Hello there! I just found this subreddit. Also I’m not too sure this belongs in the subreddit but i think it might. Also on mobile so if I miss anything I apologize!
So a bit of backstory:
At the time of one of the many times this has happened to me, I was visiting Las Vegas with my family for Christmas. I was 21 at the time, my birthday was that past August, so I was in legal age to gamble and/or drink. I just wanted to try to gamble at one of the casinos.
We were staying at the Treasure Island hotel and casino, in which I loved staying there and would recommend anyone whom asked me where would they stay. Anyways, I’m am from and still live in Texas as I have a bit of a Texan draw and accent, but my voice was still a bit higher than it is now. I had made a few friends at that casino that were around my same age, and we were playing the Dragon Spin slot machine. I made a joke about the luck I had, I had hit one of the three slot games where the dragon would roar and shake the game, and got close to $200 I think. With it happening 3 years ago I’m not for sure on the little details.
Then came the incident.....
I told my two friends that I was sitting with that I was going to go cash out because I didn’t want to gamble what I had earned away and I was going to start over on $20 that I had brought with me specifically for the trip. (In all I saved around $500 for the trip to buy souvenirs or to gamble a bit). At the time I’d only used about $50 for gambling and I was happy with that, and with the money I got from the slot game, I was well over what I had brought with me. (No im not bragging! This is part of the story!) So I go and pull the cash out and put it in my wallet that I was carrying around with me when I am grabbed by the arm by a woman with a casino manager and a security guard.
Meet the entitled windbag!
EW: this whore took my wallet and stole my money! This girl is too young to even be in here! I saw her drinking alcohol and smoking! She has to be no younger than 14 and you won’t even let my 16 year old daughter in her! She should be thrown out of here!
My eyes are as wide as saucers at this woman’s accusations. Now this grip actually bruised and ALMOST broke my arm! She grabbed me by the part of my arm closer to my shoulder. (Edit: I completely forgot the name of that bone to be honest 😅😅) Her grip was a mix of an alligator bite and a vice grip! Or at least it felt like it to me then.....
I continued to try to pull myself free when my two friends saved me.
F1 and F2 will be called Jane and Kira for the sake of the story.....
Jane: what’s going on?
Kira: you’re hurting her!
The woman let me go and practically threw me to Jane and Kira.
EW: you see she isn’t alone in soliciting her body! Throw them out NOW!
Me: hold on a second! You haven’t even let me tell my side!
I glared at the EW.
Me: first off.... this bag is mine! I have MY room key, MY license, and MY money in here so you ain’t taking shit from me lady! Secondly, I am 21 years of age yeah I look young but who cares?
When I said that I pulled out my license and room key showing what room I was in.
EW: THATS MY KEY GIVE IT TO ME NOW!
She swiped for my room key. Before she could take it, I handed it to the manager and security guard.
Me: here check my name and see which room I’m in.
Jane and Kira saw this next part but told me afterward.
The EW lunged for my wallet. Kira stood to my left side while Jane stood on my right.
Manager: -to the security guard- watch them no one leaves until we find out the truth
The Manager walked away as Kira, Jane and I glared to the EW. She began sweating and stuttering to try to pull something else.
As it turned out?
The EW wasn’t even staying at the hotel/casino! She was trying to steal from not only me but anyone she could sucker into getting money and then use the person she suckered into giving her anything she tried to ask for. I laugh at that every once in a while but cringe and get pretty hot-headed if someone insults me or anyone I know about stature, age, looks, etc.
But the most idiotic part of all this?
When the EW called all three of us hookers, whores and other profanities:
I was wearing boot cut jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt, a Jean jacket and boots!
Jane was wearing skinny jeans, a short sleeve t-shirt, a sweatshirt and converse.
And
Kira was wearing some clothes she borrowed from me which were, regular blue jeans, a tunic top, and some sandals she brought.
So were we looking like some kind of hookers? Or was this woman just too drunk?

Section Zero: Background
Hello all, happy hoildays! I stumbled upon this subreddit not long ago and have enjoyed the commentary and experiences everyone's shared. Wanted to add another perspective from a mid-30s first-gen American. I've had some missteps regarding careers and finances, but I feel like I'm in a slightly better place now. I tried YNAB in the past but I wasn't consistent enough with it. These days I use Mint to monitor my finances and have a "Finance Friday" each month to review all my accounts and spending. I currently live with my partner TJ and his dog RR. We do not combine finances, but he has been unemployed since March. I have helped him with some bills and basic necessities here and there until he finds his next job or career.
My current financial goals are to just maintain a status quo and not get any debt until pandemic times are over. Then I will focus on a house remodeling fund and savings for taking care of my parents.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances? My parents taught us about money from a frugal perspective. They are immigrants who worked in food service/factories. There was always this “save save save” mentality. Even when they started their own small business, we saved like there was no tomorrow. In high school, my calculus teacher bought us all “The Millionaire Next Door” book and had us read it as an assignment - that was my first structured introduction to finances.
Did you worry about money growing up? No, there was always food on the table and a roof over our heads. I knew that our extended family would support us if needed.
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? Yes. My dad didn’t finish the high school-equivalent in their country, while my mom did finish high school, but no college. My older and younger siblings took a different path in life after high school. I am the first and only in my family to graduate from college. My parents covered all tuition for my two bachelor degrees with the agreement that I support them fully during their retirement and send them gifts/extra money whenever I can. I feel very lucky and privileged that they were able to provide that education for me.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net? 24 when I went on a work holiday abroad. My family was always available to help when needed, but the experience abroad helped me stand on my own feet. As an adult, I also inherited that “save” mentality and put a lot of my earnings towards savings. I didn’t date until my 30s, lived frugally, didn’t go out to eat/hangout with people, shopped thrift stores, and had very few hobbies. I am starting to “live a little” now though.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? Aside from the tuition, my parents have helped with a down payment for my first house and living costs during periods of unemployment.
​
Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance
If the place I was working at offered a 401k, I would always contribute up to the company match. I started my IRA in my mid-20s and would try to contribute the yearly max. I've stopped that the past 2-3 years though. My Other Brokerage is some play money, but I got tired of staring it and switched to index funds. I haven't contributed anything to it in a few years.

• 401k: $34,127 (5% company match on contributions)
• Brokerage: $22,421 ESPP
• Roth IRA: $40,615 VTIVX
• Rollover IRA: $15,760 VTTHX
• Other Brokerage: $7,235 VTI
• Coinbase: $1,286 ETH (mostly just playing around with it)

Equity if you're a homeowner
Purchased my first home for $382,000 with 20% down, right before lockdown earlier this year. Perfect timing, right?? I plan to live here until my retirement. My parents contributed $15k while I used most of my savings for the rest.

• Current Equity: $80,371

Savings account balance: $3,073
Checking account balance: $7,800
Credit card debt: I charge everything on my credit card for the points, then pay it off each month using my checking account balance.
Student loan debt: Traditionally no student loan debt as mentioned in Section Zero.
​
Section Two: Income
Income Progression (listed as gross income with cost of living area):
High School

• $11/hour MCOL - Helped with small family business.

College and first “career” job

• $12-19/hour MCOL - I did events/banquet serving after classes and had an internship doing software administration.
• $22/hour MCOL - Junior web developer. I realized after a year that programming was not my calling.

Mental health break

• $12/hour LCOL - Work holiday abroad. I got a steady banquet server job for that whole time. It was enough to live minimally in a hostel, do weekend trips, WOOF and figure my life out.

College (again) and second “career” job

• $12-15/hour LCOL - Decided to go back to school for a different bachelor's degree. While pursuing that degree, I worked at hotels and events as a banquet server again. I also did “search engine evaluation” whenever there were tasks available.
• $36,000/year salary LCOL - Software administrator at a casino after graduation.
• $39,000/year salary LCOL - Systems analyst at same casino. I left after 2 years, feeling disillusioned with the casino industry. I moved back home with my parents until I could get back on my feet again.

Third “career” jobs

• $20/hour HCOL - Entry level advertising role. I was applying to all types of office jobs and that was my only bite.
• $45/hour MCOL - Cold-called from a global company who needed someone with my software administrator experience from the casino job. It was an 8 month contract. Although I was starting to love my advertising job, the increase in pay was no question.
• $65,000/year salary MCOL - After the contract ended and a few months of unemployment, I landed my current job at the same company. It is an “early career” role according to their job levels.
• $66,900/year salary MCOL - Cost of living and merit increases after 2 years on the job. Pre-COVID we got a $5000 bonus each year. They have now stopped bonuses as well as all COL and merit increases.

​
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
Monthly Net (paid bi-weekly): $2,758
Deductions:

• Taxes: $1214
• (Pre-Tax) Insurance (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life) + HSA: $822
• (5% Pre-Tax) 401k: $256
• (10% Post-Tax) ESPP: $514

Side Gig Monthly Take Home:
No side gigs at the moment, but I am thinking of signing up on Upwork.com and doing Excel/data entry projects to help pay the mortgage.
Other Income: TJ’s friend will be staying with us for a month in January, who will pay rent of $800 including utilities. Depending on how that goes, we may take on a roommate in the spare bedroom long-term.
​
Section Three: Expenses
Mortgage - when I bought the house, the plan was that I would charge TJ a portion of the mortgage costs as “rent”, but since his unemployment I am now covering it all myself.
Regular Monthly Payment: $1677.57

• Principal: $501.31
• Interest: $849.74
• Taxes & Home Insurance: $326.52

HOA: $30/year
Retirement contribution: Nothing additional than what's been mentioned.
Savings contribution: I used to do $50-100/month, but since COVID I’ve stopped contributing to my savings account.
Investment contribution: None at this time.
Debt payments: $100/month towards TJ's credit card balance of $2,307.
Donations: $10-20/month, usually towards Omaze or Planned Parenthood.
Utilities:

• Electric: $45-65/month
• Water: $60-90/month
• Sewer: $30/month
• Garbage: $26/month
• Natural Gas: $30-80/month
• Xfinity internet: $60/month

Cellphone: On my parents plan.
Subscriptions:

• LinkedIn: $29.99/month for TJ’s job search - he’s found it very useful.
• Amazon/Netflix/Hulu: We piggyback off family and friends’ accounts.
• Nintendo Switch Online: 19.99/year
• Costco: $60/year

Gym membership: Pre-COVID I did Orangetheory for a year. I started to pick up free exercise equipment from Craigslist this year, so we have a small garage gym now and utilize YouTube exercise videos instead.
Pet expenses: $10/month. TJ has stockpiled some Costco canned dog food before unemployment, but once that runs out I will likely cover the costs. We also started to make homemade dog food to help supplement.
Car insurance: $460 every 6 months. Car is paid off.
Regular therapy: I will start in the new year. Not sure what the costs are yet, but I will use my HSA to pay.
Vitamins/Medications: $20/month
Groceries & household items: $75/month
Miscellaneous (eating out, house purchases, gifts, etc): $100/month
​
Section Four: Money Diary
Monday
6:30am Neighbor starts up their truck. We joke that it's our natural alarm clock. They idle for about 15 minutes before heading off. I go back to bed.
9am My real alarm goes off. I put the electric kettle on for some morning tea. While it's boiling, I do my morning routine: drink glass of water, take synthroid, use bathroom, brush teeth, quick shower. I then make tea - Jasmine Pearl English Breakfast with dark forest mix. I started ordering loose leaf tea in large amounts back in March instead of small bags or single serving packets. Seems more economical since I drink it daily. I let the dog out into the backyard so he can do his morning routine.
9:30am I go through my daily tasks for work. They entail checking processes and reports to make sure they ran successfully overnight. I then answer some emails and catch-up on Slack channels.
12pm Lunch is leftover roast chicken and quinoa from Saturday. I heat it up in the instant pot. Love that thing! Almost every meal of ours involves the instant pot. We hardly use the stovetop. We then walk the dog to the business park across from our neighborhood. There's a very short trail that runs along a drainage creek by the business park. It's quite muddy, but has a nice woodsy feeling. Over the summer, we saw sumac trees there as well. Free sumac spice!
1:30pm Department meeting on Zoom. Our director announces his resignation on the call. Everyone is shocked! Layoffs were announced for next year but this was not a part of it. I think it's a good move for him and he doesn't have to have this worry of layoffs over his head.
3pm I meet with an engineer from another team and talk about a data source they are in charge of. He helps me out in understanding it and we identify most of the fields that I need for a project I’m starting.
5:30pm I check in with my partner. He's been watching LinkedIn tutorials on internal recruiting, job coaching and general computeoffice skills. It's a career change that he wants to make - something where he can talk to and help people. He doesn't have a bachelor's, only an associates, and hopes these tutorials will get him a leg up in the job search. I sent him some entry level HR admin roles the other day and remind him to apply. I then heat up leftovers: homemade chana masala and rice. I add some butter and coconut milk to thin it out, so there's enough for both of us.
10:30pm I take some magnesium, vitamin D and Airborne. I say goodnight to the dog who sleeps in the office. Then I say goodnight to TJ. He sleeps in the spare bedroom on weeknights due to his snoring keeping me up. I'm a light sleeper while he is a pretty deep sleeper.
Daily total: $0
Tuesday
9am I check Reddit Secret Santa. My match seems like a really good person. Not sure what to get, but most likely will purchase something off their wishlist. I wish I was more creative with my gift giving.
11am Meeting with business stakeholder. She submitted a few changes to an existing data process about a month ago. I make the change while on the call and have her test. Success! Marking it off the todo list. I love when we can finish things directly on a call.
12:30pm I come out of my office to make lunch. I notice my partner is not home. I check my messages and see that he's stepped out to pick up a few things. I ask for celery, carrots, and kombucha. $17. I make a quick charcuterie board for lunch: Costco salami, cheese, homemade hummus and Triscuits. It's a simple, fast meal that’s always in our rotation.
2pm My partner is back and we take the dog out for a walk and quick round of disc golf at a nearby park. We mask up and play only a few holes. Disc golf is a pretty frugal activity, you only need 2-3 discs to get started. TJ remarks that my throws are getting better, but then again they weren't great to start with. We talk about Christmas/Birthday gifts on the way back home since he was born on New Years Day. He mentioned snowshoeing but asked to not spend that much. I'll do some research!
5pm I think about personal career projects. Should I put up a portfolio of projects somewhere? I decide to try and pull some Yelp data. There’s not a lot of data points that I was interested in. Regardless, I tinker with it for an hour. TJ asks if I'm hungry. I said not so much, but felt thirsty. Maybe some ginger soup tonight?
7:30pm Dinner is served - ginger carrot soup made in the instant pot. We eat some rice crackers with it. Lately I feel like we've been eating more vegetarian dinners. It definitely helps stretch our food budget. We end the evening by finishing Fargo season 3 on Hulu.
Daily total: $17
Wednesday
1:30am I'm woken up by the dog. He's been sneezing a lot and wheezes at random intervals. TJ doesn't have the money for a vet visit but I've offered to pay as long as he calls to make the appointment. I give the dog some coconut oil, rub his belly until he seems better and go back to bed.
7am Garbage day. We usually put it out the night before but I forgot. I get up to go, but TJ handles it. I think, at least. I'm too sleepy to pay attention and go back to bed.
9am I wake up and rinse some dishes that have piled up and put them into the dishwasher. We both grew up in households that had a home dishwasher, but forbade from using it. It was drilled into us that hand washing saves more water, unless you had a restaurant/industrial dishwasher. I think with modern home dishwashers, that's changed, so I wanted to try it out with our dishwasher and monitor the water bill. Don't have any dishwashing pods or powder, so I put some OxiClean in it.
12:30pm I overhear TJ on a call with a recruiting agency. It seems to be going well, lots of laughing. I heat up some taco lasagna that I freezer meal-prepped last month.
2pm Collaborate on a project at work with an engineer. My manager put me on this project since I was asking for an assignment on a more technical team. I'm learning tidbits here and there, but I don't feel like it's structured enough.
5pm I do an Orangetheory-At-Home workout and try to break a sweat. It's not the same as going to their studio.
6pm Charcuterie for dinner. Our fridge is full of store-bought and homemade pickles that go super well on a charcuterie board.
Daily total: $0
Thursday
7am I wake up tired. The house has been feeling more cold, which woke me up a few times. We keep the temp at 72F during the day, at night around 68F since we thought the bedrooms keep the heat in pretty well. My mistake!
9am I do my usual morning routine and login to work. My team mostly spends the morning sending each other emojis.
11:30am Lunch today is mini quiche, frozen chicken and veggie entree, and hot dogs. Not the most cohesive meal, but it fills the belly.
12:30pm TJ heads out to his mailbox that's 30 minutes away. He is still waiting on his tax return and a 401k withdrawal. His taxes had to be filed by mail for some reason, then the IRS office shut down due to COVID. So he wanted to see if it arrived yet at the mailbox. He also takes the dog to the vet's urgent care on his way. They didn't have any regular openings available until the end of the year, and the dog seemed to be getting worse. I give TJ $40 to mail a gift package to a friend in France and also reiterate that I'll cover the vet bill when he gets it.
4:30pm I pay some bills, my favorite activity (not)! Sewer bill: $59.44 (billed every 2 months). Geico bill: $459.60 billed every 6 months. Then I follow up with my mortgage officer over email. I had sent her some documents for a refinance quote last week, but haven't heard back. Rates keep dropping, so I'm told, but what does that really mean? I do some research on realestate.
5pm TJ messages me and says he'll be back for dinner. I ask him to pick up some Popeyes via drive thru since we both don't feel like cooking today. Popeyes is currently our fancy “going out to eat” food. $24.17 for a 4pc dinner meal and a 2pc dinner meal.
Daily total: $583.21
Friday
8:30am Busy morning at work. My phone is buzzing with emails and Slack messages. I try to answer them while I make tea.
10am Zoom Department happy hour. We reminisce about our director and then play those Jackbox party games. Some of them are hard!
11am TJ asks if he can make me anything for lunch. He suggests savory oatmeal, quick and easy. I tell him that I really appreciate him making meals/doing chores/etc without me prompting. We've been having conversations about "house project management" and mental load because I did most of the chores or I had to continually remind/tell him to do it. I'm really happy to see us progress on this front. I decide to work through my lunch break so I can end the day early. I don't often do that, but I'm ready to get the weekend started.
2pm I check on TJ in the spare bedroom and ask if the dog has been fed yet, since he was nipping at my feet. I notice something off about TJ and ask how he is doing. TJ is depressed about his personal life, career, finances. He doesn't know what to do, spends half the day meditating and reflecting on past trauma. I've been prodding him to get a therapist but he is confused about his insurance. He makes an appointment with a primary care doctor first. I feed the dog some homemade dog-friendly beef stew.
4pm My mom swings by the house (but doesn't enter). She currently works at a school who distributes free USDA food boxes since March. There's often many boxes leftover that would go to waste, so she will grab a box for us. Onions, potatoes, beets, turnips, eggs, cheese, butter, frozen veggies and frozen chicken. She also brought her vintage pasta maker. I asked last week if she ever used it these days and her reply was “no, feel free to have it”. I love pasta and noodles and figure it would be great to make it ourselves as a frugal hobby.
8pm We catch up on Mandalorian and watch silly Youtube videos before heading off to bed.
Daily total: $0
Saturday
9am I open up my web browser and look at Craigslist and NextDoor for free stuff. I've been scouring for free landscape rocks, pegboards, and wood for house projects. I had this grand ambition to redesign our backyard. It faces our neighbor and currently the fence is pretty low. They can see into our kitchen and bedroom and we can see them. But y'know, COVID and going from dual income house to single income means it all has to be put on hold. So I've been looking for free items in the meantime. Over the past months, I've gotten planter pots, plant cuttings, a raised bed, stepping stones, all from free listings. I don't see anything worthwhile so I go and make some tea.
11am I look at Amazon and make some purchases for Reddit Secret Santa. A foodie kit, DVD of their favorite movie, and some cute pens for their writing hobby. $54. I hope they like it!
12pm TJ heats up leftover stir-fry for lunch for us. I put on some Binging with Babish and we watch how to make pasta. We have a plan - TJ makes the pasta, I make the sauce. Perfect date night activity at home. We watch some more videos on pasta and noodles to educate ourselves.
4pm I start prepping veggies. Big batch of onions, canned tomatoes, ground beef and butter in the instant pot. Meanwhile, TJ works on the pasta by following Babish's instructions.
7pm We gorge on fresh made pasta and bolognese sauce. It's so good! We end up watching Fargo.
11pm Usually I'll be in bed by now, but it's a Saturday and not tired yet (probably because of all that pasta). We play some Kirby's Dream Course on the Switch.
Daily total: $54
Sunday
10am Quick walk around the neighborhood with the dog. He's on a new routine now with the medicine he's taking. It seems to be helping his breathing issues.
11am The pasta maker and flour is still out since we didn't clean up yesterday. There's some old pie crust in the fridge so I roll it out with the pasta machine for mini quiches. (Sally's Baking Addiction blog is my go-to place for her all-butter crust and quiche recipes btw). TJ helps by mixing up the eggs.
3pm I play some Genshin Impact (GI) on my phone while TJ plays Starcraft in the office. I don't usually play gacha games, but the Zelda BotW-style of GI appealed to me. A gacha game is a game with randomized characteitem boxes that you use real-money to purchase a “pull” or to spin the wheel. I know the gacha parts of the game can be a real money sink if you get addicted to them, it’s almost like gambling. My main team is Fischl, Bennett, Barbara and Noelle. I level up to AR 22 and look up free-to-play tutorials for the game.
6pm There's some leftover pasta from yesterday, enough for both of us. I throw in some roasted beets to round out the meal. We watch more Fargo while eating. Almost done with Season 3!
10pm I find a tour operator who offers a small, socially-distant snowshoeing tour up on the mountain. I reserve for two people - this will be TJ's Christmas/birthday gift. $75. Off to bed for another workday.
Daily total: $75
Weekly Total: $689.79

• Food + Drink: $41.17
• Fun / Entertainment: $75
• Home + Health: $59.44
• Clothes + Beauty: $0
• Transport: $459.60
• Other: $54.00

Section Five: Reflections
Aside from the car insurance bill, this was a typical week for me, COVID or not. We make the majority of our meals at home and usually splurge on drive-thru/delivery once every other week. I may have overspent on the Secret Santa gift, but I don't often give gifts out to friends. It's not something our family does either. For TJ’s Christmas/birthday gift, we usually talk upfront about costs. I’ve gifted him fancy restaurant experiences the past 2 years, since we can share that experience, but obviously can’t do that now. Snowshoeing is a nice change of pace.
The conversations with TJ this week have given me thought on how to approach him differently about finances and working together in a relationship. I’m still unsure about the future financially, particularly as my parents near retirement age and that TJ has pulled out his 401k to pay his debts. I don't know if I can support both my parents and TJ together, so I am finding ways to upskill and/or side hustles without becoming a workaholic or bogged down by stress.
Writing this money diary was also the first time where I really paid attention to my past income and current income. I might be contributing too much into ESPP that could go towards the 401k or mortgage instead? I also seem to have been underpaid for what I did in past jobs, even in a LCOL area.

Hello Dota 2 community and everyone that bought the Dota 2 The International 10 Battle Pass,
​
here is my last minute TI10 Battle Pass Sideshop Guide before the TI10 battle pass ends for everyone that still hasn´t spend their sideshop gold or forgot that sideshop exists, because while it´s still there, Valve decided to hide it.
​
Chapters:
1. How to access the sideshop
2. Guide: How to play the TI10 Battle Pass sideshop
3. Closing thoughts and enjoy Arcana
​
Sideshop TI10 Battle Pass Dota 2 images: https://imgur.com/a/TUuRwri
​
1. How to access the sideshop
Before you can access the sideshop, you have to go to “Steam“ -> “Dota 2“ -> “Properties” -> “General” -> “Set launch options” -> type in “-console” and thus start Dota 2 with -console in launch options.
Once that is finished, you have to go to the left top corner in Dota 2 and open the settings. Then go to “Hotkeys“ -> “Advanced Hotkeys“ (on the bottom in the middle) -> “Interface“ (right top side) and set a console command for your keyboard.
Finally open the console with your hotkey and type in: dota_show_sideshop
If the console automatically opens when you start Dota 2 you can skip the steps mentioned before.
​
2. Guide: How to play the TI10 Battle Pass sideshop
The goal is to get 35 blue gems. You can get something between 10-15 blue gems from 3000 sideshop gold.
Now about sideshop, if I had let´s say something between 9000-12000 sideshop gold again I would ALL in on the purple tier 4 Heroes (Necrophos, Dragon Knight, TA, Kunkka, Doom).
You want to have 3 star purple or golden ones. I am making this post, because golden heroes (Techies, Lich, Void, Gyro, Medusa) are extremely difficult to get. I have wasted way too much sideshop gold aiming for that 3 star golden hero that gives me 3 blue gems instead of going for 3 star purple heroes that only give me 1 blue gem, but you see purple heroes way more.
If you go to your TI10 collection you can recycle each Immortal Treasure 1+Immortal Treasure 2+(maybe also Immortal Treasure 3? I haven´t tested it) duplicate for 100 sideshop gold . If you spend 50-100€ on the battle pass and played some games every week in the last months you will end up with a few thousand sideshop gold that way.
If you think about money: One 35 blue gem Arcana, if you are lucky, is a TB/Legion Commander Arcana that costs 30€ on the steam market. So basically if you play your sideshop very smartly you will get an Arcana for free with let´s say 9000-12000 sideshop gold. That means you can spend 100€ for the Battle Pass and get a 30€ item back in return plus everything else that you get for the time you invested into the Battle pass.
Spend your sideshop gold on tier 1 heroes (AM, Axe, Bloodseeker, Drow, Razor) for red gems and three 2 stars tier 4 heroes that will eventually create a valuable purple 3-star hero that gives you 1 blue gem.
The same Tier 2/Tier 3 combined to a 3-star hero give you way more red gems than the tier 1 heroes, but they show up way to randomly. Golden Tier 5 heroes show up very rarely, it´s not worth it you would need 20000-30000 sideshop gold to eventually get a 3-star golden hero that you can use for 3 blue gems (or be very lucky).
Also one thing I noticed, which is very discouraging is that let´s say you have two 2 stars TA and two 2 stars Kunkka and only need one more two star TA/Kunkka to combine them to one 3 star. Whenever you collect one, the sideshop gives you the other one. In the next rounds the other hero will pop up twice or three times and you are like “damn, if only I didn´t collect this one, but the other one”. It happened so often that I don´t think it is coincidence, but the design of sideshop makes you want to feel bad LOL.
Anyway if you get the Arcana you save yourself 30€. Yes you can not sell the item immediately, but in a few months/or a year you can sell it. The restriction on selling dota 2 items is constantly evolving so I don´t know if its 3 months, 6 months or a year right now. Regardless if you get the Arcana you are paying 70€ instead of 100€ for the many months of battle pass experience and basically get a free Arcana if you play your sideshop right.
Note: If you have Dota Plus you will get shards for every Quirt´s / Sithils Reward you claim.
Is it too much that you need to play sideshop very smartly and about 9000 sideshop gold for 35 blue gems? Definetly, but it is what it is.
​
When Battle Pass was released many people questioned whether it´s worth it to buy it, but if I could do the whole TI10 Battle Pass again you can get 500-700 levels by spending only 100€ easily if you have great time management (aghanims labyrinth refreshes every few days, complete 3 star guild quests daily, do your cavern quests, do the achievements, wagering, rylai spin luck to get battle pass levels, tips, bounties).
You might still say 100€ that´s a lot of money for a battle pass, but it has been a good experience for months throughout a very difficult covid-19 time and let´s say you would do a different hobby, man football shoes cost 100€ and that´s just the shoes without even having trunks or a sport shirt.
​
3. Closing thoughts and enjoy Arcana
I would not recommend Valve to add Sideshop to 2021 Battle Pass. It is gambling like the slot machines in casinos and addictive.
For the same reason I dislike all neutral items in dota 2. While some are individually OP like Spider Legs, Apex etc. they just drop in the neutral camps at certain times, but you don´t know which one you will get. Same thing happens in sideshop. You know you get tier 1 heroes constantly, but which one? Tier 2-3 sometimes, but also which one? Tier 4 rarely and tier 5 very rarely. You do hundreds, thousands of re-rolls hoping for the hero you need to get your 3 star hero finished and blue gems. But it´s so random and addictive. Dota is for 12+ years old and gambling in casinos is 18+. Same for neutral items in unranked/ranked.
Just a reminder, there was a time in dota 2 without random neutral drops and gambling sideshop in battle pass…

Hello all, I've been a lurker here for nearly a year and been playing for nearly 1.5 years. I figured I'll write some learnings up to share with everyone especially on valuations of events and hoarding of resource.
Disclaimer: My numbers are not perfect and smack on. There are some rounding error here and there and I might have overlooked. Feel free to hit me up for me to update some of the numbers.
General valuations: ( I know that some of you might disagree with my valuations but live with me here)
Non l/d 5* fodder =450gems
L/d 5* fodder = 900 gems ( I assume l/d to be double non l/d for whole game)
4* fodder =50gems
3* fodder= 10gems ( some might ask why but the reason I valued it is because of altar events and late game when we have excessive 4* fodder from sealed land)
Orange artifact =1000gems ( early to mid game value due to energy artifact, late game might remove the valuation totally)
Feathers = 100gem each
Non L/d 5* good hero= 6000gems
L/d 5* good hero = 12000gems (hence why you should always use feathers for l/d!!)
Prophetic orbs =450gem
Heroic scrolls= 125gem
Wishing fountain (previously called casino)
4* fodder 2%
5* fodder 0.1%
Shop for 5*- 800spins each
Gem value per spin = 2gem/spin (I know about 8 for 10 so hold on)
Special wishing coin
L/d 4* fodder 6.7%
Po 8.5%
Orange artifact 1.15%
Non l/d good 5* =0.55%
Hs 16.5%
Gem value per spin = 110gem/spin ( surprisee)
Prophetic orbs(I'm focused on non l/d only)
4* fodder 67%
5* fodder 8%(assume 16/50 5* if its fodder)
5* fodder 8.8%
Non l/d good 5* =0.2%
Branches ( assume 2x po rounds for 1 good swap)
Gem value per po = 158.6gem /po
Heroic scroll
Non l/d 5* fodder =2.7%
L/d 5* fodder = 0.202%
Non L/d 5* good hero= 0.16%
L/d 5* good hero= 0.08%
Non l/d 4* fodder =16.8%
L/d 4* fodder = 3.2%
3* fodder = 78.4%
Gem value per hs = 51.24 gems / hs
Now on to events
Heroic scroll event rewards
30hs
15 po
1x 5* fodder
15x feather
1x l/d good 5* hero ( this is because with the new release of palace of eternity we get half of a new hero which I assume to be l/d hence 6000+6000= 12000 aka 5* good l/d hero)
Value per hs from rewards = 46.2gem/hs reward
Total value = 97.44 gem / hs
Gem Efficiency = 78%
Cost per desired hero based on old chance ~52.6k including feather
Cost per desired hero based on new chance( drake style pulls) = 28.6k gems
Prophetic orbs event
2x 4* l/d fodder
3x 5* non l/d fodder
2x 5* l/d fodder
1x good non l/d hero
15 feather
value from rewards= 135.6gem / po
Total value =294gem /po
Gem Efficiency = 0.6533
Cost per desired hero = 19.5kgems
Casino event
8 po
8 swc
5* non l/d fodder
5 feather
Value from rewards= 18.1per spin
Total value = 20 per spin
With 8 for 10, the value per spin , each spin becomes 25gem per spin
Gem Efficiency = slightly over 1
Cost per desired hero= insaneeeee
Imp event
This event I'll assume u need to spend 4500 gem for 1 5* select hero goody box
6* fodder
Value from 1 cycle is 8700gems
Gem efficiency = 1.93
However dont be fooled, they stole 7 days of daily reward for u which I value at about 3k reducing the gem efficiency to around 1.2 ( which is still amazing) Cost per desired hero is 4500gem.
Tl dr: Imp event is the best event for everyone. Wishing fountain event is for everyone who buys 25gem per coin in Aspen and CI adventure. For people who have limited gems and want to buy the goody 2250 gem for 5 po... it's worth considering getting wishing coins instead. Heroic scroll is more worth it compared to po for gem value but if you are in early to mid game and need the hero copies, consider focusing on PO first. Sealed land 17 onwards it's worth it to buy fodder for 100gems per run.
There is a key sticking point which I didn't mention, new heroes are only available in hs first followed by special wishing coin. I believe alot of people are overlooking the value of swc....

Continuing
“Hey, Viv!”, I say, as we’re all being shuttled onto the bus which will take us to our hotel, “Toss me one of those miniatures, if you please. Yeah. Of course, Vodka’ll do. It’s bloody dusty round these parts.”
Viv chuckles and asks if anyone else wants anything. He’s a consummate scrounger and somehow sweet-talked a demure and pulchritudinous female Air China cabin attendant out of her phone number, Email address, and a case of 100 airline liquor miniatures.
That he looks like a marginally graying version of Robert Mitchum in his heyday and speaks fluent Dutch, French, and Italian might explain his success. I mean, a guy with four ex-wives can’t be all wrong, right?
He’s a definite outlier in this crowd. We could be characterized as a batch of aging natural geoscientists who collectively, sans Viv, add up to an approximate eight on the “Looker” scale. Besides the years, the mileage, the climatic, and industrial ravages, it’s a good thing we all have expansive personalities, as most of us are dreadful enough to make a buzzard barf.
But, save for Viv, no one presently here is on the make. Oh, sure; we’ll all sweet talk some fair nubile into a free drink or a double when we really ordered a regular drink, but we’re all married, most terminally, that is, over 35 years and counting. The odd thing is that save and except for Viv, none of us married folk had ever been divorced.
That is strange, considering that the global divorce rate hovers around 50%, and we are often called to be apart from kith and kin for prolonged periods. However, we are always faithful and committed to our marital units and those vows we spoke all those many long decades ago.
But, hey, we’re all seriously male and not anywhere near dead; and there’s no penalty for just looking, right?
Continuing.
We’re all loaded on a pre-war, not certain which war, by the way, bus which stank of fish, kimchee, and diesel fuel. We really don’t care even a tiny, iotic amount. It’s free transport, we’re tired of traveling, and not keen on walking any further than we absolutely have to.
Viv has been passing out boozy little liquor miniatures, and I’ve been handing out cigars since I bought a metric shitload back in Dubai Duty-Free and somehow got them all through customs.
We didn’t light up, as there was neither a driver nor handler present. So, we figured we’d all just wait on the cigars, and concentrate on having a little ground-level “Welcome to Best Korea” party until the powers that be got their collective shit together and provided drivers, herders, and handlers.
We sat there for 15 long minutes. Being the international ambassadors of amity and insobriety, we started making noises like “Hey! Where’s our fucking driver?” and “I am Doctor Academician! Of All State Russian Geological Survey! How dare you make me wait? ”
Suddenly, a couple of characters in ill-fitting gray suits and fake Rays Bans are outside the bus having a collective meltdown. Somehow, someone fucked up and put us on a ‘regular’ bus and not the ‘VIP’ bus. In other words, we got to see what the locals really got to ride around Pyongyang on instead of our supposed to be impressed by the bus that wasn’t there; but was now just arriving.
A spanking new purple-and-chrome Mercedes long-haul bus shows up. It even has our group name emblazoned above the placard that normally tells where the bus is headed or who it is for: “’국제 석유 지질 과학 연합’ [Gugje Seog-yu Jijil Gwahag Yeonhab] or ‘International Union of Petroleum Geological Sciences’”.
We are brusquely ordered off our present bus and into the opulent, obviously bespoke, bright yellow faux-leather interior Mercedes-Benz Tourismo RH M. It’s so new and so obviously a ploy to get us to think that all things here are so new and opulent, it even smells of that new car, ah, bus, aroma.
“Well, we’ll take care of that soon enough”, I muse, as the bus is equipped with ashtrays and we’re going on the scenic route to our hotel, which is only 25 or so kilometers from the airport. However, it was announced that it’ll take us about 2 hours to get to our hotel since we need to see the city in its best light and get a feeling for the town if we should ever find ourselves lost and alone.
We all know what’s going on. They’re getting our rooms ‘ready’ for our arrival and need some extra time to make sure everything’s all wired in and transmitting properly.
“Guys”, I muse to our new handlers, “I’ve been to the Soviet Union, pre-wall fall. I stayed in places where I was definitely among the first westerners ever to grace their porticos. We’re a busload of natural scientists, of eight different nationalities, covering the economic spectrum from staunch capitalism to sociable socialism to hard-core communism. You even think for a second we’re going to spill any beans about anything you’d find interesting or useful? Think again.”
In fact, it would become a running joke between us all to see what sort of fake bombshells we could drop into the normal conversation what would give the listener’s the greatest case of the jibblies.
But for now, our bags were all loaded into the cargo compartment of this very, very nice, I must admit, mode of conveyance. Our handlers: ‘Yuk’, ‘No’, ‘Man’, and ‘Kong’, are all seated upfront and please with their latest tally of bodies. We have a couple of shady fellow travelers with the knock-off Ray-Bans and shiny gray suits that just appeared out of the woodwork in the back, seated by the loo, watching over all of us, and we’re going on a fucking city tour, whether we like it or not.
We’re all present and accounted for. Let’s keep our camera in our bags for the time being as the drinking and smoking lights had just been lit as the bus fired up its new German-engineered and machined precision diesel engine.
The bus rumbled to life and after a moment or two of checking that all dials, gauges, and indicators were where they were supposed to be; without so much as a cursory glance, we pulled out into traffic.
Except there was none.
Not another bus, pushbike, tap-tap, scooter, car, truck, hover-board, or motorcycle in sight.
Nothing.
Seems we were a big deal. They shut down the main drag so we wouldn’t be encumbered by such proletariat things like traffic jams or people-things cluttering the roadway, clambering for a look at the Western scientific cadre.
So, away we whizzed, sans traffic and into the very belly of the beast, and onward; eventually, towards our hotel.
Our handlers were very kind to point out passing scenes of interest.
“Look, look! There’s the Potong River. Notice all the lovely birds, ‘eh what? See the Norwegian Blue? Beautiful plumage!”
“See here, look. Here’s the Taedong River. Many forms of fish in the river. Maybe we’ll see some fishermen. If you like, we can stop, and ask them about today’s catch.”
We all declined, as we were certain that the fish the ‘random fisherman’ we’d talk to was flown in fresh from elsewhere earlier in the day.
Besides, we were comfortable. We had our drinks, our cigars, and we were leaving the driving to someone else.
After being driven around the city and seeing all the wonderful monuments, like the faux Arch of Triumph, which looks exactly unlike its namesake Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile in Paris.
The Arch of Reunification, a monument to the goal of a reunified Korea, which, by necessity, is unfinished. Then there’s the Tomb of King Tongmyŏng, where people are lining up, just dying’ to get in.
Finally, we all called for our hotel, the Yanggakdo, after yet another mausoleum, the Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun.
Arches or tombs. Such a stunning array of monuments and places of less than moderate interest.
We were interested in Mirae Scientists street (Future Scientists street). It is a street in a newly developed area in Pyongyang to house scientific institutions of the Kim Chaek University of Technology and its employees. But we were told that it was too late, there was not much there to see, we needed to express written permission to visit, and we’d be going there tomorrow or next week.
We wheel into the parking lot of the Yanggakdo Hotel and are immediately unimpressed by the pseudo-Baroque concrete fiasco that appears to stand, wobbly, before us. It’s a page right out of the Soviet Construction-For-The-Masses Handbook. A cold, gray concrete edifice with multitudes of seemingly little, tiny windows. A perfect metaphor for our travels thus far; look at the expansiveness of Best Korean wonders, through this pinhole.
However, we judged too soon. We were told to go inside and check-in, whilst our luggage would be de-bussed for us and handled by the expertly efficient hotel staff. The lobby was opulent, tastefully laid out in earth tones of facades of veneers of marble, granite, some garnet-mica schist, if my hand lens doesn’t lie, some Prepaleozoic anatectic migmatite, displaying intricate and intense plication, xenoliths, and graphic delineation of minerals by segregation through melting points. There was a gigantic well-appointed and well kept up aquarium, complete with snuffling sharks and nuclear-submarine sized groupers.
Very handsome indeed. Impressions increasing slightly.
Then we see that there’s a bloody casino on the bottom floor of the hotel, several bars interspersed throughout the hotel, and karaoke, of which I’m not terribly fond, but some of my European counterparts almost swooned at the prospect. There are a large pool and weight rooms/gymnasia, saunas and places to relax outside of one’s room, but still under the watchful eye of the thousands of ill-concealed video cameras at every turn.
“Covert surveillance” may be a thing in Best Korea, but it’s a practice still leaves a lot to be desired. The Eastern Siberian Russians back before the wall fell were more covert with their obvious button audio microphones woven into the fabric covering the headboard of your Intourist bed than the Best Koreans here. Their cameras were ‘disguised’ as flower arrangements, overhead lights, and speakers inexplicably placed into things like standing ashtrays, refuse bins, and randomly placed holes in the wall.
The floors were all covered with exquisite what looked to be hand-woven rugs of most vibrant crimson and gold; the usual Communistic colors. Always with some sort of floral pattern or pattern that’s supposed to be reflective of nature, as I was told. Evidently, for workers to remember what nature was as they don’t get out much with 14 to 16 hours workdays here in the Worker’s Paradise.
Enough of the travelogue; we all wander up to the front desk, and each with their own passport in hand, request our reserved rooms. We supposed that we would all have rooms on different floors as the reservations were made, expired, re-made, juggled, rebooked, allowed to expire, re-jiggered, and finally formalized a scant week before we left the UK.
Nope. No such luck. We were all on the 39th floor. The place boasts 47 floors, of which, the top floor is a revolving restaurant. Evidently, food tastes better when you’re rotating.
However, it won’t spin unless you first buy a drink.
We had that thing whirling like a NASA centrifuge after its discovery the second night.
Yeah, all 12 of us are bivouacked on the 39th floor. A floor with approximately 30 rooms.
I guess we could have played “Room Roulette” and see who got which room and who’s luggage. Or we could switch every day or two to drive our handlers nuts. Or, we could just take our assigned rooms, which were conveniently located one empty room apart.
Meaning, no one had adjoining rooms. Why? Fuck if I know. We didn’t spend much time in our rooms, and that time was either sleeping or showering. We’d all meet at the bar, casino, restaurant, karaoke, bowling alley (all three lanes) or actual meeting rooms every once in a while when we thought we should get together and compare notes. It was the most inexplicable situation.
Plus, we spent an inordinate amount of time waiting on the fucking elevators to take us to our room. These elevators, and if you think you’re going to get a batch of aging senior scientists to schlep it up 39 floor’s worth of stairs, think again; are the slowest elevators in the civilized world. And that was the consensus of scientists representing not only Europe and North America, but Russia as well. 15-25 minutes added to each journey, up or down; stopping on every floor, except 5, on the way down..
Jesus Q. Fuck, dudes. If you can’t construct a bleedin’ elevator that works better than those at the Sozvezdie Medveditsy Guest House in Lesosibirsk, Eastern Siberia; then I suggest you seriously rethink your plans for world domination and new world order.
Grako and Erwin once, while waiting for the fucking elevator, figured out that we were earning some US$25 each just to wait for the lift to arrive and take us to our rooms. Every day. Sometimes several times per day.
With that, we all agreed to toss our “waiting time” funds into a kitty and on our last day of captivity here, blow it all in the hotel casino. Whatever became of that would be donated to the Koreans we thought most deserving of our largesse.
Would it be our handlers? How about the Korean Scientists we’d be meeting? The affable and most accommodating concierge? Or that plucky little Korean charwoman who was always on our floor and kept everything spotless, right down to our freshly laundered and pressed field clothes and newly polished field boots; done without our requesting or knowledge?
Only time would tell.
It could be a fortune or it could be bupkiss. Just like our expectations of the Heavenly Kingdom where we were currently sequestered.
As it was, with our official protestations, they kept only photocopies of our passports as we roundly refused and threatened a full-scale karaoke battle right here in the lobby if they didn’t relinquish our passports immediately. I had broken out my nastiest cigar and was primed to offend.
With that, we all had our keys and trooped over to the elevators for our first, of many, inexplicable waits. We made many uncharitable and potentially nasty remarks about the Anti-Western posters that made up some of the wall décor. Once we finally made it to our floor, we all fanned out to find our rooms. Viv found his first and was quite pleased to report to the rest of us that there was a “Welcome” basket in his room.
We all hoped that we would be receiving one a well.
I was in room 3914; which I considered a close call, but later only wondered as there was no 3913. Upon entering, I saw it was 1980s Hotel 6 opulent, but with an excellent over-city view. True it was late, dark, and the city was only somewhat lit up; I was looking forward to the view of the town in full daylight.
The room had a ‘king’ bed; that is if the king in question was Tutankhamen, the stubby, Egyptian boy king. The bed had no mattress pad and no box spring but it was hard enough for my liking. Many of my compatriots didn’t agree and complained bitterly. They eventually received thin mattress pads for all their kvetching.
There was an ancient Japanese color television, which only had 2 English language channels - Al Jazeera and the BBC, which was on a dated news loop. Watching the local channel is amusing though; the ads for ‘personal enhancements’ were hilarious, even without understanding a word of the language.
There were a couple of chairs and a low table, built-in dresser drawers for our clothes, a rusty and probably unusable room safe with corroded batteries, a small table built out of the wall that would serve as my travel office, and would-you-believe, a rotary telephone; how’s that for nostalgia?
There was an old-model radio built into the nightstand next to the bed. I was very surprised to find it not only received AM, FM but shortwave as well. I had brought along a pair of Bose headphones and during some rainy down days, spent many fun-filled, and I mean that sincerely, hours DXing from the comfort of my ‘enormous’ king bed.
Beyond that, the room was very nondescript. Like any other of the millions of rooms in hotels around the world that unlike here, aren’t claiming a 5-star rating. I mean, it was clean, if not a little long in the tooth. But didn’t smell too terrible, even after I took care of that with my Camacho offerings. It was utilitarian, everything worked, even the water pressure, which surprisingly could strip off layers of one’s skin if you weren’t careful.
The bathroom, though no Jacuzzi, had a large enough bathtub for the occasional soaking period. Western accouterments in the bathroom were also welcome additions. My knees can’t handle the traditional squat-holes any longer.
There were an electric teapot and several brands of tea, but no coffee. A quick “Gee! I sure wish I had some coffee!” to the four walls and damned if 30 minutes later, a porter didn’t arrive to replenish my tea and courtesy in-room coffee…
There was a small Japanese brand in-room refrigerator which I thought might house a mini-bar. Oh, no! It was actually a complimentary larder stocked with all sorts of Best Korean goodies. Multiple cans of Taedonggang beer. Several bottles of Pyongyang Soju, in various flavors ranging anywhere from 16.8 to 53 percent alcohol by volume. My fridge was skewed towards the right-hand side of the bell curve; the more heavy-duty boozy side.
Evidently, my reputation had preceded me again.
There was a selection of German-style wheat beers from the Taedonggang Brewery and the more familiar ales, steam beers, and lagers. There were some imported beers like Heineken, Bavaria, Pils, a couple of Japanese brands: Asahi and Kirin, and something called ‘Hello Beer’ from Singapore.
There were also ‘sampler’ bottles of Apricot Pit wine, and a couple of high-alcohol fruity liquors made from constituents such as apple or pear, and mushrooms. There were also special medicinal liquors like ‘Rason’s Seal Penis Liquor’.
That is going home with me unopened.
There were a couple of bottles of local sake, called Chonju. Finally, there was a couple ‘samplers’ of homemade alcohol known as Makkoli. Plus there was something called ‘Corn Grotto’, which for the life of me, looks and tastes much like a very passable Kentucky Sippin’ Bourbon.
I put our concierge on instant danger money the very next day. He’s yet to source me more than a fifth of the stuff so far.
I found that there is a popular drink here which mirrors the Yorsch of Mother Russia. Beer and soju can be mixed to create *somaek’; a foamy, frothy, funky drink of many flavors, depending on the soju chosen.
Is ethnoimbibology at thing? The science of how different cultures drink and the effects of drinking culture on different societies. If not, now I have another Ph.D. to pursue after I endow a chair at some likely Asian university.
Anyways, in everyone’s room was a “welcome” basket, just chock full of Best Korean goodies. Postcards, stamps, ads for coin sets, stamp proofs and other goodies that could be purchased at the hotel. There was a field notebook, which I thought was a very nice addition, newspapers, cookies, crackers, biscuits, candies, fruit drinks, and some fresh fruit; although tamarind chewies and durian chips aren’t on my list of personal favorites.
There were a couple of tour books, just chock full of staged photos. These were very nice as well, as so far, we haven’t had much time for shopping outside of government stores or smaller family-run shops in town or out in the boonies.
A few of us were hungry and decided to see what the hotel had to offer room service-wise.
Bupkiss.
But, they did have a selection of restaurants. There is a Chinese restaurant, a European restaurant, and a Korean restaurant on site but they all serve the same food...a Best Korean attempt at western food. And it was weird being the only ones in the restaurant even though it was fully staffed.
We grazed lightly and decided to do some late-night perambulations around our hotel. Our handlers admonished us to stay within the confines of the hotel, or see them if it was absolutely necessary to go walkabout. In the hotel, we were on our own.
We found that there were tunnels in the hotel’s basement. The basement tunnels were a real bonus. There’s a bar with pool tables, a karaoke room, bowling, and a massage parlor, where I was beaten and pummeled into submission by tiny, diminutive, little Korean lassies fully 1/5th my size.
It was wonderful.
There was a hairdresser’s, who were completely befuddled by my shoulder-length silver-gray locks and full gray Grizzly Adams beard. They did provide a lovely shampoo/cranial massage though for the equivalent of US$2.
There were a couple of shops selling Chinese goods rather than local stuff, which was sort of disappointing, a cold noodle bar, and another casino. No shops selling Korean Communist propaganda posters, as I wanted to augment my Soviet-era collection. Perhaps I’ll find something in-country later on.
We were shocked to find that the casino had WiFi that was uncensored and we were able to access; after a fee of liquor miniatures and a cigar or two. We were supposed to have access to the global internet, not local intranet, from the universities that we would be visiting. However, all of that was under the heavily squinting eyes of handlers and guys in shiny suits wearing fake Ray-Bans.
I still had my secret satellite internet lash-up available, but that was iffy, a pain in the ass to set up, and ridiculously expensive. However, it did work on the 39th floor and the times I used it instead of wandering down to the tunnels, no one appeared to be the wiser. Thus far.
So typically, we’d just head to the basement casino with our laptops, iPads, and phones. Bam! Robert’s your Sister’s Husband, we could connect more-or-less free with the outside world; hence how you are reading this now.
Herro! “Yes, I’d sure like another beer. This time a porter, if you please.”
The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. Or the more they put into locks, the easier they are to pick.
Besides, we were told we’d have access to unfettered and free internet. OK, so we just found it for ourselves. Whaddya expect? We’re scientists, motherfucker, back off.
Ahem.
Back to reality.
The breakfast buffet the next morning had a wide choice of Asian and Western food, although the choices seemed to be the same every day. The main event was to beat the Chinese tourists to the egg station every morning. Breakfast always included fried eggs, a limited selection of pork, kippered fish, potatoes, rice, fruit, and a very Titanium-dioxide-white white bread
After a while, I took to going to the small market behind the lobby, buying some imported Chinese or Japanese nibbly bits and heading to the tunnels for a few breakfast beers before the long hard day’s work. It took almost a week, but I gained the trust of some of the workers in the tunnels and they showed me the on-site microbrewery at the hotel. It produced very passable, and very, very cheap beers of several varieties.
Liquid bread. Beer. Is there nothing it can’t do?
After breakfast our first day at the hotel, we were told to meet in the Conference Room “Il-sung” as we were going to have a ‘Welcome foreign imperialist scientists’ introduction and indoctrination.
Besides our handlers and the shiny-suit squad, there were several Korean folks we didn’t recognize. These were students, scientists, and scholars from the Kim Chaek University of Technology, Kim Il-sung University, the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology; all hailing from Pyongyang, and the University of Geology from North Hwanghae Province.
“Oh, marvelous”, Erlen remarked, “It’s going to be a bloody Chautauqua. We’ll be here all day.”
“Well”, I replied, “It could be worse. We could be on a bus headed off on another unscheduled road trip.”
As we found our seats, our Korean counterparts were busily setting up portable screens, like the ones your grandfather had for showing his 2.1 Googleplex worth of travel slides every Christmas or Thanksgiving get-together. They had a couple of ancient Chinese brand laptops that could have doubled for body armor, they were so thick and heavy.
While they fiddled with running cords for the overhead projectors and 16mm film projector; yes, it was going to be movie time as well, the hotel’s restaurant folks wheeled in carts laden with scones, cupcakes, and other sweet sorts of bakery. Another cart was wheeled in with pump-pots of hot water, tea, and coffee. Usual scientific meeting fare.
There was one final cart that made the day bearable. It held a pony keg of hotel micro-brewed beer on ice, with several dozen frosty mugs available for all who wanted to partake.
There were instantly 12 mugs that were spoken for.
I grabbed a cold beer and wandered around the conference room, sipping beer, chewing on an unlit cigar, and just trying to be pleasant to our hosts and their scientific guests. I was surprised when one North Korean professor, who spoke amazingly British-tinged English, offered me a light for my cigar.
“Is smoking allowed here?” I asked.
“Allowed?” he laughed heartily, “My good man, it’s practically a prerequisite.”
“Here then”, I said, offering him a nice, unctuous Camacho, “Try one of mine.”
Dr. P'ung Kwang-Seon of the North Korean University of Geology became my instant and lifelong friend at that moment.
We had a very nice chat, much to the chagrin of the gray suit cadre, who could hear what we were talking about, but probably didn’t understand anything beyond every 8th word.
After a while, we were asked to take our seats, after refreshing our drinks, and introduced to the group of Korean geoscientists we’d be interacting with during our stay here in Best Korea.
I tried to record every name, but between the students, other scholars, and professors from the various universities, I decided I’d ask for a list of participants once the day had worn on. After all, they had all our names, references, and resumes if the thick folio they kept referring to was any indication.
There were a couple of hours of introductions, as every one of the Korean geoscientists there introduced themselves, mostly through translators, told of their personal area of specialty, and their latest work.
Most were what would be considered geoscientists, but oddly enough, not one that you would consider a petroleum geoscientist, however tangentially.
There were geomorphologists, structural geologists, petrologists, mineralogists, marine geologists, engineering geologists, and seismologists. However, there were no stratigraphers, sedimentologists, paleontologists, or geochemists. We were all geoscientists, but apart from the obvious Korean:English disparity, it was as if we spoke different scientific languages as well.
That would be our first hurdle to overcome.
They had no oil industry here; none whatsoever, therefore why one would bother with the geosciences that fed directly into petroleum? That, in and of itself, would make it difficult to explore for oil in the country. Couple that with the fact that they’re so insular, think their version of ‘science’ is the best, at least that’s the official line, and think all other’s ‘science’ is capitalistic, substandard, and inferior doesn’t bode well for your country discovering anything either oily or gassy.
We were having another conclave around the beer keg, ack, err…a ‘coffee break’ and I mentioned this fact to my scientific colleagues.
“Guys”, I need input here, “We’re going to get precisely nowhere if they won’t even acknowledge that they have major problems from the start.”
Ivan replies, “Very true. I’ve seen this before back home. You get a group so entrenched in their own little corner of science, they can’t even accept or acknowledge that others exist. Not only exist but actually know more about a certain problem than do you.”
Dax joins the fray, “Sure, that’s very true, but who’s going to tell them this unfortunate fact? They could take that as a personal, national, and global insult. Imagine you’re at an international conference and a bunch of foreigners walk in just to tell you you’ve been doing it all wrong for the last 75 years.”
I add, “Remember, though. These characters are scientists as well. I think it’ll be a good measure of seeing what sort of science and scientist we’re dealing with here. If they are truly researchers, they’ll listen to and evaluate what we say as for veracity and accuracy. If they’re just a bunch of Commie goons; no offense, Comrade Academician Ivan, they’ll get all pissed off, kick us out, and we get to go home and enjoy our triple Force Majeure pay.”
Ivan walks over and deliberately steps on the toes of my newly polished field boots.
“In Soviet Russia, field boots walk on YOU.” He laughs in his heavily inflected, and scary, Soviet-era speech…
“Yes, I agree”, Joon adds, “But who is going to address this issue with our hosts? Perhaps one of our Russian comrades, as they are, or were, more politically aligned with our Korean friends and perhaps best understand the issue?”
Ack speaks up, grinning maniacally, “No, I disagree. We should have the one person here who so encapsulates the ideologies and political leanings that they love to hate here so much. You know; the quiet, diminutive, and soft-spoken North American…”
Dax recoils, “Oh, no! I’m not going out in front of this mob of ornery Orientals…”
I smile wanly and tell Dax to cool out.
“Relax, Dax. They’re talking about me.”
“Oh, yes”, a collective group of voices replies, “Yes. Let out fearless Team Leader break the bad news to our Eastern Colleagues. That way we can gauge their reactions to being bounced around scientifically by a member of the Evil Capitalist Cartel.”
“OK”, I reply, “I’ll do it. But be forewarned, my fine feathered fiends. I get stuck on a topic that’s not precisely my bailiwick, I’m going to throw your ass to the wolves. Remember, we’re all in this together.”
Whoops, and catcalls were reduced to mumbles and ‘Aw, fucks.’.
Chautauqua resumption was called and I asked for the floor.
It was a bit off the agenda, but since they’ve been chewing the air for the last several hours, they understood it would be appropriate for us to at least try and get a word in edgewise.
I downed my beer, and grabbed a fresh one as what I was going to say was going to be harsh, cut-and-dried, and rather pointed. But delivered in a pleasant manner.
I hoped.
This all had to be filtered through a series of translators, one for general conversational Korean and another for the more technical and scientific transliterations. I realized I was going to be up here for a while. So, I brought a cigar.
One way or another, I was going to deliver our pronouncements and hell, I may as well be comfortable while doing it.
.
“Greetings and felicitations, my Eastern Colleagues. Let me first say how nice it is to be here in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as part of the ….”
I’m going to fast-forward through all the flowery bullshit and introductory happiness; I’ll going to just cut to the guts of the matter.
“…Now, you do know why there has been virtually no oil, gas nor any other hydrocarbon related deposit discovered here in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea?” I asked by way of a rhetorical question.
I sipped my beer and lit my cigar. In for a chon, in for a won.
I let the buzzing subside on the side of our eastern counterparts.
“Because, and please do not take this as insulting or derogatory, but as a statement of irrefutable fact, no one with the proper training nor experience has been looking. You’re historically guilty of applying the science incorrectly and letting dogma and politics guide your search, instead of the scientific method and the facts. Geology, like all natural science, is just as truth based on the facts for a capitalist as it is for a communist. Reality is not influenced by your beliefs, be they scientific or political, secular or spiritual, ‘trusted’ rather than ‘thought’; any more than by your wish that it wouldn’t rain today during a raging thunderstorm.”
Little Boy over Hiroshima was dropped with less effect.
Our Democratic People's Republic of Korea colleagues erupted into a chaotic mixture of stuttering, internecine yelling, accusations, and sputtering.
Calling for decorum, I figured that since I was this far gone, I may as well push the plunger all the way to the bottom.
“Gentlemen, I do not denigrate the science of geology as taught and practiced here in Best Korea.” I actually said that, sort of a slip of the tongue. Continuing, “However, one would not fish for Bluefin tuna from a rowboat in a pond with a fly rod. One does not hunt bear in the city with a slingshot. Just as one doesn’t search for oil and gas with mining engineers, geomorphologists, and seismologists.”
I let that sink in and after the translation, they calmed a bit and wanted to hear the rest of what I had to say. I could sense a couple was less than thrilled with what I had to say, but forging onward…
“One fishes for Bluefin tuna in the deep ocean with huge rods, reels and a specialist boat captained by someone with deep experience in hunting the elusive fish. One hunts bear in the proper environment, the taiga or forest, with the proper tools and guided by one with the education, learnedness, and experience to know how to make the hunt come out successful.”
Hit them with some analogies they can relate to and digest. Now, go for the carotid.
“Just like one does not hunt oil and gas without stratigraphers, sedimentologists, geophysicists, petrophysicists, and other oil and gas experts who have the education, experience, and knowledge to know where to look. Knowing which environment looks most conductive to hide your quarry, if you’ll pardon the pun, and how best to find them, the guys who know how to corral and de-risk them once you find them, and the engineers and technologists who know how to bring them to the surface so they can be utilized.”
They had stopped being irritated and were listening in rapt attention.
“My colleagues and I have spent the last few days going over, in detail the geology of your country. There is nothing we can see that would preclude the development, entrapment, and preservation of economic quantities of oil and gas. Ture, the geology is quite complex as is the structural history of the entire peninsula. That’s one other thing you will have to accept. Geology doesn’t give the tiniest shit about political boundaries. One must look at the big picture, and that doesn’t stop at some man-made borders. Ignore that fact at your peril, because if you continue to view the geology here as not existing across political boundaries, you are preadapting yourself for failure.”
Drs. Ivan, Volna, and Morse make certain that everyone sees the ex-Soviets agreeing with the bushy-bearded, cigar-chomping American capitalist.
“So,” I said, hoping to bring this little spit-balling session to a fortuitous close, “If we can have an agreement; scientific agreement, on these points, then I am certain we can find a way forward with not only this discussion but the program we can devise for the best Korean (notice phase shift?) geologists to take the project forward both scientifically soundly and economically successful.”
My North Korean counterpart gets up from his seat in the conference room, goes to the keg, taps a couple of beers and walks up to the podium where I was standing.
“Thank you, Dr. Rocknocker, for saying what needed to be said”, he spoke in perfect English as he handed me a beer.
I grinned and gratefully accepted the beer.
“Why, Dr. Chang Kwang-Su”, I said, as that was his name, “You old fraud. You do speak English; and very well, I must add.”
“Yes, almost all of us do”, he relayed, “But, as you said, we are most reserved. We were more or less under orders of the ‘most illustrious’, to play coy, and act as if we spoke no English.”
“I see.” I said, “I’ve worked in several FSU countries as well as Russia and saw that there as well. I guess old habits die hard.”
“That they do, Doctor.”, he replied, “But, we must now tell you the truth. We knew exactly what you said is true, and we agree. We are not as totally insulated from the outside world as some suspect.”
“Well, I was going on what your superiors related to us. Like the police that had all their toilets stolen, I had nothing else to go on.” I replied.
“Ah, ha! Quite!”, he chuckled, “We had long suspected that we were lacking in certain areas of scholarship. What you said cements that fact as it was an independent conclusion. We can now present that to our superiors with the caveat that unless we bolster work and training in these areas, the hunt of hydrocarbon resources here will be for naught.”
“I am relieved”, I said, truthfully. “I was slightly concerned that some might take umbrage to being told their science is not up to specifications. I tried to be the bearer of that bad news but deliver it gently. Here, I find you need that to use that as a truncheon to smack one’s boss upside the head and tell him that an upgrade is required. And fast.”
“Ah, so”, he replies, “We are in total agreement. Now that is out of the way, we would appreciate it if you’d help in designing a course of study for up and coming local geoscientists. Then, we can go forward with a great plan to search for oil and gas here in…Korea. Correct?”
“Absolutely”, I remarked, “You’ve got over 400 man-years of science and exploration expertise here in this room alone. Let’s shoot for the moon, so to speak. Let’s get you up to speed on scientific journals and articles that are available out there in all of academia and industry. Let’s get you communicating on a global basis. Let’s prove that you can talk science with global scientists and still not have it affect your political or nationalistic aspirations one little bit. Let’s see if we can drag you, figuratively speaking, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century.”
“Doctor”, Dr. Chang remarked, “You are the embodiment of what we were always told what Americans are. Brash, loud, confident, and evil. Except for evil, you are American as we were led to believe.”
“Hey, I take that as a compliment”, I exclaim. “You think that’s bad, I’ve got a bunch of earnest Europeans, raucous Russians, and a couple of cagey Canadians on my side as well. Before we’re finished here, we’ll have you ordering hachee, dining on Caldo Verde, snacking on salmiakki, drinking Russkaya vodka with Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, eating poutine, and rooting for the Packers.”
“Doctor, I don’t know what half of that means, but I hope it comes to pass. It sounds most fascinating.” Dr. Chang chuckles.
The rest of the day was spent with various groups crystallizing and breaking off from the main crowd; then reforming as different groups. This was good, as it showed an interest across not only national borders but across ideologies and scientific specialties.
Most everyone here spoke English with some degree of fluency, so the translators were called in only occasionally.
I made certain they were included in everything that transpired that day. I want everyone to feel ‘part of the team’. How better to show the classlessness of Western science to include everyone in on both sides of every discussion and activity?
To be continued…

I dropped a thousand on 8 and shook the dice, tonight’s the night I can feel it in my bones. Taking my shot I watched the dice tumble across the board and come up short, “Shit” I took the last of my chips and walked away, Vegas was looking more and more like a mistake every day. Strolling through the casino looking for a hot table I spotted a familiar frame passing through the crowd, I only saw her for a second but there was no mistake, it was her. I didn’t waste a second looking around, I cashed out and headed for my room. As I got on the elevator an older guy stepped in with me, something about him gave me a bad vibe, he never spoke but I couldn’t shake the feeling he was watching me. The elevator stopped on the 6th floor and the old man got off, as the doors slid shut he turned to face me, his milky white eyes were the last thing I saw as the door completely shut.
The doors finally opened on my floor and as I stepped out I spotted a kid coming out of one of the rooms. I didn’t think much of it as we passed one another in the hall but just as I got to my door I heard his voice. “Hey mister you dropped something.” Instantly recognizing it I turned around, but there was no one there. I unlocked the door and rushed into my room, as soon as the door slammed shut I started packing. I set my bags by the door then called the front desk to let them know I was checking out, there was no answer. I hung up the phone and started to walk out, just as I grabbed my bags someone knocked. Releasing my grip, I pulled the pistol from my waistband and clicked off the safety, easing up to the door I looked through the peephole staying as quiet as possible. Three rough looking types (great) I stepped away from the door and called out, “Who is it!?” I heard someone clearing their throat. “Room service.” I had to smile, these guys were clearly watching too many gangster movies I tried to remember exactly where they were standing as I took aim and fired. I could hear them scrambling in the hall as I shut off the lights and got in the closet near the door, with a loud boom they came crashing in waving guns around. They didn’t even bother to look in the closet (amateurs) I stepped out and shot the one closest to me in the back of the head, the other two put their hands up and stopped moving. “Turn around slow.” They did as they were told and the second they were both facing me I shot the one on the left, smiling I stepped closer and pressed the barrel to the last ones forehead. “What seems to be the problem here boss?” He shifted his eyes to me without turning his head,” You killed our brothers and kidnapped our VP’s old lady.” Flashbacks of dragging a woman into a black room fluttered through my mind, taking a deep breath I stepped back and pulled the trigger, I was on the elevator and headed for the parking garage before the bodies could get cold. The elevator dinged as it came to a stop on the 6th floor, the doors slid open to reveal that same old man standing exactly where I’d seen him last. He didn’t move, he just stood there staring at me with a strange expression on his face, “You getting on or not old man?” he responded by smiling at me then opened his mouth releasing a wave of earthworms and dirt spilling down the front of his suit, flipping him off I mashed the button to close the door….
Once I finally made it to my car I tossed my bags in the back seat and hopped in, the second I slid the key in the ignition I heard her chuckle. Slowly glancing up I saw her reflection in my rearview, she was in the back seat. “Hello Max.” I closed my eyes and put my head down, “You gotta be kidding me. What do you want?” She smiled that wicked smile, “Oh nothing, I saw you were in town and thought I’d pop in to say hello.” Taking a deep breath and shaking my head I started the car, “Go away. I don’t have time for your bullshit.” She smiled and in the blink of an eye she was gone, I cruised the strip for a while before I hit the road. A few hours later I was pulling up to a motel just off the highway, once I was settled in I walked to the vending machine for a coke. I stood there gulping down my ice cold soda when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, “Excuse me sir, but could you spare a couple of dollars?” I turned around to see a teenager, he was 17 possibly 18 years old. His hair was long dirty and matted, his clothes were tattered old rags that looked like they’ve never seen the inside of a washing machine and he was barefoot. “Christ kid, you can’t go around sneaking up on people like that, it’s a good way to get yourself killed.” He stepped back and smiled, “My fault, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just hoping I could maybe get a few bucks for something to eat.” Looking around I put my hand in my pocket and thumbed a few bills. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you 500 dollars if you can do something for me.” He stepped back with an angry expression on his face, I already knew what he was thinking and I had to laugh. “Calm down there Skippy, I’m not trying to buy your hole. I need someone to keep an eye out while I’m staying here.” I saw him relax as a curious smile slowly eased across his face, “So you’re gonna give me 500 bucks to be a look out? Who am I supposed to be looking for?” I took another swig of my soda and pulled out the money. “Bikers specifically, but if you hear anyone looking for Max I need to know about it. We got a deal?” The kid nodded his head and I gave him 200, “You’ll get the rest in the morning, I’m in room 14 knock twice if you see anything.”
I went back to my room and fell asleep, after an hour or so the smell of something rotten pulled my out of my dreams. When I opened my eyes it seemed like the smell got worse, I sat up to see that old man from the elevator standing in the corner of my room. A writhing pile of earthworms and dirt stood knee high around his legs and when he spoke his voice sounded like there were dozens of people talking in unison. “You have been” I didn’t let him finish talking, I grabbed my gun and fired causing him to explode and cover everything (including me) with the worst smelling sludge I’ve ever come across. “What the fuck!?” some of it got in my mouth and I almost threw up as I got to my feet. The second I stood up the room started to vibrate with a low hum that made my teeth rattle, as the sound got louder I found myself fighting to stay awake and before long I was falling to the floor splashing down into a pool of that black sludge. There was a moment of absolute silence, I was floating in an ocean of darkness looking up at a star filled sky, a tapping sound cut through the silence and the world around me started to spin. White light blinded me for a second then I was back in my room lying face down on the cheap motel carpet. (Tap, tap) The sound that brought me back was coming from the door, I got up looking around the room realizing the goo was gone but I could still taste it on my tongue. I didn’t bother looking out the peep hole I just flung the door open to see the kid standing there looking nervous. “There’s a group of guys asking questions at the front desk. I think they’re looking for you.” The kid came in and closed the door while I grabbed my things. “Damn it stinks in here. What’ve you been doing?” I looked at him for a second then dug in my pocket for the rest of his money. “Thanks for the heads up, you better get moving before they get here.” as I handed him the cash the door came crashing in.
There were five of them all together, the first one through the door pistol whipped the kid and the other four rushed me, they were in the middle of beating me to death when I heard that low humming sound and everything went black. I don’t mean I blacked out, I was completely conscious, I just couldn’t see anything. Over the next few seconds all I could hear was them screaming along with the sound of bones breaking and blood splattering. When it was over I sat there watching the darkness ooze down the walls slowly revealing the light as it pooled in the center of the room forming itself into the old man from the elevator. He smiled then vanished leaving me with an unconscious kid and a room full of dead bodies. Sirens whaled in the background while I woke up the kid, he sat up and wiped the blood off his face looking around the room. “Holy shit! What happened? Did you do this?” I grabbed my bags and headed for the door, “The cops are coming, you better get moving.” about half way to my car he came running up behind me. “Hey wait! Can I get a ride? You can drop me off at the next town, I can’t deal with the cop’s dude. Please man, I gotta get out of here.” I shook my head and hit the alarm, “Get in.”
We were on the road for an hour before either of us said a word. “So what’s all this about? Why’re those guys after you?” I grabbed my cigarettes off the dash and lit one up, “It’s a long story. What’s your deal, why’re you running from the cops?” he smiled and let the seat back. “They ask too many questions.” We didn’t talk much after that, I drove till the sun came up then stopped to get gas. When I got back from paying the kid was gone, once I finished fueling up I hopped in and started pulling off. I was just about to pull onto the highway when the kid came running up to the passenger side tapping on the window while franticly pulling at the handle. “Let me in, let me in!” the second I popped the lock he dove in laughing as we peeled out of the parking lot. I glanced over to see him counting a wad of 20s and 10s, “What’d you just do?!” he smiled, counted off 50 and stuffed it in the cup holder. “Got some gas money.” Getting comfortable in the seat he chuckled a little, “I saw some guys shooting dice on the side of the store, so while you were chatting up the cashier I took your gun and robbed them, speaking of which.” Leaning back in his seat he pulled my gun from under his shirt then slipped it back in the glove box…
Chapter 2:
The kid’s name is Sam, I was supposed to dump him in the next town but he’s managed to make that a lot harder than it should be. We were speeding along the back roads somewhere in Texas when a state trooper lit us up, pulling off the highway I already knew how this would play out but what happened next threw me for a loop.
As the trooper approached the vehicle I glanced over to see Sam was gone, after the usual line of questioning I was pulled out of the car and placed in cuffs. The trooper was walking me to the squad car when I heard Sam’s voice from behind us, “You should’ve let him go.” before he could turn around a hand gripped the top of his head and in one swift motion mashed down. There was a wet crunch as his spinal column compacted and his skull caved in, his lifeless body crumbled to the pavement revealing Sam standing there with a huge smile plastered across face. Laughing and kneeling down wiping his hands on the officer’s uniform he chuckled, “That was awesome, I didn’t think it would work. Bet you’re glad I’m here now aren’t you?” Watching him retrieve the keys from the officer’s pocket I noticed a slight wisp of black smoke coming from his eyes. “You’re one of hers aren’t you?” Sam glanced up at me with a disappointed look, “Why does everyone think we all work for her? As a matter of fact I can’t stand the old bat, no matter what happens she gets all the credit.”
While he rambled on I was planning my escape, the second the cuffs came off I bolted to my car, jumped in and sped away. Zipping down the highway I saw someone step out into the road ahead of me, it was Sam. I mashed down the accelerator and gripped the wheel to keep control, I was going to leave him splattered across the highway, the closer I got I braced myself for impact. As my front bumper made contact the little shit phased right through it grabbing me by the shoulders and snatching me out of the car, in a split second I was standing on the road watching my car veer off the pavement and slam into a tree, there was a loud whoosh as it burst into flames taking my money with it. “What the fuck man!? Why won’t you go away?!” Sam stood there shaking his head dusting himself off, “You are one ungrateful bastard, aren’t you? I’ve saved your life, and kept you out of jail, do I get a thank you?” As he finished dusting himself off his clothes transformed from rags to a nicely tailored solid black suit. His filthy matted hair turned to dreadlocks as he passed his fingers through it. “No, instead you try to ditch me then you tried to run over me with your car!” he smiled and nodded his head. “I can see why she picked you, here’s the deal Max, I want you to kill her.”
“She’s been hiding here for a long time and.” Sam paused in midsentence then shook his head as black smoke started pouring from his eyes, “We’ll talk later.” He turned to walk away and vanished in a cloud of smoke as a familiar voice sent chills up my spine. “Hello Max, how’ve you been?” Turning around to face her there was a loud pop and I found myself standing in an office. Her back was to me as she stood there looking out over the city, I couldn’t help but to admire her figure for a second and before I could stop myself she chuckled, “You really shouldn’t look at me that way people might get the wrong idea.” She turned to me with that wonderfully wicked smile, “I have a new offer for you Max, my competitors think they can run the show and I need them dealt with. In return I’ll give you back what you’ve lost and toss in a little extra for your troubles, do we have a deal?” Laughing to myself I started towards the closest door, I paused to glanced back to her. “Why me? I’m sure you could handle this on your own, why do you keep dragging me into your shit?” The smile slipped from her face as she stepped over to the desk and took a seat, “Do we have a deal?” Patting my pocket I found my smokes, got one out and lit it then opened the door, “No, I don’t think we do. See you around.” As I stepped into the hall the door slammed shut behind me and as it did I was back on the highway standing a few feet away from my burning car.
I walked till the sun came up eventually coming to a town called “Ravens rock”. Stopping to rest under an old tree I fished the last of my money out of my pocket and counted it. A hundred and fifty Bucks, it would have to do till I could come up with a plan, as the morning rolled on and the sleepy little town came to life I started attracting attention. Strolling along I realized everywhere I went at least one person would openly stop and stare at me, the really odd part was no one seemed to notice. After seeing it three or four times I decided to walk up to the next person I spotted staring at me. Walking to the end of the block I turned right onto another street and as I made the corner I spotted an old man standing in front of a hardware store. He was in the center of the sidewalk, puffing on his cigar staring directly at me. From a distance I didn’t recognize him but as I got close enough to see him I realized I’d seen him before. He blew out a heavy cloud and scowled at me, “Leave my town or I’ll kill you myself. I’ve good thing going here and I don’t need you screwing it up.” I nodded my head looking around the street for a second then punched him in the nose so hard I heard it snap. Grabbing him by the collar I hurried him inside the store and locked the door behind us, long story short, I drug him in the back and beat him to death with a hammer then cleaned out the registers and got out of there.
I was two blocks away when the old man popped up again, puffing his cigar he blew a huge cloud that immediately engulfed me transporting us both to a bar. As the smoke cleared I spotted him pouring two cups, “Have a seat Max.” judging by the look on his face I wasn’t sure I wanted the drink but considering he probably could’ve killed me already I took the chance. “I am Stolas, and unlike the majority of my kind these days, I’m neutral in all this.” Tipping his glass to me he emptied his cup then poured another. “That’s the only reason I haven’t killed you. After your little temper tantrum at the hardware store I was tempted, but I’m sitting this one out.” sniffing my drink I finally took a sip. It went down warm and smooth coating my mouth with the sweet aftertaste of honey. I downed the rest of it as the old man slid the bottle over to me, “What is all this, Stoli?” He frowned at me and took another sip, “Its Stolas, and I don’t know. What I can tell you is, there’s a lot of bad news headed your way. Ask your little pal Samael he knows, from what I hear he’s in the middle of it.” Refilling both of our cups, he paused and looked at me. “So Max, what do I have to do to get you out of my town?”……..
Chapter 3:
Stoli agreed to give me a car and keep his mouth shut about seeing me. Heading north the day turned to night as the miles drifted by, since my money was gone the plan was to link up with an old friend of mine and pull a job or two for some fast cash. Passing through Colorado I came to a crowded truck stop, the parking lot was packed, people were walking around drinking and having a good time, I just needed gas. Once I got a pump I went inside for supplies, grabbing a few things I made my way up to the counter. “So what’s going on around here, is it always this busy?” The cashier an older lady smiled and glanced out the window as she rung me up. “Its Friday, all the locals go to the little club on the other side of the lot, things usually die down around 2 or 3 in the morning.” As she turned to grab my cigarettes from the rack I noticed a tattoo on the back of her neck, I didn’t recognize the symbol but something about it gave me a bad feeling.
Fueling up and watching the crowd move through the lot I figured a drink might do me some good, besides I was in no hurry to get back on the road. Once I had a parking spot and made my way inside I grabbed a beer and found a quiet corner far away from the dance floor. Scanning the crowd for marks and picking a couple of easy targets I spotted a crew casing the place. There were four of them, the point man or woman in this case was standing near the end of the bar, she was talking to a couple of different people but they didn’t seem involved. Two gunners, one by the restroom and the other near the front door, by the looks of them this wasn’t their first run. Looking around I found the ring leader, center stage in the middle of the dance floor, he was dancing with a group of people while the others waited for the signal. Polishing off my beer I got up from my table and walked out, as soon as I hit the parking lot I started searching for the getaway car, it didn’t take long. I put on my best fake drunk walk and staggered over patting my pockets looking for my cigarettes. Once I got to the trunk I pounded on it with my hand calling out to the driver, “Hey man, you got a light?” He glared back at me opening the door to get out, “Did you just hit my car, get the fuck out of here! No I don’t have a light!” Fumbling with my smokes I dropped them as he got closer, staggering leaning forward to pick the pack up I braced myself and as soon as he was in reach, I punched him in the balls so hard he lifted up on his toes. He wheezed and doubled over as I stood up grabbing the back of his head kneeing him in the face until he crumbled to the ground gurgling and spitting out teeth. Once I was done stomping his skull in, I put his body in the dumpster and checked the car. I found one fully loaded AR 15 and a Chiappa Rhino along with a few extra rounds in the center console, I took the guns and was planning on taking the car when the sound of gunfire from inside the club let me know it was show time.
Hiding behind some parked cars I waited for them to come out, it wasn’t long before they came running. As soon as they stopped to look around for the driver I opened up with the AR. The first few shots dropped two of them, I ducked down and moved to another position as the others fired blindly not knowing where I was. Circling around to my left I could hear one of the downed men screaming while the other two yelled to one another in the confusion. Creeping over to another cluster of cars and taking a quick look, I could only see one of them it was the woman from the bar. She was clutching a 9 in one hand and a bag in the other as she nervously looked around, taking a deep breath I popped up and dropped two shots on her center mass then immediately took cover and moved to another spot. The guy that was bleeding out in the dirt was still screaming his head off, pausing to listen I heard the last one yelling, by the sound of it he was close. Using the strap I put the AR on my back and pulled the revolver. Moving slow and low I kept closing in on the sound of his voice. When I spotted him I had to smile, he was clutching a second bag (Must be my lucky day) he popped up from his hiding spot and made a break for the car. Taking aim, I let him run for a second then put one through his lower back and he hit the ground screaming.
There wasn’t much time left I could already hear the sirens echoing in the distance, rushing I grabbed both bags then booked it back to my car and got the hell out of there. I was a couple of towns away when I finally stopped to check the money, not a bad haul a couple of thousand at best but it was more than enough to get me where I was headed. Before I could pull off there was a tap at my window, grabbing the pistol off the seat I turned to see Sam standing there peering through the window at me. “You gonna let me in or what?” My first thought was to throw the car in drive and smash the gas but then I remembered what Stoli said and unlocked the door.
Getting in looking around the car Sam Laughed. “Where’d you get this piece of shit? Come on Max, you’re letting me down, I had such high expectations for the old lady’s number one draft pick. So far I have to say I’m not impressed, I mean seriously, stick up kids and low budget bikers? What does she see in you?” Shaking his head Sam reached for my cigarettes on the dash and I grabbed his wrist before he could touch them. “The way I see it, you have two choices. I can beat you to death or you can tell me what going on.” Sam looked at me smiling as black smoke filled his eyes, he tried to shift away from me, when he couldn’t his smile was replaced by shock. Using my left, I grabbed my knife from the door panel and drove it through the back of his hand pinning him to the dash. “Holy fuck that hurts!! How did you?” I cut him off by bouncing his skull off window a couple of times then snatched the blade free and plunged it into his leg. “So Sam, What’s it gonna be?”

Hello All,
As far as I am aware, this glitch currently works on all platforms.
VIDEO
Youtube Tutorial
REQUIREMENTS

• $2500 dollars
• Penthouse (optional)

METHOD

1. Firstly go to the cashier and withdraw $2500 dollars. If you don't have enough, simply get this from holding up a store or completing a mission etc.
2. Next make your way over to the closest slot machine and get in a position so that "press '>' to play" is visible in the top left hand corner
3. Next call Simeon and request a job through the phone
4. Once the job has come through, you need to open the job message through the phone, hold the start button and as soon as you release the start button, press A / X quickly. This loads the mission in the background whilst on the pause menu
5. Press B to close the pause menu and QUICKLY spam right on the dpad and A at the same time. This is the trickiest bit and can take some time to get right but if done correctly there should be an animation of your player sitting down at the machine before loading into the Simeon mission.
6. If done correctly, quit the Simeon mission and you should be back at the Casino in a slightly more zoomed in view of your player. Quickly make your way over to the cashier and press A / X on trade in chips. It should then ask if you are sure and at that moment wait around 10 seconds.
7. You should now be transported back to the machine with a glitched cashier menu.
8. At this point press Y / Triangle to initiate the max bet on the machine and press A / X. You should see the machine spin and your chips get deposited back into your account.
9. If you lose, you just simply need to withdraw another 2500, go to deposit it back and wait on the are you sure message again and press right on the d-pad to sit back down and press Y / Triangle and A / X to spin again.
10. If you win, you need to press the right stick in to bring up the rules and then press Y / Triangle and A / X to then bank your winnings.

EDIT: Note that you can only get 50 free spins per 45 minutes due to the withdrawal cap as mentioned in the video and highlighted by @Khytin below

Happy October! Here are all the big events happening this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:
Visit a Haunted House - See the Megathread for dates / times.
Old MacDonald's Farm - final weekend
Bart's Farm and Pumpkin Patch

• 7307 Alburnett Rd, Marion, Iowa
• Ride a pony, do the corn maze, see some animals or go for a tractor ride. And get some pumpkins.

Amana Oktoberfest

• Amana Colonies
• Dates/Times
  • October 4th from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.
  • October 5th from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m.
  • October 6th from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Featuring live music, dancers, food, beer, games, contests, a parade, kids' activities, and more - see a full schedule of events HERE
• Festhalle Barn admission is $10 for one day/$15 for two days - Sunday admission is free

RoughRiders Hockey

• Cedar Rapids Ice Arena
• Dates/Times
  • October 4th at 7:05 p.m.
    • Cost Cutters Magnetic Schedule giveaway
  • October 5th at 7:05 p.m.
    • Stadium Lounge Tailgate
• vs. Team USA
• Tickets range from $12.75 to $25 - get yours HERE

What Cheer Flea Market

• Keokuk County Fairgrounds in What Cheer
• Dates/Times
  • October 4th from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • October 5th from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • October 6th from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Featuring antiques, collectibles, jewelry, furniture, and more
• Admission is $2 Friday/Saturday - Sunday is free

SWITCHFOOT & Their Fantastic Traveling Music Show

• Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids
• October 4th at 7:30 p.m.
• "SWITCHFOOT will perform not one, but two sets, back-to-back each night. It’s like having two SWITCHFOOT concerts in one evening, a stripped-down acoustic concert with untold stories and inspirations behind some of your favorite songs, and a full-blown rock concert to end the night."
• Tickets range from $27 to $47 - get yours HERE

Chocolate Walk 2019

• Uptown Marion
• October 4th from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
• "Enjoy strolling historic Uptown Marion at this after-hours, adult-only shopping event. Visit your favorite stores, discover what's new just around the corner and savor a sweet treat from participating businesses."
• Event is free

Hello, Dolly!

• Theatre Cedar Rapids
• Dates/Times
  • October 4th at 7:30 p.m.
  • October 5th at 7:30 p.m.
  • October 6th at 2:30 p.m.
• "Follow the romantic and comic exploits of matchmaker Dolly Levi as she pursues a match for the miserly millionaire, Horace Vandergelder. Enjoy humor, romance, high-energy dancing, and some of the greatest songs in musical theater history."
• Tickets range from $22 to $45 - get yours HERE

Mamma Mia!

• Old Creamery Theatre in Amana
• Dates/Times
  • October 4th at 7:30 p.m.
  • October 5th at 7:30 p.m.
  • October 6th at 2 p.m.
• "A young bride-to-be longs to discover the identity of her father – only to learn there are three possible choices! Prepare to be swept away by the infectious music, uplifting story, and dazzling dance numbers that have made Mamma Mia! a glittering global phenomenon!"
• Tickets range from $20 to $32.50 - get yours HERE

Anamosa Pumpkinfest

• Main Street in Anamosa
• Dates/Times
  • October 5th
    • Ryan Norlin GIANT Pumpkin Weigh-off - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
    • Chili Cook-Off - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
    • Parade - 2:15 p.m.
  • October 6th
    • Rotary Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
    • Al Eden Memorial Garden Tractor Pull - 12 p.m.
• Featuring pumpkin carving displays, a 5k, children’s games, arts and crafts vendors, a parade, food, contests, tournaments, raffles and more - see a full schedule of events HERE
• Admission to the Pumpkin Weigh-Off is $2/free with 2019 Pumpkinfest button - 12 and under are free

Luke Combs "Beer Never Broke My Heart" Tour

• Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines
• October 5th at 7 p.m.
• With special guests Morgan Wallen and Jameson Rodgers
• Tickets range from $25 to $50 - get yours HERE - SOLD OUT

Adventureland's 5th Annual Oktoberfest

• Adventureland in Altoona
• October 5th from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  • Spin Doctors at 12 p.m.
  • Smash Mouth Vertical Horizons at 2:30 p.m.
  • Pork Tornadoes at 7:30 p.m.
• Featuring beer, food, and Iowa/Iowa State Tailgate, live entertainment on 7 stages, rides, games, and more
• 21+ ONLY
• Tickets are $50 - get yours HERE

2019 Northside Oktoberfest

• Downtown Iowa City
• October 5th from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  • SodaFest in the Pagliai’s Pizza Parking Lot from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ($5)
• Featuring craft beer, neighborhood food, beer games, and more
• Admission is free, but only those with tickets will be allowed the tasting glass that allows them to sample beer, cider, and wine
• Tickets are $45 - get yours HERE

4th Annual Holistic Fair

• Old Capitol Mall in Iowa City
• Dates/Times
  • October 5th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • October 6th from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• "35 gifted merchants to offer rejuvenation, invigoration, wellness, holistic healing, angel & psychic readings, metaphysical items, gemstones, jewelry, essential oils, apothecary, face painting, mini-sessions & holistic workshops!"
• Also featuring live entertainment, raffles, and food
• Event is free

Harvest Fest

• Old MacDonald's Farm at Bever Park in Cedar Rapids
• October 5th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Featuring hayrack rides, games, entertainment, concessions, a scavenger hunt, and more
• Event is free

Farm Glow

• Bass Farms L.L.C. in Mount Vernon
• October 5th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Featuring a hot air balloon, live music, family games, ice cream, photo opportunities, and more
• Tickets are $5 - 2 and under are free

2019 Mount Vernon Chili Cook-Off

• Mount Vernon
• October 5th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• "The event features 25 four-person teams vying for a total of $450 in cash prizes. The cooking will take place from noon to 4 p.m., with the public invited to the tasting portion of the event from 4 to 7 p.m."

Movin' at the Museum Fitness Classes 2019

• National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids
• October 5th at 1:30 p.m.
• Rock n' Roll themed POUND fitness class
• Event is free and open to the public

Iowa City Farmers' Market

• Chauncey Swan Ramp in Iowa City
• October 5th from 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m

Especially For You Race

• Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids
• October 6th at 8 a.m. - opening ceremonies at 7:45 a.m.
• "The 29th annual 'Especially for You Race Against Breast Cancer' helps to provide free mammograms, as well as breast-care and gynecological services to area individuals in need. The Especially for You Fund includes coverage for breast, ovarian, uterine, cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancers."
• Registration is $35 for adults and $20 for ages 15 and younger - sign up HERE

Take Flight!

• Centennial Park in North Liberty
• October 6th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• "Wind and weather dependent, Great American Kites & Events will launch up to a dozen giant character kites—including the world’s largest windsock, towering up to three stories high and stretching 200 feet long—above the park’s 40 acres for breathtaking views."
• Featuring kite games, photo opportunities, candy drops, a kite sale, and more
• Event is free

Killer Queen

• Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque
• October 6th at 7 p.m.
• "Patrick Myers has embodied Freddie Mercury onstage now for 25 years in Killer Queen, arguably the best Queen tribute band in the world."
• Tickets start at $20 - get yours HERE

MV Porchfest 2019

• Mount Vernon
• October 6th from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• "Join us for an afternoon of live music from your neighborhood front porches! Many styles and genres, musicians young and old, food and games too. Children's activities, music, and story time all afternoon. Donations support the Mount Vernon Fine Arts Association for music and arts in our schools!"

Hiawatha Farmers' Market

• Guthridge Park in Hiawatha
• September 6th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Mount Trashmore Mini Challenge

• October 5th from 1-4pm

New Movies This Weekend:
Joker (R) -78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Can only ship to the US minus Alaska and Hawaii. Shipping is $5 plus $.35 for each individual LP.
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Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti VG/VG+ $17
Denzel Curry - 13 NM/VG+ Does not come with slipmat $70
Vince Staples - Prima Donna NM/VG+ Not signed $70
Anderson Paak - Venice NM/NM- This is the UO edition and is Orange and yellow marble $42
Kid Cudi - Indicud NM/VG+ $25
The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet VG+/VG+ $18.50 https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/1049361833
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Game VG+/VG+ $27
Pink Floyd - Meddle VG/VG $18
The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons VG/G+ $10
U2 - War VG+/VG+ $9
The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup VG/VG $8.50
The Rolling Stones - More Hot Rocks VG/VG $8.50
[SOLD] ~~Richard Pryor - That Nigger's Crazy VG/VG $3.50~~
[SOLD] ~~R. Kelly - Ignition & Ignition Remix VG/VG $3.50~~
REO Speedwagon - You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish VG+/VG+ $2.50
Arlo Guthrie - Washington County VG/VG $4.50
The Rolling Stones - BigHits (High Tide and Green Grass) G/G $1.59
The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! G+/G $3.53
[SOLD] ~~Dr. Dre - Still D.R.E VG/VG $6.50~~
Kansas - Leftoverture VG+/VG 4.50
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Nat King Cole With Orchestra And Chorus Conducted By Nelson Riddle Wild Is Love G VG $1.50
The Mamas & The Papas The Mamas & The Papas P G+ multiple scratches, solid sleeve but a split in the middle on the bottom $0.75
Elvis Presley Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden F P $0.50
The Muppets The Muppet Movie - Original Soundtrack Recording G VG record is in rough shape but great cover $1.00
Captain And Tennille Song Of Joy G G $0.75
Rufus & Chaka Khan Ask Rufus VG VG comes with poster $1.00
Johannes Brahms / Carlo Maria Giulini, Philharmonia Orchestra Symphony No. 1 In C Minor G+ VG $1.50
The Oak Ridge Boys Greatest Hits G VG $0.50
Alabama Mountain Music G VG $1.00
Alabama My Home's In Alabama G VG $1.00
Alabama Feels So Right G G $0.50
Dal McKennon Walt Disney Presents The Story of Treasure Island G+ VG $1.50
Bobby Helms Jingle Bell Rock G G $0.75
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Maurice de Abravanel, Utah Symphony Orchestra 1812 Overture / Romeo And Juliet VG VG $1.00
Roy Orbison Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits F G+ $0.50
Ferrante & Teicher The Very Best Of Ferrante & Teicher VG G+ $0.75
Igor Stravinsky - Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lorin Maazel The Firebird (Ballet Suite) • Song Of The Nightingale G+ VG $0.75
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Van Cliburn, Kiril Kondrashin Concerto No. 1 G+ G+ $0.75
Johannes Brahms - Arturo Toscanini And The NBC Symphony Orchestra Symphony No. 4 G+ G+ $1.00
Morton Gould And His Orchestra The Beautiful Music of Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt VG G+ $0.75
Geraldine Don't Fight The Feeling G+ VG $0.75
Dionne Warwick Dionne G G+ $0.75
Steve Miller Band Number 5 G G+ $1.00
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"Annie" Original Cast Annie (Original Cast Recording) G+ G+ $0.50
10cc Look Hear? $3.00
1776 Original Broadway Cast 1776 - A New Musical G+ VG $0.99
ABC The Lexicon Of Love $4.00
Aerosmith Rocks $8.00
Al Di Meola Casino VG VG $2.00
Al Di Meola Electric Rendezvous VG+ VG $2.50
Aldo Nova Aldo Nova VG+ VG $1.00
Alex North The Sound And The Fury VG VG $4.00
Alex Taylor With Friends And Neighbors G+ G+ $1.10
Alexis Weissenberg Sonatas No. 62 In E-flat / No. 50 In D / No. 33 In C Minor G+ G+ $0.50
Alice Cooper Love It To Death G G $5.00
Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies $12.00
America Holiday G G $0.25
America History · America's Greatest Hits G+ G+ $0.75
America Live G VG $1.25
André Previn Trio The Light Fantastic, A Tribute To Fred Astaire $2.00
Andrew Gold Whirlwind VG VG $1.25
Andy Williams Alone Again (Naturally) VG VG $1.00
Arthur Rubinstein The Chopin Ballades $3.00
Arthur Rubinstein Artur Rubinstein - Chopin VG G+ $1.50
Aztec Two-Step Second Step VG G+ $1.00
Aztec Two-Step Adjoining Suites VG G+ $1.00
Aztec Two-Step Two's Company VG G+ $1.00
Ballet Folklorico De Mexico Ballet Folklorico De Mexico $4.00
Barbara Mandrell / Lee Greenwood Meant For Each Other VG+ VG+ $1.00
Barbra Streisand The Way We Were warped $1.00
Barbra Streisand Stoney End G+ VG $0.75
Barbra Streisand A Happening In Central Park G+ G+ $0.50
Barbra Streisand Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits G+ VG $0.75
Barbra Streisand My Name Is Barbra, Two... G+ G+ $0.75
Barbra Streisand Streisand Superman G+ G+ $0.75
Barbra Streisand Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits - Volume 2 G VG $0.50
Barbra Streisand Memories G+ VG $0.75
Barry Manilow Live G G+ $2.00
Beatles Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da G+ Generic $7.00
Bee Gees Here At Last - Live G+ G+ $0.75
Beverly Sill Music Of Victor Herbert G+ VG $1.00
Billy Squier The Tale Of The Tape $5.00
Billy Vaughn Sukiyaka $2.00
Bonnie Raitt Sweet Forgiveness VG G+ $1.25
Bonnie Raitt Sweet Forgiveness VG VG $1.50
Boz Scaggs & Band Boz Scaggs & Band VG G+ $1.00
Brand X Moroccan Roll $3.00
Brand X Product VG+ VG+ $2.50
Brothers Four The Big Folk Hits $1.00
Buffy Sainte-Marie Little Wheel Spin And Spin VG G+ $1.25
Burl Ives Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck And Other Children's Favorites G+ G+ $1.00
Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits $1.00
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach The Harp VG+ VG $1.00
Carly Simon Boys In The Trees VG VG $0.50
Carol Channing, Florence Henderson The Great Stars of Broadway $1.00
Cat Stevens Cat Stevens' Buddha And The Chocolate Box missing outermost sleeve $7.00
Cate Bros. Band Cate Bros. Band VG+ VG $1.25
Charlie Musselwhite Louisiana Fog G+ VG $5.50
Cher The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) $2.00
Chuck Mangione Main Squeeze VG VG $0.75
Clannad Magical Ring $3.00
Clannad Crann Ull VG+ VG $3.50
Cleveland Orchestra, Artur Rodzinski Debussy: La Mer (The Sea) G G $1.00
Climax Blues Band 1969 / 1972 VG VG $3.50
Cooper Brothers Cooper Brothers VG VG $0.75
Cream Goodbye G G $2.00
Crusaders Southern Comfort G+ G $1.00
Dan Fogelberg Nether Lands G+ VG $1.00
Daniel Adni, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Alwyn Music From Films For Piano & Orchestra VG G+ $1.00
David Merrick And Leland Hayward Gypsy - A Musical Fable VG VG $1.00
David Riordan Medicine Wheel VG G+ $1.00
David Sanborn A Change Of Heart VG+ VG $1.00
David Soul Playing To An Audience Of One VG VG $1.25
Dexter Wansel What The World Is Coming To VG G+ $0.75
Dick Hyman And His Orchestra Provocative Piano VG VG $1.00
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Lieder Von Debussy Und Ravel $1.00
Dire Straits Love Over Gold VG VG $3.75
Don Burrows Duo VG G+ $3.00
Eddie Kochak Strictly Belly Dancing (Ya Habibi #2) G+ G $1.00
Elton John Elton John VG VG $1.75
Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer $4.00
Emerson, Lake & Palmer Brain Salad Surgery VG G+ $3.75
Engelbert Humperdinck Just For You VG G $1.00
Engelbert Humperdinck Just For You VG G+ $1.25
Enoch Light And His Orchestra Stereo 35/MM $3.00
Eugene Ormandy And The Philadelphia Orchestra Symphony No. 1 In C Minor G+ G+ $0.75
Eugene Ormandy And The Philadelphia Orchestra Christmas $3.00
Evelyn King Music Box $4.00
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Sonatas For Cello And Piano $2.00
Felix Slatkin Charge ! $4.00
Fleetwood Mac Tusk 7" Single $2.00
Gene Watson Heartaches, Love & Stuff VG VG $1.00
George Abdo And His "Flames Of Araby" Orchestra The Art Of Belly Dancing G+ G+ $0.75
George Abdo And His "Flames Of Araby" Orchestra The Joy Of Belly Dancing G G $0.75
George Abdo And His "Flames Of Araby" Orchestra Belly Dancing With George Abdo G+ G+ $0.75
George Gershwin Rhapsody In Blue And Porgy And Bess G VG $1.00
Giacomo Puccini La Bohème VG VG $1.00
Gian Carlo Menotti Amahl and the Night Visitors VG VG $1.00
Gilbert & Sullivan The Mikado $3.00
Gloria Gaynor I Am What I Am VG VG 12' Single $0.75
Harry Chapin Sequel VG VG $0.90
Hilton Kean Jones Hilton Kean Jones' Eastmontage And Performances By Eastman School Of Music Student Ensembles VG G+ $2.50
Holly Near Imagine My Surprise! VG VG $0.75
Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie Harp VG+ VG $0.75
Ian Thomas Riders On Dark Horses VG VG $1.25
Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky Conducts Histoire Du Soldat Suite: Pulcinella Suite VG G+ $1.75
Jackie Gleason Jackie Gleason Presents The Torch With The Blue Flame G+ G+ $1.00
Jackson Browne Lawyers In Love VG G+ $0.75
Jaime Brockett Remember The Wind And The Rain G G+ $1.00
Jake Walton The Gloaming Grey VG VG $1.00
James Gang Yer' Album G G+ $1.75
James Last Guitar À Gogo $1.00
James Levine Conducts Johannes Brahms, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Symphony No. 1 VG+ VG $2.00
James Taylor Dad Loves His Work VG VG $0.75
Jane Olivor The Best Side Of Goodbye VG VG $0.50
Jean-Pierre Rampal / Claude Bolling Suite For Flute And Jazz Piano VG G+ $0.65
Jeff Lass Conversations With Bill Evans $1.00
Jerome Kern Roberta VG G+ $1.00
Jesse Colin Young Song For Juli $2.00
Jesse Winchester Jesse Winchester G+ G+ $2.00
Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band Garden Of Joy VG G+ $3.50
Jim Reeves Gentleman Jim $2.00
Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge / Original Motion Picture Sound Track G G $3.00
Jimi Hendrix Crash Landing G+ G+ $4.50
Jimmie Lunceford "Harlem Shout" Vol. 2 (1935-1936) G+ G+ $1.00
Jimmie Spheeris The Dragon Is Dancing G+ G+ $1.00
Joan Armatrading Show Some Emotion $3.00
Joan Baez In Concert G+ G+ $1.35
Joan Baez Farewell, Angelina $3.00
Joe Walsh The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get VG VG $2.75
Johann Sebastian Bach, Berliner Philharmoniker St. Matthew Passion $4.00
Johannes Brahms Piano Quintet In F Minor, Op.34 VG+ VG $5.50
Johannes Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 In B Major (Op.8) / Piano Trio No.3 In C Minor (OP.101) VG+ VG $8.50
Johannes Brahms, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Ein Johannes-Brahms-Liederabend VG G+ $1.00
John Renbourn The Lady And The Unicorn VG VG $3.00
John Renbourn Group The Enchanted Garden VG VG $1.75
John Robertson And His Multi-Trumpets John Robertson And His Multi-Trumpets $1.00
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John You're The One That I Want $2.00
Johnny Mathis Merry Christmas G+ VG $0.75
Johnny Mathis More Johnny's Greatest Hits G+ G+ $0.50
Jon Butcher Axis Jon Butcher Axis $2.00
Joni Mitchell Mingus $6.00
Jose Greco And Company Flamenco Fury G+ G+ $1.00
Joseph Haydn Mass In D Minor: Missa In Angustiis (Nelson Mass) VG VG $0.75
Josh White Live! $5.00
Kevin Johnson Man Of The 20th Century $1.00
Léo Chauliac Et Son Orchestre The Best Of The Beatles $2.00
Leonid Kogan, Rudolf Barshai Kogan And Barshai Play - Vivaldi Rameau Handoshkin VG G+ $1.00
Loggins And Messina Sittin' In VG+ VG $3.00
Loggins And Messina Loggins And Messina G+ VG $0.75
Loggins And Messina The Best Of Friends VG G+ $0.75
Marie Claire Jamet Four Centuries of Music for the Harp VG+ VG $1.25
Mark Holden I Wanna Make You My Lady $2.00
Marshall Tucker Band Running Like The Wind VG VG+ $0.75
Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, Rodgers & Hammerstein South Pacific With Original Broadway Cast $1.00
Maurice Ravel, Jean Martinon, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Bolero (Great Ravel Showpieces) VG VG $0.75
Max Steiner Now, Voyager - The Classic Film Scores Of Max Steiner VG VG $0.75
McKendree Spring 3 VG G+ $1.50
Melos Ensemble Of London, Maurice Ravel Introduction And Allegro / Sonata For Flute, Viola And Harp VG VG $2.00
Michael Franks The Art Of Tea VG VG $1.25
Michael Jackson One Day In Your Life G+ G+ $1.35
Monkees It's Nice To Be With You / D. W. Washburn $3.00
Moon Martin Escape From Domination $3.00
Moravian Festival Chorus And Orchestra Under Thor Martin Johnson The Unknown Century Of American Classical Music (1760-1860) $5.00
Mose Allison Mose Allison Sings $1.00
Mud Oh Boy $1.00
Music Minus One Oklahoma! VG VG $1.00
Neil Diamond Headed For The Future VG VG $1.00
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere G+ G+ $3.00
New York Pro Musica, Alfonso X El Sabio Spanish Medieval Music $10.00
No Artist Railroad: Sounds Of A Vanishing Era $3.00
No Artist Environments (New Concepts In Stereo Sound - Disc 1) $3.00
Noël Coward The Noel Coward Album VG VG $1.65
Norrie Paramor His Strings And Orchestra In London, In Love $4.00
NSYNC Bye Bye Bye (The Remixes) $3.00
Olivia Newton-John Have You Never Been Mellow G G+ $0.50
Ottorino Respighi Ancient Airs & Dances VG VG $7.00
Passport Cross-Collateral $3.00
Passport Infinity Machine VG VG $5.69
Paul Anka Anka G+ VG $0.75
Paul Anka Paul Anka's 21 Golden Hits G+ VG $1.00
Paul Dukas, Modest Mussorgsky, Maurice Ravel Sorcerer's Apprentice / A Night On Bare Mountain / Rapsodie Espagnole G+ G $1.00
Paul Kantner / Jefferson Starship Blows Against The Empire G+ G+ $0.75
Pearl Chertok Strings Of Pearl G+ G+ $4.00
Peter, Paul & Mary In The Wind $3.00
Philadelphia Brass Ensemble A Festival Of Carols In Brass $1.00
Philip Rambow Shooting Gallery G+ VG $1.00
Placido Domingo With John Denver Perhaps Love $4.00
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - David Oistrach, Eugene Ormandy, The Philadelphia Orchestra Violin Concerto In D G+ G+ $1.25
Racey Some Girls $2.00
Ray Charles The Fabulous Ray Charles G+ G+ $1.75
Ray Conniff I Will Survive VG+ VG $2.00
Ray Martin The Sound Of Sight $3.00
Ray Noble and his Orchestra Happy Anniversary $1.00
Ray Price And His The Port Jackson Jazz Band Jazz Classics Vol. 1 $2.00
Relativity Relativity VG VG $1.20
Richard Strauss, Antal Dorati, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra Two Tone Poems - Don Juan, Death And Transfiguration $10.00
Richard Wagner Toscanini Conducts Wagner $5.00
Richard Wagner - Eileen Farrell, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch Brunnhilde's Immolation / Tristan And Isolde: Prelude And Liebestod $8.00
Robert Casadesus Robert Casadesus Plays Sonatas by Chopin Mozart & Haydn $1.00
Robert Hall Collins, Ruth Barrett Phelps The Sacred Ministry Of Song $1.00
Robert Schumann / Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Geoffrey Parsons Frauenliebe Und Leben, Op. 42 / Liederkreis, Op. 39 (Eichendorff) $1.00
Robert Shaw, The Robert Shaw Chorale Christmas Hymns And Carols Volume 1 $1.00
Roland Kirk Blacknuss G+ G+ $3.00
Roland Kirk Bright Moments G+ VG $6.00
Rossington Collins Band Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere $2.00
Roxy Music Manifesto $5.00
Roxy Music Flesh + Blood VG VG $2.50
Rubber Rodeo Scenic Views VG VG $1.00
Ruth Welcome Sentimental Zither $1.00
Sally Ann Howes, Terry Carter And Brock Peters Kwamina (Original Broadway Cast) $1.00
Sarah Vaughan After Hours With Sarah Vaughan G+ G $2.50
Seals & Crofts Year Of Sunday $2.00
Seawind Seawind VG VG $1.00
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff Piano-Concerto No. 2 In C Minor • 6 Preludes $1.00
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff Piano-Concerto No. 2 In C Minor Op. 18 $1.00
Shadowfax We Used To Laugh • The Firewalker VG+ VG $1.00
Sigmund Romberg The Student Prince $2.00
Sir Thomas Beecham, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) $2.00
Skyline Late To Work VG VG $1.00
Spooky Tooth The Mirror $5.00
Steve Goodman Somebody Else's Troubles G+ G+ $1.10
Steve Khan Arrows VG+ VG $1.00
Steve Winwood Winwood VG VG $1.50
Steven Halpern Natural Light VG+ VG+ $2.50
Stusick Harp And Instrumental Trio The Stusick Sisters With Mrs. Stanley S. Stusick Harp & Instrumental Trio Autographed $1.00
Susanna Mildonian Recital N° 1 $1.00
Susanna Mildonian Recital N° 2 $1.00
Ten Years After Watt $8.00
The Beatles Can't Buy Me Love 7" Single (Australian) $7.00
The Beatles I Should Have Known Better 7" Single (Australian) $7.00
The Don Burrows Quartet At The Sydney Opera House VG G+ $3.00
The Gardners Folksongs Far & Near VG VG $1.25
The Grass Roots Golden Grass: Their Greatest Hits $3.00
The James Last Band Trumpet À Gogo $1.00
The Melachrino Strings More Music For Dining $1.00
The Melachrino Strings Moods In Music: Music For Reading G G $0.70
The Monkees I Wanna Be Free / You Just May Be The One 7" Single $6.00
The Monkees The Monkees Volume 1 7" EP $20.00
The Monkees She 7" EP $10.00
The Monkees Cuddly Toy 7" EP $12.00
The Monkees A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You/The Girl I Knew Somewhere 7" $8.00
The Monkees Valleri 7" Single $8.00
The Righteous Brothers The Best Of $2.00
The Robert Shaw Chorale A Mighty Fortress $3.00
The Section Fork It Over G+ G+ $1.25
The Seekers Georgy Girl $2.00
The Stephane Caillat Vocal Quartet The Ronsard Circle $1.00
The Stompers One Heart For Sale VG+ VG $1.25
The Weavers The Best Of The Weavers VG VG $1.00
Three 6 Mafia Presents Project Pat Chickenhead $3.00
Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra This Is Tommy Dorsey $2.00
Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra, Frank Sinatra I'll See You In My Dreams $2.00
Tony Bennett Just One Of Those Things VG VG $1.00
Unknown Artist Flick Themes '72 $1.50
Unknown Artist Sound Effects Volume 1 $3.00
Various This Is The Era Of Memorable Song Hits: The Decade Of The 30s $1.00
Various Windham Hill Records Sampler '81 $1.00
Various Windham Hill Records Sampler '81 $1.00
Various Windham Hill Records Sampler '82 $1.00
Various Windham Hill Records Sampler '82 $1.00
Various Your Hit Parade - 1951 $1.00
Various Hello Dolly! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album) $2.00
Various The Best Disco Album In The World $2.00
Various Favorite Themes From Masterpiece Theatre $2.00
Various Something Festive $3.00
Various Admiral Stereophonic Demonstration Record $5.00
Various A Collector's Sondheim $8.00
Various Music For The Jet Set $1.00
Various Russian Folk Dances of the Moiseyev Dance Company $1.00
Various Philharmonic Family Library Of Great Music Album 1 missing outermost sleeve $1.00
Various Nashville's Greatest Instrumentalists Volume II $1.00
Vladimir Horowitz Sonata In B-Flat Minor (Piano Music Of Chopin And Liszt) $1.00