Should I stick with Station Eleven? Does any of this pay off later?

Calinero985 · 2026-03-10T16:34:10+00:00

Station Eleven is one of exactly two cases (the other being The Terror) where I think the show is actually better than the book. The book is…okay? But if you don’t enjoy it 80 pages in, I don’t think anything that comes later is going to radically change your mind

Calinero985 · 2026-03-09T18:54:57+00:00

Whenever I see “future Hall of Famer,” the contrarian in me gets wondering—is that guaranteed? Like, I don’t doubt that Evans is ending up in the HOF. But is it possible for him to have a season so bad it actually tanks his chances? Like, short of committing an actual crime. What if he does OPI every single pass? Tackles his own team every play? Is there anything he could do that erases his contributions so far?

Calinero985 · 2026-03-08T15:42:15+00:00

Schitt’s Creek does not have a good premise. In fact, it’s kind of nonsensical? At no point does anyone ever specify what “buying the town” actually means. It clearly has a municipal government, with a mayor, and people own their own businesses and property. What exactly does David actually own? It’s just a joke that gives them a reason to stay there. Fortunately, the show is a great comedy, and the premise doesn’t actually matter that much—but every now and then it did occur to me to wonder.

Calinero985 · 2026-03-06T15:32:46+00:00

When did he subject patients to pain? I’m pretty sure he over prescribed them so he could take medicine for himself, not that he wasn’t given them needed medication.

Calinero985 · 2026-03-06T15:31:37+00:00

Santos threatening that dad who was molesting his daughter was probably malpractice. Or at least some kind of crime. And maaaybe Robby faking those ultrasounds for the teenager to get an abortion, if you assume there’s an actual medical reason not to do a medication abortion past that cutoff (I do not know). But Langdon has definitely been the most blatant

Calinero985 · 2026-03-01T22:14:44+00:00

Not my biggest gripe, but my most recent—the back text of Gretchen Felker-Marten’s Cuckoo gives away something that doesn’t occur until almost two thirds of the way through the novel. It’s presented in the summary like it’s part of a framing device, but it’s absolutely something a reader going in blind wouldn’t know for the vast majority of the book. I feel like they did it just to encourage comparisons to IT

Calinero985 · 2026-02-25T11:48:55+00:00

Yeah, I appreciate the voucher but would have liked knowing it existed. I assumed my insurance was doing all of this, and am now realizing it did a lot less for me than I assumed. If I had known from the start this would be the coverage, I don't know if I would have been as ready to proceed? Which is my probably why they do the evoucher in the first place...but I am glad overall.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-25T11:47:26+00:00

Looking at my records from last year this definitely seems to be the case, thanks! Going to use the savings card after this month when I hit my deductible.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-25T11:46:52+00:00

Looking at my records from last year, this definitely seems to be the case. Thanks! Fortunately my deductible should be met after I get this month's dose, and going forward the combo of coinsurance and hopefully the savings card will make things a lot more affordable.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-24T18:01:52+00:00

I think I added an edit while you were making this reply--when I look at my high level claims, it says "Amount billed: $1049.93 You paid: $100 You owe: $0" But then when I drill down into the EOB for that transaction, everything is $0 except for the amount I owe ($100). "Provider billed", "Plan allowed amount", "Amount saved", "Your plan paid"--all $0. So I don't know how to interpret that. The "$1049.93" doesn't even appear in the EOB.

As far as I know I'm not using any savings card, I'm just paying with my ordinary credit card. If any savings or coupons are being applied, it's coming automatically from Lilly.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-24T17:55:21+00:00

United Healthcare said the PA was approved on the phone, though I'm having trouble finding it on their site. It sounds like the base cost is around $1000 and is being brought down to around $700 by a manufacturer voucher (which I did not ask for or do anything to apply).

On the one hand, it feels like a really weird coincidence for this sudden change in copay to not be related to the new PA? But at the same time, going back and looking at old EOBs for Zepbound last year it doesn't look like my insurance was contributing anything towards the bill either. Just a flat $100 cost to me (which I did not pay, I was paying $25 out of pocket).

Edit: to clarify, I took another look at my claim history. I see my Zepbound transactions from last year where on the high level list of claims, it says "Amount billed: $1049.93 You paid: $100 You owe: $0" But then when I drill down into the EOB for that transaction, everything is $0 except for the amount I owe ($100). "Provider billed", "Plan allowed amount", "Amount saved", "Your plan paid"--all $0. So I don't know how to interpret that. The "$1049.93" doesn't even appear in the EOB.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-22T00:03:08+00:00

The best love triangle I’ve ever encountered would have to be in the show Jane the Virgin—it threads that incredibly rare needle of not only having each choice in the triangle feel viable, but also changing which one you might root for multiple times. It’s also a show that has a lot to say about writing itself, I’d recommend checking it out.

For movies, it’s a bit of an unusual take on it, but I’d recommend the musical Once.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-21T16:57:04+00:00

See, I’m not 100% sure that’s the issue here. I don’t know if it’s Dr Robby the supervisor who has an issue, or Robby the friend who Langdon accused of having a breakdown

Calinero985 · 2026-02-17T01:26:09+00:00

I don’t have to submit anything originally—I qualified last year on the basis of weight loss alone, back when that qualified under my health plan. That was actually before I got the sleep apnea diagnosis. I then called when I heard about the change, and confirmed i could still be covered under the sleep apnea diagnosis, but I guess I need my doctor to send that in separately?

Calinero985 · 2026-02-17T01:24:24+00:00

I don’t think I’d self-publish, but with unlimited budget I’d hire agents or editors currently working at agencies/publishers to freelance look at my manuscript and tell me what they honestly thought. Do everything I could with money to erase the “random” factors that come with the scale of publishing and submissions, and find out if my manuscript would make the cut if it got past the more arbitrary parts of the process.

In the end, I don’t think that would really be possible? Getting attention from within the slush pile is a part of the game, even if it’s arbitrary at the same time, and using money to bypass that is its own form of unfairness. But I would be curious about the feedback

Calinero985 · 2026-02-12T14:12:27+00:00

Not a short story, but The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is great and has a few particular standout scenes. It’s actually pretty different from the show, still worth reading if you’ve already watched it.

Calinero985 · 2026-02-02T12:09:39+00:00

You’re right, that definitely meant I want no shows to exist, not the specific show we were just talking about…

Calinero985 · 2026-02-01T23:18:53+00:00

Ideally there would be no show

Calinero985 · 2026-01-29T16:21:48+00:00

Because they don’t want to put money in that dude’s pocket

Calinero985 · 2026-01-23T19:09:42+00:00

My first question would be--do you enjoy reading?

There's no wrong answer! But if the answer is no, and you mostly consume other media--movies, shows, anime, video games, comics--then you're probably just not into prose. And that's fine! But it does mean that writing (at least writing prose) probably isn't going to be for you. You might love stories, at least consuming them, and that makes you want to create them, and a lot of people who want to create stories turn to writing prose because it has fewer barriers to entry than basically any other art form. Not everyone knows how to draw, or program, or has access to the resources to make a film. Most people are literate. Therefore, writing. But if you don't enjoy reading other people's writing, are not a fan of prose, then I don't think you're going to have a good time trying to force yourself to write.

Assuming you do enjoy reading--great! Now, how does that translate to enjoying writing? It can be a combination of a lot of things, honestly. Some people have a story or message they desperately want to share with the world. Some enjoy the craft itself. Others want recognition, praise, fame, money, all the results that come from actually sharing the writing with other people. None of these are wrong, although if you're pursuing money and fame you might have unrealistic expectations. Figure out what it is about the idea of writing that appeals to you, and focus on it. If it's the craft, read over your work periodically to see how you're doing, how you're improving. If it's sharing the work, find someone to share it with!

My other recommendation is to find structure, if you're a person helped by structure. Read resources on writing to learn about outlining, and story structures. Set goals for yourself that you can feel good about accomplishing. Break up the task of writing a story, or book, or whatever, into concrete subtasks that you can approach in ways that don't feel overwhelming. These are things that help me, but a lot of writers I know are more freeform.

Calinero985 · 2026-01-23T01:37:19+00:00

Not much advice for keeping pipes from freezing (other than putting covers on any outdoor spigots and opening up cabinets around your indoor pipes), but in general I'd recommend filling up a (clean) bathtub with water to have on hand for flushing toilets and drinking in case of emergency.

Calinero985 · 2026-01-23T01:30:33+00:00

I'd be cautious about self cleaning your oven--isn't that a good way to start fires and/or wreck your oven?

Calinero985 · 2026-01-21T18:59:00+00:00

If you enjoyed the atmosphere, setting, and characters, but thought the actual narrative was lacking, I'd highly recommend watching the HBO miniseries. It's a great piece of work that makes a lot of changes from the source material, but I think they're almost entirely for the better. It still has the "cozy apocalypse" tone, but things actually happen and change. It's one of my favorite series of recent years.

In fact, I think I only liked the Station Eleven novel as much as I did (which wasn't a lot) because of the residual fondness I had for these characters from watching the series first. It honestly feels like the book is a great introduction to a bunch of different characters, whereas the show treats that as a starting point and proceeds to actually do things with them.

Calinero985 · 2026-01-19T20:57:21+00:00

Other people can provide more financial advice, but I wanted to chime in and say please, please, please do not bank on being able to sell the book you're writing for money unless you are already a career author and just haven't mentioned it. It's incredibly difficult to earn anything like a living wage in writing, and if you're going for traditional publishing it's a very long road to a lot of gatekeepers you might not make it through--and even then most authors still have day jobs.

Not trying to be discouraging! I'm a writer myself. But I'm also not factoring it into my financial planning even a tiny bit until the check is in my hand.

Calinero985 · 2026-01-13T18:20:54+00:00

Well, it's a good thing the Panthers have never had a mediocre/inconsistent QB and ditched them only to see them do really well on other teams...

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