Stuff and Things

How to do heart-shaped cat-eye nail art BY a a金库

So, your landlord/parents/home inspector/favorite movie star is dropping by, and your place is a disaster. You don’t have much time to clean it up. You’re in emergency mode. Let’s get started.

Don’t panic. Panic leads to fear, fear leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to the dark side. You can do this, but you have to stay calm.

Unlike maintenance cleaning, we’re not looking to completely unfuck one space at a time. Instead, we want to decrease the overall mess in stages, spread evenly across the whole area that we’re concerned about. If you think your home is at Level 10 filth, we want to bring the whole thing down to a Level 9, and then down from there. One really clean spot in an otherwise messy home is not going to be helpful here.

Get prepared. You’ll want to shut the computer down (or turn the modem off if you need your computer to play music). Trust me. Get your music going. Gather up trash bags, your vacuum and mop, some rags or paper towel, sponges, and other cleaning supplies. Use what you have on hand. Don’t get distracted running to the store and spending an hour browsing cleaning supplies. A multi-purpose cleaning concentrate or a jug of vinegar will be just fine.

Breaks are very important. Depending on your time constraints, work in 20/10s (20 minutes working, 10-minute break) or 45/15s. But take breaks because otherwise you’re marathoning, and marathon cleaning is no one’s friend. Keep hydrated, don’t forget to eat, and check in with yourself frequently to make sure you’re physically doing OK.

Make your bed. This will be your home base if you get overwhelmed or need somewhere clear to take a break.

Start with the garbage. Going from room to room, throw out anything that is obvious trash. Once you fill a bag, take it out. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Move on to dishes. Gather the dishes from all over your house and bring them to the kitchen. If you can, start them soaking in a sink of hot, soapy water or start loading the dishwasher. After the dishes are all in one place, spend one 20/10 getting started getting them under control.

Now it’s time for your flat surfaces. Countertops, tables, dresser tops, etc. Clear them off and wipe them down. Don’t get distracted in too much sorting and organizing. We’re in crisis mode here. There will be time to get in-depth once this is all done. The same applies to cabinets and closets. Unless you have reason to believe people will be opening closed doors, leave these alone for now.

Attack the floordrobe and shoe pile. Get your clothes either put away or in the hamper. Start a load of laundry if you need to, but keep in mind that laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and put it away, goddammit!

Get random stuff up off the floors. If something is trash-worthy, throw it away now rather than just move it around a bunch of times. Otherwise, put stuff where it belongs.

Take another 20/10 or 45/15 to catch up on more dishes, if needed.

Head into the bathroom. Pour some cleaner in the toilet bowl, fill the sink with hot water and cleaner, and either spray the tub and shower with cleaner, or fill the tub up with some hot water and add cleaner and let it soak. Put everything away that’s out and shouldn’t be, clean the mirror, counters, and toilet seat. Sweep or dry mop the floor. Wipe down the sink and tub/shower, and give the toilet bowl a scrub. Mop the floor.

Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Vacuum everything you can, and sweep everything you can’t.

Walk outside of your house (don’t lock yourself out, please). Walk back in and see what catches your eye first. Go and deal with that.

If you’re being inspected or your landlord is coming in for repairs, spend time on whatever area they’ll be focusing on.

Give the whole place one more once-over and pay attention to anything you’ve missed so far.

It’s an old trick, but if your place is a little funky-smelling, put a pan of water on the stove on low heat and add some citrus or cinnamon or vanilla. Don’t leave it unattended or forget about it.

Take a shower, put on something clean, and eat something.

You can do this. It’s overwhelming, yes, but it is not impossible. You just need to do it. You have a list. You have directions. You have a whole bunch of Internet strangers who have been there before and who are cheering you on. You can do this, but you need to get started.

He is, after 210 years, still the Vault Tec Rep. He has no name, and still wears the same exact clothes. He mentions struggling to loose that identity despite holding a lot of (very valid) ahtred for Vault Tec.

I think there should have been a more in depth quest then that non-quest conversation you can have. Like you happen across him in the Rexford, then you can send him to Sanctuary, and then if you see him in Sanctuary again you can offer him a job and get the option to... send him to another settlement?

They could have had a quest where you bring him to some Vault Tec office, or you go by yourself, and have to find his desk. Maybe fighting some ferals and some emotional flavor text about knowing them but not being able to tell who they are or him saying he thinks he recognizes someone based on their clothes.

Find his desk with a spare ID card in it that has his name and face. Maybe an old photo of him with his spouse/kids/family/friends to jog his memory. Either he can take these or if he's not there you bring them back to him.

Only then can you send him back to Sanctuary (or maybe the Slog so he can learn to love himself as a ghoul). When you see him again he's changed his name and his clothes. He tells you about how he feels like a person again, and it's so good to hear the other settlers call him by his real name. Talk about how he has friends now and finds his job there fulfilling and rewarding, either farming to provide food or guarding to protect his new friends.

Or if you are the General of the Minutemen, and he really wants a job similar to his old one he could instead rep for the minutemen. Be a traveler with a little caravan like the provisioners and you can spot him in the environment. He will tell you small stories about the people he's run into or tell you he's sent [insert number] of settlers your way since he last saw you. (The number doesn't even have to be consistent with the actual settlers you've gotten cause they don't always make it to settlements.)

And if we wanted to get crazy he could have been a companion, and all of this could have been instead his affinity quest, where he slowly decides he wants to be more than just Vault Tec Rep. And it ends with him having learned to embrace his new life in the wasteland, more confident in fighting, traveling outside of 'safe' cities, and navigating the post war world as a whole thanks to the experience he gained traveling with you. This could not only be linked to your affinity to him but also the number of new locations you travel with him to add a little extra pizzazz.

Maybe even the quest to the Vault Tec building 'fails' and he has to pick a new name and form a whole new identity instead of going back to his prewar one.

As Pride Month comes to an end, I just want to remind you that July is Disability Pride Month and there's a flag and everything!

Charcoal Grey: Mourning for people who have died due to ableist violence, abuse, suicide, and illness

Red Stripe: Physical disabilities

Gold Stripe: Neurodiversity

Blue Stripe: Emotional and psychiatric disabilities

Green Stripe: Sensory disabilities

In just the past two months, Sony has:

Said the PS6 will be more than $1000 at launch

Announced the end of all physical PS game releases

While simultaneously announcing the end of two of their console game stores — ensuring multiple games will die forever

Declared that they are wholly dedicated to (A) leveraging A.I. when making games and (B) creating live-service games above all other game types

Announced that if you bought any movies through their PlayStation Store, over 550 of them will soon be deleted from all users' libraries — with no restitution offered of any kind

Gamers, it is time — to paraphrase Robert Vann — to turn Sony's picture to the wall. Any one of these insults would be bad, and taken alone? Maybe it could be swallowed. But this is an ongoing campaign of disdain towards customers, with each declaration worse than the last.

So, in case anyone wants to do them, feel free. Just tag me so I can read:

• In HY #4, Venka is one of the people who goes to the Sun Village. This is the first time she's been there since she was an infant. How does she react to the place her father grew up in? Does she try to learn more about her heritage? Does Zhantee or Rayek show her around?

• Aurek was saved from death at Blue Mountain by Two-Edge. How did that go? Did they have conversations? Did they become friends? (Is it weird that Two-Edge exists because his father was sent to go kidnap and enslave a rock shaper, and Two-Edge always seems to befriend them? Ekuar, Aurek, Ahdri.)

• How do you think Windkin would have turned out if he had been raised with the Wolfriders in the new land instead of with the Sun Folk?