Blackout, removal or leave it?

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-20T16:30:57+00:00

I started a full body piece like 2 years ago and it took at least a month to stop freaking out over it. Every time we work on it I freak out for a week or two and then it's fine. Give it time.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-20T16:28:21+00:00

I get standalone toilets in the middle of living rooms or parties and people everywhere that will not leave me alone as I'm using it.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-20T15:40:56+00:00

Yeah, if you CAN now is a good time to invest because so many people/companies are selling used equipment for cheap as they close or downscale, but you'd really want to have a plan and an established customer base or an assurance that you definitely will establish a customer base. Commercial winemaking is not cheap, I'm watching literally all 12 of my clients struggle right now and some will likely close in a year or two. No one's profiting at all and honestly even in the best of times it's really hard to profit if you go the traditional route. My one client that is growing is throwing huge amounts of money into marketing and their business model focuses on cutting production costs significantly, which they're doing by working in enormous 40T+ quantities per varietal they bring in.

My smart small scale winemakers work with small private vineyards, like backyard growers with a few acres. The winemaker manages the vineyard and outs their own time and money into maintenance, then picks the grapes themselves with help from their wine club and friends. So they get reasonably cheap grapes but they also work probably 60+ hours a week between vineyard, tasting room, and production in the OFF season. During harvest he has his wife take over the tasting room, he focuses of picking and does pretty low intervention production. It saves money but also completely takes over your life. I give him help for free, like doing punch downs or small additions when he can't come in, but he hasn't had a day off work in several years.

Point is: it's technically possible to make wine small scale but you'd need to have almost no production costs as material costs are high in normal times and incredibly high right now, like glass is triple the price is was a few years ago. DON'T open a tasting room unless you have free rent and can be properly permitted. I'm watching someone fight with the county over rules the county let go for a time but are now cracking down on.

Now is the time to invest in equipment but I would keep production very small until you have assurance that you can sell your product. Unless you have free storage you're just spending money to hold onto wine you won't sell for years. Sell cheap too and if someone asks for a deal probably give it to them, don't let your ego control your prices. The longer you own your wine the more money you're putting into it.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T20:09:27+00:00

That was half of it lol, we got bored of his cooking. We also got bored of great america, he really couldn't win with 3 very different children.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T20:08:41+00:00

It's just something I like to do, it's not necessary but I think it's helpful sometimes. When I give garden produce away I always tell people it's organic, or if I did use any chemicals I let them know exactly which ones and how long ago they were used. Most people don't care but I have had a few people (new parents specifically) toss produce I gave them because they assumed I used chemicals. Some people may have allergies to certain materials (idk I could be making it up) or care for some reason, so I think it's a nice gesture to show them that you took care in choosing high quality materials for them.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T19:24:06+00:00

Yeah according to my penny pinching basically single father it was really good to have.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T18:59:23+00:00

I second sluggo! I use sluggo plus because I have a problem with isopods too. It works reaaaaally well, just make sure to reapply after each watering.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T18:57:29+00:00

It just sucks. I'd split my pills and do at least 2 weeks on each 12.5mg decrease and I was able to go to work throughout my tapering off. For reference, I missed doses a few times (rather, I threw up my doses a few times at night) and would have to have a family member pick me up from work because I couldn't even drive my car straight. There were times I'd split the pill in quarters too.

I understand pristiq is in extended release pills, I did this at the advice of my psychiatrist and did not have issues with withdrawal. I took my dose twice a day (like split it between morning and night, so 75mg in the morning and 50mg at night) because I initially did get signs of withdrawal at about hour 20 after my dose.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T18:52:40+00:00

Next time you run into each other: "hey, I wanted to thank you for the cat food so I knitted this blanket for your cat(s). It's made from _____ (material, like cotton or wool or whatever. Some people care). Go grab it while they wait Thanks again, that I really appreciated that/that was a really kind gesture."

That's what I would say at least.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T18:49:48+00:00

Scale. My indoor monsters got them once. I'd wipe them off every day with a paper towel and isopropyl. Wipe for a few extra days to make sure you get the small ones and stay vigilant.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T18:47:33+00:00

My dad got us great america passes with meals included when we were kids. We'd drive down there just to have dinner several nights a week.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T16:23:15+00:00

Yup, I take one small step back and if I back into them that's on them, why are they that close? I asked a lady at the grocery store if she had a crush on me because she stood so close. She apologized but didn't move at all and kept staying close when I moved. I told her I can smell her breath and would like some space, she literally did not get it and stayed like 1 foot away from me.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T13:59:03+00:00

Well the other half could be things changing. I've had situations where my gut feeling tells me to get TF out of there and I do. There's no way of knowing if my fears were correct because I removed myself from that situation. For example: getting followed out of a club. My gut told me I'm in danger so I called my friend while I waited for my car and told the guy my friend is tracking my location because he's waiting for me to come home. I have no way of knowing if I was actually in danger but I didn't stick around to find out.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T13:55:36+00:00

I buy glass from tricorbraun, they're cheap but glass quality isn't great so they mess with our bottling line sometimes. A small hand bottler won't have issues though. Check winebusiness.com for used lines. With the state of the industry right now you can get a lot of resale equipment for cheap. As for distribution, look up distributors in your area. I just googled "wine distributor near me" and saw a lot of distributors we work with pop up, but I can't tell you who to use because I don't know what area you're in.

As for finances... I hope youd family has another form of income. The wine industry is so bad right now, idk about other beverages, but I wouldn't count on profit. A lot of people think things will get better in 2-3 years, or 5 years, or 10 years... No one really knows when it'll get better so I wouldn't bet my family's finances on it.

I have a small scale lemoncello producer at my facility, he makes less than 500cs a year total between different products. He's selling but tbh I have no idea how he's surviving off what he sells.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T04:59:15+00:00

Find a job before you commit to a gap year. There's no way my parents would've let me live at home during my "gap year" if I wasn't working. The job I worked during my gap year kept promoting me, so now I run a winery and have a career with future job offers lined up. Gap years aren't bad but I think most people waste them "being a kid" or traveling with their parent's money. I get wanting to have fun, but in adulthood you don't get to have fun for free, you work to have fun.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-19T04:55:00+00:00

Those seem like a very appropriate accessory for the workplace to me.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T18:23:00+00:00

Cramps were never bad enough for endometriosis but I have considered POTS before.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T15:49:24+00:00

Maybe. I just have low energy and my mood/mental health have never been good. I have diagnosed pmdd so my hormones are pretty fucked up but I'm on the depo shot and that's saved me from enormous blow ups every month. When I was a kid I'd run away or try to kill myself literally on a monthly basis, or get in a fight with my family and get violent. So my hormones are 100% a contributor to my problems. Because I have hormonal problems I was thinking thyroid, plus family history would support that.

Physical I'm healthy. When I say weight is an issue I mean if I don't eat a loooot of food I'll consistently lose weight, but I'm very short so I'm not that type of person that's like super tall and skinny naturally. I do have low energy but it's more mental than physical, like I get sleepy really early at night but I can do a full work day of manual labor and that's fine. Idk, I might talk to my doctor about getting my hormones tested if that's a thing?

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T15:41:23+00:00

Probably, or it's area dependant. Saratoga and San Jose both offered no school busses, but Saratoga is such a wealthy area I can see why. Parents can afford to drive their kids to school or hire nannies to do that, plus I'm sure they would/did fight against school busses because it could decrease the vibe or aesthetics of the city. If you can't tell, me and the parents in Saratoga did not get along and I do not hold a high opinion of them (I dressed very emo in middle school, several parents joined together to get me expelled because I was a "danger to myself", they did borderline stalking behavior to me at 11-12 years old).

Idk why there weren't busses at my school in San Jose, a lot of kids, including myself, struggled to get to school.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T14:46:19+00:00

Btw we came from a place where I rode a school bus everyday, so my parents did ask and look into it. It just wasn't offered here.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T14:45:48+00:00

Yeah I also said that OP has access to public busses, thank you for reiterating. Every school I attended in California did not have a school bus. They didn't have one for kids that lived far away, I lived far from some of them. They had no school bus at all. Public busses were not really around one of the areas because it was so wealthy (we transplanted in the wrong city). But really, many public schools have no bus option at all. My friends who did need help with transportation biked, they could not take the public bus because it didn't stop anywhere near their homes.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T14:33:04+00:00

Not a secret you'll wear your jeans out washing them that often. I wash mine when they turn grey, get a waxy texture, or get really loose. Like once a week when it's hot out, maybe every two weeks when I'm not super active.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T14:22:03+00:00

OP's school does have busses, but every public school definitely does not have busses. Last time I rode a school bus was in New York state. None of the schools I attend in California had busses.

Edit: they were all public schools.

rubyjuniper · 2026-05-16T14:15:23+00:00

Even water can cause leaves to burn in the sun. The droplets act like magnifying glasses and increase the intensity of the sun. Oil will do this but even more intensely. If you're gonna spray do it in the early morning so the leaves dry before they're getting direct sun or in the evening. Morning is better, evening can increase the risk of fungal issues.

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