#pay it back

[emella]

I started reading fic when I was 13 in 1999. Before Google.

I’m old?

In fact, my very first google search was a piece of Backstreet Boys fanfiction. I knew the title, the author and basic premise but couldn’t find it. A guy from a n*fty.org chat room recommended this cool new search engine.

Anywho, I found the fic (thanks Google) and read throughout high school, throughout college, and about a year and a half after college. Then I realized I was spending all my time living vicariously through characters online instead of working hard to accomplish a real life. So I quit fanfic altogether.

When I quit fic AO3 was just getting off the ground. In fact I helped vectorize their logo way back in college as a new, young, graphic designer.

Today I was looking through and thinking about how much easier it is to search for fic. I remember trawling through the toxic junk heap of ff.net and looking through endless livejournal posts for HOURS. H O U R S. Like I was there y’all I’ve seen some shit and it could take DAYS to find something good worth reading. I now have 9 pages of ‘Marked for Later’ fic that is of decent enough quality that I regularly browse through it to be selective in what I read.

I also remember being so broke, downloading shit illegally and torrenting stuff. Our internet almost got shut off like 4 times. I thought, I’m so broke-let someone older, wiser, settled-an adult pay for this.

Today I set up a monthly donation to @ao3org. I’m 35 and I’m really happy to help support the place that got me through the pandemic and support the people who have improved the world of fandom dramatically. Pay it back y’all.

[mikefrawley]

Win Win

While many would rightly say kindness is its own reward, we ought never use this as an excuse for not returning the gift whenever possible.  In fact, if you think about it, isn’t kindness returned a win win situation?  Personally I kind of like that, don’t you?  Kindness, let’s pay it back, pay it forward, and pass it on.    

[1989tv]

so like maybe i’m crazy or maybe i’m right but i really truly believe that me getting lucky with eras tickets during presale set off a series of month long negative events that need to happen in order for me to pay back that luck 😢 like i’m not kidding i don’t want another good and lucky thing to happen me if this is what’s it’s gonna be like

[thedaveandkimmershow]

After a drive with Linzy yesterday, we pull up to the house where she's to purchase a monitor from someone who offered theirs online. They're actually kind and thorough enough to power it up right there in front, hook their laptop to it, demonstrating that it works.

Which it does.

During that process, right from the start, in fact, Linzy asks for a Venmo handle so she can make good on paying. At the time, I don't think anything of it more than politeness, but the answer always comes back as she'll have it soon... but also this.

I have something to say to you.

Which I think we both take to mean words of advice because we also both have the impression we're talking to a musician.

By 'n by, the monitor proves good to go as the soon-to-be former owner tells us about attending a music school back in the day and understanding what it's like to be in Linzy's shoes at this point in her life.

The soon-to-be former owner then slips on a pair of sneakers, offering to carry the monitor out to the car while I open it up and, once the monitor's safely settled in, here's the something to say to you Linzy was promised.

"Congratulations, you have a monitor!"

Well yeah. Linzy's buying it.

But that wasn't the meaning.

Because here's what's happening:

LInzy is getting it for free.

For free.

The explanation's that once upon a time in music school, the school and, therefore, the students, received donations. Music gear. Some tasty, donated music gear, in fact. And the experience of being on the receiving end of that giving remains indelible to this day.

The seller looked Linzy up online, you see. Saw what she was up to. Listened to her music. And decided to do for her what strangers had done for the students at a long-ago music school.

Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

I'll tell you straight up in that moment... Linzy wasn't understanding this was happening for real.

Not right then she wasn't.

But it was. It was. It was completely for real.

And this.

What we just heard wasn't the something to say that was promised. It was this: 

A musician's story.

A long, long time ago, there was an intern at a recording studio where a young musician walks in with his guitar and sits down to wait for the start of his session. While he's waiting, he pulls the guitar out of its case and begins to play. A bit of conversation ensues until the young musician offers the guitar and says "Do you wanna play it?"

So the intern takes the guitar and plays it for a few minutes until the studio manager walks up and says

"Oh good. You know each other."

They don't, of course. They just met. But it turns out, you see, this wasn't any young man with a guitar. This was Paul Simon's son, there to record an album.

Paul Simon. Of Simon & Garfunkel.

And then, out of the blue, Paul Simon’s son says

"I actually wasn't supposed to take the guitar out of the house."

Huh?

Yeah. Not his guitar. His dad's guitar.

Paul Simon’s guitar.

And what's so special about the guitar?

It's the one he used during Simon & Garfunkel's heyday.

At which point the intern carefully hands the guitar back to its owner's son.

Many, many, many years later, Linzy 'n I are standing outside with this former musician, this once upon a time intern who just paid a coupla things back.

Some tasty gear.

And a story.

From one musician...

To another.

☺️ ❤️ ❤️

[theflawinlove]

Paying It Forward

“We want to pay it forward because there’s no way we can ever pay it back.”

Joži M.

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[stick-arms]

Extra bonus round: I wouldn't say that I was raised on romance Let's not get stuck in the past I love you more than everything in the world I don't expect that will last They told me everything was guaranteed Somebody somewhere must've lied to me

[weatherinsomnia]

So yesterday my pharmacist did something great.

We have this regular that comes in, he's homeless, but honestly such a great guy. Incredibly kind and understanding when the pharmacy is busy as all hell. With him being homeless he can't usually afford all his medication at once. My pharmacist decides to fill all of his current scripts, and she paid for them, which came out to about $23. When she called him up, and handed him the bag and said Merry Christmas, he was so happy and relieved. Like real talk, that made my day.

[calvin-is]

I love you more than everything in the world. I don't expect that will last.

Elvis Costello