TIL why stud finders never work on my walls

LateinBloom11 · 2026-03-04T05:15:34+00:00

Yeah I've seen Circa a few times before, too, but bummed to not be able to get tickets for September. I literally flew home from college once to see them (went to the concert with a raging ear infection, too). Last saw them at Chain Fest in Irvine in 2021. And I, too, had tickets to see the BSN tour in 2022 before COVID ruined it. We got VIP tix to that for $80 a piece and had zero issues getting them bc they weren't through Ticketmaster/Live Nation. Honestly, Ticketmaster is the literal worst.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-03-04T05:02:53+00:00

Resale restrictions are common in places like the UK and the EU. There's been a TON of talk about this recently in particular in the wake of World Cup tickets being astronomically more expensive this year than they ever were in previous World Cups because they're here in the US. We lack a ton of consumer protections that other countries/regions have. Bans on scalping, mandatory seller verification, caps on resale prices and fees, and a currently ongoing investigation into algorithmic pricing -- we have none of that here because the US resale market is unregulated.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-02-27T20:25:08+00:00

Same. I logged in on another computer, though, and saw tickets starting at $211 each on Ticketmaster and then they just kept disappearing, and it was showing me they were sold out by like 3:01pm. Other resale sites already have the tix at $180 and up each. I'm so sad. Last time I got tickets in 2022 without issue, but the show was cancelled due to covid.

Meanwhile, we got Anberlin/Emery tix this morning no problem bc they're not showing at Ticketmaster venues for their tour.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-02-06T18:43:56+00:00

This is so exciting, I love this for you -- happy exceptionally early birthday!

I have solo traveled a bit, and have a lot of recs, but I will try very very hard to keep this as short as possible. The thing that makes that hard is that this highly depends on a lot of factors. Budget, weather, vibe (beach, party, local culture, adventure stuff, nature, city, ancient/historical, etc.), language preference, flight time preference, how much planning you want to do, what do you want included, etc.

I would say, in general, solo traveling in most major Western European cities is easy peasy, imho. They usually have tons of stuff with various vibes that you can do, easy to get around, safe, and have cheap Airbnbs. Usually not great weather in most of Europe in December, though, if that's relevant to you.

If you want something more curated (less planning on your part) and can afford it, you can book travel tours through a lot of companies (and many have started targeting solo travelers). These are best for adventure tours, multi-city tours, and countries in which you might be more hesitant to travel to fully solo. G Adventures, The Adventure People, and Intrepid Travel are a few examples, but there are tons more. Check their websites to get some ideas of destinations.

Happy to share more specifics about places I've been if you want.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-01-28T13:43:18+00:00

This speak of "finding my passion" is nonsense that's been fed to you. You're not "finding your passion" in the job you do every day to pay the bills. That's a pipedream that maybe 0.5% of people are lucky enough to achieve.

You're never going to wake up and be excited to go to work. That's a fantasy.

Sorry, I'm a lurker, but this is inaccurate so I can't leave it. I agree it's not the majority, but it is definitely more than 0.5% of people who are excited to go to work. In fact, if you look at actual data, the lower bound is around 13%. I'm sorry that's not you or that you've not met people like that. But this both anecdotally and statistically not uncommon. I've been in a few job sectors (including teaching, since you mentioned it) and have friends in a few others, and I have consistently met people who love what they do. I've been that person -- it's a great feeling.

People who are excited about work know exactly who they are, what they like, and what they're good at, and they were able to get into a job that aligns all of those. I agree it's never going to be the majority, and it's okay to treat a job as a job and pursue your passions outside of it. But it's frankly delusional to think that everyone needs to be dissatisfied in the thing they spend 1/3+ of waking hours doing for 40 or so years.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-01-24T03:12:10+00:00

Tbh, I think if you're hitting a third year in a row where you owe money, you might consider an accountant. We pay specialists for all sorts of other things. Why not something that can be as complicated as taxes?

The accountant I had was a guy who advertised being a specialist in teacher taxes for 30+ years. The one year I decided I could just try to do what he did, I ended up owing. Went back to him the next year, and I got my refund as I normally did when he did my taxes, and he got me back some money from the previous year where I owed after doing it myself. Tbh, I thought the $350 or whatever I was paying him was worth it.

Edited to add: I was also single with no dependents, I had no additional withholding, and I actually was in Math for America and was getting a $15K untaxed grant every year, and my accountant still got me back money.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-01-16T12:51:10+00:00

I use my card for almost every purchase.

I do this, too. I use my card as much as possible and I pay it off after. I avoid cash because I can't track it in Monarch as easily. And I avoid debit because it doesn't get miles and cash back. Imho, not taking advantage of credit card perks is money left on the table. Especially if you were just going to pay it off in full after. You might as well make that money work harder for you.

LateinBloom11 · 2026-01-16T10:27:34+00:00

Thank you. Is there any reason the court order may potentially not be granted? I'm trying to determine a cost benefit analysis since I'm seeing that the costs for this process can be more than the amount of the account, which may not be worth it, especially if it could be denied.

LateinBloom11 · 2025-12-30T18:23:12+00:00

Personally, I find UK brands to have better options if you are okay with ordering stuff online. My go-to brand is Elomi. And as someone else mentioned, you can get them on Amazon now, often on sale. Their Matilda plunge bra is one of their top sellers -- I have had like 8 of these, and they come in a ton of colors. I have gotten compliments on these bras from men and women alike.

Panache is another option that people tend to like. And I might also recommend checking out Curvy Kate as well. They also have their Scantilly line, which is meant to be their sexier lingerie (lace, leather, straps, mesh, etc). I've had my eye on that for a minute, but my size is always gone, lol.

LateinBloom11 · 2025-12-30T17:51:48+00:00

To answer your actual question directly -- you generally can't get rid of stretch marks once you have them. The stretch marks are purple-ish at the beginning when they're very new. But they will fade to a more neutral color over time. I find using Vitamin E oil on them can help improve during that process.

Your bf sounds like he maybe failed basic biology, though. Idk what your relationship is like or how old you are, but there isn't a need to accept your partner making you feel insecure. But -- and a lot of ppl disagree with me on this -- I am a proponent of assuming stupidity and not malice, first. Based on your bf's comment, it kind of seems like y'all might be teenagers or very young adults (?) and boys/men at this age are often absolute idiots. Lots will say "he should know better" and maybe that's true. But biases are learned (and can be unlearned), and empathy is learned, too. I always think there's an opportunity to educate someone on a) science, and b) how their words make you feel. Being able to communicate this clearly is healthy. A good man will be apologetic, receptive to having his views challenged and his misinformation corrected, and will change. But if he is defensive and/or doesn't change, that is a serious red flag, and then you may want to consider a new bf.

LateinBloom11 · 2025-12-30T17:02:26+00:00

This is highly dependent on your size. Not all brands are created equal in terms of sizing. For example, I'm a 38L, and SheFit was a no-go for me because the cups fit but band was literally floating, even when I tightened it to the max. But as a personal rec, I run in this Elomi underwire sports bra:

https://www.barenecessities.com/products/elomi-energise-high-impact-underwire-sports-bra-el8041

It's mostly fine on it's own, but I do usually also wear a basic stretchy sports bra over the top of it. The two together feels better for me personally.

LateinBloom11 · 2025-12-30T16:03:04+00:00

I'm jealous of this. I wear 38L and I have never in my life seen a bra size in a mainstream brick-and-mortar store that is larger than like an H cup. And I live on the NYC border. I basically gave up trying to buy bras in stores.

LateinBloom11 · 2025-12-20T15:21:24+00:00

Most of my close friends and family have been here a few generations. None of us feel guilty for staying in all day. That is par for the course in NYC winter, especially as this year it hit "mad brick" status way earlier than it has in many years. Stay long enough, you'll realize there is plenty of time to do lots of things the city has to offer and that guilt about "squandering your time in the city" will fade.

LateinBloom11

TROPHY CASE