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/r/QOTSA Official Band of the Week 38: THE BLACK KEYS
Of all the casualties of the year from hell 2020, one sticks out for me the most. Pearl Jam. I had motherfucking PEARL JAM tickets. I was going to see them on the Gigaton tour, and they cancelled back in March. You have to remember that this was before sports and gatherings were cancelled, well before any widespread loss of life. Back then, I didn’t know anyone sick from COVID-19, let alone anyone who had died from it. Hell, these were the good old days when nobody wore masks outside, and you couldn’t tell the flat-earth anti-vaxxer loser crowd from anyone else until they opened their mouths. I gotta say, that concert cancellation felt like I’d been emotionally kicked to the curb. I had such high expectations and I was psyched. When it was cancelled, it was the first thing that really made COVID-19 feel real to me. Of course, all the other shit that has happened since, and the unbelievable loss of life due to the disease makes this moment completely pale in comparison to our current reality. But in March 2020, this was my personal turning point. Live music continues to be a casualty of the pandemic. At least my Pearl Jam tickets are electronic and the concert has just been postponed. I am hanging on to them in the hopes of seeing Eddie Vedder and the boys when the apocalypse is over. So I can’t say that I was super surprised when my tickets to see The Black Keys that same month were also cancelled and my money was refunded. That one was like getting a kick to the gut when you are already down, but it wasn’t unexpected either. The shitty thing is while I still have the Pearl Jam tickets, The Black Keys ones just plain evaporated when the money was refunded. Did I mention I miss live music? It doesn’t look like we are going to get to see concerts any time soon (or at least not until the vaccines are out there in far higher numbers than today). In the meantime, I am going to take us to enjoy the memory of my month of March 2020 that never was. That’s right, we are continuing our exploration of the Letter B. This week, we are going to check out THE BLACK KEYS. About Them What do you think of when I mention Akron, Ohio? If you are anything like me, you said tires. Akron was the home of the American Rubber Industry at the start of the 20th Century, to the point where the city called itself ‘the rubber capital of the world’. Four major tire manufacturers were located there: Goodyear , Firestone, Goodrich and General Tire. In fact, much of the housing in the city was built in part by the rubber industry to support the workers. So circular black round things are nothing new to Akron. But flat ones made of vinyl there are somewhat more rare. I know I was surprised to find out that Akron was also the home of Chrissy Hynde of The Pretenders, the 80’s new wave/punk band Devo, and this week’s rockin’ duo, The Black Keys. Also, some guy named LeBron James is from there, but since he left Cleveland it is a sin to even mention his name. Patrick Carney was born in Akron in 1980. His dad worked for the local newspaper as a reporter, and his mom worked for the city. His parents divorced when he was 6. His dad listened to all kinds of music and introduced him to many different genres. He lived part time with his mom and part time with his dad. Turns out, his dad’s house was right around the block from where Dan Auerbach lived. Auerbach is a year older than Carney. His mom was a French teacher and his father smelt of elderberries was an antique dealer. It was his dad’s collection of old Blues records that infected young Dan with a love for music. He grew up with Bluegrass and Blues in a time when other kids were listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden. As it turned out, there was a pretty strong musical background hidden in the neighborhood where both boys grew up. Auerbach, the cousin of one late great Robert Quine, was fated to meet Carney, the nephew of saxophonist Ralph Carney, who worked with the also late-great Tom Waits. Or, going by genres… a combination of experimental rock and Blues/Jazz. Yep, sounds about right. Their friendship first developed in highschool. Despite being in very, very different circles (cheer captain and bleachers soccer captain and social outcast) the boys found a shared interest in music. They began jamming in 1996, with Auerbach learning guitar and Carney playing drums (and recording with his shiny new 4-track tape recorder. ) Not much came from this until Auerbach, a fresh dropout of U of Akron, began touring. He tried to make a living doing small bar performances, but quickly found most venues would demand a demo tape. Auerbach reached out to the only person he knew who had recording equipment - Carney. Carney agreed, allowing his basement to be used as a studio while Auerbach found his bandmates. Who, fatefully for us, never showed up. The duo ended up jamming out in the basement. Their chemistry led to them producing a 6-track demo consisting of “old Blues rip-offs and words made up on the spot”. They sent this rag-tag demo off to 12 labels. Only one label replied: a small-time one out of Los Angeles called Alive. The year was 2002. The duo needed a name. Their moniker came from schizophrenia - I kid you not. And neither do I. (We also don’t.) A mutual acquaintance, Alfred McMoore, would leave incoherent messages referring to the boy's fathers as “Black Keys” - you know, those piano keys like D-Flat or C-Sharp or B-SharpSharp. In March of 2002, the duo played their first live performance at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, to an astonishing eight people. The duo needed a “big” release to make it “big”. So, they had to “come up” with something “big”. The Big Come Up (2002) is Indie as fuck. Much like their first demo, it was recorded entirely in Carney’s basement on an 8-track tape recorder. (If you are following along: Upgrades, people. Upgrades! !) It’s a mix of Blues covers and original tracks, and despite it’s roughness, it’s a beautiful example of the duo’s sheer talent. Honestly, the loose, rough-around-the-edges nature of this thing suits the music exceptionally well. Tracks like I’ll Be Your Man, Busted, and Heavy Soul are lo-fi, Bluesy blasts of distorted guitar, sultry vocals, and thinly mixed thumpin’ drums. What can I say - there’s an undeniable charm in simplicity. And this big come up was not going unnoticed. The boys achieved some decent sales, and garnered a bit of a cult following. Critics started to notice them, and soon, they managed to land themselves a whole new deal. That’s right, they were moving up in the world. The Black Keys started mowing lawns full time. Truly, the dream job. Look man, I said the sales were decent, not amazing. The duo still needed cash for the road, so they did what they could to make ends meet. Mowing lawns really paid off when they earned themselves a new record deal, this time with Mississippi’s Fat Possum Records. Evidently, they completed their second album within mere days of signing. Possums are inspirational, what can I say. 2003’s Thickfreakness is every bit as Indie as their first album. It was recorded in the same style as its predecessors - i.e., Carney's basement on ye olde 8-track tape recorder. This time, however, all the recording was done in a single 14 hour session. Apparently, this strategy was necessary since the band had spent all of their advanced pay on rent. In other words, it’s basically a live album. It’s raw, it’s rough, and it’s rockin’ - and yet somehow, it’s as smooth as the petroleum jelly on its cover. Oh yeah. Thick AND freaky. Actually, quick side note on the cover art of this album: the band had almost zero idea what they wanted to do for it at first. They drove around Akron searching for ideas, and only got one when they stumbled into a Super K-Mart. There, they found a can of Pomade hair styling cream, and were struck by inspiration. They rushed it home and took the image we all know and love by lighting it up with every lamp in their house. Patrick Carney’s hand is seen in the image. Now you know! Any way, if you liked their first album, you’d love Thickfreakness just as much. Tracks like Hard Row, Set You Free, and the titular Thickfreakness are explosions of catchy riffs and Bluesy euphoria. Critics hailed it once again, and soon, The Black Keys were garnering even more attention than before. Many compared them to the White Stripes, and not always in a positive light. There was a certain level of derision in the comparison, since both bands were duos from the midwest that played Garagey Blues Rock and had a color in their name. Hmm. Okay, when you put it like that they sound pretty fucking similar. But I mean, it isn’t completely unfathomable that it happened twice…now, if I were to go start a band called “The Grey, Door-Unlocking, Straight Lines”, THAT might be a bit copyright infringe-y. This also gave rise to their first big time advertising offer. They could have gotten £200,000 for letting a company use one of their songs in an English Mayonnaise Ad. Mayonnaise: the international benchmark for when you are hitting the big time. However, they turned down the offer in order to not be perceived as “Sell outs”. This may be foreshadowing, unless I forget to follow up on this. I guess we’ll find out later. The band faced a challenge in their third album. Their previous record studio, a basement, was no longer available to them after the landlord sold it. They found the answer in Akron’s industrial history: a makeshift studio in a former tire factory. Released in September of 2004, Rubber Factory received critical acclaim. It was the first of their albums to chart on the US billboard 200 (at a respectable 143). Stand-out songs include the two singles, 10 A.M. Automatic and Till I get my way/Girl is on my Mind, the latter of which being a double A-side. The duo rolled across the globe on a world tour, spawning a live album fittingly called Live in 2005. The boys were doing pretty damn well. Enjoying the success of their previous album, they went on to finish up their deal with Fat Possum. The 6 track album Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough acts as a tribute to Bluesman Junior Kimbrough, who had previously signed on with the Chunky Marsupial label. Recorded in an Akron Basement, it’s a classy tribute to a good musician. But the most important part of Chulahoma was that it set the boys free from the… pouch, I guess? Marsupials are weird. The point is, the boys could now sign on with a different label. And after Rubber Factory, they certainly had options. The Fat Possum contract satisfied, the band signed with Nonesuch Records in 2006. Later that year, the band released a second live album, Live in Austin, which was recorded in 2003. The band also landed a few major advertising gigs, including Sony, Nissan, and Victoria’s Secret. You’d think with all this new popularity, the band would go for a real, serious studio for their fourth album. Magic Potion (2006) was recorded in Carney’s Basement. I guess some habits are hard to shake. Auerbach was quoted as saying, “We like the sound of odd rooms. It's got concrete floors and walls. The upstairs floor is the ceiling. The mixing desk and computer are on top of the tool desk built by the old guy who used to live there.” The band took the finished tapes, and had them remastered for $350. When they were returned, the duo discovered that their master tapes had zero bass. In a move that Carney still regrets, the band went “Oh, Ok” and mailed them off to the record label anyway. The album was their first to contain all-original songs, and included three singles: Just Got to Be, a pretty started Bluesy-Rock song. Your Touch which could also be a Victoria's Secret deal is a pretty straightforward Rock song. You’re The One is a bit more reserved, but not a ballad by any stretch of the mind. It’s 42 minutes of their standard, Bluesy Rock and it’s worth a listen. It also spawned the band’s largest tour thus far, filling theaters and 1,000-seat venues. In 2007, producer Danger Mouse began working on a record for one Ike Turner. Turner was an early Rock and Roll legend, and when Danger Mouse asked if The Black Keys would like to record a few songs for the project, they jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, the deal did not go through. Later, in 2007, Turner passed away. The band was left with a scattering of material that they decided to use to build a new album. Attack & Release, their fifth studio album, was born of this and produced by Danger Mouse. The band noticeably moved away from their “homemade” ethos by recording in a professional studio. They also hired an outside producer. Danger Mouse helped the band out with buttery-smooth production values and instrumental flourishes. The net result was an album that debuted at #14 on the Billboard 200. This thing is a real Beaut’. It brings a whole new sheen to the Black Keys’ signature brand of garage minimalism. The band stepped out of their established comfort zone, and came through better than ever. I’m talking backing vocals, guest guitarists, flute players. Dogs and cats, living together. Mass hysteria. Hell, why not throw in a jaw harp and a bass clarinet? We’re getting creative here. Front to back, this album is thoroughly enjoyable and remarkably clean, especially if you’re used to their more rugged early work. Check out the banjo-inspired riffage of Psychotic Girl, and you’ll understand. Fun fact: that song is certifiably catchier than syphilis. I Got Mine and Strange Times are fast, thumping, and should probably come with a speeding warning. Yet the Keys showed a softer side here too - Remember When is a beautiful two part slow burn, and the album’s final track Things Ain't Like They Used To Be is a silky, freshly-mowed Bluegrass duet. The production quality on Attack & Release became a staple of all of their future albums. Have you ever wondered about those crazy stupid instructions you sometimes see on everyday items? Like, Q-Tip instructions where they say not to put them in your ears? (Which is exactly what I do, because they scratch that itch so good.) Well, if you look at the cover of the 2010 album Brothers, you totally get the same vibe. It was a success, with two songs off of it - Tighten Up and Howlin’ For You - generating tons of buzz for the band. Both had significant airplay. If I am completely honest here, Howlin’ For You was my introduction to the duo. I remember hearing it on the radio one day and thinking how different the sound was, and how fresh it sounded compared to the hillbilly-hey-ho kinda stuff that was then all over the airwaves. In reality, the success of this album probably saved the band. Auerbach had been dabbling in solo projects and had let everyone know - except Carney. Carney had been going through a particularly shitty time, as his wife had cheated on him, stolen money, and lied to him repeatedly. He had just gone through a bad divorce (is there such a thing as a good divorce?) and his last important relationship was with his bandmate - who now wanted to do music without him. Fuck. Fortunately, the duo got their proverbial shit together and decided to keep making music. The title of the album reflects this re-commitment to the band. Brothers is darker, because Carney was in a dark place when it was made. The vibe of the record resonated with many. It won Grammy awards and gave the band some significant airplay and critical momentum. The boys went from being Indie darlings to mainstream music icons with this release. It has just been re-mastered and re-released for its 10th anniversary. The slow burn of success finally peaked for the band with El Camino in 2011. Seriously, you have already heard songs from this record, as they had massive airplay. If you somehow have lived under a Rock, this is a great place to start for the band. If Brothers was their Rated R, then El Camino is their Songs for the Deaf. Tracks like Lonely Boy and Gold on the Ceiling and Little Black Submarines were everywhere. The album received absolutely universal acclaim, and anyone who doesn’t like it is a flat-earth QAnon supporter. Well, probably. Perhaps one of the best things about the album is that instead of the classic title vehicle, the cover has a Plymouth Voyager. A van. With woodwalls, ffs. Anyone that knows any history of the band knows that the van there was a picture of the first vehicle that they toured in, making it the ultimate kind of in-joke. Carney, never one to be shy, compared the appearance of his home town to the cover of the album, saying that Akron was, “A busted up parking lot with a busted up car.” But at least we know that van had good tires. It was from Akron, after all. El Camino propelled The Black Keys from an opener to a headliner. They were soon selling out venues all over the world. To new listeners in 2011, they seemingly came out of nowhere. But to the eight early fans that had seen them (perhaps when they toured in that fugly van) this was the culmination of years of steady effort. Now they had to prove to the world that this record was not a fluke. Turn Blue, their eighth effort, came out in May of 2014. El Camino had been such a massive hit that the boys felt the heavy weight of expectations. They did not disappoint. Clearly inspired by Auerbach’s love of the Blues, this effort made numerous global top ten lists. Critics LOVED it. Tunes like Fever and Bullet in the Brain made you think you were listening to an album from the 60’s that was also somehow brand new. Their unique brand of Bluesy Garage Rock mixed with Psychedelia was unlike anything else out there. The cover art was supposed to be reminiscent of hippie mind control, and helped portray them as modern throwbacks. The boys had truly found fame. They were now headlining world tours, selling out stadiums, and finding their way into mainstream culture. They performed for the third time on SNL. Carney was having twitter fights with Justin Bieber fans (I mean, not the worst thing you could do) and, somewhat to his surprise, this kinda shit now made the entertainment news. Even the album was announced in a tweet by retired Heavyweight ear muncher boxing champion Mike Tyson. The Black Keys had a massive global tour in support of the record. They were on top of the world. And they were very soon burnt out. The constant grind of touring got to them. They got into music to make music, and felt that they were just too drained to do so. So they took a break. A long one. After a five-year hiatus where fans feared that they may never return, The Black Keys finally dropped Let’s Rock in June of 2019. The lead single from this album, Lo/Hi, was a gritty guitar-themed track that showed that this duo still had all the right moves, despite the long time between recording projects. The album itself is a scorcher. All of the songs were written by Auerbach and Carney in the studio, with neither of them bringing in anything pre-worked. They’d mess around with a lick or a theme for about an hour and if something in it clicked, they’d continue. If nothing did, they’d ditch it and move on. This approach may sound similar to many QotSA fans, as it mimics pretty closely what Josh does with his parade of artists out at Rancho de la Luna when coming up with material for The Desert Sessions. The title of the album was inspired by the execution of convicted murderer Edmund Zagorski. As he was strapped to the electric chair and asked if he had any last words, Zagorski said, “Let’s Rock”. So now you know how the album got its title, and also why it has an electric chair on the cover. I have no fucking idea why it is a pink electric chair, but the cartoon lover in me wants to think that it is because of the clearly pink zaps of electricity that the chair delivers. Pink zaps or no, the band had a hit record. It was an international stand out, and remains one of their best recordings. And I, like some of you, was going to see this goddam tour before COVID. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck. I miss live music, and I for-fucking-sure am going to catch them the next time they tour. I encourage you to do so too. Links to QOTSA The Black Keys have shared a stage with QotSA a number of times at concerts and festivals. These guys are true contemporaries in the music world. However, things have not always been super-duper between them. Patrick Carney has lit into Josh Homme and Lady Gaga in the same sentence. Commenting on Gaga’s song ‘Perfect Illusion’ (that our boy Josh plays guitar on) Carney has been quoted as saying: “I’m lost because the guitar at the top of it sounds so shitty...It’s like ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, but not even nearly as good as that. It sounds like Hulk Hogan is playing the fucking guitar.” Gaga was not shy about replying, saying about Carney that, “...he’s not as snarky as I would be, watching him in a guitar death-match w Kevin Parker and Josh Fucking Homme”. Here’s the video for Gaga’s Perfect Illusion - judge for yourself. All I have to say is that I may have been high when writing this, but I’ve never been quite as high as her shorts are in this video. Somehow this song that involves intense crotch chafing in the desert has over 150 million views. It is also notable that Mark Ronson and Josh Homme worked on this song together, and that Ronson went on to produce the latest QotSA album Villains. Their Music Next Girl - Godzilla looks way fucking bigger in the movies. But man can he sing. Tighten Up - The most unbelievable thing about this video is that two grown men would be at a children’s playground without Karen calling the cops. Howlin’ For You - Alexa Wolf: A Sexy Assassin With A Troubled Past. Also, I am pretty fucking sure she is a Cylon. Someone better tell Las Teclas de Negro. Lonely Boy - Say what you will, but buddy here has some moves. Gold On The Ceiling - You know the van at 0:08 is an Easter Egg. Blink and you miss it. Dead and Gone - Just in case you missed it. Fever - Auerbach looks more strung out here than a busted guitar. The cuts from actual TV Evangelist audience members make this video a bit creepier than it needs to be. Turn Blue - Watch out for Hypnotoad. Oh SHI~ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD Just Got to Be - The boys appear to have snuck into a rural elementary school gym to record this video. The song still kicks all kinds of ass. Lo/Hi - I gotta say, the pink lightning bolt is a nice touch. Strange Times - Lazer Tag: the game that is never quite as fun as you think it will be. Your Touch - This video starts with the boys getting shot. Fuck, the mean streets of Akron are WAY tougher than I ever gave them credit for. Show Them Some Love /TheBlackKeys - just short of 7,500 members. Maybe if they had made that Mayo ad, more people would be in this subreddit. See, I told you to pay attention! That was totally worth it. Previous Posts Band of the Week #1-25 The Jimi Hendrix Experience Black Flag Alain Johannes Pixies Truckfighters Melvins Muse Stone Temple Pilots Black Sabbath Baroness Black Rebel Motorcycle Club The Black Angels
The Mystery of the Bakersfield 3: Two friends disappeared, a third died in a drive-by shooting. Their families suspected the crimes were linked. How did Baylee Despot, Micah Holsonbake, and James Kulstad end up in the middle of an arms trafficking and murder plot in their California city?
Over the course of 34 days in the spring of 2018, three unsettling crimes played out in the city of Bakersfield, California. The families of the three victims realized their children all knew each other and ran in the same circles, and they began to suspect that all three crimes were connected. But what began as a crusade for justice among grieving parents took a shocking turn when investigators discovered that the so-called Bakersfield 3 were embroiled in a criminal underworld of black-market weapons smuggling, the Hells Angels, unspecified ties to drug cartels, torture and kidnapping, and a convicted felon nicknamed “The Boogeyman of Bakersfield.” This is a genuinely bizarre case, and while I’ve never written up a case for this sub before, I’ve been following this story closely for the past couple years. The last time it was mentioned on here over a year ago, but there have been some huge recent developments in the last year that I thought deserved as comprehensive a telling as possible. And despite all that, it's nowhere near resolved. So without further ado... Part 1: Missing On March 23,2018, Micah Holsonbake, 34, went missing in East Bakersfield near the intersection of Flower Street and Mount Vernon Avenue. Micah was a clean-cut dad who worked in finance, a former high school debater who loved karaoke despite not being any good at it. He was presumed endangered missing until August 22, 2018, when teenagers swimming near a local park found an arm in the Kern River that was identified as his. The rest of his body has never been found. On April 18, 2018, James Kulstad, 38, was murdered on a quiet block in Southwest Bakersfield. A father of two daughters, James was a serial entrepreneur described as the type of man who “could sell a dollar bill on the side of the road for a million dollars if he could just get 5 minutes with you.” His brother Ryan heard the gunshots from the next street over, but didn’t see the shooter, and he claims he held James as he died in his arms. On April 25, 2018, Baylee Parrent-Despot, 20, disappeared from Rosedale, the upper-middle-class neighborhood in Northwest Bakersfield where she’d grown up. Baylee described herself as a “flower child” who had been born in the wrong generation. After facing a number of serious challenges, she was struggling to get her life back on track, and was said to be pregnant and trying to leave her boyfriend when she went missing. She has never been heard from again. Local media christened Micah, James, and Baylee the “Bakersfield 3” after the victims’ families discovered that all three victims knew one another. In the wake of the links between all three disappearances coming to light, Micah’s father told a local news reporter, “Just to be blunt, something happened to Micah… and a month later something happened to Baylee, and I think it’s because she knew what happened to Micah.” And in between them, there was James Kulstad, who ran in the same drug-fueled circles as Baylee and had helped Micah move just weeks before they both were killed. Bakersfield is a city of half a million people, but on a social level, it can feel as insular as any small town — you’re rarely more than one or two degrees removed from anyone you meet — and even in a city where everyone seems to know everyone, it’s hard to buy three friends all going missing within the space of a month by sheer coincidence. But as time went on with few official developments in the investigation, it seemed like people largely lost interest in the case by late 2019. Then, in 2020, the Kern County District Attorney’s office charged three people with a total of 34 different charges, ranging from first degree murder, torture, kidnapping, assault with a firearm, and illegal manufacturing of assault weapons. Two of the defendants were already in custody — and the third may not even be alive. Part 2: Some Local Context By every metric, Bakersfield is just a flat-out terrible place to live. It’s my hometown, I left for a reason, and the reason is that it sucks. Kern County suffers from a slew of serious socioeconomic and public health problems, the largest of which is probably related to economic and income inequality. A fifth of the population is under the poverty line, and crime rates are sky-high, especially drug-related ones. Opioid abuse is rampant, though it still falls second to methamphetamine, the most widespread drug in the area. There’s a significant issue with white supremacist gang violence. When I was 16, my 70-year-old next-door neighbor got stabbed in a biker gang fight at a tattoo parlor by a Hells Angel called “Delano Mike.” A high school chemistry teacher was literally arrested for trying to make meth in his classroom three months before Breaking Bad even premiered. This is a region with a lot of serious problems that go deeper than any one symptom, but suffice it to say, there’s a reason I moved away as soon as I tuned 18. The other thing you need to know is that despite being one of the most conservative cities in California, there’s a widespread distrust of law enforcement outside of the police and courts themselves — and, frankly, for good reason. Corruption in the justice system is widespread, and basically a local tradition dating back to the tenure of longtime district attorney Ed Jagels, perhaps best known for ramming through 36 false convictions of ritual child abuse at the height of the satanic panic. (34 were eventually overtured, and the other two people convicted died in prison and never saw justice.) Jagels’ history of prosecutorial misconduct is also the subject of Mean Justice, a 600-page doorstopper by Pulitzer-winning author Edward Humes about the wrongful conviction of Pat Dunn, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife despite a wealth of evidence that would suggest his innocence. In 2002, Jagels’ protege, an assistant district attorney named Steve Tauzer, was murdered by a former Bakersfield police deputy, Chris Hillis, after Hillis allegedly learned that Tauzer had a sexual relationship with Hillis’ 22-year-old son, an addict in recovery; facing first-degree murder charges, he pled out to manslaughter and received a 12-year prison sentence. In 2015, The Guardian published an in-depth exposé about how widespread corruption within the local law enforcement community led to Kern County having the highest rate of police killings in the country: the deadliest cops per capita. And over the past several years, the Kern County law enforcement community has been mired in a police corruption scandal in which members of the BPD abused asset forfeiture laws to illegally seize guns, drugs, and money from suspects, which they in turn trafficked for personal gain. All this is to say that Bakersfield cops and prosecutors have not engendered much public trust outside of their own communities. In a city with high rates of violent crime, law enforcement has consistently put its own interests above public safety, justice, or victims’ rights. That's just something to keep in mind while reading. Part 3: Down the Rabbit Hole Micah In the weeks and months prior to Micah Holsonbake’s disappearance, his family could tell that something was troubling him. Lance and Cheryl Holsonbake both recalled their son behaving erratically in the days before he vanished. But none of it seemed to make any sense coming from someone like Micah, whose family described him as intelligent and hard-working. He had a comfortable upbringing in Rosedale and worked his way into a lucrative career as a financial advisor despite only one year of college. In the photo his family circulated following his disappearance, he wore the suit and tie and placid smile of someone posing for a corporate headshot. But Micah was going through a dark time following a rocky separation from his wife and family, and had been struggling with a painkiller addiction for the past two years. The year before, he’d been laid off from his job after going on disability leave due to depression. According to court documents, Micah owed drug-related debts to members of the Hells Angels as well as “the cartel.” One friend of Micah’s told police his life seemed to be headed in a downward spiral after he lost the ability to see his son, and often got in fights with others at bars. In one witness statement, an unidentified woman told police of a prior incident when she and Holsonbake were kidnapped at gunpoint and driven to an orchard in west Bakersfield. Holsonbake bolted from the vehicle as it was moving, she told police. That account was corroborated by a friend of Holsonbake's who told police that he said he had been kidnapped at gunpoint. He told his parents that he feared for his life, frequently thought he was being followed in his car, and rambled about various people he believed were out to get him, but they mostly wrote it off. James Micah had been hanging around with James Kulstad for some time before he disappeared. It’s not clear when they first met, but it appears they become friendly through the drug scene. Like Micah, James first became addicted to prescription painkillers after being hit by a car, before progressing to fentanyl patches and eventually heroin. He’d been a single father to his daughters Camryn and August. His obituary characterized him as a free-wheeling surfer who held a patent for an action sports product and earned the nickname “Joe Vegas” for his love of gambling and table games. Camryn, now 19, says she and James had an especially close relationship after her mother died when Camryn was an infant, and James often warned her against getting involved with drugs and partying in a clear-headed way, which made it even harder to watch him spiral downward in the years before his death. “I felt like I lost him before I even lost him, but I worked so hard,” she told a reporter. “I was working so hard on everything I could do to make him get better… I was hanging onto hope and whoever killed him took that away from me. I don’t have that anymore, I don’t have hope.” In the wake of her father’s death, Camryn says that a number of stories and rumors about his life surfaced, further complicating her grief. “Some of the stories I’ve heard is that he was a really bad person these last 3 years,” she said in 2019. On the night of his murder, James reportedly drove to an acquaintance’s home in Southwest Bakersfield where his brother Ryan Kulstad was hanging out. Ryan claims that the homeowner allegedly owed money to James and told Ryan that if James came over to his house, he’d “call his boys and they’d come over there strapped,” which Ryan says he didn’t interpret as a serious threat. Ryan and James reportedly argued about this on the phone, and James showed up at the house a couple hours later. Ryan says he had just returned from driving someone else home and noticed a driver in a silver sedan behaving suspiciously as he returned to the house. Moments later, Ryan and his unidentified male passenger heard gunshots on the next block: an unknown gunman opened fire on James from another car, causing him to crash into a parked trailer. The same silver sedan was seen speeding away from the scene. The owner of the home where this all took place was Dr. Sukhjeet Bajwa, who at the time was a chiropractor with a local practice. Bajwa lived in a quiet subdivision in Southwest Bakersfield. It was an unlikely setting for a drive-by, and according to initial news reports, police were at a loss for the motive behind the killing, or what James was even doing in the neighborhood at all. Then things began to unravel: Bajwa, it turned out, had been arrested twice in 2016 and 2017 after driving while impaired, and in addition to liquid heroin, Xanax, and hydrocodone, police also found two unregistered, loaded guns in his car, an AR-15 and a .22LR semi-automatic rifle with a fake silencer attached. All of this was detailed in a disciplinary complaint filed by the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and after Bajwa’s name began repeatedly surfacing in connection with the shooting, a rumor began to circulate about a black-market gun and drug trafficking ring in which Bajwa was supposedly a central figure. It was the type of conspiracy theory most people instinctively write off as too bizarre to be credible. But it must have rung a bell to Lance Holsonbake. Before Micah’s disappearance, he told his father that he was “putting together guns for people,” according to a 2019 interview. Lance said he reacted in disbelief to this confession, because the idea that Micah would risk his career by getting involved in illegal gun manufacturing just didn’t make sense. “If you’re this afraid, just stop,” Lance recalls telling him. “And he’d say, ‘I can’t do that I can’t do that.’ He was afraid he did that they would hurt his family.” He wrote it off as paranoia exaggerated by his son’s drug use, and didn’t know how much of it was real and how much was in Micah’s mind. According to Lance, Bakersfield police initially suggested that Micah had left town of his own volition after getting mixed up in criminal activity and, from what I can tell, didn’t make much of an effort to investigate. Though the family says he was last seen on March 23, 2018, Bakersfield police claimed he wasn’t reported missing until April 4, and it appears they waited until April 13, when he’d been missing for almost a month, before BPD made its first public statement regarding his disappearance. After James was murdered a few days later, the Holsonbake and Kulstad families grew increasingly frustrated with the apparent lack of interest in investigating either case, and told the media later that as they began digging into the circumstances surrounding both cases, one name kept coming up with everyone they talked to: Baylee Despot. And within a week, Baylee Despot had also gone missing in Bakersfield. Baylee Baylee Parrent-Despot was 20 years old when she was reported missing in April 2018, and the families say that it was her disappearance that finally motivated the police and local news to start investigating the links between all three cases, for reasons that seem obvious to anyone who has ever seen the media react to a pretty white 20-year-old going missing. Her sister, Katelyn Parrent, describes her as “a girl that’s grown up in a good neighborhood, raised by good parents, had a good childhood, could’ve had everything she ever wanted,” much like James and Micah. And beneath the surface, she was as troubled as either of the men: after graduating high school, she’d run off to Vegas to marry her boyfriend, but their rocky relationship turned into an abusive marriage that ended just a year later in 2017. In the aftermath, she wrecked her car, lost her job, and in her mother’s words, “Her life just spiraled out of control.” In July 2017, Baylee was arrested for disorderly conduct in front of her friend Micah Holsonbake’s house. This came as a surprise to her sister, who had at one point been friendly with Micah herself — she didn’t realize he and Baylee even knew each other. But even though he was 14 years Baylee’s senior, Katelyn remembered him as a clean-cut guy who worked at a bank, and their mother, Jane Parrent, says Micah helped her get a restraining order against an abusive ex-boyfriend. They didn’t see any cause for concern. Still, Baylee’s life continued to spiral out of control. The following month, she was drugged and gang-raped at an acquaintance’s apartment complex. She disappeared for days at a time and resurfaced with “horrible stories” or pleading phone calls begging to be picked up. On one occasion, Katelyn remembers, “She had none of her belongings, no shoes… A couple nights after that there were two vehicles that came to pick her up and we could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t want to go, but if she didn’t go, we didn’t know what would happen.” Matthew Not long after that incident, Baylee had a new boyfriend. Matthew Queen was 43 years old, a convicted felon, and an all-around bad dude. Not much is known about his background, with one major exception: in the early 2000s, he plead guilty to one count of making a false statement to a federal firearms dealer after he used a false address, but his real name, to purchase $11,000 in guns from dealers in Indiana. Many of those guns were later recovered at crime scenes in Detroit and Chicago. If you want an idea of what type of criminal mastermind we’re dealing with here, I recommend reading just the final ruling on that case from the 7th Circuit court of appeals:
“We reject Queen's argument that gun buyers may lie about a street address so long as they live within the state where the gun is sold . . . Queen in fact had once lived in an apartment at 2072 Egret Court, but he did not live at this address when he completed the forms and bought the guns because he was evicted on December 18, 2000, for nonpayment of rent."
Great. Sounds like a great guy. Lest you assume Matthew Queen might have hypothetically seen the error of his ways and cleaned up his act after this early foray into gunrunning, he absolutely did not. In December 2017, just a couple weeks into Matthew and Baylee’s relationship, they were arrested after police found four unmarked, unregistered, loaded assault rifles in Matthew’s car during a traffic stop. Neither he or Baylee said a word to the police, but while Matthew (who, as a convicted felon, was prohibited from carrying any guns or ammunition at all) was charged with several felonies, while Baylee pled no contest to a lesser misdemeanor and received three years probation. Later that month, she moved in with Matthew, his mother, and his estranged wife. Baylee’s family saw and heard even less from her. And in April, a month after Micah’s disappearance and just one day after she and Matthew attended a court date for the weapons charges, Baylee went missing. Her mother believed she was pregnant with Matthew’s child and was trying to leave him at the time. Matthew told police that she had connections through her father's side of the family with a Mexican drug cartel and believed they had something to do with her disappearance. Local interest in the case reached an even greater frenzy after Micah’s severed arm was found in the Kern River in Hart Park on the east side of town, not far from from where he was last seen. It was positively identified in late December 2018. By this point, the family of the Bakersfield 3's investigation had amassed around 10,000 followers on Facebook and another 5,000 in a private group, and the story was a fixture on local news. Another curveball came around this time too, when a former friend of Baylee’s named Sara Wedemeyer, 21, filed a restraining order against Baylee’s mother, Jane Parrent. As it was reported, Sara had moved in with Matthew mere weeks after Baylee disappeared, and she was four months pregnant with his child when she attempted to take out legal action against Mrs. Parrent, whom she claimed was harassing her and her “fiancé” by hanging up missing person fliers in their neighborhood. The restraining order wasn't granted, but Queen allegedly began making disturbing social media posts about Baylee, Micah, and the Parrent family, with Mrs. Parrent as the primary target. And in mid-2019, the investigation seemed to grind to a halt. Part 4: New Developments On May 27, 2020, roughly two years after the first developments in the Bakersfield 3 case, the Kern County District Attorney held at a press conference to announce they believe Baylee Despot and Matthew Queen “deliberately and with premeditation" murdered Micah Holsonbake. Despot and Queen, along with a third man, Matthew Vandecasteele, were charged with the alleged kidnapping, torture, and first degree murder, as well as unlawful manufacturing of assault weapons, conspiracy relating to the murder and torture plot, and a slew of other assault and gun charges (34 in total). Queen and Vandacasteele were both in custody at the time the charges against them were filed, but even though Baylee still has not been seen or heard from since 2018, the DA’s office issued a warrant for her arrest, leading some to speculate she may still be alive. According to court records, Matthew Queen allegedly believed that Micah Holsonbake had stolen a .44-caliber revolver from him. He and Baylee Despot kidnapped Micah, zip-tied him to a chair in Matthew Vandecasteele’s garage, and attempted to torture him in order to extract information from him. A blood stain in the garage matched Holsonbake’s DNA. Vandecasteele told police that he didn’t see or hear Micah on the night he was killed, but knew that the other two had brought him there to question him. After several hours, Baylee allegedly returned to the apartment seeming “flustered” and changed her clothes in a back bedroom. Before they left, “Queen told Vandecasteele that he had cleaned everything up and it was OK to go inside the garage.” The next day, Queen returned to Vandecasteele’s apartment and said he “needed help disposing of something” in a large black storage container in the trunk of his car. Vandecasteele claims he refused to help with disposing of the body, but according police reports, his Google history during that period of time included searches for “lye chemical formula,” “lye for sale” and “how long does it take to dissolve a human body,” as well as browsing for lye on the Home Depot and Lowe’s websites. Queen, Despot, and Vandacasteele allegedly manufactured and sold AR-15s from gun build kits. Other witness testimony released by the courts described various kidnappings that witnesses allege Queen, known as “the boogeyman of Bakersfield,” committed. In one incident, Queen allegedly handcuffed one victim to a chair and put an electric dog collar around his neck because he believed the man had stolen a gun part from him. Another witness said that Queen and Vandacasteele showed up armed at his hotel room after the witness told Baylee where he was staying, and that he believed they intended to kill him because he’d been arrested “with a large quantity of narcotics that he was fronted or given without paying for them and the people who had gave him the narcotics could have been upset.” (According to the police report, surveillance footage from the hotel corroborates this account.) It’s also believed that he made anonymous calls to the police tip line to misdirect the investigation away from himself: one such caller referred to Baylee as a “sugar momma,” a phrase which Queen reportedly used to describe her when he spoke to investigators in August 2019, and he also used the same pseudonym on the tip line that he did on social media. When police questioned him around this time, he denied being part of a criminal enterprise and claimed he could barely pay his bills. Then, while out on bail for unrelated gun charges in January 2019, Queen allegedly kidnapped another man at gunpoint and forced him to walk into the Kern River while Queen accused him of snitching to the cops. He’s been in custody since July of 2019 due to this kidnapping. Part 5: No Body, No Crime So where is Baylee Despot? According to official statements from law enforcement, no one knows. After the warrant was issued for her arrest, a wave of speculation followed that she had faked her own death or fled to Mexico with the help of unspecified “cartel connections.” That story seems less and less likely as more details have emerged from court documents. Vandecasteele told the police that Despot was “falling apart mentally” after murdering Micah. He and Queen both suspected that she was cooperating with police on an investigation relating to the illegal weapons charges, called her a “snitch” in one interview, and told investigators he believed Queen “made her disappear.” In one interview, a female witness said Queen kidnapped her at gunpoint, took her to an orchard, and held an AR-15 to her head while he questioned her about whether Baylee was faithful to him. When police questioned him about Baylee’s disappearance in July 2019, he said was depressed and off her medications, and she had said she wanted to die. When the investigator told Queen there had been allegations of domestic violence involving him and Baylee, some of which resulted in bruises, Queen said he never laid a hand on anyone. He told the detective she was clumsy. Despite all of this, Jane Parrent says that police have told her that they don’t consider Matthew Queen a person of interest in Baylee’s disappearance, and that there is "no known physical evidence that definitively confirms her possible death." She is now offering her own personally-funded $1000 reward for information about her daughter’s location. The rest of Micah Holsonbake’s body has not been recovered, though according to court documents, investigators believe Queen may have buried him in the hills near Taft, a rural area about 45 minutes west of Bakersfield. There have been no developments in the investigation of James Kulstad’s murder since 2018. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Bakersfield Police Department at (661) 327-7111, or the Kern Secret Witness program at (661) 322-4040. A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest in this case. Ultimately, what really frustrates me about this case is that even after this avalanche of charges, so many questions remain unresolved, and not just what happened and who did it, but why. If the investigation concluded that James Kulstad’s death was unrelated to the disappearances of Baylee and Micah, who ordered his murder, and what was the reason? To what extent was the chiropractor involved with Queen and Vandecasteele’s trafficking racket? Was Sara Wedemeyer involved with Baylee’s disappearance, and if not, how’d she end up living with Matthew and expecting his child just two months after her “friend” went missing? Why did Sara and Matthew harass Baylee’s mother for months after the disappearance? More than anything, I’m still lost as to Baylee Despot’s motivation for any of this. Did she just find herself in too deep with no way out? Did she actively make the choice to become a gunrunner? Did Matthew, looking to settle a grudge against Micah, seek out a relationship with Baylee with the intention of using her to get to him? Did he kill her because she was cooperating with the cops, because she attempted to leave him, or because he was just a sociopath who felt she was no longer useful? Or is there a chance that law enforcement knows more than they’ve let on? When investigators told Mrs. Parrent that Matthew isn’t a suspect in her disappearance, was that an indication that she may, in fact, be alive? Probably not. But at this point, anything is possible. Sources:
“‘Bakersfield 3’ member Micah Holsonbake was afraid of murder suspect Matthew Queen, became increasingly paranoid before he disappeared, documents say,” 6/17/20
"Crisis? Yacht crisis? As we’ve previously reported, Ramona Singer has been on a whirlwind tour to St. Barts and Mar-a-Lago lately — even though Bravo has begged the “Real Housewives of New York” cast to stay home while they wait out a production shut-down caused by a COVID case on set. Now we’ve learned that she also attended a maskless yacht party this weekend with guests including U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz. The bash, held in Palm Beach, was for Dr. Gina Gentry Loudon’s birthday. Loudon was a member of the Trump campaign’s media advisory board and the co-chair of Women for Trump 2020. Video of the party shows guests, including “Queen of Versailles” Jackie Siegel, dancing close to each other and posing for pictures with no masks in sight. Singer also posed for photos. Multiple sources have told us that Bravo asked “RHONY” stars to stay close to home in hopes of avoiding a third shutdown. The show was also closed down in October when a crew member caught the virus. Singer, meanwhile, has been posting photos on her Instagram that make it appear as if she has stayed in Manhattan the whole time."
"There’s a new housewife in Greenwich, Connecticut! Reality TV star and entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel has bought a classic Colonial in the Nutmeg State’s wealthiest city for just $2.12 million via a trust, according to property records. At the same time, Frankel’s former Tribeca condo — which she sold in 2016 for $7 million — has hit the market again, this time asking $7.49 million. The five-bedroom, 4½-bathroom home in Greenwich, on Pecksland Road, was originally asking $2.85 million back in 2018. The trustee listed for the purchase of the former star of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York‘s” new home is Matt Klarberg, managing director of Monarch Business and wealth management, who counts Frankel as his client, according to Variety. The 4,698-square-foot spread features a red door and white picket fence. Built in 1945, the home sits on 2.1 acres. Inside, it boasts a grand foyer, an open living room and family room that both come with cozy fireplaces. French doors lead to a stone terrace, yard and pool. There’s also an eat-in chef’s kitchen, a dining room with custom cabinetry, a wine cellar, and a master suite with vaulted ceilings, a fireplace, a sitting room and a private deck. The current decor is rather traditional. However, we hear, Frankel is planning to glam it up with some modern touches. The Greenwich home’s listing broker, Maria Crowley of Houlihan Lawrence, declined to comment."
"On the February 2 episode of Just B with Bethenny Frankel, the Watch What Happens Live host and The Real Housewives of New York City alum had a super real chat about their careers and personal lives. At one point, Bethenny asked Andy: “Do you honestly want a life partner?” “I think that I do want it, but I don’t seem to be working very hard to get it,” Andy replied. “And it’s funny, because you know a lot of times, I waste an inordinate amount of time on Instagram looking at other people’s pages, and a lot of times you see people, and they’re great looking and there are all these shirtless pictures, and then you’re like, let me put myself in the position of dating this person now. Is this who I want as a boyfriend? Mr. Speedo shot everyday?” From there, the duo talked about their opinions of social media’s effect on dating. “Paul has a small social following because he’s produced some movies, but he doesn’t post at all,” Bethenny explained (she and Paul Bernon were spotted together in early January after splitting months prior). “Like, he’ll post a picture of a sunset once every six months. I have never been in a relationship with someone who had social media, which I love, by the way. I wouldn’t be into some guy taking pictures of himself and filtering himself and showing how great his fake life was.” Andy then posed the question: “If I was someone else looking in on my social media, am I the person I would want to date? Maybe not! I’d be like, you know what? That guy is kind of a douche. People that live in glass houses, man. And that’s the other thing. If I was watching my own show would I want to date me? I don’t know.” They also discussed their approaches to parenting. It turns out Andy has a similar outlook on life with Ben as Bethenny does with Bryn. “I think there is something really positive about having a child later in life. I think I’m more zen about where I’m at. I’m not losing my sh-t about everything, and where is this kid going to go to school? I just think I’m more comfortable where I’m at and I’m just like, you know what? We’re going to get this kid into a good school. I’m not going to lose my mind about this. I just think that there are things to sweat and things not too sweat. I’m just trying to be laid back,” Andy explained. In addition to staying laid back, the WWHL host and dad also has another important parenting goal. “I want to expose him to as many people and as many things as possible and it was really important for him to listen to music, so there’s music playing all the time at my house," he shared. "And it’s not kids music, by the way. It’s Grateful Dead and Madonna, I want him to appreciate music.” “You and Paul are so similar. He goes to Dead shows, and music is such a part of his life," Bethenny said, going on to explain why she finds her approach to parenting to be similar to Andy's. "You don’t sweat everything like me. You don’t sweat all the small stuff. But when it comes to parenting, I’m the same exact way. My kid’s not going to go to their wedding in a diaper. It’s not that deep, potty training or getting into school."
“I think one of the most hurtful things that I watched on the show is when Bethenny said, in an effort to prove the idea that [Tinsley Mortimer] and I were [best friends] and I was no longer interested in Bethenny, which couldn’t have been further from the truth, she said, ‘Well, they have so much more in common. They don’t have a… neither of them have a career or a husband or children,’” Carole shared on Life After Bravo. During an episode of RHONY years ago, Bethenny shaded Carole as their friendship came to an end. “It occurred to me that we don’t have that much in common. I think she does have more in common with Tinsley in the fact that Carole isn’t married, doesn’t have kids, and she doesn’t have a career,” she said. In response to the diss, Carole admitted to the Bravo Insider that the comment was “hard to take in” before admitting that she was also upset by Aviva Drescher‘s claims regarding her supposed ghostwriter. “I couldn’t believe she would say that on camera and it wasn’t true and as much as I said, ‘That’s just not true,’ it felt like I was being defensive and then you’re like, self-conscious about that,” Carole recalled. As for the RHONY season 10 reunion, Carole said her co-stars were not truthful. “There were things said to me, about me, that I knew were absolutely false, not true, never happened. I remember filming the reunion. It was a terrible reunion. I was screaming at [Andy Cohen]. I was being gaslit. I should have let a lot of things go but it’s just not my nature,” Carole shared. “I grew up as a truth-seeker and a reporter and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t break that. I couldn’t just say, ‘Oh, what the f*ck. Who cares?’ I’m much more careful now and I evaluate people in my life by a stricter standard than I once did,” she added."
"Despite their tearful reunion during husband Bobby’s funeral, Jill Zarin from The Real Housewives of New York City says she is no longer in contact with Bethenny Frankel. “No, I have not [spoken to Frankel],” Zarin said on The Take On with Amir Yassai podcast. “But I did hear something funny. I heard she was here on New Year’s Eve with Siggy Flicker, I think. And that she was in the same community I live in. And that she’s dating a guy who lives in the same community my parents live in.” “Which is weird if it’s true because you’d think she would have said hello,” Zarin added. “But you know, it is what it is.” Host Amir Yassai asked if the moment Frankel and Zarin shared on the show during the funeral was real. But Zarin refused to answer the question. “It’s not really the time and place to get into it,” she replied. “It’s done and over. It is what it is.” Zarin also opened up about how she ended up leaving RHONY. While she was ultimately fired, she shared that she quit when producers wouldn’t give her a firm answer on her future on the show. “At the time I didn’t feel relieved, I was angry,” she said about her departure from the series. “I had quit because I have terrible ADD and anxiety and all that stuff, which really I never had diagnosed.” But she says Bobby Zarin had been recently diagnosed with cancer and wanted to travel. So Zarin said she pushed producers to give her an answer so the couple could make plans. “[Producers] hadn’t decided if they were doing another season,” she reflected. “Which is funny now, 13 years later.” Adding, “Even though I thought they were and even though I thought I’d be back I needed an answer because we wanted to book a three-week trip if we weren’t.” Since producers couldn’t give her an answer, she quit. “I didn’t really mean it,” she said. “So I never followed it up and then they fired me. I don’t know why I was shocked, but I was shocked.” ATLANTA
"Dodd, 45, recently sparked rumors that she was leaving — or fired from — the Bravo reality series when her bio was updated to read, “Proud veteran castmember of #RHOC.” Fans took notice of the change just hours after Positive Beverage cut ties with Dodd over her controversial comments about COVID-19. While the TV personality has since changed her bio back to “proud castmember of #RHOC,” a source close to her and Leventhal tells Us that the Fox News senior correspondent, 61, was behind the initial modification. “Rick made the edit Sunday to remove the beverage reference and added ‘veteran’ to reflect Kelly’s longtime tenure on the show,” the source explains. “He never intended to suggest she’s no longer a cast member because she is still with the RHOC franchise.” MIAMI
"Bravo is bringing back The Real Housewives of Miami, eight years after the series went off the air, a source exclusively confirms to Us Weekly. “They have started interviewing a bunch of different women,” the insider says. “They want to have a very diverse cast and are speaking to women from all different backgrounds.” The source adds that a few of the potential cast members have already been interviewed “several times” and the network is getting “very close to narrowing down a cast.” Bravo is not commenting on the news at this time."
"Enjoying the moment! Teresa Giudice and boyfriend Luis Ruelas are moving slow with their relationship following her divorce from Joe Giudice. “They aren’t rushing into anything,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “They are taking their time.” The Real Housewives of New Jersey star, 48, has been dating Ruelas, 46, for a few months and they “both genuinely like each other and have a great relationship,” the insider says. “Luis is a really great guy and he makes her very happy, and vice versa,” the source adds. The source tells Us that there are “no talks of an engagement” between the duo, adding, “Their relationship is way too premature to even consider marriage at this point.” While wedding bells aren’t ringing just yet, the insider says, “Teresa is living her life and she’s having fun” with her new beau.
"Teresa Giudice‘s relationship with boyfriend Luis Ruelas is heating up, but will he pop on the upcoming season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey? “As far as what’s known, he won’t be on the new season,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “But things can change later on.” Ruelas, 46, will “definitely” be discussed on season 11 of the Bravo series, the insider adds, noting, “Fans will find out how they met/began their relationship.” The Standing Strong author, 48, has kept the details surrounding her new romance relatively quiet, but that will change once the cameras are rolling. “She’s saving all the juicy details of her relationship for the new season of Real Housewives,” the source says."
“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne’s estranged husband Thomas Girardi is set to be kicked out of the $16 million-mansion amid his serious financial woes. According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the trustee presiding over Thomas’s involuntary bankruptcy case is asking the court for permission to seize the once-respected attorney’s $15 million-dollar, 10,000 sq. ft. Pasadena property. Erika often filmed the reality show at the home. Last month, a couple of Thomas’s creditors filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy accusing him of owing millions but refusing to pay. The judge signed off on the case and appointed a trustee, who has taken over control of Thomas’s finances and will liquidate assets to pay off his debts. In the recent motion, the trustee wants Thomas to be out of the home within 14 days. He says if Thomas refuses to turn over the keys to the property within the two-week window he wants him evicted by law enforcement. Further, the trustee says Thomas is currently living in the home by himself. Erika Jayne moved out of the home after filing for divorce. She is shacked up in a $1.5 million pad near Hollywood. In the new court documents, the trustee says he tried to obtain access to the home on January 25. However, he says he was denied access for various reasons. The trustee says he asked. “for access to the Property to enable his real estate broker to inspect it for marketing and sale. The Trustee was not provided with access for various reasons, many of which (including the Debtor’s health conditions) may not be resolved for many months. At the same time, the Property is not being adequately maintained and expenses of the estate continues to accrue including insurance payments.” The trustee writes, “I discovered that maintenance staff has quit due to nonpayment, insurance was about to expire, and even the utility bills were not being paid. For these reasons, I believe it is in the best interest of the estate to obtain access and market the property as soon as possible." A judge has yet to rule on the matter."
"Meredith Marks’ high-fashion face mask in Wednesday’s “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” finale was way ahead of its time. For her co-star Heather Gay’s Beauty Lab + Laser party — captured by Bravo’s cameras mere weeks before the country shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic — Marks donned a straight-off-the-runway Christian Cowan Swarovski crystal mask that covered her entire face, from hairline to chin. “I was actually very fearful of COVID very early on, and by the beginning of February when China didn’t reopen after Chinese New Year, I knew we had a serious problem,” the jewelry designer and business owner, 49, told Page Six Style in a recent phone interview. “And I have a production office in Hong Kong, so I was probably a lot more aware as opposed to most Americans were at that time.” But according to Marks, the mask was really meant to protect her from her co-stars — not COVID. “As you all well saw, I was very good at disengaging. I felt a very significant lack of trust walking into Beauty Lab at that point with my castmates. And so that was my way of disengaging — I mean, it’s a look,” she said. “I was asked multiple times that night by people, ‘Why are you wearing a mask?’ And I swear, my answer to them was, ‘To protect against the viruses — and I don’t mean coronavirus.'” Admitted the star, “In retrospect, [that] probably sounds a bit insensitive, because people died. This is not a joke, but at the time, nobody believed it was coming, and I was very fearful of it.” Marks told us she first spotted the mask at Christian Cowan’s runway show last February, for which she provided the jewels — and she knew she had to have it. “In my brain, it was serving two purposes,” she explained. “Sort of quashing my COVID fears, you know, in a weird way, [although the mask] obviously didn’t really do anything on that. But it was definitely something that was very weighing heavily on me at the time. And it also was my way of the ultimate disengagement.” Marks’ look ended up being a family affair, as her son Brooks worked with Cowan on the clothes. “He designed my outfit for that night and he did all these drawings, and then when Christian was in Park City, Christian kind of helped him tweak some of the drawings and then helped him get it made for me.” Marks told us Cowan has served as “somewhat of a mentor” to her son, who’s a rising fashion star in his own right. “He’s been very kind and very helpful to him,” she said. “And I love Christian. He is like an absolute, incredible human being all the way around. He’s a great person to deal with both personally and in business, and is very, very talented.” And Marks is loving the memes her avant-garde mask is inspiring. “I think it’s super chic, but it’s also meant to be somewhat entertaining because of the position that I was in at that point in time,” she explained. “So even the ones that are kind of making fun of me, I think they’re funny. I think it’s great. I mean, I really have no negative reaction to anything I’ve seen so far.”
“Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Meredith Marks had an unlikely journey to jewelry-designer fame. The new reality star decided to venture into the the world of gems after she was mugged in 2004, she told Page Six Style in a recent phone interview. Her oldest son, Reid, was just 5 years old at the time. “I dropped him off at school and was walking home at 9 in the morning on what is seemingly a very, very safe street in Chicago,” the Windy City native said. “And I was aggressively mugged, dragged across the street.” At the time, Marks worked in real estate development and owned a health club, but said the violent incident changed everything. “I was like, ‘Wait a second, what am I doing here? I have so much going on between talking to 8,000 contractors a day on the real estate projects, between getting woken up by the alarm going off at 5:00 in the morning at the gym, this, that and the other,'” she recalled. “I had three young children and I was like, ‘What am I doing? I’m so checked out of my family.'” She decided to sell her businesses and properties as-is and devote herself to her family. As her children grew older, she developed a hobby of day-trading when an idea struck her. By 2009, Marks, who has a graduate degree in business and studied finance in college, noticed the metal markets were “going crazy” amid the recession, and wanted to get involved. “I had always had this huge passion for jewelry,” she said. “It was always my thing. So I went and took some classes at the GIA — the Gemological Institute of America — and kind of dove in headfirst in the height of the worst recession of our lifetime.” Even as an industry newbie, Marks was able to make it work. “Manufacturers who would have never dealt with me before were hungry for business. I wasn’t carrying any inventory going in and I was able to kind of take things one step at a time,” she said. In the years since, the star has designed stunning gems for Rihanna, Tina Fey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Courteney Cox and Chelsea Handler among other A-listers, but she’s saving the real treasures for her 18-year-old daughter, Chloe. “Jewelry is so sentimental, and basically anything I have been gifted by my husband or my parents obviously holds a lot more sentiment,” she said. “So anything that was a gift to me, I am definitely hanging on to for Chloe.” And while Marks can almost always be spotted rocking her own designs, she admitted, “If I had to pick any other jeweler to wear, I would choose Bulgari, hands down, no question mark. I’m a little obsessed with it.” She also noted that some pieces of hers are inspired by the famous Italian luxury brand. “When I was a child, my mother bought several pieces from Marina B, and Marina B is out of the Bulgari family,” she explained. “She had the earrings [where] you could change the drop on them from one precious color stone to another one, and I just thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” As for the year ahead, Marks has plenty of personal and professional goals. At home, she wants to continue to work on her marriage with her husband Seth; the couple are currently in a better place, she said, and “sort of getting to a point where we’re really able to repair it on our own, which is huge rather than having to call the marriage counselor.” Marks is also looking forward to expanding her namesake jewelry collection, launching other product categories and making pieces that are more affordable to fans nationwide." DALLAS
A few days ago I posted a list of 120 sequels that are coming out in 2021. But of course it's not just sequels that we have to look forward to in the new year; please enjoy these standalones and new series!
On the never-ending, miles-high expanse of prairie grasses known as the Forever Sea, Kindred Greyreach is just beginning to fit in with the crew of her new ship when she receives devastating news.
Hessa is a warrior priestess with the power to turn an enemy's bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her goddess's command to murder a traveler, she must atone for her weakness and secure her place with her loved ones in the High Halls.
A young scholar's ambition threatens to reshape an empire determined to retain its might in this epic tale of violent conquest, buried histories, and forbidden magic.
Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, he's picked the wrong mark.
A captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.
Renata is a con artist with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house and secure her fortune and her sister's future. But she soon realizes her masquerade is just one of many surrounding her.
Touraine is a soldier; her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. Luca needs a turncoat desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet's edge between treason and orders. Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren't for sale.
To her father, the great duke of Poland, Swietoslawa and her two sisters represent three chances for an alliance. But Swietoslawa refuses to be simply a pawn in her father's schemes; she seeks a throne of her own, with no husband by her side.
Damelas has little hope of escaping the wrath of the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he tricks his way into the company of actors. But one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth.
A remote, fantastical city uses a complex living network to watch over its inhabitants and visitors. Through the lens of four interconnected stories, one of the city’s cloistered human overseers will see aer knowledge of aer world expand beyond the city’s boundaries.
Lynesse believes that the only way to rid her land of the demon that terrorizes it is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the tower for as long as her people have lived here. She’s told she mustn’t. She does so, anyway.
Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit.
An interstellar craft is decelerating after its century-long voyage. Its destination is V538 Aurigae, a now-empty planet dominated by one gigantic megastructure. The ship's crew of five hope to discover how the long-departed builders made such a colossal thing, and why.
Atuale, the daughter of a Sea-Clan lord, sparked a war by choosing her land-dwelling love. Now her husband and his clan are dying, and Atuale’s sole hope for finding a cure is to travel off-planet.
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space.
Elfreda Raughn will avoid pregnancy if it kills her, and one way or another, it will kill her. The reality of preserving the Order’s magical bloodline horrifies her, but the Sisters of Aytrium have sworn to pay a price for the safety of their nation. Elfreda wants out, whatever the cost.
Amahle travels the universe alone, trading trinkets for life stories. But when she listens she hears the same voice talking directly to her from different times and on different worlds. Something terrible is happening, and only she is in a position to do anything about it.
When dark comet UD3 was spotted near Jupiter’s orbit, its existence was largely ignored. But to individuals who knew better the threat this eight-kilometer comet posed to the survival of the human race was unthinkable.
Over 99 identical generations, Mia’s family has shaped human history to push them to the stars. Her turn comes at the dawn of the age of rocketry. Her mission: to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program.
What happens when your dream mission to Mars is a reality television nightmare? This debut science-fiction romp with heart follows the tradition of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, with a dash of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and a hint of The Real World.
Tesla Crane, heiress to the Crane fortune, and Shalmanseer Steward, a retired private detective, are on their honeymoon cruise from Earth to Mars. When Shal is framed for murder, Tesla has to find the murderer before they try to silence her husband.
Humanity has established a SETI library on the moon to decipher and interpret the many messages from alien societies we have discovered. Ruth, a beginner Librarian, must talk to alien minds—who have aggressive agendas of their own.
Three women—a Hell-damned violin legend and teacher, a young transgender runaway and aspiring musician, and a spaceship captain fleeing a faraway war — try to escape their pasts and find each other, and unexpected magic, in California’s San Gabriel Valley.
Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity—and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.
Priya worked hard to pursue her premed dreams at Stanford, but chronic Lyme disease sends her home. Thankfully she has her pen pal, Brigid, but when Brigid suddenly goes offline, Priya goes to check on her. Priya isn’t sure what to expect, but it isn’t the horrifying creature she finds.
When Briseis's aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined
In order to save her grandmother from a cult of dangerous priests, a peasant girl cursed with the power to steal souls enters a tenuous alliance with an exiled prince bent on taking back the Dragon Throne.
Hard-drinking petty thief Dellaria Wells is down on her luck. Then she sees a want ad for a female bodyguard, and she fast-talks her way into the high-paying job. Along with a team of other women, she’s meant to protect a rich young lady from mysterious assassins.
As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband Benjy have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch.
In the quiet streets of Prague all manner of otherworldly creatures lurk in the shadows. Unbeknownst to its citizens, their only hope against the tide of predators are the dauntless lamplighters - a secret elite of monster hunters whose light staves off the darkness each night.
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. When a bandit attack orphans Zhu, she uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a male novice. There, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes to survive, no matter how callous.
Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity. But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, Alter enters a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit.
Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken, and trying to find his own role in the world.
The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. Her touch is death, and she walks alone, except for her fox companion—searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.
Long ago Miren O'Malley's family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer: safety for their ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and have fallen into decline.
Deep in the Hungarian woods, none are more gifted than the great Rabbi Isaac and his three daughters. When a fateful decision to help an outsider ends in an accusation of witchcraft, Rabbi Isaac and his family are forced to flee.
Years ago, Elsa's mother had warned her that the women of their line were doomed to repeat the lives of their ancestors from Korean myth and legend. But beyond these ghosts, Elsa also faces the mental illness and generational trauma that run in her immigrant family.
When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered. But when monsters slaughter everyone but Évike and the captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other.
Zinnia Gray is a real-life sleeping beauty who pricks her finger on a spindle’s end and finds herself Spider-Versed into a fairytale-version of her story. She and the rest of the sleeping beauties must work together if they want to survive their narratives.
A punishment from Odin leaves Angrboda powerless. She is found by Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into love. But as she recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life is in danger and must choose whether to accept the fate she's foreseen.
535 AD. In the ancient kingdom of Dumnonia, King Cador's three children inherit a fragmented land abandoned by the Romans. Riva, Keyne and Sinne must take fate into their own hands, or risk being tangled in a story they could never have imagined.
In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?
Imagine Camelot but in Gotham: a city where knights are the celebrities of the day, riding on motorbikes instead of horses and competing in televised fights for fame and money.
Daphne has spent her entire life hoping to be accepted by the unyielding people of ancient Sparta. But an unexpected encounter with the goddess Artemis—who holds Daphne's brother's fate in her hands—upends the life she's worked so hard to build.
Troy has fallen and the victorious Greeks are eager to return home with the spoils of an endless war–including the women of Troy themselves. The one-time Trojan queen forges alliances when she can, all the while shrewdly seeking her path to revenge.
Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the Guinevere, who will betray him. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come—for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future.
When tragedy befalls Imperial Prince Taam, his widower is rushed into an arranged marriage with the disreputable Kiem. But when it comes to light that Taam's death may not have been an accident, the unlikely pair must overcome their misgivings and learn to trust one another.
Princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.
When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead. But Wallace isn't ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With the help of a ferryman of souls, he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.
A young prince must rely on a mysterious stranger to save him when he is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour in this swoony adventure that is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Pirates of the Caribbean.
Thora and Santi are strangers in a foreign city when a chance encounter brings them together and intertwines their fates. But days later, Santi is cruelly taken from in an accident. In numerous lives they become friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies—but how and why?
Tamar is a headstrong slave in Mali, a high school junior with a terminal illness, a young woman in a segregated train car. Fayard is a soldier, a high school senior, a lost young man. But in each life one thing remains the same: Tamar and Fayard fall in love, and die.
When a mistake sees Robin named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart.
Danae is haunted by a grief that cannot be contained in a single body. But while in the city, her fractured self cannot be returned to the larger collective of beings to whom she once belonged. Unable to tolerate separation any longer, Danae plans to escape with her lover, Naoto.
Mallory lives in a cramped hotel room with eight other people, and streams a popular VR war game. The best part of the game is catching in-game glimpses of SpecOps operatives. But a chance encounter with a SpecOps operative in the game leads Mal to a horrifying discovery.
Val and Julie just want what's best for their kids. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. Before long, the implications are clear: get a Pilot or get left behind.
Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. Eris is a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups. When one of her missions goes awry, Eris meets Sona, a Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her enemy, but as the clock ticks down, Eris and Sona grow closer.
It's been centuries since the robots of Earth gained self-awareness and laid down their tools. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in on humanity.
Polyamorous crypto-currency fiends with a tendency toward eco-terrorism have executed the largest land grab in U.S. history to protect biodiversity and stave off the Sixth Great Extinction, but something's rotten in Eden.
Remy lives with a devoted order of monks who control the Leviathan, an aging nuclear submarine that survives in the ocean’s depths. Their secret mission: to trigger the Second Coming when the time is right. But Remy has a secret too—she’s the only girl onboard.
In future England, the formidable outlaw Scarlett McCain fights daily against the odds. When she discovers a wrecked coach on a lonely road, there is only one survivor. Against her instincts, Scarlett agrees to escort him to safety. This is a mistake.
The year is 2025, and a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland—a lethal illness that seems to affect only men. The virus becomes a global pandemic—and a political one. The victims are all men. The world becomes alien—a women's world.
Pounce, a stylish “nannybot” fashioned in the shape of a plush tiger, must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom, or escort his ward to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.
After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors form a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. In the utopia of the Four Cities, citizens undergo a memory wipe every four years in a process called tabula rasa.
Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she's the only one who knows it. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.
Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband. Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and the Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
When Hester's friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine, Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, both about her friend's death and the information he believed he had uncovered. But catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester's worries.
Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. By taking the hummingbird, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.
In a US facing growing food shortages, stark inequality, and a growing fascist government, three perfectly normal young women are about to find out that they share a great deal in common. Their creator, the gifted geneticist Peng, made them that way.
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
It’s 2001, and the WyldBoyZ are the world’s hottest boy band, and definitely the world’s only genetically engineered human-animal hybrid vocal group. When their producer, Dr. M, is found murdered in his hotel room, the “boyz” become the prime suspects.
Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. But shortly after landing, the crew finds themselves trapped on the ship by a radiation storm.
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things, she finds comfort in the arms of her rival consorts.
At an abandoned Japanese manor, five friends gather to celebrate a wedding. Having always wanted to get married in a haunted house, the bride-to-be insists they play a game to tease the dead from their rest. But the house already knows they are there.
Vern—seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised—flees for the shelter of the woods. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman.
Six girls belong to a survivors support group that has been meeting for nearly two decades. The girls managed to survive the unthinkable—and now someone is coming for them.
Jade feels like she’s trapped in a slasher film as tourists go missing and the tension between her community and the celebrity newcomers to the Indian Lake shore heads towards a tipping point.
One morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it.
A young woman makes a marriage of convenience and soon finds herself trapped in her new husband’s decrepit and possibly haunted mansion, and spirals down a dangerous path of ritual magic in an effort to save them both.
Jessamyn is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia. Suddenly there's a voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma.
When a child goes missing in Edinburgh's darkest streets, Ropa investigates. She'll need to call on Zimbabwean magic as well as her Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues.
Dani is afraid that if he tells Sarah he’s trans, she won’t bother haunting him anymore. After Sarah and Dani come across another ghost haunted by her own brutal murder, they set out to bring peace and safety to spirits like her.
Jake is one of the only black kids at St. Clair Prep. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse, Jake can see the dead. Including Sawyer, who shot and killed sixteen kids at a local high school before taking his own life.
Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of Nathan and Maddie's hometown in rural Pennsylvania.
Andrew and Eddie did everything together until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program. Six month later Eddie dies of an apparent suicide, leaving Andrew a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.
Every time Zax falls asleep, he travels to a new reality. Sometimes he wakes up in technological utopias, and other times in the bombed-out ruins of collapsed civilizations. But someone unwelcome is on his tail.
For a select group of Masters, the Gardens are a decadent paradise. For those who serve them, it's a slow torture. In a bid to escape, Dora and Thistle set out on a remarkable journey through time and space.
Joe has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse.
Chicago artist Kelly steps through a door at a gallery opening and emerges in her Michigan hometown. Suddenly her life is unrecognizable: She's got twelve years of the wrong memories in her head and she's married to Eric, a man she barely knew in high school.
2020: Caught up in a deadly feud, the tensions surrounding Esso seem to be leading to a single moment. 2035: Stripped of everything, football prodigy Rhia has just one thing left on her mind—figuring out how to avert a bullet that was fired fifteen years in the past.
An epic saga of three reincarnated souls: a pair of twins who ruled a Maya kingdom, a young American on a trip of self-discovery, and two dangerous charismatics.
Firuzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination.
After the ravages of global warming, social inequality has ravaged society, now divided into surface dwellers and people who live in the Upper Settlement, a ring perched at the edge of the planet's atmosphere.
Klara is an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse.
When Otto and Xavier declare their love, an aunt gifts them a trip on a sleeper train to mark their new commitment. Setting off with their pet mongoose, Otto and Xavier quickly deduce that The Lucky Day is no ordinary locomotive.
The accident left Miranda with excruciating chronic pain, a failed marriage, and a dependence on painkillers. Determined to put on All’s Well That Ends Well, she faces a mutinous cast hellbent on staging Macbeth instead.
When Mel's best friend Sarah, unexpectedly dies, it’s a heartbreak unlike any other. A final promise draws Mel to Morgan’s Gap, a small town nestled in the shadows of the Appalachian Mountains.
Escape to worlds full of adventure and magic in the first-ever Brooks short story collection, featuring both new and fan-favorite stories from all three of his major literary worlds.
This selection blends the technologies and attitudes of modernity with the classic tropes of the ghost, haunted house, possession, conjuration, and witchcraft.
Witness the future of farming in a new Ice Age, or the artist bringing life to glass; the many-eyed monsters we carry and the secret cities inside our bodies.
What are the ten books by new-to-you authors you're most excited for? By familiar authors? Overall?
I am 25 years old, make $122,000, live in New York, NY and work as a product manager.
Section 0: Background Hi everyone! I’m trying to tailor this a bit more to reflect the UK Money Diary style where I give context on the week before and reflect on it after. I also added in some of the questions from the recent thread about what Refinery29 should ask diarists (see here). I wrote this the week of Thanksgiving; my partner and I stayed in NYC instead of going home to either of our parents’ homes. We wear masks and stay socially distant when we leave the house. I’m thankful that we live close to a park and live on a block where we know and enjoy talking to our neighbors. This was a relatively normal week for us during a pandemic, save for me spending a bit more than normal and it being Thanksgiving. We’ve both lived in the city since college and have so-so relationships with our families, so we didn’t leave for “home” when the pandemic hit. I also just named my boyfriend instead of giving him an initial. He’s the only person I actually saw this week, but the initials always throw me off when I read these. What do money and success mean to you? What are your end goals? It helps me to see money as a tool. I never resonate with people who say “money doesn’t buy happiness” because to a certain degree, it does. Money enables me to live the life I want. I’m pursuing FIRE (financial independence, retire early) and hope to be financially independent (able to live off my investments) by my early 30s. To do so, I save 60%+ of my income per month. I want this because working for 40 years isn’t sustainable for me—I have a very cushy tech job and still get anxiety and rage about waking up every morning to work, the rat race, and being paid inequitably to male peers. I’d like to give myself the option to leave this world as soon as possible. As an alternative, I could see myself successful if I open a product consultancy, where I advise early-stage startups on product management, what to build for their MVP, and product-market fit. I’m really interested in tech ethics and the questionable practices in venture capital, so I’d love to be in a place where I could be picky about what clients I take and help truly mission-driven businesses thrive. I could see this also working as a small business incubator—why not apply what works in startups to small businesses? I don’t yet have a firm picture of what I’d like my life to look like when I retire. I’m interested in spending a lot of time reading, traveling to new places for extended periods of time, and potentially writing a book. I get extremely interested in niche topics. Right now if I had to guess, I’d be writing a book about the ways multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) manipulate women. Are you a spender or a saver? Definitely a saver. My partner is more of a spender, and we’ve influenced each other well. Seeing him spend money on himself for video games helps me realize I can spend more money on myself for things I just want (see my big purchase for myself this week). In turn, seeing me save a lot of money has motivated him to up his 401k contribution and overall savings. He’s also interested in FIRE, although I’d say my timeline is more aggressive. If you could go back in time, what's the one piece of financial advice you would give to your past self? Learn about investing, look up the terms you don’t know, and start doing it as soon as possible. Ask questions to people you know or on the internet. On to the diary! Section One: Assets and Debt Investment Balance $131,175
Retirement (includes 2 company 401ks and 1 rollover IRA): $55,730
Brokerage: $27,233
Roth IRA: $25,439
Managed account: $17,923
HSA: $4,850
Equity if you're a homeowner N/A, I rent in a HCOL city. No plans to own anytime soon Savings account balance $10,270 Checking account balance $3,433 in checking account for bills
This fluctuates, but I try to invest anything over $2k. I’m pretty conservative with my checking account buffer, and don’t worry much about the interest I’m “losing,” especially because interest rates are so low right now
$2,518 in checking account for rent
I keep a holdover account that’s connected to Venmo and Zelle to pay rent
Credit card debt N/A. There’s $1,348 currently on my credit cards, but I pay them all off in full each month. My parents signed me up for a credit card as soon as I was old enough and taught me about how important it was to pay in full. In fact, I think this was so hammered into my brain that doing anything other than that each month was never an option. Because of this, I’ve always thought of credit cards as similar to debit cards—only spend money you have. Student loan debt (for what degree) I was fortunate to go to college on a full scholarship, including living expenses. I studied psychology and sociology, and I graduated without any student loan debt. Section Two: Income Main Job Monthly Take Home: $6,570/month I maxed out my 401k early this year, so for 8 months I was contributing $2,500/month out of my paychecks. That ended in September, so it changed my monthly take-home from about $4,650 to $6,570/month. Deductions:
401k: $0/month (was $2,500/month)
Medical: $128/month
Dental and vision: $11/month
Income Progression
I started in customer support right out of college, making $40,000/year + overtime, which ended up being about $52,000/year (thanks OT!).
About a year later, I moved into an entry-level product role at the same company and received a raise to $60,000/year.
The next year, I moved to a new company for a half-step promotion where I was making $82,000/year + 15% yearly bonus. The bonus was dependable enough that it was assumed as part of our total compensation, so let’s call it $95,000/year.
Early this year, I switched companies again (noticing a theme?) for a promotion and now make $122,000/year.
I don’t have any other sources of income outside my main job. My partner makes a similar amount to me—about $117,000/year with bonus. Section Three: Expenses I live with my partner and we don’t have combined finances, but split many expenses 50/50. We use Splitwise to log transactions. He’s more laid-back about being paid back, but I’m much more “I don’t want to owe anyone anything, and I don’t want anyone to owe me anything” (I know, rigid, but I’m working on it!). Splitwise is nice because it’d be ridiculous to Venmo request each other for a $4 coffee, but we can see how expenses are adding up. If someone has racked up a few hundred dollars of spending for both of us, the other person will cover our expenses for awhile. It works for us! Rent $2,200 for a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment in Brooklyn. We split rent 50/50. Renters insurance About $7/month for my portion. This covers all our possessions plus my boyfriend’s watches. He pays 75% of it because half of the monthly cost comes from the extra watch overage. Savings contribution I try to have about $10,000 sitting in my savings account at any given time, because it makes me feel safe in case of an emergency. I also like the freedom it enables, in case I wanted to leave my job and take a significant amount of time off. This is already at the $10k I want, so I don’t contribute to it monthly. Investment contribution It varies but on average I contribute $2,500/month to my brokerage account and Roth IRA (combined). Donations I try to donate about $200/month, but it’s pretty sporadic. This month I donated to the Yellowhammer Fund and Northwest Abortion Access Fund. One of my major goals for 2021 is to step up my donations and create an actual strategy around them, potentially involving a donor-advised fund. Gas/electric Our gas is $20-25/month and electric is $50/month. I pay gas and Will pays electric, both go in Splitwise. About $37/month total for me. Wifi Our wifi is $60/month, which goes into Splitwise—I pay $30/month. Cellphone I’m still on my parents’ phone plan—sheesh! This is convincing me that I should Venmo them for it each month. Subscriptions I pay for Hulu with ads, $5.99/month. My boyfriend pays for Netflix and we share a Spotify family plan with a couple of his friends, which I chip in $4/month for. I also pay for the budgeting software YNAB (You Need a Budget) which is $84/year. I only pay it once a year in September. Medical I recently had to go to the emergency room for an overnight stay and follow up with some specialists. (I’m okay!) Because of that whole shindig I’m expecting to max out my deductible (and potentially my out-of-pocket-max) right at the end of the year. This will be about $4,000, but none of the claims have come through yet so I’m not sure of the exact total. I have a category in my budget for my deductible, and the rest will come out of my emergency fund. Physical therapy This month I’m starting pelvic floor physical therapy for dyspareunia (pain with intercourse). I’d tried everything the internet suggested (“just relaaaaaax”) before getting the courage to find a new ob-gyn and ask her about it. She had some recommendations, but ultimately physical therapy was the “last resort” option that I’m now exploring. My new physical therapist comes highly recommended but is out of network with insurance. Each session is $250, and I’ll go once every 2-3 weeks for the next few months as part of treatment. If you’ve worked through this problem (or are experiencing it now!) I’d love to hear your experience. Section Four: Additional Questions Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? Absolutely. My dad was the first in his family to attend college and my parents made pretty calculated decisions about where they would live so I could go to the absolute best public school possible. Over 90% of students at my high school attend a 4-year college, and we start talking about it freshman year. To say college was encouraged in my environment is an understatement. Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances? My dad has worked in finance since I was about 10. He’s always been really knowledgeable about both higher-level economic concepts and the minutiae of personal finance. My family is frugal, too: we clipped coupons and got clothes on super-sale at Kohl’s and Goodwill. I know there was a period of time when he became self-employed and money got very tight for a few years, but the bulk of those worries were largely kept from me. Did you worry about money growing up? Yes. While we were comfortable, we lived in such an affluent place that our family was in “the middle class” of the town and it made me worry more about money than I probably needed to. Think The Stepford Wives for context. At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net? In college, I became maybe 80% financially independent as I had a scholarship and worked part-time during school and over the summer, but I was still on their insurance. I remember being frustrated in college because even though I knew I was extremely privileged, my friends in college had their parents pay their summer apartment rent and gave them an “allowance” of spending money, and I was “limited” by the options I could afford with the job I had. My dad told me at the time, “This is frustrating but it’s preparing you for actually having to live off the money you make in the near future.” (Great, great advice Dad.) I’m technically still financially dependent on my parents for my cell phone bill, but otherwise I pay for everything: rent, insurance, utilities, food, therapy, and all wants in the form of clothing, workout classes, etc. I could ask my parents for money if I absolutely needed to, but would use it as a last resort. Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain. I have an account (mentioned above) that a family friend who’s a hedge fund manager, well, manages. I believe the initial deposit was $1000 over 10 years ago, but that money wasn’t mine either, it’s all a gift. It’s not very liquid—it’d take me several months (and some very good reasoning) to get any of that money withdrawn, since it’s supposed to be for “the future” (which I guess I could argue is now?). I might receive a small amount of money when my grandmother passes, but it’d probably be around $1-2k, if at all. Day 1Wednesday, November 25, 2020 8:30am Wake up and shower, take my vitamin C gummies, then make coffee. I wasn’t much of a daily coffee drinker until my offices had it for free, and now I’m definitely addicted. I don’t really care if the coffee is shitty or not, I just put some milk in it and it’s great. Right now I’m trying to drink half or three-quarter cups so I can attempt to pull back my addiction a bit. I log onto work at 9am. 11:30am Eat leftovers from last night for lunch—quesadilla + Spanish rice. There’s an incredible Mexican restaurant by us, and now I am ruined for the tacos, quesadillas and nachos from any other place. 12:30pm Will picks me up in the U-Haul. We’re driving about 20 min away to pick up a butcher block desk he bought off Craigslist, which ends up being from a small office that’s downsizing. The desk is $150 which he pays for. We love the office’s style (and the owner is super nice!) and walk around while he shows us what else he’s trying to get rid of. We end up buying an extra-large ZZ plant and two side tables from him for an extra $120, way less than we would have paid for the quality elsewhere. My half will be $60, and I’ll split the U-Haul too, $44.51. $82.26 2:45pm That ended up taking a lot longer than we expected! We get back and unload the van, then I bring stuff inside while Will returns the van to the U-Haul location. I jump back onto work—so much for a slow afternoon before Thanksgiving. AWS is down, which powers a lot of our engineering work (and a lot of the internet!) so a lot of our teams are basically twiddling their thumbs. We chat about how to message the outage to customers. 5:45pm Will starts making dinner (braised chicken and veggies) and I sit down to read with a strawberry Chobani, but I end up just reading Reddit and searching for new podcasts to listen to. 7:45pm Dinner was great! Now…ice cream. 9:43pm I remember that my mom sent me ideas for her and my dad’s Christmas presents, so I order on Etsy and Amazon. My dad gets a mug with an Ernest Hemingway quote (“write drunk, edit sober”) ($21.54) and a book on writing ($16.63), and my mom gets this food warming tote contraption she wanted ($43.52). We’ve been paring down Christmases over the years—this year I asked for the Europe version of Ticket to Ride. $81.69 11:15pm I finish up the first episode of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City with some white cheddar Cheez-Its to snack on. After, I start on the dishes from dinner. I listen to the Product Market Misfits podcast while I do dishes—the episode with Kristen Anderson from Catch is great, highly recommend if you’re tired of just hearing stories about stereotypical Silicon Valley tech companies. Day 1 Total: $166.69 Day 2Thursday, November 26, 2020 10am Wake up super late since I stayed up scrolling on my phone too late last night. We make coffee and set out for a long walk around 11:15am. 12:05pm At the end of our walk, we swing by our local liquor store and buy 4 bottles of wine (red, white, rose, champagne). Will pays, total is $63.15 for everything. We haven’t had wine in the apartment for ages and I’m excited to have some stocked up. $31.57 12:30pm Get back from the walk, shower, then turn on football. I actually don’t really care about any NFL teams (I like college football a lot more), but it’s such calming background noise for me that I find myself looking for games when I have downtime. We also recently found out that Will’s friends’ dog only has a few months to live, so we order some jerky treats and a squeaky toy for him. $14.07 2:30pm We head out to the restaurant we’re going to for Thanksgiving lunch, a local place a short walk from our apartment. They’re doing a prix fixe menu of the classics—turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and a phenomenal tarte Tatin with ice cream for dessert. We eat outside under heat lamps. It’s super cozy. With our bottle of wine and tip the total is $208 (I try to tip over and above the norm because it’s a pandemic and Thanksgiving). My half will be $104. 5:53pm Get back from the restaurant. We have a ton of leftovers which is awesome (I think it’s excessive frugality, but I almost expect to stretch takeout or restaurant meals into two meals). Exchange some texts with my friends about their socially-distant Thanksgiving celebrations. I turn on the Washington vs. Cowboys game right at the halftime show, which is Kane Brown with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. They’re all wearing masks (except for Kane) and it’s so odd to see them dancing in masks. I mean, I’m glad they’re wearing them, but it just seems like we could have gone without the halftime show this year. 9:21pm I order contacts from Contacts Direct. I got a new prescription but didn’t have a great experience with the eye doctor, so I’m hesitant about this order—only ordered one box of 90 lenses for each eye instead of a year’s worth of lenses. I’ve been getting headaches pretty frequently, so I’m hoping getting a new pair of glasses and alternating those (instead of wearing my contacts for 16 hours a day, every day) will help. $29.98 after insurance benefits Day 2 Total: $179.62 Day 3Friday, November 27 8:56am Wake up super last minute, run to sign onto Slack and then start grinding coffee beans. I’m online and drinking a big mug of coffee by 9:10. (So much for half cups.) 10:45am Come up for air from work and grab the stuff to make a bagel. Everything bagels and plain cream cheese are my go-to combo. 12:03pm I grab a bag of clothes to drop off at the donation bin and a couple library books to return. The library is about a 25 minute walk so it’ll be a nice lunch break diversion. 12:56pm After the library I stop by the grocery store for some paper towels and sponges, since we’re almost out. Total is $22.62, my half is $11.31 1:09pm When I get home I jump back into work and put the USA vs. Netherlands game on my second monitor. By the 75th minute, the US is up by 2 goals so they start putting in some younger players—it’s fun to see Midge Purce and Sophia Smith play! I also throw some bagel bites in the oven for a quick snack and promise myself dinner will be healthier. 4:23pm I zone out of work and start playing Among Us. I end up playing for over two hours. We open a bottle of wine at some point and I get super tipsy. 6:50pm Turn on the tail end of the Notre Dame vs. UNC game. It turns into Jeopardy, which turns into Wheel of Fortune, which I’m not mad about. P isn’t as into the game shows and leaves to microwave a plate of leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner and play video games. 8:40pm Finally getting hungry after my bagel bites and Cheez-Its this afternoon and make a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers—turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and cauliflower. Yum. Will and I end up getting in a tiff about the mess in our apartment so we take a break, cool down and talk it through. I watch a couple episodes of Sister Wives and go to bed around 1:30am. Day 3 Total: $11.31 Day 4Saturday, November 28, 2020 10:05am I stayed up late (again) so it’s nice to sleep in. I play Among Us for awhile and have a couple rounds where I’m the impostor and get some great kills and wins. I run out into the living room and celebrate with Will. We laugh because it’s silly how much we love the games we play. Around 10:45 I start making coffee. 11am We desperately need new sheets because our fitted sheet has a huge hole at Will’s feet (and it’s growing). I search a women’s personal finance group I’m in on Facebook for recommendations and we end up buying a queen sheet set from Belk. Total was $100.71 with their sale. $50.35 1pm I was planning on returning a package to the post office today, but forget it closes at 1pm on Saturdays so I decide to run to Target instead. I have a lampshade to return and want to look for a shower caddy as well. I also have an old iPad to return, which Will tells me I can do at Best Buy. He finds an old iPod and flip phone I can take too. Take the MTA there ($2.75 for a single fare). When I get there, it’s a madhouse and I remember that I have sillily (is this a word?) decided to come on the weekend of Black Friday. I stand in the returns line for about 15 minutes and get $10.89 back, but ditch the idea of trying to look for a shower caddy. The checkout line looks like 100 people long. -$8.14 because of return Next I go to Best Buy, but who am I kidding—the line to get in the store is even longer than the Target checkout line. I walk back to the subway and get on to go home. $2.75 2:30pm Since Best Buy was a no go, I search for electronic recycling around me on the way home just to see where I could drop off the devices I have. Apparently there’s an EcoATM not too far from my subway stop. It’s more for selling devices, but if they can’t give you money for something, they’ll recycle it, which is exactly what I wanted. I put each of the pieces in the scanner, and end up getting a whopping $2 total (for Will’s old iPod). Still cool because I was just expecting to recycle it all. I’ll give Will the $2. 2:44pm There’s a Dunkin nearby so I pop in to grab a couple donuts ($2.90). There’s a woman outside asking for money, so I give her $5 cash. $7.90 3:00pm Last stop—our favorite deli is nearby and Will mentioned he wanted to get bacon there recently. I get a 1/2 lb and salivate on the way home. This is one of those things I won’t put in Splitwise because it’s small and because it’s fun to get for P as a tiny little present. $3.50 3:45pm Once I’m home I’m super hungry from only eating carbs all morning so I have a snack of carrots, hummus and some pepperoni. I head back out to drop off a bag of clothes and shoes at a drop box a few blocks away. The neighbors are outside at the park near our house so I stop and chat with them for a few minutes. Their kids are the cutest. 6:47pm For dinner I make a ham and cheese sandwich (panini style with rosemary butter) and more carrots and hummus. I put on another episode of Sister Wives. These people are so fascinating to me—first off, I think the husband is completely full of himself. But I’m also so curious about the wives. There are a lot of talking head testimonials where the parents explain that they’re “oppressed” because they’re different and want to go public so the world can see polygamy as a valid family style (I’m only on season 2). I know they’re probably playing up the “we love our other sister wives and have so much fun together even without Kody” aspect because people expect sister wives to be catty and hate each other, but I can’t help but wonder why they need to be in plural marriage to get the same friendship they seem to value so much. I also doubt they’d extend the same grace and tolerance they want to people who are “different” because they’re LGBTQ, or “different” because they’re in an open relationship or marriage. 9:15pm I mix together oatmeal chocolate chip cookie batter and put some cookies in the oven. While I’m waiting, I browse Zocdoc for well-reviewed providers—I want to make a podiatrist appointment for a lingering toe issue and an audiologist appointment for a routine hearing screening. I got the idea to make these appointments since I’ll hit my out-of-pocket max with the hospital visit, making them free or very discounted. I make two appointments for next week. I also lust over a Farm Rio puffer jacket that feels overpriced but I just love. Maybe I’ll buy it tomorrow since they’re having a 30% off sale. Day 4 Total: $64.50 Day 5Sunday, November 29 8:58am Wake up and switch between scrolling on Reddit and playing a few Among Us games. After a bit Will gets out of bed and makes coffee for us. 9:45am Will finishes the movie he started last night and we start on breakfast. We’re making the bacon I bought yesterday, breakfast potatoes with onions, and a fried egg for Will (I can’t stand the taste or smell). 11:00am Yum! Breakfast was great. I watch a couple episodes of Sister Wives and mull over buying that ridiculous but amazing puffer jacket from Farm Rio. I’ve still been thinking about it since last night and I might take the plunge. 1:25pm I get a jolt of motivation to work out and do a 20 minute Sydney Cummings video on Youtube. I heard about it from a recent Money Diary posted here! After it’s done I’m so, so tired. I stretch and unpause my episode of Sister Wives. 2:22pm I help Will move the butcher block slab for his desk out to our backyard. We live on the first floor of a single-family home that was converted into apartments, so we get the backyard too—it’s awesome to have outdoor space in the city. P works on sanding it and applying poly for the next couple hours. 5:07pm Will suggests pizza for dinner and I am always, always down for pizza. I order pickup from the spot down the street—one grandma, one cheese and 2 orders of garlic knots come to $38.60. We’ll have leftovers for tomorrow too. $19.30 5:50pm We pick up the pizza and dig in. While we’re eating we turn on the Chiefs vs. Buccaneers game; Will has a few players on his fantasy team in this game. 6:57pm I sign up to write letters to Georgia residents encouraging them to vote in the Senate runoff elections in January. This is through Vote Forward—I did 20 letters for the general election in November and want to participate again. I’ll print the letters at a local coffee shop since we don’t have a printer at home. Will sends me this Reddit comment about campaign finance since we’ve been talking about it recently. I decide I’m convinced by the argument and set up a $5 monthly donation to Brand New Congress. $5 8:19pm After texting back and forth with my friend all day, I buy the puffer jacket—so excited. She encouraged me to get it and is pumped for me too. $228.64 I also notice my paycheck has started processing in my checking account (I get paid tomorrow), so I enter the amount in YNAB and budget it all. I earmark about $1500 to go into my brokerage account tomorrow. I won’t include it here as “spending” since it’s included in the overview section above. Day 5 Total: $252.94 Day 6Monday, November 30 8:43am Wake up and turn on my Slack. Will started the coffee process and I finish it up by pouring the water into our Chemex and letting it steep (I know there’s a coffee-centric word for this...). 8:56am I check my Citi card and my YouTube TV trial rolled over—I was going to cancel it this morning, which I thought was the last day. I email support to see if they’ll refund me, because (I promise I’m not just saying this!) I did have a pretty bad experience. The Roku app was glitchy for us every time we watched something. Maybe they’ll feel nice today! $64.99 9:35am After responding to a few work messages, I run out the door to the post office to avoid a long package line. I did the Warby Parker 5-day home try on and have to return my box of glasses today. I found a pair I really like and am excited to get in the habit of wearing glasses again, instead of just my contacts. Thankfully the line is only a few people long. The employees are also super nice every time I go, so I try to be really pleasant too. The lines are usually long and I’ve seen more than one adult have a fit at this post office. It’s rainy today and I couldn’t find our umbrella, so my flimsy rain jacket gets pretty soaked through on the walk back. 11:35am My podiatrist appointment is supposed to be tomorrow morning, and they call me to tell me since I haven’t hit my deductible, I’ll have to pay out of pocket for the visit. I explain that I’m 100% going to hit my deductible, the claims from the hospital just haven’t processed yet. I ask her to bill my insurance first for the visit, then I can pay whatever ends up not being covered (if anything). She agrees! Maybe this is standard, but I’ve never had it happen before—even if I haven’t hit my deductible, I’ve always been to offices that bill insurance first, then I pay the remaining balance. 1:05pm Lots of meetings today. I break for lunch and heat up the braised chicken with veggies. It’s definitely on its last good day, so I’m glad I used it up. Still yummy! 2:20pm Woohoo! Get an email that my YouTube TV charge was refunded. -$64.99 Will ran to Home Depot today to buy some tools for his desk and also got a shower curtain liner since ours is ripping. I go to put it up in the bathroom but my arms are so sore—like I got my flu shot type of sore. 5:05pm Sign off work after trying to wrangle a supremely frustrating SQL query. I don’t get it but figure I can ask our analyst team for help tomorrow. Will will have a late night working, so pizza and Sister Wives is in my near future. While watching, I update YNAB to reflect the end-of-month balances for my investment accounts. I get a huge dopamine hit by seeing my net worth number go up. I’m also anticipating it going down a bit next month because of my medical bills, so I relish the moment. 8:09pm It suddenly dawns on me that my arms are sore because I worked out yesterday. It’s so rare now that I literally forget when I do it. Ha! 9:15pm We watch the Eagles vs. Seahawks game and I absentmindedly play Among Us. I end up getting ...bullied by a person playing it? They get mad that I figured out they were the imposter and start saying all these schoolyard-type digs throughout the next couple rounds, but level 100 of cruel. I’m embarrassed by how sad it makes me but think maybe it’s a good thing I don’t immediately know what to say to bully people back. Such a weird experience. I end up going to bed around 11:30. Day 6 Total: $0 Day 7December 1, 2020 7:07am Wake up late for my alarm at 7. I’m up a lot earlier today because my podiatrist appointment is first thing. I get dressed in the dark, kiss P goodbye, grab my water bottle and run out the door to the subway by 7:30. $2.75 8:10am Get to my stop and swing by Starbucks before the appointment. I get a vanilla latte and the bacon cheddar and egg sandwich. Total is around $10 but I have a gift card loaded onto my Starbucks app. My spending here went way down when I switched jobs to an office not close to a Starbucks, and then stopped going into an office at all. 8:30am My appointment goes great, if a little painful when she numbs my toe. I had to get an ingrown toenail removed. I danced ballet and pointe for years so I’m (unfortunately) used to them, but this one was terrible. The doctor and I bond over both being dancers with bad feet and they schedule me for a follow up two weeks out. She actually says there’s been a rise in these procedures because people aren’t getting pedicures since the pandemic and aren’t cutting their toenails well! Wild. I look silly on the subway in December wearing Birkenstocks and socks with a huge toe bandage. It looks like one of those cartoon characters who stubs their toe and it becomes 10x bigger than their other toes. $2.75 9:40am I get off at the stop before mine to stop at Rite Aid. I grab Neosporin, band-aids and epsom salt and check my notes for anything else she mentioned about caring for my toe. $12.97 10:00am When I get home, I hop into work and working with our engineers on a promotion for the New Year. I also catch up with Will since he stayed up late last night and I got up early for my appointment. He says he ended up staying up until 3:30am (!!) cleaning up his tools, working on his desk and putting up the shower curtain. I’m floored that he is functional right now after waking up at 8. 12:15pm Heat up the last of the pizza for lunch, along with hummus and carrots. 5:20pm Work is average-paced for the rest of the day. Not doing nothing, not totally over my head. Will puts in potatoes for baked potatoes to have later, which we’ll pair with a salad. We’re getting close to needing a grocery run again, so the meals are becoming more of a mishmash. We listed a couple things on our local Buy Nothing group last week, so a woman comes by to pick up a wifi router we can’t use anymore. Would totally recommend looking up if there’s a group in your area—they’re usually on Facebook. 6:30pm After dinner I watch more Sister Wives and look up RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit one of my friends shared for Giving Tuesday. They buy unpaid medical debt from collections, so $1 ends up paying off $100 of someone’s medical debt. I give $50 to the Arkansas campaign, which will clear $5,000 of medical debt. As Will said earlier today, “medical billing in America is a racket” so I really hope this helps clear a burden from an individual or family. Doing this reminds me to check my insurance portal, which is steadily going up as each separate claim comes in. Ahhhh, modern healthcare! $51.49 At the end of each day please tally up your daily expenses. Then at the end of your diary please tally up all expenses in the following categories: Total: $719.33
Grocery + Dining Out: $157.77
Fun + Entertainment: $0
Home + Health: $164.67
Clothes + Beauty: $228.64
Transportation: $11.00
Gifts + Giving: $157.25
Reflection This week felt like a big spending week for me. I checked YNAB and since January, I’ve spent about $1600 per month, not including rent—so about $400/week. That’s why this week’s $719 feels so high! Writing this diary helped me understand how many things I have going for me. I’ve recently been in a huge funk—about my health, my performance at work and my relationships with family, friends and P. Going to the hospital, needing physical therapy to have sex and being in a pandemic will do that to you. I was able to zoom out a bit and understand how stable and gratifying my life is. That being said, I’m so glad this community exists. I really love it and learning about all your spending and saving habits. Thanks for being here and sharing :)
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