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There is so much to write on about this subject!

Money is such a central aspect of almost all of our lives and yet our currency is based on nothing but faith. Unfortunately the god in which we have placed our faith is robbing us blind and isn't trustworthy.

Generally I would use the equation "time = money"; time seems more accurate than just energy. An employer buys my time and pays me in money (and maybe a few other fringe benefits like a sense of worth). As the decades roll on, I'm giving away more and more of my time without financial compensation because.... well, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that maybe I'm doing something more important than my "job". Now if I can just keep from starving. {grin}

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Great insight that our time is being purchased, I subscribe to the insight that to be truly wealthy you have complete say over your time. The reason I didn’t use it in the equation is because a boss won’t just pay for my time, he also has to tell me what to do during the time, hence my energy being spent.

I love that you have decided to spend time doing rewarding projects without expecting financial compensation. I practice the gift economy model myself. Trying to keep from starving too. But to subsidize putting food on the table, I still have to sell my time and energy to someone for money. But doing projects like this is so much more fun! And I feel like I get to share my gift with the world.

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Certainly I do sell my time in order to enjoy a nice standard of living. I'm still paying the mortgage!

Yes, working for someone (even contract work is working for someone even though you are "self employed") means they tell you what to do with your time. If they are foolish they will waste my time having me clean toilets, if they are a bit wiser they will have me engaged in health care or software development... photography isn't bad either but the pay is terrible.

But from my point of view, after the work day is done, the critical fact is that time is gone. I can't get it back.

True wealth is, as you said, complete freedom and control over your time.

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Yes, I suppose your energy replenishes, but your time doesn’t. Great point!!

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A little bit of topic drift, but if your job sucks your energy (either mental or physical), then the time spent replenishing your energy is in a way part of the time you've worked. So for example if I have a mentally exhausting day, by the time work is over I may not have the mental energy to accomplish anything else. Work has turned me into a zombie!

This is why it is valuable to have a job that energizes you. It's really great to wrap up a work day and be excited and energized to accomplish other things.

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So very true!! No one takes into consideration the load you take home!

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It's certainly not negotiated when you interview for a job.

How many times have you had a manager that says "knock off early on Friday and don't work on the weekend", yet at the same time puts pressure on you to get the job done "yesterday"?

Personally I've been fortunate to have a great career, but there certainly have been plenty of days when I had no mental energy to do anything more than spending my evening watching TV. I treasure my current job, "low pay" but also low pressure (work from home is awesome with "no commute", etc).

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...yup, xactly! (with xtra gruyere too!) I'd love that!

Bein' in Chi-town ya might know of the famous exception to us starry-eyed ahrtistes not knowin' diddly 'bout $.

Most folks 'member Colleen Moore (she of the famous incredible dollhouse at the Mooseum of Science & Industry/History) as a fine silent film actress.

But few knew she INVESTED every durned penny she made makin' movies AND eschewed usin' managers (who'd'a taken her hard-earned do-re-mi) and learned all that financial stuff herself an' made a mint! (An' kept it too!) EVEN durin' the depression cuz she kept her head fer finances they say.

There wuz a myth that she flopped durin' the sound era but that was bunk (ditto fer Clara Bow). She didn't need $ from actin' due to investin' early on. Anywho, Moore performed on an' off fer her entire life and even produced some teevee shows -- but she stayed wealthy--a real exception! Wish THAT talent'd rub off on the rest've us!

Meantimes, I'm MUCH better at omelettes than finances!

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😂 same, Daisy, same.

I didn’t know Ms. Moore’s story, gotta look into her. Sounds very intriguing. Different times, those were. But I’m thinking we’re coming back around to some tough years ourselves. Hence my sudden interest in finance.

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yup, I'm worried 'bout what's ahead an' aggree I gotta figger out something... I don't trust anything vir-chew-all (no bitcoins fer me!) an' the rest depends on havin' something TO invest versus livin' without any extree ta use as an invest-mint! Wonderin' bout remote VO work 'er jingles or sumthin' that pays a mite since my ol' $-gigs are all dried up (yerz too I assume...) an' startin' from scratch seems daunting. Meantimes, take yer kiddos to the dollhouse if ye kin find the time--it's just BREATH-TAKIN' if ya like tiny things! -- I think the niftiest one I've ever seen!

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late ta the game here but I loved this'un Tonika--okay, I must've sadly signed the same waiver--I kin shuffle off ta Buffalo, walk like an Egyptian, build an igloo outta cotton balls an' make a mean mushroom omelette but I HAVE NO CLUE 'BOUT MONEY ('cept the song, yup, a rich man's game)... I know 'bout the FED an' I can balance a checkbook (double digits, ha!) but the rest... oh my my! That said, keep 'em comin'--we all could use an ed-yuk-cation!

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We in the theatre business, especially, suffer from financial ignoramus. If we are ever in the same room, breathing the same air, some mushroom omelettes are in order! 😋

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END THE FED!

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Jun 2, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

This was great! hilarious! and incredibly clever!, but I had to keep my finger on the back button the whole time. I was still enjoying my first laugh when the next 3 or 4 came flying in. I told you before that I think I'm too old to keep up with your stuff, Tonika, but I'll keep trying. You keep on keeping on, you crazy girl!

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Thanks for the kind words, it was a collaborative effort! I meant to go back and include the lyrics to the song, but I got ravaged by a super bug yesterday with a high fever and am still recuperating... it came out of nowhere!

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

Sorry to hear that. May you recover quickly and understand if possible the source/cause so you can side step it next time.

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

To quote you, "what he said". LOL. Feel better soon.

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Jun 2, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

I highly recommend The Ultimate History Lesson, with John Taylor Gatto interview by Richard Grove. It is 5 hours long as it is history. But he covers money very clearly. So do Ellen Brown and Professor Michael Hudson. Both go into the dark processes that are leading to the current fiasco.

Michael Hudson traces money back to the dawn of history almost 10,000 years ago in his amazing book "Forgive Them Their Debts" Ellen Brown has written several wonderful books. To get a list of her books go to her blog, The Web of Debt. Well worth the time. She will shine the light in dark places.

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Will look into these resources, thank you.

I have heard of Gator before, on education. Had never heard of the other two. Will check them out.

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Jun 2, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

Enjoy. I hope you find them worth the time.

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Nice work, Tonika! I felt a little old watching it, b/c I can't seem to process lyrics being sung and comprehending written memes simultaneously... 🙄

I love the voices of the Spike Girls! I've never heard of them before. What's their story?

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Oh shoot! I meant to add the lyrics in the post. Will go back and do that.

The Spike Girls are a few of the ladies from the Operation Uplift team. We got together to sing The Sound of Silenced Science and it went viral. We have never met in real life. But few real kinship.

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That is SO COOL!! And Operation Uplift? Qu'est-ce que c'est?

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You don’t have to watch the extra long video but the short article that accompanies it, explains it. (Not trying to pawn off explaining, just got hit by a flu or something and can hardly look at screens. But I wrote this to explain what the community was and I think it stands: https://open.substack.com/pub/operationuplift/p/the-operation-uplift-community?r=xi283&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

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Ughhh... Just seeing this now. I hope you're feeling better. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of an answer!

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It was hell, but yes, there’s hope today. Yikes!!

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Hope is the right direction. Sending healing vibes... xox

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'It was Henry Ford, Sr., who said in substance, "It is perhaps well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." '

I did a bit of studying lifetimes ago after reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (with reference to the money trick.) After that minor self-education I thought 'I can't be arsed, I'm working in the arts, I just need my food, shelter and warmth (and maybe some beer money :) )' So I've lived a life of feast or famine.More of the latter by far, but I have what I need. I could be wrong about this, but if I am then I'm wrong about everything going on now: precedents about money (and all other things actually) are going to be irrelevant. If we are shifting into a new paradigm - as I believe we are - there are no precedents there. No-one's written on the tablets there yet. If you live in a two dimensional world you don't see up and down. If you shift into three dimensions you don't know what to do with up and down because you haven't seen it before. And if you try and treat it like backwards and forwards it won't work. We have to learn as we go. That'll be a ride and a half.

Full Bill Hicks quote about that ride: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/494647-the-world-is-like-a-ride-in-an-amusement-park

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I can always count on you to zoom out. Yes, the paradigm shift is inevitable and frankly, welcomed. Let’s do this.

Love that quote and will use it in the next article. Also love Bill Hicks, gone too soon. I can only imagine what he, Carlin, and McKenna would have unleashed upon this covid bollocks.

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Jun 1, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

If there is nothing inherently evil about interest, why then does the Torah forbid the practice between Jews?

True, there are many instances in which reckless interest rates can destroy an entire family. But the Torah could simply set guidelines establishing when interest may not be charged, and fix reasonable rates for instances when interest is fair play. Indeed, when it comes to the sale of merchandise, the Torah forbids exorbitant profit margins on staple products.2 Why not do the same here? Why forbid interest altogether?

Both Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 13th century) and Rabbi Don Yitzchak Abarbanel (15th century) agree3 that as long as rates are reasonable,4 there isn’t necessarily anything morally wrong with ribit.

They explain that the reason Torah prohibits ribit between Jews is simply because your fellow Jew is family. It’s just not appropriate for family members to help each other out on terms of interest. The Jewish nation is meant to behave as a cohesive unit, like a single organism, each one concerned for the other’s benefit as much as with his own.

On the other hand, neither is it practical to treat the entire world as your immediate family—especially when they do not have the same laws as you. If you did, you would quickly find yourself out of resources.

So, although we accept the Torah’s ban on charging our fellow Jews interest, it would not be wise or helpful to extend this to all people. The Torah thereby renders us somewhat like a healthy organism swimming among many others in a big pond, which seeks its own balanced ecology.

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I never knew that. Interesting. Could all smaller localized communities practice the same rules? Ultimately, we are all interrelated and shouldn’t take advantage of anyone. Are resources that scarce? The world is failing in a “everyone out for themselves” and “less for you is more for me” type of attitude.

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Jun 1, 2023·edited Jun 1, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

Yep. Until we grasp the true meaning of ‘love conquers all’ we’re treading water. And it ain’t easy to grasp because the word has been completely distorted by the media (which means the message) for the last 2000 years.

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"Energy = Money"

Yes.

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Jun 2, 2023·edited Jun 2, 2023

"Energy = Money"

E= Mc^2

The E is very very complex in physics. If E=Money, Then why do those who destroy economies and peoples lives become so wealthy. After all there is only so much energy a biological human can generate and the spread between rich and poor humans is not great enough to account for the massive difference in wealth.

I believe the Ultimate History Lesson and the work by James Corbet shine a light on the fraud the makes some folks fantastically wealthy and others no matter how honest and hard working poor and broken down. Something is amiss in the common story of money.

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I went through massive amount of schooling on two different continents and no one taught me that. The education model has failed.

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What is this Money that you speak of? I am a perpetual student who has lived week to week for the better part of my life. Sure it’s stressful and slightly humiliating at times but has allowed me to justify putting no time and energy towards understanding financial witchcraftery. But turns out I was just waiting for it to be explained in 3 minutes of soundtracked memes 🙏🏻

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I know how you like the dank memery. I have already collected enough memes for another song...

Also, as long as you don't have other people relying on you, living the way you are is probably quite healthy. 👊

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May 31, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

I also just recently clued in to the fact that my complete-and-utter lack of knowledge and understanding of money - finance, economics, etc - was a serious shortcoming. I'm trying to learn but having had ZERO of the very basics it's not easy. I watched a video of Catherine Austin Fitz discussing the financial coup d'etat, I don't k now what fiscal means nor do I know what monetary means. I need to learn as if I were a very young child, 10 years old, at that level. But it's such a huge complex daunting 'topic', and as it is, the choice of what to put my psychic energy into seems more and more critical in terms of how it effects my mental health and well-being. Deciding Ok-I'm-going-to-devote-all-the-energy-it-would-take-to-master-this... doesn't seem the best option right now. So I fumble around, watching videos and trying to glean bits and pieces. IN any case, it is clearly something of critical importance these days - I will take a look at the videos you have linked. And nicely done on your own video-creation, excellent as always!!

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🙏 BTW, That's exactly what I'm doing- fumbling around and gleaning bits and pieces. I can't psychologically take on that task either. But I read an article here, watch a video there, listen to a podcast while folding laundry, and lately things have begun to click and those little aha moments are becoming more frequent. I don't think we need to become economists or leave our day jobs to trade shorts. Just understand enough to avoid getting effed.

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Jun 1, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

Yes exactly! I started watching the Corbett Report film about the Fed, looks like a good one.

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Tonika recommended that one to me months ago and I was so grateful! Like you, I need it spelled out pretty slooooowwwwly because I've always avoided the topic (because I hated it). Great place to start.

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I watched the whole thing and when it was done, I restarted it and watched it again.

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Jun 1, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

LOL.. yes I am halfway through now, taking some notes, will do some duckduckgo-ing and then re-watch again a second time another day, I copied the link. I have to say that when the Canadian banks froze the accounts of some of the truckers and people involved in the Convoy it scared the crap out of me... the idea that expressing my political views could result in my bank account being frozen was terrifying. I'm certainly learning a lot about this world these past few years that's for sure...but I guess learning is better than not-learning.

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Canada going full tyrannical was surprising. That was the part that scared me as well. I figured if it can happen in Canada, it’ll happen anywhere. I might have to rewatch my own link just to see if other things jump out at me, it’s chalk full of info!

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Might as well have fun with it right? Excellent and enjoyable.

Good reminder and Corbett video is a great start. I'll look forward to what you come up with next.

Imagine what we could do? Love it. That's the key ingredient. Thanks.

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Might as well!

Did you ever learn about money growing up, Kathleen? I vaguely remember doing mock taxes on old school tax forms in 8th grade, but no one told me why we pay taxes. Or about stocks and bonds. Or about how you don't deposit your money in the bank, you loan your money to the bank...Or any of the rest of it. Were they trying to keep that shit a secret? Because even now, you get some kind of convoluted explanations from highly credentialed economists and they're throwing around keynesian or hamiltonian phrases but you get the feeling they don't really quite know what they're talking about... Why is it so complicated?

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The first time I learned about bank deposits/loans was "It's A Wonderful Life." Sheesh...

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What a great movie!

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Yes, I did. I learned that it was needed, wanted, but people who had a lot of it were not to be trusted. I learned it caused stress and also offered possibilities. I also learned adults didn't always agree about it and so it was a subject to be approached gingerly.

In school - I think I remember a class on filling out checks! Nothing on banking or the larger economic questions.

I think it's complicated so those who are stealing it, don't get caught.😊

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Jun 2, 2023·edited Jun 2, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

If I may reply. I too learned about money when young. Both my parents grew up during the depression and the rule they lived by (and us 4 children too) if you can't pay cash for the item then you don't need it.

I remember one Christmas when I asked dad why we didn't get toys like the other kids. Dad's reply was succinct. You don't get what you want, you get what you need.

Sounds tough. However living they way kept all us out of debt. We don't live high on the hog. But we don't owe our lives to the company store. Worth of listen Tennessee Ernie Ford singing 16 Tons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU

He makes it look fun. But mining coal for the Boss was anything but fun.

be well

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Well done, dad!

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What a great rendition! Thanks for sharing it!

Yes, I don’t remember ever living in debt in BG. But I got in trouble with school loans here in the States. Why is college so darn expensive? People who grew up during the depression were tough and resilient. I can’t imagine what your dad would think of the large number of the laptop class currently taking up employment in the USA.

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Jun 2, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

To me from a long distance away I believe it is economic discrimination. We couldn't afford college and so following Dad and mom's dictum, We couldn't afford it, we didn't need it. Turned out to be true in this case.

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Yes, indeedy! Well, you certainly got the basics down! 😂

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Pretty much.😂

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Another set of turtles, but one very worth looking down the pile....! I have some Turtle Island Native roots, so in a way it's all very very funny, if you look at it right. Thanks for the Corbett Report link, ever relevant!

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I agree that it starts to become rather humorous how they manipulated the system into a set inflicting fatal stab. Wasn’t there a fish (the angler, maybe) whose overbite eventually stab it in the eye?

What is Turtle Island? North America?

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May 31, 2023·edited May 31, 2023Liked by Visceral Adventure

Yes, in general you are right.

Many things to ponder when i searched

turtle island native peoples

and anything that Indigenous History Now

(abbrev. IHN) puts out at Patreon has been helpful at

least to me...some great docus there

best-jackie in Poortland

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Fellow artist here with lots of Taurus in my chart. UGH - money. I seriously would rather bury my head in the sand rather than talk about it. I'm aware but still want to bury my head in the sand...

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I was just like that too! I thought it wasn’t for me, that I was fine being poor, or I should say, I was fine living a very simple life. But how it’s all correlated with our psychology and other systems under which we live is absolutely fascinating.

Ok, I know you told me once already, but I have to ask again, how do you find out what is in your chart? I know I was born under a Scorpio sign. But there is other stuff, right? 😬 is Taurus something that shows up if you’re a creative?

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All you need is your time of birth and place of birth. You can do a search online - many sites will send your chart for free. I would start here. https://www.astrograph.com/birth-chart.php They have a great app for the phone, too. It is so much more complex than just your sun sign. There's your moon sign, your rising sign, the planets, what house they're in. It is really complex and frankly I have a hard time grasping a lot of it. Lynnette Duncan gives amazing readings: https://oracleofyoursoul.life/ LMK what you find out!! :)

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Them there a lot of words in that chart I don't understand. What the heck is a "sesquiquadrate"?!? 😂 Ok, so it looks like a Leo moon and an Aquarius rising. And now I will have the opening song from Hair stuck in my head.

In reading some of the personality type, I do seem to match up with a lot of it. I will explore further. Thanks for the references!

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Have fun! I'm in a beginning astrology class with Lynnette Duncan and I feel like a kindergartener again! It's so complex!

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You are friggin' brilliant, Tonika! I'll read it after my dance class but had to watch your video first.

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Thanks, T! Dance class? God, you sound fun. How do you manage putting together well rounded researched videos, writing a Substack, running a household and being fun? How dare you?! 😂

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You have no idea! Fortunately the household I run is just me now but it's a totally rowdy and inappropriate crew of dancers I get to hang with. You only have 30 years to go and you too can regress into a second childhood more fun than the first.

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Well, I got a three year old who loves dance parties in the living room at 6am... does that count? 😀 there’s only so much dancing I can do out of one blood shot eye, but I do find it fun and a better way to start the morning than coffee!

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