RL things I love

Meg

@Meg said in RL things I love:

@SG

But then why wouldn't they go to like, the nearest pawn or resell shop and just get some quick cash themselves? That seems ridiculous to just leave it!

For international students, there is a serious time crunch once they are done finals. Many don't have visas that will span the summer, so they have to gtfo asap if they're not taking classes. Once finals are over, they have so much stuff to take care of that soaking the loss on a few pieces of furniture isn't a big deal.

Even local students are coming to the end of their leases and are scrambling to move. If they live out of town, then losing the money spent on this sort of stuff is still cheaper than uhauling it across the country and putting it in storage while they look for a new place to live.

Plus it takes a lot of time to sell/give away on the second hand market. trying to get rid of a TV through Kijiji is a pain in the ass! and you won't get nearly what it's worth.

But it doesn't take a lot of time to go to a pawn shop, does it? I mean, you have to be prepared and probably do a bit of selling the week before finals, maybe, but I guess I still don't understand it. I mean, obviously it happens. Obviously some people probably don't care about the value of a couple of dollars, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around after spending years and years being super broke.

I mean, now I have enough money that a monitor probably doesn't mean that much to me, but it's still hard to ignore the part of me that wants to shake my fist and yell about kids.

That's probably why I love @Arkandel's story.

SG

@Meg said in RL things I love:

But it doesn't take a lot of time to go to a pawn shop, does it?

If you own a car it likely doesn't. Kids that live on campus probably don't want to take 3 trips on the bus carting TVs and furniture across town on public transit.

surreality

I packed for college in one of these two-seaters with delusions of grandeur. (It liked to think it had a back seat. FOR ANTS!!! </Zoolander>)

...it's even the right color.

When I say I have car-packing fu down to a science, I fucking mean it.

ThatGuyThere

@Meg said in RL things I love:

At my uni you had 24 hours from your last final to vacate, this was not always strictly enforced at he beginning of the week but was at the end, cause the RAs couldn't leave til everyone on their floor had.
Doing it the week before would make a lot of sense but from my experience the couple of weeks before finals were filled with finishing projects, end of semester parties and preparing for finals. I mean I never threw anything out because of moving but I also am the child of packrat parents and have the same tendencies, but I can definitely see reasons for some of the "Just toss it." mentality at the time.

Meg

@ThatGuyThere

Fair enough. I never lived in dorms (not strictly true: I lived in /military/ dorms, which aren't the same). I didn't go to college until I was in my late 20's. So I don't have that experience that would lead to me understanding what finals are like when you also have to deal with getting out of the dorm.

ThatGuyThere

@Meg
Plus in your late 20s you have a lot more mature perceptive on life and the value of not wasting things than most people in the dorms who tend to be in the 18-22 range.

surreality

You would think the university itself would have something like a 'donation pile' that they would collect of things like this, to take to a local Goodwill, or perhaps to have available in a big yard sale or something at the start of the next year when people are filling up their rooms for the next semester (with generally the same kinds of things) for fundraising.

Considering what a nightmare it is to dispose of appliances/computer gear in my state, for instance, you can't just drop it in the bin, you actually have to take it to a specialized dropoff and whatnot, so I'd think this'd be fairly double-duty helpful in some respects.

SG

@surreality Last year, I noticed they did have sorting bins for that kind of thing. LIke electronics/furniture/clothing. I don't know if it went to goodwill or what but they're starting to make a bit of an effort it looks like. Yay trying to get green certified!

SparklesTheClown

I'm one of those people now.

Me with a Fidget Spinner

Cupcake

@HelloProject I want your sneakers.

Auspice

@HelloProject

I got one so I could give it a try to compare to my Fidget Cube.
The cube is better (at least for me).

And all the jokes/memes aside, it has done wonders for me. Both in the anxiety and focus arenas.

SparklesTheClown

@Auspice I only got it to fuck around with, but I haven't been chewing on things (like my fingers. Read: Fingers, not nails). Color me surprised.

@Cupcake These are Converse II I got on clearance, with a Nike sole, they're comfortable as hell and water resistant. They were white when I got them. I used acrylic paint, let them dry over night, then washed the acrylic off so that it'd leave a rainbow stain. I hilariously played a character on Windy City with similar shoes, like 6 or 7 years ago.

SparklesTheClown

Nevermind, I'm still chewing myself.

Thenomain

alt text

The Wall Street Bull was guerrilla art. The Fearless Girl was guerrilla art (tho some claim astroturfing). And now a statue of a pug peeing on the girl's foot, guerrilla art.

This is far more expensive than graffiti. A+

Auspice

@Thenomain

Fearless Girl is not guerilla art. It was installed, with permits, by an advertising firm: https://hyperallergic.com/364474/the-sculpture-of-a-fearless-girl-on-wall-street-is-fake-corporate-feminism/

Thenomain

@Auspice

I know. I mentioned it elsewhere, but it's still seen a guerrilla installment by many in the art community and news reporters. I think it's astroturfing, something meant to be grass-roots in style but is fake. Maybe you were replying when I was updating my post with that comment.

Auspice

@Thenomain said in RL things I love:

@Auspice

I know. I mentioned it elsewhere, but it's still seen a guerrilla installment by many in the art community and news reporters. I think it's astroturfing, something meant to be grass-roots in style but is fake. Maybe you were replying when I was updating my post with that comment.

Also wanted to share a link (there's plenty more out there) in case others weren't aware of the backstory. I know Fearless Girl really upsets the artist of the Wall Street Bull, which makes me hate it more. I wish it'd be taken down.

Thenomain

@Auspice said in RL things I love:

I know Fearless Girl really upsets the artist of the Wall Street Bull, which makes me hate it more. I wish it'd be taken down.

I'm of deep conflict on it. On the positive side, it brings a needed conversation to the fore. (Would've been even better if the girl were hispanic or black.) On the negative side, exactly what you and others have said. Wall Street may have hated the Bull when it was first installed but it was done with love for America and has become a strong symbol for Wall Street and New York; the Fearless Girl demeans that love and has become a strong symbol for the more tolerable (1st and 2nd Wave) Feminism.

I hate that sometimes things are not black-and-white. I also love it. I try to be optimistic whenever possible. This may explain why I'm as miserable as I am.

--

edit: In finding the image of the Peeing Pug, I did briefly note that Fearless Girl's temporary installment license has been extended.

SparklesTheClown

A friend of mine noted that the Peeing Pug only emphasizes the symbolism of the Fearless Girl.

Coin

@Thenomain said in RL things I love:

@Auspice said in RL things I love:

I know Fearless Girl really upsets the artist of the Wall Street Bull, which makes me hate it more. I wish it'd be taken down.

I'm of deep conflict on it. On the positive side, it brings a needed conversation to the fore. (Would've been even better if the girl were hispanic or black.) On the negative side, exactly what you and others have said. Wall Street may have hated the Bull when it was first installed but it was done with love for America and has become a strong symbol for Wall Street and New York; the Fearless Girl demeans that love and has become a strong symbol for the more tolerable (1st and 2nd Wave) Feminism.

On the other hand, Charging Bull is a symbol for the USA and especially Wall Street's "indomitable spirit", which in this case pretty much means (and cannot be more accurately represented) "we will rampage and thrash all over anyone in our way".

My only complaint about Fearless Girl is that it co-opts feminism for capitalist objectives (it's basically advertisement). But I don't find the Charging Bull to be celebrating anything that, you know, is worth celebrating.

Pissing Pug is just dumb, because while I understand the aim to challenge the undercover capitalist source of Fearless Girl, it refuses to acknowledge its (albeit shallow and distorted by the source) message of feminism. You can't attack something that marries the two things so directly without confusing the target; it was sloppy and poorly thought out.