Last night the temperature dropped to single digits for a span. This prompted several outside activities to prepare for the cold.
I covered the strawberries with leaf mulch and doubled up the row covers. Water hoses were disconnected and covers placed over the spigot.
Buckets and other vessel’s normally filled with water were turned over and their contents spilled out on the lawn.
We had snow the previous week, so much of the preparation was already partially completed.
My LEAF in the air.
The last chore for further cold weather is getting my tires refilled. The cold pressure has reduced the psi in my back tires by nearly 6 points.
The back tires are the new pair I got from the dealership. The mechanic said they didn’t see any signs of leaks and the drop in pressure was just the cold weather.
My next appointment will be in March for tire rotation. Shouldn’t cost more than $25. Then I’ll be set to drive for a good long while.
This is such a large city that It will take some time to write and photograph it, so this post will likely grow over time.
North Raleigh
My regular commute to source goods for my eBay shop takes me to North Raleigh every Wednesday. I shop at the Treasure Hunt Liquidators Bin Megastore on Capital Blvd, on their dollar day mostly.
My route takes me Southbound on US-401 and then I turn at Cavalry Drive, just past the Baptist church on the corner of North New Hope Road and Louisburg Road.
Further up the road, northbound, there is a Mosque in a residential development. There is some construction taking place in front, but I don’t know what’s going to be built.
Central Raleigh
Traveling south along Wade Avenue the traffic pattern begins to shift. My fellow drivers appear more frantic and aggressive in their movements. This is the city.
The portion of Raleigh I travelled through was just a slice of the full concrete and steel beam space. Afterwards, the skyscraper forest gives way to single story shops and sit down restaurant’s.
Upgrade buildings and technologies, train troops, gather resources, expand your territory. Command your dragon and lead your allies to victory in massive fantasy warfare.
Reaching the T4 Troops and 3M Power goals is achievable, so a possible $196 in rewards, before expenses.
I made it! Tier 4 Troops are unlocked. When I submit my ticket, I will claim credit for the T3 and T4 ($112) goals. I will wait a day, to give time for it to credit normally before sending a ticket.
Tier 4 Mage Unit for the Elves
I ran out of speedups and had to keep chasing all the weekly events to get small boosts and Gems to spend on speed ups in the Goblin Merchant, Alliance Store, and the VIP store.
I maxed out the Titans Legacy pack at level 80, which unlocked a perpetual reward that cycles between speed boosts and Gold Keys.
Titan’s Legacy
Titan’s Legacy is a season long growth pack not included in the required purchases for this offer. It has a free tier and a premium tier for $4.99.
I decided to spend the extra money because it included many speed up items and would be active for 60 days, more than covering the time I would need to finish the offer.
Day 23: I managed to upgrade the citadel to a metropolis (level 21), this unlocked several rewards from the Growth pack, Titan’s Legacy, the Great Halls event, and construction goal rewards. Over 10k gems were included and also several days worth of upgrade speedups.
HQ Upgrade from 20 to 21 (8 days 11 hours)
I forgot to check which researches would be needed to get the Tier 4 troops and so I am behind on the research. There is maybe a months worth of upgrades I still need to finish, so I won’t likely get to T4. In hindsight I should have been researching those items up to this point weeks ago.
Around a months worth of speedups were needed to clear the research for T4 troops.
Day 16: I’ve reach 2M Power and have started the Citadel 19 upgrade (5d 8hrs). I quit CS alliance and joined Gaia after a lot of toxic behavior by leadership. I’m not the first it seems; I’ve found a bunch of comrades with similar experiences. I got to join and complete an Elite ROC raid. Nice prizes and bounties.
Day 10: I messed up. I misunderstood the VIP levels and I was already at 7 when i spent an additional 17.5k Gems to upgrade it.
The Honor chest was $19.99. I had read it was good to get to VIP 8, but I think I would have preferred to use those Gems on resources or speed ups.
Reimbursement on the Honor chest was $25, so a $6 profit. I hit the 1.5M Power goal. Level 3 Troops still hasn’t credited.
Day 6: Power is 1.2M currently, I should have T3 Troops ($12) in the next 2 days. That should put me above 1.5M ($5) for the goal, I need 4k more Gems to reach VIP 7 to get the Honor chest ($25).
Day 4: Closing in on 1M power now. It looks like the VIP 7 honor exclusive will be around $25, considering the increase in cost from ranks 4-6. My Alliance mates have posted several good guides that I have included here. Best Pet, Commander Pairings, and HQ Requirements.
Day 3: I went ahead and made two additional purchases. I bought a 99 cent pop up deal and the 9.99 Insight Rune for Titans Legacy. Unfortunately, these purchases did not count towards the Purchase Payback, so I did not get more Velyn tokens. I am up to VIP 6 now.
Day 2: I am on day 2, with 380k Power. The 1M power objective is unlikely. I’ve spent $20 and received $19 in reimbursement. I still need to buy the VIP7 chest, but that provides $25 in reimbursement. My goal will be 3M power and Tier 3 Troops.
Must be installing Call of Dragons for the first time to receive SB.
In-app purchases and upgrades are available.
Award will pend for 10 days
Objective
Reward
Upgrade your city to level 8
0.70
Reach Power 300k
2.00
Reach Power 500k
2.50
Purchase Efficiency in Market’s Worker Support (5 Days to complete)
6.00
Bonus: Reach Power 1M (3 Days to complete)
10.00
Reach Power 1.5M
5.00
Purchase Growth Fund (10 Days to complete)
10.00
Reach Power 3M
30.00
Make First Purchase
3.00
Purchase Honor Exclusive after reaching VIP 7
25.00
Reach Power 10M*
300.00
Reach Power 20M* (30 Days to complete)
900.00
Reach Tier 3 Troops (30 Days to complete)
12.00
Reach Tier 4 Troops (30 Days to complete)
100.00
*It is likely impossible to complete the 10M/20M goals in the timeframe given. Engage at your own peril.
Strategy
Some players, on Reddit, report being only able to reach 5M power after 30 days of game play and heavy spending, while others have said they reached 1M+ in 3-4 days.
Reaching 20 Million Power in Call of Dragons involves massive troop training (especially T5), completing all research at the College of Order, upgrading buildings to high rank (Level 25), leveling heroes, acquiring War Pets, and maximizing speed-ups and resources.
This was my status sheet on day 26 of play, having managed to unlock T4 troops in research, but not having converted all my units.
With full conversion, my power level would have been 4,012,136.
Tip: New players are encouraged to build out Magic Heroes and Units or Marksmen for ranged DPS. They can be used to support melee armies in your alliance, while also being easier to maneuver away from combat if you are targeted. The Fire/Frost legendary heroes are easily acquired.
Just focus on a primary unit type for combat and use the Arms Exchange feature in Events to swap other units types for your primary. This way you can produce all unit types and then convert them into your primary.
I had 100k mage units on Day 10, and 37k Work Elks. I later swapped 15k Mages to Infantry to help the Alliance for some challenges.
The only exception to this are the Work Elks. Keep them for gathering.
Armies are limited to a single unit type and will typically synergize with the abilities of the hero and deputy hero. Multiple armies can be deployed in unison covering each type (infantry, archer, tank, cavalry).
Cavalry units don’t become become available until Sanctuary level 10. They can however be gained earlier by trading with Camps (Work Elk). These initial cavalry units are meant for gathering and have a high load capacity.
In the event panel, you may swap units of the same tier. I swapped my infantry/tank units for the Tier 1 Cavalry to increase my gathering efficiency.
Key Strategies for High Power Growth
Troop Training: Train high-tier troops (T4 & T5) for massive power gains; T5 troops give 100 points in events like Strongest Lord.
Research: Finish all research in your College of Order as quickly as possible, as this adds significant power.
Building Upgrades: Upgrade every building in your city to level 25 for substantial power boosts.
Heroes & Pets: Level up your heroes and acquire powerful War Pets.
Resource Management: Use speed-ups and resources efficiently to accelerate all these processes.
This video goes over all of the methods for increasing your power rating.
Offer Spending
Some of the goals require a purchase, which may be a good choice given the limited 30 day offer terms.
The Honor Exclusive may be a bit costly. Typically, high VIP levels in mobile games is one of the most lucrative avenues for monetization.
At each rank of Honor, you are prompted to purchase an exclusive pack that includes Liliya’s Tokens. This is the method to upgrade the Legendary starter hero from the First Purchase.
Objective
Reward
Cost (USD)
Efficiency in Market’s Worker Support
6.00
4.99
Growth Fund
10.00
9.99
Reaching VIP 7
Daily Prize
Spend Gems
Honor Exclusive at VIP 7
25.00
19.99
A workaround will be logging in daily to receive a small amount of Honor points, and by swapping your Gems for Honor experience points.
Any remaining levels may be acquired through the extra worker and growth fund purchases.
Purchasing the extra worker will fulfill the requirements of “Purchase Payback” which provides an additional legendary hero (Velyn), and 20 Keys to summon more heroes.
Rank
Honor (Cumulative)
Exclusive Cost (USD)
0
0
Free
1
200
0.99
2
400
1.99
3
1,300
1.99
4
3,500
4.99
5
6,000
4.99
6
11,500
9.99
7
17,500
19.99
8
35,000
49.99
9
75,000
?
10
?
?
Power Levels
Power comes from Buildings, Heroes, Pets, Artifacts, and Research. Your basic recruited hero and their equipped pet and artifact will provide a moderate amount of power.
The Citadel provides 91,451 Power at level 16.
Resource Buildings are worth 10,181 at level 16 (4 each = 162,256).
Tier 5 troops are worth 10 Power each (2M Tier 5 = 20M Power).
At high ranks (4 Stars), a legendary hero may provide a power score around 100k. It will would likely be difficult to gain such powerful heroes in just 30-days. Blue heroes were around 30-40k power at level 30s and 4 stars.
While a building at max level can provide around 725k power, we will not be reaching those levels in the course of this offers timeframe.
Our first mission will be to complete the level 8 town upgrade on the first day. This can be achieved by using some of the free resources and speed up items new players receive.
On the first day we can also buy the extra worker and the growth pack to clear both of those objectives.
Strategy 1 (Long-term): Save your gems for purchasing VIP points. At VIP level 8, we get a permanent 2nd research slot which will speed up our power gain.
Strategy 2 (Short-term): Gems should be used to exchange for Gold Keys. In the early game the fastest way to reach 1M power by day 3 is to summon heroes.
Upgrading the castle from 8 (town) to 16 (citadel) takes 385 hours or 16 days. You will need 6,072,100 Gold and Wood, and 2,507,790 Stone to complete the upgrades to the main building alone.
There will be additional resource requirements to upgrade pre-requisite structures. Expect to have all other buildings upgraded to level 15.
Buildings do not provide much power until they reach level 21. At levels 20+ buildings provide 30-50k power each when fully upgraded.
Using Gems
Farming Gems
Farming gems can be easy or hard, based on how many players are on your server.
After you learn Gem Prospecting in Internal Affairs, you can send heroes to gather gems. But with many players, competition can be tough.
New players should focus on permanent technologies and other resources first, and start gathering gems once they reach max technology and city hall levels.
Events and Quests
Many events and quests provide gems as rewards. To gather gems over time, it’s important to complete as many of these as possible.
Examples include special events, NPC battles, and daily quests. Joining a whale alliance, where spenders buy bundles and give out free chests with opportunities to win gems, can also help.
Buying Packs
Spending real money on packs usually includes gems. Bundles like Growth Fund, Monthly Pack, and first purchases in the Gem Market can give you many gems. Growth Fund is especially good as it offers a large number of gems, but you need to reach upgrade milestones to receive the rewards.
HQ 12: 2x Gold Keys, 12x 10-Minute Building Speedup, 12x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 2x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Gold, 100k Wood, and Emoji.
HQ 13: 13x 10-Minute Building Speedup, 13x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 2x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Gold, 100k Wood, and Emoji.
HQ 14: 1x 7-Day Speedup, 14x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 2x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Ore, 20k Mana, and Emoji.
HQ 15: 15x 10-Minute Building Speedup, 15x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 2x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Gold, 100k Wood, and Emoji.
HQ 16: 16x 10-Minute Building Speedup, 16x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 3x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Ore, and 20k Mana.
HQ 17:
HQ 18:
HQ 19:
HQ 20: 1x 7-Day Speedup, 20x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 3x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Ore, and 20k Mana.
HQ 21: 21x 10-Minute Building Speedup, 21x 10-Minute Training Speedup, 4x Basic CP Recovery (100), 100k Gold, and 100k Wood.
Guide to Creating a Farm Account
by (GAIA) Atenea.
What is a farm account?
A farm account is a secondary account whose main purpose is to produce resources (wood, gold, mana, and food) to directly support your main account.
1️⃣ Creating the farm account Create a new account from the Settings → Character management. Choose the same kingdom where your main account is located. Try to join a nearby alliance, preferably one located in your same region.
2️⃣ Faction choice The best faction for a farm account is: 🏹 League of Order (Humans) Balanced development. Efficient buildings. Ideal for accounts focused exclusively on economy and gathering.
3️⃣ City development (priority) Upgrade only what is strictly necessary to produce resources. Key buildings 🏛️ City Hall 🌲 Lumber Mills 🌾 Farms 🪙 Gold Mines 🔮 Mana buildings Research Prioritize only Economy and Gathering research. Avoid military or defensive research.
4️⃣ Recommended commanders Use gathering commanders only: 🔹 Invest only in Gathering and Economy talents. 🔹 Do not spend experience on combat commanders.
5️⃣ Proper troop usage Train only the troops needed for gathering. Keep low-tier troops. Do not develop advanced military structures.
6️⃣ Efficient gathering Keep your marches always gathering. Take advantage of resource nodes within alliance territory. Use gathering boosts only if they are free.
7️⃣ Protecting the farm account Place the city inside alliance territory. In case of conflict: Withdraw troops from nodes. Avoid confrontations. Prioritize not losing troops.
8️⃣ Resource transfer To transfer resources to your main account: Both accounts must be in the same alliance. Use the Alliance Bazaar to transfer resources safely.
Community
The Facebook and Discord pages will often feature contests and game trivia. It is easy to get small rewards for participating in these activities.
This was my entry for Ruby’s Christmas Outfit.
CoD Redemption Codes
Codes expire 7-30 days after being released. Check the official Facebook page for new codes.
TIP: The codes are not case sensitive.
Code
Expires
Contents
CODTHX1127
12-31-25
1x Universal Artifact Key, 2x 60-Minute Training Speedup, and Level 2 Choice Resource Chest
SSSVIP8888
2x Silver Key, 150k Gold, 150k Wood, and 112.5k Stone.
SSSVIP7777
60-minute speedup, 60-minute building speedup, 150k Gold, 150k Wood, and 112.5k Stone.
SSSVIP6666
1x Silver Key, 60-minute training speedup, 8-hour enhanced gathering, and 1 Epic Medal.
PLAYCODPC
30-minute training speedup and 8-hour enhanced gathering.
SVIPDRAGON
2x Silver Key, 150k Gold, 150k Wood, and 112.5k Stone.
Heroes
Call of Dragons was developed by the same company as Rise of Kingdoms and the heroes in both games are essentially the same. The combat system is also the same.
You will have a primary hero that leads the army and a deputy hero that provides Skill (attack) based bonuses. The deputy hero does not lend their talents to the fight, only their skill effects.
Make sure you save the Blue Tokens to improve the skills of your lower tier heroes. New skills unlock every 10 levels.
Upgrade Legendary heroes first to improve your battle efficiency, but afterwards upgrade the blue heroes. They can provide around 70k Power each with maxed out skills and artifacts equipped.
Hero Specialties
Each hero has 3 specialties which may include:
Gather
Support
Overall
Marksman
Peacekeeping
Precision
Magic
Skills
Fighters
Combat Heroes excel at PvE and PvP combat. Their skills deal direct damage to foes and include a finisher in most cases.
Gatherers
These economic heroes get a bonus to gathering specific resources and these bonuses can be improved upon in the Talent Tree.
Heroes with the Gather specialty, will have a skill that improves gathering speed in general and also boosts a specific resource gathering speed.
For example, Pan’s Tier 2 Skill, “Secret of the Trees,” provides the following bonuses when upgraded.
Gather Speed (%)
Wood Gather Speed (%)
1
4
2
6
3
8
4
10
5
12
7 (awaken to unlock)
15 (awaken to unlock)
Campaigns
Expeditions
This is the idle reward portion of the game. It includes a mini auto grid-battler system with room for 6×6 fights.
Each squad can have two heroes, a pet, and a single unit type. The units should complement the heroes being deployed.
At mission 11, players can activate the double speed option. At mission 30, the multi-battle option can be toggled, which automates the expedition. It will keep fighting until you lose a battle.
The chest on the main screen can be tapped to claim current accumulated rewards which include gold, wood, stone, exp tomes, and hero tokens.
Expeditions are independent of world map battles and can be completed while heroes are out gathering or fighting.
Behemoth Trials
This is a mini battle campaign trail with manually controlled battles. Some trails use tactics and will require some thought on how to advance.
After clearing a Main Stage, you will receive 1-3 star rating, along with corresponding Loot bonuses. You will receive rewards for clearing a Main Stage for the first time.
In Main Stages, you will use your own Heroes, combat units and buff effects. In the Side Stages you are only able to use preset Heroes, combat units and buff effects.
The higher your Loot bonus and the longer you wait, the more Loot you will receive (idle rewards). Loot will accumulate for up to 24 hours, so remember to claim it in time.
The first time you beat Main Stage 5, you will unlock the Auto-Battle feature. Auto-Battle cannot be used in Escort, Tower Defense, Boss, or Side Stages.
The first time you beat Main Stage 10, you will unlock the Multi-Battle feature. Multi-Battle cannot be used in Escort, Tower Defense, Boss, or Side Stages.
During Behemoth Trials, feel free to allocate your Legions as you please, as they will not die or have their numbers reduced. Trial Store items will be refreshed at midnight each day.
Trial Coins can be used at the Trials Store to buy various Hero Tokens and items.
Tournament of Champions
This is an Arena for PvP. You can create a team of up to 5 legions (HQ dependent) and battle other players lineups.
First start by setting a defense team to handle opposing attacks and then create an offense team. You get 3 attempts each day to battle other players and can spend Gems for extra attempts.
Reaching higher tiers will provide rewards.
Roots of War
Roots of War Guide
This is a mini map battle with set regions to fight over. The goal is to collect energy from the map by gathering resources.
Special mana stones will spawn at set intervals. A team member will pick it up and then walk slowly to a central drop off location. Team members will need to escort the caravan to the location to prevent attacks by the opposing team.
If your team does not have a sufficient number of players present, you can get blocked in by a strong enemy and prevented from accessing the map for the duration of the event.
25x 60-Minute Training Speedup, and 10x Level 3 Choice Resource Chest.
Wall Map
The floating compass above the city wall takes you to the storyline game. This works similar to the expedition but requires you to navigate the heroes on a mini-map and battle enemies in real-time.
You can use any of the heroes you have unlocked and raising their levels will improve the success rate for these missions.
Missions are gated by the level of your Sanctuary (Citadel).
The Best Pet for your Hero
Since War Pets unlocking, wanted to share this guide to help you choose the best pet for each legion.
Mages
Recommended pet: Sapphire Faedrake
Reasoning: The Sapphire Faedrake’s spell fires a large beam that hits the target and nearby legions. Its secondary skill (available in the shop) can increase damage output by up to 40% with one star. Overall, this is the most efficient pet for mages.
Stat priorities: Intelligence and Luck
Infantry
Recommended pet: ice bear & orange bear
Reasoning: The Ice Bear is good because it offers a shield and damage when it breaks, which can be combined with Eliana or Madeline. The orange bear is good because it offers healing and sustainability, making it good with Garwood and mu hsiang . Sand Lizards might be better for mages because they heal per second, which is good for continuous DPS and not for tanks.
Marksmen
Recommended pets: Shadow Manticore, Snowpeak Roc, Berserk Faedrake, or Golden Roc
Reasoning: The Snowpeak Roc’s talent skill works with marksmen but only when paired with Nico or an awakened Kinnara.
Stat priorities: Strength, Agility, and Luck
Cavalry
Recommended pet: Golden Roc
Reasoning: The Golden Roc’s passive skill provides rage accumulation and additional damage once rage is active. It synergizes perfectly with Emrys and Bakshi, both of whom benefit from rage gain, amplifying overall damage. Combined with defense ignore, physical damage, and HP ignore effects, this setup becomes extremely powerful.
Stat priorities: Strength, Agility, and Luck
Commander Pairings
In this decree, the best hero pairings are listed. Feel free to do your own research as well on google.
Note: An “x” in the number of the skill means it doesn’t matter since the skill is not relevant to the open field.
Tip: Pressing the Lock button when viewing skills will allow you to select which skills to allow to be leveled up. Otherwise, point distribution will be random.
Magic Legions
✿ 5×51 Liliya + 5111 Velyn ✿ 5×51 Liliya + 5111 Waldyr ✿ 5511 Waldyr + 5111 Velyn ✿ 5511 Waldyr + 5111 Alwyn ✿ 5511 Waldyr + 5111 Theia ✿ 5111 Hosk + 5555 Liliya (for the whales) ✿ 5511 Atheus + 5111 Theia (flying units) ✿ 5511 Atheus + 515x Kregg (flying units) ✿ 5111 Theia + 515x Kregg (flying units) ✿ To make any magic march a bit more tanky, you can add a 5×22 Eliana as a secondary.
Infantry Legions
✿ 5×11 Garwood + 5×22 Eliana
✿ 5×11 Garwood + 551x Bakhar
✿ 551x Bakhar + 5111 Nika
✿ 551x Bakhar + 5×22 Eliana
✿ 5111 Kregg + 55×1 Ordo (only for engineering purposes! And make sure to have Kregg with engineering talent tree)
✿ I don’t add Madeline here because we haven’t had her Fortune Wheel, but she is OP, if you do get her at a later stage, use her as primary with any commander above or Hosk.
Cavalry Legions
✿ 5×11 Emrys + 5×11 Bakshi
✿ 5×11 Emrys + 51×1 Alistair
✿ 5×11 Bakshi + 51×1 Alistair
✿ 5×11 Bakshi + 5×11 Emrys
✿ 5×11 Alistair +5×22 Eliana
✿ Sorry cavalry mains, there are not many options for you to use.
Marksmen Legions
✿ 5111 Kinnara + 5×11 Gwanwyn
✿ 5111 Kinnara + 5111 Nico
✿ 5111 Nico + 5×22 Eliana
✿ 5111 Nico + 5511 Kregg (good for pvp and engineering!)
✿ 5111 Nico + 5111 Hosk (for the whales)
✿ 5×11 Gwanwyn + 5511 Kregg
✿ 5×11 Gwanwyn + 5111 Nico
Beast Battles
I missed the bear fight, but I did take part in the Thunder Roc normal battle. I died in the water during the first fight, but survived during the second normal battle. I did not have time to join the Elite Roc fight.
Different time zones were a difficulty in this game. Most players were 5-9 hours away.
Thunder Roc
Thunder Roc StatsThunder Roc Skills
The strategy uses two teams Sun and Moon. Use Discord for voice chat and party management (alliance chat if you can’t use Discord).
Members will send their best legion to participate in the battle. For Normal Roc, T2 and T3 units are fine. But for Elite Roc, only T3’s should be used and you want a minimum of 45k units.
Teams are divided evenly between Sun and Moon with designated Tanks and DPS members. The Roc battle area is a circle divided by land paths in a quadrant.
The Roc will target different quadrants during the fight.
During the fight, if your legion gets targeted by the Red ball (Roc’s attack), your screen will flash red. When this happens, walk your legion to the middle. When the Red ball touches the water, it will become electrified and do heavy damage to any legions present in the targeted quadrant.
Multiple legions may be wiped out if players are not properly coordinated.
During the fight, Dispel stones will appear that will remove the shock from the water, heal members legions, and stun the bird. For the Normal Roc, 8 players are needed to activate the stone. In Elite Roc, 13 members must activate the stone.
After the Roc has been stunned, players can safely attack it.
Tank role during the raid: Tanks will need to keep the Roc in the center of the field. Don’t let it get into the puddles of water. It the Roc does its charge in the water, it will kill half of the people in that puddle.
Multiple rounds of avoiding the Red ball, running from shock water, activating dispel stones, and attacking the Roc will occur. After the Roc has been defeated, players will purify it by targeting the body.
Alliance-wide rewards for Thunder Roc
Individual rewards are issued for the top 5 members who deal the most damage during the fight. Alliance-wide rewards are issued regardless of member participation in the event.
Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?
In the course of my attendance of the Tongue Point Job Corps Center in Astoria, OR, I was granted the privilege of reading Martin Luther King Junior’s “Dream” speech, during Black History month, in front of the entire student body and staff.
Astoria’s Tongue Point Job Corps center was one of the first in the nation to open in 1965. Located on a former Navy base, it now hosts 313 students, many of whom live on campus, and 165 staff members.
The Job Corps program originated in 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” established by the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) to combat youth unemployment by providing education, vocational training, and work experience for disadvantaged young people.
At the Job Corps Center, I was a member of the Student Government Association (SGA), representing the third residence as its president. I served for 3 terms in office. I had originally applied for and was elected to the role of Vice President of the dorm.
Mid way through the semester I took over the president role, after the current president had joined the college program and her class schedules conflicted with regular SGA activities.
I would go on to serve as president for the remainder of the term and was twice re-elected to office.
In 2007, during Black History Month, a call went out for a student volunteer to make a reading of MLKs reverent speech.
After my application and interview was accepted, I won the coveted role.
I read the speech numerous times, listening to and watching recordings, to familiarize myself with Dr. King’s manner of speech, his inflection, and voice.
My own voice is often colored by the British English accent I picked up from my father. I practiced speaking in the manner of a preacher, replicating a soulful black southern accent to better convey the words of MLKs speech.
Martin Luther King Jr.
In February, before the entire assembled student body and staff, I gave my reading.
Public speaking was never my strong suit, but I felt empowered that day. Constant practice had lent me confidence and strength.
I believe that day marked the pinnacle of my time at Tongue Point. It was the culmination of my efforts to improve upon myself as a person and a future member of the workforce.
It was also an especially poignant speech as I was living proof of the success of that Dream.
Born of mixed race parentage in the predominantly Caucasian Pacific Northwest, growing up, I had had my share of racist encounters in school and society, but it was during my time at the Center that I truly found acceptance.
I was uplifted, moving beyond mere tolerance to actively support, encourage, and help others to grow.
The success of the Job Corps program lies in its fostering of an environment where people feel valued, empowered, and inspired to reach their best selves.
I am reminded of my best self every February and following months are better for it.
I first saw Escaflowne in 1996 on TV in America. I must have been 11 years old.
I didn’t know it was a Japanese animation at the time. I really only became cognizant of Japan during my time at the Job Corps Center in Astoria, OR.
Escaflowne aired on Fox Kids (1990-2002) with 10 episodes before it was canceled. I wouldn’t find out about the cancelation until years later when I discovered the internet.
Escaflowne 1996
I didn’t have the best attention span back then and didn’t take notice that the show had disappeared, and it’s not like they issue notices on kids afternoon cartoon channel’s, “…oh hey, by the way, the shows been canceled.”
I didn’t even really remember the plot, only the first scenes with the dragon slaying and the mecha operation in the first episode. That sealed the deal for me. It became my favorite cartoon.
Later, in college when I was introduced to torrenting by friend and roommate Ian Dumych at Tongue Point JCC, I was able to download and watch the entire series in its original Japanese language with subtitles.
It was both nostalgic and new to me at the same time. Simply splendid.
I considered mentioning a synopsis or plot lines, but I feel that would be a spoiler. I will say, Escaflowne holds an older ascetic among anime and departs from some of the traditional tropes. The shows perspective centers on a female lead, while the trials and tribulations of the male protagonist are seen from her point-of-view.
At the time it was a fresh take storytelling. I understand Fox Kids had made many edits to the dubbed version I saw as a child. Notably, for their young Western audience, they reduced the importance of the female leads role in the show.
If you are interested in checking it out, but don’t have the energy for a full 26-episode anime series, I’d suggest watching the movie, Escaflowne (DailyMotion).
I watched a video on YouTube the other day that I felt especially compelled by. It got me to stop and think a bit more about my previous YouTube channels and to reconsider posting videos.
When I decided to close GameGirlsGallery (GGG), I also deleted my ASMR and Thrifting channels as well. They other two had fewer than a hundred subscribers, so it wasn’t any real loss.
After 18 months, GGG had well over a thousand subscribers and I regularly got comments and engagement on the content I posted. The decision to close the channel was difficult, but necessary. It was the same with removing that type of content from this website (Hard Choices: Removing Site Content).
Well, yesterday, I decided to go ahead and try again with YouTube. I’m terrible with following through on plans, but I will try to do a live stream every Wednesday and a recorded video once a week.
Ideally, I would like to be able to livestream with my phone, but you need 50 subscribers to do livestreams using the YouTube app. I thought about doing it in the office, but its so messy here, I’d be quite embarrassed.
I ordered an action camera off of eBay for 20 bucks and that should arrive sometime next week if holiday traffic doesn’t slow the parcel down. Its magnetic and has a lanyard and metal pad that can fit under clothes. That will allow me to film while I am out sourcing, but still keep my hands free.
I really wanted an Insta360 Go 3S, but its way out of my price range. My wallet can’t handle anything that fancy. Hopefully, the generic I bought will be able to manage my needs.
Other than videos related to eBay, I will likely include some slideshow videos of my domestic travel blog series.
In late 2012 I first heard about Bitcoin and started learning about how it worked and its potential to replace fiat currency. That never really came to fruition as we now know, but the world is perhaps getting more comfortable with the idea of transacting with crypto on occasion.
In 2013, I decided I wanted to buy one of the ASIC mining machines from a European company, it was called a Neptune or Saturn, I think. I didn’t have enough money in savings, so I headed to Suntrust (now Truist) and spoke with a loan officer.
My loan application was rejected; as I had no verifiable credit history. The only thing on my report was a credit card that had been opened without my consent back when I lived in Astoria, OR, by Wells Fargo, back during that scandal.
So, I went off to build a credit history, and that led me to Doctor of Credit and the FatWallet Forums.
First Business
I picked up several personal credit cards (Delta Blue) and also started mining Litecoin with a couple of old computers. I formed a Sole Proprietorship (Kasanje Technologies 13′-20′) and applied for an ITIN number, which I then used to apply for business credit cards.
All this while still working at nearly minimum wage for CVS/Health. At my peak I had 80k in personal credit and 14k in business credit. This was sometime in 2014-16. Of course by then the chip technology had vastly improved and the mining rig I originally wanted was obsolete.
Many things happened during my crypto period. I added more GPUs to my home rig, I fell for several scams, I bought and spent a couple hundred bitcoin on aging equipment, and my final mining venture was buying several Apollo Scypt miners. I still have those in my closet.
After some lightning strikes in 2019 and legal trouble in 2020, I closed the business and sold my remaining bitcoin to cover a portion of my debt. I had gotten a $3,500 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) from the Small Business Association (SBA) during COVID. I managed to pay it off in 2021, by paying $100 every month.
A couple of months later, Bitcoin hit 10k and I lamented my decision to sell. I would had enough to more than cover my expenses and been left with profit had I “HODL” a bit longer.
Second Attempt
In the course of my legal problems I struck upon the idea of building a talent agency for YouTubers. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I managed to convince myself enough to file Articles of Incorporation and start an LLC.
This is an old bad habit of mine going back to elementary school. I’ll often come up with an idea and create a framework around the idea without actually having any content to fill the space.
I still do it on this website, where I get hooked on a subject and then go out and design a template tailored to the topic without knowing anything about the topic or even knowing where to start researching.
Typically, I finish the template and then lose interest in the topic. That’s my Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) at work.
I had named the business “Bliss in Bloom: Influencers LLC,” I think it was the moment I came up with the name that triggered my old habit. I made social media accounts and a website for it. I designed business cards and had them printed. I went all out; without any idea of how to recruit anyone to join my idea.
That’s all it really was, just an idea. I went all in on an idea.
I did this recently when I coined the MSTT (Marginalized, Sexualized, Traumatized, and Trivialized) acronym. That led me to writing up a post, but all I had was those 4 words, so I had to research and build from the ground up.
That post didn’t really go anywhere because, its not in this site’s niche, and there really isn’t anyway to refer to it in conversation without things getting uncomfortable.
A week after forming the LLC I closed it. But I didn’t do it right, and I got a strongly worded letter from the NC Secretary of States office. I had to pay a small fine and then properly close the business.
3rd Times a Charm?
In July of 2024, shortly before graduating from Vance-Granville CC, I started selling items on eBay in earnest. I had previously sold Star Wars novels on eBay back in 2014-16, so my account had a good rating and history.
I had been getting a bunch of thrifting and reselling videos in my YouTube feed and that led me to getting hooked on the idea of being a full-time reseller.
So far its going slow, but I am making a small profit. Last year, I was in the red by about $30 come New Years Eve. This year, I should be finishing off with around $500 in net revenue from my eBay shops.
My main shop is (fatwalletrefugee). I sourced mostly men’s apparel from Goodwill, Safe Space, and Cause for Paws in the beginning. Over time, I picked up the odd women’s garment, mostly items with the tags attached.
After awhile I hit my free listings limit and looked up whether you could have more than one store. It turns out you can have multiple shops, they just need to have separate email address associated with them.
I have shops for women’s wear (lafemme1st), golf apparel (golfforless), and home hardware/automotive/building supplies (kingcastle).
Earning as of November for these other shops are:
Lafemme1st: $379.94
GolfforLess: $237.92
King Castle: $113.46
On my main account, I recently signed a revenue purchase agreement with Liberis (Oct. 30th). I received a $600 deposit to my bank in exchange for 30% cut of my daily sales. There was a $79 fee for getting the agreement completed.
Supposedly, this will be paid off sometime in June of 2026. My sales for the 4th quarter had plummeted so I am a bit concerned. But the 600 bucks was well spent paying down my AMEX balance after that trip to Washington State (Domestic Travel: Washington).
I had tinkered with the idea of this website being a part of my business, but I still feel its more of a hobby, especially now that I have purged the site of certain content (Hard Choices). Although, I have come up with a compromise that I think will allow some wiggle room.
Since I graduated from my college and am now holding a nice Business Degree, I ought to make some use of it.
So here are some tips for getting started with entrepreneurship.
Funding a Business
Securing funding is important for small business success and needs a smart approach to financing options. Considering personal risks and control can help you make informed choices that match your long-term goals.
Where do I get the Money?
Determining how much money you need is the first step in choosing the right funding source, like self-funding, investors, loans, or a mix of these.
Most places will want you to borrow a minimum amount ($1,000) they can charge interest on. For small amounts you might get sent to a Cash Advance site so be careful.
Self-funding means using your own money, like savings or family help, which allows you to have complete control over your business.
Crowdfunding is a low-risk way to keep full ownership while getting support from many contributors. I used Kickstarter for an art project once. IndieGoGo is another option.
Small business loans help you keep control of your company while getting needed funds. A good business plan and financial forecasts can improve your chances of getting better loan terms.
Venture Capital is a good choice for startups looking to grow quickly and willing to give up some ownership for funding.
Grants offer funding that does not need to be repaid, but competition is tough. Many grants are available for women and minority-owned businesses, like the Amber Grant.
Microlending can help startups that can’t get bank loans. It offers small loans that are important for starting up, though they come with interest payments.
Peer-to-peer lending platforms connect borrowers directly with investors, often offering better terms than traditional banks.
Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is crucial for new businesses. It provides funding options like SBA-backed loans, which reduce risks for banks, helping entrepreneurs get financing.
They also have loans and resources for veterans, women, minorities, Native Americans, and rural businesses.
Using the SBA’s counseling and training services can greatly help entrepreneurs in securing funding and managing their businesses. Your local community college likely has a business aid office.
Long-Term Success
Selecting the right mix of funding sources (family loan?) for your business is essential. Entrepreneurs should consider options like personal savings, loans, grants, and investors, while keeping a balanced approach.
Taking into account risks, control levels, and financial knowledge can help in successfully financing business operations.
Continuous learning and consulting with financial experts (on Reddit) can help optimize capital structure, leading to new opportunities for business growth.
That’s it for today. It’s been rainy so I haven’t been out photographing towns this week. Expect a new Travel post sometime next week.
What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?
A couple weeks ago I made the difficult decision to cease providing wiki pages and game art galleries for several mobile titles.
I was under a certain amount of duress after receiving multiple complaints and strong suggestions to make a change.
You may know, earlier this year my YouTube channel GameGirlsGallery was shutdown, most unfortunately. Complaints about the amount of sexually suggestive content present in mobile games, ranging from game art to dialog and plot lines, had built up over the years and ultimately killed the channel.
The reasons for the recent site content removal are the same as those that caused GameGirlsGallery to be removed.
The Top Girl / Apex Girl wiki hosted on fatwalletrefugee accounted for nearly 84% of all site traffic. The remainder of site traffic went to the mobile game art and character galleries.
Top Girl had been initially rated mature, but after being removed from the Apple Store and worries over possible removal from the Google Play Store they released several updates that brought the rating down to Teen.
Despite the artistic changes there was still a good amount of sexual suggestion and lewd imagery present. In fact, I think most regular people, if looking at most titles in the Google Play Store rated Teen, might think the games were for Mature audiences, and not be suitable for the age ranges the ratings board has decided on.
Even playing merge and puzzle games rated E for everyone, I still see ads for games rated Mature, AI dating chat bots, hookup apps, romantic story apps, and Harem anime games.
All this plus the mounting complaints and suggestions of actions taken led me to the hard decision to purge the site of all offending content. I deleted all of the posts, pages, wikis, and site media including images and videos that were likely to receive further complaint.
I was contacted by multiple subscribers afterwards asking where everything went and had to explain the difficulties I went through deciding to stop providing that type of content.
I had in fact been expecting to hit the 1 million page views mark by December this year, a new milestone stone for this site. Prior to the content removal, my average daily site traffic in early November was around 6k views. Sadly, now my average is closer to 450 views per day.
Total Weekly Site Traffic
As you might imagine, my ad revenue has fallen off a cliff. While I had recently received my first payout from WordAds since signing up in March of 2024, I am likely not going to receive another payment for some considerable amount of time hereafter.
The question as to how to recover from this loss also comes up. I still provide guides for family-friendly mobile games. I am in the process of detailing a guide for Fable Town at the moment. I am also expanding the written content for buildings and units in the Puzzles and Chaos wiki.
I used to get good traffic from Google and Reddit for my game guides, but once I began focusing on Apex Girl and Road to Rich, that traffic dropped and the algorithm sent those folks to other resources.
Fable Town: Merge
There is also the Travel and Food section of the site which hasn’t seen much writings since my last trip in 2019. That was originally what started my blog. A trip to New York City to see family prompted me to make kasanje.home.blog and years later I bought the fatwalletrefugee.com domain.
There are also side projects I started but never finished like the FatWallet Forums archives and the Lost Media directory.
Recently, I began redesigning the Travel page and restructuring the page hierarchy for that section. This also involves adding pagess for each US state I have visited and a separate section for my international trips.
My vacation to Washington last month inspired me to travel more locally here in North Carolina. I also was gifted a new camera. It’s an Olympus E-M10 II. There are two swappable lenses, one telephoto and a precision close up, and three batteries.
In the past month I have visited and photographed 6 towns and a state park. I am planning a trip to visit the Outer Banks next year.
Hopefully this move back to this site’s roots will boost site traffic and begin to shift the algorithm back home.
I came across Wilton while checking prices on Zillow for houses and land. When I checked the map, Wilton didn’t show up right away, so I had to futz with the zoom to get the name to show.
About Wilton
Its an unincorporated town with a few landmarks letting you know where you are.
The local Wilton Elementary and Wilton Grill bear the towns name.
Wilton is located in Granville county which lies along the state border with VA.
Wilton High School was originally built in 1924 and remained in operation until 1962 when the larger Granville High School was built to serve the county. The high school was then converted to an elementary and has been in operation since.
There is a local Wilton EMS / Granville EMS Station 2 is in town just down the road from the elementary school.
After I decided on a trip to Wilton, I saw that I would first pass through Franklinton and end near Creedmoor, so I incorporated those two stops into my itinerary.
The center of town lies at the intersection of NC-56 and NC-96.
Sitting on the north east corner is a 76 branded fuel station, and the Wilton Grill sits at the northwest corner.
On the south-west side of the crossing you’ll find Adriano’s Pizzeria, and across to the east is a Dollar General store.
76 Fuel Center in Wilton NC76 Fuel Center in Wilton NCThe Wilton GrillAdriano’s Pizzeria
I will absolutely return any merchandise I purchase that doesn’t deliver on its promises.
Whether is distasteful yogurt or a deceptively labeled floor mat. Back it goes. I’ll not spend a dime on dysfunctional product.
2. Not signaling lane changes.
It’s not difficult to flip a lever or hit a switch. A flick of the fingers signals to the world and me in particular that your planning on cutting me off.
That’s fine. I’ll yield, as I am legally bound to do so. But, if you don’t signal, I promise I’ll glower at your car for miles.
3.
Advertising on a paid service.
There shouldn’t be any ads on a subscription or paid service. That’s the whole reason we cut the cord in the first place. Now they’re bringing back advertising for paid services. It’s entirely infuriating.
When I realized I wouldn’t have to see anymore ads if I downloaded programs, I canceled my TV service.
Before streaming services came to be, we were downloading all our media, happily ad-free. Sure it was limited to certain types of content, but I was predominantly watching Japanese and Korean programs, and back then there were no streaming services for that content.
To be clear, I’m okay with watching an ad to access a free service. But not if I paid money upfront.
Fat Wallet Refugee 