Thanks to the hard work of Argenti Aertheri and the suggestions of various other Boobzers, the Man Boobz survey is now up and ready to be taken. It will give me — and all of you — a better picture of just what sort of people read Man Boobz on a regular basis. It’s completely anonymous. Go take it! It will only take a few minutes.
I will probably leave it up for a couple of days, and will report the results here as soon as the numbers are crunched.
I think pretty much any other question you might have about it will probably be answered on the survey itself, so hop to it!
Thanks Argenti!
Heh, I just moved from Wellington to Auckland, and I am paying really really cheap rent. But the flat is old, freezing cold, has no laundry and is in a pretty bad neighbourhood (Westies… It’s very ‘outrageous fortune’ the bogans have loud parties most nights)
I’m more interested in saving money than settling down, so it’s okay. The thing I have found that surprises most immigrants is how expensive food is here. Feeding a family is pricey.
Total cost is 1360 per month, split three ways. And that qualifies as really cheap. The only thing cheaper I saw advertised was 320 per month to share a room, or in some cases a bed, in a central apartment.
RE: hrovitnir
Nowhere to go. What do you do? :/
So far, I’ve been intensely fortunate in that I have somehow apparently accumulated a vast store of Cool Points with people around the world. I am now MASSIVELY cashing in on this, and come September, I plan to strap on a pack and hit the road, traveling around my homeland to whoever will let me crash with them for a bit. I do odd jobs along the way, plus sell my art and comics, and so far, I manage to keep afloat.
I mean, if I’m going to be homeless anyway, I might as well turn it into an adventure. At the very least, I will have marvelous stories to tell.
I’m glad to hear that things are getting better for you, LBT! ^_^ And you’re getting to do what you love as well (as far as I can tell).
I am shocked and amazed by the bolded part!
Nice. Did you move cities or just find a better deal?
Yeah, the joys of having half our food shipped here I suppose. lol @ Outrageous Fortune styles. 😀 Why’d you go to Auckland??
I’m so glad. I hope it stays a good adventure. If you ever make it over here again you’re welcome to stay in our big run down house with too many animals. ^_^
Auckland had people willing to employ me and meant I could move out of my mums house. I would have had to stay there if I had gotten a job in Wellington, the flats there are so expensive.
RE: Ally S
It’s true! It’s been a weird kind of place to be in, destitute but oddly happy with what I’m doing with my life. I hope to continue doing all right!
RE: hrovitnir
Here’s hoping I do make it back to your country one day. It was so beautiful, and I really missed out on the South Island. (I wanted to see Tataka so badly!)
Darn. I’m glad you’ve got a job and somewhere to live though! If my partner I split up I just… don’t think I could live with my mother. It would go badly. So you feel remotely the same, getting out must be wonderful.
Yeah, the South Island is where all the spectacular stuff is – though I think of it as more sterile and nothing because Canterbury and Otago is a hell of a lot of dead grass. There just happens to be amazing mountain ranges a couple of hours away and native rainforest a couple more!
I did not appreciate the latter when I was young – driving, horribly motionsick, to visit my Aunty on the West Coast of RAIN. Rain and wet and cold and bleh. lol
I mean, of course I understand that you wish that many things in your life were better, so I hope I don’t sound like I was saying “Oh, you get to do what you love so everything else is just perfect for you!”
But honestly, hearing about all of that gives me a bit of hope for my own future because…well, I see my own life going in a very bad direction right now, and it’s very scary to think about. But what you say reminds me that even if my living situation becomes shitty in the near future (or something else similar happens), it’s not the end of the line for me. Among other things, I know cool people who can help me out, and there’s always the possibility of going back to my mom’s place.
So yeah, I really appreciate you keeping my spirits up a little even though that’s not your intention ^_^
Oh, dear, that really sounds like a “Cool, now let me make it all about ME” thing I was doing there. =S I’m sorry if I came off that way.
RE: Ally S
No, it’s okay, you have no idea how tired I get of being the designated sad sack in the room. Being owner of the biggest tragedy dick is not NEARLY as fun as assholes on the Internet told me it would be.
And do try and take heart. I mean, about a year ago, I was in a similar position, just watching my life unraveling uncontrollably and not being able to stop it. It was terrifying, and the future seemed barren of opportunity, and I felt like I’d failed everyone who ever depended on me, and the effort of living just seemed too much to bear. And it was awful.
But the thing about our life stories is that they can keep going. And I’m a firm believer that if you wait long enough, the ending will become happy, because all things eventually change. People, places, feelings, thoughts. Everything eventually changes.
I can’t control a lot of what happens to me, but I can try to control how I respond to it. So even though sometimes I worry I’m kidding myself, and just inviting further catastrophe, treating this like a huge adventure has helped me stay alive the past year, so I plan to keep using it.
Thanks, LBT. That really lifted my mood. =D I’ll try to think that way from now on. Too often does my mind go back to “You’re going to fail, no one will love you, and everyone is going to go after you no matter what you do,” and it’s really unhealthy for obvious reasons.
LBT – if it’s any consolation at all, you don’t come across like dedicated sad sack to me, here.
Nor do you, Ally.
Thanks, Kitteh! I get worried about draining people with my negativity, especially since I’m used to that girl I talked about before (the stalker one I mentioned in that open thread) constantly asking me to be her therapist.
You two are so great, LBT and Ally. I really hope everything doesn’t go as badly as I can envision, Ally: but if you are out on your arse you can find your way like LBT. I wish it didn’t have to be this way at all.
Nah, I have long since stolen that. The sad sack is comfortable, and it’s mine. And it’s comfortable. And I’m repeating myself oh god the MRA is in my brain.
So fear not, your worries are merely reflection of the fact that you’re people with enough sapience and salience to be worried about the future. :}
@Ally S:
You could.
Hypothetically, it is possible that you will make a mistake so dire it’ll unravel your entire life. It’s also possible you’ll win the lottery.
It’s just, far, far, far, far more likely that you’ll do things you enjoy, be happy, and find people whose company you enjoy sharing. The world isn’t out to get anyone, the world just is. I’m sorry if that sounds preachy, but what I mean is… No one’s going to be out to get you. So you can create just the existence you’re interested in living with some effort.
Good luck with that q:
RE: Ally S
Too often does my mind go back to “You’re going to fail, no one will love you, and everyone is going to go after you no matter what you do,” and it’s really unhealthy for obvious reasons.
Oh yes! My mind did that too, so often that I actually made comics about it! (My webcomic update for Wednesday might prove particularly relevant to you.)
The thing is? After a year of hell, I can safely say that all those doomsday predictions were completely untrue. Like, the sky didn’t fall in. (And even when it did, it was never as bad as my brain told me it would be, and I just dealt with it and got on with it.) And I’m pretty sure it’s not that I’m somehow so much more awesome than you, I just think it’s because change is the only constant.
RE: Kittehs
Aw, thank you!
Hey Argenti, glad we’ve had no troll invasion! If responses have slowed down, feel free to close the survey. And take however long you need to process the results; no need to rush it.
And big thanks again for doing this!
I’m consistently talking two days in the past, but Kittehserf! You got a new avatar. I barely recognized you until I read your name*
*I kind of think of people’s avatars as there faces for some reason
Re: middle class
Yeah, I can get what I technically need and not have to work atm (which is a good thing because fibro is killing me so a job would by hyper-painy), but due to financial strain (my dad has a hard time finding work) I can’t get the desired mobility devices without sacrificing the first semester of college (in terms of: I’d have to dip into my college fund and I already didn’t get financial aid due to them wanting my dad’s 2012 tax returns, when he got paid 50k a year, as opposed to 2013 when he got paid 0 dollars a year)
Luckily I have a sister (Marie) who wants to work to get me those things so she is awesome.
Anyway, long story short that puts me in a position where I don’t have to worry too much, so I checked middle class (also due to my dad used to having a well paying job)
The most our dog could get trained to do at phrases was bark really loudly at “IT’S A TRAP!”. Actually, she did that herself without anyone needing to train her.
@Emilygoddess
That’s similar to me, except I’m a lapsed Greek Orthodox, not a lapsed pagan. I like being in church; I like celebrating holidays (especially since Greek’s have the best holiday food. XD), and so on, but my opinion on God is: Maybe xie exists, maybe xie doesn’t. If xie’s like the priests in my church say (homophobic and slut shaming) then I wouldn’t want to worship xem anyway.
anyway, i’m still catching up on comments but don’t want htis to get too long, so *posts*
@hrovitnir:
Crap. Shoulda said that was renting vs. buying.
The $604 is my mortgage payment. Once I’ve hit 5 years and like 25% paid back, it goes down by like $75 a month because of mortgage insurance (I have to pay the premium to ensure the lender will get paid off if I do a runner and leave ’em holding the bag).
Well, some avatars are faces; and it’s how we recognize people from comment to comment.
….but FYI, I don’t look like that. 😛
@Howard Bannister
I assume your thing is a video game avatar, because that’s what it looks like to me. is it?
And yeah, I do use the avatar’s to recognize people. My dad always reads forums with the avatars turned off and I’m like “HOW DO YOU DO THAT?”
re:avatars
Avatars help me loads, especially since it takes like, seeing a name a bunch for me to get it, cuz I’m horrible with names.
@Fade:
Close. It’s from a comic book.
It’s this dude.
He was the utter height of the 90s hero, pouches, scars for no good reason, a light-up eye, cyborg arms, giant guns.
It was the natural thing to have him do a comics series toting a baby around.