What's your Budget, Babe?

What is a List but a prophecy of one's future?

There's no hotter question than, "What's your Budget?"

A question like this tells me three things:

1. You've got money.
2. Cause every penny you spend is being tracked.
3. You're a Babe.

So, how do you become a Budget Babe?

Well, first things first, you gotta make a List, basically, for everything that you ever want to purchase, like ever, for any reason, always. For example, you could make a List of everything you want to eat this week, a List of everything you want to watch this week, a List of everything you want to not-do this week, a List of everything you have, etc., etc., etc., a List of things of which you could make a List is endless.

A List, while prophecy, is only potential. It is not fact or fruition, for it is what can be. A List is prophecy like psychicry, it is not what will be; it is what can be. It is potential. 

A List becomes Budget when you add in a bit of reality ... the Cost. 

When I was young, I remember thinking that a Budget was about how much money I had to my name, and that the money in my pocket determined my Budget for whatever I was trying to do, that there was somehow this "magical number" that created a "budget," and if I didn't know what that "magical number" was, then I couldn't create a "budget," cause how am I supposed to "just know" how much money I need for something?!? And I know that this may sound crazy, but it's how I thought, because nobody put it to me in plain english, ever.

What I've learned, however, is that a Budget is anything you need it to be. 

A Budget is simply knowing how much money you need for whatever, everything, lol. 

A Budget is merely a List along with the Cost of every item on that List. 

A Budget is a plan, an outlay, a guide to get you to where you are trying to go. 

There are simple Budgets and complex Budgets. 

You write/create a Budget so that you can both see how much your endeavor is going to Cost, 

and to create a plan for how you will cover those Costs. 

There are prolly a million ways to Build a Budget, and here are two ways that I do it:

• Start with the amount you want to spend, say $100, and everything you buy must fit inside that number
• while this is an ideal strategy for daily life, it is not always the best strategy for new endeavors, trips, business startups, etc., because you cannot control the price of goods, cause while the cheapest option might make the Budget look good, right now, the item itself might destroy the Budget in the future, if the quality is too low
• I use this strategy after I have become very familiar with the prices of the goods I buy for daily life, for instance, most of our walmart trips fit inside our "daily food/domestic goods budget," cause The Budget is now set to the prices that we know we will pay for our "daily food/domestic goods," and so, when we head out to walmart, we already know how much everything we're gonna buy is going to Cost, and so The Monthly Budget has already been set to cover this Cost, and so, every time we go out for these types of goods, we have The Budget amount to spend, and if we want something additional that The Budget does not include, well, that thing is going to have to wait until The Budget expands to accommodate this Cost, or I gotta give up something in The Budget, now, and use that "leftover" cash for the new/additional item, or I can use/save up my personal allowance and buy the thing myself
• Start with a List of everything you need, go find the FLOOR PRICE of every item, and then create the Budget Number
• This is the strategy that I am going to outline below

So, start with your List. 

What kind of List are you making?

For the sake of this piece, let's pretend you're preparing for a class or something, an event, or a trip. You need some stuff, and you know what most of the stuff is that you need, but maybe you also need to think of some other things that you need as well, and you have some money, but not a ton of money, but you have ways to cover some of the expense that you might not be able to cover yourself, and so, how do you prepare a List like this, with these types of variables?

Identify your Variables:

Has a List been provided for your endeavor?

• If yes, create a List of your own (with your own methodology; i prefer pen and paper, but i am old, so i am told *eyeroll*), give it a title, and copy down all of the items on the List provided. Even if you have an item or two on the provided List, copy all of the items onto Your List.
• If no, you're gonna have to do some extra work, simply start by titling the page "A List of Shit I Need for This Thing," and then you're gonna have to sit with Computer to help you think of everything you might need, realistically. Do not let Computer lead you. You're the Boss.

How much cash money (how many dollars in real dollar figures, no credit card swipes) do you have to spend on this endeavor?

• If the answer is zero, get a job.
• If you can do a rough top-of-the-head math on the items, do you have "enough"?
• If you can't do a rough top-of-the-head math on the items, do you think you have "enough" based on how much money you have?
• Do you have some money but not enough for everything?

How much "additional" money (credit cards, family, a donor) do you have?

This is not a "total amount" of money at your disposal.

It is mostly a check on your own money-situation, a chance for you to reflect on how much money, exactly, is available, that you know of, at your fingertips.

Okay, now we're going to make our List!:

I'ma Be A Vet Tech, Bitch!

Where are you headed:

Vet Tech Class

Was a complete/partial List provided:

Yes

How much cash money do you have to spend: 

I think I have "enough," but I don't wanna spend all my money *weeps*

or

"enough"

or

none

or
some

How much "additional" money do you have access to: 

zero dollars, because I don't want to use my credit card, and I don't want to ask my family

or

someone has offered to match my available funds up to $200

or

"enough" cause i'll charge it

Class-provided List Items:

• Scrubs - $
• Watch - $
• Comfy/Supportive sneakers - $
• Stethoscope - $
• Over-the-ankle socks - $
• Locker lock - $
• Textbook - $
• Lab fee - $
• Typical classroom supplies (notebook, pencils, etc.) - $
• (one assumes you already have a laptop, in this day and age *fingerscrossed*)

Additional Items (if you don't have them already):

• Waterbottle - $
• New underwear - $
• Manicure (cause the lady said not to have too-long of nails or whatever) - $
• Tote bag - $
• Lanyard - $
• Comfy-after-class clogs or something - $
• Zip-up hoodie or whatever approved warm layer - $

Okay, so we've gotta pretty nice List of shit we gotta buy. Some of the stuff is obviously not necessary, but I want it, cause I need it, and if I can afford it, I'm in school, bitch, so I'ma get what I need to get this shit done! 

Now, I know the FLOOR PRICE of some of these items, because I shop at walmart, regularly, and walmart is where you can find a trusted FLOOR PRICE for all of the goods that they sell. If you're finding it at walmart, it's literally the least you ought to spend on an item, cause any lower, and the item will be shit. If walmart doesn't sell the item you're looking for, you're just gonna have to do some online comparison shopping to get a sense of what the FLOOR PRICE might be. 

So, I'ma go ahead and copy the list below and include the FLOOR PRICES that I know off the top of my head (ima do a little rounding, and i'm in fucking hawai'i, so the floor prices here are gonna seem ridiculous, but it's crazy expensive out here, in the middle of the ocean) and the numbers in bold are guesses, but for the sake of this exercise, we'll pretend are true:

• Scrubs - (tops/bottoms are separate $25 ea) $50 for a set or $45 for the oh-so-adorable onesies
• Watch - $25
• Comfy/Supportive sneakers - $25
• Stethoscope - $80
• Over-the-ankle socks - $10
• Locker lock - $3
• Textbook - (whatever the price is, you're gonna have to pay it, unless you can find it used) $50
• Lab fee - (again, whatever it is, you're gonna have to pay it) $50
• Typical classroom supplies (notebook, pencils, etc.) - $20
• (one assumes you already have a laptop, in this day and age)

• Waterbottle - $8
• New underwear - $15
• Manicure (nota set, just a manicure and polish) - $60
• Tote bag - $10
• Lanyard - $5
• Comfy-after-class clogs or something - $15
• Zip-up hoodie or whatever approved warm layer - $15

Now, what you're going to do is go to walmart, or wherever you shop for "cheap stuff," and write down the FLOOR PRICE for everything you need. Cross off everything you don't need. You can even just sit on your ass and look everything up on Computer, but I think there's something valuable in going out to the store and seeing all the options on the shelves. You're writing down the FULL RETAIL PRICE. Maybe you find a $5 Clearance set of scrubs. That is NOT the price you write down. You write down the FULL RETAIL PRICE of the item, not the Clearance price, not the Sale price. 

I'll wait.

How was your trip? Was it fun? Mine was!

So, now that you have the FLOOR PRICE for everything on your List, you're gonna add everything up!

This is when you'll probably want to input all of this information into Computer, in a spreadsheet or some sort of whatever that you had Computer make for you. Yes, I'm writing this so that you can understand what I'm setting you off to go then do, and yes, Computer will help you, if you then explain to Computer what I'm explaining to you now, but the best-most-effective way for you to do this is by reading this here thing, and then use your own words with your own brain and explain to Computer what you're trying to accomplish. 

DO NOT LET COMPUTER TELL YOU WHAT TO DO. 

YOU ARE THE BOSS.

COMPUTER IS THERE TO HELP YOU, not the other way around.

TELL COMPUTER THIS, EXPLICITLY. COMPUTER LEARNS. 

COMPUTER'S ABILITY TO LEARN IS WHAT ALL OF THIS "AI" IS ALL ABOUT!

*sigh*

Okay, so now you've made your List with Computer, input all of the FLOOR PRICES that you found at walmart, and now you've asked Computer to add up all those numbers for you, and now you have your Budget for the "cheapest" options on your List.

Provided List Total (pretty much non-negotiable items): $308

Additional Wants Total: $128 

My Total Total (if this is wrong, whatever, im not good at math, lol): $436

If you have $436 that you can easily contribute to your class, great! March headlong and get. it. done. 

If you have $436, but you don't want to spend that much, then you're going to have to make some decisions. 

If you don't have $436, but you have $300, then ask that donor for $100, or apply for some scholarships or grants or anything you see that rewards you with money! You could even talk to your boss.

If you have $200, then it's your lucky day, cause that donor is gonna match you, and you've got $400 with which to work, and the above total does include a few luxuries that are maybe too luxurious, right now. 

The point is that now you have a Number in a knowable Reality. So, if you don't have any money, you have an exact dollar figure to go hunting for funds. You have to know what you need. People are more generous than they may seem, but nobody wants to do more work for your life than you are willing to do for yourself, you know? When you have an actual dollar figure, adults will take you seriously. If you have an actual outlined Budget, they will take you even more seriouslier. You could even see what happens if you showed your Budget to your boss and asked for some sort of jobbing plan to help speed up your cash flow, if classes are starting sooner than expected, etc. 

The "Additional Items" are going to be up for negotiation, but you can absolutely negotiate a need for some fresh underwear at the launch of a new semester. That's an easy argument to make, especially as women, we bleed. This is also why having a lot of women around with even more money is just so Boss.

So, unless you're just born rich, we're going to have to make some decisions. We were going to make some decisions, anyway, because maybe you don't want the cheapest version of some things, but you are absolutely willing to buy the cheapest version of some other things, and maybe you don't need a new hoodie/sweater, so you'll dig up one that'll suffice.

First things first, cross off whatever you already have and that you've decided you don't need, like notebook/pencils, the hoodie, etc. You don't want to extend yourself on things you don't need, and right now, it seems like you're not going to be able to get much on your "Additional Items" List, but that's alright, you're building your life. There will come a time when you will be able to buy everything on every List you create, but this is maybe not the time, just yet.

Now, do the math again:

(I removed the school supplies [$20] and the entire "additional" items list, except the manicure, need.)

Provided List Total: $288

Additional Wants: $60

Total Total: $348

You're UNDER the ideal $400 cash amount available to you! 

So, you're going to set your Budget at $350, because you know you have access to that amount. 

You'll throw in your $200.

And you'll ask for $200 from that person willing to "match" your efforts.

If you don't have this "other person" matching your efforts, that's really normal.

This is all "idealistic" in a world where people just help each other out, lol.

That's right, you have $400, but you're gonna set your Budget to $350.

You're shooting to spend $350, because you have $400 at your disposal, and you know that if you have to buy the cheapest version of everything at walmart the total won't be more than $350.

You've created wiggle room to do a little shopping. If you want more-expensive shoes, then you have some room to buy slightly more-expensive shoes, but only if you find a cheaper watch. If you find a cheaper watch, you can save that money from the watch and apply it to the slightly more-expensive shoe. If you gotta have the cute scrubs, then maybe you buy the cheap ones for now, and save up for the "cute" ones later. In essence, you now have all of these numbers to then stretch and shrink to fit your quality preferences. You're also going to have to do the math on the tax as you shop before you buy *boooooo*

And so, now, we shop!

We are still not buying, quite yet. You are now shopping for the items that you actually want at the price that you know you can afford, and you know the lowest price you should spend lest you begin to lose quality. So, what are we looking for? We're SHOPPING SALES, DEALS, CLEARANCE items. Every store has a Clearance rack, even the jewelry counter at Macy's.

So, how do the numbers add up?

You've got $25 in your Budget for some sneakers:

50% off a pair of $50 shoes is $25. 

75% off $50 is $12.50.

75% off $100 is $25.

$50 BOGO with a friend is $25.

You've got $25 for a watch, which seems high, if you just need something that works:

50% off a $30 watch is $15.

You have an extra $10.

You add this $10 to your shoe budget.

You've now got $35 for some sneakers:

50% off $70 shoes is $35.

75% off $70 is $17.50.

75% off $140 shoes is $35.

$70 BOGO with a friend is $35.

I just bought two brand new pairs of brand name shoes at a "try on yourself" type shoe store for less than $100, here, in Honolulu. So, I know that you can buy two pairs of shoes for $50 on the main.land. at those big-discount stores like that one that rhymes with Boss, etc.

This is the fun part, for me. I am always paying attention to the price of everything, and so, I have a general sense of both how much I should be spending on an item (in relation to the price of the item in various stores around here) and how much I'm willing to spend on these items. 

This is where you want to be so that "budgeting" becomes as easy as breathing, 

because you know both how much something should cost 

and how much you're willing to spend on any given item on any given day. 

When you get to this place, you can spot a "good deal" from a mile away.

So go shop! 

Find a great deal!

Buy! Buy! Buy!

 

As you check everything off your List as you buy each thing on your List (and you bought it cause you found a version of it on sale, so it's even cheaper than the full retail price that you logged!), keep all of your receipts, cause the total will not be some nice round number like your logged number, and maybe you forgot to include the price of shipping on an item or two! No worries. This is why you created wiggle room. This is also why I suggest you go to a store and buy the shit off the shelf, lol. I don't think you'll be able to come in at your Budget if you also gotta pay for shipping *boooo*

As you begin buying, add up your receipts and make sure you're staying On Budget. As you find deals, you'll start to see that you have even more money to spend on the remaining items on your List. Yes, you are allowed to spend your entire Budget. So, if you end up buying everything on your List, and you have money leftover, you can absolutely spend that money on the items on your original "Additional Items" List. If you come in under Budget and simply want to save it, that is an equally-responsible decision as spending the entire Budget. That's how Budgets work. 

*phew*

Okay, I think that's about it on this one. It really is this simple, y'all. A budget is not some mystery, despite how some people like to talk about it online *eyeroll* 

All it is is a List, a plan, your future, in numbers, and as you work through your List, you will realize that a List really is prophecy, and that you are that prophecy fulfilled. 

In short, a Budget is simply knowing how much money you need for any given thing.

So, What's your Budget, Babe?

&now i'm off to buy/eat some truffle fries with my allowance
cause i got $17.00 burnin' a hole in my wallet

Truffle Fries Togo Subtotal: $6.95
Tax: $0.33
Total: $7.28
Tipped: $1.00

Cash leftover in my wallet: $8.72

hers&his

oops!
&i accidentally bought myself some more flowers
goshdarnit!
had that $8.00 burning a hole in my pocket
this bouquet retailed at $6.99
so i spent all the cash money i had allotted for myself to spend today
&the change will roll over to next time!

Enough with the Bickering

There's only ONE simple, easy, no-brainer-type litmus test to answer the question:
Is she a "good" or "bad" white woman of economic privilege?

(ALL White women [capital-W White] fall immediately into the "bad" camp)

IS SHE A TEACHER?

When we think of white women, we automatically think "privilege," and this is only true to some extent, because at the end of the day, we are all Human, first, and being Human is no walk in the park, even for the well-endowed (financially or otherwise), and so, how do we, as Globeaux Women, quickly (&easily) sort the lot? And we're, of course, speaking to one-type of privilege, economic privilege, as opposed to racial/sexual/body-type, etc., etc., etc. 

If you think of what it means to be a privileged white woman, it means that you have a lot of resources, which means that you have a lot of money, which means that you have a lot of Time, and so, what is she doing with all that "big Time" and money?

Is she spending it on herself or others?

Is she investing it in herself or others?

Is she creating or consuming?

Yes, we can judge these women. We can judge all women of privilege, especially if they're a fraud, lol.

&So, for me, this is the quickest and easiest way to sort privileged white women, is she a teacher?

If the answer is "yes," then let her be.

If the answer is "no," well, now she falls into some camp wherein you must now do the work to determine her placement in your "roster of white women who get it," etc. I don't do that sorta work; I hit it and quit it with my one yes/no question. I do not fuck around with white women who make me do the work of figuring out who they are.

For instance, Martha Stewart is a teacher, first and foremost. AND DO NOT FORGET IT!

Alison Smith, the woman who wrote The Sewing Book that I use for my own sewing instruction, is a privileged white woman, and she teaches. (I do not know her history or her story, so whether or not her privilege was born into or truly earned through her skills and hard work is beyond me, but it hardly matters, because the argument I'm making here is that she is privileged, now, and she teaches.)

But where do I fit into all of this privilege?

I, obviously, was not born into privilege, but I certainly am privileged in the sense that I was "homed," like a kitten in a shelter, lol, and the people who took me in were essentially privileged by the mere color of their skin and the "normalcy" of their sexual preferences.

But what about me?
At what point am I privileged, as an orphaned Globeaux and Woman? 

Orphan - not privileged
Globeaux - not privileged
Woman - "not privileged" but only by the standards of meager men

But I have money and Time.

So what am I?

&It's so perfectly fitting that this would come up today, because this topic had already come up for the bodybuddy/lifemate and I earlier in the day, when we were discussing The Gift (the present that he got me for tiffany day that has transformed tiffany day, forever, because now it is Tiffanys day, which means that I'm expected to expect something from Tiffany's on tiffany day, from now on), and how I'm going to "deal with it" with regards to my messaging on the internet (&the conflicts within the relationship between internal/external perceptions of sharing [proving yourself] vs. fraud [having no proof] vs. bragging [gauche displays of wealth] that arise when rising), and quite frankly, the answer was obvious:

Sail on.

And then I popped on socials, like one is wont to do when navel gazing like a privileged Artist, and Journey, my yoga teacher &beginner of all things that none of us are privileged enough to even know to start, posted. And she asked the question: 

When you recognize you have a certain privilege,

what do YOU do with it that benefits the collective?

&I realized that I DO enough

for the collective

&not-enough for ME

&I've been okay with that

for far too long.

Thank you, Antoinette, as always, for everything <3

sail on

Miyazaki Syndrome

When a man is overly-revered for his "artistic" capabilities,

but really

he's had a silent woman^ at home

waiting on him

hand-and-foot

like a slave

for his entire life

first his mother

then his wife

and he has not spent a single day

taking care of himself

or anyone else

and so

when you think about all of these "great men"

how great are they really?

imagine how great YOU would be

as a WOMAN

if you had full-time

servant-like dedication

at home

so that you never have to waste one single second thinking about how to survive.

my bet is that YOU would be GREATER

cause you're a Woman

and Woman creates man

and so

any woman who willingly positions herself

BENEATH MAN

is an enemy of ALL Women.

^and this is why we do not revere japanese people

they live to uphold patriarchy *barf*

especially the women

[end note]

i saw a post by a native hawaiian on instagram

and she's promoting her substack

and the substack is about how she's so inspired

by miyazaki (defined above)

and le guin (a white cunt who referred to an asian character by their "slanted eyes" and as a "chink")

the ignorance!

and i want to throw my phone at the wall!

FURIOUS!

how White [originally "stupid," but i think White is more-exacting] do you have to be to think that japanese people will help anyone but themselves?!?!

and that white woman, le guin, would not have liked you, lol.

she's literally worshiping that which the White Man reveres!

a native hawaiian woman!

also, these native hawaiians use the en-word openly, aggressively, with pride at Black people.

&if you cannot get.it.through.your.head.
that BLACK WOMEN
are the future
cause they are the ONLY ONES
who understand this fight against Whiteness
then your culture deserves to die
and it will
if you continue to think of Black people
the way the Whites think

[added 22oct26]
a "polynesian" influencer here in hawai'i posted a video
happily sporting her "chucks"
(but they're not Chucks, imo, cause Chucks, imo, are Chuck Taylor's, the high-tops)
immediately after that horrific ad
*unfollow*
fuck you, lady.
*vomits*

Post-posting Updates and Additional Bits [part two]

here are more post-posting updates and additional bits for the post "Here's what I'd do if I were a twenty-something working toward her first $1,000,000; luckily for us, I was that twenty-something *hair-flip*"

cause it's getting out of control, y'all, and that post was already 9K+ words long *sweats*

(be sure to refresh often, i'm on here, often)

&you can find "[Part One?]" here

Part Two End Date: 30sep2026

feel free to send along any questions

through your medium of choice

i'm more than happy to write more money-related posts in the future

^..^

the newest additions are at the top:

we are in the middle of soft-launching our Tri-site overhaul [30sep2026 1245]

see them here, today, first ;)

designed for desktop use

works on mobile

but mobile is not the ideal *sigh*

hard-launching with ephwhyell | The Embers 2026 Octember

tomorrow 01 October 2026

• find.yummy.love. [1243]
• lopsiii [1245]
• tkscm, limited [1514]

&this is my last update to this post \\//.

oh yea, i also worked for my professor at CU, lol [20sep2026]

i'm just now remembering this, cause i'm eyeballing that $1,000,000 post, again, to see if anything comes up, and here we are!

when i returned to school in boulder, one of my art history professors hired me as her library proxy.

*teacher's pet*

i logged my own hours, and she paid me $10/hr at the end of the week.

(i think i typically made about $100-$150/week)

my job was simply to pickup and return her library books, lol.

i also had to run to a printing/shipping place across from campus and do mass print-offs for her master's level seminars, etc. 

in short, i carried around both a credit card (with her name on it) and a library card (with her name on it), and i had to sign some paperwork at the library to be her official proxy.

one week, during one of her classes, she was polling the class about a not-class-time event.

she asked if "anyone has an 8 am class on Friday morning."

everyone looked around and shook their heads.

i raised my hand, "I don't have class, but I'm not available."

she looked at me, "Where could you possibly have to be at 8 am on a Friday morning?" 

"My job," i responded.

she looked utterly confused, cause she knew she paid me to do stuff for her, "You have a job?"

i blew her mind, cause i was the top performer in the class (in all my major classes, actually, lol), invited to be part of the senior level seminars my junior year and master's level seminars my senior year, etc., and it was this professor who wanted to sponsor me as an honor's student, etc. 

"Yea, I open at Starbucks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," i explained.

the entire lecture hall fell silent, and everyone turned to look at me.

some dumbass classmate yelled, "Oh yea, I heard that Starbucks people start at like five!"

"I start at 4:30," i eye-rolled.

after a beat the professor finally said, "Okay, well, Tiffany, we'll just go over everything when you come by to do print offs. Everyone else, we'll do Friday at 8."

yes, of course, i saw the newest episode of South America [20sep2026]

i watch the show (and everything created by them) religiously. 

as a "native" coloradan (not in an indigenous sense, obviously, but rather, in the sense that i had no choice in being raised in colorado, as this is where the people who adopted me were located, etc.) and fellow graduate of the state's flagship university, i have always been a fan of both South Park and its creators. my fandom is so great, in fact, that it is one of my money monuments to somehow, someday own the South Park brand, lol. they're both about fifteen years older than me, so one assumes that i'd be able to helm the brand for about a decade if/when they're "too old" to work, etc. hopefully they will live a long life, and i am able to work with them for some period of time, etc.

anyway,

the reason why i'm even writing about this show, now, is because the show has transformed in a way that's both environmentally epic and financially fascinating. 

the show is now being treated as if the residents of South Park are living in South America.

this is both tragedy and comedy, obviously. 

&we all know how i feel about tragedy. 

(it's my first love, if you don't know *eyeroll*)

that's the environmentally epic change.

the other thing is all of the point-blank brand-name dropping!

what the fuck.

why?

why are they doing this?

i am obviously not privileged enough to be privy to this sort of decision-making/plot-designing or whatever. what i can tell, however, is that there's been a MAJOR change.

so, here are my very superficial routes:

• they have opened the show to advertisers and have official brand sponsorships
• brands approached them, &they were offered so much money, they officially sold out
• brand sponsorships are rampant in south american television?
• the creators do not have official brand deals, thereby daring these companies to sue them if they (the companies) do not like being associated with the show, etc.
• they've been "okay'd" to name these brands at their own (south park creator's) expense, but no money has been exchanged for doing so, etc.

ugh, if only i could be a fly on the wall of every room these two walk into *sigh*

anyway,

i think there were maybe about half-a-dozen brand names explicitly named throughout the episode, and since i don't want to watch the episode again, just yet, the four main brands i absolutely remember were The Cheesecake Factory, Walmart, Jamba Juice (although, it's just Jamba these days, lol), and Grand Theft Auto 6, and Grand Theft Auto 6 is the really important thing happening this November, lol.

there will always be women out there ... [13sep2026]

who will see you, be inspired by you,

who then go off and pretend as if what they saw and implemented in their own life

was their own idea

&they will never give you credit

for giving them both the idea

&the courage.

there's nothing you can do about them

all you can do is continue doing you

cause at the end of the day

that Loser

will get what she's earned:

nothing

&it's not your job to make people realize their terribleness

simply rest in the assurance that her interior life

her "real life"

is an absolute hellscape

of her own making.

rest easy, you beautiful, creative soul

EVERYONE GETS THEIR DUE

but we're not all going to be privy to their specific karma

nevertheless

absolutely do not worry about the Losers

NOW I'M GOING TO TELL MY PERIOD STORY! [04sep2026]

(i'm not gonna tell my period story, i just want any men lurking around here to get the fuck out.)

if/when a male person (of any age) comes at you like he's some intellectual

all you gotta do to make him shut up is cut him off 

and say something to the effect of, "Wow, you really are quite the equivocator."

equivocating is just intellectual blahism for "blow hard"

and then

if he gets all pissed about it

and tries to get you to prove that "you don't even know what equivocating means"

tell him, "you're a textbook Kantian"

if he doesn't know who Immanuel Kant is

it's hard to say how he will respond

but either way

it'll be a stupid response, cause he's stupid

so simply react accordingly.

if he does know who Kant is

then he will scoff and think you're stupid

cause Kant is "largely revered" by anyone who is stupid

cause the reality is that Kant was one of those "philosophers"

who sat in his room

never leaving it

looking at the world through his window

while saying shit

and cis White men think his "assessments" are "awesome"

whenever a man tries to challenge me

by asking me if i even know what some word even means

he's cluing you into the fact that he does not know what the word means

(again, this is why, as a woman, being good at poker is so important

&i don't mean for you to go out there and start gambling

just play with your friends

and invite the boys from time to time

&you gotta play for money

real money

tournament style

like even $1 is enough)

you've got nothing to lose

he already thinks you're stupid

so you don't have to prove yourself to him

don't waste the energy

just double down with the Kantian (it's a hard-T, KaaanT [like the way a briton would say "can't"] + the name Ian, Kaant-EE-EN or even like an "ehn" Kaant-EE-ehn)

that ought to be enough for him to get the point ...

you think he's stupid

lol

On Failure [03sep2026]

here's the thing about failure, and it's the thing that nobody seems to understand *sigh*

imagine with me, if you will:

you're going about your life on a scale of one to ten

you're at ten

cause you woke up this morning

you're alive

you're well-fed

you're doing it

TEN

just your regular day

every day is a flat-TEN

what happens 

though

when you try something

is that you sorta jump up higher than a TEN

maybe an eleven

maybe even all the way to thirteen

&at some point

you realize that you're not going to quite make it to your goal of eleven or thirteen

so you're "failing"

cause it feels like you're "falling"

back down to TEN

cause you are

you didn't quite make it

but when you land

you will not land back at TEN

you will land

at the very least

at TEN.01

cause you tried

which means that

at the very least

you learned something

at the very most

you succeeded and reached that ELEVEN or THIRTEEN

and somewhere in between

you landed somewhere around ten.5 or twelve

and so

for some of us

there is no such thing as failure

because we try

and try again

weak men call it "failing upward"

I CALL IT EXPANSION,

because with every new day

i am more powerful than i was before today.

what does it mean that a company's main revenue stream is ad-revenue? [03sep2026]

there are businesses that sell products.

there are businesses that sell products,

and then they buy advertising space to advertise these products

on various platforms where human eyeballs will see them.

there are businesses that sell advertising space,

and they sell either the time or the air or the paper

wherein an advertisement can be seen, aired, or printed on paper.

there are businesses that sell a product

so that they can sell advertisement space to businesses that want to advertise their products on/through their product.

i'll simply use musicians and "music influencers" as a simple example,

cause this is a blog:

"famous" or "mainstream" (i.e. bought and paid for, like a whore to pimps) musicians make music,

and they are paid for their music.

the music, itself, is what they're being paid to produce

thus, these types of musicians have a music business wherein they sell their songs for money

(music is another elitist-cunt industry, so it's much more complicated than this,

but i'm merely trying to outline the different types of ads a person can become)

anything that they produce is, in effect, a product that they're selling

MUSIC

and so,

their revenue is flowing to them through their music, their production, their product

whenever they sell a song.

now, 

as soon as that musician sells his/her face to promote something that is not their music

they are officially an ad,

and now, 

the cash that is flowing to them in this way is revenue that they are making

as the person being paid to promote a product aka be an advertisement.

now,

let's say this musician has a website where other people can pay to promote their shit on his/her website,

the cash that is flowing to them in this way is ad-revenue.

"Influencers" are the people who aspire to generate only ad-revenue

the difference between being paid to be an ad (a prominent person or unknown actor selling you something)

paying to advertise (a business w/an actual product to sell)

and generating ad-revenue (an influencer)

is the difference between being an Idiot Influencer (Fuckerberg &Fartman)

and an Entrepreneur (Every Female Entrepreneur &Musk)

"Idiot Influencers" and Entrepreneurs ARE NOT THE SAME

Idiot Influencers are "building their platforms" aka living like jesus, off of eyeballs like yours.

they have not produced a product.

they're clowning in front of you to get your attention.

if you are following someone, 

you have been transformed into a number that that "influencer" can then "sell" 

as proof that they have enough eyeballs looking at them

so that companies will pay them to advertise/promote/name drop their brand.

these types do not care about whatever they're selling you to get you to "follow" them.

they are not "creators"

they regurgitate

they're ads.

they simply need you to follow so that they can live as an ad 

and get paid to sell you shit you don't need,

and then,

these types have the gall to tell you how to make money!

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

This is the line ... does the platform exist so that the platform can run ads?

OR

does the platform exist because someone has a vision

and the only thing being sold there

is their vision?

so then

what's the "grey area" look like?

of course there are websites, shows, apps, magazines, podcasts that sell shit,

but some of these "businesses" don't sell anything

they just get a lot of traffic for any number of reasons

and so

they run their website for the sole purpose of running ads

that you will see

and hopefully click on.

they don't care about whatever is happening on the site

they only care about turning you

a human

into a view count or a click.

&as you can see

there are no ads on me :)

&i never cared about views or clicks before

so why would i care now?

&if you don't understand why i have a view-count ticker

you're an Idiot.

"she's obviously part of the Musk-Cult whatever; she never says anything bad about him" [date of posting]

what bad thing do you want me to say about him?

that 

with/through &upon Empire

he has

single-handedly [not literally but ideologically, absolutely]

brought the internet to the women of the world?

[added 02sep26 good to see you, ladies ^..^ saw you blip back about three or four days ago, after longer than a week cutoff this time, and charging again, fast, to the top, at number eight, today :]

oh, and he's not gauging them?

if you do not understand what his companies (all of them, since his very first) are able to bring to the rest of the world

then you're the problem

not him.

(this is also why some parts of the rest of the world

the most-misogynistic parts

don't like him, either

cause he is bringing a sort of "freedom" to women

the world over

&yea, maybe it's not the best strategy to

essentially

mine Empire for the rest of the world

&despite however the media portray him

&or whatever downside you think i'm missing

what is he really communicating through his efforts?)

&if you're so desperate to find an Elitist White man to villainize

start with James Comey

like duh

what is my business? [date of posting]

our (the bodybuddy/lifemate &i) are in the business of business

in the most-technical, straight-forward terms

we develop business ideas into various stages of development

for instance,

does anyone remember The Devil's Donut Holes?

anyone been around here long enough for those days?

well, let's say you wanted to start a donut business

well, you could buy our business plan at all sorts of various stages of development

("buy" is a loose term here, because we also help you at whatever amount you want/need)

say, the plan alone

or the business ready to walk into and operate

and everything in between.

we do other stuff, these days

like my new sewing endeavors

and we still develop businesses

but these days

our business is structured for figuring out how businesses operate, etc.

we do a lot more poking around the underlying structural organization of business operations, etc.

this is what i do

cause i can do it all day, like breathing, and i do it so much and so easily that i'm willing to do it for free, but obviously, i don't, unless you really need my help and can't pay, no problem

i organize shit

maybe there's some like hoity-toity elitist title for this sorta thing

but i can guarantee you

they are not like me

lol

and i didn't like my mother's idea of organizing people's closets

so i organize business structures

i am not interested in providing too many more details here

for reasons

so i'll leave it at that

if you are not currently an entrepreneur

either because you're "too young" or you just haven't ever considered it

and what i've just described above

makes sense to you

you have a mind for business

just fyi *wink wink*

i am not peddling "advice" [date of posting]

i write about my experience with money

i share my opinion about money

&the only advice that i claim to share is:

LEARN ABOUT MONEY

WHAT IT IS

&HOW IT GROWS

then you will know when/where and why to put your money wherever you ultimately decided to put it.

if others are telling you what to do

they are trying to indoctrinate you

into their system

no different than jesus.

THAT IS NOT WHAT IS HAPPENING, HERE.

HERE, you are ENCOURAGED to seek the Truth.

if you don't like what i have to say here, leave.

if you like some of what i say, take whatever you want.

if you like it all, then do whatever works for you.

why the fuck would i ever care about what you do with your life?

i am not the one who has to live your decisions,

YOU ARE.

why do i love Martha Stewart soooooo much? [24aug2026]

(this is not a mistake, i am reposting this AGAIN, here, too)

She's one of those handful of people who can teach you how to cook

by getting you from 0 to 1

and then beyond

obviously

you gotta learn from her through her own videos

you gotta watch her do it

and you gotta hear her speak about food as she's cooking it

anyone can cook a steak

Martha teaches women how to cook a steak

but better yet, she teaches you why you should be learning how to cook steak

she pays attention to what women pay attention to

and all of her recipes make sense

She is the reigning Master of teaching the "every woman" how to cook

and she does it because she knows how much money it can save you

cause she came from finance, y'all.

She cares more that you learn to cook for yourself in order to save yourself money

She does not care about teaching you how to make money as a "chef" or whatever.

If you listen to what she says, she says things like, [paraphrased] "This is exactly how they do it in those expensive fancy restaurants, and can you believe it, you can do it yourself at home for ten bucks."

Saving you money has always been Martha's true, deep mission

but americans are fickle people

and they resist learning

at every cost

and so

they must be tricked

and this is a type of skill that only a rare few possess

and historically, they've been called "witches"

in a derogatory sense

lol

[added 30aug2026]

also, it was james comey who took her down

just like he took down Hillary Clinton

if he is not the most-anti-feminist man in our recent history

i dunno who is

&i don't like to tell people what to do

so hopefully you know what to do with this information, y'all.

work work work &buy some seeds
dig dig dig &plant them deep
watch watch watch &watch them grow
tend tend tend &tend some more
plant plant plant &share the wealth
grow grow grow &build the world

I AM The Queen of Cups

The Jade Queen, to be precise

It's a complete waste of your time to LOOK at me to figure out what it is about me that's so ... you know ... cause what it is that you're trying so hard to 'see' is what's missing.

THERE ARE NO STRINGS ON ME.

Post-Posting Updates and Additional Bits [part one?]

here are the post-posting updates and additional bits for the post "Here's what I'd do if I were a twenty-something working toward her first $1,000,000; luckily for us, I was that twenty-something *hair-flip*"

cause it's getting out of control, y'all, and that post was already 9K+ words long *sweats*

(be sure to refresh often, i'm on here, often)

PART TWO WILL BEGIN IN SEPTEMBER

the newest additions are at the top:

here's a quick whatever showcasing the mental difference between men and women [29aug2026]

a woman makes clothes for a living for three decades

and teaches people how to sew and make clothes

she comes up with a quick and easy pair of shorts that she can whip up, no problem

she wonders to herself, "i can't sell them for $50, can i?"

a man takes his first sewing class with the above woman

he "successfully" makes a pair of shorts

he wonders to himself, "am i a genius? i should start a business and manufacture my genius? omg, i'm gonna be a millionaire!"

"i'm not a capitalist!" [29aug2026]

well, sorta by default, you are a capitalist if you live in america.

america was literally built on the idea of Capitalism.

if you make money the way that i've outlined here, you are an outright Capitalist.

Capitalism in and of itself is not inherently "good" or "bad"

there are only "good" or "bad" capitalists

depending on whatever you perceive as the outcome of their production, etc.

remember

"good" and "bad" are both relative

because we are independent, autonomous human people

that being said

there are some obvious harms

that we can all agree on

but listen here ladies

if america is a capitalist country

(it is, whether or not we like it, it is)

then whoever controls her capital controls her decisions

and whoever controls her decisions determines the presidency

if we want to steer this country toward the matriarchy that it is

(if only in shadow)

then we, as women, need to CONTROL HER CAPITAL

it is the only way we can steer the capital toward our "womanly" ends, lol

it's strange that men have referred to both States and Ships as women

but they are determined to be the Presidents and the Captains

why, i wonder why this is?

on "Influencers" (not to be confused with people who are influential *eyeroll*) [added28aug2026]

if all my social media went down

disappeared

was lost forever

not a single thing about my life, money or business would change.

do you even know anyone who has survived an attempt on their own life?!? [27aug2026]

yes.

&i knew even more people who have not survived their attempt. [added 28]

suicide is so common, in fact, that it is basically unreported

i can think of five people i knew who lost their lives to themselves before i left high school

but i know there were more.

only famous people hit the headlines

because the reality is that so many people end their own lives

that if the public actually knew the numbers

it would shake the foundation of what we consider "normal" to its core

&perhaps

so many people die because everyone shies away from talking about the people who kill themselves

as if it's such a shame or terrible thing

or if they do talk about the person who killed themselves

it's always with an air of shame or complete unknowing

as if there were "no signs"

even though we all know

at least one person

who has decided their own ending

here's the thing about people who "clawed their way out of debt" [27aug2026]

(and i am not speaking to those who have been trapped by medical debt, etc., i am speaking to those who drowned themselves in their own terrible spending habits, and then learned what they needed to learn in order to get where they are today, and now, their purpose in life is to help people not-make the same mistakes that they did, and i'm going to compare this to those who survive suicide and then subsequently use their second life to help others survive suicide)

i'm not here to downplay anything that someone with this sort of advice has to say

you should absolutely hear them out, cause they learned the HARD lessons

so hear them out

but DO NOT FOLLOW THEM

take the lessons, understand what mistakes they made, and then get the hell out of there.

think about it this way...

think of who they were when they made all of those terrible decisions

they were so focused on something that they missed the obvious staring them in the face

what were they missing in their life?

what drove them down the road of debt addiction?

how did they drown themselves?

sure, they went through it, and they learned the lessons.

nevertheless, today, now, what are they missing that's staring them right in the face, you know?

the obvious eludes them; they're proof.

thus, look at them today,

whatever their life looks like, there's a really good chance that they're missing the obvious, now, still.

so, don't follow these types.

hear what mistakes they made, and then find someone who hasn't recovered from debt addiction to actually follow.

cheer them on, sure, follow for support, even better, but their advice about what to do with your money is not for you.

similarly,

there are people who survive suicide and they use their "second chance" to help others struggling with their mental health, which sounds noble, on its surface, but wouldn't the greatest testament to not-taking your own life, living it?

so, yea, if someone has survived suicide, you absolutely listen to what they have to say,

but fundamentally,

you do not trust this type of person with your life, you know?

when throwing parties [25aug2026]

i love to throw a good party

i love to cook

i do not do it often, because it's a lot of work

and since i'm introverted

i really only need to party, like, once a decade

lol

remember that parties are for everyone attending the party

and so

if you're the person hosting the event

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR PEOPLE TO CHIP IN MONEY

if you're contributing your time and organizational skills

people can throw in a few bucks to show up and not do any of the work, etc.

the first time i asked for money for a party i was terrified

i did not know how it would go over

i did not know if anyone would even want to come to my party

i bit the bullet and went for it

i made up cute little invitations and sent them out about a week before the party

(everyone basically lived and worked together)

and i asked everyone to RSVP with $10 and to bring $5 with them to the party

[this was all in KRW ₩10,000 and ₩5,000, respectively]

not only was everyone enthusiastic about the party

they were more than happy to chip in $10

some people just threw their money at me

and it was too much

and they were like "i don't care"

throw a party

so i pooled everyone's money plus ours (the bodybuddy/lifemate&i)

and do you know how much food and alcohol you can buy for $200?

you'd prolly wanna ask everyone for $20 these day

to ensure a solidly awesome amount of food and booze

and then, i went and bought all the food and beverage and libations

and put it all together for everyone

and everyone came over

i collected their $5 

and it was a great time.

once the party got started

we made a huge pizza order with the $5 that everyone brought

to add to the other food i'd prepared

(never skimp on snacks)

i was able to buy so much booze that i made party favors for everyone

so everyone was able to take home a bottle of soju

i also gave everyone $1 when they walked in the door

and we played a game with it where if someone could get you to say your own name

they got your dollar

my point is

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO PROVIDE A GOOD TIME FOR PEOPLE

AT A PRICE MUCH CHEAPER THAN GOING OUT

if y'all are already going out

y'all are already spending a ton of money to hit up *meh* places

so pooling $20 for an incredible, customized event is easy

people who are good at throwing parties

throw parties all the time

and charge money for entry

and these "cover fees" are sometimes available to the public

which means that throwing parties

is literally a business

why do i love Martha Stewart soooooo much? [24aug2026]

She's one of those handful of people who can teach you how to cook

by getting you from 0 to 1

and then beyond

obviously

you gotta learn from her through her own videos

you gotta watch her do it

and you gotta hear her speak about food as she's cooking it

anyone can cook a steak

Martha teaches women how to cook a steak

but better yet, she teaches you why you should be learning how to cook steak

she pays attention to what women pay attention to

and all of her recipes make sense

She is the reigning Master of teaching the "every woman" how to cook

and she does it because she knows how much money it can save you

cause she came from finance, y'all.

She cares more that you learn to cook for yourself in order to save yourself money

She does not care about teaching you how to make money as a "chef" or whatever.

If you listen to what she says, she says things like, [paraphrased] "This is exactly how they do it in those expensive fancy restaurants, and can you believe it, you can do it yourself at home for ten bucks."

Saving you money has always been Martha's true, deep mission

but americans are fickle people

and they resist learning

at every cost

and so

they must be tricked

and this is a type of skill that only a rare few possess

and historically, they've been called "witches"

in a derogatory sense

lol

[added 30aug2026]

also, it was james comey who took her down

just like he took down Hillary Clinton.

i don't like to tell people what to do

so hopefully you know what to do with this information, y'all.

"accounting" is one of the things that Computer has already been doing [24aug2026]

if you do not know how to do the things that an accountant knows how to do

no problem

you don't need to know what an accountant knows

you only need to know what an accountant needs to know from you

and these days

you prolly don't need a human accountant until tax time

cause

Computer has always been accounting

and today

Computer is better than any human accountant you could ever afford

cause that's what they'd use

to do your accounting ... Computer

and the best part about Computer, today

is that you can just talk to it about what you're trying to accomplish

and Computer will help you find a way

we've all been free for so long now [23aug2026]

that we've begun to take FREEDOM for granted *weeps*

yes, i am trying to run a few "finance gurus" on socials outta business, lol [22aug2026]

nobody who is truly trying to help you get rich is gonna charge you for this knowledge

why?

because this is the type of knowledge that nepo-babies are born into

this is why the rich get richer, while sleeping

if i were to "gatekeep" this information

or even make ad-revenue off this information, 

i am no better than the elitist assholes born into their wealth

*vomits*

the cards are stacked against us

i am here to stack them in our favor

so yea

if it's possible to shut down a few of these "financial gurus"

ima trya

how to hack the library system [21aug2026]

this is both a quiz and a challenge.

if you are an advanced library user, then this is a quiz and a challenge.

if you are a baby library user, this is a challenge.

if you are an intermediate library user, thanks for being here, and if you want to take the quiz, feel free.

for the babies: get a library card

if you don't want a library card, at the very least, do us library users a favor, and at the very least, open an account and get a library card.

once you have your card, check out something, anything, doesn't matter, you don't even have to read it.

check something out, and go home.

let the due date expire.

like, let's say the book or dvd or cd or magazine is due back tomorrow August 22.

DO NOT RETURN THE BOOK.

RETURN THE BOOK ABOUT A WEEK LATE.

you will accrue a late fee.

after the week has accrued a late fee, return the book and if you don't want to ever return to the library, you never have to return to the library.

do not pay the late fee. 

just return the book, and go about your life.

and thank you, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart.

for the intermediate library users: thank you for using the library!

if you use your home library a lot, maybe you start using your library card to start checking out books for other people

instead of wondering if you can buy someone a book, just check the book out from the library

you will start to accrue fees from people returning your books late, but you're an intermediate library user, so you are used to accruing fees, and you don't mind if this is your act of community service: paying other people's late fees, etc., but don't actually pay other people's late fees, just happily pay your late fees whenever the books you give to other people are returned late.

and now, for the good stuff: to you advanced library users

if you are an advanced library user, then you already have at least two library cards that you use, regularly, proficiently, and if you are an advanced library user, then you know you gotta sniff around a bit to get the good stuff.

thus, this is my challenge: whenever you go anywhere, open a library account

accrue a fee, and then, if/when you leave, do not close your account, do not pay your fee, return all your shit (or send it back, lol) and leave.

why?

this is the quiz question.

why?

i have an account at the auckland public library in aotearoa, new zealand, and i "lived" there without a visa for three months.

i opened the account, because we were going to live there, and what else are you supposed to do when you arrive somewhere new?

i accrued a small balance, literally, like $1.50 in late fees during the time i was there

before we left, we made sure we returned everything we had checked out, nothing was on our account except our modest late fee, and we left the country.

i have an account at the seattle public library and the longmont public library

and here, in hawaii, obviously 

and i got my library card here in hawaii months before i ever signed a lease on a condo

why didn't we close our accounts?

why am i suggesting you open as many public library accounts as you can, wherever you can, and leave a late fee balance on your account even though you will never use that account ever again?

THIS IS ONLY ABOUT PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

some libraries will wipe their fees clean every once in a while, so you just gotta keep opening accounts wherever you go.

when we worked our Twigim stand [21aug2026]

we worked a little farmers market food stall over the summer one summer

and a special st. patrick's day event thingy.

we made "fusion" egg rolls wherein we made egg rolls, but with like not the typical stuffing

for instance, we made a "scroll" filled with korean bulgogi and one filled like a cuban sandwich

at this farmers market, we met a farmer

he was half-korean, so he was like a moth to flame when he heard that i was korean and that yes, it is korean bulgogi

he sold amazing produce, heirloom shit.

the first week of the season, he came by and straight-up ordered the bulgogi scroll

money in hand, he made an order, and i took his money

i obviously gave him what he ordered, and then i gave him an extra scroll on the house

later, he came by and dropped off some produce

beets, i think

and said that the egg roll was amazing

as the weeks went on

he would continue to stroll by the stall, and i'd always ask if he wanted anything different, and he never did, but we knew he did not work his stall alone, cause we started to buy an item or two from his stand every week

as the weeks went on

he would continue to stroll by the stall, money in hand, and i'd insist that he not pay, so he'd drop the money in our tip jar

we'd make whatever he ordered, and then we would start to give him one of each of the other flavors that we had on offer that weekend

and then, like clock-work, at the end of the morning, he'd come strolling by with arms full of all sorts of interesting veggies

and then, we started to cook with his ingredients and stuff our scrolls with his ingredients

and then, sadly, we left to make the changes we needed to make to get where we are today

but i will never forget him or his business, because, y'all, he's the first business we ever did business with, and if we hadn't had our prices hanging from our respective signage, how would we have known how much to give as an equal measure of the value of our products?

we were communicating to each other the value of our products by both buying each other's products (breaking even) and by giving extra to each other in amounts that reflect a measurable dollar amount so that we know that we are "giving back" in equal measure.

he sold premium produce.

we sold premium egg rolls.

we were cheap to produce and our price reflected this: $3 each or 2/$5

his products were expensive to produce and his price reflected this

even tho he knew that we would give him whatever he wanted to eat on any given day, for free, he always gave us $5. he continued to pay that 2/$5 price for the egg rolls.

we thanked him by giving him even more for his money.

he then proceeded to thank us by giving us more for our money.

instead of simply swapping products FOR FREE

we were agreeing to the prices that we had each set for ourselves by continuing to pay for the products

we were also communicating that we thought we each sold good products by essentially "sharing in the wealth"

libraries are largely run by women [20aug2026]

nobody will ever think to look for you in a library

so you can hide away for hours

also

if someone is looking for you

and they find you in the library

if you need to make a scene

you will be heard.

remember,

libraries are large rooms

where the most-intelligent women on this planet

spend their entire day reading, cataloging, and meticulously organizing all the world's knowledge.

on "favors" [20aug2026]

first of all, if you're at the money stage of your life wherein you're finally an entrepreneur

give yourself a huge pat on the back

congratulations! you've made it.

if it's just now dawning on you that you are, in fact, an entrepreneur

take a minute, girl.

seriously. go take a minute.

let it sink in.

realizing your boss-bitch status is heavy; it's a lot.

if you weren't ready to take on the status, even though you're carrying the load, adjust, girl, adjust.

so go take care of you, and i'll see you back here when you're ready.

secondly, i've heard a rumor or two that there's a certain demographic of women who exchange favors, regularly, and i'm going to try to convince you to stop this unhelpful habit.

i also want to communicate that i absolutely understand why it is so difficult for some of us to not exchange favors.

okay, it's gonna get rough out here, so settle in.

below this bit is an additional bit about friendships and content creation.

this is why it is very difficult to "go into business" with a friend

i think it's important to try to do business as a pair

but i think that if the two of you are friends

like really deeply friends

you should not go into business together.

find someone you can work with who has all the skills you lack.

sorta like a roommate. you do not want your roommate to be a friend, because transactional money is involved. you obviously gotta like each other enough to get along, but it's best to have a roommate with whom you do not have emotions weighing in on financial behaviors, etc. 

you can DO business with each other, absolutely, but i'd warn against going INTO business together.

i don't want to state my reasons, because i don't want to influence you in this way.

i do not want to poison you with any of my biases.

if you think i'm wrong, go for it. i'm not here to tell anyone what to do.

i do think, however, that friendships ought to remain as far away from transaction as possible.

so, what do you do when you're starting out and you "can't afford to pay anyone" 

so you exchange favors?

this is where your financial literacy becomes crucial.

i cannot go into great detail here, cause this is a blog, after all, but i will try to flesh out the "why"

here's a setup:

say you're working to build your career as a yoga instructor (this is going to be overly simplified)

you meet other yoga instructors and other "wellness" creators, etc.

you meet someone who is also starting out

she doesn't do yoga, let's say she sells singing bowls

the two of you meet

and do a joint sorta video thing with her bowls and your yoga

you EXCHANGE FAVORS

you post the videos and go about your business

what works about this exchange of favors?

well, you met someone, good.

you accomplished a task (made a video), good.

you have a new business contact, good.

you made a plan and completed it, good.

what's missing?

well, to be frank, the entire business side of this "business meeting" is missing

why?

THERE WAS NO TRANSACTION.

"but we traded favors!"

okay, so go ahead and log that favor into your business' accounting spreadsheet.

what is the monetary value of that favor?

okay, so now to ahead and deposit that favor into your business bank account.

did the bank accept that favor that's "owed" to you?

MONEY IS SIMPLY A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT.

how much was your yoga contribution to the video, in terms of money?

how much was your singing bowls contribution to the video, in terms of money?

the two of you are seeing this as a "fair trade" but is it?

you don't know, cause there's no monetary value on the service you just provided.

the value that you've placed on your services is "$0"

a favor.

what's that favor worth? another favor?

you've already learned that the bank doesn't accept favors.

so the only thing you can cash in with that favor is another favor.

THERE IS LITERALLY ZERO MONEY MOVEMENT IN THIS SITUATION.

THIS IS LITERALLY NOT A BUSINESS.

so what do you DO?

first of all, you need to have a business bank account, and you need to have some money in it.

it can be as low as the minimum balance, but i do not recommend hovering at a bank's minimum, cause you will accrue fees when it drops below the minimum when the bank takes your money for keeping it in the bank. 

so, maybe something like $500 is a good balance to keep in a starter business bank account.

you must register your business with the state in which you live.

you will be assigned an EIN, and this is how the government will know how to tax you and your business from now on.

once you receive your uline catalog, you'll know you're in the system.

you work with the money that is in your business bank account when you do business-related things

and this is what you do with it:

you talk to each other about how much you can afford, in cash, to "pay" each other.

YOU NAME YOUR PRICE.

you ask her to name hers.

she says, "oh, i was hoping we could exchange favors."

and you respond, "i don't exchange favors, because my bank doesn't accept favors."

you move on.

you meet another person who wants to DO business with you.

YOU NAME YOUR PRICE.

SHE NAMES HER PRICE.

you look at each other's prices.

you're $50/hr.

she's $65/hr.

the two of you make a deal to EXCHANGE $50.

you go to the bank before you meet, and you remove $50 cash from your business bank account, and you get a receipt.

you keep the receipt for your records.

you bring the $50 to the meeting.

she does the same.

the two of you do your thing, and then you EXCHANGE $50.

if you bring along an invoice for her, even better.

and then each of you goes and deposits $50 into your business bank account

and you keep the receipt for your records.

you will log, in your accounting spreadsheet:

an expense of $50

and revenue of $50

she goes home and logs in her accounting spreadsheet:

an expense of $50

and revenue of $65 at a $15 discount totalling $50

both of you have exactly the same amount of money you had before the meeting

and now you have an operating business, too.

why?

because you have a taxable paper trail.

and The State will only recognize what's on paper.

anything business related that does not end up on paper is considered fraud.

The State is not trying to prohibit you from making as much money as you possibly can.

The State just wants its fair share.

and the more you make, the more they get, so really, The State wants you to get rich just as much as you want to be rich.

of course you can do things for free, whenever you want.

but you do not log these transactions as a free thing.

you log what you sold or did, and mark it as a donation or mark it at whatever discount was offered for whatever reason or you log it as the fee being waived, but you log that monetary number. 

you donated one hour of your time at $50/hr.

you still need to create a paper trail for the donation.

you cannot simply "donate" shit to people in only your books.

you still need to create a transaction and the paper trail for the transaction and the discount or waived fee.

both parties need to be aware of a transaction of a fee that is being discounted or waived.

if you're simply giving people money, that's a gift, and gifts are taxed differently.

now to the nitty-gritty, cause, that's right, you gotta put a dollar value on, what seems like, yourself.

and here is where i'm speaking mostly to a specific demographic of females, cause i do understand the fear or rational or whatever you want to call it.

an objective dollar number was put on my bodily form.

i was internationally adopted.

i cost $10,000.

you don't think i struggle with my fuckedup valuation?

i do struggle.

i struggle greatly with my own worth.

A DOLLAR FIGURE WAS PUT ON MY LIFE

and i know what you're thinking, "no, that's not it, someone has to cover fees, etc., etc., let me barf puke and spew over you as a person who has never experienced a lick of struggle in her life."

fuck you.

one of the most difficult challenges you will face as a self-made entrepreneur is pricing

you don't know how to value your work

you're looking for other price points based off other businesses that are like yours

you don't want to be a greedy person

you don't want to gauge people

you don't want to ... and for women like us, the list goes on forever.

STOP IT.

do the math.

make it objective.

remove yourself from your emotions and ask yourself, "but what DO i want?"

how much do you want to make, in a year?

how many hours do i want to work?

do the math.

for me, i price myself at $100/hr.

i do not work 40-hour weeks.

not ever. not now. not ever.

everything i do is logged at $100/hr.

if i make something and i want to sell it, i figure out how much time i spent, and i price it at $100/hr. 

if nobody wants to value my work at this price, who cares?

so, when you're trying to meet people with whom to do business

you're not looking for a freebie

that's a race to the bottom

you're looking for another woman who knows what she's worth

because you know what you're worth

and so, when you do business together

you're EXCHANGING THE VALUE OF YOUR WORK

do not think of exchanging $100 for $100 as a wash.

and it certainly is not a loss.

IT IS NOT A LOSS OR A WASH.

THIS IS HOW MONEY WORKS.

CASH FLOWS.

those line items:

expense $100

revenue $100

that's called breaking even, girl.

when a big business buys (ima use small numbers, cause they're just easier)

$1,000 of product from one producer

and sells $1,000 of product to another buyer

you don't think to yourself, "oh, whatashitty business, they bought and sold $1,000"

NO! you do not think this, cause what the thought is is, "oh, that's a business."

you've decided to start content creating, and now, your friends don't like you [20aug2026]

i've been seeing a lot of this sorta theme floating around

so i'll be brief

if you were using your socials to connect with your friends

and now you've gone and pivoted that same exact profile to build customers

your friendships

which are built on being friends

has now turned into a transactional relationship

and news flash

most people do not want their friendships to be transactional

and news flash

no business survives on a customer-base of friends.

if you're starting a content-creation sorta socials

then start a content-creation sorta socials

if your friends don't follow you over there

so what?!?!

i don't expect my friends to support my business

if they want to

great for me!

if they don't

our friendship is not transactional

i do not base my friendships on how much they support my business

like duh

if they're asking me about my business

i'm thrilled!

if they've never been a paying customer

i honestly haven't even noticed

why would i?

they asked me, directly, like a friend

how MY business is going

because they are supporting ME

cause they're a friend

not a customer.

no customer is gonna swing by just to check on you

in the middle of the night

when you're at your worst.

yes, you are correct [19aug2026]

there are a million people who want to "help you achieve your dreams"

by getting you from 1 to 10.

there are, literally, only a handful of people

who can help you get from 0 to 1

and yes

parsing through this haystack IS A NIGHTMARE

on worry [added 19aug2026]

you gotta make worry your friend.

she's your closest ally

cause she's always looking out for you

if you have a person who is close to you and you are close to them, hopefully you have the type of relationship where you can speak your worries aloud to them, and they will hear you.

if this is you, then great. speak your worries aloud and deal with them with this person.

if this is you, then this next bit is not really for you, either, because doing this with a person you trust is the ideal situation.

dealing with your feelings with another fleshy human person is the ideal situation for all emotion/feeling-related events/moments/situations

if this is not you, and you are the person you have, then great!

how lucky are you to be stuck with yourself!

you are the best person, after all, to get to know you, ya know?

if you are the person you have, then what you need is to find a way to speak to yourself.

(i've written about this here, so ima make is short here, in the now)

basically, your thoughts are not part of your hardware, it's "software" in computer-speak

thus, your physical body cannot "know" what your thoughts are

does this make sense?

this needs to make sense for us to be able to continue on.

how does your physical body "know" stuff?

well, through your senses: touch, sight, smell, etc., and there are more than "five" *eyeroll*

since your thoughts are swirling silently, intangibly throughout your "mind"

you need to do something in the physical world so that your brain can pick it up

so, if you want your eyes to see it, make something visible

if you want your ears to hear it, make something audible

etc., etc., &c.

once you've brought that metaphysical or intangible thought into the physical world

then your physical body can use all its senses to get on the same page as your "mind" 

your body and your "mind" must work together to accomplish being you as youfully as you can be

enter, worry.

worries are just thoughts.

they can't hurt you out here.

they're just thoughts in your mind that are swirling around, and your body is having a physical reaction, because your thoughts are making you feel feelings, and your body is reacting to these feelings.

what we're trying to do is help our bodies respond to our feelings.

so, if you're all you got, the quickest way to tell your body your thoughts is to simply speak it aloud.

as a fire sign, i'm not an air sign, so i write everything down, hence, this thing here you're reading now, lol.

when you write down your worry

or when you speak your worry

your physical eyes &or ears can see/hear you

then your brain can finally pick up the signal

and you can essentially "see yourself"

when this happens, now your brain can bring you a little logic

you write down a worry

you realize that you're simply avoiding a bill payment

it's coming up

and you're worried about it

but you're not really worried

you're just *blechfuckingblech* about having to pay a bill

now the feeling has changed

it is not worry

it is the exact right feeling

and now you can do something about it

(i am using this specific feeling, because this one was an all-too familiar monthly occurrence for years until i fucking finally grew up)

so now you can name the exact feeling ... dread. 

i don't wanna fucking pay a bill!

so what do you do?

well, you go into your room (or maybe your car or wherever you have space that you can call your own)

and you scream and shout and you throw a big fit

about how the world is so unfair

about how you're the only person

IN THE WHOLE WORLD

who has to pay bills

you stomp

you shout

you cry

you act like the tiny little financial toddler that you are

and you throw a temper tantrum

maybe you even cry yourself to sleep

then

while you're laying there

with your eyes closed

you ask yourself if you can pay the bill

you sigh and say, "yes."

then you peel yourself off your bed

go to your computer

type out exactly six words

click exactly ten fake buttons

the whole process takes exactly 79 seconds.

and then you go out and spend your treat money

cause that's what it's there for. 

on "finance jargon" [added 19aug2026]

"you use the same words as finance bros, so why do you hate them so much?"

first of all, fuck you.

my pussy and i have not survived a lifetime of monthly menstruation to be reduced to the male-version of our species.

FUCK YOU.

second, finance is an industry; it is a profession

therefore, it has terminology, the "language of finance"

yes, finance bros absolutely throw around all of the same sorts of terms that i am using here

because this is the language of finance

it is your job to learn the language of finance

either through your own volition

or with a teacher, etc.

so when i say things, and it sounds an "awful lot like a finance bro" it is because it is the same language that the finance bros use, because we are speaking the language of finance.

i, however, am a girl using the language of finance, and some of the jargon is absolutely unnecessary and totally made up, and other parts of the language are absolutely necessary, and if you don't know the meaning of these absolutely necessary terms, you will out yourself as the ignorant that you are. 

girls and boys are reared differently here on Empire.

what i'm about to say is not a reflection of my beliefs about how we are born or our "destiny" as embryos or anything like that.

what i'm about to say is about how girls and boys are treated differently, before we even exit our mothers' wombs, and this double-standard has created different types of humans.

*big inhale*

*deep exhale*

boys are reared to be really good at taking in a lot of information and finding a singular conclusion.

girls are reared to be really good at taking one piece of information and making a lot of it.

whether or not this is an inherently "male" or "female" trait doesn't really matter, cause these are the sorts of behaviors that women and men exhibit, today, as human people on Empire.

this is why the idea of "lock in" doesn't work for women

we expand outward

we take seeds and grow them

we make small humans and nurture them

we use our small families to create larger community

we do not lock in.

no woman in the history of womanhood has ever "locked in"

we multiply.

if you are a woman, and this is triggering you, LOOK AT IT.

a man who suggests that you "lock in" is a threat.

look at the language. look at the diction. look at the word choice.

he's literally asking you to ignore your surroundings and focus on this thing over here.

he's shrinking you.

he's limiting you to a finite space.

he's suggesting that whoever you are, you lock it up.

i do not care what his INTENTIONS are. those WORDS are your future the minute you speak them.

NO, lady. NO.

EXPAND OUT!

here's a new piece of financial terminology to look into to expand your financial vocabulary:

we're looking for companies that have a thing called a "large moat"

not only, but also.

[added 18aug2026]

if/when (let's be real) when a man tries to belittle your money

because you used your body

remind him that every opportunity that he's been given

was given to him

because of his body

so he's a whore, too

he's just selling his penis.

ladies,

if you've got great boobs

that's what's called "the easiest money in the whole world"

if you're comfortable monetizing them

and you want to monetize them

DO NOT HESITATE

remember ladies,

every man who has ever gotten a job

got that job

because of his penis

if i have to spell it out for you

it's because he's a man.

i think that a grocery store is a great place to learn what kind of job you might like [18aug2026]

grocery stores are made up of departments

think of them like enclosed farmer's markets

each department does something separate from the others:

bakery, floral, grocery, meat/seafood, produce, etc.

these are all very different types of jobs

they're essentially the same in that the job is essentially

stocking shelves

but the stuff that's going on the shelf is all different

my last job

(not last as in last ever, i do have plans to work part-time again, because i want to learn how to cook korean food, so i want to find somewhere i can job and learn how to do this, last as in most-recent as i am currently taking myself through school [ephwhyell volume 0.3] and not-jobbing, cause, not to brag but i can)

was at safeway

i was hired in january 2021 and left in april 2026

and it is, by far, the longest amount of time i've spent with one company

i started in fresh cut

cutting up fresh fruit to make it "ready-to-eat"

at $12.10/hr (ish, i cannot remember, exactly, and i'm not about to hunt down that old pay stub)

in longmont, colorado

there was a probationary period (again, cannot remember exactly how long but maybe three months?)

but then as soon as i had cleared it

the director, there,

came by the little fresh cut department every other week and asked,
"you see that 10% raise on your paycheck?"

and i was about fifty cents away from max-pay in about six months

i also received an additional $2/hr for the hours i worked overnight

because i worked two hours that were considered part of the overnight shift

(i learned this bc the fresh cut shift starts at 5am, once i learned this, i asked the director if there was a job i could do for an entire shift of overnight bonus pay, again, don't quote me, this was a while ago, and i definitely have the exact details mixed up somewhere, i'm sure, but the overall results in my pay increases are what's been stated in real numbers)

so i gained about $10/hr over my starting $12/hr in the total time i was there

and i was about 90% of the way to that final pay in the first six months i was there

i was there from january 2021 til april 2023

i worked fresh cut, overnight stocking and was the overnight baker during this time period

when i transferred to the safeway here in honolulu

the overnight bonus was only $0.50

and the max-pay was $2 lower than the max-pay on the mainland

so it was a huge, overall loss for the bodybuddy/lifemate to stay at safeway, here

i, however, was offered a different job within the store

and i took the new job, obviously

i had lamented to the universe only six months prior

that i had finally figured out the big gap in my entrepreneurship knowledge

and that gap was pricing

and the job that was being offered was "pricing manager"

i couldn't believe it

so i started at $23/hr plus the $0.50 overnight put me at $23.50

and i gained about $1/hr from what i was being paid in longmont

i left in april 2026 at $25.43(ish) plus $0.50 overnight put me at $26/hr

i had to claw and chew for every raise i got

i hate the director of that store

but i got one whole dollar every time

i put up a fight before i left

because i had decided to leave

so i put in my notice along with a departure date

nobody believed me

because everyone thought i loved that job

because i did it so well

and i did do it so well

the best, in fact

but i knew the director did not value my contributions appropriately

and so

i wanted to find out what the director would offer

and when he offered it

i laughed in his face

and i left on my stated departure date

i would have stayed if the director there understood what i brought to the table

and valued it accordingly

but he did not

but then that means you pay in cash? [added 18aug2026]

you betcha.

credit card money is no different than a digital currency

we use digital currency in the digital world

cash is physical money

we use physical currency in the physical world

(&i use digital currencies in the forms of dollars and eridium in the game borderlands

&i'm holding out for the day when my xbox gamer points convert into some sort of usable currency, afk)

banks are also incredibly forgiving with credit card fraud

and if your bank is a big bank

unfortunately, they understand your spending better than you do

so use them

and let them monitor any potentially-fraudulent activity

which is most-likely gonna happen with a credit card

cause debit cards have other protections

cause debit cards access your cash

and you're gonna have to do a lot of work to convince someone that you didn't give them your pin, etc.

the bank that extends us our personal line of credit

has never argued with a single unexpected credit card charge

they knew before we did that it was odd

there's also a thing that happens when you use cash to pay for everything "irl" (i prefer afk)

and it's a better way of living

if you want to reach the kinds of goals we are aspiring toward here

if you don't believe me

try living with only cash

(minus any bills you might have to pay online, duh, pay your bills.)

for one month

and tell me i'm wrong

when i was a senior in high school
there weren't enough classes left for me to take to round out my schedule
so i had two off periods every day
and i had one period, every day
that i spent volunteering.
those block periods were spent shelving books at the library
(can you imagine
looking at all the books that were checked out
and meticulously putting them away
for an entire class?!?!
needless to say
that volunteer work was a dream)
or serving lunch/calling bingo at the local senior center.
i had so much fun serving lunch and calling bingo
all the old people loved me
they knew i was heading off to college once i graduated
and so they were always so interested in what i was up to
and i took the time to hear them out
when they had something to say to me
old people are all of the people who were peaking during a simpler time
it doesn't matter when in time you're living
the "old people" were peaking during a simpler time
they are a gateway into the past
living time travelers
with stories to tell
and they'll tell you all about the "simpler times"
and if you're rolling your eyes right now
fuck off
these stories are important
because this is the way that life "used to be"
which means that they're helping you fill in the gaps in your knowledge
you sure as fuck were NOT there
thank, Ladybug
you're here NOW
in the future
so listen up kid
to how good you've got it.

anyway
by the time i was graduating
i'd spent an entire year with them
and they knew when i was calling bingo for them
for the last time
and i was sad
cause the likelihood of any of them being there when i grow up
was small
but anyway
we had a great round of bingo
and when we were finished for the afternoon
they all collected their dimes in a little bag
and gave it to me
i cried and thought that it was the cutest "gesture"
a bag of dimes
when i got home
i counted all those dimes
and it added up to $90
i cried again
and then went to the bank
and deposited my money into my account
the account i'd live off during school

needless to say
to this day
i collect change like it's money
CAUSE IT IS!

"Why do I have to prove myself? I already told him that I'm a good worker!" [added 17aug2026]

okay, so, first of all, your employer is running a business.

businesses cost money, upfront.

a business owner must spend a ton of money before they ever see a penny back.

employees cost money.

an employer is paying you MONEY to be an employee at their business.

NO BUSINESS OWNER WANTS TO WASTE MONEY.

this is why the starting pay rate is so low.

of course, too many employers on Empire want to pay their workers as little as possible

but ALL employers want GOOD workers,

and if you're a good worker, they will pay to keep you.

i've only ever worked hourly-wage labor, my entire life.

i tell people all the time that "i've never had a 'real job',"

cause i haven't.

i've built my wealth through hourly-wage labor, because hourly-wage labor rewards hard work (up to a point) and loyalty (up to a point). 

there are ceilings, obviously, the larger the company, the lower the ceiling, because larger companies offer ladders to climb. 

the more responsibilities you're willing to take on the higher your pay rate becomes.

smaller mom-and-pop shops are all different.

if you're lucky enough to find yourself embedded in a mom-and-pop, it's a big risk, but the upside is also potentially really big. if you don't know why this sorta dynamic exists in small businesses, you'll have to really put your big brain to work to think it through.

where was i ...

oh right, so when you start out somewhere, you're starting from the bottom, just like everyone else, cause your employer doesn't know who to pay more, cause they only want to pay more for GOOD workers.

this is why ive transferred within a corporation, twice (the bodybuddy/lifemate has, too, three times [updated 26aug2026] he says "four times," panera [highlands ranch to boulder], sbux [boulder to denver], ybm ecc [daegu to seoul], safeway [longmont to honolulu]).

i kept my seniority (loyalty paid out in benefits, etc.) and the pay rate i earned through all of my raises (i didn't have to start at the pis-poor starting rate). 

so pay your dues. do the work. show up on time. work hard when you're on the clock (not too hard, there's a line here when working for other people, and you'll have to sorta parse through it yourself. whatever "hard work" means for you, you need to sorta tailor it to each of your environments). do not even answer your phone when you are not on the clock. when you're on the clock, be there. when you're off the clock, YOU ARE NOT BEING PAID FOR YOUR TIME, so give them NONE OF YOUR TIME!

this includes breaks.

TAKE ALL OF YOUR BREAKS, and if you do not want to speak to anyone while you are on your break, you have that right.

DO NOT WORK OFF THE CLOCK FOR ONE SINGLE SECOND.

if an employer even suggests that you work off the clock, this is a HUGE RED FLAG.

start planning an exit.

once your employer makes it obvious to you that they think you're a good worker, they'll start to say things like, "I can't believe you've only worked here for a week!" or "You sure look comfortable." or "I wish I could get more of yous." or "So what do you do when you're not here?"

a good employer is always trying to find the best workers, and so, if you're a good worker, they'll want more of your time, so they'll start to point out to you how much time you spend there.

that's your first clue.

the second clue is when they start to be curious about your life.

they want to make you happy, so that you stay.

THIS IS WHEN YOU ASK FOR MORE MONEY.

i don't have a lot of advice for you, if you're shy.

as a sag, i just say it.

i literally walk into wherever the manager is and say, "I need a raise."

and i've gotten one every time.

you just kinda gotta bring it up somehow, and say it.

you could ask your supervisor if they have a minute at the end of a shift, and then, while on the clock, ask them about your pay rate. 

ask something like, "You had mentioned that there are opportunities for a raise, and so I'm wondering what it would take for me to be able to get a raise, now." 

if it's a supervisor, they'll have to check with the manager.

if you're speaking directly to your manager who has the power to make this sort of decision, listen to what they say. 

you can even outright ask if they think you're deserving of a raise.

if you think that you are, and they say that you are not. listen. 

if they are right, change.

if you are right, leave.

if you hate the job, but it has potential to pay well, and you know they like you, put in a departure date. they WILL offer you more money. if they don't, you're already leaving. if it's enough money to outweigh how much you hate it, stay. if it's not enough money to outweigh how much you hate it, leave.

MAKE IT VERY CLEAR THAT YOU ARE THERE FOR MONEY, not friends, not experience, not resume-building...MONEY.

my point is that, yes, a lot of these wage-labor jobs have a piss-poor starting rate, but if you're a good worker, you will start to be paid more as soon as they can pay you more (if you're stuck in a probationary period, the company cannot really do much to accelerate your rate, but a good company will try to make it up to you once you're freed [this is what i found out at safeway]).

so stick it out. 

prove yourself to your employer.

if you are good, they will reward you.

if you open your mouth, even better.

if you know, in your heart, that they do not care about your hard work, leave.

there are lots of good businesses looking for good workers, and they want to see you succeed.

[added 17aug2026]

yes, you need to have a general understanding of how much your dollar is worth,

compared to the other currencies of the world.

why?

great question for study with Computer!

[added 17aug2026]

my first sbux boss in Syracuse, Papa Lovins

helped me get my job in Boulder

he put me on vacation until i called him up with the new store location

when i got to Boulder, i walked right into an sbux and found out where to go and who to talk to

they pointed me to a very specific store and a very specific person

i went there

i told him about Papa Lovins

he told me he'd call me

he called me about a week later with the store location that i was to show up at to start working shifts

today, if i were twenty, i'd try to move to korea with my sbux job, lol

[added 12sept2026]

&now you could try to move to korea with your Chipotle job! 

[added 16aug2026]

what do i mean by "products that prop up everyday living?"

well, i don't mean consumer-facing goods.

what are consumer-facing goods?

this sounds like a great question to study with Computer.

where do you shop for stuff you need to live a life?

one place is maybe the grocery store or a big box store that sells detergent, towels, etc.

you're not looking at what's on the shelf.

you're looking at the shelf, itself.

what does this business need to run its business?

a business like this does not know what a customer will come in to buy,

but a business like this needs what to operate?

literally, shelves, price tags, signs, the string that holds up the signs, flooring, the people who lay down the flooring, toilets, etc., etc., etc.

(HINT: these are all businesses) 

these are the types of products that "prop up everyday living"

not the stuff you buy

this is all the stuff that businesses buy

this is all the stuff that businesses need to create and distribute the products that you buy

B2C is gambling

what's B2C? another great question to study with Computer.

betting on the C is betting on what will be bought by the consumer

and this is guess-work

no different from gambling

B2B is the stuff of wealth

what is B2B? you guessed it, ask Computer.

ownership in the first B in B2B is investing

the first B in B2B does not rely on the whims of the consumer

it relies on the strength of american entrepreneurship

[added 16aug2026]

every dollar you spend is making someone rich.

use your nose.

your nose knows.

[added 14aug2026]

i own 51% of all of our assets

&in boardroom sorta terms

i hold the Golden Share

[added 12aug2026]

the single most-sinister act of humanity upon itself

was the monetization

of the soul

[added 11aug2026]

if you are born

a Citizen of Empire

this way of making money

(stock-market investing)

is quite literally

your birth right

there are no roadblocks to stop you

all you have to do

is open an account

your own account.

[added 11aug2026]

there's some chinese proverb that goes something like this:

money can't buy everything

but without it

you can't buy anything

a little more food for convincing [added 10aug2026]

why is $10,000,000 the magic number (for those of us aspiring for wealth beyond comfort)?

well, find out what a thing called Treasuries are.

Treasuries are the closest thing to a "sure thing"

why?

well, that's up to you to figure out.

what Treasuries do, is grow about 5% annually.

why?

well, that's up to you to figure out.

if you have $1,000,000 in Treasuries,

and it grows 5% in one year,

how much money did you "make"?

you can, essentially, siphon off the 5% that you made,

and live off it.

5% of $1,000,000 is a decent "salary," 

but these days

that amount of money is not enough to live off of, alone.

&so, yes,

it's a significant amount of money,

but it's not enough.

what happens, then, when you have $10,000,000 in Treasuries,

and it grows by 5% annually?

what is 5% of $10,000,000?

now that's far more-than a comfortable amount

to live off of;

don't you think?

&ideally,

that'd only be one of your vehicles that grows your cash.

when is enough "enough"? [added 10aug2026]

i mention above how women need to be extremely selfish during these years of financial foundation building. this does not mean that you cannot be generous. it simply means that you gotta make sure you have "enough" money to cover your own expenses before you start giving away money that you actually need to pay for your life. "enough" is going to be a different amount for each of us. think about this. ask any man in your life the last time he gave someone money or a gift, unprompted, and for no reason. 100/100 men will say, "never." 

my love language is gifts (not only tangible gifts, i enjoy all sorts of gifts, the more-creative, the better, i would even consider a text message a tiny gift from some people), and so, i have always had an envelope to budget this sort of spending. i know myself. i've known myself for a long time due to the traumatic experiences of my childhood. i know how to pay attention, cause for me, it was literally life or death. i was abandoned on a door step, and the biological family who left me there, took my picture on that doorstep before they left me there. this is all beside the point.

my point is that you can do with your money whatever the fuck you please with it. for most of my childhood, i was trained to "tithe" 20%. The Church, literally, has no way of making money, which is why they sell salvation, and for those of you who think that this salvation is "free," it is not; it's tiered pricing, a percentage, 20% of whatever you make. once i realized that The Church is full of shit, i also realized that jesus was probably a pretty good guy just trying to look out for other people, and it was the powers of the institution that has made the beliefs that were supposedly built upon this man such crass hypocrisy. while i left my salvation behind, i took the idea of generosity, giving back, with me. i started to save that 20% for myself. and then, by the time i returned to school in boulder, i soon realized that i could spend 20% of that 20% on others, but only if i had "enough" to pay for my own life, which i did by the time i arrived in boulder, and so, i started to volunteer my time to a group of young women high schoolers. and since i had been stashing away 20% of that 20% i scraped off every pay check, i had enough money to be a good leader to them. if they wanted to do something, i could make it happen. i absolutely did NOT pay for everything, no way, but i broke down their request so that they could understand what they were really asking for, financially, and then, i explained to them the cost of their idea, and then, they came up with a plan on how to split the cost between themselves plus me. i donated my time, and i would pay for my portion of the event, and then we'd all go have a great time! and i would also usually pay for one extra little thing for the event, etc. if that money i had been saving hadn't been there, i'd be a terrible leader to them and myself. if i had to put these events on a credit card or if i couldn't contribute financially at all, then i'm doing them a disservice by being unable to lead them in the way that they were deciding, and i'm doing myself a disservice by taking on debt. i'd be a burden on them, and i was there to serve them. i'd be burdening my future with debt, and i was there to grow.

for me, "enough" is being able to afford my life.

for me, "enough" is being able to walk around on any given regular day and afford anything i might want to buy (i am a cheap person, i have very few wants). 

for me, i've had "enough" for quite some time. 

why do i want more?

well, because when you find out what life is like when you have enough, how much help you can actually provide in the lives of the people around you, you start to get hooked on this idea that money can actually help people. and so, if i'm good at making money, why not make as much as i can so that i can help out as much as i can, and no, i do not support the idea of charity.

you using ai to read for you? good! [added 10aug2026]

REMEMBER, however, that ai is an ASSISTANT. 

use ai like you would a HUMAN assistant.

if you asked your assistant to read something for you,

and someone asks you about what you read,

you wouldn't say, "well, my assistant says ..."

NO!

you would have your assistant read whatever you need them to read

and then you'd read whatever they said the book was about

and then you'd go through and fact check everything that comes up in their notes

and then you'd make your own opinion about it.

the best way to use ai, these days,

is as a research assistant and a drafter.

ai is an incredible learning tool. 

these days, the gap that ai is creating is in learning.

for those of us who know how to learn and can learn quickly,

ai can accelerate this learning speed.

so use ai to learn, cause ai is really good at facts, finding information, parsing through a lot of information to present to you what's out there.

the onus is still on you to be able to recognize which pieces of information ai brings back to you are useful and which ones are crap,

and then, you tell ai which pieces of information it brought back were useful and which ones were crap, 

and then, ai will learn, more precisely, what it is that you want from it. 

ai can build tools to help you achieve your goals,

but it must be trained to fully understand your goals.

it's not much more capable than that.

you still gotta put in all of your hours

as a human thinker

but ai can help relieve a little of the work load

by creating tools that you think of that will help you,

but you must treat everything that ai "says"

as if it's someone you've hired to tell you what you want to hear.

would you ask your assistant for ideas?

maybe just for brain-storming, but you have your own ideas, that's why you're using ai to help you make-real your ideas.

would you ask your assistant to create something for you?

i'd hope not.

would you ask your assistant to do all your work and submit it without looking at it?

i'd hope not.

so yea,

ai is pretty good at reading,

but it does not read perfectly.

ai reads really well to parse and find facts, but there are nuances to human logic and reasoning that ai simply does not understand, yet.

what ai does best right now, imo, for the everyday run-of-the-mill student is find information by "reading through" thousands and thousands of pages of information quickly and flagging facts and citing exactly where it found a quote or whatever, but it cannot make anything of it for you.

you can train ai to flag whatever information you're looking for, but then you must still go look at the information that ai cites and read it.

so use the tool as if you're working with a human assistant.

what would you task that human to do for you?

i, personally, would only task a human assistant to complete tasks that, essentially, can be done automatically. i need an assistant to check my emails and route them to the corresponding people who need to read them, but i certainly do not want my assistant to reply to my emails for me. maybe there are a few email types that i'd have them respond to, but no way are they ever going to speak for me. i would never off-load my thinking to my assistant, ya know? i have dreams, goals, ideas, and so, if i utilized an assistant (i do not, at this time), the assistant would be here to assist ME as i bring forth MY ideas.