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gwendolynlerman · 5 months

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Things that surprised me as a European tourist in the United States

This is based on my experience as a Spaniard traveling to the United States (specifically New York City and Washington, D. C.).

Like many people around the world, I have grown up in contact with U.S. culture through literature, film, and music, so I didn't experience much cultural shock, but some things still surprised me.

All vehicles (cars, trucks, school buses...) are huge! Most cars are pickup trucks or SUVs. The most common brands came from the United States, but I also saw many Japanese cars, especially Nissan and Toyota (mostly Prius, USAmericans seem to love this model 😂).

Customer service is great, not only in restaurants or places where one is expected to leave a tip but also in museums and subway stations.

I heard many different languages spoken by locals, including Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish, as well as European languages spoken by tourists, such as French, German, and Portuguese. (I think that this is mostly the case in big cities, and especially NYC.) In general, the United States is more ethnically diverse than that in Europe, or at least Spain.

People wear face masks more often, although I guess that this is transient due to flu season. Still, way fewer people wear them in Spain.

Taxes are not included in the price. (I was aware of this but used to forget about it at first.)

Toilets are not as deep as in Europe (the water is really close to your butt 😖), and many flush automatically. Public restrooms always have seat covers but normally do not have a toilet lid.

The doors are really heavy! No wonder many people (mostly men) held them open for me. I once had to throw myself against the door to open it. What is the deal with doors in the U.S.? (Is it a NYC thing only?)

People were quite loud (and this is coming from someone who grew up in a country that is renowned for how loud we talk) and played music/videos without headphones in the subway 😑

Cops are surprisingly chill despite the reputation that they have. A guy was insulting a couple of them from across the subway platform, and they just smiled and waved at him. In Spain, it is a crime to insult a police officer, so I was surprised that they were so chill about the whole situation.

On that note, there were a lot of cops around the city at all times (even at 5 a.m.). I counted nine of them in Penn Station!

Drivers honk all the time because of every minor inconvenience. On Thanksgiving Day, there were a lot of traffic jams, and people were honking as if that would magically clear the streets... And, of course, if one person honked, the rest honked as well, so walking on the street on the main avenues was really deafening 😐

Traffic lights are quite far away from where cars have to stop.

Fire truck sirens are really loud and sound like emergency alarm systems. (It reminded me of those TikTok videos ranking them.)

People say "Excuse me" in the subway when going in or out, which was a nice change from the shoving and pushing I'm used to in Madrid.

I saw a lot of people carrying around huge reusable water bottles. (Here's an explanation for why USAmericans drink so much.)

People called me "Ma'am" instead of "Miss". I know it's the polite way to address people, but it was very weird 😂

New Yorkers (maybe USAmericans in general) love to use cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) when giving directions. Someone once told me, "Go west on Broadway" and I was like "I have trouble orienting myself when I use Google Maps, do you think I know which direction I'm going in at all times??".

There are lots of caution signs about worker safety on construction sites, both in English and Spanish, which leads me to think that there are many work accidents 🤔

As a solo female traveler, I was a bit concerned about my security in a city that I have heard is dangerous and in a country where mass shootings are a relatively normal occurrence (unfortunately), but I felt mostly safe. I was surprised to see many posters that read, "If you see something, say something".

Related to the above, I was shocked to see "This is a gun free zone" posters in public places and "No guns allowed" posters on supermarket doors.

I was really surprised to see ads with phone numbers with words in them, like the one below. After doing some research, I discovered they are called vanity numbers and are easier for people to remember. (If, like me, you're wondering how to dial these numbers, apparently you just press the number that corresponds to the letter on the keypad.)

I smelled marijuana everywhere! Although illegal in Spain, you can also smell it sometimes, but it seemed ubiquitous in NYC. (I personally hate the smell, which is why I noticed.)

#langblr #english #united states

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phantomphangphucker · 24 days

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Phic Phight - Too Fine Too Be Normal

@lexosaurus @hannahmanderr @zombiemerlin

When outsiders have to deal with any member of the weirdo trio it really is best to just roll with the punches. Plus, Orson actually LIKES his techy internet buddy; so what if he’s some kind of superhero pharaoh or something?

Orson blinks at his screen, not for the first time feeling confused and baffled over TooFine’s chat comments.

TooFine: brb gotta go eat a bat, nightshade found the plant paint I covered her fruit tree in

He’s assuming what the guy means is that ‘nightshade’, TooFine’s friend, is trying to hit him with a baseball bat. Strange and extreme but at least this time he’s not claiming to have ‘accidentally fallen into another dimension’. Whenever TooFine leaves suddenly it’s always wildy outlandish stories. Certainly there’s no way he thinks Orson actually believes them right? Yes it was very funny anyways. Reading TF’s impressive imagination always made him feel a little better about life, like even if your life is simple and plain you can bring some crazy into it with your mind.

Sometimes though, it’s clear he’s actually telling the truth, like that one time they were on voice chat and Orson dad popped in to try and convince him to let him teach him how to hunt again, Orson liked meat but he had zero desire to actually go and kill things. But TF started talking guns too, apparently that thing about TF’s in person friend having parents who made weapons was very much true. TF impressed Orson’s dad, meaning his dad now approved of the friendship. At least TF didn’t bring up that ‘ectoplasm’ stuff while his dad was around, the last thing Orson wanted was his dad thinking all his online friends were crazy too. His dad definitely didn’t believe the claim that TF’s friends parents also had a modified military vehicle they used on the actual road; something about how military treads can’t be used on roads because they’re too damaging. TF followed that up with ‘our roads can withstand some pretty heavy artillery’, Orson’s chuckle and eye roll probably convinced his dad that TF was screwing around with him a little.

Either way, hopefully TF gets back in time to keep helping him with this stupid drone he’s trying to build. He’d love to be able to go get the mail without having to actually go outside, so much wasted effort when he’d rather be gaming or reading. Then he gets a voice chat request, the voice that comes through is not TF’s

“Oh shit hey, you actually picked up, wow I can’t believe he made an outsider friend. Weird”, this new teen clears his throat, “okay so, Nightshade actually might have knocked him out in a fit of rage? So he’ll be a bit- hey! No! Put that down! You don’t get to hit him again just because I’m protecting his PDA!”.

TF actually used a PDA? Such old tech? Why? Weird.

“Emilie is PINK! PINK!”.

The boy teen groans, “ugh. Goths. Anyway, while he’s out, he give you any ideas for a good birthday gift? I’ve been banned from giving him weapons or explosives, and the last time I got him a souped up hard drive he hacked the federal government and filed the presidents taxes for some insane reason”.

Orson blinks, “I think he’s been talking a lot about electric cars and electric bikes? What happened after he… did the presidents taxes?”. He really just wants to know where this guy was going to take that level of bullshit.

“I’d rather ideas that don’t require me to steal my rich arch enemy uncles credit card. And eh, nothing much, just got abducted by some secret service folks up into the Appalachian mountains for some ‘one on one’ talks time. He got some new wicked scars out of it even, one looks like a hockey stick! I don’t even have one like that yet! But hey, what’s life without a few abductions here and there? The gov loves shooting me!”.

Orson makes a face, alright so were TF’s friends just as bad as him? Shaking his head, “get him a lock picking kit then, in case anyone abducts him with handcuffs or something”. What the actual hell? He absolutely has to google this.

“Oh that’s not bad-oh hey buddy! You good? No lumps and bumps? No booboos or owies?”.

“You jerk, I’m fine. Why is she still armed!”.

“Emile. Is. PINK”.

“It suits her!”.

“She’s a black apple tree! Pink is never her colour!”.

Oh so the goth did actually name her plants, odd but not insane. And yeah, a hacker did actually do the presidents taxes… weird. There’s no way that was actually TF right? Was he friends with an actual hacker?

“Oh T I totally voice called, or whatever, your online buddy? It seemed like the chat was recent and shit so you know”.

“Man, you are way too overprotective and way too much of a mother hen for a dead guy. Gimme that”.

“Hey at least dead hens can shoot laser beams out of their mouths, way cooler than living ones”.

TF clearly has his… PDA back, “you’re still working on that ‘let me be lazy’ drone right?”.

Orson blinks, “yes, but real talk, did you actually file the presidents taxes?”.

“Oh my zone! DP you shit head! Ugh, look the guy was trying to embezzle my towns funding to buy another yacht, so I figured hey why not forcibly report all his off shore accounts and that weird charity donation to a Russian network. I also might have gone after all his staff too? They weren’t impressed but I call anarchy and how was I supposed to know his people would actually not suck at tracking people?”.

“T, dude, I’m pretty sure the federal government and the goddamn president have better tracking than those G.I.W. morons”.

“Are you going to fix Emilie or what!”.

“Never”.

Orson flips through google results a little more and yeah, a ton of people got hacked for taxes… Hell Orson even stumbles on a whistle blower data leak about ties to Russia that he nopes out of real quick. “TF bud, that’s super concerning”.

“Heh. Fair enough and- oh shit!”. There’s an actual explosion over the line. “Hey, you wanna actually witness shit for a change, because good goddamn. DP! Have you been skipping sleep again! Why is the goddamn sleep god throwing a building at us!”.

What.

You know what.

Fuck it.

Orson sends the zoom invite, it’s accepted immediately. It’s actual pure chaos. There’s shouting, what looks like a sentient star cover blank wearing a mask in the sky, a glowing black and white teen throwing actual everything forbid bath bombs at the thing in the sky. TF looks like he’s from freaking ancient Egypt, with a helm on and everything. Then a bunch of glowing vines shove TF out of screen, a girl in a green and black body suit with a freaking cape chasing after.

For a second he’s wondering if TF is playing a massive prank on him and somehow created a hyper realistic superhero show set up. The… PDA is pointed up at the sky as the voice of the guy who started the voice chat shouts, “I HAVE MIDTERMS! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!”.

The blanket creature shouting back, “SLEEP!”.

“Oh yeah I guess I should have seen that one coming”.

Okay so. TF’s friend, whose parents make weapons, is a superhero or something? Google to the rescue.

TF shouts, “why are you stabbing me! There’s a god in the sky! Fight him!”.

“Naw, UnderGrowth actually likes Nocturne, since sleeping humans aren’t actively polluting Mother Nature”.

“Fuck that stupid grass stain”.

“I’m going to end you”.

Orson blinks at his phone, DP, Danny Phantom. A real person, in a real town, that looked like a real superhero. It’s that rumoured haunted town actually, a real haunted town. What the actual hell? Is he friends with a superhero or sidekick? Who’s also a hacker? And eats a concerning amount of meat without getting sick somehow? Has all the stories he’s been getting, and not reacting strongly too, been real??? Alright, okay, gotta play it cool self. He probably actually thought Orson was taking him seriously and has decided that Orson passed some kind of weirdness meter test. This was basically almost an identity reveal wasn’t it? Holy crap he’s involved in a real life comic book secret identity reveal.

The ‘Nocturne’ guy gets blasted into a wall, DP pelting It with eggs he got from somewhere. The Nocturne holding up a massive canister over Its head, “YOU WILL FAIL IF YOU DO NOT SLEEP!”.

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit”, TF comes sorta back on screen, grabbing up his PDA, the ‘facial markings’ don’t look like make up, it looks like it’s part of his skin. “Okay okay, so that right up there is a massive thing of halothane vapour from the looks of it, fun. So we’re all probably gonna pass out here, feel free to disconnect if shit gets boring”.

Orson squeaks a little, “boring? You get up to some insane shit. Why is a… sleep god? Trying to knock y’all out?”. Roll with the punches, gotta roll with the punches. Freak out later.

TF snickers, “DP doesn’t get enough sleep and has been frustrating this ghost since he formed. God’s am I right? Ha!”.

“Get back here you!”.

“Oh for crying out loud! I’ll fix your freaking plant okay! Ugh!”. TF gets smacked into a wall all by the plant girl anyways.

Orson eyes the parts of his drone before looking back to the screen, “why are you helping a random friend you made, build a drone when this crap is going on?”. Because it seriously has to be asked.

TF uses sand to push himself out of the wall rubble, “eh, normalicy is nice and shit, plus you’re impressively chill. I bring up sneaking into a death gods liquor cabinet and you just give me a ‘that’s nice, have fun. Don’t hospitalise yourself’. Sure, Red’s chill but she’s more DP’s friend”, smirking, “and his ex, plus she rides a hoverboard and shoots ghosts so…”.

Oh okay, so there’s a fourth one. This is completely insane. Whelp. Guess he’s in it now though. Orson shrugging, “I’ve always been a pretty laid back guy, though this is definitely the craziest thing I’ve seen. Way worse than that chic on drugs or something who was trying to bite people”.

“Oh yeah drugs are bad, way worse than hacking regardless what the government has to say about it”.

Then the canister explodes, giving Orson a serious anxiety spike as bits of metal impale in things and gas starts going everywhere. DP actually does a comedic salute in the air before just falling to the ground. The Nocturne guy looks very pleased with Itself and actually wraps around the probably unconscious teen, hissing at the plant girl when she tries to approach.

TF cringing, “stupid obsessive ghosts. DP looks like he’s been bent like a shrimp”, TF moving his PDA camera and yeah the black and white teens position is kinda shrimp like.

All Orson can think to say is, “great, now I’m hungry”.

TF laughing while hurling a fist full of sand, “HA! Yeah sushi would be great right now”.

“You disgust me”.

“NONE SHALL DISTURB HIS SLUMBER!”.

Was it normal for ‘villains’ to seemingly baby heroes? Because that’s what this looks like. Nocturne literally just wants the black and white teen to sleep, that’s it. Weird. And then freaking pillow monsters??? Start storming the screen, TF and Nightshade/plant girl doing battle with them. The zoom gets cut out so Orson is just going to assume the device got broke.

…

Okay.

So.

That happened.

One question, well many really, but why is someone so tech focused going with a freaking Egyptian theme? Nightshade made sense, he’s pretty sure even her ‘code name’ is actually a plant. And DP was, well, a literal ghost so the Phantom name made sense. Weird that ghosts were actually real still. Yes he’s seen some stuff about them on the news occasionally but it still seemed so far fetched. And he’s pretty sure he saw some people dressed up as DP at last years comic con.

Weird.

Very weird.

Well. Nothing for it now. So he sends TF a message asking if he’s good. It takes multiple hours but….

TooFine: we’re good, DP’s still out cold and has been abducted into a sleep gods lair but like, we good. Sleepy Blanket won’t try to skin him like some people.

OriOri: that’s good? I mean, his skin would probably make a poor blanket?

TooFine: HA! Thats the kinda joke DP would make! He’ll be proud

TooFine: he’ll be proud whenever he wakes up

TooFine: and when Sleepy Blanket stops acting like a crazy dragon protecting its horde

TooFine: and when he finds his way back to the land of living

OriOri: it’ll be a while

TooFine: good. He really should sleep more

TooFine: the dumbass

OriOri: if he gets so little his pissed off god then yeah. That’s impressive actually

TooFine: you have no idea. Anyways, tots sorry for dipping on your little project. I’d offer Techy’s services as make up but he’s an idiot with newer tech

Orson has no clue who that is and isn’t going to ask.

OriOri: at this point I’m more curious why the heck you went with an Egyptian theme for a guy who hacks the federal gov and makes visual horror games

TooFine: eh, it would be kinda weird if a reincarnated pharaoh wasn’t Egyptian themed, you know how it is. Technically you don’t but you know you know

Orson sighs, this was so weird. But he is so not going to let on that he never believe the shit TF said.

OriOri: I guess? Now do you know how to better connect female usb c to an hdmi, cause it’s pissing me off

TooFine: *snort*

TooFine: but of course I do. Debendint on how far you need the connection to work you might have to bike something from scratch. I tots got blueprints and they are definitely not stolen from the fbi terror investigations unit. Definitely not.

Orson was probably going to get arrested one day because of this, but screw it, TF was fun to talk too and made his mostly boring life more interesting. Not interesting enough to ever consider moving to the guys nightmare town though. Not a chance in Hell.

End.

Prompts: Tucker fucked up. Hard. But it’s like, how the hell was he supposed to know that hacking the federal government was a bad idea? Nocturne takes a liking to Danny and decides to help teach him a lesson, whether Danny wants it or not. Outsider POV. Tucker makes a new online acquaintance, and will casually allude to the crazy shit he and his friends get up to while ghost hunting. The new acquaintance thinks Tucker is just embellishing the truth, until…

#danny phantom #phandom #danny fenton #tucker foley #oc centric #pov outsider #have a fic suck my dick #phantomphangphucker #my writing #phicphight24 #phic phight 24 #phic phight #phan phic #fan fic #pharaoh tucker #plant queen sam #hacking

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t-top-apologist · 7 months

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There's a lot to be said for Electric cars. They're heavy, somehow unreliable, massive hunks of steel and toxic chemicals by design AND necessity, sometimes very fast, serve as status symbols for the insufferable, and are known for intermittently ramming into people and other cars. When you really look at it, the electric car is as distinctly American as Apple Pie, the Chevy Small Block, and smiling at strangers on the street.

Yet many commentators overlook the most American aspect of electric vehicles: Tax Evasion.

See, despite the hefty annual registration you pay to put a sticker on your license plate each year, the real road tax for most automobiles is exacted on each gallon of fuel burnt. It's only fair, as heavier cars tend to use more fuel, meaning the vehicles that are harder on the roads and the people that use them the most will on average pay more to repair them.

You can see now how EVs throw a wrench in that equation. Not only do they weigh as much as half a dozen Honda Citys (INCLUDING the Motocompo foldable scooter), but they don't use a lick of pump gas while auto-piloting backwards off the nearest overpass.

The Federal Government is doing its darndest to make sure EVs make up the bulk of daily commuters within the next [TIMEFRAME GOALPOST MOVED TO TEN YEARS PAST CLIMATE APOCALYPSE], and local municipalities are facing the prospect of repairing roads on reduced budgets while these ion-fueled freeloaders erode the asphalt further with their multi-tonne zero-emission smugness machines.

Previously I was the one with a near-local monopoly on evading fuel tax, thanks to my advanced E85 brewing setup made from a lapsed whiskey still I found in the woods and my personal recycling enterprise (stealing used cooking oil from fast food greasetraps, fighting the raccoons for access to the greasetraps, training the local possums in counter-raccoon tactics, fighting rogue possum factions for access to the greasetraps, enabling a cycle of inter-mammalian violence so that I can fill the tank on my $200 300D wagon).

Now the municipalities are talking about "reporting mileage" and "Paying $400 yearly for infrastructure upkeep." This is what EV owners would define as an "Externality," another very American ideal.

In the long run this will probably help me. Most of my odometers are broken, and even if they aren't, the average mileage on one of my cars is 15 miles, 17 if you count the time I had to roll it backwards down a hill and push it into my garage. It's just the principle of the thing, I say, fending off another well-armed possum militia dead-set on acquiring my remaining catalytic converters.

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duchessanon · 1 year

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A few short story ideas, bb:

Anne, the Olympian, at The Olympics in Montreal

Anne the speed demon lol! Apparently, she drove 93 mph in a 70-mph zone near her home in Gloucestershire, went to court and fined.

Anne's affair with her bodyguard, Mark Cross👀

bb, your version of the private letters between Anne and Sir Tim Laurence, that were obtained by The Sun but never published.

The Fandom rigged the Pulitzers?! Justice for busybody!

Inspired by true events. For the Annedom/fAnnedom xo

One fine morning in 1993, Princess Anne stood in the mirror combing her bouffant for another day of busy engagements. Today she was going to an engagement at a horsey school and decided to wear her full Olympic horsey outfit for the occasion.

Her husband, Timmy appeared behind her with hearts in his eyes. 'Wow, you look fresh out of a trough'

Anne scowled. 'What have I told you about making horsey compliments when you don't understand horses!'

'I'm sorry my beloved' Timmy said mournfully. He really was trying to understand her love of horses and continued to wear his chaps every evening because the sight of them set her nethers in a flutter.

'A trough is what animals drink out of, if I had come out of a trough I'd look like a rat coming out of a sewer!'

Timmy did a sad face but didn't argue with Anne. She was in a bad mood because Fergie had pranced too far and trampled over her cabbage patch.

'If you want to give me a horsey compliment there's many of them!' Anne proceeded for ten minutes listing horsey related compliments starting with 'Your heart is like a Trojan Horse' and ending with 'I could ride you!'

All of a sudden Anne snapped out of her equine reverie and hollered 'oh busybody I'm late! This is your fault for distracting me!!!'

Timmy was startled and tried to help but Anne was out of there and he mused out loud 'like a stallion out of a stable'.

'It's like a horse out of a gate!!!' Anne shouted as she sped away.

On the way to the horsey school, Anne put her foot down and grumbled about the uselessness of men. Just look at her three brothers. She couldn't be late, the family already had a reputation for being lazy, useless, tax money stealing busybodies.

Suddenly a siren started blaring behind her. 'What the shit butt are my escort doing?!' When they levelled up next to her, she suddenly realised this was no royal escort, it was the Pauper Police.

Anne dutifully stopped in a layby and the officer approached her.

'Excuse me, my name is Constable Buthol. Do you realise you were going 93 MPH?'

'Well yes of course I do Constable Butthole, I am Princess Anne and I have an important engagement at the horsey school, and now I'm even more late!!!'

'It's Buthol'

'That's what I said busybody Butthole! Now fine me quickly so I can get on my way'

'That's enough of your insolence, I'm an officer of the law and I am hereby confiscating this vehicle under section 6.9 of the highway code - dangerous driving and abuse of a member of the Pauper Police'

'ASS FLAKES!!!' As Butthole went to fill in the paperwork, Anne quickly used her car radio to call Timmy. 'Timmy I'm in trouble, I know I called you useless but I've been stopped by the Pauper Police for speeding and verbal abuse (snowflakes!) and I must get to the horsey school!'

'You didnt call me useless, my beloved'

'Well it was in my head then! Just hurry up will you, I'm on the road next to the lake. The traffic is too heavy. Bring me my horse!'

Timmy panicked. He couldn't ride a horse well, but what else would get Anne there in time? Suddenly he had a brainwave, his nethers jolted up at his cleverness.

Back on the road, Anne was standing alone after Butthole had taken her car. 'Fucking asshole busybody bitch bastard, and WHERE is Timmy with my horse?'

Just then there was a gigantic splash in the lake behind her. Timmy sat in a speedboat wearing his boaty uniform waving up at her and shouted, 'I can't do horses but I can do boats!'

Anne's nethers and whethers fluttered at her handsome sailor's efforts. She immediately jumped off the road and landed in his arms.

'I wondered if I had been too brusque this morning and you'd given up on me' Anne said as they sped along the lake, narrowly missing Fergie as she performed a solo synchronised swim.

'Never my beloved, wild horses couldn't drag me away from you or your nethers'

'Finally you got one right!' Anne said gleefully. Someone would be getting a roll in the hay tonight.

Fin.

@fannefictionarchive @princessanneftw

#princess anne #fannefiction #fannedom

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monstersdownthepath · 1 year

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This might be something of a crazy ask, but I've been running a campaign for over a year where the players have been working against the schemes of Szuriel herself, and there's been mentions of knocking the door down and taking the fight to her with a continental alliance. So I have to ask, how absurd would a mostly mortal invasion of Abbadon be, how closely would the rest of the four work with Suzy, and what more interesting challenges would Abbadon present?

I've never seen a group of players knowingly ask to be slaughtered so gleefully before, but I admire their boldness, at least! So here I am to offer the smallest look at what a direct mortal attack on the fortress of the Horseman of War would look like:

Are you familiar with No Man's Land? It was the name given to the stretch of blasted desolation and sucking mud that dominated the space between enemy trenches in World War I. ANY forward progress by either party was met with hails of automatic gunfire, distant rifle shots, and even artillery barrages from both tremendous cannons and mortar shots alike.

This is what awaits mortal forces attempting to attack the Cinder Furnace, home base of Szuriel. Abaddon itself is dangerous enough, as the (literal) soul-sucking swampland means that, without magical assistance, movement through it is glacial, taxing, and often fatal as pests, disease, and ambushes from the daemons who know how to navigate its waters and mud come from every side. But we're not focusing on the swamps of Abaddon, we're focusing on the hellscape surrounding the Furnace.

The tech level on Golarion is wibbly wobbly; everyone uses swords and full heavy plate is the top of the line in armor, but automatons and guns exist. There's even one nation, Alkenstar, who specializes in crafting firearms and war machines and exporting them. They're ahead of the technological curve by quite a few centuries because they live in a gigantic dead magic zone. It's said that if Aklenstar fully revved up production, they could probably introduce enormous quantities of firearms to the whole world!

And it won't come anywhere close to what Szuriel has at her disposal. Golarion isn't the only world Szuriel has a presence on, not nearly. There is at least one that's extremely important to this discussion: Earth. Bringing up No Man's Land and WW1 was important, because at the time of several Adventure Paths on Golarion, there is a war of terrific scale going on on a far-flung planet where magic has all but disappeared, forcing its inhabitants to embrace technology. These distant humans have created weapons and machines the likes of which technology enthusiasts on Golarion can scarcely envision; titanic metal vehicles with cannons that can cause unheard of damage, canisters of toxic mist that kill with even the smallest breath, artillery cannons that can fire from so far away that even a solider aware of them cannot possibly prepare for their incoming shots, and guns that fire more rapidly than anything Alkenstar has ever made.

Szuriel has these at her disposal.

Locked up in her fortress, she has alien weapons of war that can inflict death and pain on a scale a medieval warrior could not possibly comprehend. And if you attack her directly? She doesn't believe in fighting fair or holding back, she believes in winning a battle at any cost and inflicting as much horrified despair on her enemies as possible. She'll unleash all of it, and any weapons held in reserve are only held so because she wants to bask in your terror. She may not even need the help of the other Horsemen, including fellow inventor of death Charon, though a direct mortal invasion of Abaddon may move the other Four to send their forces in, if only to teach you a lesson about staying on your turf.

And this isn't even going into what Szuriel herself can do on her own, and you know she's NOT going to be on her own. History's most depraved generals and warriors serve at her beck and call, the most violent of the Harbingers submit to her rule, and she has legions of daemonic servants that nearly match the numbers found in Pestilence.

This is, of course, assuming that you're only going in with mortal forces. There are more than a few gods across the whole alignment spectrum who'd love to see Szuriel toppled (those four I listed are just the major ones; there's plenty of demigods and gods from beyond the Inner Sea who'd like her gone, too), and if you're going to be gathering a force of thousands from across the entire world, you'll absolutely have access to a means of gathering assistance from each of them. If you wanted to give players the option, going on major quests to gather the ingredients for a massive Gate spell to invite, say, the armies of both Heaven and Hell alongside whatever forces Gorum has at his disposal, could help... well, not level the playing field, because Szuriel never fights fair, but it would definitely put her on the back foot.

Beware, though, because such a massive invasion would absolutely attract the attention of the other Four, as well as the other gods in Abaddon... though they're absolutely wildcards in this battle. Urgathoa would never violate her treaty with the Four Horsemen by moving against them, but Zyphus? Zyphus has a reason to buck against Szuriel, specifically. because his territory happens to be surrounded on all sides by hers. He may not help overtly, but his penchant for causing accidents and sabotage would be quite the boon against Szuriel's overwhelming industrial advantage.

The battle your players are asking for operates on a scale Pathfinder will struggle and chug with, though if you're up for a challenge, I suggest studying up on the Mass Combat Rules.

#asks #theonethatannoysinthenight #this was a fun one to answer

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oita-division · 4 months

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—{ I don't have dreams, I have goals }— Harvey Specter

=======================================================

Teijo Masakuza (a.k.a. Yama) is an Auto Mechanic and the leader of 地獄Riderz

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TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Name: Teijo Masakazu

Kanji: 貞城正和

Romanji: Masakuza

MC Name: Yama

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Occupation: Auto Mechanic

Birthday: February 10

Age: 29

Zodiac: Aquarius

Height: 182cm

Weight: 76 kg

Blood Type: AB

FUN FACTS

Dominant Hand: Right

Likes: his motorcycle, mini car figures, old jigoku riders, cleaning, adult magazines, racing, bathhouses

Hates: Sen’s feral behavior and lack of common sense, taxes, bills, betrayal, rain, heat, milk

Favorite Food: sunomono

Least Favorite Food: bitter gourd

Color: Indigo

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PROFILE

He is a heavy smoking mechanic who owns a shabby workshop named Teijo’s CARSCH Shop. During in his youth, he was disreputed a bad name caused by his delinquencies.

He was once part of a big-shot biker gang 地獄Riderz (that they use for the division team) known to be rowdy of driving around the street but honorable in their territory. Well-respected and feared by his peers and was known to be enforcer and demon YAMA in the gang although his life went down as he was been orchestrated, accused for theft and murder, being betrayed by his friends, got arrested, then spent few years in prison.

After his release, he turns over a new leaf by starting to work in a honest job as a mechanic. Unfortunately, his business didn’t go well as many locals knew or heard of about his previous life and few of the costumers ever came to his workshop due to that. Sadly he again suffer a depression of his sister’s death and his missing nephew for many years

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APPEARANCE

Teijo is an average muscular man with a light skin color and has a long dark blue hair tied into a ponytail. He has a thick eyebrows, light yellow color eyes, and has bunch of tattoo’s on his front and back of the neck. His dresscode is really simple as he wore his mechanic uniform in his work or outside of work.

He wore a blue coverall with a oni print on his back and inside, is a torn but he slightly buttons up the top shoe while showing a torn sando with small clips sticking to it and wearing brown leather boots with laces. Inside the pocket of his pants, he kept his belongings there but mostly there are spare tools he can use for occasions. He also does wear accessories on his person like he has ear pierced on his right ear and barbwire chain necklace.

He also wore a black fingerless gloves, he says his knuckles from his gloves contains actual metal to look like he wore a brass knuckles and a red oni printed handkerchief to wrapped around his face when he was riding his bike.

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PERSONALITY

He comes off as a lone wolf and aloof individual who isn’t interested in anything other than vehicles and fixing with screws, bolts and whatnot. He works alone in his workshop and didn’t hire workers. It’s maybe because he lost his faith and trust on people ever since he was betrayed by his friends from his old gang and distant himself to never made friends with anyone again, except his nephew and Ishihara he can talk to atleast but he does know how to socialize only if it’s work. If it’s outside of work, he is mostly sluggish—more like a tired old geezer of not wanting to do anything, just look for a nice place to tak a nap without thinking of the world surround him.

Teijo is more wise and logical among the group as he experienced of being the vice leader and enforcer in the old biker gang however, there are rare times he gets annoyed when he had to deal with troublesome situations and get it done quickly. If there’s anything to get him lively or pique his interesting is something the involves car/motorcycle race because he loves the thrill feeling of speed. He doesn’t care how his business is low-rated. People would missed out that he is well-versed in machines, especially with cars & motorbikes. He is skilled enough to fix and assemble parts of a vehicle at ease.

He used to be very different in his youth, he was once a typical bad kid who made a lot of mistakes and shunned by others which lead him to prison. As he was released, he became mature, calm and collected person but something utterly struck his spirit down when he found out his sister lost her life and his nephew went missing during that time. He made a promise to his sister once he finds her son, he’ll be the one to look after him although there’s still some of his guilt plagues him for his actions in the past.

Despite his apathetic attitude, he does have some good points of being caring on worrying of other people’s well-being even though if he doesn’t overtly show it to the ones he cared about but will go to great lengths to aid them, specially taking care of Sen. Teijo will do what it takes for his nephew to be happy and fit in with other people. Between him and Sen, he acts like a father. He admits he miss the days when he was at the biker gang that he wished to bring back the gang but into a better one.

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RAP ABILITY

Charge (it’s a life risking effect. His ability is waste all his energy to countlessly attack the opponents in every turn. Once he’s in a brink of exhaustion, he needs to absorb a single damage he’s taken in order to manifest a powerful offensive attack)

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ETYMOLOGY

—> Teijo means “chastity” (貞) (tei) and “castle” (城) (jo)

—> Masakazu means “correct, right” (正) (masa) and “peace” (和) (kazu)

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TRIVIA

His MC name Yama is named after a japanese god of hell “Yama/Enma” from the japanese mythology

He was an acquaintance of the leader of Wild Shīnu, Ryuunosuke Sekiguchi when they fought eachother long time ago

He knows little bit of martial arts thanks to Ryuunosuke’s dad teachings

He enjoys watching car racing, in fact, he secretly went to an underground street race without Sen and Ishihara knowing

He actually knows how to make tattoo’s so he’s that one who puts a tattoo on Sen and Ishihara

What he mostly likes to do is to laze around in the bathhouse without doing anything troublesome

Teijo intentionally make a pun for his shop brand with a German word “arsch” meaning “ass” to put Car + Arsch = Carsch so the people wouldn’t know he’s using a vulgar name in public

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#hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic oc #oc division #ōita divisin #地獄Riderz #teijo masakuza #profile #new division

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rjzimmerman · 8 days

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Summary of this story from Canary Media from Heatmap AM:

The Department of Energy yesterday offered Plug Power a conditional commitment of $1.66 billion in loan guarantees to build up to six clean hydrogen plants that use the company’s electrolyzer technology. The hydrogen would “power fuel cell-electric vehicles used in the material handling, transportation, and industrial sectors, resulting in an estimated 84% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional hydrogen production,” the DOE announcement said. Most hydrogen production uses fossil fuels to run an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. But clean hydrogen relies on electrolyzers powered by renewable sources – or natural gas with carbon capture. The Biden administration sees clean hydrogen as a key part of its push to decarbonize heavy industry. The deal isn’t done yet – Plug will have to prove its projects will benefit local communities and “satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions” before the loan goes ahead. But the news sent Plug’s stock soaring nonetheless.

#hydrogen #hydrogen production #Plug Power #Department of Energy

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originemesis · 2 months

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[ sobs ]+ I'm sorry I thrive off malewife tears

They giveth and they taketh away...such was the cruelty concentrated at heaven's rotten core. Sure, they'd given him a sick pad to live in- but wait, he didn't meet the tenant requirements after the fact and had kicked him out on his ass. He'd refused to let that get him down and built his own patch of paradise in the territory called 'as good as it gets'. Even made himself a flock of sorts, and for what? For them to take both his sons from him in a squabble and eventually Eve too when it was just decided that having them both in the same cup of eternity's balancing scale would be too much for it to bear. Instead they thought he should bear the weight of their decisions. So, when Sera thought it was such a hard but wise decision to pry his lieutenant away from him next-...having decided that neither of them were fulfilling the purpose in which she even gave him her services having decided that he would be better off with another fresh Exorcist that could start the training effort back up again for his unruly soul-...fuck that. He went a little feral over it.

He'd lost it in the sense that heaven's embassy now had a steaming hole in the far wall- vaporized by a burst of energy akin to the desperation a cornered animal might lunge into when a step too far was taken. Thankfully nobody was hit, but unleashing holy lasers on a holy building like that earned him the wing cones of shame which clamped at the base of where the appendages met shoulder blade and kept him booted from the air for a time like a vehicle with an outstanding warranty for missed property taxes.

In the poor lighting of his apartment- also a wreck because if he wasn't able to fuck up heaven's embassy with lasers, then he was going to knock every little thing that came into his line of vision onto the floor, stamp and kick at it for good measure, he seethed to her while pacing wildly. "Can you BELIEVE this? Thinking she can separate us- if brains were tits she'd be the flattest fucking bitch, I swear-" Another hour or so of vicious lashing out at anything and everything finally came to a close with him backing her into a corner and just-...slumping down to sit with her, wings rising just enough to cover the fact she was there- a part of an awakened dragon's hoard.

The tears were an angry sort, wrenched from the corners of his eyes as his teeth grit and ground and his fury flared between vicious and exhausted. The wing clips were heavy and he'd been very animated even with them on. Exhaustion was creeping up on him and he hated it because what if they decided his tantrum wasn't enough and they came in the middle of the night to collect her? No way. No fucking way. Sleep was a myth now and never happening again. "They can't take you from me- I'll peck their fucking eyes out, man. The awful FUCKS-" And it was with that final fuck that his voice cracked just enough to convince more golden tears to well and trail down a clenched jaw which he shoved down and into the crook between her shoulder and her chest, grinding away to blubber and hyperventilate to the tune of an assortment of biting slurs.

If he could have anything...fucking anything at all- let it be her.

#//they get down mr president tackled his ass im sure #deathinfeathers #verse ; // the crusades #long post #suggestive cw

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triune-god · 3 months

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i love public transportation and i live in los angeles which has a burgeoning system, so there’s bound to be kinks and learning curves. we weren’t lucky to get a great society metro, most of the city proper is single family housing outside of wilshire, dtla, and some properties in westlake area, and la was built with the car as the main resident within the city, so no matter what, public transpo & pedestrian oriented infrastructure will be an uphill battle. i will always applaud metro for /trying/, but it’s just frustrating sometimes.

i’ve been late to work & school more times than i’m comfortable with because the e line has no signal preemption so we have to wait at jefferson, pico, western, vermont, and crenshaw for four minutes each like a car and then we have to wait at the station for 10 minutes for some unexplainable issue. and then because of that, i miss my bus which wasn’t there anyway because of bunching and poor infrastructure so now there’s 100 people at the bus stop cramming into a bus to get to their jobs, but cars are clogging the roads and making it near impossible to travel more than 20 miles an hour for much of the trip there.

cars are the least efficient form of transportation known to man and one of the greatest cities on earth, my hometown, where i was born and raised, was not built for and will continue to denigrate humans and pedestrian alike. and, car drivers will continue to demean and fear monger about walking and public transportation. the suv & light truck arms race is turning thoroughfares which should have multitudes of modes of transport within and serve people into raceways where you can go 45 with no repercussions. right hand turns on red have nearly hit me more times than i have fingers.

i live in a city where we can afford to widen the 405 into oblivion and bloat lapd’s budget yearly and yet we can’t provide good enough infrastructure for angelenos?? this is a major policy failure and we are living with its effects. i’m so tired of living in a city built for the wealthy and for the vehicle. we need to change los angeles zoning codes, enforce rent caps, institute a low income rent moratorium, tear down the 110, 10, 710, 101, 405, and 210, institute a robust commuter rail system, publicize the railroads, remove eighteen wheelers as the primary mode of freight movement, expand heavy rail through urban core, increase density along metro corridors and use property taxes to pay for projects and maintain system, increase metro ambassadors, clean the cars, update the rolling stock, rebuild union station, create streetcar suburbs in la county, increase density in the suburbs, turn all boulevards and avenues into mixed mode thoroughfares, increase cycling network, create a statewide engineering and construction firm instead of outsourcing, produce american made rolling stock, create a high speed rail system, and turn cities back into thriving hubs of culture where we can afford rent, create art, live lives, move freely, build community, and live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

sorry for any typos, inconsistencies, or any oddities. i’m typing this while walking 25 minutes late to my public policy class.

#six speaks #public transit #la metro #amtrak official #urbanism #rant #american problems 💔#long post

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weaselle · 1 year

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i only respond when i have a certain kind of active social obligation.

like, i can spend all day carrying heavy things upstairs for a friend helping them move. Or i can run my ass off on a 16 hour restaurant shift. Or i can focus on what is going on every second even if not much is happening if i’m on a sports team.

But just for me? i can’t seem to make myself do a damn thing on my own time. Some kind of executive dysfunction thing.

I feel like modern living, especially in the U.S., has, over the generations, pushed us further and further toward some kind of every human is a self sufficient island unto themselves kind of existence.

And what i really want, is a team meant to cooperatively live modern life through assigned responsibilities and leveraging group dynamics.

And i know i know, that’s what a family is supposed to be but let me make three quick points

A: part of the reason we’ve had a push toward that individualism is because there are a lot of people who for one reason or another don’t have access to family that can reasonably be considered a support system or cooperative cell of any kind, and

2nd: classic family structures are possibly not the most efficient or best suited to really address all the details of a modern western life ( let’s just say North America, i don’t mean to describe social realities that i’m not intimately familiar with)

Last: this proposed social unit is not in competition with the existence of family in any way, but is complimentary -- for example, any family could also simultaneously form this kind of group, and, to a certain extent, many already do

Anyway, I want to be, like, a pirate crew, but instead of a ship it’s a house, and instead of plundering ships we’re sailing the economic sea in search of our fortune.

And so you’d have, like, your supply officer, who would be responsible for enforcing group goals in researching and acquiring supplies. For example ethically sourced chocolate, and not any of the Fake Ethically Sourced brands that are owned by the 3 giant child-slavery-sourcing chocolate companies.

That shit takes research, and there are SO MANY such things to consider -- what IS the environmental difference between wild caught vs fish farmed? Hint: fish farmed means keeping them crowded in a giant net off the coast. Which, just like for industrial chicken farming, concentrates their waste (poop) into an area that, while sizable, is much smaller than that number of animals would normally be spread over. And that poop, in small amounts, adds vital nutrients to the environment, but, in high concentration like this, blights the entire area like a poison.

What i’m saying is, getting into all that and making informed decisions about how you acquire your food, and furniture, and printer ink, everything, that’s like an entire part-time job all by itself.

In fact, it might turn out your Supply Officer needs a supply assistant. And somebody needs to go over the electric bill etc and make sure we’re only paying for what we used, right? Keep the cars registrations up to date, schedule regular maintenance on home and vehicles, over see annual doctor appointments and probably do the taxes -- Paperwork and Appointments, or maybe Calendar and Budget, probably want some kind of medic, of course somebody in the kitchen, maybe three somebodies depending on group size, don’t forget your maintenance and repair mate...

IDK the point is to look objectively at what this life has become, and create a team for handling that on purpose.

That’s what i want. And i want it to be common. Like, a normal socio-economic institution like marriage or incorporating as a company. So you can sort of slot yourself into one or two specialties on purpose, get good at cooking, or, scheduling, or something you had an affinity for on purpose for when you joined such a group.

If i was in a group like that, i’d be good at life. I’d be doing my job, i’d be the best for the team, i’d be trying to show off how good i was at it, how hard i worked at it. Right? For the group. But try so hard as just, me? what’s the point

#my life

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symbolicliving · 9 months

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Uranus RETROGRADE in Taurus - Electrical, Digital, Environmental...

Uranus Retrograde is coming up on August 28, 2023.

The technological push and the environment are interlinked these days. We are likely to see some reversals of thought on what's really going on as Uranus goes Retrograde over the next few months. And with destructive/transformative/revolutionary Pluto going back into Aquarius (ruled by Uranus) next year, perhaps we'll see collective rebellion and chaos in the technology sector associated with the environment.

Going ALL electric, like electric vehicles, and going ALL Digital, like digital money or ID, ALWAYS has the potential to lead to a HUGE shock when the electric/digital grid goes down, has a glitch or perhaps is turned off intentionally (for whatever financial, political, environmental, etc., reason). Uranus likes freedom, but if the switch is flicked off by however, or whoever flicks it off, that's it - total control which would lead to chaos and rebellion. Another reminder to not put all your eggs in one basket.

Uranus is associated with The Fool. More people collectively may start to realize the foolishness of not looking at the bigger picture. The environmental destruction of mining and creating chemicals to create electric batteries is hidden and not talked about, but it is a reality that exists. Wind Turbines are called green alternative, but they too require mining, and actually oil to lubricate or else they would seize up and not work.

Where CO2 is the catch-all hyper-focus and the demonized hot topic to rally millions of minds to a collective mindset, nobody at all points out, talks about or names ANY of the endless list of toxic chemicals that are spewed into our air, water, soil, and food daily that are used to manufacture all the zillions of items people want. CO2 is necessary for all life, and is literally plant food that causes food and all plants, fruits, vegetables, trees to thrive and sustain all life on the planet. It's the toxic chemicals that are conveniently overlooked by targeting a natural molecule that sustains all life on earth. With all those billions in profits from using toxic chemicals, they wouldn't dare bring attention in that direction. C02 is a convenient distraction from the litany of toxins nobody wants to talk about as they are too profitable.

GMO foods, Roundup, Monsanto.... all these USED TO BE a concern, but nobody talks about them. Cancerous pesticides sprayed on crops... nobody wants to talk about any of that anymore.

Using technology, spraying chemicals and heavy metal nano-particles into the air to block out the Sun is next on the agenda and the effort to convince billions to accept it as normal and necessary is in the works. The Sun is THE most essential part of our natural existence, without it life can not exist on earth. The Sun symbolizes the light of the world, and they want to block it out, to create a haze, to reduce the light. That's simply unnatural and just another blow by those that see themselves as gods to our natural world.

Those with big money ruling over humanity, have always thought they have the power of gods, deserve to be gods, are gods, and want everyone else to believe in them and support them as they mold and shape what manifests in the material world. The same egoism has been with humanity for thousands of years and it's always been the method to trick and distract the people.

At the end of the day all of this is associated with money, power and control. Carbon taxes, carbon credits, climate lock downs, social credit score system, digital ID, digital Currency, it all has to do with an elitist class controlling everyone else, and Uranus wants freedom. What a dilemma.

More about Uranus in Taurus

#astrology #horoscope #uranus retrograde #uranus #uranus in taurus #taurus #environment #nature #gmo #money #digital currency #technology

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aonoexpat · 1 year

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SO UHM I GOT A VAN

27-05-2023

It all happened a lot more quickly than I had expected, and it's not over yet, but as I type these words I can look out my window at the first ever vehicle in my name that's going to be my home for the foreseeable future and it's very surreal.

He's a Nissan Elgrand E50 from 2000, and all I could think when I first saw him was ✨Here comes the booooy ✨, hence the he/him pronouns. The previous owners seem to disagree because they had named it Elsie. To honour that I think I'll go with Elrond, after the Elven king from Lord of the Rings :)

The hunt was a bit of a rollercoaster. I used Trademe and Facebook marketplace (ugh I know, I wish there was another way) to browse vans in the Te Whanganui-a-tara area because I wanted to be able to easily go and see the vans before committing. Of course by searching locally I limited myself, but still managed to find a good group of candidates.

It was really tricky at first because I had no clue what to look for. I'd never owned a car before, and still don't have a lot of experience driving. I was extremely lucky to have my wonderful friends to rely on, who were happy to search with me and tell me the pros and cons about the cars we found ❤️❤️❤️

I learned a whole bunch about cars in the process, and ended up judging the listed vans on the following points:

WOF: this stands for Warrant Of Fitness (Dutch people would know this as APK), and means that the car has been found to mechanically sound an safe to drive. You do not want to buy a car without a valid WOF, for it will likely not pass the tests again, and then you won't be allowed to take it on the road;

Rego: short for registration. This is Aotearoa's version of what the Dutch know as wegenbelasting, or road tax. You register the car to be allowed to use the roads. There are no tests associated with this, but it's common courtesy to sell a car with a bit of rego left on it;

Self-contained certification: a car can be certified self-contained, which means a person can sleep or camp in it without needing external facilities such as lavatories or kitchens. Freedom camping sites can require anybody parking there to display a certification, or you get sent away. The rules for this certification are being changed at the moment, but in short they require the car to have a (portable) toilet, a sink, enough fresh and gray water, an evacuation hose and a rubbish bin. My van is certified self-contained until December 2023, which means I'll be able to freedom camp with it for a while. I would like to get the certification renewed for two more years, as a certified self-contained car is a lot easier to resell when the time comes;

Mileage, or traveled distance: a car that has driven fewer kilometers in its lifetime is preferable over one that has driven a lot. I've noticed that with backpacker vans, <200.000 km is quite low, as some go up to 700.000+. The one I ended up buying has ~211.000 km to its name, so that was definitely acceptable;

Fuel type: a petrol engine seemed preferable over a diesel one, because diesel burns less efficiently which means more pollution (unless you've got a turbo engine). Because of that you have to pay an extra fee to travel with a diesel car. However, diesel is a lot cheaper, so financially it would be the more interesting choice. I ended up going for a petrol car because it was much cheaper than the diesel option I considered, so the cost got canceled out;

Fuel efficiency: over here this is measured in L/100km. If a car needs <10L/100km, you've got yourself a real nice one. Unfortunately mine does ~15L/100km, because it's a heavy van, but again it was quite cheap so I was happy to accept that;

Solar panel: I really wanted a car with a solar panel on top. That way I can use electricity in the car while it's parked, especially when I'll be staying in the same spot for a while and not using the engine to charge the car battery. Mine has a 110W solar panel on top that connects directly to an inverter/battery combination in the van, which outputs 12V as well as 110V, if I recall correctly. This means I can easily charge a phone as well as a laptop, or use an electric kettle;

Insulation: against the cold outside air (remember, it's winter here). This is something I only found in a van that was professionally set up and resold, and was not common. My van does not have insulation, but I think I'll be okay! I've got that hot water bottle from my last road trip, and I opted to buy a small electric blanket as well as a heavy-duty sleeping bag and some proper thermal clothes;

Seating area: I really wanted the bed in the van to be convertible to a couch, as I'd heard from others that it can get a bit annoying if you can only lie down in the back. Luckily mine can do that, and it even has a little table I can stick into the floor :)

There was another van that struck my fancy, or dare I say, I fell in love with a little bit. It was a really nicely converted Toyota Estima, a very popular make and model for backpacker cars over here. However, when I went to test drive it, the battery was miraculously flat, and after a close look at its service reports I couldn't trust that it would be mechanically okay for the trip I wanted to undertake. It broke my heart but I had to let it go. That had been the first one I went to see, so after that it felt like I was back at square one and the search was going to take forever. But then only two days later the deal was struck on Elrond, and suddenly I had my ticket to adventure! He seems a lot more reliable than the Estima, aside from some slightly worn brake pads and a cam belt that might need replacing soon (doesn't it sound like I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT I can't believe it either). He also needs a new head unit that will hopefully allow me to play music and have a little rear-view camera for tight parking spots. This could possibly take up to a couple of weeks to get sorted.

I'll work on getting it set up a bit more to my liking tomorrow and will probably upload more details soon, but for now I really just wanted to share the big news!! I'm really excited about it, I feel a lot better mentally now that the whole search is behind me and I have a tangible next step. I genuinely can't wait to have it all finished and get it on the road. I drove it home by myself today and even though it was dark outside and I was scared, I managed just fine, and that gave me a huge confidence boost. I really feel like I'm going to be adventuring again, and I'm grateful for this opportunity 🥹

#aotearoa #backpacking #van life

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