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Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
So in another thread a comment sparked my interest in what I would be making at a "regular" 40 hour per week minimum wage job. I had never done the numbers on this before, and I was quite shocked. Here is a list of current US minimum wage levels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._minimum_wages
In my state, Texas, min wage is currently $7.25/hr. If I was lucky enough to work 40 hours per week I would be making $290 PER WEEK before taxes.
Even if you live in the highest min wage area, San Fransisco at $10.24/hr you would still only make $409.60 PER WEEK. And take into consideration the cost of living.
Holy fuck.
I feel quite embarrassed about ever complaining about what I make, or about how slow it is, or about my hourly average and how it's not high enough. Yes, I do have higher bills because my lifestyle allows for things that most minimum wage workers cannot enjoy. But still, I am seriously humbled by this.
I know that I can fairly easily in one day make what most Americans make in AN ENTIRE WEEK of work. And I don't even work part time 20 hours per week on most weeks. I realize that things have been slower lately, but I think we should all stop and think about this for a moment and remember to be thankful for our ability to get on cam and make money when so many others out there work their asses off for pennies.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Yep I had to remind myself of this tonight. I am trying to pad my check a little more before pay period ends but I know Fridays just suck ass for me. I logged on and ofcourse it is hella slow but I made 33$ in about 20 minutes and logged off. That is almost what somebody working all day at minimum wage would make, that I just made in 20 minutes. Must remember to be grateful!
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Thank you. My husband and I were just discussing this at dinner, then I read him the thread about it being slow.
I am a very grateful person today. I'm not grateful every day, and I'm not always grateful for an entire day at a time, but when I'm not grateful it's because I'm allowing my selfishness or my emotions to skew my view of reality.
Reality is that I am extremely fortunate. I was born into a better situation than most people in the world, I have a family that loves me, I have some friends, I have support here, I have a job where I consider less than $30/hr to be extremely SLOW, and I make enough money to not worry how I'm going to pay my bills. I even got a $300 purse for my birthday from hubby. When I get upset with one of my co-workers, I don't watch other people's cams, or I sign off SW ;) When I get upset with a customer, I breathe, kick, ban, or turn off my cam and take a break.
Thanks, Sarah, for reminding me how fortunate I am.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Thank you so, so much for this thread. Seriously, motivational threads like this mean the world to me. I appreciate it dearly.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I work a vanilla job part time, and yeah, every time I think about that paycheck I'm grateful for camming
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Yeah umm take it from me that it is impossible to work a minimum wage job in San Francisco and afford to live there in your own room, let alone in your own studio. Everyone either lives off their parents or lives off school loans they will have an issue paying back once they graduate. I'm sure its like that in many areas.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I made a thread like this sometime ago.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Your post has perfect timing. I was just about to start bitching when I saw this and I realized I'm lucky. I had a sub pay my mobile bill. I sat in pajamas all day because I was tired and I didn't have to explain myself to anyone. I turned on my phones about an hour ago and have already made some money, while sitting on my butt watching TV and helping my partner with her homework. I love what I do. I have a degree and I worked in the corporate world and my best day there honestly has nothing on this. Thanks Sarah I needed this.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
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Originally Posted by
minniesoporno
I made a thread like this sometime ago.
I was probably too busy complaining to read it :(
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I haven't been working as a camgirl for that long so I am still very much in the grateful stage where I kiss every check when it comes in the mail after I open it. ;D
I always tell myself when I have a super slow day at camming that 'as long as I made minimum wage today I am happy'.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I need so badly to remember this when I am trying to make myself get on cam. Thanks so much Sarah <3
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Not wanting to 'break' the positive tone, but there are a few additional facts to take into account with your minimum wage versus camming equation.
Where the minimum wage worker is concerned ...
A. they will not only avoid having to pay income taxes on their earnings, but will receive 'refundable tax credits' exceeding the amount withheld from their paychecks.
B. they will get 'free' medical care thanks to MedicAid
C. they will receive discount / subsidized rent
D. they will receive discount / subsidized utilities
E. they will receive subsidized food
while for camgirls ...
1. you will pay 15.3% of every dollar earned as 'self-employment' tax, PLUS income taxes
2. you will either pay hefty health insurance premiums, or pay out of pocket for medical treatment
3. you will pay the full shot for rent
4. you will pay the full shot for utilities
5. you will pay the full shot for food
Thus in order to achieve the same de-facto standard of living as a minimum wage worker earning $ 320 per week, as a self-employed camgirl you'll need to earn something close to $ 600 per week ! Or put another way, you can't just compare raw pre-tax dollars earned and ignore the very different tax situation and/or the 'equivalent cash value' of benefits the minimum wage worker is eligible to receive while you are not.
Another issue, of course, is that the minimum wage worker can continue working at their job for decades. In contrast, like professional athletes, camgirls and exotic dancers have a comparatively short number of 'peak earnings' years available. Also, minimum wage workers typically don't have to bear psychological or physical burdens as a by-product of their jobs, where camgirls and exotic dancers definitely do ! Plus minimum wage workers listing their work history on a resume' enhances their probability of obtaining a future 'straight' job, whereas camgirls and exotic dancers listing their work history on a resume' may disqualify them from obtaining a future 'straight' job. These other 'intangible' factors, while not carrying a direct dollar value, certainly bear consideration.
Thus, as an alternative to 'how blessed we are', I would substitute that we are wilfully making a 'trade-off' ... of achieving high earnings potential for a comparatively short period of time, in exchange for accepting potential negative psychological, physical and 'straight world' aftereffects that may persist long after we stop camming and/or exotic dancing. For accepting this 'trade-off' we not only deserve, but actually NEED, a big earnings premium !
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Sometimes it's ok to just be grateful. I'm pretty sure most of us aren't ignorant of these facts.
I used to be a minimum wage worker, with a 4yr college degree, and I didn't have any of those benefits. I also don't expect social security to be around when I am old enough to collect. But I try not to let it ruin my day.
And... I'll stop there...
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Originally Posted by Melonie
Where the minimum wage worker is concerned ...
C. they will receive discount / subsidized rent
D. they will receive discount / subsidized utilities
E. they will receive subsidized food
Seriously? Wow. America really is the land of dreams. How does this work?
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I've never looked at it any other way.
One thing I don't miss working in an office with bitchy comments as well as gossips. I am my own boss and don't have to answer to no one. And the ££/$$ ain't bad either.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
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Originally Posted by
Melonie
Not wanting to 'break' the positive tone, but there are a few additional facts to take into account with your minimum wage versus camming equation.
I think your prolific knowledge of finances and what-not is astonishing, but... you SO broke the positive tone! XD
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Another issue, of course, is that the minimum wage worker can continue working at their job for decades.
Holy fuck! Minimum wage.... for DECADES!? That they can do it doesn't necessarily mean they will be happy (or sane) doing so!
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In contrast, like professional athletes, camgirls and exotic dancers have a comparatively short number of 'peak earnings' years available.
I disagree. Us camgirls have niches, and those niches can chop and change in accordance to factors such as our appearance and fetishes. These changes can be intentional or unintentional, but there will always be a market. I have medium-sized tits. I could have a boob job and make my tits huge and appeal to a completely different clientèle. It'd all be cool. I could have a boob reduction and appeal still to a completely different clientèle. I am currently in my twenties. As I age I will start to appeal to the guys who like MILFS. As I age I may put on weight as a result of a slowing metabolism. Perhaps, in years from now, I could be a Big Beautiful Woman! Instead of a "Girl Next Door" I could be a "Cougar". As I age further I will start to appeal to the guys who like GILFS! XD
The "niche" of an athlete (you could say: running, swimming, etc) are dependant on a hefty amount of years of training to embody that "niche". But an athlete cannot change their "niche" like a camgirl can change her niche by just changing up her appearance. As a camgirl may wake up one day and decide to dye her hair or put some research into getting a boob job, an athlete cannot wake up one day and switch from being a professional javelin thrower to a professional wrestler.
Sexual fetishes are not at all like fashion or sports; - for as long as there is human nature, people will be attracted to all kinds of other people, with all kinds of different attributes. Which means that as long as people are people, with sexual urges, us camgirls will make money.
For strippers it may be different, as I feel (...like I really don't know enough about stripping for me to be able to comment on this, so take all of what I'm about to say on this with a pinch of salt!) that stripping, especially the art of pole dancing, is much more comparable to athleticism in the sense that it seems to be it's OWN niche. Like an athlete can be an athlete for as long as they can uphold their standard of expertise, a pole dancer can be a pole dancer for as long as she can pole dance to her expertise, and has the look the club she is working at wish to promote their business. As both an athlete and pole dancer age, the standard of their performance will not stay the same through time, and a decreased standard of performance may not be well tolerated at, for example, the Olympics, or at the club the dancer performs at.
Unlike how camming can cater to any given fetish a client requests, stripping is almost it's very own niche, and, depending on the desires of the people who run the club, they could be more discriminatory in regards to things like age group, appearance or build. Also the club owners can dictate how much physical contact the guys can have with the girls, which could make a big difference in terms of stripping as a strictly viewing fetish, and stripping as a more 'personal' sexual interaction between two... But again, my knowledge of stripping is terrible.
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Also, minimum wage workers typically don't have to bear psychological or physical burdens as a by-product of their jobs, where camgirls and exotic dancers definitely do !
Are you kidding? Most people I know who work minimum wage jobs complain about things such as work environment; backchatting (or outright abusive) colleagues; and demanding, power-tripping bosses who grind their asses through ridiculous hours for little pay! You could argue that minimum wage itself - as a concept - is something of a psychological burden!
I have a very dear friend who recently confessed that he feels close to bursting into tears at any given time on account of how hard his boss works him. My heart goes out to him, and my partner and I have managed to convince him to get the FUCK out of that job because he deserves better. The worst thing was him thinking for a moment that he wouldn't feel like was capable of getting better when he deserved so much more than such shit.
As big as a psychological burden something such as secrecy may feel to me, brought upon by the taboo nature of my job, I could never talk to him about the burdens of my job - because I am my own boss, I set my own rates, I work when I want, and my colleagues are an international collective built up of (for the most part!) incredibly helpful, lovely people who actually make epic motivational posts to help their fellow colleagues out!
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Plus minimum wage workers listing their work history on a resume' enhances their probability of obtaining a future 'straight' job, whereas camgirls and exotic dancers listing their work history on a resume' may disqualify them from obtaining a future 'straight' job. These other 'intangible' factors, while not carrying a direct dollar value, certainly bear consideration.
Speaking for myself, I don't think I'll ever in my life be capable of working a "straight" job. I am too headstrong to be able to lick out a bosses asshole, and I feel comfortable enough in my capabilities outside of camming that I could fall back on other routes of self-employment if need be.
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Thus, as an alternative to 'how blessed we are', I would substitute that we are wilfully making a 'trade-off' ... of achieving high earnings potential for a comparatively short period of time, in exchange for accepting potential negative psychological, physical and 'straight world' aftereffects that may persist long after we stop camming and/or exotic dancing. For accepting this 'trade-off' we not only deserve, but actually NEED, a big earnings premium !
Again, I disagree with the "short period of time" for high earnings. It's like rule 34: If it exists, there's porn of it. For as long as you EXIST, there's a niche for you to fit into. And thus: money to be made in the adult industry. The sex industry is not like fashion or... anything else, really: this industry doesn't discriminate based on size, race, disability, sexuality.... in fact it quite literally gets off on just about everything that makes you you. The sex industry wants your skinny ass, your fat ass, your thick ass, your cellulite-ridden-ass (there is a cellulite fetish guys, for serious), and it wants to cram cash between your cheeks.
Fucking hell, isn't the sex industry the best industry in the world? Every industry should aim to become so welcoming!
As for negative psychological effects: I believe they can be lessened, as with any other form of work, if you get into your job for healthy reasons, you enjoy it, and have back-up plans for if you decide you want to leave it. x
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
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but... you SO broke the positive tone! XD
That wasn't my intention. I strictly wanted to make the point of being careful about comparing apples to oranges.
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Seriously? Wow. America really is the land of dreams. How does this work?
I assume that this is a rhetorical question ! The 'cornucopia' of social welfare benefits mentioned are all based on income thresholds. Generally speaking, if you are earning $320 per week minimum wage you're eligible for most if not all benefits. But if you are earning $600 a week from camming, you're not eligible for any of these benefits and get to pay full shot out of your own after-tax earnings. Granted that in some states the gov'ts income thresholds for benefit eligibility now create a 'reverse incentive' ... where minimum wage workers will ( smartly ) turn down overtime work or promotions to marginally better paying positions because the extra money in their paychecks won't equal the 'equivalent cash value' of the social welfare benefits they would no longer be eligible to receive.
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I have medium-sized tits. I could have a boob job and make my tits huge and appeal to a completely different clientèle. It'd all be cool. I could have a boob reduction and appeal still to a completely different clientèle.
True ... but this involves A. earning a major surplus of money in the first place, plus B. committing that saved money into a plastic surgery 'business investment' plus C. sacrificing a month's worth of 'paychecks' in the interim, plus D. not being eligible for gov't disability payments while you are unable to work. The minimum wage worker faces none of these issues. Also, at some point, even unlimited plastic surgery cannot preserve adult industry earnings potential.
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Are you kidding? Most people I know who work minimum wage jobs complain about things such as work environment; backchatting (or outright abusive) colleagues; and demanding, power-tripping bosses who grind their asses through ridiculous hours for little pay! You could argue that minimum wage itself - as a concept - is something of a psychological burden!
with the flip side being that minimum wage workers get paid whether or not they successfully 'perform' at work i.e. all they have to do is show up and avoid being fired. Camgirls and exotic dancers have to 'show up for work' with no guarantee that they will earn a single dollar.
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What I do agree with Melonie, is that one should take advantage of the full camming potential and work LONG hours, to build up and save for the future. As with anything, It should not be considered a lifelong thing.
That's the truth of it. Despite isolated examples and claims to the contrary, generally speaking, both camming and exotic dancing pose de-facto 'age limits' on the vast majority of girls working in those industries. 98% of girls who started camming or dancing in their early 20's will be 'forced out' of the industry by their late 30's. The reasons for this stem from simple economics ( like decreasing income potential for the same time and effort ), to side effects of the adult industry ( like family courts frowning on mothers who do adult webcam with children present ), to psychological and/or physical issues. And given the potential negative after-effects of an adult industry background in the 'straight job' world, camgirls and exotic dancers should give serious consideration to maximizing their earnings and saving / investing their money while their adult industry income potential is at its peak !!!
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
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Originally Posted by
Melonie
That wasn't my intention. I strictly wanted to make the point of being careful about comparing apples to oranges.
I understand. ^_^
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True ... but this involves A. earning a major surplus of money in the first place, plus B. committing that saved money into a plastic surgery 'business investment' plus C. sacrificing a month's worth of 'paychecks' in the interim, plus D. not being eligible for gov't disability payments while you are unable to work. The minimum wage worker faces none of these issues. Also, at some point, even unlimited plastic surgery cannot preserve adult industry earnings potential.
All true! But the beauty of my point was to draw attention to the fact that alterations in appearance aren't even necessarily necessary, because there's a demand for literally every kind of look in sex work. Surgery will just change the clientèle; and so whether appearance alterations occur through deliberate cosmetic procedures (like boob jobs / reductions; piercings; fetish attire, etc), or naturally (larger build / BBW; slimmer build; youthful "teen" look; older, "milf" look, etc), there'll be a paying market for it.
Changes to appearance equate to changes in niche. I don't understand the point of unlimited plastic surgery to secure one's place in the adult industry on account of the fact that it's all about getting that solid fanbase through advertising, networking and just generally getting your shiz out there for people to see.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
while for camgirls ...
1. you will pay 15.3% of every dollar earned as 'self-employment' tax, PLUS income taxes
2. you will either pay hefty health insurance premiums, or pay out of pocket for medical treatment
3. you will pay the full shot for rent
4. you will pay the full shot for utilities
5. you will pay the full shot for food
I am definitely grateful that I am a Canadian cam girl as well. It always makes me sad and blows my mind to hear how much people in America have to pay for out of pocket for medical treatment. :-\
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I'm in the US and never got any of those housing or medical benefits when I worked low paying jobs. I must have been doing it wrong.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
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Originally Posted by
Vlodina
Seriously? Wow. America really is the land of dreams. How does this work?
Trust me it's not as good at it sounds.
Our full time minimum wage worker if they are full time makes too much to qualify for some of these. To receive SNAP you have to make less than 1180 monthly if you are single.
For a single individual you only get 200/monthly for food.
I have never seen in my city subsidized rent less than 300 dollars, and some the places aren't in the best neighborhoods.
In my city there is a waiting list for subsidized utilities and not everyone is accepted.
Not to mention that minimum wage doesn't go very far id one has a family.
I think the minimum wage is not a "living wage" no matter what little extras are thrown your way. Wouldn't trade being self-employed for it ever.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
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I am definitely grateful that I am a Canadian cam girl as well. It always makes me sad and blows my mind to hear how much people in America have to pay for out of pocket for medical treatment
Actually, your 'free' Canadian national health care coverage comes at the cost of a ~40% Canadian camgirl tax rate as compared to the US ~30% tax rate ! This is close to the same total cost ( adding US taxes to US health insurance costs ), but paid for via a different 'pocket'. And unlike US camgirls, you don't have the option of NOT paying for health insurance in anticipation that, being young and healthy, your self-paid health care costs will actually be far lower.
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because there's a demand for literally every kind of look in sex work. Surgery will just change the clientèle; and so whether appearance alterations occur through deliberate cosmetic procedures (like boob jobs / reductions; piercings; fetish attire, etc), or naturally (larger build / BBW; slimmer build; youthful "teen" look; older, "milf" look, etc), there'll be a paying market for it.
Maybe !!! However, if recent trends are any indication ( see the camming quiet lately thread ) the amount of total paying webcam customer spending is dropping, while at the same time an increasing number of camgirls are out there competing for what webcam customer spending that remains.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
*sigh*
I was trying to be positive here. Even with everything Melonie points out, which is all true, either way you slice it... this is still better than working a minimum wage job and living off of welfare.
And I am by NO MEANS trying to "promote" camming as the wonderful solution to anyone's problems because it is NOT. It takes HARD WORK to make good money. You still have to start at the bottom making possibly nothing more than minimum wage and work your way up, it takes a lot of time. So.... if you are someone here looking for a solution to your money problems, check this thread out as well as basically every other thread on SW:
http://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sho...amming-is-like
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
I don't think these recent threads (this be positive thread and the camming slow? thread) need to become such issues of positive vs negative. Just as talking about high earnings shouldn't always be interpreted as 'bragging', talking about things being slow doesn't need to be complaining/negative/ungrateful.
It's all about how you use it. Even though I'm grateful for my earnings regardless of what they are, I find it interesting to check out if many people are experiencing slowness on a specific site or multiple sites. For me it's no more than one of many ways to keep an eye out for potential long-term changes in the industry. Even though I don't take what others say as gold, MANY posts from different people over time can SLOWLY reveal certain trends. When I see a lot of 'it's slow' or 'I'm not making as much as I hoped/I'm used to' posts, it motivates me to work as hard as I can, because I never know how long the current state of profitability will last and things could get worse. When I see posts about others banking, it also motivates me to work hard because it serves as an example to look up to.
What NOT to do, is use others' experiences to determine our own work ethic. When I see posts about how others are doing bad, or doing well, BOTH motivate me to work harder. On the other side of the coin, some people will look at posts about others not doing well, then not even bother to log on and try things for themselves. Or they'll look at posts about others banking and get bummed that they aren't making as much and use it as an excuse not to log on.
I think positivity is important, and I also hope that ladies on this forum will continue to feel comfortable sharing their experiences, be they good or bad.
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Re: Lets try to be positive and remember how blessed we are...
^^ THANK YOU! :) Very well put! I agree 100%.