u/cenzilooculta

Please forgive me for any errors in this story, this is my first time writing something like this!

This story takes place back in my childhood in 8th grade year. A bit of backstory, this takes place in a public library across from my school that was located in the east end of downtown in my city. The school was located in a area that was a bit sketchy at the time (the same year we had two lockdowns due to a gun fight and another because a dude with a bomb had climbed his home that was a block from us and was threatening to set it off), but it wasn't too bad if you stayed near the school. During this time I would have to wait about 45 mins after school ended since my brother had afterschool athletics, so I would often go hang out at the public library with my friends.

The story starts off like any regular school day, the final bell had rang and it was time for us to go home. I walked down to the library like I normally did, and when I got there I spotted two of my friends, I'll call them Sam and Cat. We all saw each other and decided to hang out at a table while we waiting for our siblings to arrive (they also had a younger sibling who was in athletics as well). We all sat at this table and just talked about our day and how things were going. Sam and I were starting to talk a lot about acting and making music as my friend really wanted to get into music producing and even some acting. We started getting real into the conversation, laughing and talking about future ideas or shows we would produce, when out of nowhere this man we had never seen walked past us. Now this table was square shaped, so I sat facing Cat while Sam was facing the wall next to me. The man walks next to me and Sam as we talked, he looked at us, and we all just gave him a quick smile and nod (I don't know if it's a Texas thing or just something our parents taught us, but we were told to always be respectful, even if it was a simple gesture) and carried on with our conversation.

It seemed like this dude took our smiles as a invitation, and he turned back around and came to our table and asked us "What's this I hear about a movie star?".

For context: This man looked to be a middle aged man with a bit of a balding head going on. I couldn't tell how old he was, but you could tell he was in the sun often. He had a backpack with him, and his appearance looked like he just threw everything on without looking. I wish I had looked more into him, but honestly I didn't want to make eye contact with him or have him speak to us more.

Me and my friend both look at each other a bit embarrassed but then immediately Sam tells him "Oh we're talking about our future plans of being in the industry! He (me) wants to work with movies and I want to work with singing a lot"

This instantly triggered an interest in his eyes, and he proceeded to tell us:

"Well I think that's absolutely amazing! Both of you would make amazing stars, and especially you (referring to Sam)"

Now all of us were blissfully unaware at the time of what was happening, or honestly I think we were all just trying to be nice to the old man so he could leave us alone. Sam tells the old man "I don't know, I want to do it but I don't have the resources or know where to begin"

The old man started getting more eager, "Well I could help you with that, see I'm a cancer survivor who has been battling this disease for a few years now and doctors have told me that I don't have much longer soon. I've owned a business for my entire life and recently had to retire as I'm planning on letting things go, but God's angel had spoken to me and gave me a great message, do you believe in God?"

My friend being raised Christian but at the time was sort of questioning herself said "Yeah I believe a bit, but I'm uncertain"

The old man replied, "Well you'll have to believe this, one of God's angels told me that I have the gift to be able to bless people and give them better lives! I have a studio in my house where I have different kids work on their talents like singing and dancing, you like to dance right?" My friend of course says yes but this time nods her head. "well why don't you come by to my house sometime so I can show you the studio and you can bring all of your friends as well", by this point me and Cat have realized he has an interest with Sam specifically.

Sam, not really knowing what to say at that point or do, just says "Oh sure yeah, that could be pretty cool", and from there the old man offers to give us his phone number.

"Let me write down my phone number so we can keep in contact, I see a lot of star power with you young lady" and he proceeds to write his number on some scratch paper he had in his bag.

All us by this point, not realizing what was going on and just wanting the man to leave us alone so we could go back to our conversation, gave him a quick "well it was nice knowing you, we'll be sure to call" followed by a smile and wave and he went on his way down the library.

After he left, we all just started speaking with our eyes until we knew he was fully gone, and we started to laugh.

"What a weirdo, he could not have shut up any faster" I replied, followed Sam and Cat joining in. We then looked at Cat who still had the phone number that the man had given her, and I asked her what she plans on doing with it.

"Do you plan on calling him? I wonder if he's being for real or is delusional", again we were being blissfully ignorant, or our brain was probably trying to rationalize everything. She said she isn't sure, but she's going to keep the paper with her.

After this my mom called me saying she was here, and I told my friends bye and went home. During the ride home, I never told my mom what had happened, but my brain was slowly piecing everything together until it hit me. We were just approached by a creep. I was so shocked, but I just kept my face normal and never brought it up.

Then next day I saw Sam and Cat and I had asked them whatever happened to the number and jokingly said "what if we see him again today". Well Sam followed that up with "So I told my mom about what happened yesterday", and I immediately asked her what she said. "yeah so my mom said we can't go to the library anymore after school and is just going to start picking us up early and will later come back for our sister so we don't stay any longer.". Weirdly enough we all started laughing after she said that, but it wasn't in a we found it funny sort of way, but rather it was all of us realizing that what just happened to us wasn't normal. Like her mom said, they never went back to the library again, and I was stuck going there alone since I never told my mom what had happened in fear of being banned from going there alone. I thankfully never saw the man again, but it seemed like my friends mom didn't keep this to herself. The following few weeks, the library had more workers during the evening and our school even started advertising after school activities (which they never had before other than athletics). I've yet to tell my mom what happened even though I'm grown up now, but it's a story my friends and I always bring up when we talk about creeps.

I've been going to some Comic Con conventions for a few years now both big and small, and one thing I've always noticed is that a lot of dealers booths have no prices showing for what they're selling. This never really bothered me at first when I started going to shows, but overtime I've grown a bit of a bias towards them and now tend to ignore their booths. I now just assume that whatever they have is probably at a price point that I can't afford, and that deters me from looking any further. For me personally, I'm more likely to look at a booth and not mind so much the expensive prices if they're clear and transparent about them, I'm more likely to buy the product especially if it's of something I like.

This has me wondering why do some booths keep their prices hidden and why do they continue to do that? Are they able to make more money this way, are they going based off who is buying and what they're buying? Is it just easier for them to do it this way? I'm curious to know from a vendors perspective or customer POV, or even how you feel about this yourself!

This mainly goes towards the dealer hall vendors, as I don't see it as often with artist alley booths, but why do vendors keep their prices hidden and often have you ask them for prices? I've noticed this in both big and small conventions, and when I first started going to conventions I never minded it as much, but over time I've grown a bit of a bias towards them. I don't ever really look at these booths anymore since I just often assume whatever they have is most likely going to be overpriced. What's insulting with some of these booths is that all that they're selling is just Aliexpress/Temu stuff for 10x the price. Recently at a Food Festival event, I had one booth seller try to sell me this Aliexpress Domo plushie that usually goes for 4-10$ dollars online, but she tried to charge me 40 for it. That was insane considering I can get officially licensed plushies from Hot Topic right now for 25$. This isn't the case for all vendors, as there are vendors who specialize in overseas merchandise that you can't find anywhere else, or they just have a love for anime in general.

All that aside, why do vendors keep their prices off of their products? Do they make more money this way? Is it just easier on their end? I'm curious to know from a sellers perspective or customers POV, as I've sold for some conventions before and I've always wondered how successful vendors are who keep prices hidden.

Going down memory lane and I found my old analog horror video I made a while back and had posted on here. Looking back at it, the video is honestly pretty silly and you can see a lot of tropes that were very popular at the time. This video was made during my Freshman year of college, and the story was sort of made on the spot. I had a whole elaborate storyline to go along with it that would progress as I made more videos, but laziness and school work made me push this small project to the side. Anyways, enjoy this silly video I made, and if you were anyone who happened to watch it when it first came out, I'd love to know!

I personally love to go out to restaurants alone because I usually already know what I'm going to get, and it's always a quick in and out process for me. I just order everything I want when I first see them, get my food, pay the check and go on my merry way. Nice and simple. Now I know not everyone is like this, and sometimes some people are more extra than others, which leads me to wonder how do you feel about them? Do you usually assume they might be a easy customer, do you get nervous, have you had bad experiences with them? I'm curious to know as someone who likes to eat alone!

I'm not too sure if my title made any sense, but I just hate when my friends or anyone can't eat a snack or get themselves something to eat without the other person they are with getting something as well.

For example, let's say we're at the mall and a friend wants an ice cream, we go there and as we wait in line he asks me what flavor I'm going to get. I tell him none because I'm not hungry at the moment, but I'm fine waiting in line with him to get his ice cream because it's something I get to do with my friend. Because I'm not getting anything, he changes his mind and says he doesn't want ice cream anymore. What the hell???

Now this isn't because they were expecting me to pay or because they felt bad I didn't wany any, but just because they don't want to be the only one eating.

I've had so many friends tell me that it's just because they don't want to be perceived by others or be judged, and that I've never understood. While I completely understand their logic because I sometimes think this way, at the end of the day nobody cares and all you're doing is missing out on a favorite treat. Not to mention you're out with your friends! I used to feel bad for my friends when they did that, but now I just straight up tell them "just remember you're missing out on something you wanted because you're worried about an opinion from someone you won't hear"

**Hopefully I don't come off as an asshole in the end, it just annoys me when a friend doesn't eat something they sounded eager to have just because I'm not eating one**

I've been curious to know what other peoples expectations are when it comes to meeting their favorite VA. For me personally, I like to just assume the VA has had a long day, has talked to thousands of people, and is probably drained and tired. I do this because when I set the bar low for myself, I always get pleasantly surprised by what ends up actually happening.

Example: I met VA Patrick Seitz in 2023, and knowing he was going to have a crazy line I did not give myself major hopes on doing anything more than a simple "Hey how are you, i love your work so much, I made this drawing and I would love for you to sign it" and calling it a day. Come to my surprise, Patrick was an extremely amazing and personable guy! He talked to me about my drawing, complimented my backpack, and even asked me to take a picture with him and was extremely eager to sign the two things I brought for him. That honestly made the 3 hour wait sooo worth it.

What expectations do you give yourself?

Like the title says, do you feel like your privacy is the same as it used to be? I ask this because with the rise of technology, I feel like the kind of privacy that teachers used to have (or students even) does not exist anymore. One major example I have is the rise of easily accessible cameras via a phone/laptop, and how you are more likely than ever to have someone take a picture/video of you without knowing, and posting it to their social media however they see fit. Another one that I've seen grown throughout the years is the rise of social media, and how it's easier than ever to find your teachers socials and even their relatives, and don't let your account be public either.

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm curious to know because I remember back then, a teachers personal life was a complete mystery to students, and now it seems like they know just about everything going on.