u/Debster1486

I thought I was “bad at visual ideas,” Midjourney made me realize it wasn’t really the problem. Problem was that I had feelings, references, and vague images in my head, but almost no vocabulary . I could say “make it cinematic” or “make it look expensive,” but I didn’t really know what I meant . Was it lighting? The lens? The texture? The color palette? The framing? The mood?

After using Midjourney for a while, I started using words I never used before: soft backlight, shallow depth of field, brutalist concrete, overcast daylight, symmetrical composition, editorial fashion lighting, warm film grain, negative space, rim light, wide-angle distortion.

It feels more like it is forcing me to become better at explaining what I actually see in my head.

29 M Rent: $1900/month (+$50 from last update,+$100 from first diary) in the same apartment

renters insurance:$7/month through Lemonade (+$1)

savings contribution: $250/month, although I see it as spendable (-$250/month)

investment contribution: None actively

Donations:$15 monthly to Planned Parenthood

Electric: Varies throughout the year. Past 6 months average to be about $50/month(no change)

Gas: Varies throughout the year. About $65 in the summer and $200 in the winter (no change although this winter has been COLD and pricier as a result)

Wifi: $89 (+$16hmm, I really should negotiate that!)

Phone: $25 for the plan and $34.58 for my iphone payment plan(24 month payment plan with no interest)Subscriptions

Monthly:

accio work: $20/month

Podcasts: $7/month

NY Time Sunday newspaper: $20

Dashpass: free through my credit card

looking for advice on monthly expenses....

I've had my eye on these two for a while but kept going back and forth — honestly they look a bit boring to stick with long-term. Then I recently stumbled across another one called Focusaur. The dino hatching thing while you focus is pretty cute, and I really like the anti-phone-pickup feature.

So if anyone here actually backed Flow Timer or Zone Timer (or better yet, tried all three), I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do they compare? Which one would you actually recommend sticking with?

Appreciate any input 🙏

My kids have just started play group. I have twins - a boy and girl. Me and my husband work from home and so have no issues in dropping the kids off and picking them up.

But apparently that's a huge deal...for the other moms. And I mean that in a really sad way.

Out of the 15 - 20 moms I meet, there is only one dad that comes to drop and pick up.

Two moms are heavily pregnant, come in a stuffed toto and have to do all the housework themselves inspite of living in a joint family.

At least six moms come with infants who need feeding.

They all wake up in the morning, finish the household chores, prepare tiffin for husbands and kids, iron uniforms and clothes. Obviously the husbands have to go to work, so that's all they do.

And here is the kicker...there was a school holiday and these husbands have the nerve to tell their wives, "tumhara toh accha hai, Aaj aaram karogi'...as if the wives will be sleeping all day. You leave these sperm donors with their kids for a couple of hours and the dad will be drowning cluelessly.

Rant over. Happy Mother's Day.

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about Chongqing online but I just got back and I think those people got it wrong. There's way more to this city than people give it credit for.

I booked everything through Trip.com ahead of time and grabbed an itinerary package from EasyGo China to save time on planning. Ended up visiting Hongya Cave and Qiansimen Bridge at night, saw the monorail go through a building at Liziba Station, walked around Ciqikou for the old architecture, and checked out Kuixing Pavilion where you think you're on the ground but you're actually dozens of floors up. The locals I met were really friendly.Even with the language barrier people would pull out their phones and use translators to help.

The real surprise though was a hotpot place hidden inside a residential building. I'd heard that Chongqing hotpot comes with a lot of ingredients you won't find anywhere else, so I followed the itinerary's recommendations and ordered pig brain, duck intestine, duck blood, beef tripe, and a whole bunch of other organ meats I'd never tried before. Not gonna lie, I was genuinely a little scared before digging in. But the taste completely caught me off guard. The pig brain and duck blood had a texture kind of like tofu but slightly different, and not weird at all. The duck intestine and tripe were nice and crunchy. I'm writing this now and I can still taste it. If you go to Chongqing, definitely check out one of those local spots and give it a try.

One last tip. Do not use Google Maps in Chongqing. The city is built on layers and Google can't handle it. Use map and follow the photos in the itinerary, or you will get lost.

I work in real estate sales and deal with a lot of client calls and property viewings every day.

The main issue is I often miss details — budget ranges, preferences, small requirements — especially when I have multiple clients in a day. Writing everything down manually just doesn’t keep up.

I’m thinking of getting a simple AI recorder that can transcribe conversations so I can review later instead of relying on memory.

What I need is pretty basic:

Affordable (don’t want to spend a few hundred just to test)

Can handle long conversations (30–90 mins)

Decent transcription accuracy for everyday conversations

Easy to use during calls or meetings

I’ve seen some cheaper options around $70–$120, but not sure how reliable they actually are. Some people say budget ones cut costs but rely heavily on subscriptions or have inconsistent accuracy

Curious if anyone here is using something like this in sales or client-facing roles.

What’s actually worth it without overspending?

We used to split production across three different suppliers — one for hoodies and sweats, one for outerwear, and another for basics like tees and joggers. On paper it felt like a smart way to “specialize.” In reality it turned into a mess pretty quickly. GSM would vary between pieces, timelines never lined up, and whenever something went wrong (bad embroidery, wrong trims, sizing issues), you’d end up stuck in that classic situation where each factory blames the other. It made even simple drops way more complicated than they needed to be.

Switching to a single manufacturer changed more than I expected. Having one place handle both construction and customization (printing, embroidery, etc.) made quality control much easier — one standard, one process, no finger-pointing. Sampling also got faster because everything runs on the same timeline, and matching sets finally actually match (same fabric weight, same feel across pieces). Logistics became simpler too — one shipment, one invoice, less coordination. Even the MOQ math worked out better. Instead of hitting minimums across multiple suppliers, we could test more styles without tying up as much capital.

The only thing I’d caution is this: a lot of factories say they can do everything, but that doesn’t mean they do everything well. If you’re planning to run multiple categories (like fleece, outerwear, activewear), you really need to sample each one, not just their strongest product. We ended up working with ChengLin (based in Dongguan) after going through that process — mainly because they could actually handle multiple categories in-house and keep consistency across them. It’s not about finding a “perfect” factory, it’s about reducing moving parts so your production doesn’t turn into project management chaos.