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Joy

Writer lives in vacation rentals and Airbnbs because it's cheaper than rent or a mortgage

She stayed 31 days in a 'ski town' AirBnB for $1200. That's $600 cheaper than her mortgage.

michelle joy, digital nomad, travel hacks

A woman looks out into a beautiful canyon.

Can you imagine living life as a digital nomad? You have a job, but your office changes month to month. You spend a few weeks at a ski resort and then a month on the beach. In between, you make a stop in Europe to visit the Christmas markets. It sounds like a millionaire's fantasy, right?

Not according to Michelle Joy, 35, a travel writer based in Houston, Texas. She recently explained to Business Insider how she cracked the code on how to stay in vacation rentals and Airbnbs long-term while making it cost less than the $1,800 a month she was spending on a mortgage payment, taxes and utilities.

Joy is the founder of Harbors and Heavens, a blog that documents her travels, inspires โ€œothers to see more of the world,โ€ and shares tips and tricks on how to do so affordably.


โ€œWhen I started researching places to stay, I quickly decided it would be much cheaper to slow travel and take advantage of long-stay discounts at vacation rentalsโ€”so much cheaper, actually, that it made me question whether I ever wanted to pay rent or a mortgage again,โ€ Joy wrote in Business Insider.

Her math also works for the average renter in Houston, where the average property will set you back $1,795 a month. Further, living at other peopleโ€™s properties means you donโ€™t have to pay for costly home repairs, new furniture or gas and electric bills.

Joyโ€™s trick is finding places in the offseason with plenty of available units that can be rented at a lower rate. She may miss out on some seasonal activities but is still on a permanent vacation.

โ€œWhen I'm searching for a long-term stay at a bargain, I look for popular and seasonal vacation destinations with a large concentration of short-term rentals, like Daytona Beach, Florida, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,โ€ she wrote for Business Insider. โ€œTowns with a lot of individually owned condos typically have plenty of rentals on sites like Airbnb, the platform I typically book on.โ€

โ€œTo get a good deal, I make my reservations for the offseason and book for at least a month at a time,โ€ Joy continued. โ€œMany rentals give weekly discounts, but the nightly rate bottoms out once you hit the monthly rental rate, typically at the 28- or 30-day mark.โ€

For example, Joy recently stayed at a vacation rental in Snowshoe, West Virginia, between the summer and ski seasons. Her 31-day stay cost her around $1200โ€”thatโ€™s $600 cheaper than her mortgage, taxes and utilities.

She also recently stayed in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for 35 nights and paid just $1,360.

Joyโ€™s new life as a digital nomad started when things began to open up in the waning days of the COVID pandemic, and she felt the itch to โ€œrevengeโ€ travel. Since then, sheโ€™s paid off her home in Texas and has no plans to return to living her old lifestyle anytime soon. She looks forward to living in vacation rentals in affordable international tourist destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, Croatia and Portugal.

โ€œBeing nomadic and hopping from rental to rental may not suit everyone, but my lifestyle and schedule are flexible, so it allows me to combine housing and travel costs into one expense and experience living in different places,โ€ she wrote.

But she hopes her travels inspire others to leave their comfort zones and see the world. โ€œIt's time to make your dreams happen,โ€ she wrote on Instagram. โ€œDon't put it off until or wait for someone else to do it for you. You are capable of creating a life you love on your own.โ€

Peter Dinklage on "Game of Thrones?

When it comes to actors doing accents across the pond, some Americans are known for their great British accents, such as Natalie Portman ("The Other Boleyn Girl"), Robert Downey, Jr. ("Sherlock Homes"), and Meryl Streep ("The Iron Lady").

Some have taken a lot of heat for their cartoonish or just plain weird-sounding British accents, Dick Van Dyke ("Mary Poppins"), Kevin Costner ("Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves") and Keanu Reeves ("Bram Stoker's Dracula").

Some actors, such as Tom Hardy (โ€œThe Dropโ€) and Hugh Laurie (โ€œHouseโ€), have American accents so good that people have no idea they are British.

Benedict Townsend, a London-based comedian and host of the โ€œScroll Deepโ€ podcast, says there is one word that American actors playing characters with a British accent never get right. And no, itโ€™s not the word โ€œSchedule,โ€ which British people pronounce the entire first 3 letters, and Americans boil down to 2. And itโ€™s not โ€œaluminum,โ€ which British and American people seem to pronounce every stinking letter differently.

@benedicttown

The one word American actors aways get wrong when doing an English accent

What word do American actors always get wrong when they do British accents?

โ€œThere is one word that is a dead giveaway that an English character in a movie or a TV show is being played by an American. One word that always trips them up. And once you notice it, you can't stop noticing it,โ€ Townsend says. โ€œYou would see this lot in โ€˜Game of Thronesโ€™ and the word that would always trip them up was โ€˜daughter.โ€™โ€

Townsend adds that when British people say โ€œdaughter,โ€ they pronounce it like the word โ€œdoorโ€ or โ€œdoor-tah.โ€ Meanwhile, Americans, even when they are putting on a British accent, say it like โ€œdah-ter.โ€

โ€œSo top tip if you are an actor trying to do an English accent, daughter like a door. Like you're opening a door,โ€ Townsend says.



What word do British actors always get wrong when doing American accents?

Some American commenters returned the favor by sharing the word that British actors never get right when using American accents: โ€œAnything.โ€

"I can always tell a Brit playing an American by the word anything. An American would say en-ee-thing. Brits say it ena-thing,โ€ Dreaming_of_Gaea wrote. "The dead giveaway for English people playing Americans: โ€˜Anything.โ€™ Brits always say โ€˜EH-nuh-thin,โ€™โ€ marliemagill added.

"I can always tell an actor is English playing an American when they say โ€˜anything.โ€™ English people always say it like โ€˜enny-thin,โ€™โ€ mkmason wrote.



What is the cot-caught merger?

One commenter noted that the problem goes back to the cot-caught merger, when Americans in the western US and Canadians began to merge different sounds into one. People on the East Coast and in Britain pronounce them as different sounds.

โ€œDepending on where you live, you might be thinking one of two things right now: Of course, โ€˜cotโ€™ and โ€˜caughtโ€™ sound exactly the same! or Thereโ€™s no way that โ€˜cotโ€™ and โ€˜caughtโ€™ sound the same!โ€ Laura McGrath writes at DoYouReadMe. โ€œAs a result, although the different spellings remain, the vowel sounds in the words cot/caught, nod/gnawed, stock/stalk are identical for some English speakers and not for others.โ€

American actors owe Townsend a debt of gratitude for pointing out the one thing that even the best canโ€™t seem to get right. He should also give the commenters a tip of the cap for sharing the big word that British people have trouble with when doing an American accent. Now, if we could just get through to Ewan McGregor and tell him that even though he is fantastic in so many films, his American accent still needs a lot of work.

This article originally appeared last year.

Health

Philosopher shares the subtle giveaway that someone is 'not very smart'

When you see this trait, it's time to rethink your relationship.

A man pointing at someone.

Individuals and groups have used scapegoating to blame their problems on others since the term was first coined in The Old Testament and probably long before. We see it all the time in politics, where leaders blame specific groups or ideologies for their countryโ€™s failures. We also see it in personal relationships where families blame one person for everyoneโ€™s problems or workplaces make an employee the fall guy for a failed project.

In a viral TikTok video, philosopher Julian de Medeiros explains why scapegoating is a sign that someone is unintelligent. He begins by quoting one of the most powerful British union leaders in the first half of the 20th century, Ernest Bevin, who once said: โ€œAn unintelligent person is always looking for a scapegoat.โ€

What's a sign that someone is unintelligent?

โ€œWhat he meant is that a sign that somebody is not very intelligent is that they always have to blame their problems on other people. Like, it's never something they've done; it's always somebody else's fault,โ€ de Medeiros says in a video with over 230,000 views. โ€œThey can avoid accountability; they can avoid introspection and self-reflection, which means that they can avoid growth because it's always somebody else's fault. A smart person is introspective, self-critical, and wants to grow, but an unintelligent person blames other people.โ€

@julianphilosophy

Intelligent vs. unintelligent #quotes #life #intelligent #wisdom


It can be hard to come to grips with our failures in life, whether they are financial problems, relationship issues or fear of losing control. โ€œThere are things that we cannot bear to see about ourselves. โ€˜I really donโ€™t want to be seen as vulnerable or stupid or weak or greedy,โ€™โ€ Deborah Stewart, a Jungian psychoanalyst, told The Washington Post. โ€œI donโ€™t have to deal with myself if I scapegoat if I blame. Thatโ€™s the part that most people donโ€™t really know โ€” that they are trying to expel some of their very own feelings by putting them on others.โ€

People and groups that are made into scapegoats can be put into incredible danger or subject to public disgrace, whether it is the Jewish people during the Holocaust or Anne Boleyn during the reign of King Henry VIII, or Yoko Ono for the breakup of The Beatles.

The big problem with scapegoating.

Those who scapegoat others for their failures can be seen as unintelligent because they refuse to take responsibility for their actions or even recognize where they may have been wrong. When people point their fingers at others, they also ensure that they never learn from their problems and are bound to repeat them. Intelligent people have a growth mindset, and scapegoating is the exact opposite.

Further, when societies refuse to look at the real causes of their problems and instead blame them on scapegoats, they will fail to progress. However, itโ€™s very easy for leaders to fall into the scapegoat trap because it prevents them from being responsible and appears to solve problems when they are actually taking the easy way out.

Ultimately, it comes down to a core question: do you want to deflect blame for your problems by scapegoating someone else, or do you want to accept responsibility and grow from your difficulties? Ironically, those who scapegoat may think it makes their lives easier. However, living a life making the same mistakes repeatedly is a lot harder than accepting responsibility.

@cosmo_andtheoddparents/TikTok

He wuvs his vet.

Not every dog might jump with joy after seeing their vet out in public. But for Cosmo the Golden Retriever, it was practically Christmas all over again when he spotted his own vet, Dr. Jones, at a brewery.

In an adorable clip posted to TikTok, we see Cosmo in pure, unadulterated bliss as he snuggles with an equally happy Dr. Jones, who, considering heโ€™s still in his scrubs, might have just gotten out of work to grab a quick pint.

Watch:

Ugh, the cuteness is too much to handle! People in the comments could barely contain their secondhand joy.

โ€œHe looked over like, โ€œMom, do you see who this is?โ€ one person wrote, while another said, โ€œWhat in the Hallmark movie? Adorable!!โ€

One person even joked, โ€œDid we all check the vetโ€™s hand for a wedding ring? (Said as a married woman. Looking out for you all, or something.)โ€

According to Hannah Dweikat, Cosmoโ€™s owner, the two actually share quite a history. She tells Upworthy that when Cosmo was but a wee pup, he โ€œgave a scareโ€ after eating a Sago Palm seed, which are highly toxic to dogs, from a plant in their backyard, which of course resulted in him being rushed to the animal hospital and staying there over the weekend.

While thatโ€™s every pet ownerโ€™s worst nightmare, and certainly a scary situation for the poor fur baby, Dweikat says that โ€œthe calm and patient demeanorโ€ of Dr. Jones and his staff put Cosmo at ease. And because of this, โ€œCosmo has always loved going to see his friendsโ€”especially because they give him lots of treats and snuggles.โ€

Cosmo and Dr. Jonesโ€™ buddyship has also blossomed thanks to proximity, as Dweikat only lives down the street from the clinic. โ€œWhich means we get to see Dr. Jones and his staff out in public at times and Cosmo takes every chance he can get to say hi,โ€ she explains. This time, however, she was able to capture it all on video. Yay for us!

What makes a good vet?

While not every vet, however gifted, will be able to elicit this type of reaction from their patients, having a calming presence like Dr. Jones is certainly a good sign for pet owners to be on the lookout for when shopping around for their own vet. But thatโ€™s not the only quality a good vet needs. According to Saint Matthews University, a vet also needs to have high stamina (both physically and mentally), as well as an ability to tolerate unpleasant situations (you canโ€™t faint at the sight of blood or vomit), a high level of emotional intelligence (maybe all doctors should possess this skill, but especially those who work with animals), adaptability, a sense of enthusiasm, and finally, excellent communication skills.

Dr. Jones seems to have these attributes in spades, and his patients clearly love him for it. None so much as Cosmo, obviously.

By the way, if youโ€™re in need of even more content featuring this precious pup, you can follow Cosmo on both TikTok and Instagram.

@oldmansrock/Instagram

Truly a once in a lifetime talent.

When we think of badass, alt rock icons of the 90s, few are as singular and unique as Dolores Oโ€™Riordan, who gave The Cranberries its signature sound, and who was once described as having"the voice of a saint trapped in a glass harp.โ€

It wasnโ€™t just that Oโ€™Riordan flawlessly blended traditional Celtic singing techniques like lilting and keening into rock music (which in itself is an amazing feat) but that her performances never compromised emotional authenticity for the sake of aesthetics. The result, as any fan will tell you, was something both ethereal and raw all at the same time.

So it should probably be of no surprise that in this resurfaced clip, presumably from the late 90s, Oโ€™Riordanโ€™s stunning cover of Fleetwood Macโ€™s โ€œGo Your Own Wayโ€ is every bit as magical. As @oldmansrock, the account that posted the video, wrote, โ€œthe way that Dolores could challenge the pitch but still stay on key, that is the mark of an accomplished singer.

It sounds dissonant compared to the manufactured material of today, where every tone is perfect, but hers is oh so human, and so very Irish! It is beautiful!โ€

But donโ€™t just take their word for it. Watch:

If this had you wanting to pull up a Cranberries playlist on your Spotify to listen to for the rest of the day, you're not alone. Down in the comments, the renewed love for Oโ€™โ€™Riordan was palpable.

โ€œWhat sits deep with me is that no one sounds like her. Her voice is unmistakable. Whatever her take on a song/lyric? It was authentically, soul-touching Dolores.

โ€œShe was unbelievably talented and the cranberries are criminally underrated.โ€

โ€œHer Irish vocal sweep ups are amazing.โ€

โ€œShe was just brilliant!!! Incredibly talented as well as a lovely and kind human being. I love and miss her. I don't know how anyone can have a bad word to say about this. I thought it was brilliant, both her live cover and studio cover. I wish people weren't so stubborn. I can accept covers no problem if the singer is talented enough, and she most certainly is. โค๏ธโ€

โ€œA keening Irish queen. Her voice will always stir me.โ€

โ€œAn actual once in a generation talentโ€

โ€œAlso a master of the microphone. She knows exactly where the sweet spot is for every note.โ€

โ€œShe could melt your heart with that voice, or completely blow you away. Missed dearly, but never forgotten โค๏ธโ€

This cover would go on to be a part to the Cranberriesโ€™ third album, To The Faithful Departed, which was released in 1996 and became the bandโ€™s highest-charting album on the US Billboard 200, and was praised for its darker tone as well as its themes of grief and loss.

After Oโ€™Riordan died from drowning due to alcohol intoxication in January 2018, the Cranberries would disband in 2019, but they released their final album, In the End, that year. It was comprised of some of O'Riordan's unfinished demo tapes.

While Oโ€™Riordan met the same tragic fate that befalls many artists, especially those in the music industry, her spirit lives on in her art. Because she put so much of herself into her craft, even bite-sized clips of her performances, many years later, inspire those who listen to it. Thatโ€™s something worth celebrating.

By the way, you can catch a full video of the cover below.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Joy

A poet wrote about meeting her younger self for coffee and launched cathartic viral trend

Women are creating healing "I met my younger self for coffee" poems as they reflect on how far they've come.

If you could meet your younger self for coffee, what would you say?

Life is complex and our feelings about our lives even moreso, which is why we humans so often turn to art as a means of processing it all. Poetry in particular has the power to distill complexity into a beautifully simple form, allowing us to succinctly express feelings that are difficult to describe. As Robert Frost wrote, "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words," and a skilled poet can help us all find words for our own thoughts and emotions.

A poem by Jennae Cecelia from her upcoming book "Deep in My Feels" has kicked off a viral wave of poetic expression as women reflect on how they've grown and changed since they were younger. Cecelia's poem begins, "i met my younger self for coffee at 10:15," and goes on to describe a lovely, compassionate interaction with her younger self, all while contrasting that younger self with the woman she has become.

People loved the poem so much they used it as inspiration for their own "meeting my younger self for coffee" writing exercises, and the various iterations, at once so personal yet universal, have taken TikTok and Instagram by storm. Some are just written on blank backgrounds as images. Others are videos with the poem overlaid and music in the background.

But what they share in common is the sentiment of wanting to let our younger selves know it was going to be okay. That life is hard but there are good things coming around the corner. That whatever she's feeling or going through now will someday just be a memory.

Some poems have come from women who are still young but fully adult now, speaking to their teen selves.

@jasbethany_

Iโ€™d do anything to talk to my 15 year old self ๐Ÿฅฒ #nostalgia #coffee #youngerself

Others come from moms in the thick of parenting, reassuring their younger selves that their dreams of having a family have come true, while others show that they took a different path than they planned and it turned out fine.

@katrice_taylor

๐ŸคŽ #imetmyoungerselfforcoffee #momtok #momsoftiktok #blackmomsoftiktok

The trend is moving people to tears, offering hope to people who are still in those uncertain younger self years, when the possibilities of life seem endless and yet so much feels impossible. Many are finding solace in seeing people's before and after stories, as they serve as a reminder that life is malleable, that the future isn't set in stone, that people can endure and overcome.

@puffy817

Why did this trend heal a little bit in me while I wrote it IB: @Jennae Cecelia Poetry #coffeewithmyyoungerself #parati

Many resonate with the message that whatever struggles we're dealing with now we likely won't be in the future. And, of course, there will always be new struggles we're dealing with but with age and experience we hopefully learn about our own strength to endure. We also hopefully still have dreams to catch.

Cecelia says she is glad that her poem has inspired so many people to create their own versions of it, adding a rightful request to be credited for her work. She shares that the poem is part of a new collection of poetry that she describes as "a dream come true." Her previous poetry books have been self-published, but for this book she landed a deal with a publisher and is thrilled by the idea of having her book available in bookstores and not just online.

"This book is personal" Cecelia says. "Itโ€™s a reflection of love, loss, growth, and all the emotions weโ€™re sometimes afraid to name. Itโ€™s a reminder that vulnerability isnโ€™t just okayโ€”itโ€™s necessary. Inside, youโ€™ll find poems that sit with you in lifeโ€™s highs and lows, including the one about, 'meeting your younger self for coffee'โ€”a favorite in the collection."

You can find "Deep in My Feels" for pre-order on Amazon and you can learn more about Cecelia and her work at jennaececelia.com.