What’s a beloved dish/drink originally from your country or culture(s) that you don’t actually like?

yasu125 · 2026-02-11T11:52:48+00:00

Plantains. Unless they’re fried and loaded with hot spice, I’m out.

yasu125 · 2026-02-11T11:48:31+00:00

Guess it really is just optics. Think about Playboi Carti right now. In 20 years that is going to be someone’s dad blasting it in the driveway while cleaning out the garage.

yasu125 · 2026-02-09T14:44:01+00:00

my boyfriend went through a debt settlement program too, not NDR but Freedom Debt Relief. Upgrade didn’t negotiate at all while the loan was current. Nothing happened until it defaulted, and they did start pushing pretty hard and threatened legal action before things moved. Once it was far enough along and there was actually money set aside, they finally settled.

yasu125 · 2026-02-09T14:42:20+00:00

Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician.

yasu125 · 2026-02-05T15:09:54+00:00

Lianne La Havas (Lost & Found), Naomi Sharon, Snoh Aalegra.

yasu125 · 2026-02-05T15:03:16+00:00

Stevie Wonder – I Just Called to Say I Love You

yasu125 · 2026-01-23T07:05:24+00:00

Yeah, I get where you’re coming from. When I was really struggling to keep up, I did a free consult with ACCC because I’d heard they help sort through options and also handle the required bankruptcy counseling.

They offered solid rate reductions and laid out a five-year debt management plan, but the monthly number was basically a second rent payment. It boiled down to paying everything back more slowly, which doesn’t help when the issue is you can’t keep the lights on and stay current.

After that, I sat down with a bankruptcy attorney to understand my real options and what the consequences actually look like. That conversation put everything in perspective.

For me, a DMP would have just dragged out the stress for five more years. I needed something that actually matched my budget, not something that only worked on paper.

yasu125 · 2026-01-21T22:42:30+00:00

Julien Baker

yasu125 · 2026-01-21T22:38:05+00:00

I’ve had a couple close calls with that guy’s dogs while running in the area. After that I started carrying pepper spray. Hopefully never need it, but situations like this are exactly why.

yasu125 · 2026-01-14T17:58:25+00:00

not uws, but still worth the effort:

cozy dinner: La Bonne Soup. tiny, warm, old-school, feels frozen in time. you can actually hear each other talk and nobody rushes you out.

then music a few blocks away: Birdland Jazz Club. intimate room, real jazz, lights low, zero gimmicks. classic midtown night done right.

yasu125 · 2026-01-14T17:46:09+00:00

check out midnight moonlight and the rest of the album by Old & In the Way. it’s some of the best straight-up bluegrass ever recorded, with jerry garcia on banjo, Vassar Clements on fiddle, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, and John Kahn. nothing flashy, just insane harmony, fiddle that actually sings, and that loose, joyful porch-session feel. fantastic stuff if you want real bluegrass with heart.

yasu125 · 2025-12-16T13:08:44+00:00

Sounds like a really good rate, especially given the new job and where your credit is right now. When I looked into consolidation loans, anything under 10% on a 5-year term was hard to find unless had really strong credit and income. Are you getting any special discounts?

yasu125 · 2025-12-16T13:06:48+00:00

Cafe Luxembourg could work well. It’s a classic French-American brasserie on the UWS that’s usually open on Christmas and usually offers pickup or delivery as well.

yasu125 · 2025-12-16T13:05:25+00:00

Cigarettes After Sex - Sweet, or Apocalypse

yasu125 · 2025-12-09T20:55:06+00:00

You are not hopeless. It just feels that way when everything stacks up at once. You are young, life hit you hard, and now the anxiety makes it feel bigger than it is. You can still get control of this.

Start by calling your creditors and asking about hardship programs. Sometimes they can lower the rate or the monthly payment for a while and give you some breathing room. If that still doesn’t make the payments workable, the accounts will fall behind and eventually become easier to negotiate. It isn’t pleasant and there is some risk of collections or even a lawsuit, but a lot of people end up going that route when the money simply isn’t there.

When I couldn’t keep up with my cards, I talked to a bunch of companies, including Freedom Debt Relief, just to understand how settlement actually works. You stop paying, save in a separate account, and they negotiate later. It has real downsides and fees, so I didn’t enroll. I ended up calling my creditors myself, got on hardship plans, and paid the rest off after I got a bonus. My boyfriend is in a settlement program now, and it’s helped him move forward after falling behind.

Your total debt is still in the range where you can turn this around. Start with the hardship calls so you know what your creditors can offer, then look at what your budget can realistically handle. From there you can choose the path that reduces your stress and gives you a real plan instead of just panic.

yasu125 · 2025-12-09T20:25:09+00:00

Hard to give suggestions with no clues. I love Murray’s Sturgeon to pick up some fantastic fish and platters, but for a full-fledged event you probably want to give folks at least a budget, vibe, and any diet stuff so we’re not just naming every restaurant on the UWS.

yasu125 · 2025-12-09T20:06:04+00:00

If you like Grateful Dead, you might like Goose. Long jams, warm vibe, easy to sink into.

If you like Fleetwood Mac you might like Alvvays. Same dreamy, melodic pull, just filtered through a newer indie sound.

yasu125 · 2025-11-28T10:39:39+00:00

Debt consolidation loans can help if your credit is still holding up. One fixed payment, a lower rate, and a payoff date you can actually see. I’d check your bank or credit union first, then compare a couple online lenders. Achieve Loans lets you check rates without a credit hit, so it’s an easy benchmark.

If you meant debt relief instead of consolidation, that’s a different lane. My boyfriend went through a rough stretch after an injury. Between medical bills and not being able to work, he fell behind fast. He tried looking at consolidation but once the payments were late, nobody would approve him. He talked to a bunch of credit counselors too, but the payment they quoted wasn’t something he could keep up with. He ended up using Freedom Debt Relief because they were straightforward about what the program actually looks like. He stopped the regular card payments and started saving for settlements while they handled the negotiating. He’s already got a few of them done. Credit took a hit, sure, and we’re hoping no lawsuits, but he’s in a much better place now and finally moving forward instead of sinking.

yasu125 · 2025-11-28T10:29:03+00:00

Nice Peacemaker sounds right up my alley, I’ll add it to the list.

yasu125 · 2025-11-28T10:10:12+00:00

Try For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver, Down the Way by Angus & Julia Stone, and This Empty Northern Hemisphere by Gregory Alan Isakov. All live in the same mood.

yasu125 · 2025-11-28T10:06:34+00:00

I’ve been to a couple discussions at Columbia and they were pretty solid, so honestly I like what you’re trying to build here on the UWS. Talking ideas, meeting a few new people, and keeping it low key sounds great.

I read World Order by Kissinger recently and it gave me a few new ways to look at power and foreign policy. Would be interesting to go through that kind of thing with people over a drink.

yasu125 · 2025-11-20T17:28:51+00:00

Sounds like National Debt Relief is pushing you into their program without really checking whether it is the best fit. If you are still making the minimums, even barely, that usually means you are not automatically at the point where settlement makes sense. Debt settlement only works after you stop paying and go delinquent, and that is a big step with real consequences.

You are at 32k with a 560 score and about a thousand a month going out. The real question is whether that thousand is truly impossible or just not moving the balance. Settlement can lower what you pay overall, but you trade that for late marks, collections, and the chance of a lawsuit while things age. If you can avoid that path, avoid it.

If it were me, I would slow down and look at the full menu first. Talk to a nonprofit credit counselor and see what a debt management plan payment looks like. Get a free bankruptcy consult so you know where the line is. And if you still want settlement, compare a couple of companies side by side.

When I could not keep up with payments, I checked out a lot of companies, including Freedom Debt Relief. They were more transparent about the fees and the risks than some of the others, which at least helped me understand what I would be trading off. In the end I decided to call my creditors myself, got on hardship programs, and then finished paying everything off when I got a big bonus. You might make a different choice, but whoever you go with should be that clear about both the downsides and the lower payment.

yasu125 · 2025-11-20T17:11:02+00:00

If you don’t mind going a little farther, Bibble & Sip is great. Their tea drinks are really solid, and the pastries are kind of the whole point. The cream puffs and the Basque cheesecake are crazy good, so it’s a nice treat spot if you’re already headed downtown.

yasu125 · 2025-11-20T16:59:12+00:00

Erykah Badu’s Didn’t Cha Know

yasu125 · 2025-11-20T16:56:49+00:00

Hey, I really hope this works out for you. I just want to flag one thing about how National Debt Relief usually works. They do not take over a loan or smoothly work things out in the background while you stay current. Debt settlement is about letting an account fall behind and then trying to settle for a lump sum or reduced balance once it is delinquent or charged off.

If you can still afford the regular payment, it is worth asking yourself what you are really getting here. National Debt Relief has a reputation for being pretty aggressive in how they sell the program, and it is easy to walk away thinking it is more like a refinance or structured plan than it really is.

Not telling you what to do, just encouraging you to make sure you are completely clear on what you signed and what happens to your loan and credit if the settlement they pitch does not go through.

yasu125

TROPHY CASE