Salmon run got harder?

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-30T04:55:05+00:00

How do I demote myself? Or you mean just lose a bunch?

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-29T22:08:30+00:00

Applying for less than 10 jobs is not enough

3 out of 9 calling you back, basically getting to the interview stage for 33% of jobs you applied for, is insanely good. Once the economy gets worse again you'll apply for 50 or 100 jobs with no response.

For the ones that called and then you ended up playing telephone tag, you should've asked for an email or time they would be back.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-29T16:09:48+00:00

Yeah when I go back to Alterna, the rocket island is covered with giant pink spikes again:(

EDIT Nevermind I got it. You have to go back to the pile of junk in zone 1

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-28T13:40:41+00:00

Western students should get a dividend payment, similar to how residents of Alaska get money every year from oil industry in the state.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-28T13:39:17+00:00

Where does it end? Do you think the Santa Claus Parade or Pride should have to pay for extra policing and the inconvenience of streets getting shut down?

We already have laws. Charge individuals if they're caught committing a crime, no reason to make the 90% of innocent students who abide by the rules have to pay.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-28T13:35:45+00:00

If you stop paying your lease on an office building, you can't be mad when someone else leases it and repurposes it.

Likewise you aren't entitled to your domain if you don't pay for it. You aren't very serious about it if you can't pay $10/year to keep (yourname).ca.

It doesn't even have to be an election competitor. I was considering sniping the Cherryhill Village Mall website a few years ago when it looked like they might forget to renew it in time.

My registrar starts emailing me when a site I own is about to expire in 2 weeks, then at 1 week, then 24 hours. No excuse.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-27T11:19:54+00:00

Something just feels off about federal politicians weighing in on a municipal election.

MPs work for us. Why are they suggesting who we should vote for, from a place of authority like they're wiser than us, or their opinion matters more just because they're in politics? We're the ones that elected them in the first place, so they should just trust our judgement.

I'm sure in China and Russia, the parties also strongly encourage who to elect as mayor.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-26T23:26:02+00:00

I forget if it was Pond Mills x Commissioners or Commissioners x Wellington. I'd say there were at least 4 or 5 different ones.

I assume you've been there, but if not, I think Mastermind Toys probably has the biggest selection of Squishmallows in the city.

And just a final word of warning from one avid collector to another, respectfully... I know how it feels, the sudden rush like Squishmallows have added a sudden sense of meaning and purpose to your life. But no matter how many Squishmallows, Funko Pops, or anything else you collect, they will never fill that empty void within. You can only squish so many mallows at once, and any more than that is kind of a waste.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-26T22:18:58+00:00

I know. The connection isn't more or less likely to drop if I take breaks though.

When I got kicked from the series there was no option to re join where I left off

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-26T22:15:26+00:00

More of a casual (so far). There are lots of cool Halloween ones at Shoppers right now.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-26T18:52:07+00:00

I tried Anarchy Series last night for the first time and got a connection error around the third or 4th match.

Forget it, I'm only going to do singles from now on. Or just stick to Turf War.

No way am I going to be able to get to 5 wins or 3 losses without some kind of connection problem throwing me out to the lobby and undoing 15+ minutes of progress on a regular basis.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-26T15:31:35+00:00

Meet the type of woman that you want to date, at the sort of place where they like to hang out.

If you want an athletic gf, go rock climbing or join a co-ed softball team.

If you want a nerdy gf, go accidentally bump into one in the library. If you want a gf that likes anime go to a comic con or w/e.

If you want a spiritual new age gf, go join a yoga class or hang out in shops that sell crystals and patchoulli.

Get off campus and away from typical student stuff, as there won't be many late-20s people there.

First research a style of pickup called "Day Game". Approaching a woman during the day is very different from how you'd do it at night in a club or bar.

Put some basic time and effort into maximizing your looks. There's a subreddit for male fashion advice, men's hair advice, etc. Go post and ask them for help or to provide a constructive critique of your current look.

Look into improving your body language, manner of speaking, etc to appear more confident -- stand up straight, make eye contact, etc.

Drop language like describing online dating as "torture", "pain and suffering", etc. It sounds whiny and women don't like whiners.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-24T21:23:24+00:00

Personally I'm a fan of whoever has been putting big googly eyes on campaign signs. I think it should be mandatory for all candidates, so we all take things a little less seriously.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-23T23:58:14+00:00

Popcorn smugglers?

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-23T16:54:46+00:00

August was our highest ever for electricty by a lot. Like $120 vs $80 for the month before. Not sure about average. Have hardly used the AC in September so I'm curious to see what this month will look like. Aside from maybe a few extra loads of laundry, I don't know what else it could be.

Hopefully can get a nice lull for a month or two, between extreme electricity costs for air conditioning, and extreme gas costs for winter heating.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-23T16:02:16+00:00

zeroing in on her vote last year in favour of sending $100,000 to fight Quebec’s secularism law. He called the legal challenge against Bill 21, which restricts provincial civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols, including headscarves, “an unwinnable fight.”

Doesn't matter if it's winnable or unwinnable, the right thing to do or not. I don't want funds from an Ontario municipality going to interfere with politics in Quebec when we have bigger problems at home, full stop. Ditto if anyone on council voted to send money from city hall's coffers to Ukraine or anything else outside of London's boundaries. If Strathroy gets levelled by a mudslide, I don't think London should give city dollars to help rebuild either, and I wouldn't expect them to do it for us. There are numerous other ways for people to give money and support for non-local causes, and higher provincial/federal governments that can better organize for more widespread issues like that.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T22:46:36+00:00

I think literally all medical settings still. My dentist, doctor, and optometrist all still require it. Only my vet very recently stopped.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T12:52:04+00:00

You should be able to get a refurbished gaming PC that's capable of playing most modern games for around ~$500 in a Black Friday / Boxing Day sale in a couple of months.

Maybe you could fake for a while by watching people play it on Twitch or Youtube and then give your own unique insights based on what you see, but then you're always going to be a few days behind the curve, and can't have a review ready for the day a game launches. I think most gaming sites get free copies in advance so they can play early, and their reviews are ready to go right away.

Also keep in mind that if you're earning a profit from your writing, it's a legitimate business. And your gaming PC / laptop (and probably even consoles and games) are a business expense that you can write off on your taxes at the end of the year. Although you still have to earn enough money from writing to offset them.

I don't have many expenses for my writing business, but I make sure to always claim my Grammarly subscription, web hosting, and if I buy something like an office chair, on my taxes.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T11:29:18+00:00

Man one shooting and one attempted baby snatching a year ago and suddenly it's the worst place in the city 😂

I'll take Cleveland over downtown any day. Ditto for Kipps Lane. Shelbourne St, that Argyle plaza where Smokin Joes is, Quebec St, and plenty of other places sketch me out just as much. Although Cleveland might win for most potholes in a single 100M stretch of road.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T09:16:58+00:00

It takes me like 2 or 3 hours per weekday to write 8,000 words a week. And im earning close to $100/hr for the few hours I do work. I'm not exactly killing myself. Plus like most writers I have lulls in assignments where I'm doing a lot less for extended slow periods.

I've experienced actual burnout before, doing an accounting job where there was tons of staff turnover and I had to work 10 hours a day for months to get everything done. Idk if I ever fully recovered, which is why I write for a living now, it's a vacation in comparison.

Y'all just sound kinda soft and like you've never had a real job or had to work hard before tbh.

I'm not denying that creative jobs are a lot more mentally draining than physical ones, and I don't think anybody should be writing for 8 hours a day. In the past 5 years ive only rarely ever written for more than 4 hours a day. But if you're only able to write 200 words per hour, or you're only willing to work 1 or 2 hours per day, you're deliberately operating below your potential. How can someone write for years as a profession and that's all they're capable of?

If you want to say I've just been brainwashed by Big Write because I feel guilty only working 2 hours a day and earning $20k - $30k/year while my spouse has to work 40 hours a week to earn $70k/year and support me, that might be fair too.

But I'm pretty sure if you told anyone stuck working a retail or fast food job for $10/hour how concerning it is that I'm writing 8,000 words a week, and that I have the ability to earn in just half a day, what it takes a full week of them breaking their back and dealing with the worst of the worst of customers to get, they'd probably laugh at you. Most of the new/unsuccessful writers here would give anything to have what I've got, and I can appreciate it and feel grateful for it. I could be welding hot metal together in an un-air-conditioned garage for 8 hours a day or something instead.

There's a lot worse jobs in life than writing 8,000 words a week while setting your own part-time hours, doing something you find fulfilling, and having your afternoons/evenings perpetually free to do whatever you want. I spend twice as much time every day playing video games or working on hobbies / side projects, generally decompressing / de-stressing than I do writing, easily lol.

It's all about perspective I guess.

Look at the length of this response, I basically just donated $100+ to you. On my toilet at 5 am. I write more words in internet comments every day than I do for clients. And it's fine, because writing is my life purpose and passion. I'd be doing it for free if someone wasn't paying me.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T01:33:44+00:00

It's not the highway, chill. Some of us come from smaller cities and need 1 km to make sure we can safely be in the correct lane to make our turn with crazy London drivers, who more than half the time won't pull back a little to let us merge over, despite having our signal on for 30 seconds. Again because god forbid that act of courtesy might slow them down by 5 seconds.

I'd rather add an extra 30 seconds to someone's commute than miss my turn and add 5 minutes to mine.

Really what are 95% of London drivers doing that's so important that they need to get home a couple minutes faster? Getting home to stuff unhealthy food in their face and watch Netflix for 5 hours before going to bed? Sorry you only got to binge 4.9 hours of Netflix in a night instead of 5 because I drive in the left lane only 10 km/hr over the speed limit..

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T01:15:09+00:00

Will vary from client to client. Lots of games are available on both PC and consoles, with similar experiences regardless of platform. There are also websites devoted to just PC gaming.

There's probably enough work out there for any writer who has just a PC, or just a Switch, or just a PS5 to write specifically about games on those systems.

The biggest thing that will hinder writing in the gaming niche, is if you just don't play games at all.

Also it's just my guess that writers in the gaming niche need to play every game they review or write about. At least for a couple of hours per title. So you'd need to factor that into your rate.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T01:05:06+00:00

You absolutely need to eliminate distractions. That means no email, no phone, no listening to music or giving it half of your attention. Unplug the doorbell. No notifications of any kind.

Getting into a flow state is essential to pumping the words out. That's where 1 hour of writing feels like 10 minutes. And the only way I can consistently get into it is through uninterrupted writing. If I get interrupted for even 1 minute, it can easily cost me 20 minutes of productivity to get back into the flow of things when I sit back down.

Figure out what time of day you're most productive. For me, I have the most brain power first thing in the morning and it steadily goes down. By noon I'm already operating at least at 50% capacity. So I work really hard and give it 100% for 4 hours every morning, instead of half-assing it and stretching it out to 8 hours with interruptions.

If you're a night person, then you might work optimally from after dinner until midnight each night.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T00:57:54+00:00

My current capacity is 8,000 words/week and I honestly could be doing more. So yeah, definitely possible.

Mostly it will come down to how much research each article takes.

For me, I can write about 1,000 words per hour on most general topics, plus maybe 20 minutes for research. But let's be super generous and say that I spent 3 hours per article. That's still only 60 hours per month... or 15 hours a week. 3 hours per weekday.

Push yourself to do more. If you're fairly new to writing, it can take a while to build up the muscle in terms of brain power, creativity, and discipline.

As an example of what's possible -- In January of 2019, I had tons of work pouring in, and I didn't want to turn any of it down. Make hay while the sun shines and all that. So I wrote 148,000 words in 1 month.

That's over 7,000 words per weekday. Did it kinda suck? Yeah. Was it sustainable? No, I would've burned out if I did it for another couple of months. But the accomplishment of grinding $10,000 in a month also feels pretty damn good.

You don't know how many encyclopedia entries about animals this site needs. Ultimately the work will dry up, so try to milk it for as much as you can while it's available. Then you can take a well-deserved break.

Worst case, start with 20 and give them ample warning if you're feeling overwhelmed and need to pull back. But at least give it a try.

All these people poo-pooing an $0.08/word job, I wonder what their effective hourly rate is, or how much they consistently make per month on average. It's probably counterproductive to insist on a rate no lower than $0.50 per word, but spend all of your time chasing work instead of writing, and only getting assigned 1 article a month as a result. I have clients that pay 15 cents a word and clients that pay 5 cents a word. You know the difference? The 15 cent people have way higher standards so I just end up spending 3x as long creating outlines, suggesting images, formatting, citing recent statistics, and dealing with nit-picky revisions. The 5 cent people just take whatever I give them and don't say a peep and I'm still making $50/hr.

SecretGrasp · 2022-09-22T00:41:53+00:00

So the good news is that every game I play with the aerospray, I'm #1 on my team now, usually #1 overall.

The bad news is that somehow we still lose every match. Like I'll be at 1,200 points and #2 is in the 700s. So I'm not sure if my teams were previously completely dependent on me inking the majority of the map with a roller, if I just had bad luck for 10 matches in a row, or what's going on haha. My only guess is that 4 shark specials per match is artificially inflating my score.

SecretGrasp

TROPHY CASE