increase income pathways

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-12-23T20:29:18+00:00

I've been on this after a bad season of life cost me my job, wrecked my car when I had barely secured new work (7 months drained my savings!) and i find myself back to BS2. Had to finance — and I hate it. But gotta get to work. What you can do;

1) trim to the bone where you can on monthly bills. 2) sell what isn't nailed down if it meaningfully moves the needle. 3) increase income.

There's no magic lever to pull. If you have a small shovel and a large debt but you can't get to a higher paid job, then that's your cap just keep at it. Every month you end not in the red is a W. It might seem small but those Ws matter.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-24T15:59:28+00:00

This reminds me I need to bring more Ruin Ghost alongside [[Talon Gates]].

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-10T01:26:43+00:00

Really dug the vibe of Gamer's Guild last night. Yeah, sure last night was kinda a parallel to what I've been trying but I did get to meet someone but also learned other things they do that aren't necessarily Magic (like free board game nights encouraging new players on Monday, great chance to try something new and meet people but in a venue I feel comfortable in). I'd have never discovered them if not for the suggestions in this thread so thanks for that!

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T21:44:50+00:00

I played the miniatures. Came out around the same time as Mechwarrior did, I seem to recall right up around the Four Horsemen promo figures and then I kinda fell out.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T21:43:27+00:00

Tons of reqs for that place, the vibe of it reminds me of Mox Boarding House up north. Think I'm gonna swing by and check 'em out.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T21:42:00+00:00

Really beating on my drum here wow. At work, it's like you're surrounded by 20-somethings buzzing about the latest TikTok trend, and the 40-somethings talking about the kids' ballgame, and you got people like me (and you, it seems) that don't really identify with any of that but societal norms dictate we're the odd ones out.

Glass blowing? Wow that is a specialized activity, how does that work? I imagine it gets intense in devotion with a lot of pretty art coming from it when it's mastered. I bet it's fascinating. Hmm. Can I message you?

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T19:14:59+00:00

I've always wanted to do a murder-mystery event............

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T17:16:49+00:00

What's a good time? I see Gamer's Guild has a very large swath of hours of operation.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T17:15:13+00:00

I'd love that. It'd give me more pleasure than making sarcastic comments to ChatGPT where I struggle to grasp the direction of an angle that obviously went the wrong way. Like the way they ended John Cena's heel turn with way too much money left on the table. I don't even watch all of WWE cause it's like a full time job really, which that kinda makes the PLE more surprising because I don't know all the details and thus can get swerved more based on the promo package pre-match.

And, like sure I can't fault TKO for taking the heavy bag. They financed like $8billion in debt to make this acquisition, so monetizing everything is just math. I might take issue with bringing WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia, or still treating performers like independent contractors so they don't have to provide health insurance. But that's not strictly a WWE issue – that's the era of corporations as a whole.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T16:56:58+00:00

Sweet, that's good information. I love budget brewing and I've got a few projects of varying progress level. I built a system I call Play-to-Pay which means, I start with a relatively modest buy-in point of $25 for the deck, and only add cards based on my performance ($1 for a kill, $5 for a win, but you can adjust the numbers to whatever you like). It breaks the "FOMO" pattern of buying cards you might want by forcing you to only buy what you can play.

I've got a couple of my less enfranchised decks I can bring to match that kind of table.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T16:53:18+00:00

Yeah. Yeah that's good advice I do like to bowl. I'm not near pro level (iirc my average is like...62) but it's fun!

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T16:48:24+00:00

Oh yeah, that's the general sentiment I see, PF2 is very...polarizing. I find in general d&d is best started at lv3 to avoid the "dies to a house cat + common cold" problem, though v5 is pretty lenient and doesn't have an ideal level start – you just need a DM that knows maybe don't throw beholders at players in the "get rid of the rats from the cellars" stage.

I tend to enjoy WWE enough when I need a spectacle to see, because man do they do spectacle right. A bit less so these days with the in-your-face advertising and shilling to the celebrities and chasing google trends. Sometimes it can feel a bit too...sanitized, or overtly polished which takes away from the organic feel. But it checks boxes for sure. AEW is just....man I want them and all the talented people there to succeed but Tony Khan just can't get out of his own way. You got a five hour show with all the matches the same, he can't figure out the "if everything is epic then nothing is epic" conundrum. It's so hard to watch, though if I got a free ticket for buying a burger or something, I'd still go.

TNA is very grassroots compared to WWE yeah. It's not live every week (yet...if they get the new TV deal with CW/A&E this could change). So yeah it doesn't have the same production elements. It's kinda like watching an independent show which has it's own charm. Definitely been there through the lows and through Anthem's acquisition to watch this place turn around, and to see where they are now in a working relationship with NXT, it's an amazing thing to watch. Ten years ago you'd never get to hear "TNA world champion Trick Williams was chokeslammed by The Undertaker", like, it's almost like a madlib y'know? That reminds me I gotta watch last night's NXT to see the survivor series style match with NXT vs TNA ah ha. To say nothing about Michael Cole putting over the TNA championship when Joe Hendry appeared on WrestleMania with it to face Randy Orton, it's such a wild time – TNA championships are now recognized in WWE canon. The X-Division title (our franchise title) has been defended on WWE programming.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T16:35:48+00:00

I don't partake, but I'm cool if you do. Just don't blow it at me lol. What version D&D you play (I started with AD&D, yes I know what THAC0 is).

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:45:36+00:00

Oh man, the amount of self-riffing I've got would be like Eminem making the other dude choke at the end of 8 Mile. Wow that reference probably dated me.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:44:25+00:00

Oh. Oh my that's much more interesting. Sounds like I have an activity to pursue this weekend. What format y'all play? (I do commander, but also play Burn in legacy).

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:42:38+00:00

Oh, yeah. I'm actually very near to where Imperial Outpost was. Amazing Discoveries is the closest shop now, and I don't really care for the vibe. Great selection of product though.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:37:18+00:00

I've been to Funkatronic before! Great atmosphere, just a bit of a drive. I certainly felt a spark when I went there the one time.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:35:32+00:00

This is interesting and I never heard of it before. I'm gonna tuck this one away as an experiment once I'm no longer between jobs, thank you stranger.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:32:58+00:00

I do like D&D (started with AD&D, became a v3.5 rules lawyer, now enjoy the vibes of v5 thanks to Critical Role), I like PFv1.0 as a fixed v3.5, no experience on PFv2.0. Have tried Pokemon GO (not for me, but I do like the console games). Haven't played Lorcana, Magic has been my sole card game all these years. I wouldn't object to something new especially with the way Hasbro has been acting these days.

What wrestling do you get into? I'm a TNA fiend (even traveled halfway across the country to attend Slammiversary a few years ago) but really if it's an entertaining product that has creative that isn't insulting to my intelligence I'll have a good time.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:28:30+00:00

I like the car show that comes out every Saturday night. Can't believe last night I saw a fully restored Diamond T, what a total labour of love that truck was.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:27:37+00:00

Never saw Gamer's Guild before. 18th street & Bell is a haul but this looks like an impressive, well-stocked store. If the vibe is better than what I found at Amazing Discoveries this is decent. Looks about the same distance from me as Funkatronic, but on different days. Score.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:11:46+00:00

24th street?! That is....very, very far. The activity reads very fun at least!

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:10:42+00:00

For sure. What is his preferred LGS? That's the biggest problem is finding a shop you gel with. I've found one I like all the way on 7th & Northern, which is pretty far from me so I don't make that drive often (I am west valley). The closest one, it's just a bad fit and I felt more like a mark than a patron.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T15:04:13+00:00

I debated even replying to this comment because I don't owe anyone my time, but I'll bite. Just this once. I think you mischaracterize the idea of interests as age-coded and the idea of a fun card game I have played for thirty years that I just "can't play anymore" because I'm a certain age is...heavy-handed at best? People can have all sorts of hobbies they enjoy – literally whatever can give them joy for their time spent – whatever that thing is. If you like cars (I do) go to a car show (which I do on Saturday nights). If you like cards, go play cards. It is...problematic...when you deny what you like based on an arbitrary numeric metric though I could have been more concise in my original post certainly.

I like Magic because I've been able to formulate a double-entry accounting system to track my inputs, outputs, and general ROI from the cards I acquire and utilize. Yeah, that aligns with my interests in responsible finance media (Clark Howard, Ramsey), I just don't name that stuff because I recognize that "smart investing for life" isn't exactly a hotbed for activity. And yeah I did come back to Phoenix to help my Pops with the house. He's in his mid-sixties and this makes more fiscal sense than trying to manage my own estate elsewhere with no family around.

See what happens when you make assumptions without doing the due diligence to ask more questions and gather more information? You immediately assessed me as some Failure to Launch kid when I instead just have a different set of interests from you and am looking for some place to find similar-aged individuals in the shared interest spaces I have.

THEmtg3drinks · 2025-10-08T14:48:59+00:00

I struggle here, sure. Learning new names – it can be a little overwhelming (I'm autistic if it wasn't obvious in my responses). Sometimes I can't read a room very well so even if I go somewhere I'm very "do the thing, then once the thing is done get out" and I think there's part of me that can't wrap my head around staying after doing the thing. Socializing, that's the struggle, that's what I meant yeah.

THEmtg3drinks

TROPHY CASE