1. Casino Royale- Origin story that didn’t feel like one. Craig plays Bond just like the book. He’s jacked. Him and Vespers chemistry. Bond felt like a real spy/assassin. He could be hurt emotionally and physically. Locations. Action. Entire cast. His wardrobe. Most realistic torture scene in a movie imo. Poker. Bond becoming cold hearted after Vesper dies and unattached (seen in later films). That iconic ending with the 3 piece suit and the classic intro and theme for the first time.
2. Goldfinger- Set the formula for what would follow. Goldfinger himself. Best pre title sequence to date. Rolex 6538. Golf scene. Aston Martin. Pussy.
3. Goldeneye- pre title sequence. Brosnan. Bean. 007 vs 006. Omega Seamaster looking cool and being used as a gadget. Natalia. Action packed up the wazoo.
4. Skyfall- Delving into Bonds past. Silva. Theme song. Shows Bonds mental and physical struggles. Battle at Skyfall. Judy Dench.
5. FRWL- Robert Shaw. Train Fight. Entire main cast.
6. Dr. No- First scene with Bond. Locations. You’ve have your 6 scene. glimpses of real spy work like hair on the door.
7. Thunderball- Domino. The Bahamas. Connery still got it.
8. Spy who loved me- Overall classic bond. Stunts. XXX. Locations. Gadgets.
9. Golden Gun- Christopher Lee.
10. Spectre- Modern take on Spectre. Blofeld great. Believable retcon of all of Craig movies.
11. Tomorrow never dies- Great action and gadgets.
12. World is not enough- Brosnan awesome, good plot twist.
13. You only live twice- Volcano Lair and finally meet Dr. Evil ;)
14. Moonraker- Hugo Drax great villain.
15. Quantum of Solace- Good action, Craig excellent.
16. Live and Let Die - Voodoo threw me out of it. Paul McCartney song still slays.
17. License to Kill- Also Dark and Humorless
18. Living Daylights- Dark and Humorless
19. OHMSS- Visually stunning. Lazenby doesn’t do it for me. Great ending
20. Diamonds are forever- Connery phoned it in. Cheesy. 21.Die another Day- Brosnan does his best with what he’s given.
21. FYEO - Down to earth locations 23.Octopussy - Moore dresses as a clown, age is showing
22. VTAK - Moore is old and unconvincing

One of the most critically acclaimed Bond films. It truly revived the franchise in a way that it had not been since the Connery days and while I strongly disagree with the comments about Craig being the best Bond since Connery, he debuted under the best circumstances. Casino Royale gets a lot of praise from the media for being “different” from other films while some fans deride it for the same reason, calling Daniel Craig’s Bond an emotionless thug. The latter group is somewhat correct, if referring to Quantum of Solace. The former group, is a bit overblown in their praise, forgetting that changing too many things could run the risk of losing what made something great in the first place, which happened in some areas with Craig’s subsequent films. In my opinion, however, Casino Royale is not a “deconstruction” of the Bond films that stripped back the gadgets, girls, and humor that defined the films, but a reconstruction that stayed true to the original novels and simply improved upon the many great things its predecessor did while getting rid of the fluff.
Looking back, Connery started out perfectly in his first two films. He added his own charm and wit to the original character, making for a perfect lead actor while keeping the more dubious aspects of the character. Unfortunately, Goldfinger marked the beginning of Bond becoming a caricature, a perfectly dressed gentleman who saved the day as effortlessly as he displayed charisma. While some of the original Connery returned in Thunderball, his last two films doubled down on Goldfinger’s success and felt like a pale shadow of his former self.
George Lazenby, despite only appearing in one film, managed to remain unobscured because he appeared in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, a crowning moment for the franchise that stripped back the gadgets, girls (kind of), and humor. Rather strange, considering Casino Royale was adored for doing the same thing, but gets a better reception from audiences (critics and fans have given Lazenby’s film its due for decades now).
Roger Moore, despite the silliness of his films and the decreasing credibility the franchise had because of his age as the films progressed, deserves credit for allowing the films to develop differently rather than just copying the Connery films. Moore could never compete with Connery’s rugged macho persona and instead became more suave and gentlemanly, with even more emphasis on the humor. The franchise had been heading down a path where the films could not be taken seriously and Moore allowed them to embrace it. Say what you want about films like Moonraker, but that was the direction the producers wanted to take and much of how one perceives it is based on how silly or serious they want their Bond films to be, a testament to how Moore allowed the films to vary in tone. For Your Eyes Only, despite not being a particularly strong film in my opinion, stripped back the gadgets, girls, and humor (kind of). Casino Royale gets praise for being more realistic and grounded than Die Another Day, but For Your Eyes Only did the same after Moonraker, albeit to a lesser extent. Moore proved that he could still portray a more serious Bond and the result was one of his best outings. Unfortunately, the silliness still lingered and Bond faced competition from other heavy-hitters in the eighties. While I enjoy Octopussy and think A View To A Kill deserves to exist because of its awesome score and Christopher Walken, Moore should have left earlier.
Timothy Dalton still remains underappreciated by critics and audiences (“Mainstream” media sites still rank his films in the twenties) despite having a cult following among fans. While I am not the most knowledgeable of the novels, I remember enough from the ones I read that Dalton fit the literary version almost perfectly and I still maintain that he is closer than even Craig or Connery to Fleming’s Bond. The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill are both extremely well-done films, that while suffering from a lackluster director far better at executing action than story and poor production values, managed to be the closest in spirit to Connery’s early films. It is rather unfair that Dalton is labelled the “proto-Craig” when he was closer to the novels, a bit too close. One area where Craig is superior to Dalton is the charisma. Dalton lacked the “it-factor” that his predecessors had and while he was not beholden to following what Connery started, the public perception about the larger-than-life Bond hurt his era.
People began rejecting the caricature Bond had become with the Pierce Brosnan era, which had the worst scripts in my opinion. GoldenEye was a pop-culture hit and its legacy as the “only good Brosnan” film was aided by a video game that I would rather go back to than the film itself. It was a well-rounded out film, though I would argue that it is not one of the best since several others were less derivative and excelled in some areas more than it did. Brosnan’s era dropped in quality with films even more derivative than his debut, repeating GoldenEye’s mistake of ultimately wasting interesting plot-points in favor of falling back on the tried-and-true tropes. I still love Tomorrow Never Dies though. The end result was Die Another Day, which saw the producers in the same situation they found themselves in after Moonraker. They had to return to Bond’s roots, and for the first time in its history, truly delivered an almost flawless product that learned from everything the films had done.
Some look back on the pre-Craig films and scoff at them, finding them too cheesy and not serious enough. However, quite a few Bond films were serious and faithful to the source material; they just happened not to do it as well as Casino Royale, with the exception of From Russia With Love, which is the closest in reception to it. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service suffered from a rather lackluster star, who despite the arguments from people such as myself who enjoyed his vulnerability compared to Connery and acting during the ending, hurt the reputation of a great film. For Your Eyes Only set the tone for the eighties films, but still had some of the Moore silliness. The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill also suffered from tonal issues, to a lower extent in my opinion. Dalton gave very committed performances, but the other members of the production were not quite as willing to commit to such a radical change and never went the extra mile like Casino Royale despite delivering two top tier Bond films. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli finally realized that they had to give the character justice after they restricted Pierce Brosnan from reaching his full potential. The one-liners worked with Connery and Moore, but they did not with Dalton and Brosnan, showing a lack of confidence in their lead actors’ acting ability that they did not with Craig.
Rebooting the franchise meant the producers could start a clean slate, take all the great things of the past twenty films, and put it in one film. I prefer Dalton overall, but Craig’s debut performance was the perfect combination of the literary and cinematic Bond. He retained the cold nature Dalton brought to the role while keeping some of the wit Connery brought into focus. Craig gets some praise for being more brutal with the bathroom opening frequently highlighted, but I think that it rather misses the point of the plot. Bond went from being a reckless, violent gunman to being a cold man who tries to hide it with charm and witty lines, closer in personality to the previous Bonds. It has even been brought up that Vesper influenced Bond’s dress style, going from wearing casual clothes to a three-piece suit in the ending. Bond holding the machine gun in such fancy clothes showed how far he had become since the prologue, no longer wearing his Oxford-styled suits with disdain. Even Craig’s hair, which is flat down throughout the film, is a bit sharper in the end, showing that Bond now puts more thought into the way he appears. Getting some input into the character also meant Craig had the freedom Dalton and Brosnan were unfortunately never afforded. Only Craig could have pulled off the torture scene. Connery and Moore were too untouchable; Lazenby and Brosnan were not the best when it came to dramatic scenes; Dalton lacked the humanity that made Craig more relatable, though their interpretations are two sides of the same coin.
Casino Royale was inspired by the Bourne films and Batman Begins, but still feels very Bondian. The tropes Goldfinger introduced may be gone, but those from the novels and first two films remained. The film adds scenes set in the Bahamas, which reminds one of Dr. No and Thunderball. The Aston Martin DB5 returns, continuing the nostalgia for the Connery era which the producers had been milking since GoldenEye, and exacerbated in future Craig films. Bond’s characterization is also close to Connery’s first two films and Lazenby and Dalton’s films. The film does not feel like a complete departure from its predecessors, but more of a return to form. For me personally, I like the films like From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which retain the cinematic Bond thrills while adding more depth to the plot and characters.
Craig’s debut set the bar high and I think his follow-ups learned the wrong lessons from it. After being praised for departing from Bond’s roots, the writers went further and made a film that does not feel Bondian at times. Criticize Licence To Kill for being an eighties action film all you want, but the story felt more like classic Bond than most of its predecessors. While Quantum of Solace had great action, cinematography, interesting plot points (holding the water of a country ransom does not seem so funny now?) and had some parallels between Dalton and Craig (Dalton snaps and rejects MI6 to become a rogue agent hellbent on revenge, Craig never actively seeks revenge and despite the brutal moments he finds himself in, keeps his composure), it badly-edited and suffered from an undercooked script. On the other hand, Skyfall is a beautifully shot film that like GoldenEye, has a meandering plot focused on meta-commentary discussing Bond’s relevance. I would still put Skyfall in my top 10, but it is not as original or groundbreaking as the critics would have you think. Finally, Spectre repeated the same mistake the Brosnan films did: fall back on good old nostalgia. This time, the writers tried to fuse a Connery era plot with Craig’s darker aspects, making for a charmless bore with some really misguided intentions (Brofeld, anyone?). I eagerly await No Time To Die like everyone else and hope that it manages to end off the era of one of the best Bonds with a bang.

Gold
2009 gold Krugerrand $1472 Shipped Each.
2012 PR69DCAM Australia 1/4oz Lunar dragon $425 $410 Shipped.
5 1- 1/10 Sovereign gold coins $155 each. 1987 Age, 1989 Maple leaf, 1995 Age, 1999 Age, and 2016 Perth square.
4 2- 1/10 Age proofs with boxes $158 Each. 1988, 1990, 1993, and 1998.
Barbers
SOLD 18.80 Fv in barber dimes/quarters 15*Fv or $267 Shipped for all. 13 dimes and 70 quarters, in AG to F grades.
2 Fv in barber halfs 16*Fv
Fireman Silver
Buy both fireman set's for $1198 Shipped
20 19- 2 oz fireman silver rounds series $44 Each, or $798 Shipped for all. 1990- 2009, let me know the year you want. 1992 sold.
17- 1 oz fireman silver rounds series $28 Each, or $425 Shipped for all. 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010.
Engelhard
5 1- Engelhard prospectors $19 Each. 4- 1984 and 1985 (toned).
Engelhard 10 oz 12th series P bar $200
Engelhard 10 oz 12th series C bar $195
Sealed maples
11- Sealed maples $21.5 Each. 9- 1989, and 2- 2003
SOLD 1992 Canadian maple leaf sealed $25
Vegas Tokens
SOLD 9- Las Vegas $10 casino tokens $11.5 Each, or $99 Shipped for all.
Bahamas Sets
5- Bahamas proof set's $53.3 a set, contains 2.8723 Asw. 2- 1971 (loose), 2- 1973 (1- Loose (missing 1 cent coin) and 1 in plastic), and 1974 in plastic.
More
3 2- Foreign mint rounds $18.75 Each, toned/handling marks. 2011 Canada wolf, 2013 Britannia, and 2015 Armenian arc.
4- Foreign mint animal rounds $21 Each. 2- 2011 Fiji turtles, 2015 Tokelau great white, and 2015 Congo silver back gorilla.
16 11- Ase culls $18.50 Each. 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2- 1999, 2- 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2016.
SOLD 4- Libertads $20 Each. 1985, 2002 (toned), 2015, and 2018.
SOLD 1994 libertad in Littleton plastic $24
SOLD 2016 painted Mexican liberated $22
2000 Perth lunar dragon $40
10 oz tombstone silver nugget $190
4- monarch Egyptian relic rounds $20.5 Each.
Amark stacker $23
1993 Joe camel round $28
2005 $20 norfed $22
Franklin mint Gilbert Stuart bar 500 grains .925 (Asw ~.96oz) $25
Nuestra senora de atochia 1/2 oz .999 silver round $15
SOLD 1/2 oz round $9
Apollo 12 art medal 4.915 oz, $92
1963 Lincoln art medal 2.085 oz, $100
SOLD 2 oz memento mori round $38.5
SOLD 4- 2000 millennium sunshine mint rounds $18.15 Each.
SOLD 24- 40% Silver ikes $6.5, or $145 Shipped for all.
5- 1982 Washington commemorative halfs in capsules/plastic $7.25 Each.
SOLD 3- 1982 Washington commemorative halfs loose $6.60 Each.
Silver round $17.5, or $16.5 with purchase over $100.
Payments:
Free: PayPal f&f, Google pay, Zelle, and Venmo.
Buyer pays fees: PayPal G&S, and crypto.
I’m open to other methods, just pm me and we can discuss.

Please no notes in the memo. If there is anything in the notes, I will refund you and cancel the sale.

Shipping:
First class is now zone shipping, send me your zip and I'll give you the cost.
0-4 oz package = $2.96- $3.39 first class
4-8 oz package = $3.48- $3.93 first class
8-12 oz package = $4.12- $4.63 first class
12-14 oz package = $5.24- $5.83 first class
Over 14 oz package = $7.85 FR
Once the package is dropped off with Usps, all responsibility of the package is with Usps and the buyer.
With that said I package safe, and if any problems arise I’ll will do my best to help resolve them.
As always prices are negotiable, if you need more pictures let me know. Offers of full price take precedent over discounted offers and offers for multiple items take precedent over single items. If multiple offers are made on an item and a deal is struck you have one hour to pay or it goes on to the next buyer.

If you want feedback left, message me when the package arrives and let me know.

List acquired here.
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astronomy asus asylum at ata ate athens athletes athletic athletics ati atlanta atlantic atlas atm atmosphere atmospheric atom atomic attach attached attachment attachments attack attacked attacks attempt attempted attempting attempts attend attendance attended attending attention attitude attitudes attorney attorneys attract attraction attractions attractive attribute attributes au auburn auckland auction auctions aud audi audience audio audit auditor aug august aurora aus austin australia australian austria authentic authentication author authorities authority authorization authorized authors auto automated automatic automatically automation automobile automobiles automotive autos autumn av availability available avatar ave avenue average avg avi aviation avoid avoiding avon aw award awarded awards aware awareness away awesome awful axis aye az azerbaijan b ba babe babes babies baby bachelor back backed background backgrounds backing backup bacon bacteria bacterial bad badge badly bag baghdad bags bahamas bahrain bailey baker baking balance balanced bald bali ball ballet balloon ballot balls baltimore ban banana band bands bandwidth bang bangbus bangkok bangladesh bank banking bankruptcy banks banned banner banners baptist bar barbados barbara barbie barcelona bare barely bargain bargains barn barnes barrel barrier barriers barry bars base baseball based baseline basement basename bases basic basically basics basin basis basket basketball baskets bass bat batch bath bathroom bathrooms baths batman batteries battery battle battlefield bay bb bbc bbs bbw bc bd bdsm be beach beaches beads beam bean beans bear bearing bears beast beastality beastiality beat beatles beats beautiful beautifully beauty beaver became because become becomes becoming bed bedding bedford bedroom bedrooms beds bee beef been beer before began begin beginner beginners beginning begins begun behalf behavior behavioral behaviour behind beijing being beings belarus belfast belgium belief beliefs believe believed believes belize belkin bell belle belly belong belongs below belt belts ben bench benchmark bend beneath beneficial benefit benefits benjamin bennett bent benz berkeley berlin bermuda bernard berry beside besides best bestiality bestsellers bet beta beth better betting betty between beverage beverages beverly beyond bg bhutan bi bias bible biblical bibliographic bibliography bicycle bid bidder bidding bids big bigger biggest bike bikes bikini bill billing billion bills billy bin binary bind binding bingo bio biodiversity biographies biography biol biological biology bios biotechnology bird birds birmingham birth birthday bishop bit bitch bite bits biz bizarre bizrate bk bl black blackberry blackjack blacks blade blades blah blair blake blame blank blanket blast bleeding blend bless blessed blind blink block blocked blocking blocks blog blogger bloggers blogging blogs blond blonde blood bloody bloom bloomberg blow blowing blowjob blowjobs blue blues bluetooth blvd bm 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First post on reddit so forgive me if I’m doing anything wrong.
Ever since I’ve turned 21 and been able to gamble, I’ve been addicted. I turn 22 in two weeks and I can safely say this is the worst year of my young life, financially speaking. The things you tell yourself to justify spending $200 (or more) at the casino vs getting ahead on bills, treating yourself to new clothing, or just saving cash, is asinine. Truly one of the worst addictions one can face.
Here’s my story, hopefully it will inspire others to beat this demon.
All started on a trip to the Bahamas with my family. I’ve always been interested in gambling because of the chance of making some quick money. Problem was at this point in time, I was only 20 (month away from legal age) and figured I couldn’t enter the casino at Atlantis Resort.
“Don’t worry, the legal age to gamble here is only 18” my stepdad said.
That was all it took for me. First chance we got to go, i jumped at it. My stepdad went with me. I sat down with $100 in my hand and slid it into the video blackjack machine. I didn’t know much about blackjack but my stepdad gave me advice on what moves to make, but it didn’t matter. That $100 was gone (for both of us) in a matter of minutes. Terrible shoe, so I went and withdrew $100 more. After a ton of ups and downs we went on this crazy run as I was down to $20. Every double down, split, hit was working.....dealer breaking, and the thrill was euphoric, and I ended up leaving $40 up. I bought us both a drink celebrated. Cloud nine.
Once I turned 21, I started going to my local ho chunk casinos with my buddies, started off having small limits like $50-100, sometimes win and sometimes lose. It got to the point we were heading there 2-3 times a week, 45 minute drive each time just to get there. I didn’t care if I lost, I was truly there for the thrill. Those small limits have since been blown past to where I’m blowing half a paycheck in one sitting. At its peak, I would go down to my favorite bar after work and just sit on bar slots for hours. December 23, still haven’t bought Christmas presents for my family, I was too busy funneling $500 into a triple jack slot machine. When I lost that, I returned home (where I purposefully left my cash to NOT use) to grab my wad of $1200. Somehow, by the grace of god, I won it back and a tiny bit more. I vowed myself to never gamble again. My heart and stomach felt like they weighed 1000 pounds. Three days later, I was back.
Since that day, I definitely gambled less, until I got an urge to head down to the casino with my friend. Ended up blowing $400 in one sitting and the next week $500 in another. The feeling I felt was like no other, that walk of shame back to your car, the emptiness, the depression really creeps in.
March 2nd was the day I decided to change my life. Those two losses were the wake up call I needed. I broke down and told my girlfriend, and thankfully she was understanding and supported me. I feel great knowing that I don’t have to worry about money, that I can get return for my hard earned money with material value. It feels so damn good.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this. If you ever need someone to talk to, don’t be afraid to reach out to me.

Hello, I am the Narrator. And I am here to bring you a wonderful story of giving, receiving and love. But it’s not a porno, that’s coming next year when the Best Boys reunite and give us their Christmas Spectacular.
Because it turns out that the one thing Fox News is right about is that a liberal arts degree will not get you a job worth a damn, I am here to tell you the story of Snappy, Delilah and their unhatched eggs as they headed home to the Everglades.
Our story takes us to Southern Florida just as Snappy, Delilah and the trailer of eggs get to the edge of the Everglades. They had been slowed down as they had both gotten diarrhoea thanks to Billy Ray Cyrus but had got to the swamp just as dusk fell.
Their journey hadn’t ended yet though as they needed to find a hole to put their eggs in so they can hatch safely.
Meanwhile
In a field hundreds of miles away, Gorey Craves is trying to get a lot of sheep into a truck. MKD and P1 are on quad bikes trying to get the unruly woolly monsters under control.
Gorey then gets his gun out.
Gorey: GET THESE SHEEP IN THE TRUCK NOW OR I WILL SHOOT YOU! SNAPPY AND DELILAH WILL HAVE A FEAST WHEN THEY GET BACK!
MKD: Woah woah we’re out here helping out for the goodness of our own heart.
Gorey: No you’re not! You’re helping out because you killed the janitor because he was stealing our faeces for his fetish farm while P1 is helping because he was peeking at his presents!
P1: *meekly* I wanted to see if I got a hatchimal.
Gorey: You were, not now, Steve is getting it now!
And then as P1 started to have a temper tantrum, an angel that looked like John Cena appeared in the sky. Wait we could afford John Cena for this? Then why am I getting paid £10 and a voucher for the local burger place?
John Cena: Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the swamps of Florida, the saviours of the world are being hatched.
P1: Wait, who’s saying this? I can’t see anyone.
Seriously, that joke? Even Squared Circle is bored of that.
MKD: What do you want us to do John Cena?
John Cena: Wouldn’t hurt for you to go there and welcome them into the world. Bring the sheep.
And so John Cena disappeared and the shepherds pledged to head to the swamps of Florida to see the hatched saviours of the world, even though there was still an arrest warrant for P1 thanks to the time he pissed into a microwave during a Best Buy Black Friday sale. P1 and Gorey got into the front of the truck while MKD had to get into the back with the sheep. This was fine though as MKD started to count the sheep out of boredom and well he fell asleep because the person who wrote this script is a hack.
While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
On stolen broken quad bikes
The angel of Vince McMahon came down
And glory shone around
And glory shone around
Meanwhile
Snappy and Delilah were swimming through the swamp trying to find somewhere they could rest their head and hatch their eggs. Things were getting urgent as the eggs were starting to shake which Pokemon tells mean they are only a few steps away from hatching.
But every tree hotel and swamp hostel was full because of trendy hipsters renting them on AirBNB and despite Snappy’s protests, they were not allowed to simply eat the hipsters as the crocodiles were making a lot of money out of this gentrification.
Eventually, Snappy made it to a farm. The rooms there were full but there was room in their farm shed. So Snappy and Delilah decided to go in there, delicately placing their eggs in the manger.
Away in a manger
No crib for His eggs
The little crocodiles
Are just about to hatch
Meanwhile
In a penthouse suite in Miami, Tokes, Dan and Bahamas are relaxing while drinking very expensive champagne. So expensive that I’m told that if I touch it, Tokes will 86 me and dump my corpse in the Crocodile Union Christmas Party hamper.
Bahamas: Tokes, you may be a terrible person, but these private Christmas Eve tuxedo parties are the best.
Dan: Amen to that.
Tokes: Well as two great GMs who have the power to hand me title shots, I thought a little Christmas Party would be great. Anyway, about those title shots…
But before Dan and Bahamas could tell Tokes to fuck off, the great angel John Cena appeared.
John Cena: Hello wise men, I bring you great news of love and peace on earth.
Bahamas: That happened ages ago, Dan came back.
They high fived, which was highly inappriopiate in front of an angel.
John Cena: 12 saviours of the world are being hatched tonight in the Everglades and you must greet them.
Tokes: Seems legit.
John Cena: Also, I need you to get a few things for them.
Dan: This is starting to seem like a scam now.
John Cena: Bring the saviours of the world gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And so John Cena disappeared. The three wise men were pretty solid on the idea of gold, but they had no idea about frankincense and myrrh because no one knows what they are. Seriously, go ask the Reverend at a church service tomorrow what they are, I bet they don’t know. Instead of simply googling it and using Vacant’s Amazon Prime account to get the frankincense and myrrh, they found alternatives and headed to the swamps.
We three predictor of orient are,
Bearing gifts we head not so far
Street and highway, mud and swamp,
Following hatching eggs
Meanwhile
In the manger, the eggs were hatching. First was Bitey, who was a bit Bitey. Then there was Chompy because there’s a theme. Then there was Teeth, because of course. Fourth to come was Gus, because Delilah named that one. Fifth to hatch was Bone Breaker as he is being primed for a career in pro wrestling. Sixth was Gwazi because Snappy had agreed to a promotion tie-in with Busch Gardens for their new rollercoaster Iron Gwazi, coming Spring 2020. Seventh was Gorey due to a longstanding bet Snappy had lost, he really did think the Dolphins would win the Superbowl this year. The eight was Beatrice, again Delilah’s choice. 9th was Rapida, which is actually Snappy is Spanish. 10th was Croccy, as you do start to run out of ideas at number 10. 11th was Hero, sweetly named after his deceased friend. And 12th is Jesus, because we might as well be that sacrilegious.
And then the visitors came. First it was the shepherds who arrived, Gorey, P1 and MKD bringing all of their sheep into the shed. It was packed full of sheep but the new crocs were able to sort that out pretty quickly. Turns out Gus has an appetite.
MKD: LBH would be so proud of you Snappy for this.
MKD then weirdly tapped a vial strapped to his side.
MKD: In fact I think he is watching rather closely right now.
P1: Baby crocodiles really do sound like laser beams don’t they?
Gorey: OMG THESE ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER I’M THROWING YOU A BABY SHOWER AS SOON AS YOU GET BACK TO LLR HQ!
Then the three wise men arrived, though I think that’s a relative thing.
Tokes: Crocodile babies, I bring the gift of gold. Ok it’s a gold coloured chip that gets you a free spin at any casino in the country but it’s still good.
Bahamas: Crocodile babies, I bring the gift of frankincense. Well, I got you a San Marino gift bag which has grapes, olives and a pig. I wrote frankincense on the pig though.
Dan: Crocodile babies, I bring the gift of myrrh. Well, I brought a Dan action figure! This one is a collectible so don’t take it out of the packaging.
The crocodile babies immediately tore into the packaging with Croccy and Gwazi doing a tug of war with the figure.
But eventually they calmed down and the night fell silent, with all watching the beautiful baby crocodiles fall to sleep.
Snappy night, holey night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin (hah), Delilah and Child
Holy infants so angry and wild
Sleep in crocodile peace
Sleep in crocodile peace

Cruise Karen
Hello all! Got another story for you. This happened just recently as my family and I just returned from a cruise to celebrate my grandparents 50th anniversary. It was a 5 days cruise that ported out of Jacksonville, FL to the Bahamas. Out of my household, myself, my mom and my sister went, leaving my brother and dad behind. My mom’s sister and her husband brought along their 4 youngest kids and of course my grandparents, 11 of us in total. If you read my last post, this is the same family we were visiting during the Plane Karen incident.
This story will be recounting our unfortunate time with our deck neighbor Karen. At this point we should know the basic cast of characters, so I’ll only include; GP/M~ Grandpa/ ma, H ~ Karen’s “Husband” (he doesn’t really have much to add to this story) and KK ~ Karen’s Kids.
It all begins once we’re beginning to board and making our way to our room. My mom managed an extended balcony room to mine and my sister’s utter delight. Worth the extra coinage. Our door had been propped open as we were waiting for our bags to arrive, so meantime we were exploring the room. Directly across the hall, I spot a man (H) and two kids come out and briefly look into out room. Not totally weird in my book honestly. I tend to feel snoopish now and again as I walk the hall and see other doors open. He took the kids down the hall right as our luggage appeared. We unpacked and got settled, door still open a bit. I see H and kids come back with a small plate of food in hand (lunch was going on whilst people still boarded. This was around 2pm-ish). He made another glance into our room again before shutting his own door. And that was that until dinner around six, a couple of hours after we left the port into open water. I made my way to dinner first; I had to walk at a slower pace to better accommodate my foot which was not fairing well after surgery 9 months prior (read last post). As I stepped foot outside the threshold of my room, the door across from me flew open, a woman (tall, skinny, blonde blue eyes) looked my up and down and gave me one of those looks. Like something was amiss to her, before she muttered a “Hello” before walking down the hall. And it was at that time I noticed a couple plates of leftover food and utensils sitting by our door. We hadn’t eaten yet, so I knew this wasn’t ours. I brushed it off and left for the dining hall.
After dinner, all three of us came back down our hall to find the same women knocking on our door. My mom got her attention with an “Hello, can we help you?” The women jumped a bit then put on her biggest smile.
K: “Hello! We’re directly across from you and I was hoping to ask you for a favor?” By this time, we made it to our door, and I told my sister to go inside, and as she did so, giving the woman a look inside our room. she continued.
K: “It’s our first cruise and I am not to familiar with the boats. So, when we were booking, we didn’t know about the balcony rooms. And then I noticed you have a balcony and..” my mom cut her off.
M: “So, what’s your favor? You need tips on how to book a balcony for next time?” my mom was tired after dinner and it had been a long day. She didn’t want to deal with this. The women shook her head.
K: “Oh no, no, no. I was hoping you’d switch rooms with us, so I can give my kids a great experience on their first cruise. It shouldn’t be a problem. See, your cards are red, so you’ve cruised before and know what a balcony feels like. What do you say” I actually snort laughed at her “idea” to which my mom shooed me into the room, looked to Karen and said with the fakest of smiles, “No thank you. Have a goodnight and a lovely vacation.” and shut the door. I bust out laughing. She looked so sure and confident that this would work. Without going over the entire reasoning as to why this wouldn’t work, she totally didn’t think this whole thing through.
Later in the evening I had gotten hungry again and ordered room service. As my food arrived and I opened the door to let the attendant in, on cue, the woman and H came out of their rooms dressed all fancy, then she spotted me and narrowed her eyes at me, to which I snort chuckled, thanked the attendant and closed to door in her face. And that, my friends was just the beginning of Cruise Karen.
She began her tirade of petty nuisances the first sea day (Day 1), when after my family had gotten back to our rooms after breakfast, she’d come out of her room and just give us mean looks and “humphed” her tired ass down the hall with her family. The maybe after 15 or so minutes, they would return with so much food, 1 to 2 plates a person. We’d always open our door to a suspicious big pile of dirty dishes next to our door. We knew it was them and I think she thought that she could make us out to look like pigs/ slobs or something for always have a mass of dishes. Thankfully, our steward, made his rounds more frequently than others, and always picked them up in a timely manner. Later in the day, we received notice that someone was complaining about noise and the smell of cigarettes being smoked across the hall. If I'm honest, these room are nearly soundproof wall to wall. You seldom hear anything unless you actually walk outside your room, and barely anything there still. We knew. And nothing came of it.
I had gone to sunbathe on the Lido Deck towards the back of the boat. I had found a nice secluded spot near the back, in a corner. I had been there about 20-ish minutes when I felt the spritz of water fall on me. There was not a cloud in the sky and the waterslide was far away enough water couldn’t touch me. It was then I had noticed two familiar children running away from my direction and towards a chair with someone in it. It was her kids. And no later had I recognized them, with their huge water guns, had the Karen peeked around her chair, lifting her shades a bit to see me. She zipped back around the second we made eye contact. I stood my ground and continued to sunbathe, not willing to give up a prime spot for soaking in that Vitamin D. The sun has a way of relaxing you and making you sleepy. I had my shades on and pretty much laid lifeless for the most part. This led to Karen to probably believing I had fallen asleep and shooed her kids over towards me again, but before they could do anything, my mom had shown up and “yelled” at them the scram. They did and ran to Karen, whom shot us multiple glares, but never said anything and that was the end of that. My mom took the chair up beside me and we sat there for a little over two hours. At least twice more that day, we found more piles of dishes by our door and later that night, Karen tried to discreetly get me in trouble by telling the bouncer of the night club that I had snuck in and was underaged. Karen was still not too bright as our room cards have a barcode employee’s scan that display our names and ages as displayed on our passports. So of course, nothing came of this and I stayed. I even ordered a large alcoholic beverage and saluted Karen on the dance floor. She huffed and stomped away.
The next day (Day 2), we ported into Paradise Island. Bahamas. Myself, my mom and my sister made our way off the boat and onto the ferry that takes you from Nassau to Paradise Island. S/N: Our grandparents own two timeshare properties on PI, right next door to the Atlantis Resort, and they are granted full access passes every year to the Atlantis Waterpark and its' multiple aquariums, whenever they go. Our family has experienced the Bahamas three times and were familiar with the territory/ process. Our GP’s opted to tour the city, so we were allowed to use said passes. Upon getting there, we enter in through the casino to get through to the first part of the aquarium. When we get to the threshold (there’s always a guard checking for Atlantis passes at this point. No passes and/ or ticket, no entry. Simple.), there’s Karen and her family. She’s trying her best not to make a scene, but she looks angry. As we grew closer, we could hear their conversation. She wants entry into the water park but has no pass or ticket. None of them do. They assumed it came free with the cruise. The guard explains plainly, no ticket, no entry. Karen ranted some more, the guard ignored her at that point. We made our way to the guard and flashed our passes; the guard smiles at us and starts to move aside. Karen noticed this immediately and her face contorted in fury, then just as quickly scheming. Karen was not a creature of subtlety, as the guard moved to let us by, Karen tried to shove her kids into us.
K: “We’re actually with them. They know us from the cruise and can vouch for us. Hey. Hey! May we use those passes too? My kids deserve to experience this. Come on.” she pleaded, and it was rather pathetic, yet bold of her to try and pass this in front of the guard who obviously wasn’t buying it. My mom laughed and we kept walking. Karen kept screaming how this was unfair and that we somehow stole her passes, even though she just told the guard she thought it was free. Our day goes on and we have a great time. I have pictures/ videos if anyone would like to see. We had to be back on the boat by 4pm before the boat left by 5, so we start our way back at 3:30. We ported out of the Bahamas, and the rest of the evening was peaceful.
The next day (Day 3), we docked in The Princess Cays and took my little cousin with us. I spotted Karen a few times on the far side of the beach as we swam and sunbathed on the other, I don’t know if she saw us too, but nothing was had that day either. On the second sea day (Day 4), I decided to stay in the room most the day to recuperate from the swimming and sun from the days prior. I was exhausted. I was taking naps whenever during the day, having only left the room for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mom had gone out with her sister for the evening and my sister was out at the deck party. My twin cousins stopped by to enjoy the balcony for a bit and just hang out. About 8 in the evening, there was a knock. I got up thinking it was my room service I had ordered (don’t shame me, room service is great and the food is damn good). Nope. Karen; all dolled up and fancy with her two kids. I muttered an, “Oh my god” before asking if I could help her. Karen, with one of those irked looks on her face braves a fake ass smile.
K: “Yes hi, I need someone to watch my kids so my husband and I can go out for our last night on this ship. I thought you wouldn’t mind since you’re not doing anything AND caused us that trouble in the Bahamas and embarrassed me in front of all those people. You owe us this much.” She started to push her kids slowly to the door, telling them that Mommy and Daddy would see them in a couple hours. I’m terrible at guessing kids ages, but they came up to barely must waist, and I’m 4’11’’. I blocked the door, and I could see she was getting furious.
M: “Okay, listen. This is getting so ridiculous. We don’t owe you or your privileged family anything. It’s really sad to see a grown woman act like a spoiled brat just because she lacked the knowledge to plan ahead and book the room she wanted, and NOW must try to sabotage my family’s vacation and my good time. I am not having it. You are not leaving your kids with me. A stranger, no less. What kind of parent are you? What normal person does this?” I whisper shouted at her. I was done with her bs. I was tired, sunburned and suffering a bit of heat exhaustion. Though I looked and felt like shiz, I sure as hell was not about to take this. Karen just stared, mouth agape trying to come up with some retort. At that moment, my cousins came in outside from the balcony, and it was at that Karen thought she had leverage.
K: “Well then, who are they!? Why do they get to spend time on the balcony and my kids can’t? This isn’t fair! You are going to watch my kids. You will! You will! Or I’m going to complain!” I rebutted,
M: “I owe you nothing. They are here for the simple fact that they're family and welcome in here. You are not welcome. Take your kids back to your own sad little room and I will be launching a complaint for your constant harassment.” I close the door. Karen placed a hard hit to our door before huffing out a long roar before storming off and her kids crying. I told my mom what happened, and we did make a complaint. I don’t know what happened to Karen and her family after that. We didn’t see nor hear of or from them for the rest of that night, or the next morning when we ported into Jacksonville. Aside from our adventures with her, this was a great vacation and one I got to take with the side of the family I rarely see. This story was told to my Aunt and Uncle, and they made a point to ask if my mom and I just have bad luck with such encounters with these people. We laughed about it; Mom: “Let’s hope to universe gives us a break. I really wanted to knock her ass out.” We all left and went our separate ways for now as our grandparents took us to the airport.
……. then on the way the to the airport, who should we see?
Not Karen, but a crazy cracked out lady in a white pickup that tried to cause damage to her own car and blame my grandpa for it. But that’s another story. 😊

Seminoles have lived in Florida since ancient times. For more than 40 years, they fought for their freedom in countless skirmishes and 3 bloody wars. But the forces were unequal, and in 1858, after the Third Seminole War, almost the entire tribe was evicted from their native lands to distant Oklahoma. Only about 200 Indians escaped the General sad fate and disappeared into the vast tropical swamps of the Everglades, where they engaged in cattle breeding, somehow making ends meet, because there were few pastures, more swamps. There, under the protection of Panthers, alligators, and malaria, they felt comparatively safe.
In early 1944, in Florida, a Seminole Agnes Billy of the Bird clan had a boy born out of wedlock. My father was an Irishman, a cadet at the naval aviation school that was based near the reservation. In 1943, he went to war without even knowing about his girlfriend's pregnancy. Mother called son Chukie, which means "the one who was taken."The shamans of the tribe did not recognize the half-breed baby and decided to get rid of it, sentencing it to death. The boy was saved from death by his mother's friend, Potaki, who was also a half-breed.
The women raised a terrible cry, the neighbors ran, and Potaki publicly vowed that she would inform the police if anyone touched the baby.
Jim Hukipi and his mother lived very poorly, and when he was 9 years old, she died. The first orphan was sheltered by his mother's parents, but soon became them, and Hokie homeless. But his rescuer Potaki, who felt responsible for the teenager, took care of him and kicked him to school. Over time, it became difficult to cope with the boy and he was sent to the Haskell boarding school in Kansas, a special school where they tried to teach the Indians how to become white. A few years later, with grief in half, Jim received a school diploma and returned.
Strong, cunning, agile, tough, and a natural leader, he was created to become a Ranger for the U.S. army. The Vietnam war was breaking out, and that was where he belonged. The jungle was like the Everglades, but without alligators,and the war was like hunting. Jim distinguished himself very soon, he was promoted to Sergeant, appointed commander of the Department, and began to give tasks more and more complex. Capture languages, raids behind enemy lines, reconnaissance and other activities of the Rangers he liked. His group often went on a knife edge, but always returned without loss. The blood of his brave ancestors played a role, and Jim could feel ambushes, traps, mines, and poisonous snakes on his skin. It seemed that luck would never leave him, and his companions were ready to follow him into the fire and water.
After serving a full term in the Inferno, he had every right to go back, but signed up for another term. Ranger didn't want to leave his comrades, but he liked the risk. Again, RAID after RAID, task after task, and success after success. Jim soon became a master Sergeant and Deputy platoon commander. He would have been sent to officer courses, but he did not show any desire. After another successful RAID in 1968, he was given the highest award of a soldier, a vacation home. When Jim returned, he learned the terrible news that the platoon's luck had run out without him. Friends went on another task, but with them there was no "one who was taken away", and there was no one to smell the danger in time. The platoon was ambushed and only its name remained.
Something broke inside, and Jim blamed himself for the deaths of his comrades. "What am I fighting for? he thought, and couldn't find an answer. The fight was abruptly stopped, and the depression started in my head swarmed dark thoughts. After completing his term, he left the army and returned to the reservation. The boy Hukipi matured, matured, and adult beyond his years, he felt pain for his tribe, which
looked at new look. Beggars, reduced to despair and alcohol, living on handouts, without prospects and hope, and yet... such relatives. Jim remembered his skills as a Builder and started building Chiki, traditional Seminole homes. Hollywood did its job and the Indian theme became popular. Chukie decided on this play, saying: "This Chica can build only a true Indian. Everything else is nothing more than a fake."Very soon his Chicks appeared in parks, private clubs, and in the yards of the rich. Business quickly grew and he became one of the most successful members of the tribe (although the entire tribe was less than 1.5 thousand people).
Now it was possible to deal with public Affairs. The problem was obvious, the reservation was chosen by drug couriers as a transit point. Seaplanes loaded with cocaine from Central America regularly landed in the swamps, and from there the poison spread further. The former special forces officer decided: "we need to eliminate the root cause."He loaded a revolver, took a Winchester in the boat, and persuaded a couple of friends, also veterans of the Vietnam war, to go with him. Then from the marshes began to hear gunfire and explosions, but Hookie always came out unscathed. Very soon, the drug traffic through the reservation disappeared forever.
Hokie admired, began to be afraid, his voice on the tribal Council became very important and in 1979-m to year Hokie became the Supreme leader. Jim announced, " it's time for a change. We are Seminoles, we are a great tribe, and it is time for us to regain our greatness."
The chief received the tribe in a very deplorable state. But Hokie was a clear plan:"we Should open on the RES hall to play Bingo. If it goes well, we'll open a casino."He considered the situation and realized that he needed serious help. A friend told him about an old man-a pensioner who can help. This grandfather's name was Mayer Lansky.
Mayer Lansky was a well-known figure in the underworld. He was the brain of a huge underground Empire that controlled the Jewish and Italian mafia.
Hokie got a meeting with an old gangster.
Old Mayer was sitting at a table. He looked tired and listless.
"So I know why you came to me. Why do you need money? Lansky asked.
"I want to open a case."started Hookipa.
"You want to start a business and get rich."- with a grin said the pensioner.
The Indian understood that full frankness was needed with Meyer. Something leaped in his chest and he spoke, breaking into a low cry:
"Yes, I want to be rich, I won't deny it. Everyone wants it. But more than that, I want to finally get my tribe out of the shit we've been living in for more than 120 years. Do you know what it's like to live on a reservation? Live outside the line like animals? When people look down on you with disdain? I grew up on a chimpanzee farm, and I remember that tourists looked at me and the monkeys as curiosities. We live in bestiality, we have a beggar sitting on a beggar and driving beggars, and everyone is trying to somehow feed themselves. Land, freedom, and pride were taken from us, and in return they gave us alcohol and meager handouts. We have almost lost our language and our faith. From day to day, from year to year, from decade to decade, it's the same thing. We will soon stop being ourselves. You will not believe it, but many of us almost can not read and write. I am not the prophet Moses who brought you out of Egypt, but I love my little people. And I want, I really want to make it prosperous. And I will do it, no matter what it takes. I could, of course, succeed for myself by going somewhere else, but is it worthy of a man? If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am only for myself, then why am I? And if not now, then? Do you understand me, Mr. Lansky???"
Mayer was no longer sprawled out. His hands were clenched into fists, his eyes glittered, and his face was tight with muscle. It seemed that the old bandit remembered something, something long forgotten, but painfully native. Hokie paused, and Lansky looked at him, breathing hard.
"I heard you. I understand you. the old man dropped it slowly. "I used to be myself... however, let's not talk about it.. Lansky sighed heavily.
"And how will you perform this miracle?"
"I want to open a bingo hall where people can play big. If it goes well, then open a casino. I think there will be a lot of demand."the chief replied.
"My boy, I understand you. Casinos in Florida. This is a pipe dream of my life. There are thousands of problems and pitfalls on the way, but the main ones are two. The first is this Catholic Church and Archbishop McCarthy himself, the head of the Catholic Church in Florida. The priests hold the "bingo for charity" market firmly in their tenacious hands. These bigots with a mind so Holy, and in fact, much worse than the gangsters from the East side, so I do know. They fill their pockets, buy real estate and jewelry, and if they allocated at least one percent of what they have for good deeds, they could feed all the world's hungry for 10 years. The second difficulty is that the bureaucrats will never be allowed to open a casino in Florida. It's easier to negotiate with the wall. If you knew how much money, time, and effort my friends and I spent on these stupid and stubborn donkeys in Tallahassee (the capital of Florida). These fools can't see past their noses. Oh, if I could open a casino in Florida, do you think I'd be interested in opening casinos in Las Vegas, Cuba, and the Bahamas? No, son, I really want to help you, but it's not possible."Mayer said sadly.
"Mr. Lansky, I know what you're capable of. If there is a wizard in the world, it is you. I understand that you didn't succeed, but I will open a bingo hall and a casino."
"My dear fellow, as soon as you open the doors, the police will come and close the shop. And you will lose in court."
"You see, I have two trumps that you and your friends didn't have. Listen."
And, carefully looking around, Hokie whispered something almost in my ear Lansky. Old Mayer's mouth dropped open in surprise.
"It can't be. My boy, are you sure? Is this really true?"what is it?" he asked.
- "Certainly. Why else would I come to you? However, your lawyers will be able to verify my words."Yes," said the chief.
- "Amusingly. Here is the deal, this is on our way. Yes... it's going to be a nice job, we'll RUB the nose of these bureaucrats."
Lansky had a mischievous smile on his face.
"So you will give money?"asked Hokie.
"Where did I get the money? I live on a modest pension. But I have a good friend, Jack Cooper, I think if I ask him very much, he will not refuse the loan. Perhaps I can persuade some of my friends to politely ask the Archbishop not to interfere with us. I also know a couple of lawyers who will agree to help us for a nominal amount. By the way, you will need a good adviser on a regular basis. I would suggest an old friend of mine, Stephen Wilden. He is a reliable man, by the way, also served two terms in Vietnam."- almost accidentally showed his awareness of the gangster.
"And to manage the casino itself, I have in mind a guy from a very good family, his name is James Weissman. A very competent young man, and his brother, Eugene, can also help with various minor difficulties. You're not going to object if the order will be watching very responsible and decent people? Lansky half-asked, half-pointed, and stared at Hukipi.
"Of course I won't! Agreed. I am very happy."the chief replied, and they shook hands.
Cooper did lend money to the Indians without complaint, and Wilden began to spend a surprising amount of time on the reservation. And the Weissman brothers gave up all their business altogether and began to focus solely on helping the Seminoles. And very soon a new building with a major bingo game opened on the reservation. And the amazing thing is that Archbishop McCarthy has not objected to bingo on the reservation and even good luck to Jim.
As Lansky predicted, the police showed up on the first day and arrested employees and managers. And of course the Seminoles sued, claiming they had every right to do anything on their land.
"This is not acceptable. What kind of arbitrariness? Your Honor, we must close this receptacle of Vice and sin."- officials groaned.
- "Really. The only place where gambling is allowed in the United States is Nevada. Do you have any arguments in your favor?"
"We have two, Your Honor."don't be embarrassed," said Jim Billy and his lawyers.
"First, look at the precedent. Russell and Elena Bryan, from the Chippewa tribe, lived quietly on a reservation in Minnesota. All of a sudden, the state sends them a property tax bill that they've never paid before. They challenged it, the case went to the Highest Court, and he decided that:
a) the state does not have the right to collect taxes on business or property on the reservation
b) the state has no right to regulate the business of Indians on their land. And the bingo hall is just the business on our land.
And second and foremost, Your Honor, we are not part of the United States at all. All Indian tribes surrendered to the U.S. government. Some earlier, some later, but all signed peace agreements and in fact admitted defeat. Everyone but us. We are the only tribe that has never surrendered to the palefaces. Our ancestors went to the Everglades, but they didn't give up. We are still at war with you. Since when does anyone have the right to dictate terms and indicate what to do to an undefeated opponent on their land?"
After hearing such arguments, the judge was forced to make a fair decision: - " the Seminoles should be left alone. Let them do what they want on their land, even play bingo, even open a casino. And neither the state nor the feds have the right to take a cent from their income."
And the money flowed to the reservation. Soon Jim opened a casino and the flow of money increased. The tribe paid its debts to Cooper ahead of time, though all the people recommended by Lansky remained in charge of the business. However, is it a pity some 47% of profits for good and honest people, especially if they are so good at helping business development. Moreover, they advised how to correctly open other casinos.
For example, in Tampa, they decided to build a large Parking lot, but it turned out that this place is an ancient burial of Seminoles.
"I will not allow the pale-faces to defile the graves of our ancestors. Or have you forgotten that we are still officially at war with you? If so, I'll remind you. We'll give You the fourth Seminole War. We lit the fires of combat and beat Tom-Toms" - shouted angrily Hokie.
- "Oops. We didn't even know. Forgive us. What do you want?"- the mayor's office asked, confused.
"Okay, so be it, build your Parking lot."- was replaced by anger at the mercy Hokie.
"Just give us a piece of land to bury our ancestors in another place, but still not far from the city."
"Ufff. That's all. You are welcome. This is a great place, right next to the highway and not far from the city. Just do everything culturally and organize a Museum. We will study you."- happily breathed out officials.
- "Perfectly. Agreed."grinned the leader .... the Seminoles built a second casino.
"Er, that's not what we agreed to."no!" yelled the bureaucrats.
- "So we are about the world, too, did not agree and the Tomahawks we are not buried" - wisely said Jukie.
"Where's the Museum??? Where is he? Keep your word!"
"Where? Yes, inside the casino. Come and take a look. the chief laughed.
And the stream of money became a full-flowing river. There was so much money that the Seminoles even bought a stake in a casino on St. Martin and started building more casinos in Florida. True, there were dirty rumors that almost disinterested Seminole assistants were taking cash out of hundreds of boxes in private planes to various offshore locations, but all curious people were shown documents that clearly said they were taking food for the needy, and ridiculous rumors were a shame to believe.
The leader gained strength and developed a stormy activity. Electric companies that laid their networks, gas companies that stretched their pipes, garbage processing companies that buried waste, and other companies that rented land from the Seminoles for a penny, received an unpleasant surprise.
"That's it, the freebie is over."said Hokie.
"Now you will pay a fair rent. Otherwise, you will all go away."
Jim knew perfectly well that companies that had buried pipes and networks worth tens of millions would not go anywhere and would accept all his terms. And the flow of money has become even greater.
For almost 22 years, Hukipi led his small tribe with an iron hand. He became the highest-paid employee in Florida. Hukipi established a system of dividends for each Seminole, created a special Fund that provides any absolutely free medical care to all members of the tribe, and established schools on the reservation where learning the native language and traditions was mandatory. Moreover, every Indian can now get an education at any University in the United States and does not have to pay a penny for it.
Money was invested in real estate, energy, tourism, securities, and of course ... in the new casino. Money brought money and the tribe grew rich before our eyes. The Indians had beautiful new homes and expensive cars. But everything ends sooner or later, the chief noticed that the Council of chiefs began to spend a lot of money on themselves. Each of the leaders spent unaccountable millions and did not even think to answer to the tribe. And when Hokie was outraged and decided to investigate, he was dismissed from the post of the Supreme leader.
As usual, the official reason was accusations of sexual harassment of a subordinate. Then he was accused of corruption and abuse of power. But the former chief sued and... won. As a result, the tribe paid him more than $600,000. He retired, started building his Chiki again, and lived happily ever after. But the tribe is mired in corruption and scandals, because big money brings big problems. And in 2011, Hukipi was elected chief again.
Hukipi broke up corrupt officials, stopped the vicious practice of paying minors ' money to parents who might have squandered it, put things in order in reporting, and invested in new projects. Surprisingly, without corruption, there was again extra money, which turned into additional dividends for the Indians. Now every adult Seminole, in addition to free medicine and education, receives $128,000 a year. And the money of minors now goes to a special trust so that every member of the tribe reaches the age of 18 is already a multi-millionaire.
In 2016, the year once again, the Council leaders decided to shift Jucie. It is visible it strongly interfered with a free life. Now Jim Hookipa on the deserved rest. He is only 73 years old and still full of strength and energy. Who knows, maybe the Seminoles will need a strong hand and wise advice again, and then "the one who was taken" will again become a leader and lead his tribe to new heights. It is not for nothing that the popular wisdom says: "a Herd of rams led by a lion is much stronger than a flock of lions led by a RAM."
More https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmYpavSD9aALIt_lhde2Ewg?view_as=subscriber

Cruise Karen
Hello all! Got another story for you. This happened just recently as my family and I just returned from a cruise to celebrate my grandparents 50th anniversary. It was a 5 days cruise that ported out of Jacksonville, FL to the Bahamas. Out of my household, myself, my mom and my sister went, leaving my brother and dad behind. My mom’s sister and her husband brought along their 4 youngest kids and of course my grandparents, 11 of us in total. If you read my last post, this is the same family we were visiting during the Plane Karen incident.
This story will be recounting our unfortunate time with our deck neighbor Karen. At this point we should know the basic cast of characters, so I’ll only include; GP/M~ Grandpa/ ma, H ~ Karen’s “Husband” (he doesn’t really have much to add to this story) and KK ~ Karen’s Kids.
It all begins once we’re beginning to board and making our way to our room. My mom managed an extended balcony room to mine and my sister’s utter delight. Worth the extra coinage. Our door had been propped open as we were waiting for our bags to arrive, so meantime we were exploring the room. Directly across the hall, I spot a man (H) and two kids come out and briefly look into out room. Not totally weird in my book honestly. I tend to feel snoopish now and again as I walk the hall and see other doors open. He took the kids down the hall right as our luggage appeared. We unpacked and got settled, door still open a bit. I see H and kids come back with a small plate of food in hand (lunch was going on whilst people still boarded. This was around 2pm-ish). He made another glance into our room again before shutting his own door. And that was that until dinner around six, a couple of hours after we left the port into open water. I made my way to dinner first; I had to walk at a slower pace to better accommodate my foot which was not fairing well after surgery 9 months prior (read last post). As I stepped foot outside the threshold of my room, the door across from me flew open, a woman (tall, skinny, blonde blue eyes) looked my up and down and gave me one of those looks. Like something was amiss to her, before she muttered a “Hello” before walking down the hall. And it was at that time I noticed a couple plates of leftover food and utensils sitting by our door. We hadn’t eaten yet, so I knew this wasn’t ours. I brushed it off and left for the dining hall.
After dinner, all three of us came back down our hall to find the same women knocking on our door. My mom got her attention with an “Hello, can we help you?” The women jumped a bit then put on her biggest smile.
K: “Hello! We’re directly across from you and I was hoping to ask you for a favor?” By this time, we made it to our door, and I told my sister to go inside, and as she did so, giving the woman a look inside our room. she continued.
K: “It’s our first cruise and I am not to familiar with the boats. So, when we were booking, we didn’t know about the balcony rooms. And then I noticed you have a balcony and..” my mom cut her off. “So, what’s your favor? You need tips on how to book a balcony for next time?” my mom was tired after dinner and it had been a long day. She didn’t want to deal with this. The women shook her head, “Oh no, no, no. I was hoping you’d switch rooms with us, so I can give my kids a great experience on their first cruise. It shouldn’t be a problem. See, your cards are red, so you’ve cruised before and know what a balcony feels like. What do you say” I actually snort laughed at her “idea” to which my mom shooed me into the room, looked to Karen and said with the fakest of smiles, “No thank you. Have a goodnight and a lovely vacation.” and shut the door. I bust out laughing. She looked so sure and confident that this would work. Without going over the entire reasoning as to why this wouldn’t work, she totally didn’t think this whole thing through.
Later in the evening I had gotten hungry again and ordered room service. As my food arrived and I opened the door to let the attendant in, on cue, the woman and H came out of their rooms dressed all fancy, then she spotted me and narrowed her eyes at me, to which I snort chuckled, thanked the attendant and closed to door in her face. And that, my friends was just the beginning of Cruise Karen.
She began her tirade of petty nuisances the first sea day (Day 1), when after my family had gotten back to our rooms after breakfast, she’d come out of her room and just give us mean looks and “humphed” her tired ass down the hall with her family. The maybe after 15 or so minutes, would return with so much food. We’d always open our door to a suspicious big pile of dirty dishes next to our door. We knew it was them and I think she thought that she could make us out to look like pigs/ slobs or something for always have a mass of dishes. Thankfully, our steward, made his rounds more frequently than others, and always picked them up in a timely manner. Later in the day, we received notice that someone was complaining about noise and the smell of cigarettes being smoked across the hall. We knew. Nothing came of it. I had gone to sunbathe on the Lido Deck towards the back of the boat. I had found a nice secluded spot near the back, in a corner. I had been there about 20ish minutes when I felt the spritz of water fall on me. There was not a cloud in the sky and the waterslide was far away enough water couldn’t touch me. It was then I had noticed two familiar children running away from my direction and towards a chair with someone in it. It was her kids. And no later had I recognized them, with their huge water guns, had the Karen peeked around her chair, lifting her shades a bit to see me. She zipped back around the second we made eye contact. I stood my ground and continued to sunbathe, not willing to give up a prime spot for soaking in that Vitamin D. The sun has a way of relaxing you and making you sleepy. I had my shades on and pretty much laid lifeless for the most part. This led to Karen to probably believing I had fallen asleep and shooed her kids over towards me again, but before they could do anything, my mom had shown up and “yelled” at them the scram. They did and ran to Karen, whom shot us multiple glares, but never said anything and that was the end of that. My mom took the chair up beside me and we sat there for a little over two hours. At least twice more that day, we found more piles of dishes by our door and later that night, Karen tried to discreetly get me in trouble by telling the bouncer of the night club that I had snuck in and was underaged. Karen was still not too bright as our room cards have a barcode employee’s scan that display our names and ages as displayed on our passports. So of course, nothing came of this and I stayed. I even ordered a large alcoholic beverage and saluted Karen on the dance floor. She huffed and stomped away.
The next day, we ported into Paradise Island. Bahamas. Myself, my mom and my sister made our way off the boat and onto the ferry that takes you from Nassau to Paradise Island. S/N: Our grandparents own two timeshare properties on PI, right next door to the Atlantis Resort, and they are granted full access passes every years to the Atlantis Waterpark and multiple aquariums, whenever they go. Our family has experienced the Bahamas three times and were familiar with the territory/ process. Our GP’s opted to tour the city, so we were allowed said passes for free access into the waterpark and aquarium. Upon getting there, we enter in through the casino to get through to the first part of the aquarium. When we get to the threshold (there’s always a guard checking for Atlantis passes at this point. No passes and/ or ticket, no entry. Simple.), there’s Karen and her family. She’s trying her best not to make a scene, but she looks angry. As we grew closer, we could hear their conversation. She wants entry into the water park but has no pass or ticket. None of them do. They assumed it came free with the cruise. The guard explains plainly, no ticket, no entry. Karen ranted some more, the guard ignored her at that point. We made our way to the guard and flashed our passes. Karen noticed this immediately and her face contorted in fury, then just as quickly scheming. Karen was not a creature of subtlety, as the guard moved to let us by, Karen tried to shove her kids into us.
K: “We’re actually with them. They know us from the cruise and can vouch for us. Hey. Hey! May we use those passes too? My kids deserve to experience this. Come on.” she pleaded, and it was rather pathetic, yet bold of her to try and pass this in front of the guard who obviously wasn’t buying it. My mom laughed and we kept walking. Karen kept screaming how this was unfair and that we somehow stole her passes, even though she just told the guard she thought it was free. Our day goes on and we have a great time. I have pictures/ videos if anyone would like to see. We had to be back on the boat by 4pm before the boat left by 5, so we start our way back at 3:30. We ported out of the Bahamas, and the rest of the evening was peaceful. The next day, we docked in The Princess Cays and took my little cousin with us. I spotted Karen a few times on the far side of the beach as we swam and sunbathed on the other, I don’t know if she saw us too, but nothing was had that day either. On the second sea day (Day 4), I decided to stay in the room most the day to recuperate from the swimming and sun. I was exhausted. My twin cousins stopped by to enjoy the balcony for a bit and just hang out. About 8 in the evening, there was a knock. I got up thinking it was my room service I had ordered (don’t shame me, room service is great and the food is damn good). Nope. Karen; all dolled up and fancy with her two kids. I muttered an, “Oh my god” before asking if I could help her. Karen, with one of those irked looks on her face braves a fake ass smile.
K: “Excuse me, I need someone to watch my kids so my husband and I can go out for our last night on this ship. I thought you wouldn’t mind since you’re not doing anything AND caused us that trouble in the Bahamas and embarrassed me in front of all those people. You owe us this much.” She started to push her kids slowly to the door, telling them that Mommy and Daddy would see them in a couple hours. I’m terrible at guessing kids ages, but they came up to barely must waist, and I’m 4’11’’. I blocked the door, and I could see she was getting furious.
M: “Okay, listen. This is getting so ridiculous. We don’t owe you or your privileged family anything. It’s really sad to see a grown woman act like a spoiled brat just because she lacked the knowledge to plan ahead and book the room she wanted, and NOW must try to sabotage my family’s vacation and my good time. I am not having it. You are not leaving your kids with me. A stranger, no less. What kind of parent are you? What normal person does this?” I whisper shouted at her. I was done with her bs. I was tired, sunburned and suffering a bit of heat exhaustion. Though I looked and felt like shiz, I sure as hell was not about to take this. Karen just stared, mouth agape trying to come up with some retort. At that moment, my cousins came in outside from the balcony, and it was at that Karen thought she had leverage.
K: “Well then, who are they!? Why do they get to spend time on the balcony and my kids can’t? This isn’t fair! You are going to watch my kids. You will! You will! Or I’m going to complain!” I rebutted, “I owe you nothing. They are here for the simple fact that they're family and welcome in here. You are not welcome. Take your kids back to your own sad little room and I will be launching a complaint for your constant harassment.” I close the door. Karen placed a hard hit to our door before huffing out a long roar before storming off and her kids crying. I told my mom what happened, and we did make a complaint. I don’t know what happened to Karen and her family after that. We didn’t see nor hear of or from them for the rest of that night, or the next morning when we ported into Jacksonville. Aside from our adventures with her, this was a great vacation and one I got to take with the side of the family I rarely see. This story was told to my Aunt and Uncle, and they made a point to ask if my mom and I just have bad luck with such encounters with these people. We laughed about it; Mom: “Let’s hope to universe gives us a break. I really wanted to knock her ass out.” We all left and went our separate ways for now as our grandparents took us to the airport.
……. then on the way the to the airport, who should we see?
Not Karen, but a crazy cracked out lady in a white pickup that tried to cause damage to her own car and blame my grandpa for it. But that’s another story. 😊

Cruise Karen
Hello all! Got another story for you. This happened just recently as my family and I just returned from a cruise to celebrate my grandparents 50th anniversary. It was a 5 days cruise that ported out of Jacksonville, FL to the Bahamas. Out of my household, myself, my mom and my sister went, leaving my brother and dad behind. My mom’s sister and her husband brought along their 4 youngest kids and of course my grandparents, 11 of us in total. If you read my last post, this is the same family we were visiting during the Plane Karen incident.
This story will be recounting our unfortunate time with our deck neighbor Karen. At this point we should know the basic cast of characters, so I’ll only include; GP/M~ Grandpa/ ma, H ~ Karen’s “Husband” (he doesn’t really have much to add to this story) and KK ~ Karen’s Kids.
It all begins once we’re beginning to board and making our way to our room. My mom managed an extended balcony room to mine and my sister’s utter delight. Worth the extra coinage. Our door had been propped open as we were waiting for our bags to arrive, so meantime we were exploring the room. Directly across the hall, I spot a man (H) and two kids come out and briefly look into out room. Not totally weird in my book honestly. I tend to feel snoopish now and again as I walk the hall and see other doors open. He took the kids down the hall right as our luggage appeared. We unpacked and got settled, door still open a bit. I see H and kids come back with a small plate of food in hand (lunch was going on whilst people still boarded. This was around 2pm-ish). He made another glance into our room again before shutting his own door. And that was that until dinner around six, a couple of hours after we left the port into open water. I made my way to dinner first; I had to walk at a slower pace to better accommodate my foot which was not fairing well after surgery 9 months prior (read last post). As I stepped foot outside the threshold of my room, the door across from me flew open, a woman (tall, skinny, blonde blue eyes) looked my up and down and gave me one of those looks. Like something was amiss to her, before she muttered a “Hello” before walking down the hall. And it was at that time I noticed a couple plates of leftover food and utensils sitting by our door. We hadn’t eaten yet, so I knew this wasn’t ours. I brushed it off and left for the dining hall.
After dinner, all three of us came back down our hall to find the same women knocking on our door. My mom got her attention with an “Hello, can we help you?” The women jumped a bit then put on her biggest smile.
K: “Hello! We’re directly across from you and I was hoping to ask you for a favor?” By this time, we made it to our door, and I told my sister to go inside, and as she did so, giving the woman a look inside our room. she continued.
K: “It’s our first cruise and I am not to familiar with the boats. So, when we were booking, we didn’t know about the balcony rooms. And then I noticed you have a balcony and..” my mom cut her off.
M: “So, what’s your favor? You need tips on how to book a balcony for next time?” my mom was tired after dinner and it had been a long day. She didn’t want to deal with this. The women shook her head.
K: “Oh no, no, no. I was hoping you’d switch rooms with us, so I can give my kids a great experience on their first cruise. It shouldn’t be a problem. See, your cards are red, so you’ve cruised before and know what a balcony feels like. What do you say” I actually snort laughed at her “idea” to which my mom shooed me into the room, looked to Karen and said with the fakest of smiles, “No thank you. Have a goodnight and a lovely vacation.” and shut the door. I bust out laughing. She looked so sure and confident that this would work. Without going over the entire reasoning as to why this wouldn’t work, she totally didn’t think this whole thing through.
Later in the evening I had gotten hungry again and ordered room service. As my food arrived and I opened the door to let the attendant in, on cue, the woman and H came out of their rooms dressed all fancy, then she spotted me and narrowed her eyes at me, to which I snort chuckled, thanked the attendant and closed to door in her face. And that, my friends was just the beginning of Cruise Karen.
She began her tirade of petty nuisances the first sea day (Day 1), when after my family had gotten back to our rooms after breakfast, she’d come out of her room and just give us mean looks and “humphed” her tired ass down the hall with her family. The maybe after 15 or so minutes, they would return with so much food, 1 to 2 plates a person. We’d always open our door to a suspicious big pile of dirty dishes next to our door. We knew it was them and I think she thought that she could make us out to look like pigs/ slobs or something for always have a mass of dishes. Thankfully, our steward, made his rounds more frequently than others, and always picked them up in a timely manner. Later in the day, we received notice that someone was complaining about noise and the smell of cigarettes being smoked across the hall. If I'm honest, these room are nearly soundproof wall to wall. You seldom hear anything unless you actually walk outside your room, and barely anything there still. We knew. And nothing came of it.
I had gone to sunbathe on the Lido Deck towards the back of the boat. I had found a nice secluded spot near the back, in a corner. I had been there about 20-ish minutes when I felt the spritz of water fall on me. There was not a cloud in the sky and the waterslide was far away enough water couldn’t touch me. It was then I had noticed two familiar children running away from my direction and towards a chair with someone in it. It was her kids. And no later had I recognized them, with their huge water guns, had the Karen peeked around her chair, lifting her shades a bit to see me. She zipped back around the second we made eye contact. I stood my ground and continued to sunbathe, not willing to give up a prime spot for soaking in that Vitamin D. The sun has a way of relaxing you and making you sleepy. I had my shades on and pretty much laid lifeless for the most part. This led to Karen to probably believing I had fallen asleep and shooed her kids over towards me again, but before they could do anything, my mom had shown up and “yelled” at them the scram. They did and ran to Karen, whom shot us multiple glares, but never said anything and that was the end of that. My mom took the chair up beside me and we sat there for a little over two hours. At least twice more that day, we found more piles of dishes by our door and later that night, Karen tried to discreetly get me in trouble by telling the bouncer of the night club that I had snuck in and was underaged. Karen was still not too bright as our room cards have a barcode employee’s scan that display our names and ages as displayed on our passports. So of course, nothing came of this and I stayed. I even ordered a large alcoholic beverage and saluted Karen on the dance floor. She huffed and stomped away.
The next day (Day 2), we ported into Paradise Island. Bahamas. Myself, my mom and my sister made our way off the boat and onto the ferry that takes you from Nassau to Paradise Island. S/N: Our grandparents own two timeshare properties on PI, right next door to the Atlantis Resort, and they are granted full access passes every year to the Atlantis Waterpark and its' multiple aquariums, whenever they go. Our family has experienced the Bahamas three times and were familiar with the territory/ process. Our GP’s opted to tour the city, so we were allowed to use said passes. Upon getting there, we enter in through the casino to get through to the first part of the aquarium. When we get to the threshold (there’s always a guard checking for Atlantis passes at this point. No passes and/ or ticket, no entry. Simple.), there’s Karen and her family. She’s trying her best not to make a scene, but she looks angry. As we grew closer, we could hear their conversation. She wants entry into the water park but has no pass or ticket. None of them do. They assumed it came free with the cruise. The guard explains plainly, no ticket, no entry. Karen ranted some more, the guard ignored her at that point. We made our way to the guard and flashed our passes; the guard smiles at us and starts to move aside. Karen noticed this immediately and her face contorted in fury, then just as quickly scheming. Karen was not a creature of subtlety, as the guard moved to let us by, Karen tried to shove her kids into us.
K: “We’re actually with them. They know us from the cruise and can vouch for us. Hey. Hey! May we use those passes too? My kids deserve to experience this. Come on.” she pleaded, and it was rather pathetic, yet bold of her to try and pass this in front of the guard who obviously wasn’t buying it. My mom laughed and we kept walking. Karen kept screaming how this was unfair and that we somehow stole her passes, even though she just told the guard she thought it was free. Our day goes on and we have a great time. I have pictures/ videos if anyone would like to see. We had to be back on the boat by 4pm before the boat left by 5, so we start our way back at 3:30. We ported out of the Bahamas, and the rest of the evening was peaceful.
The next day (Day 3), we docked in The Princess Cays and took my little cousin with us. I spotted Karen a few times on the far side of the beach as we swam and sunbathed on the other, I don’t know if she saw us too, but nothing was had that day either. On the second sea day (Day 4), I decided to stay in the room most the day to recuperate from the swimming and sun from the days prior. I was exhausted. I was taking naps whenever during the day, having only left the room for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mom had gone out with her sister for the evening and my sister was out at the deck party. My twin cousins stopped by to enjoy the balcony for a bit and just hang out. About 8 in the evening, there was a knock. I got up thinking it was my room service I had ordered (don’t shame me, room service is great and the food is damn good). Nope. Karen; all dolled up and fancy with her two kids. I muttered an, “Oh my god” before asking if I could help her. Karen, with one of those irked looks on her face braves a fake ass smile.
K: “Yes hi, I need someone to watch my kids so my husband and I can go out for our last night on this ship. I thought you wouldn’t mind since you’re not doing anything AND caused us that trouble in the Bahamas and embarrassed me in front of all those people. You owe us this much.” She started to push her kids slowly to the door, telling them that Mommy and Daddy would see them in a couple hours. I’m terrible at guessing kids ages, but they came up to barely must waist, and I’m 4’11’’. I blocked the door, and I could see she was getting furious.
M: “Okay, listen. This is getting so ridiculous. We don’t owe you or your privileged family anything. It’s really sad to see a grown woman act like a spoiled brat just because she lacked the knowledge to plan ahead and book the room she wanted, and NOW must try to sabotage my family’s vacation and my good time. I am not having it. You are not leaving your kids with me. A stranger, no less. What kind of parent are you? What normal person does this?” I whisper shouted at her. I was done with her bs. I was tired, sunburned and suffering a bit of heat exhaustion. Though I looked and felt like shiz, I sure as hell was not about to take this. Karen just stared, mouth agape trying to come up with some retort. At that moment, my cousins came in outside from the balcony, and it was at that Karen thought she had leverage.
K: “Well then, who are they!? Why do they get to spend time on the balcony and my kids can’t? This isn’t fair! You are going to watch my kids. You will! You will! Or I’m going to complain!” I rebutted,
M: “I owe you nothing. They are here for the simple fact that they're family and welcome in here. You are not welcome. Take your kids back to your own sad little room and I will be launching a complaint for your constant harassment.” I close the door. Karen placed a hard hit to our door before huffing out a long roar before storming off and her kids crying. I told my mom what happened, and we did make a complaint. I don’t know what happened to Karen and her family after that. We didn’t see nor hear of or from them for the rest of that night, or the next morning when we ported into Jacksonville. Aside from our adventures with her, this was a great vacation and one I got to take with the side of the family I rarely see. This story was told to my Aunt and Uncle, and they made a point to ask if my mom and I just have bad luck with such encounters with these people. We laughed about it; Mom: “Let’s hope to universe gives us a break. I really wanted to knock her ass out.” We all left and went our separate ways for now as our grandparents took us to the airport.
……. then on the way the to the airport, who should we see?
Not Karen, but a crazy cracked out lady in a white pickup that tried to cause damage to her own car and blame my grandpa for it. But that’s another story. 😊