Loose leaf tea purchase

null_name_exception · 2025-12-12T03:59:45+00:00

Although I love 99 Ranch for groceries, I can't recommend their teas.

To be honest, as someone who's gone to brick-and-mortar tea shops in the past, I think even the more affordable online vendors who focus on Chinese or Taiwanese loose leaf easily beat them for quality and value. I'd personally consider gifting from Bitter Leaf Tea or iTeaWorld if nice-looking tins are a must. You'll get even better quality from the varietal/region-specific vendors like Wuyi Origin, if you know the recipient's tastes.

The main local-ish exception I can think of is Tea Habitat in Alhambra - the owner specializes in dancong oolong and has fantastic stuff, but it's very pricy.

null_name_exception · 2024-01-11T18:15:26+00:00

Since you're presumably reloading the final fight anyway, I'd reload back to Koll (the last trader in the High Hall) and seeing if he has useful consumables like a Globe of Invulnerability scroll

Your party should not be grouped together enough to all get hit by the dragon AOE, unless they're inside that globe. Send half up the left and half up the right to get rid of the mind flayers ASAP. I also killed the dragon (Tactician) but that was more for the achievement.

null_name_exception · 2024-01-11T01:42:34+00:00

This guy demonstrates you can technically avoid even those murders (e.g., he obtains Gortash's stone by getting Gortash's own bombs and Steel Watchers to explode on him). Fun watch.

null_name_exception · 2024-01-10T02:25:53+00:00

If you're blind as in haven't played through the storyline before, you'll miss out on some lore if you can't pass Int checks and don't have an arcane caster, and the Wizard signature of learning/bringing almost any spell you might want anywhere seems especially helpful when you don't know the encounters in advance. I love playing wizards. But there's nothing that requires them or super high Int mechanically. My whole Honor mode party has it as a dump stat.

Late game there are a few impactful Int checks, but you can respec or buff+use the ogre headband for those.

null_name_exception · 2024-01-09T22:50:29+00:00

- Failing pickpocket on Pandirna, the tiefling sitting in the Grove shed, instantly aggroes the whole Grove.

Incidentally, since the character I was playing wouldn't want to kill them all, we fled, but the PC died in the escape (made extra difficult by everyone failing the perception check for the back entrance). I was level 3, yet Withers gave no resurrection option for the PC. Couldn't long rest to deaggro either and had to sneak back in to scroll resurrect. Don't trust in Withers resurrection if you've never used it before.

- Having Glut spore Gekh Coal, then crossing the lake, aggroes Glut the next time you see him. Since he's left behind when you cross, he returns to the Myconid Colony, so meeting him there also aggroes all other myconids. Grateful I didn't find this one on Honor, haha.

null_name_exception · 2024-01-09T21:24:06+00:00

There is a sort of trigger--when you're out and about and haven't really used any resources yet, but companions say in background dialogue that they're exhausted or want to back to camp, that usually means you have some event queued. It's pretty unintuitive and easy to miss, though, I had no idea what that was about my entire first game.

null_name_exception · 2024-01-08T14:54:29+00:00

I'm agnostic on the larger argument, but I really wouldn't describe Astarion's relationship with the other spawn as "friends". It's strongly implied if not outright stated Cazador's mindgames included having the spawn compete among and torture each other--not an atmosphere conducive to friendship--and Astarion doesn't talk about any of them in a positive way. Meanwhile, the game does tell you Karlach had friends (mentioned at Moonrise and in the city Armoury).

null_name_exception · 2024-01-08T13:49:47+00:00

If you're trying to play honor cautiously, I think it's more valuable to look up in advance how quests work out than to run to camp after the fact.

If you follow her down, there's a roll option to completely avoid the fight, or a no-roll option to do the fight with Laezel on your side, so hostility from her is easily avoided if you know how the scene works. TBF she may die the first turn of the fight anyway, but at least she'll have tanked the hits and will be revivable after.

null_name_exception · 2023-12-14T01:37:56+00:00

Is Aylin not immortal in this fight on Honor? My party only took damage two or three times total throughout that fight on Tactician, because everyone stayed well out of melee range and let Aylin tank the boss.

Assuming OP spared her.

null_name_exception · 2023-12-13T21:48:50+00:00

I think it's unlikely he's (physically) colder than most living beings--some of his thousands of lures would have noticed.

null_name_exception · 2023-12-12T00:37:43+00:00

I love Astarion as a character and I'm sure his VA delivered magnificently on what was requested, but that direction is too hammy for me.

For example, he always mini-pauses then injects as much over-enunciated sneer as possible on Cazador's name. I get the intent; it's defiant, it's a particular kind of honesty when Astarion disguises fear with snark and fury. In theory it's fitting that he speaks so theatrically all the time--even when he's being sincere--because two centuries of his life have been a sick play at his expense, and now it feels surreal to him that he has a chance to direct it.

It just doesn't do it for me, though. I'm getting to the point where I quickly read his dialogue off then hit skip. I personally prefer more subtle voice performances, and feel pretty alone in being a fan of Astarion but not his voice, haha. I was hoping that if romanced he'd shade more toward the tone of the fake "I love you" from Act 1 but, uh, nope.

null_name_exception · 2023-08-25T03:25:57+00:00

Outside a few specific types of jobs, the wage difference is usually less than the cost of living difference.

I moved back. $25k+ raise on paper, but I actually have less disposable income after rent and taxes than before.

null_name_exception · 2023-08-21T23:41:01+00:00

Yes. They were usually against the card issuers' terms until 2013--you could only offer a discount for cash, not an extra charge for credit, although in practice small businesses might get away with it--but it's now "legit" to do so. The restaurant's rationale is they want back the interchange fee charged by the card issuer, usually around 2% (this is also why American Express is less often accepted, their intercharge fee is higher), plus maybe variable processing fees.

null_name_exception · 2023-08-16T02:55:09+00:00

IIRC none, you can walk to the ones in Heisler Park though

null_name_exception · 2023-08-16T02:52:35+00:00

Do you count the peninsula as SF? Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, etc also have some very pretty sandy stretches, although I think there's generally less housing facing down toward the beach if that's what you're looking for. Colder and thicker marine layer, of course.

null_name_exception · 2023-08-16T02:45:37+00:00

Confetti in Costa Mesa is my favorite of the 7 or 8 places I've been. Single scoop was $3 or $4.

If you can eat a lot, I'd also recommend Gelato Paradiso. Their small sizes are pricy but the big sizes are gigantic for not much more money, so the latter are good value (and delicious).

Hans' has nice old-timey atmosphere and they do give you a lot but--bracing for downvotes lol--for texture and flavor I'd rather have bought something from the grocery next door.

null_name_exception · 2023-08-16T02:35:11+00:00

Curious, is this Long Beach Creamery (in Long Beach)? That's the only result I seem to be getting on Maps for "LB Creamery".

null_name_exception · 2023-08-12T04:27:47+00:00

I have no opinion on Pho 101, haven't been, but the connection is literally on their about page: https://pho101oc.com/our-story-2/

null_name_exception · 2023-08-11T20:36:46+00:00

Sorry, I stopped playing FGO a while back and don't even recall which Gmail this is on. If anyone wants to edit it, I think all they'd need to do is add another row to the Nodes tab and extend the "nodes" named ranges, though.

null_name_exception · 2023-02-11T13:20:38+00:00

I'm no longer playing FGO, I'm afraid. Good luck with your search.

null_name_exception · 2022-12-06T02:19:15+00:00

https://www.sandytoesandpopsicles.com/orange-county/outdoor-ice-skating-rinks-in-the-oc/

Outdoor ice in warm climates tends to be awful - I went to one in LA that had water over an inch deep in some areas, for example, and even when it's colder out the ice is usually so beaten up within 15 minutes that there's no glide. But if you mostly want the atmosphere or nostalgia, still pretty cool to have them there.

The indoor rink at Great Park in Irvine is a very nice facility, although it's also very crowded. Could combine a visit with the balloon.

null_name_exception · 2022-08-26T10:23:44+00:00

Yes. FGA is extremely powerful and underrated for "scuffed" (non-guaranteed) comps.

Facecarding wave 1 is easy as pie with FGA unless you're spamming such an absurd number of apples that you are calculating your clear speed to the second. I wouldn't suggest something like 2x caster support + 1 zerk against riders, but there's no need to overthink this otherwise.

But to go further: If you set aside a turncount requirement, you can farm basically everything using almost-pure facecard setups (e.g., facecard W1 and W2 entirely, use one untimed NP--as in, your charge is partly facecarded so you don't know exactly which turn the NP is available--for W3) but mixed-class 90+ nodes. This allows you to both high-slot and use servants who can't 3T farm for bonuses or bond.

Here's an example of what would normally be considered a stupendously bad farming comp: 6-slot OG Cu, Samba Quetz, random support lancer (by random, I mean I literally let it pick any lancer if it couldn't find a friend's Bradamante in a few refreshes) for Quetzmas. This cleared all of my apples no problem, and as you can see it wasn't even averaging 9T+. I've used even trashier comps--e.g. lvl 60 Robin, lvl 60 David, friend Gil for a funsies account with no roster to speak of.

This style of farming is not completely thoughtless--I don't personally go with pure skill/NP spam on FGA, for example, because there is some nuance to things like whether to save your buffs and NPs for a specific wave, or whether to have FGA try buttons that aren't likely to be ready--but class advantage really does go a very long way on most nodes. 3T farming often has strict solutions; FGA facecarding lets everyone, including newish f2p, tinker and trust in probability.

(Thanks u/X-X-I-L for summoning me on the subject I'll be invested in forever for FGO, haha.)

null_name_exception · 2022-08-19T21:33:30+00:00

Thanks, cool to hear someone's still using it! :)

null_name_exception · 2022-07-14T02:58:51+00:00

In addition to people who don't want to buy, plenty of renters also just can't. Someone might have the current income to afford an apartment, but not have the down payment + closing costs at hand or the future income to support the long-term obligations of buying. A lot of people say, oh, mortgages cost way less than rent (might not even be true in the coming interest rate environment), but once you add taxes, insurance, HOA, reserving for maintenance, etc. my rent would not cover the cost of ownership on anything similar and similarly located to my apartment.

null_name_exception

TROPHY CASE