selected for longer and sturdier fibres, larger heads and shorter stalks. The gathering of the fibre was light enough work to allow for the material to spread even thogh the cattail itself, domesticated from Typha Domingensis, required warmer climates, impeding its spread to the northern half of the Arhada territories in lake Sibozjivôro. This ensured that its cultivation would remain a southern specialty for some time, further ensuring Amadahai's commercial success.

A picture of the Wooly Cattail from the book! I had no idea it was first domesticated there, though thinking about it, it makes sense. I suppose I have to thank the people of Amadahai for the sweater I'm wearing right now. Some notes on politics, then I'll have to leave the library – the old man at the desk is giving me looks.

2. Amadahai – Internal Politics
The key differences in the political structure of early Amadahai can be easily appreciated when ne observes the power structures within its leadership class. Where Kamābarha had four or three leading clans, Amadahai maintains a stable number of six clans.

Amadahai's political diagram for reference.

Because the members of the leading families represent a greater percentage of the city's demography, the leadership of early Amadahai is thought to be less top-heavy: all mothers of the six ruling clans participated in the council and, rather than having a single elder matriarch as the head of the council – as was the case in Kamābarha –, the duties of the council were split between three members, elected by the matriarchs amongst the matriarchs.
The "Speaker" had a similar functions to the senior matriarch of Kamābarha but her role was mostly that of a representative and prima inter pares, rather than a final authority. She was flanked by two peers, equally chosen by the entire council: a "Treasure mother", who acted as a steward for the shared wealth of the clans, and a "Lore mother". The responsibilities of this final figure were perhaps the widest: amongst them was a cereful knowledge of genealogy and the history of Amadahai and all its client cities, the recording of contracts of obeisance and clientele, the approval and arrangement of marriages between members of the Famous clans, as well as the mentorship of younger women who might succeed her. While the Speaker of the council evidently held the most outwardly active role, the Lore Mother, in lieu of her deep knowledge, wisdom and powerful responsibilities, was treated with the most respect amongst the three.
If we look at the political role of men, we can see that even their division of power was more egalitarian than in Kamābarha: while we can still notice a clear division between First Leader and Second Leader, in a similar fashion to what we see in the northern city, we find that the second leader does not act independently in matters of war, being assisted instead by a war council formed of all the adult men of the clan. This speaks to Amadahai's deeper martial culture, born of a more conflictual relationship with its southern neighbours. The war council culminated in the creation of a sort of military elite – hunting and engaging in sporting culture during times of peace and commanding forces of commoners and clansless people in times of war. This is visible in the developement of specialised weapons (in Amadahai II we see the first depictions of recurve self bows in pictographs, pottery and sculpture) as well as an increase in arrowhead production dated from this period. There is current debate over whether the "Famous commoner" class could join this group, but the consensus seems to be that while they could become commanders, they did not have the rights to speak or vote in the war council proper.

[...]

While both an elite military role and priesthood were acceptable paths for famous commoners, it seems that these options were barred to all other commoners (another difference from Kamābarha). Again, this is possibly explained by the higher numbers of nobles in the city. A "lower guard", overseeing the protection of everything within the city but outside the palace was manned by commoners, whereas the "higher guard", acting as personal protectors of the Famous men and right hand men in times of war, were chosen exclusively amongst the non-inheriting relatives of the clan. The same goes for the priesthood: men and women of the clan's blood but outside the line of inheritance were invited to oversee the running of a temple: to be appointed, a "famous commoner" would require the backing of a member of one of the clans – usually via their father – and unanimous consent from all the members of the high leadership: the three matriarchs and the two leaders. These postings were diplomatically and economically sensitive: they allowed one of the clans to give an affiliated party a role within the leadership of a shrine, tapping into additional resources for the benefit of their family.

Alright, I guess that's enough research for my thesis – I'm super tired. I might still borrow this book when I can. End of note.

Im a beginner and i got with the credit union a week ago and im pretty new and trying to build credit i picked the option to get a secured loan i belive thats what its called help me out if im wrong she told me basically the minimum is 500 i have to deposit 500 for collateral and they will give me 500 when i pay off that 500 which will be in 4 months i belive each month i pay 80+ bucks and ill get my 500 back? I think maybe she means the money they i gave for collateral but anyhow im trying to build it this way so maybe i can get bigger loans and pay them off if im missing something let me know please. Also i was told by someone that if i pay it in full or early that it would lessen my credit or something and that its best to pay monthly payments on it which shows the lender you can pay

A personal loan was taken out in MY NAME with ZERO communication from Navy Federal Credit Union and it took them OVER THREE MONTHS to resolve it. When I got fed up and started yelling at their representatives on the phone, they had someone from "security" call me at 10PM and threaten ME and tell me I was forbidden from ever calling their call center again. The NERVE! No one EVER told me one of their own people sold account info on the DARK WEB!
http://www.northescambia.com/2023/01/fdle-former-navy-federal-employee-sold-member-account-info-on-the-dark-web

Hi all,
It's about that time again! For the fifth year in a row, here is my (unsolicited) overview of Roma's squad, current mercato, potential signings, and loan dealings.
Every year I try to give these a theme - last year, the name of the game was versatility: getting players who could cover multiple roles as we had a severely reduced squad due to FFP rules. We saw exactly how that came to bite us both in the league - where we were LITERALLY playing the kids to give the first teamers a break - and in the EL Final, where forced substitutions left us going into Penalties with no designated penalty takers.
With no expectation of squad reductions this season, the name of the game for this exercise is depth - our first team is good, VERY good even, but the question is "what options do we have on the bench or in rotation that can keep that level of quality?" and the answer this season due to injuries (Wijnaldum, Kumbulla), transfers and personal issues (Zaniolo, Karsdorp), or registration issues (Solbakken) has been categorically no. Simply put, it is not fair to put the weight of expectation on Benjamin Tahirovic (who is too young to purchase Alcohol in the United States) because our midfield of Matic and Cristante cannot play every game. Pair that with the long term injuries to Kumbulla and Abraham - both of whom will not be back until 2024 - and we need bodies, plain and simple.
Our current FFP situation also means that we will likely need to end this mercato in the black - which means relying on free transfers, loans, and spending money VERY judiciously.

Transfer Dealings Done

Now to our credit, we have gotten a head start on at least two players:
Houssam Aouar: Aouar is a gamble in my honest opinion. A few years ago, this man was the Robin to Nabil Fekir’s Batman, and while I don’t think either of those players has had the career they had hoped to have, on his day this man can be unplayable. Emphasis on the “on his day”. On good days, Aouar has Jordan Veretout’s work ethic, and Jeremy Menez’s feet. On bad days, he has Veretout’s feet and Menez’s work ethic.
On the positive though, he can play (like Pellegrini) both in the center midfield as an 8, or more attacking as a 10. This can give us options off the bench to either rotate or change a game as necessary.
Evan Ndicka: Now this one I’m very happy about. Ndicka is left footed, very physical, but very intelligent as well which means he has a good eye for a pass as needed. He reminds me quite a bit of Antonio Rudiger in that he fits a very similar profile and played for a Bundesliga club at a similar level. I have no reservations - I think he will be a hit, but like Aouar will benefit tremendously from a full pre-season.

Squad Breakdown

NOTE - I am not including loan players who have returned to their respective clubs (Wijnaldum, Camara, Llorente)
Goalkeepers
Pietro Boer - Let’s start with the easy one: Boer is a third choice keeper that is home-grown at club. Useful for registration, costs us peanuts, has never complained. Keep.
Rui Patricio - From the easy to the hard one: Rui’s decline this season has been sharp, but consistent. His great saves remind us that, once upon a time, that’s a solid goalkeeper, but that has been paired with just… odd mistakes - not Robin Olsen bad, but pretty bad nonetheless. This is no longer a starting International Goalkeeper (that honor goes to Diogo Costa nowadays). He would still make an excellent second-choice goalkeeper at a top club - which might be a good selling point as he still has admirers in the Premier League. Sell.
Mile Svilar - I really wanted to love Svilar. Football Manager Stans rise up, because ALL of us have signed Svilar at one point or another. Svilar still strikes me as potentially a very good keeper, but he has been unable to dislodge Patricio from that starting berth. I think he will end up staying around, and I hope he can prove himself to everyone in a starting role next season. Keep.
Defenders
Gianluca Mancini - We start with Mancini because as of right now, he is the only defender that looks certain to stay. He is definitely the second coming of Materazzi in temperament… if not in talent just yet. He still as a few years on his contract, Mourinho likes him a lot, and he provides leadership on and off the pitch. Keep.
Chris Smalling - While Smalling has been our best player (not just defender) at quite a few points this season, I am always concerned about long-term performance with him. I think he should be renewed - his play has merited that - but if I said “leader at the back, wins everything in the air, incredibly useful on set pieces” I haven’t just described Smalling… I’m also describing one Federico Fazio. Players like Fazio and Smalling are incredibly reliant on their physical attributes - but that physicality at older ages is one major injury away from disappearing completely. Renew him - but no more than two years. Keep.
Marash Kumbulla - Ah, the anti-Smalling. If Chris Smalling’s play has merited him to receive a contract renewal, Kumbulla’s definitely has not. However, due to his ACL injury, Marash is staying for another season in Rome… even if he probably shouldn’t. Keep.
Roger Ibañez - Now comes the other shoe. Roma needs to raise 30 million euros by the end of June to comply with their FFP agreement with Uefa. Failure to do so will likely hamstring us again in the coming Europa League, especially without Champions League money. With Abraham’s injury, and Ndicka a done deal, the clearest place to monetize in the squad is with Roger Ibañez. Our relationship with Roger has been a love-hate one, where we love his grinta and his ability to score in crucial moments, but his brain-farts have cost us on the pitch… repeatedly. Sell.
Full-Backs
Rick Karsdorp - It’s unclear what Karsdorp’s situation with the manager is. On the one hand, Karsdorp was reintegrated into the squad after his falling out with Mourinho and did continue to play, but how much of that was convenience and a “wait until the summer” mentality rather than anything truly genuine. Karsdorp is also currently recovering from an injury, which he should be fit from before September. He has a contract until 2025 - I’d consider him out the door should we receive a good offer… but I doubt we will. Keep.
Zeki Celik - I think it speaks volumes that Mourinho at times has preferred to play Spinazzola or Zalewski on the wrong side rather that give Celik the start. I don’t know if this has been due to poor form, injuries, or simply needing another season to “gel”. Regardless, I don’t think selling Celik at this point will accomplish anything. Keep.
Matias Viña - Remember him? Bournemouth has not exercised their option, so Viña is returning to home base. Unlike other loan moves, however, his time with the Cherries was fairly solid - including an outrageous goal against Chelsea. Why he’s not being renewed, I’m not sure but the Premier League exposure definitely helped us if we choose to cash in. The question is… should we? We are crying out for depth and Viña is a textbook “depth” option. I think we should approach this like Karsdorp - if we get an offer, consider it, otherwise Keep.
Leonardo Spinazzola - On paper, this is our best fullback. In practice, all of us know that the best ability is availability and Leonardo has just… not been there when needed. He is also - critically - the wrong side of 30, which in this position can cost you that turn of pace that is needed. I think, like Ibañez, this is a player we should cash in on now, especially as he enters his final year of contract. Sell.
Nicola Zalewski - Fortunately, this one is easy: Nicola has the distinction of being both young and home-grown, takes no space in registration, and Mourinho loves him. Keep.
Midfielders
Nemanja Matic - Boy was I wrong about Matic. I expected him to be too slow and lumbering for Mourinho’s game, but instead was exactly the midfield veteran we needed - a tall, Serbian Roy Kent. At his age, there is no-one realistically coming in for him, and his contract was automatically extended. Keep.
Bryan Cristante - The unsung hero of this season, Cristante has been consummate professional we all know he can be. Unless we get outrageous money for him (doubtful), this is a Keep.
Edoardo Bove - Like Zalewski, he has been the cream of the crop of youngsters brought through by Mourinho. The argument here is not - should he stay or should he go, but rather should we keep or should we loan. Bove does need minutes… but in his defense, this season he’s gotten them and earned them on the pitch. Keep.
Benjamin Tahirovic - I feel so bad for Benjamin. He was thrown into the fire and while he didn’t do poorly… he didn’t do well either. Like Bove, he needs minutes… unlike Bove, his play hasn’t warranted giving them to him. If there was ever a player who needed a move to Sassuolo, here he is. Sell (with Buy-Back Clause).
Ebrima Darboe - I feel really bad for Darboe. He had the breakout season of his life only two years ago, but has been heavily hampered by injury for the past year and a half and is only returning to training… now. So what do we do with him? He needs minutes to gain back fitness, not just for us, but him and his sharpness. I doubt Sassuolo will bite, but I think a newly promoted team or an Udinese might. Loan.
Gonzalo Villar - Yep, he’s coming back. Like Viña, Getafe is not exercising their option to buy - he never even put on the jersey! - and like Karsdorp he also rather publicly fell out with Mourinho. In this case, though, the falling out was quite a bit more justified, as Gonzalo has proven himself to be both mentally and physically frail, while being technically gifted. There is value in this player, but no team has really been willing to take a risk on him. He has spoken publicly about a willingness to prove himself to Mourinho - I’d be willing to give him that chance, if anything due to a lack of options. Keep.
Attacking Midfielders/Wingers
Lorenzo Pellegrini - Do I need to discuss this one? Keep.
Paulo Dybala - Recent statements have really put the speculation to rest: Dybala appears to want to stay in Italy and in Rome specifically. Keep.
Stephan El Sharaawy - He has demonstrated a willingness to be a servant for the club, even agreeing to a pay-cut with his renewal package. Keep.
Cristian Volpato - See Tahirovic. He desperately needs the minutes his potential deserves. There has been a lot of chatter of him going off to Sassuolo and I think it makes the most sense. Sell (with Buy-Back Clause).
Ola Solbakken - Had his minutes cut drastically by the registration shenanigans due to Zaniolo transfer, but was solid in the league and has room to grow. Keep.
Justin Kluivert - Once again, Kluivert is returning to home-base. While I would like to see us make use of him, he has made it categorically clear that he doesn’t want to be here. Bournemouth are said to be interested, but I see him potentially doing quite well in France or Spain. There’s a particular club in Spain in particular who I think might bite… but more on them later. Sell.
Carles Perez - Like Kluivert, Perez is also returning from a loan (I’m seeing a pattern here), but unlike Kluivert I don’t see anything worthwhile that Perez might bring to this team. Sell.
Strikers
Tammy Abraham - Up until recently, he was the most likely in the squad to be monetized with West Ham and Aston Villa both interested. His ACL tear scuppered that plan, and is now likely to stay in Rome for one more season. I hope it’s redemption for him after a fairly poor season. Keep.
Andrea Belotti - SPEAKING OF POOR SEASONS! I cannot explain exactly what has happened to Belotti, but I’d guess that his poor form in the league is more due to a poor team form than his own. The service and creativity behind him was simply lacking, and without Abraham’s physicality to win long balls he was kind of left to his own devices, pressing defenders and midfielders as needed… which he did. His automatic contract extension was activated, however, so expect to see Andrea in Roma colors next season. Keep.
Eldor Shomurodov - This is a weird one… although this signing has been odd from the get-go. Shomurodov’s loan is likely not going to be made permanent by Spezia - especially if they get relegated - and this season he has been completely been cut out by N’zola’s heroics in front of goal. That said, Abraham’s injury means that there is a good chance Shomurodov will be playing in Roma colors next season - especially if we cannot get a striker in. Keep.

Squad Needs

To my mind - this is including the Aouar and Ndicka transfers - this team needs at least one more player per role.

1. A Goalkeeper to replace either Rui Patricio as first-choice keeper, or Svilar as second-choice keeper.
2. An additional Left-Back to replace the departing Spinazzola - preferably left-footed to provide a different kind of player to Zalewski.
3. An additional fullback as coverage for both wings (either footed).
4. A deep-lying playmaker who can give coverage for Cristante, either to rest or when he is needed as an additional defender.
5. A rotation defender who can slot in to give coverage for the injured Kumbulla.
6. A versatile attacker who can play both at striker, and as a second-striker alongside Dybala for coverage.

Targets

Let’s tackle these in order, shall we?
Goalkeeper
Emil Audero - Audero has been Serie A’s most unsung hero for a few seasons, keeping a mediocre Sampdoria side up when they clearly didn’t deserve to. Sampdoria’s financial woes can be very helpful to us, however, as we could essentially pick him up for a song (ie 6 million or less). There will likely be a bidding war for both Vicario and Carnesecchi this summer, but I’d rather go for solid and less flashy between the sticks.
Dominik Livakovic - This is a PSA: Livakovic still plays for Dinamo Zagreb… somehow. This is a world class, internationally rated goalkeeper that is entering his final year of contract. If we can beat the competition, this would be a great pickup.
Center-Backs
Kostantinos Mavropanos - With Stuttgart facing a relegation playoff, it’s possible that one of Europe’s best young(ish) center backs might be available for a significant discount. With the legacy that Dellas and Manolas have left with this club, having a Greek defender back at the club feels… right!
Diego Llorente - Played on loan with us for six months and impressed when he played. With Leeds just relegated and the player pushing to stay in Rome, it’s possible we get a good discount (there is no way we should spend 18 million on him though).
Fullbacks
Cristiano Biraghi - Biraghi is entering his final year of contract at Fiorentina and has been a solid option everywhere he has played. More defensively minded than Spinazzola or Zalewski, but still willing to run down the left and play a cross - he leads la Viola for progressive carries. Importantly, he is left-footed so he gives us a different play down the left than our two current left-backs.
Kai Wagner - If you don’t rate MLS, feel free to skip but Kai Wagner has been the one of the league’s best left-backs - former Schalke player before moving to Philadelphia and really exploding. Was set to join Leeds but their relegation changes that completely. Their loss is our gain - his contract expires in December, could be an excellent pickup.
Adrien Truffert - Had a breakout season for Rennes last season, who have an excellent eye for talent in recent years. Truffert has been marketed as being available for 15 million this summer - which is perhaps more than we’re willing to spend, but if Spinazzola is sold for a comparable fee, then this might be a solid like-for-like replacement.
Sergio Reguillón - His loan at Atletico has come to an end, and it’s looking like Reguillon is hitting the market once more. Mourinho is supposedly a big fan and they’ve worked well together before. This would likely be a loan, and only after Levy pays up for Ibanez as he’s likely to pull shenanigans. Still - this could be a great, essentially free, pickup.
Wilfried Singo - Last one on this list, Singo’s has had a great few years for Torino but has publicly come out and said he will not sign a new deal. This would be a solid alternative to Karsdorp as they play relatively similarly.
Midfielders
Youri Tielemans - This has been discussed quite a bit - Tielemans is available on a free this summer, and is pure class at deep-lying playmaker. My only concern is that he does not play as defensively as Mourinho might like, but this is still a great player and a great opportunity we should not let slip.
Florian Grillitsch - Like Tielemans, Grillitsch is available for a free this summer. Unlike Tielemans, however, Grillitsch has not had a great season after his move to Ajax this season - mainly due to injury. That said, this is a physical player who can play well with his feet - very much in the mold of a Strootman.
Nikola Moro - Moro has been an unsung, unspoken of, hero of Bologna’s season with Serie A leading stats for progressive passes, carries, and successful through balls. He is currently on loan with an option to buy from Dinamo Moscow and it seems increasingly unlikely that Bologna will use that option. We should absolutely make an offer as Moro has shown himself to be an excellent and reliable midfield option.
Davide Frattesi - Let’s try this again, shall we? This is likely going to happen this summer - with a players plus cash mega deal with Sassuolo. This is not quite the profile I outlined but would provide a dose of dynamism to a rather sluggish midfield.
Strikers
This one is complicated - because the profile I outlined doesn’t exist at our price-range. In an ideal world, we would take advantage of the absurd situation at Chelsea and pickup Kai Havertz on loan as that fits the criteria exactly - Striker and Attacking Midfielder in one (Richarlison also comes to mind). So here’s my best choices although none of them is exactly perfect for what we want.
Sheraldo Becker - One of the lynchpins of the Union Berlin cinderella story, Becker is explosive when he gets going and fits a counterattacking team perfectly. Becker is very publicly available for a cool 20mln this summer, but may be able to be negotiated down as this is last year of contract. The issue is that Becker is more a wingeattacking midfielder than a striker. He has played there in a pinch but it doesn’t play the most to his strengths.
Alfredo Morelos - Morelos has just left the Ibrox at the end of his contract looking for a bigger club, but no-one has bitten yet. He is an out-and-out goal scorer, who played as an 11 in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Here, the problem is the reverse - can he play at second striker as a Raumdeuter-type player?
Mauro Icardi - Here we are again, linked with Mauro Icardi for a price as close to “free” as is possible. Is it worth it to bring the Icardi soap opera to a powder keg like Rome? Honestly… if there’s one thing Icardi does, that Icardi always does, is score goals, something we desperately needed this past season. Again, like Morelos though, can he play alongside a number 9 as a second striker?
Last one, which I’m including purely for the banter of it but…
Mario Balotelli - WAIT stop don’t Alt-F4 this just yet. Hear me out. Mourinho is one of the few coaches to get Balotelli to act like an actual footballer, and he has a great rapport with Stephan El Sharaawy. I think these two things in combination might get one last gasp out of Italy’s last truly great talent, with the added benefit that he can play both the positions I outlined above. Sion has crashed out of the Superleague in Switzerland after losing their playoff, so Balotelli will likely leave on a free. I would go for a gamble on him with an Adriano-esque behavior clause that lets us tear up his contract for behavioral issues.
Also, for what it's worth, he's fairly good at Penalties. Which I bring up... for reasons.

Conclusion

Well... that was a long read, kudos for making it to the end. This summer looks to be another summer of transition - but there is a lot to this squad that is salvageable. After the Final, a lot of us were perfectly willing to blow up the team and start over, but that's not my take here. We were let down in that final by our squad depth - when preparing for penalties Mourinho looked at a bench that had Volpato, Tahirovic, Camara, Karsdorp and two goalkeepers - not exactly a stacked bench full of specialists. We can talk dirty play, bad refereeing, and poor penalties all day though, but what killed us at the final hurdle and indeed all season was our lack of depth. Rebuilding the squad is not a way to achieve that. I look forward to your comments and thoughts, and hope to see a good mercato!

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Hello everyone, I’m looking for advice on how to get a business loan of $250,000 for a pre-revenue venture. A loan that would preferably not carry a prepayment penalty. My Profile: Credit Score: higher than 680 Collateral: I do not have collateral to pledge Race & Gender: Male ethnic minority My business is venture involves: Procuring mineral ore from overseas country where my family is from. Shipping it here (the USA) and warehousing it. Marketing it to buyers under my U.S. incorporated LLC. Rinse-wash-repeat, with the goal of opening a marketing office here in the USA. I have an LOI from a serious buyer in this space, and I would be able to pay off loan after only 1 transaction with this buyer. I don’t think I would qualify for an SBA loan because of the pre-revenue status of this venture. Is this something I could seek funding for from hard money lenders? What are my options?

Hello, Im a newer listener of Dave and I'm trying to find some like minded individuals. AKA. someone who thinks this is a good idea. BTW I'm 23.
Layed out below is my income and my Debt.
Income : 72K a year
Car: 34K, 700 per month
Rent: 875 per month
Personal loan for boat: 7.5k 300 per month
Credit card 1: 1402.51
Credit card 2: 734.35
Bills/Food/Gas: 700
Here is my plan, I own some land beside my grandparent that I eventually would like to live on. I can move in with them to free up roughly 1k a month to go towards debt. I could sell my boat to eliminate the personal loan that I took out for the boat. Once my cars equity gets where I can sell it even then I can sell it and eliminate that debt.
Essentially I would like to know whether or not I should move in with my grandparents. I know that doing so would put my on the fast track to eliminating my debt. Thanks in advance for your advice.

So I saw a post earlier about someone that makes about the same as me, for base salary anyways and they had no loans, and they weren’t approved for a car loan. So, figured I’d ask here for some thoughts since I'll be getting a new car soon. I've had 2 loans before, not large just small ones.
Annual income base is $120k. And there’s an extra $30k in RSUs/ bonuses. So $145k-160k annual income
Credit cards:
Discover: age 3 years 8 months, CL:$3,750, UR:0%
Chase FU: age 2 years 9 months, CL:$10,800, UR:2-6%
Chase FF: age 1 year 10 months, CL:$6,700, UR:2-5%
Amex Everyday cash: age 2 years 4 months, CL: $10k, UR: 1-4%
Costco Citi card: age 11 months, CL: $5k, UR: 1-5%
BoA CCR: age 7 months, CL: $8k, UR: 10%
Average age of accounts: 1 year 11 months
Apple Card: <1 month, CL:$7,500, UR currently 13% but will be like 2% close to the beginning of the statement so odds of my loan are better for a car.
Credit scores:
772 TransUnion (VantageScore 3.0)
764 Equifax (VantageScore 3.0)
751 Experian (FICO8)
Loans:
$4,400 personal loan opened in nov 2019 for a 3-year term and closed in May 2020. All on time payments and paid just way ahead of time to get rid of it and pay no interest. The interest rate was about 5% I think.
$4,400 consumer installment loan in Feb of 2021 and paid off in April 2021 a couple of weeks after the first statement came out and realized I had a high UR and my score tanked by 20-30 points then went back up after the loan was paid and account closed. Bought a mattress and it was an installment loan so I didn’t know I’d have a high UR and that there would be a CL on this card, wasn't told that in the store. 0% interest here.
Liquid savings and investments are about $106k
Looking to get a car for about $44k-47k-ish. Ideally, I wouldn’t want to put anything down but I think I’m gonna have to put like $3-6k down. If I can get away with $1000 down I will. The monthly payment for say $40k loan at 60 months of 5% interest is about a $731 monthly payment.
Haven’t done a hard pull for a car loan yet. But 1.5 years ago was approved for a home loan for $350k at a 2.85% interest rate and no PMI bank loan. I know this was a low-interest rate and a home, but still was approved for that high, so I think I shouldn't have an issue with getting a car loan.
What do you think my chances are of getting approved?? Also, have you had the chance to not put down cash on a car before?

Closed Today. Quite the process given some unique circumstances.
Only able to do this due to an inheritance from a family member. Otherwise we’d be renting. Gross household >200K with essentially no debt (5K in student loans that we are just going to pay off in total later this year).
Active duty currently overseas but moving back in the next few weeks to San Diego where we plan to stay once I’m out. Luckily my SO and I are from the area and we’re just stationed there, so we know the area very well. Used a friend as our agent that we trusted to show us houses over FaceTime given the large time difference.
Looked at about 15-20 places starting in late March. Made 7 or 8 offers. Had one accepted that we backed out of with full contingencies after learning some more about the house. Backed out after only a few days in both our interests and so the sellers could get it back on the market quickly.
Lost multiple bids to no contingency, higher price offers. I think we only won this one because there were several other houses that were more updated in the same neighborhood all on the same weekend that distracted other buyers.
Our House: 4/3 SFH ~1900 sqft listed 900K and sold for 925K. Walking distance to a great school. About 15-20 minutes from the beach. Near a bunch of coffee places, restaurants, Costco 😂.
Had full contingencies in place. Inspection went great with some minor problems that the sellers fixed quickly. VA appraisal had no issues and it appraised for 930K.
Used our credit union for a VA loan with 20% down (again, inheritance) with a 5.25% rate with no points. Ends up being ~4700/mo total with insurance and taxes which we are happy with as that is just below my BAH (non-taxed housing pay for those non-military).
Biggest headache in this whole thing was our lender not letting us sign loan docs electronically with an online notary. Had to get them notarized on base and then ship back. This delayed closing a week and almost got delayed even more by a storm that delayed the shipment.
So glad this is done. Lost so much sleep between stress and having to stay up late or wake up early to get stuff done given the time difference.

This happened mainly becuase I was out of country for a long time and I didn't have any credit history. I came back and I needed a car fast so I went through purchasing this vehicle with the absurd APR loan. I won't tell you the exact amount but I would literally be paying 2X the amount of the original car if I keep paying the credit company for full 72 months.
My plan is to keep paying the loan for 6 months at which point I will have a credit score and get it refinanced through a locan credit union for a lower APR. Is this a viable plan or am I stupid? Any feedback much welcomed.

First Chapter
Chapter Eighteen
Chao peered at the holographic display at the front of the landing boat as she talked to an international audience. “Okay, folks! You can now see the Coalition Exploration Bureau’s ship Exultant Finger of Rithro. It’s missing its usual armor configuration; normally, this corvette would have triangular cones of armor at the front and back. But they re-configured that armor material into a shell to prevent us from seeing them as they flew towards Earth. Merely as a precaution; they flipped the shell around a few weeks ago to display their ship to us. They even extended their radiators towards our planet, which to them is a signal of surrender.”
She smiled at Parvati, who floated next to her. “Pretty cool, right?”
“Very cool indeed!” exclaimed Parvati. “So where is the damage?”
Chao pointed. “See these toroidal tanks around the middle of the ship? They hold hydrogen for the ship’s fusion drive, but after tangling with that Breaker some of them got punctured. You can see the holes there, there, and there. That means they’re now limited in how long they can burn the reactor. Plus the FTL drive is now pretty much kaput. It apparently uses a lot of energy.”
Parvati pondered the display. “Faster than light,” she mused. “We need that. After we get the fusion drive technology, of course. Assuming that ever comes out of committee.”
Chao laughed. “Well, that’s why we’re here, right? To show all of humanity what could be ours.”
“Will we go outside? I mean, for real outside?” The actress reached towards the display, halting when she realized there was no physical screen.
“We’ve got pressure suits. Should be okay, we did plan for going out for a few minutes to get some direct video. It’ll be limited in time, those suits aren’t really meant for proper EVAs…”
“Oh, that’s no problem!” said Takh from behind them, causing both women to do the equivalent of a zero-g jump. For someone so big, he somehow managed to just…arrive on the scene. “We’ve got plenty of components on board, we can make you all some proper hardsuits!” He grinned at the camera on Chao’s chest; watching an udhyr grin was an awe-inspiring sight, what with all of the teeth and mandibles. “It’s all snap-together for any body type, it works just like your Legos!”
Parvati, of course, was the first to regain her composure. “Thank you Takh, I’m sure that will be very welcome. One thing has occurred to me; even if our material is successful in allowing you to patch your tanks, you will still require hydrogen to fill them, yes?”
The XO’s cheer didn’t fade. “Of course. We’ll find a nearby ice-containing body and extract us some hydrogen. We already have a few candidates chosen. You can all come and ride along! It should be fun to watch.”
“Yes, very fun.” Parvati met Chao’s eyes in a clear unspoken message of is this guy for real?
A much smaller hand crept its way around Takh’s leather-armored shoulder. “Now, my dear,” said McCoy. “We mustn’t interrupt the PR people. They’re half the reason we’re out here, after all.” She winked at the two other women; both of the latter winked back.
“Oh, of course!” Takh bowed formally to the two. “Forgive me.”
“No worries,” said Chao.
“There is nothing to forgive, my good sir,” replied Parvati with an equally formal bow.
The huge alien and petite corporal vanished, leaving the two women to watch the ship as the boat headed for its docking cradle.
“They are utterly adorable,” said Parvati.
“So are you two,” said Chao.
“Sorry?”
“You and Ravindar. I’m not saying to make your move right now. We’re gonna be on camera for a while, and I know I just made a bunch of people on Earth go squee. But you need to tell him how you feel.”
For once the actress looked flustered. “I…I couldn’t, he’s so brave and strong…”
Chao’s voice sounded out like the slamming of a vault door. “Stop. I had the same problem. I was into someone who was brave and strong. Not as big as Ravindar, but then again few people are. Then I found out he was into me too, but because he thought I was smart. I’m not as smart as he thinks I am, but I’m not going to tell him that.”
Parvati glanced into the rear of the landing boat, where Martinez was in the midst of puttering around with the human and alien crew. The actress now looked thoughtful. “I see.”
“All I’m saying is, you don’t need to be exactly in-sync in terms of what you see in each other.” Chao smiled. “Heck, you might even find out that you’re in-sync in ways you didn’t see coming.”
The dark-haired Indian fixed Chao with a stare. “I sense there is a story somewhere in there that you’re not telling me. Ah well, as you say it can wait until we are all no longer under the camera’s gaze.”
__________
Master Sergeant Wilkes smiled down at the spidery alien. “Kifa, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. Consider it part of your helping us to train. This person made a living while driving one of the highest, fastest aircraft we’ve ever made.”
“Oooh!” Kifa looked very pleased at the idea. “That’s a good area to focus on! Where orbital mechanics and aircraft mechanics meet.”
“Indeed.” Wilkes nodded at the near door. “You may come in, sir.”
A man walked in, his face stretched taut in the way which only scar tissue can appear.
Kifa peered up at him. “Forgive me, this is probably very insensitive, but…were you injured?”
He laughed. “I sure was! Burned to a fare-thee-well!”
“Oh, I am so sorry!”
He smiled. “No need to be sorry. Hey, do you want a headpat? Word on the street is your species like that sort of thing.”
The xyrax rocked back and forth on its legs. “Well, a human headpat is always welcome….”
The man reached up and wiggled his fingers, making a great show that his pinky had full range of motion. “See this? Pure miracle that I can do that. The surgeon putting my hand back together, just on a whim, decided to put a pin in here so’s that my pinky finger can grasp properly. Good thing too, otherwise I would’ve never made it through the physical training.”
He then reached forth and with that rebuilt hand dispensed quite a few righteous headpats onto Kifa. After a mutual moment of happy bonding, the xyrax spoke again.
“What training were you pursuing?”
“The same thing you and I are gonna be doing for a week or so.” His eyes, narrowed with scar tissue, lit up. “My dear Kifa, I’m gonna make you into a Sled Driver. God willing and the creek don’t rise, we might get to do it for real and not just in the simulators. They’re already pulling a bunch of Blackbirds out of mothballs. Hell, even the Russians are offering us titanium for building new ones. Seems like everybody’s got a fire lit under their kiester.”
Kifa’s eyes, already big and black, got even bigger. “What is a Sled Driver?”
“Why, it’s only the best profession on the planet, my little blue-furred friend. We get to go fast.”
__________
Joachim regarded the cylindrical, human-sized tank with some trepidation. It looked far too much like a transparent coffin. “You want to stick me in that thing?”
Zawahir nodded. “I know it’s a lot to ask, sir. It is entirely up to you, in the end. But if this works…” He waved at the tank. “If this works, then you will emerge from that tank physically in your twenties.”
They both regarded the tank for a moment, which was full of a clear and, at the moment, a very exclusive liquid.
“Corina too, of course,” said Joachim as he leaned back in his wheelchair. “If it works on me first.” He still wasn’t quite sure where he was; there had been a lot of back-and-forth with planes and whatnot.
“Of course,” said Zawahir. “That goes without saying.”
“Then the two people injured in the DC attack. This will regrow their limbs, correct?”
“Well, naturally.” Zawahir smirked. “They’re the Borlaug Institute’s big publicity stunt, after all. Testing on two people before-hand should be enough to let us know if it’ll work on them.”
“Of course.” Joachim gazed at the tank. “I’ll do it, on one condition.”
“Name it.”
“If…if I don’t come out okay, I want everyone to know that I tried, right? And I do mean everyone. All of humanity.”
“I’m just one person. At the moment, I can only promise that I’ll say what I can.”
After a moment, Joachim nodded. “Then put me in there. I just need to talk to Corina beforehand.”
“Of course, sir.”
__________
The blue-suited woman with a blonde pony-tail smiled as she stared into the camera. “Welcome to Summit Technologies’s livestream of Point-Counterpoint, I’m Amy Coulson. We are currently talking about and debating the latest announcements in space-based systems. As everyone is aware, this has become a source of great concern in the last month or so.” She nodded to the beige-suited man next to her. “This is Walter Higgins, formerly of TRW and who now works for Northrop-Grumman. Walter, to start with can you tell us what the current status is of the repair effort for the alien craft?”
Walt leaned forward, putting his forearms on the desk in front of them. “Well, the main concern is if the plates we’re providing for patching will actually work. So only one of the Rithro’s boats was launched…the one with Chao Me Chu and Parvati Devdhar, they’re towing the fifteen-ton loft provided by ULA to avoid wasting too much energy. Just in case the patching doesn’t work.” He winked at the camera. “I assure you, as someone in the aerospace industry, ULA is going to be very proud of that for a good long while. Anyways, at the moment, they are approaching the L5 point and we should be able to get some spectacular pictures of, well, everything. Of the Earth from near the Moon’s orbit, of the Moon itself, and most importantly of the Rithro.”
Amy nodded in a comradely fashion, but Walt was not fooled. He’d dealt with reporters before. “Sounds intriguing, and I’m sure everyone on Earth looks forward to such sights. But mere patching will not be enough to solve the ship’s issues, correct?”
He sighed. “You’re right. One of the ship’s fusion engines was damaged, and that limits their top speed. Think of it as…you’re a big ocean liner with three propellers, and one goes down. You might still be able to steer using just the other two, but you’re not going to be as effective or fast as you might be.”
“Effective,” she mused. “I suppose that our helping fix their fusion drive is among those bits of alien tech currently prohibited?”
“Yes. I have heard some rumors that the Borlaug Institute in Iceland has had some great initial success, so I hope that soon we will be able to tackle the fusion drive problem.”
She stared at him a bit, which he knew was a bit of theatricality. “Such a repair would make them more capable against these so-called ‘Breakers’, correct?”
“So-called? Now, Amy. Don’t tell me you’re agreeing with those lunatics?”
In the weeks since the simultaneous attacks, a few manifestos had cropped up online. All mostly spouted the same nonsense; at least, nonsense in Walt’s eyes. They all said the same thing; that the Breakers were fake. That this whole rigamarole was a false flag effort by the Coalition, one intended to get all of humanity under their thumb.
“I don’t agree with them,” said Amy, to her credit. “I’m merely stating the other side of the conflict. Yes, I think most people agree that there is an alien ship up at the L5 point which has been grievously damaged. I do trust the evidence of my eyes. I’m sure our two…”
“Five.”
“…five brave souls heading out to that very point at L5 will see exactly the same thing as the Hubble did. But. Have you considered, just for the sake of argument, that evidence of an attack is not evidence of Breakers? Perhaps this is some local dispute, and the crew has set up some sort of fake attack. They could intend to use us as shock troops to settle it.”
Walt leaned back in his chair as he went through the longest twenty seconds of his life. He knew things, thanks to his role. He also knew that if he spoke them aloud he would be burning his entire career right down to the waterline. “That is somewhat possible. But not probable.”
She leaned forward, as if sensing she had him on the ropes. “Why?”
“Because they didn’t need to.” His gray eyes were calm as he stared at her and measured his words. “Do you have any notion, any single clue, of the firepower that ship possesses?”
“Um…well, no, that part’s still classified.”
“I will give you a hint. They have a spinal railgun that could, with around three shots, turn any metropolitan area on earth into a molten crater. They have nuclear-tipped missiles, even one of which could burn a city to the ground. They didn’t need to play nice, Amy. Those aliens could have stood off in orbit, smacked a few cities, and then gotten on the radio to dictate terms of our surrender. We’d have no choice but to comply.”
He stared daggers at her, half expecting some black-suited guys with earpieces to jump in and haul him away. But nothing happened, it was as if the world was holding its breath. “They did their very best to treat with us fairly, to treat us as equals.”
Amy looked away. “I…I hope that is true.”
“It is.” He glanced behind his shoulder for any Men In Black, but nobody was there so far. Maybe he should continue. He assumed a smile, one which he did not feel. “Anyways. We will see what they see, when they get there. There is, also, the international consortium’s proposal for the Sea Dragon.”
The reporter rallied, clearly grateful for the change in subject. “Ah, yes. You’ve reviewed the designs of this craft. Is it really necessary?”
“At the moment, yes. Starship holds a great deal of promise, but they’re still trying to crack the reusability and multiple-refueling issue. This design does permit reusability…of the first stage, if nothing else…but it isn’t strictly necessary for success. Success, in this case, consists of tons to orbit.”
“Why something so big, though? Won’t it be an issue?”
He chuckled, feeling surer of himself. “That’s why we’re launching it in the ocean, in the middle of nowhere.”
She actually looked troubled, so he figured he’d throw her a bone. “The first launch won’t have anything…controversial.”
“But Walt, the second launch is the issue! Nobody has launched this much radioactive material into space.”
“We need to, Amy,”
“But on an almost untested rocket? From a design which is decades old?”
“We have top people on it,” said Walt. “Including people from that era, who know exactly the pitfalls and also have access to modern technology.”
“Which people?”
“It’s still secret as to their identities. But like I said, I can confirm rumors that the Borlaug Institute is already paying significant dividends.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Over a billion dollars funneled into a figurative black hole in Iceland. Why would you believe anything they say?”
“They’re going to have some serious proof soon,” said Walt.
__________
Iceland. Joachim had never, ever expected to visit Iceland. But yet here he was…again. He stood with no cane, with nothing supporting him but his own two legs. He stared at a nearby volcanic massif, one covered with green lichen. The spring was coming in, and the ground around him was similarly strewn with fuzzy green growth. His beard and hair were now coming in dark again, with only a hint of gray at the tips to betray his true age.
He heard some light-footed steps coming up the trail behind him. It must be Zawahir.
“Why the hell am I back in Iceland?” Joachim replied.
"This is where the tech is, at least for the moment. How are you feeling, sir?”
“I feel…like my old self, Zawahir. I forgot what it was like to have knees that don’t hurt anymore. How is Corina’s, er, ‘tanking’ proceeding?”
“Very well, sir. I am overseeing the procedure of her ‘tanking’ myself, I just wanted to come and let you know that everything is looking good.”
Joachim looked down at the back of his hand. It was no longer wrinkled, no longer showed a welter of age spots. “When?”
“She should be out in…seventy-two hours. That’s how long it took you.”
“Good to know.” He turned to face Zawahir. “My friend, I am going to need every single internet connection you have for the next seventy-two hours. I have a lot of design work to take care of in that time frame; I will need to have a lot of meetings using those oh-so-clever ‘online’ apps. I’ll be indisposed after that.”
“Sir?”
Joachim stepped forth and placed a newly-strong hand on Zawahir’s shoulder. “My dear Zawahir. I am now physically twenty again. In the next three days my wife, the love of my life and she who I hold dear above all else, will also emerge from your magic alien goo and she will also be physically twenty years old. What do you think will happen after she is thus reborn?”
Zawahir’s eyes widened. “Oh. OH! Yes, of course. Please, follow me.”
Joachim chuckled to himself as he followed the man towards the low-roofed buildings of the Borlaug Institute in the distance.
__________
Chao was now clad back in her pressure suit; fortunately, the aliens were quite adept at helping the humans back into their cloth-and-glass cocoons. She looked over at Parvati. “Neil can bite us.”
Parvati grinned. “For sure. Neil was a very great man, but sadly he never got to see an alien starship.”
Chao checked the readout at her wrist, ensuring that she was indeed sealed up and pressurized. She looked over at her four fellow humans, and received nods in return. “We’re go, Captain Sadaf.”
The on-board crew of the Rithro were now back in their chromed, faceted hardsuits. “Depressurizing,” said Sadaf. “Please monitor those to either side, sing out if you see any stress.”
Chao reminded herself to breathe normally as things just got…quiet. Very quiet. She managed, through sheer willpower, to not have an utter panic attack as she realized that there was nothing between her and a life-sucking nothing except for a few layers of fabric and plastic.
She glanced over at Parvati, who looked to be also in the midst of trying (and fortunately succeeding) at combating her own panic attack behind her Plexiglas helmet. “Doing okay?” asked Chao, and immediately felt like an idiot for asking such a stupid question.
Still, Parvati nodded. Chao felt a tap at her shoulder, and looked over at Martinez. The corporal grinned at her from behind his own transparent head-cocoon. “Doing okay?” he asked with just the right bit of cheekiness.
Chao slapped his shoulder, but it was a playful slap. “Dipshit.” She forgot, in the moment, that she was begin transmitted live to the world. Her curse was thus broadcast to pretty much every kid on the planet, who then gleefully repeated her curse-word until they all got smacked by their parents.
She didn’t know that at the time, her entire world was the airlock door that now opened to reveal…black.
Utter black.
Chao had enough experience in zero-g maneuvering to push herself towards the door. “Oh. Man. Folks, this is it. Gonna step outside, for at least a little bit.”
She could feel both Martinez on one side and Sadaf on the other. The latter figured; the captain struck Chao as a ‘lead from the front’ type.
“Grip the frame,” said Sadaf. Through the translator bead her voice was deadly calm. “No big muscle movements, just kind of…drift where you want to go.”
Chao obediently swung herself up and out of the boat, reveling in the fact that now she was seeing the Exultant Finger of Rithro in real time. The long ship stretched alongside a clamshell-like shield, its radiators stretched out towards the Earth in a gesture of surrender.
Speaking of which…
Chao kept a firm hold on the doorframe as she looked behind her. A small, fragile, blue-and-white marble floated before her, a sphere which looked to be the size of her thumb-tip held at arm’s length. Chao did so with her free gloved hand, watching her thumb occlude that fragile-loooking sphere. And in that moment, her world was completely changed.
It is one thing to know a fact. It is one thing to meet aliens, to accept that they are from oh so very far away, that your world is but one little dust mote drifting in the vast and limitless cosmic ocean. But it is quite another to see that fact laid bare before you, where you can witness it in real-time through nothing but a Pexiglas helmet. Chao now knew. Everyone she’d ever known, everyone she’d ever heard of, every king or warlord or emperor or internet celebrity who anyone had ever heard of had lived down there, upon a sphere that looked to her like the most ephemeral of soap-bubbles. She had the crazy notion that she could just reach out one gloved finger and pop it.
She also knew that millions, perhaps billions, were watching this live via her bodycam. Perhaps they were going through the same epiphany.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she knew she was on the verge of tears. No, that was a bad thing. She was in freefall; there was no way for those tears to stream down her face. They would just collect over her eyes and blind her. So Chao breathed in deep and managed to tamp down those threatened tears.
“Chao?” called out Sadaf through her comm. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good, Captain. Just…next time…, we send up a poet.”
__________
Shaw hated, hated, hated having to use a wheelchair to get around. Most of the time he could wheel himself around using his substantial arms, but every so often the nursing staff would try to get oh so helpful and try to push him towards where he was going. Several of them had nearly lost limbs of their own thanks to such efforts.
Still, he was alive and that was a good thing. Although…watching Agent Milton Vila and his family, who were nearby as he went through his own convalescence, made Shaw reevaluate his life choices. It would be nice to have a wife and kid to hug while one went through the worst thing ever. But he was too old, such things were well behind him. While on autopilot, Shaw wheeled himself down the tiled and very off-white hallway with a sour air. One which told the entire staff that he was Not To Be Disturbed. He was thinking of a particular girl, one with the cutest pigtails and the sunniest smile. Yeah, she would have been the one, if he’d had his head on straight back then.
And then, in spite of his ‘Fuck the Fuck Off energy’, someone did block his path.
He stared at a pair of narrow legs, clad in narrow pants, then looked up with a distinct lack of humor. “I do believe you are in my way.”
The dark-skinned man blocking his path smiled, but it was a gentle smile. “I am. But, I am very sure you will want to hear my offer. Both you and Agent Vila.”
Shaw regarded him with gimlet eyes. “Oh, really? What’s your name?”
“I’m Zawahir Ibn Harith. I am the head of the…”
“I don’t give a single solitary fuck,” said Shaw. “I’ve had plenty of people trying to get me to tell them my life story since I got my leg removed with extreme prejudice. I don’t know how you got in here, but you strike me as someone just like them, Harith. So. I may be minus one leg, but I can still fuck you up but good. I can fuck you up so bad you’ll never shit right again. Do you wanna get out of my way now?”
The man’s smile didn’t change. “Borlaug Institute.”
“What. Really?”
“Really, sir. Both you and Agent Milton Vila. It sounds…very cynical, but you were the two that we wanted to heal first. As an object lesson to humanity. Do you understand?”
The notion made Shaw’s mind reel. “Heal?”
“Fully. We have successfully restored two people to the prime of life, and we are now certain that we can do the same for you and Agent Vila. With all of your limbs intact. We have done a great many tissue-sample experiments, and it appears that the regeneration also re-grows limbs.”
Shaw looked down at his missing lower leg. “And you’ll do the same for Milton?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Stop calling me sir, I work for a living. Call me Mack.”
“Very well…Mack. I won’t lie to you, this has been planned well in advance. But it turned out that limb re-growth for humans also unlocked certain regeneration within our cells, particularly the telomeres…”
Shaw held up a meaty hand. “Just…I’m a dumb grunt in such matters, don’t bother to tell me how it works. So you have some kind of magic goo that you slather over me and hey presto I’m twenty again?”
“That is more or less the shape of it, si…Mack. You will need to be immersed in the ‘magic goo’ for at least three days. Perhaps more, since this will also be regenerating a limb.”
“Either way, I go first,” said Shaw, with a flinty glare up at Zawahir. “I’m the test subject, and you need to test me good after I get re-birthed from your goop. I know you said you’d done it on two people, but we need to make sure this doesn’t give me some kind of bullshit super-cancer before Milton goes in. He’s got a wife and a kid. If he has to use a prosthetic instead of magic alien goo, then he has to use that instead. Understand?”
Zawahir gave Shaw a little bow. “Of course. I do believe you are quite the appropriate test subject.”
“Oh, go fuck yourself. Where is this shindig taking place, anyway?”

Credit to u/bluefishcake for writing the original SSB story and building the sandbox for us to play in.
And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired to get off my ass and put my fingers to keyboard. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), Rhion-618 (Just One Drop), UncleCieling(Going Native), RobotStatic (Far Away), Kazevenikov (The Cryptid Chronicle), Also to the editor # Fan Beta Readers and KLiCkonthat .
As always comments, complaints, and suggestions are welcome.
This is a fair use notice. Any and all aspects of this may be used on and within this subreddit only, with attribution. All other uses are exclusive to the author.
/*******************************/
Nanorix took the news from the advocates in stride, better than Linda. They had spent the night mutually venting at the injustice of the situation while putting away bottles of gin. Max sounded almost broken by the news while Nora the optimist in the family, firmly held to the belief that things would work out. Rufus was, well, Rufus. Intuitively compassionate, which is why he was laying in the front seat of the truck with his head on Linda's lap as they drove up to Flagstaff.
Linda was trying to sleep off her hangover, her eyes closed but not asleep. Alila had been honest that the only reason Garquile was not tied up in this was that he had her direct protection as a territorial governess. Tommy did not have that level of security and without it, he was in more danger than Robert. From what Alila had said, elements in the Interior wanted Robert dead, other interested parties wanted him alive because of his potential. The situation was so bad the Planetary Governess had stepped in and ordered the house arrest of six high-ranking members of the Interior and let it be known that if anything happened to young Mr. Pierce they would die publicly.
Neither Alila nor the planetary governess knew why the Interior wanted Robert dead, she did. After she heard that the pod found the children and what was being done to them. Her lieutenant had completely lost it, she rounded everyone operating the orphanage and lined them against the wall, and had them shot. The Interior had come in and had done what they always did, cleaned up the mess, and protected those who were important and connected. Before the interior got there one of the girls found a large data server and they made copies. There were four full copies still on Earth and one that she knew was off-world, and she had one of them. It had been too dangerous to keep at home so she had setup a remote server that would once a week send out a heartbeat signal. There were major safety measures in place to prevent access.
She had managed to go to Flagstaff for brunch about once a month to establish a pattern of behavior. Those trips with Robert and sometimes Tommy had always been good, nothing special just good days. She and Linda would have brunch and she would trigger a download to her server buried under the barn. When they had spoken with Alila, Max, and Nora, Max had commented that if anybody could stack the deck and pull inside straight now was the time to do it. She did not tell Linda why they had to come, just that she needed to come up and check on something.
She and Linda had a quiet brunch on the patio of the restaurant to allow Rufus to join them. As they ate she triggered the data transfer. The data transfer would take at least thirty minutes to complete, so they would have a nice long brunch and talk about anything but the boys, she even took a couple of selfies of the two of them to cover what she was doing. Rufus camped out under the table but never relaxed, she was not sure if he sensed her unease or something else was going on that she could not see.
They stayed and chit-chatted until Linda finished her third cup of coffee. She did not want the third cup but they needed the extra time to let the data transfer complete, and by that time Linda's hangover had started to subside. The drive home was uneventful, but traffic was horrible due to the festival of colors going on, it was the 4th of July after all.
/*******************************/
Ishani was tired and hungry but had little interest in eating. She and Ensign Tha'xur had been up half the night working to translate the new equations that Robert had created yesterday, with a new understanding of how the translation needed to work. Thoughts of Robert consumed her mind, and she had to fight the urge to look over and watch him, the singular human male. His name seemed to roll off her tongue, lingering from her dreams the previous night as she drifted off to sleep. Those dreams had been far from innocent, filled with exotic and seductive images of him, even in his baggy exercise clothing.
Returning her attention to her food, Ishani shifted uncomfortably. She would need to change her underclothes if she continued dwelling on him like this. Taking another bite of the fruit, nut, and sauce mixture, she tried to enjoy it, but it did little to distract her from watching him. He moved slowly, almost as if dancing, though she couldn't grasp the purpose behind his movements. Ensign Tha'xur's timely arrival saved her from making an obvious fool of herself by staring at a boy nearly two years her junior. It always felt like she was the only one looking.
Ensign Tha'xur sat down with a tray of food and jokingly said, "Ground control to Crewwoman Vevreix, are you awake?" Ishani returned her gaze to her food and responded, "Yes, ma'am, I am awake, just..." Before she could finish her sentence, Ensign Tha'xur interrupted, "Distracted?"
Signing without looking up and absentmindedly playing with her food, Ishani replied, "Yes, ma'am, horribly. It's just... he's just one boy. I have enough common sense to know that there is no way I should even consider... why couldn't he be old, wrinkled, and fat..."
Ensign Tha'xur completed Ishani's thought, saying, "Instead, he's young, fit, and I would even go as far as to say he's attractive in a very unmasculine way, with that wounded, sad boy aura."
Looking up, Ishani was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean 'you could call him attractive'? Are you blind? I mean, he may be a little short, but other than that, he is..." She trailed off, unable to find the right words.
Smiling and taking a bite of her burrito, Ensign Tha'xur replied, "He is desirable, and deep down, I believe you could take away all his pain and sadness... but please don't go there." Shifting into a serious tone, she continued, "I overheard Cmdr Norroe and Lt Cmdr Ashix talking about him the day we arrived. What caught my attention was Cmdr Norroe mentioning his thousand-yard stare that is measured in miles. There are significant parts of his life that we don't have access to because they've been redacted by the interior."
Ishani looked over at Robert, who appeared to have finished his morning workout and was heading towards the mobile kitchen. She murmured, "No one is ever so lost in the deepest of caves that they cannot be found by the beating of their heart. There is always hope and always a way out."
Ensign Tha'xur wiped her face clean of the red sauce that had dripped from her burrito and commented, "You, Crewwoman, are an optimist."
"With all due respect, ma'am, have you looked?" Ishani responded quizzically.
With a wry smile En. Tha'xur replied smoothly "I am technically a married woman and my husband and kho wives are going to be here in three days. I am hoping that my leave request will be honored, we were supposed to go to Tel Aviv for 14 days." Frowning slightly with the last statement.
Ishani gave an understanding smile "Well, that explains why you are not interested. You know, if you want to get the time off then ask for help. What is the worst he can do to say no?"
En. Tha'xur almost laughed at that, "So what should I do ask him over here for you to ogle him and for me to get a chance to go on leave, I do not think he would like that, being that he is here under guard."
Ishani took another bite of her food, ‘alright girl put up or shut up’ she thought to herself, before standing. "Ma'am if you never ask for help you will never get any." This is not a good idea, turning to find Robert who was looking for an open table to eat at. "Robert, can you join us over here, please?" Blessed Nest mother, that sounded so bad she inwardly cringed.
/************************/
Robert had gotten his food-laden tray and was looking for an empty place to sit. It felt a little weird not having a personal shadow always with him. The petty officers had told him last night that he would be given some space and an opportunity to interact with the people here. "Go out, mingle, talk to people, that's a winning idea," he thought sarcastically. Yup, everything was normal again. Alone in a room full of people and completely clueless about how to do the most basic of things, like talking to anybody.
Now, the people he could talk to were a problem. Being the only male and the only human, he received looks. The looks could be categorized into three groups: lust, curiosity, and pity. Dealing with lust was easy; he just chose not to care, and thankfully, they were discreet about it for now. Pity, on the other hand, infuriated him because most of the time, it was fake. Whenever someone expressed their sympathy for all the things he had been through, he wanted to scream. At best, it was a polite social convention, and at worst, it was a selfish and internalized burden of guilt that had nothing to do with him.
Just as he spotted an empty table at the far end, somebody called out his name. "Can you join us over here, please?" Shit, it was Ishani, the one person in the whole damned place who had a very unsettling effect on him. She was the only one here who scared the shit out of him. Taking a breath to collect himself, he acknowledged her with a nod and proceeded to join her and the Ensign at their table.
He noticed that when he acknowledged her, she just beamed and got all bubbly. That was the best word for it. Her glowing tattoos seemed to brighten for just a moment before she sat down, leaving him to wonder what those tattoos looked like on the rest of her body. He made it to the table and sat down on autopilot while his mind indulged in a little fantastical daydream, leaving him noticeably flushed and uncomfortable in ways that only men could be.
Setting his tray and bottle of maple syrup down on the table and taking a seat, Robert tried to say thank you, but neither Ishani nor the Ensign had their translators running.
En. Tha'xur noticed him stop trying to use hand speak and realized that they had just messed up a little. "I am sorry, that was rude of us," she said as she tried to get her translation app up and running. Meanwhile, Ishani was no help; she was head down in her food, blushing and trying very hard not to be noticed. "There, we're set."
Robert was relieved when En. Tha'xur got her translation app running, so he wouldn't have to stare at Ishani across the round table from him. He returned his attention to En. Tha'xur. "I was trying to say thank you for asking me to join you, and it's okay. You at least figured it out."
Ishani looked up from her half-eaten food when En. Tha'xur's translator started speaking. Fuck, she thought, this is so embarrassing. Inviting a boy to come over and eat with you only to ignore him when he gets here. Idiot. Turning to face him, her brain failed as she smiled stupidly and took another bite. "Hungry?"
En. Tha'xur couldn't help but cringe. The situation unfolding before she seemed straight out of a cliché "coming of age" story, where a girl meets a boy and the universe seems to pause just for them. It reminded her of the sentimental videos her older brother and his friends would tear up over. Poor Ishani, the other girls around her would roast her mercilessly, yet she remained oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. En. Tha'xur couldn't decide if it was cute or tragic. Determined to intervene and save Ishani from herself, she spoke up, "Robert, the reason Crewwoman Vevreix invited you over is that I need your help."
"Hungry?" Robert was caught off guard by Ishani's question. Did she even understand what she was doing? He found her confusing, and he just wanted to finish his meal quickly and GTFO. En. Tha'xur was speaking, but he had missed what she said. He decided to play dumb and replied, "OK."
En. Tha'xur thought to herself, "This is good." She then explained, "Well, my husband and my three kho wives are going to be arriving on Earth in three days. I had scheduled a 14-day leave, but then I received an emergency assignment here, and I don't know if they will honor my leave request."
Robert had managed to pay enough attention to understand that she needed a favor. He had two basic choices: give a hard no and explain that the advocates wouldn't allow him to help until they gave the go-ahead, or try to answer her questions. His best option was to listen and see if he could offer some hints. "I am quite restricted by what my advocates have told me to do, but I will try to point you in the right direction."
Finally, Ishani managed to gather her thoughts and interjected, "See, I told you, all you need to do is ask."
En. Tha'xur rolled her eyes, silently expressing her frustration towards Ishani. She replied, "Thank you, can you help?"
Talking with his mouth full wasn't polite and attempting to gesture while eating proved to be a challenge. Robert sighed as he reluctantly set down his fork, his stomach growling in protest. "Yes, I will genuinely help you. And if you're wondering why," Robert paused, trying to understand his willingness to assist, "it's because you asked. Now, the big question is, do you even know what you want to ask?"
Ishani eagerly jumped in, unknowingly giving En. Tha'xur some time to formulate a proper question to ask. "Okay, if I can ask one too, please?"
Robert held up one finger as he obeyed the demands of his stomach and shoved a load of runny fried eggs and hash browns in his mouth. "Sure, since you saved me from eating alone." Robert swallowed hard after he finished speaking, realizing he had just unintentionally flirted with her. Thinking inwardly, "Shut up, dumb ass. You are going to get yourself in trouble."
Ishani sputtered like Joe Pesci for just a couple of seconds before getting to her real question. "Ok, ok, ok, ok." Pointing to the work area where the Charger was, she asked, "Why is the car so important? Why did you build it?"
Robert shoveled another load of eggs and hash browns into his mouth. "Why would a human boy on Earth, living in North America, want to build a fast car and one that could fly?" Pausing to inhale the bite of his eggs and hash browns, he continued, "Because it was fun, and it would have been cool to have a hotrod and be the only one to fly. Well, that would be a show-off, a little, and to have a shitload of fun flying around in it."
En. Tha'xur cluelessly responded, "What is a 'hotrod,' and why would a flying car be 'cool'? I guess that means good?"
Robert had to roll his head back before responding, to the idea of attempting to explain custom car and motorcycle cultures. "Humans like to personalize cars and other things as expressions of their personalities and rolling pieces of art in some cases. For a human boy to be able to build a car and go fast is a dream. Hotrods are the result of those builds."
Taking another break to move the French toast in front of him and pour on the maple syrup, he continued, "Back to the first part of your question, 'Why is it important?' Other than a personal attachment to the memories connected to it... it is not, in the grand scheme of things, it was a mistake. A very valuable mistake, it disproved one of my approaches to a bigger challenge."
En. Tha'xur and Crewwoman Vevreix just looked at each other and mouthed the same words, "It was a fucking mistake!!"
Robert tried to hide his smug satisfaction. Nobody ever considered just how much of his work was critical and applied to his big challenge. Ishani looked at Robert as he dug into his French toast. "If that was a mistake, what is the prize?" Robert just smiled and shrugged in response to the question. En. Tha'xur sat dejected, "Well, that did answer one of the big questions. The car is a stepping stone to the bigger thing."
Watching the Ensign sit dejected and look a little lost made Robert feel like a little shit. Flipping the bird to the bureaucratic machine that was the Imperium always felt like a "fuck yes," but trolling a person was different. She had asked him for help, and he had used it to be petty and spiteful. "You don't need to ask right now, and if you loan me your data slate, I will give you a couple of hints," he said, reaching out for the device.
En. Tha'xur handed over the data slate wordlessly. Robert opened a new document and wrote:
"If you have 'The Right Stuff,' you can connect the dots."
"Space-Time Gravity is not the same as Gravity Space-Time."
When he finished, he handed the data slate back to the ensign and returned to his food. En. Tha'xur picked up the data slate, read the hints, and found the first line to be of no use other than some devotional wisdom that would be preached in a temple. However, the second line held interesting possibilities. Grabbing the data slate, Ishani quickly scanned the text and handed it back to En. Tha'xur. "Thank you, I think we can work with this," she said. Turning to En. Tha'xur, she added, "Ma'am, I think we need to work in conference room 2 today. It has the other digital whiteboard, and I think we need the space."
En. Tha'xur picked up the data slate and looked right at Robert. "I don't get the first one. The second one could be applied in a dozen or more places."
Finishing his first piece of French toast, Robert tried to remember the order of the equations to point her in the right direction. "Show me my work from last night, and I will show you the one to work against. Don't try to finish it, just try to understand it."
En. Tha'xur handed the translated copy of Robert's work back to him, and he looked at it with a mixture of fascination and difficulty. It was strange to see his work presented so neatly, but it was also challenging to read. He had to mentally retranslate it to the original version he had written. Working through the problem brought his headache back in full force, making the surroundings too bright and diminishing his appetite. Robert tried to hide his discomfort, squinting his eyes and taking deep breaths.
Concerned, Ishani noticed his strained expression and asked, "Are you alright? You don't look well."
With a weak smile, Robert replied, "I shouldn't have done that. I usually take a couple of days off after my little flying trips. It's like working out too hard and feeling extremely sore the next day, then trying to work out again. Not fun."
En. Tha'xur felt uneasy knowing that Robert was enduring pain to help her. She thought of her father and how he would be disappointed in her. "Are you sure you don't need a doctor?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'll be fine, I just need some sleep," Robert reassured them, pushing his plate of food away. "If either of you wants to finish this, go for it. At the very least, don't waste the bacon."
Ishani reached for the plate and admitted, "I've heard about bacon, but I'm a little afraid to try new foods. I don't want to be disappointed."
En. Tha'xur reached for a piece of bacon, saying, "I love bacon. I'll even taste-test it to make sure it's okay." She smiled at Ishani and took a bite.
Robert observed as En. Tha'xur's eyes widened in shock. Oops, he remembered that he had coated the bacon in maple syrup. However, she didn't spit it out, which was a good sign. His mom loved crispy bacon dipped in maple syrup. Sometimes, she would devour an entire package of bacon if there was maple syrup in the house, and then she would try to conceal the fact that a pound of bacon had disappeared. She would even do her dishes, a chore that was usually Robert's.
En. Tha'xur bit into the bacon, expecting a salty taste but experiencing the combination of sweet and salty. The flavor was incredible. She paused to savor the taste before chewing again. "You have to try this!" she exclaimed.
Ishani, with anticipation in her eyes, sniffed the remaining piece of bacon. "Here goes nothing." She cherished this moment, as it was the closest she had come to tasting her nest mother's nectar. Grabbing the plate, she declared, "I'm finishing this!" and devoured the last piece of French toast without bothering with utensils.
Despite his throbbing headache, Robert couldn't help but smile as he rose from the table. "Enjoy. I need some sleep."
/*******************************/
Tommy had to roll his eyes at Valenlina's latest attempt to "improve" his wardrobe with a purple satin shirt with a matching sea green scarf. No matter how many times Valenlina tried to have Tommy dress like a proper male, Tommy always simply said no. Early on in the dating, Valenlina had gotten so frustrated that she also broke up with him, not that she ever told him. Her father and kho mother Tearhart had stepped in and explained that she could not make a human be like a Shil. The Imperium still tried, and the Humans resisted more. There were several semi-celebrities on the data-net that advised Shil’vai women on dating human males and females. The most common rule for dating a human male is not to try and change them to be acceptable in your circle because they will resent you for it. You have attracted a human male for a reason, embrace it.
Their walk through downtown Prescott was a moment the Tommy did not have to think about the meeting tomorrow. Early this morning he and his mother had gotten almost an hour of one on one time with Advocate Roskin and she was able to explain in greater detail what was expected of him tomorrow and how things could go right or wrong. Withholding information was one of the worse things he could do. After the meeting, Valenlina noticed the additional stress in Tommy. It was so bad that physical affection had no effect. There was only one thing other than sex that could distraction, window shopping.
Their window shopping trip started as a serious attempt to make him presentable in Shil’vati society, ow her attempts to help him look more presentable were just something they did to have fun. In many ways, it was closer to foreplay now, as Tommy now attempts to have Valenlina dress like a human girl. Tommy did have one big win, a pair of 4-inch-high heels, he had said they improved the view coming and going. Her big win last year was a shirt and tie set for his tailored charcoal suit, he was finally willing to wear formal attire with a splash color.
Valenlina could see her best effort to pull Tommy out of what his mother called a 'funk' were not working. He was still not willing to talk to her about it, she could understand that he was pissed but his silence bothered her. While he had not pushed her away, he still felt distant. Last year's fireworks had been the warmup act for what had followed. She could never look at Mr. Scott's old Ford pickup without blushing just a little bit.
Tommy smiled with a wicked little smile, "Thinking dirty thoughts again I see." he said holding up a pair of women's cowboy boots in hot pink.
Playfully Valenlina put on her pouty face, "What would you wear with them?"
Taking his turn to think dirty thoughts and hoping to see her turn dark blue Tommy put on his most innocent face, "First this is a girl's color, and they would be for you, but what would I wear if you wanted me to try them on? Nothing?" Emphasizing the last word.
With a facade of indignation, "Why Mr. Sandoval, are you implying that the Governess's daughter would be involved in anything so uncouth as to make a respectable male present himself for inspection with only what the Goddess endowed him with?"
Tommy returned the boots to the display and stepped forward to steal a kiss."My Dear Miss Seskie, you know dammed well that you would take full advantage of that situation."
Returning the kiss, Valenlina smiled. "Yes, Mr. Sandoval I would." She bent down to whisper into his ear. "I think we both need to cool off or we will never make it to the fireworks show."
Tommy took her by the hand." Looks like I'll have to settle for mint chocolate chip ice cream."
Valenlina put on a hurt expression. "You are so cruel."
They left the window shopping and continued walking back to the courthouse square. The roads around the court were closed for three days for Frontier Days and the Festive of Colors. This opened the court square up for a giant art show and sales venue. This was the change for local artisans to show off their wares in the hopes of making one or selling to a noble patron and then getting follow-up commission work. The north side of the courthouse was dedicated to custom motorcycles and the east side was for classic custom cars. The west side, known as "Whiskey Row" is where the food vendors and their destination Jacksons Ice Cream was set up right in front of the Palace Restaurant and Saloon.
Turning the corner to walk up Whiskey Row Tommy could not help but feel he was being watched. Tommy had to keep Valenlina from heading off to go look at this or that. He had to remind her, that ice cream was first or he would have to give her a spanking. Valenlina would always retort with, "Promises, promises".
When they were getting their ice cream Valenlina nudged Tommy and told him to look across the street. Standing in front of a face painting booth was a short portly balding human male with a puggy round face. He wearing a well-made black suit, the only thing missing from the 1930s gangster getup was a fedora hat.
Taking their ice cream and heading off to a wood sculptor's booth Tommy kicked himself mentally for not seeing him earlier, he was the only person wearing a business suit. He should have stood out like a sore thumb, but he just seemed to blend in. The booth was impressive, boasting several pieces commissioned by various members of the nobility. Tommy ate his ice cream and kept an eye on the gangster while Valenlina inspected the various pieces and got sticker shock.
Tommy tried to get Valenlina's attention when the gangster entered the booth and proceeded to the cane rack. By the time Valenlina noticed, the gangster was already paying for the cane he had selected.
When the gangster finished his transaction, he turned to Tommy and Valenlina." Well if it isn't the young man of the hour, Thomas Sandoval. It's a pleasure to meet you. As well as you, Miss Seskie."
Flustered, Tommy stuttered out, "Who the fuck are you? Have you been watching me?"
The man smiled, but it felt unnerving, maybe a little malicious, too., "My name is Mr. Rojo and I watch everybody. It's my calling, but I will admit that you and your brother have piqued my interest. I go through life watching the world go by, I enjoy the shifting mosaic of peoples' lives, and how they interconnect. For example, the car that you and your brother build was a 69 or 70 I could not tell with what is out on the news media.”
Tommy waited to tell this to go pound sand, but he need to talk and tell Mr. Rojo what even he needed, Tommy forgot Valenlina was listening as he spoke.” It is a 69, why is that important?”
The gangster slowly dropped part of his smile as he replied, ”It is not important, it is merely a curiosity just like why not use the Confederate battle flag and why the name Valkirey?”
Eagerly Tommy responded, “The Betsy Ross over the Stars and Bars, because it is more appropriate at this time and the Shil’vati Imperium has no idea what it means, instead of erasing human history maybe the Shil’vati could try learning from it.” almost quoting Sean Connery about goose stopping morons and burning books. “ Now for Valkire over General Lee, that is easy, Valkire’s are sexy and cool. and General Lee would get us in trouble, just like the Stars and Bars.”
The gangster's smile was completely gone, and his expression and tone had changed to serious but neutral almost professorial, “But I have a simple question for you, and I'd greatly appreciate it if you would give me an honest answer, Thomas what is gravity?"
Thomas could not stop himself and replied without hesitation. "Gravity is a higher dimensional construct. When projected from a higher dimension it appears to be a force, but to use it as a dimensional construct the space-time gravity interpretation must be inverted to be the first-dimensional construct so that space-time gravity becomes gravitational space-time with an indeterminate number of dimensional constructs between gravity and space."
The gangster looked surprised, while Valenlina looked utterly confused. "Is that your brother Robert's words or yours?"
Thomas hesitated only slightly before he replied. "Mostly Robert's, I can't dream up the shit he does but once he explains it, I can see it. He uses me as a sounding board." Tommy suddenly realized what he was saying. "Who the fuck are you?"
The gangster took Tommy's hand to shake it. "Mr. Sandoval, I told you I am a watcher and now I get to watch you. Have a glorious life Mr. Sandoval" nodding to Valenlina, "and you too, Miss Seskie."
Tommy watched as the gangster walked out of the booth noting that nobody noticed his passing.
Valenlina had been too engrossed in Mr. Rojo and Tommy's conversation to say or do anything, but now that Mr. Rojo was no longer there she angrily turned to face Tommy."Thomas, you have some explaining to do!"
Tommy would not realize until much later, that the gangster had placed the cane in his has as he left.
/*******************************/
First:
Janissary: The Joy Ride Ch1 : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Previous:
Janissary: The Joy Ride Ch7 : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Next:
Chapter 8
Extra:
Janissary: The Son Of War : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)
Janissary: Vision from Zy'Verila : Sexyspacebabes (reddit.com)

So, I have a successful bid on a place in Wicker Park. Escrow deposit has gone through. I am providing 40% down on a 15 year loan. Just got my lock-in document and the is 6.75%! Loan through Chase. Is this crazy? I am thinking going to through a local credit union now.
Edit: Thanks for the feedback. Apparently, my "insulted" reaction was a bit much. Apologies.

Hi everyone! This sub was so incredibly helpful to me in the planning process - I was deeply grateful for everything I learned, so I thought I'd post a trip report now that we're back!
About us: We're a 30s couple from the Midwest US. We're pretty experienced travelers (South America, UK/Ireland, Europe, lots of places in the US), but this was our first visit to Asia and first visit to Japan. As travelers, we love getting out on foot, local food/drink (especially street food), live music, nerd shit, weird art/vending machines. Also, my partner is a cis guy, but I am a trans masc person who is visibly trans (post-op in a few ways, but not passing/not stealth).
Dates: May 13 - May 29
What we did: Tokyo Kyoto Osaka Hakone Back to Tokyo
Tips and tricks:

• Definitely get your walking training in ahead of time! We walked 10 miles a day on the trip. We're pretty avid backcountry camping/hiking fans who regularly put in 8 - 10 miles on the trail (not to mention taking our dog for multiple walks a day in the neighborhood), so I figured we'd be good - but it was A LOT, especially since you're also trying to translate and navigate at the same time. Japan is not generally a super accessible place from a disability perspective; benches and public seating areas are not common. I found myself wishing I'd packed a collapsible seat of some kind, tbh!
• Good shoes a must! Merrell Moabs are my go-to for hiking, but for this trip I went with Nike Dunk 6 high-tops, which rocked. My partner went with Onitsukas and didn't do as well - he wound up buying inserts partway through the trip, which helped.
• Work on a little Japanese ahead of time! We came in with about a dozen words/phrases, which was honestly truly helpful. So many people are so kind and thoughtful anyway, but it was an appreciated gesture that we had planned ahead and were trying our best. Google Translate's camera feature (Google Lens) was a life-saver for translating written words on signs!
• We had a great experience with Ubigi for an eSIM. The days of purchasing an actual SIM card or even a burner device (like we used to do when backpacking in Europe) are long past. We hooked up our Ubigi eSIMs beforehand, flipped the switch when we got there, and we were golden. Just in case, we'd set up our Verizon coverage to include a Pay-As-You-Go international plan, but we didn't end up using it. We also didn't use half as much data as we thought we would - we both came home with extra GB on our Ubigi plan still. We didn't do a PocketWifi and I don't think we needed it - Ubigi did most of the heavy lifting, and free WiFi at various places did the rest.
• Fly into Haneda, not Narita - way closer to Tokyo city center.
• Get your Suica right away at the airport - our beloved Suica got us through so many things! We also withdrew some cash and split it up between us - we withdrew a few more times on the trip and it worked like a charm. (Just make sure it's an international ATM that includes your card type - not all of them do. Also, notify your bank you'll be traveling, so your card doesn't throw a flag!) We used our credit card as well - the Chase card was accepted pretty much all places CCs are, but many places remain cash-only, especially bars and restaurants.
• Had a great experience using the Friendly Limousine Airport Bus service straight from Haneda to our hotel area.
• I booked shinkansen tix ahead of time, so I got nice discounts on weekday Green Car tix for two - but I really needn't have worried, there were plenty of seats available day-of.
• Don't bother with shinkansen for Kyoto to Osaka - we wound up just hopping on a local with our Suicas and it was fine.
• Don't bother with the Romancecar from Hakone back to Tokyo - it's fastemaybe a nicer seating experience, but just hopping on a local with your Suica is an order of magnitude cheaper.
• Look things up in Japanese if using Google Translate; use Tabelog for restaurants if possible. Google Maps in English is more touristy reviews/reactions.
• Tokyo Skytree was hit-or-miss - only real letdown of the trip.
• Tokyo teamLab PLANETS was completely worth it - absolutely worth the hype in my opinion.
• Queer and trans travelers - I felt completely safe, but as a plus-size trans masc nonbinary queerdo, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I didn't feel in danger, but I was absolutely aware that I did not fit in. Stares were common, especially from older men and young kids. (Weirdly, local women seemed more friendly and curious about me!) Just be prepared for it and remember you're not in any danger physically - it's all just curiosity.
• I have to thank this subreddit for recommending Hakone, especially for the tip to book a ryokan with private onsen access. We had an absolutely beautiful experience at Yamanochaya in Hakone, which included both a private "onsen" soaking tub in our room and private 1:1 access to a larger, actual hot spring onsen on the property. I otherwise would not have been able to experience a real hot spring onsen at all, as they are gender-segregated. Thank you, /JapanTravel!

Because I'm a nerd, here's the actual breakdown!
DAY 1 ARRIVAL 📍 Flew into Haneda; made it to our hotel (lovely experience at Hotel Plaza Sunroute); had our first world-famous konbini 7/11 experience; walked around Shinjuku; went out for dinner at Ryu no Miyako Inshokugai - talk about jumping in the deep end 🍣 Onigiri and vending machine green tea; little whipped cream treats; Nagahama ramen and sesame mackerel donburi 👣 10,400 steps 🏁 4.8 miles
DAY 2 SHIBUYA 📍 Meiji Shrine and Gardens - got goshuin and omamori; Harajuku, went to 7/11; back to the hotel for a nap; Shibuya, including Don Quijote, Center Gai and Dogenzaka Street; Nonbei Yokocho for late night 🍣 7/11 (plum onigiri and corn/mayo sandwich, some kind of spam musubi situation, matcha roll); Ichiran coin-op ramen with extra chashu and a matcha tofu custard thing; banana shock smoothie at Shibuya109 in Center Gai; chicken and pork belly yakitori with beers at Morimoto; brown sugar shoju and shoju-infused Oolong tea cocktails at Tight Bar (strong recommend for this joint!); grilled squid, octopus, and okonomiyaki for afters at Tsukishima Monja Kuuya Shibuya 👣 32,000 steps 🏁 14.5 miles 😮‍💨
DAY 3 SHINJUKU 📍 Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden; Shinjuku area (including Disk Union, Disney, Onitsuka); Kabukicho and Kabukicho Tower; GODZ metal bar; Golden Gai; Omoide Yokocho 🍣 7/11 (onigiri, matcha filled roll thing, royal milk tea, tomago sushi, strawberry donut, cafe latte); many types of dango (sesame oil, soy sauce, and apricot mochi were our favs); McDonald's (weirdly good chicken sandwich with yuzu radish topping, vanilla custard chocolate pie, white grape soda); yummy little warm imagawayaki filled with adzuki bean paste + royal milk from depachika); a couple of Asahis at GODZ; simple yakitori snacks at Golden Gai (including some… mystery offal items); back to 7/11 for drunk matcha ice cream and waffle snacks 👣 28,800 steps 🏁 13.0 miles
DAY 4 ASAKUSA 📍 Went out for coffee; walked around Kinarimon Gate and Nakamise; toured Asakusa Shrine, Senso-ji Temple, surrounding Shinto and Buddhist shrines; stopped for sushi and mochi; went for a walk up Sumida River; dipped into Shoden and Imado shrines; crossed Kototoi Bridge to Tokyo Skytree; went up Tokyo Skytree; back to Senso-ji for night photos; capped off evening with gyoza 🍣 Lattes at cute puppet theater coffeeshop (espresso, dandelion tea); 7/11 for breakfast-y fuel; strawberries from a street stall at Nakamise; sushi lunch; beautiful mochi + tea dessert; grilled gyoza, soup dumpling gyoza, shoujo Oolong tea cocktail for afters 👣 25,500 steps 🏁 11.66 miles
DAY 5 JIMBŌCHŌ, AKIHABARA 📍 Train to Ichigaya - notable French-inspired neighborhood; breakfast at local French café; Yasakuni Shrine; Kanda River walk by Hosei University; Tokyo Daijingu Shrine; Jimbōchō Old Book Town; walked from there to Akihibara; hit up noodles, arcade, nerd shops (comics, TCGs/CCGs, retro video games systems, TTRPGS, etc); gachapons; hit up the bizarre rare vending machines 🍣 Vending machine coffee and milk tea; yummy French pastries (bacon and sour cream roll, quiche, sour cream raisin custard thing); had to try some avocado and cheese Doritos; cold udon with duck broth soup, curry rice for Chris; fish-shaped taiyaki with custard cream dessert treat; dope gyoza place ("weekday" version with pork and cabbage, shrimp and chili mayo, yakitori with tare, and shogayaki with onions) 👣 Forgot watch at hotel - we’ll say 10,000 steps 🏁 Guessing about 5 or 6?
DAY 6 TEAMLAB PLANETS, TRAVEL TO KYOTO 📍 Hit up teamLabs, had an amazing time exploring the exhibits - the infinite light crystal room was our fav; train to Tokyo Station; lunch at underground Ramen Street restaurants under the station - went with Soranoiro, one of the few veg/vegan ramen shops in Japan - delicious; shinkansen to Kyoto; out for nightlife in Kiyamachi-Dori and Pontocho 🍣 Quick 7/11 snacks; train snacks (pocky, coffee, little teriyaki cutlet sandwich); Soranoiro ramen bowls; killer yakitori we fried right at our table in izakaya in Pontocho (honestly probably a meal highlight of the whole trip); brown sugar shoujo; 7/11 for ice cream on the way back 👣 18,900 steps 🏁 8.63 miles
DAY 7 KINKAKUJI, NISHIKI, GION 📍 Kinkakuji Temple; bus back to Kiyamachi-dori; spent whole afternoon walking and eating street food at Nishiki Market; back to hotel for rest, laundry, rooftop drink; out for nightlife in Gion 🍣 Family Mart for coffee and doughnuts; Nishiki Market Street street food delights - seared yakitori style crab stick, little octopus chuka idako on skewers, kara-age on skewers, sea squid croquettes and beer, strawberry and adzuki bean mochi balls; mimosas and red wine; Kyoto Gion Okaru - geisha-decorated izakaya with insane curry udon bowls and beers; picked up box of mochi dango for dessert 👣 20,200 steps 🏁 9.07 miles
DAY 8 SHRINE DAY 📍 OK, this is a lot:

• Yasakajinja (we happened to be here while a young couple was having a Shinto wedding ceremony!)
• Yasui Kompira-gū (built 1170, shrine for ending bad relationships and starting new ones, has special stone that you pin your wishes to - many young girls will crawl through the stone to mark a breakup or wish for love)
• Kennin-ji (built 1202, large grounds - among the oldest in Kyoto);
• Reigen-in (part of Kennin-ji grounds, a Zen teahouse with a tea garden where they served adzuki bean buns with tea made from the actual hydrangeas of the tea garden outside!)
• Zenkyoan (boar shrine which we initially thought were cute hedgehogs)
• Kyoto Ebisu Shrine (dedicated to fishermen - we happened to be here during the shrine's annual mikoshi festival - a battalion of locals in traditional clothes, hoisting and dancing with the mikoshi around the neighborhood)
• Kodai-ji (built 1606, gorgeous grounds - we skipped the tour)
• Hōkan-ji/Yasaka Pagoda (dating back to 589 and rebuilt in 1400s, huge black 5-story pagoda featuring massive shakyamuni pole inside and reliquary of a bone of the Buddha in the foundations)
• Ryōzen Kannon (built 1955 after WW2, massive Buddha statue and active Buddhist temple)
• Of course the world-famous Kiyomizudera (built 778, enormous Kyoto-red temple with beautiful buildings spiraling up into the forest)

🍣 Hotel coffee, tea, cream puffs; adzuki bean buns with tea made from the actual hydrangeas of the tea garden at the shrine; dope bento box lunch; got takeout fast food donburi and fizzy lemonade 👣 22,800 steps 🏁 10.39 miles
DAY 9 FUSHIMI-INARI 📍 Fushimi Inari, the famous shrine of over 1,000 torii gates - super amazing (and intense!) summit of Mt Inari! Back to Nishiki Market for reward street food and drinks; back to hotel for a rooftop drink and soak; finally out for soba at Kawamichiya Ginka in Pontocho. 🍣 Snack pack on our hike (sausages, cheese, some kind of fish meat/cheese stick, and surume - sweet chewy dried squid stuff); orange smoothie; conveyor belt sushi; strawberry mochi roll; whisky highball and red wine; massive soba spreads (chicken seared with wasabi/yuzu/horseradish dipped in ponzu sauce, fried soba noodles in a rich soup, cold soba noodles dipped tsukemen-style in a really amazing umami soy sauce soup, tempura shrimp and veggies, a hot soba noodles in a clear broth soup) 👣 27,600 steps 🏁 Supposedly 12.3 miles, but that hike to summit Mt Inari was something else 😤
DAY 10 TRAVEL TO OSAKA, SHINSABASHISUJI, AMEMURA, DOTONBURI 📍 Beautiful brunch on the bank of the canal in Kyoto; local train to Osaka-Umeda; checked into Osaka hotel; walked around Shinsaibashisuji and Dotonburi a little bit; scoped out Amemura ("Ameri-mura") for dope American-inspired Japanese streetwear; wandered up and down street food stalls in Dotonbori; swung by Namba Hips (mostly pachinko); found a couple of fun little hole-in-the-wall places (little Japanese craft beer brewery, retro video games bar) 🍣 Brunch at Kawa Cafe (croque monsieur, ramen, tea and delicious apple tart); takoyaki, cheesy waffle shaped like a massive 10yen coin, sweet chili hotdogs from stands in Dotonbori; dashi gose craft beer (by Derailleur Brew Works) from Umineko, shots at Space Station bar 👣 19,500 steps 🏁 9.01 miles
DAY 11 NAMBAYASAKIJINA, DOTONBURI 📍 Morning Japanese breakfast at a wonderful little 24-hour diner; Hozen-ji (moss shrine); Kamigata Ukiyo-e Museum across the street (focusing on Osaka woodcuts celebrating Dotonburi's kabuki and entertainment history); Nambayasaka-jinja (lion head shrine); Den Den Town (Osaka's Akihabara); ended up at a cozy little kushikatsu bar which actually was playing the Tigers game (away game vs the Swallows at Tokyo); street food waffles for dessert; hit up a late-night batting cage - ended up at Round1 (a big multi-floor arcade complex) and did the rooftop batting cage! My partner won a giant plushie for me from a claw machine! 🍣 Dope traditional japanese omelette and fish breakfast; cute macarons from market stand; Family Mart for snacks before nightlife; skewers, beer, and highballs from Dotonbori kushikatsu place; ridiculous nutella, whip, and strawberry stuffed waffle from Waffle Khan 👣 29,100 steps 🏁 13.31 miles
DAY 12 KUROMON ICHIBA, OSAKA CASTLE, DOTONBURI 📍 Kuromon Ichiba Market for street food; Osaka Castle Park and Nishinomaru Gardens; toured Osaka Castle and museum all the way up to the top; subway to Tanimachi-9-chome subway station for amazing live jazz at Sub Jazz Cafe. (This was amazing! Akira "Ro" Hasegawa (sax) and Yukie Fujikawa (keys) - Ro is also the owner and was bartending on this particular night too.) Out to Don Don for killer yakiniku and beer; found our way to Oboradaren, an Tokunoshima-themed island vibes bar and music spot where there was a great live band playing fun island vibes beach rock - big crowd of 40s+ Japanese women who knew all the songs, wound up drinking passionfruit chuhai and joining them in the conga line around the bar 🍣 Oden hot pot, wagyu skewer, otoro sashimi, crab gratin in the half-shell, bracken green tea soy cakes at Kuromon Market; ice cream sandwiches at Osaka Castle; milk tea, little roast beef sandwich, and cheesecake at Sub Jazz Cafe; yakiniku-style wagyu, ribs, ox tongue, assorted mushrooms; passionfruit chuhai and red wine at the island vibes spot; taro and brown sugar boba teas 👣 23,000 steps 🏁 10.42 miles
DAY 13 KAIYUKAN, SHINSEKAI, DOTONBURI 📍 Fun trip to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan; quick pass through Shinsekai; lunch at spot where you can fish your own catch from an indoor fishing boat pool; out for one last Dotonburi night - wound up getting konbini snacks and sitting on the waterfront talking and people-watching for hours 🍣 Not a banger food-wise, but interesting little spread at the fish-your-own place - huge prawn for grilling, kara-age, and fatty tuna nigiri for Max, tempura veggies and whitefish with doteyaki for Chris; from Family Mart, fruit smoothie, ice cup, and KitKat for Max, onigiri and lemonade for Chris 👣 19,100 steps 🏁 8.64 miles
DAY 14 TRAVEL TO HAKONE, HAKONE SHRINE 📍 Bombed to Shin-Osaka for an early shinkansen to Odawara; trained to Odawara to Hakone; dropped luggage off at ryokan, then bus to Motohakone; saw Hakone Shrine and Onshi-Hakone Park (as well as a segment of the actual Old Tokaido!); returned to ryokan for the night, where we were treated to a gorgeous 1:1 kaiseki from a Michelin-star chef, private hot spring onsen, and private in-room hot spring bath 🍣 Konbini snacks before shinkansen; snacks and coffee on train; late lunch in Motohakone (curry and soba, pork cutlet); incredible, massive multi-course kaiseki and sake for dinner, plus strawberry cake, champagne, and more sake for dessert 👣 13,900 steps 🏁 6.26 miles
DAY 15 HAKONE OPEN AIR MUSEUM, TRAVEL TO TOKYO, LAST NIGHT IN SHINJUKU 📍 Woke up in gorgeous ryokan; leisurely kaiseki breakfast with leftover cake; final soak in the private onsen; Hakone Open Air Museum - very cool; had kind of a challenging trip back but finally made it from Museum back to ryokan to bus stop to Hakone-Yumoto to Odawara to Shinjuku to the hotel 😮‍💨 Considering the last night as our real "last night" of the trip, our final night out in Tokyo was all just extra icing on the cake - went out for yakitori skewers and Asahi Superdrys in cozy alley in Omoide Yokocho, found really wonderful cake and tea dessert open late also in Omoide, hit up 🎵 Donki! 🎵 for a final round of bulk snacks and souvenirs, ended up on a late-night excursion to find Park Hyatt Hotel (featured in Lost in Translation); finished night at hotel watching the city go to sleep from our balcony 👣 22,700 steps 🏁 10.3 miles
FINAL SCORE 📸 Pics: 1,929 👣 Steps: 337,700 🏁 Miles: 153.78 (we averaged 9.6 miles per day, every day, for 16 days) 🇯🇵 “Nihongo jōzu!”: 4 (I know more proficient Japanese speakers are insulted, but it's honestly a pretty nice comment when you're at my level) 👶 Comments on how young we look/how we can’t possibly be celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary: 3 ✨ Gratitude: Infinite.

I live in Robinson Township. I work at Eaton Corp. I know I can become member of Clearview credit union.
Is there any other option? I’m looking for auto loan from a Credit union.

https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-founder-of-chewy-com-on-finding-the-financing-to-achieve-scale

​

The Founder of Chewy.com on Finding the Financing to Achieve Scale

by

• Ryan Cohen

Most people assume that the high point of my professional career came on April 18, 2017, when the owners of PetSmart paid $3.35 billion for Chewy.com, the pet retailer I had cofounded six years earlier. No doubt, that day was incredible. It represented the culmination of a dream and a tremendous amount of work. But believe it or not, another handshake—another deal—mattered even more to me.
That one happened on September 26, 2013. I had launched Chewy two years earlier with Michael Day, using our own cash and small loans, but my vision was to build a large business, and I knew that significant capital would be required to finance the growth. We approached dozens of VC firms—I even flew out to Silicon Valley from our South Florida headquarters and went door-to-door on Sand Hill Road explaining how Chewy would succeed by delighting customers and running an ultra-efficient operation. But everyone turned us down.
Larry Cheng at Volition Capital was one of the people we pitched our company to. We first met him in 2012; he was en route to Disney World with his family and agreed to make a quick stop at our office. I remember that he asked me, “Who’s going to take this company to $100 million in sales?” I was 26 and probably looked even younger, but I confidently answered, “I am.” He didn’t invest.
He followed up with us about six months later, though. We’d beaten the sales projections that we’d previously given him, and he was impressed. A few days later he signed off on a $15 million investment in Chewy. The satisfaction of that victory was even greater than the pride I felt following the eventual multibillion-dollar sale. After two years of building Chewy—and more than 100 conversations with VCs that went nowhere—I’d finally found someone who believed in me and our business model. Larry had validated our idea.
From that point on, the mission was larger. I was even more committed to making Chewy an industry leader, because it was no longer just our own money on the line. Larry had gone out on a limb for us. I felt that responsibility.
I approached every subsequent round of financing, including PetSmart’s acquisition, in a similar way—by underpromising and overdelivering on sales. Our mission was straightforward: to build a best-in-class, customer-obsessed pet retailer. We also wanted to leave everyone who’d backed us a winner.

An Early Pivot

I’ve been working since I was 13, when I started building websites for family members and local businesses. From there I moved into affiliate marketing. I met Michael in an online chat room discussing website design and computer programming. We hit it off immediately and started talking about collaborating on a business.
I’d always wanted to build an e-commerce company, so we settled on what we thought was a terrific idea in an industry ripe for disruption: online jewelry sales. We built the website, set up the delivery systems, bought the inventory, and even put a safe in the office to store it.
But about a week before our scheduled launch, I had a revelation. I was in a local pet store with my toy poodle, Tylee, asking the owner about the most healthful food I could buy for her. That’s when it hit me: I was getting into the wrong business. I didn’t care much about jewelry, but like many dog and cat parents I knew, I was passionate about what I bought for Tylee. The pet industry was big and growing, moving from mass market to premium. It was clear that the opportunity was huge.
So although we were only a week away from launching the jewelry business, we pivoted. We sold all the rings, necklaces, and bracelets—and the safe—and started learning everything we could about the pet industry. We built a new website. We found a local distributor and partnered with a third-party logistics company nearby. In June of 2011 we launched. In just three months we went from my epiphany at the pet store to running a pet-supplies business.
We intended to build a best-in-class, customer-obsessed pet retailer.
People sometimes ask if I worried about following in the footsteps of Pets.com, in 2000 one of the highest profile failures of the dot-com bubble. I didn’t. For one thing, I was 15 when that company declared bankruptcy, so I wasn’t very familiar with the story. Second, Pets.com existed at a time when most people had dial-up internet and weren’t comfortable making purchases online. By the time we started, e-commerce was second nature for most consumers.
I also got questions about Amazon, and, of course, it was a real competitor. It had an incredible infrastructure, established relationships with customers and suppliers, and endless capital. But I knew that other companies, including Zappos (later acquired by Amazon) and Wayfair, had found success in specific product categories. Their secret was offering a differentiated customer experience. I thought we could do something similar in the pet space.
With limited resources, we served as our own C-suite. I was CEO, Michael was CTO, and my longtime friend Alan Attal was COO. We knew that superior customer service had to be one of our core competencies if we wanted to deliver the same experience I’d had at the neighborhood pet store, so our first priority was building a team to work the phones, live chat, and emails in our call center so that we could stop doing all that ourselves.
From the outset we reinvested all our cash from operations in the business, but eventually we needed the larger pools of money that VC firms offered. After months of searching, we finally found Larry and Volition.

Scaling Up

We closed the series A financing round on October 24, 2013, and I’ll never forget the moment the money hit our bank account. Although we had signed the term sheet, part of me was still skeptical that it was all going to work out. But when I saw the transfer confirmation, it became real.
With that money we could invest in developing the systems, technology, and teams needed to scale up. We could also bring stocking and shipping in-house. We already recognized that if we wanted to create a multibillion-dollar business, fulfillment had to become another core competency.
Consultants had told us that it would take a year and a half to build a warehouse from scratch. But with 300% growth year over year, we didn’t have that much time. The logistics company handling fulfillment couldn’t keep up, so the Chewy customer experience had begun to deteriorate. We needed more control, and fast. We knew we had to make the transition within a few months.
We started scouting potential sites in February of 2014, focusing on the northeastern United States because so much of the country’s population lives there. The location we chose—Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania—would allow us to provide overnight delivery to customers in the densely populated tristate area of Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. By that summer we’d opened a 400,000-square-foot facility full of bags and cans of dog and cat food, carriers and cages, leashes, litter boxes, toys, and treats.
Although we managed to get up and running in less than six months, it certainly wasn’t easy. Everything that could go wrong did. We couldn’t hire people to work in the warehouse fast enough. When we were finally staffed, the scanner guns would stop working, or the Wi-Fi or warehouse management system would go out. We were tackling issue after issue 24/7 until we worked out all the kinks.
We also focused heavily on marketing. From day one, we invested almost exclusively in direct response ads, so every dollar spent could be tracked—no Pets.com-style Super Bowl commercials for us. We expanded by investing in the team and processes to effectively acquire the right customers at the right cost. Our governor of growth was free cash flow. Our sales more than doubled from $205 million in 2014 to $423 million in 2015.
Our new hires played a big role in scaling up the company. I realized early on that I’d need to use my time efficiently and focus on hiring. At first recruiting was a challenge. Alan and I spent countless hours reaching out to candidates on LinkedIn, explaining how quickly the company was growing and describing what we intended to build, but 98% of them didn’t bother to respond.
Surprisingly, that turned out to be a useful filter. The 2% who did write back were true believers, team players, and business builders who were excited for the opportunity. They all had tremendous heart, fire in their bellies, and a will to win. We hired for passion. Many people quit stable jobs and relocated with their families from across the country to join us. It was a tremendous sacrifice that we never took lightly.
Ultimately we raised six rounds of financing totaling more than $350 million from T. Rowe Price, BlackRock, Greenspring, Lone Pine, Verlinvest, and the investment bank Allen & Company.

The Next Level

Our revenue was $901 million in 2016 and growing 100% year over year. That got us thinking about an IPO for our next round of financing. We had about 7,000 employees and six warehouses, with plans to add another two in the next 12 months. From an operational and strategic perspective, the company was strong.
As we prepped for the IPO, Petco, one of the biggest U.S. pet retailers, approached us about a merger. It couldn’t meet our terms, so we shook hands and parted ways.
In early 2017 PetSmart, Petco’s primary brick-and-mortar rival, also reached out. I received an email from Raymond Svider, a partner and the chairman of BC Partners, the private equity group that had completed its acquisition of PetSmart in March of 2015. He said he was interested in buying Chewy and wanted to talk. We had met previously but didn’t know each other well.
PetSmart was one of our top competitors, so we proceeded carefully. I explained that we were preparing for an IPO, so we expected a certain price in an all-cash, public-style deal. In view of the competitive dynamics, we weren’t going to give away our proprietary information and start a lengthy due-diligence process. I told Svider that if he wanted to make the acquisition, he would need to do it quickly. To his credit, he did. In April of 2017 we signed an agreement to sell the company for $3.35 billion. It was the largest e-commerce acquisition in history.
Our investors were happy too. The early-stage ones made huge gains, and the later-stage ones earned significant money. Investing in Chewy had made a lot of careers, and I’m proud of that. Those investors put their trust in me and my vision, and I repaid them with returns. The same would soon be true for BC Partners and PetSmart.
Chewy’s revenues continued to rise post-acquisition, hitting $3.5 billion in 2018, while its losses narrowed to $267 million. In June of 2019 PetSmart spun Chewy off into a publicly traded company at a valuation near $9 billion, close to three times the sale price only two years before.
I left the company in March of 2018. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I felt I had done all I had set out to do. The company was sound, the foundation strong, and the vision set. But I was no longer in full control. And I didn’t want a boss. I’m a business builder, not a manager. My work was complete.
When I think back to why raising the money to help grow the business was one of the best moments of my life, I realize it’s because the journey was far more exciting than getting to the finish line. I relished the challenges of disrupting an entire industry and trying to delight customers to a degree that had never been achieved before. The excitement I felt from putting together a world-class team of employees and investors, succeeding against all odds, and building a multibillion-dollar retail leader from nothing was unequivocally the greatest of my career.

Yearly Income: 120k; Current credit utilization: 5%; Age of oldest credit: 2.5 years; Average age: 1.5 years;
I have no loan history. I applied for 35k auto loan at PenFed!
3 months ago another credit union approved my loan but didn’t buy that time.
I’m pretty pissed! What are my options? 😒
Edit: Actually I need 30k loan! I will give 10-12k downpayment! What amount I should ask for in my next loan?