This is an update of my MD from last year, which you can find here. All figures are in CAD. (Approx. CAD/USD conversion is 1 CAD = 0.75 USD. So my income is ~$58,240 USD. I've tried to note the change since last time where I could!
Section One: Assets and Debt

• Total NW: $81,100
  • Up from ~$58,000 last year.
• Retirement Balance (and how you got there): $62,230
  • Up from $45,466 last year. I've been adding to my RRSP since my first "real" job in highschool - while my early contributions were miniscule, it got me in the habit of saving. My previous employer had a good match, which also helped.
• Savings account balance: $11,290
  • TFSA up from $9,846 last year. Not a huge improvement - I focused more on my RRSP and Emergency Fund this year.
• Emergency Fund Balance: $7,500
  • Was $1,103 last year.
• Chequing Account Balance:
  • Almost everything gets autotransferred on payday to my retirement accounts, sinking funds, or a holding account where my bills are autopaid from. I only keep my "discretionary spending" money in this account.
• Debt: None. I pay off my cc as soon as I make a purchase, and check my transactions/pay off any autopay on a weekly basis. I run all my purchases through my cc to get points toward free groceries.
• Additional Questions:
  • Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?: There was expectation, but not from family - I was the first in my family to go to higher ed. They saved and planned to contribute if I did want to go, but what I did after highschool was up to me. I was top of my class in highschool so there was a lot of expectations from the other adults in my life (teachers, school counselors, etc) that I would really make something of myself. My parents paid my tuition for two years of my undergrad, my grandparents gave me a few thousand dollars as a gift toward my expenses and the remainder I paid for myself with my savings from working part time and through summers.
  • Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances? We didn't have any serious conversations about money, but there was a lot of emphasis on saving long term, saving up for things we wanted, and occasionally if I wanted something expensive (like when I wanted my hair done for middle school graduation), a discussion about how mom or dad would have worked X hours to pay for it. I never felt hard done by, but there were definitely a lot of things other kids had or got to do that we didn't. Once I got my first job I didn't get any spending money from my parents anymore.
  • What was your first job and why did you get it?: In 8th grade I got a job at my school, cleaning tables during lunch recess (our school didn't have a cafeteria, so kids ate at their desks). The principal offered it to me and my best friend. It paid $50/month. It seems insane now because we were not old enough to work legally. In hindsight I think it was the school finding a way to subsidize the costs of the year-end school trip (a week-long overnight trip out of province) for two families who didn't quite qualify for the school's official aid but wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise. All the money went to the trip, and I babysat to get some spending money.
  • Did you worry about money growing up?: Not really. There were some lean times but I never felt like I really wanted for anything. By the time I was in highschool things had gotten much more stable.
  • Do you worry about money now? Yep. Not about day-to-day spending, but I worry about longer-range money issues like whether I'll be able to own a home, save enough to retire, etc. A lot of my friends are a lot more comfortable and able to buy homes and generally be freer with money, mostly those in dual-income-no-kids situations - and I'm feeling that lag a bit.
  • At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?: I haven't received any financial support from family since I was about 20, but if my parents come to visit me they'll usually bring some grocery items from their Costco runs and refuse to accept payment for it. I currently have about 4 months' emergency fund saved, and could last another 6 on my TFSA if I needed to. Working on bumping this up!
  • Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?: While I was in undergrad and paying my own tuition my grandparents gave me $2000 as a birthday gift to give me a little breathing room in my budget and so "you can do something other than work and study". They were hoping it would enable me to meet a husband and get my MRS (hahaha). It did not, but it did ease my stress about money.

Section Two: Income

• Main Job Monthly Take Home: $3,816 after deductions. I got a 10% raise in July.
  • Deductions: Tax $882, EI $86, CPP $137, Retirement plan $210 (matched by employer)
• PTO: 18 days + 5 additional during the holidays when our office is shut.
• Bonus: I get a bonus each year from the day job as well. This year, $5500 pre-tax.
• Side Gig Monthly Take Home: ~$900 averaged monthly
  • Varies year to year based on student enrolment and whether I get funding for additional content development time.
• Salary Story (Averaged hourly earnings into approx annual earnings so it's more "apples to apples" comparison)
  • Pre-2010: ~$15-20k per year. Various jobs during highschool and university. Retail, farm and animal shelter work, tutoring, baby/pet/housesitting, factory job in the summers.
  • 2010: ~$35k Intern, Retail, Nanny, Temp. I graduated university and started some postgrad certificate courses full time through summer. Had a PT retail job, a FT unpaid internship after summer classes ended, and was a nanny for a relative's kids in exchange for a steep discount on room and board. After my internship ended I picked up a temp receptionist gig that paid well while it lasted - I was able to save up to move out to my own place after Christmas.
  • Q1 + Q2 of 2011: ~$22k Freelancer / Assistant. The company I interned for hired me back as a freelancer at $19/hr, and I got a remote job as a "business assistant" (aka whatever they needed) at min wage, but I could set my own hours and work up to 35hrs/week. I crammed in as much as I could because my freelance job wasn't guaranteed.
  • Remainder of 2011: ~$36k - Digital Assistant. My day job offered me a FT position and I was so grateful for the stability (my freelance hours had been uneven) that I accepted their first offer not realizing it was less than I was making as a freelancer. I remind myself that at least now I have benefits and some security, and I still have my other job. Two weeks later they tell me if I don't quit my remote "business assistant" job I'll be fired since that company is in the same industry, so I do. Pushover!
  • 2013: ~37k - Digital Assistant. Yep, two years, no promotion, small raise. Love working in the arts! /s. After I was forced out of my remote job in 2011 I started babysitting, petsitting, shoveling snow for my older neighbours - anything I could to bring in some extra cash, but I have no idea what I made from that work. Most of it ended up going out the door pretty quick on regular life expenses.
  • 2014: $40k - Digital Coordinator. Promotion at last. I struggled a lot with depression throughout the end of 2013 and all of 2014 after some traumatic events, and I'm so shocked and thrilled that something good actually happened. I don't negotiate because I'm a husk of a person. By this point I'm not functional enough to keep up all my side gigs.
  • 2016: ~$45k - Digital Coordinator / Instructor: After so much therapy I'm starting to realize my company is trash and my industry is a dead end for me, and I actually have the confidence to do something about it. I dump my shitty boyfriend. I get a part time gig as an instructor. My boss tells me in my performance review I have "no leadership potential" and I go home and immediately start looking for another job.
  • 2017: ~$63k - Product Manager / Instructor: After many failed interviews, I finally get a new job offer at $55k - less than a PM typically makes in Toronto, but more than I was making before, and I was so hungry for a new opportunity I just jump on it. My new manager is really invested in my PD, within the first few months they have me speak on their behalf at three conferences and commit to $2,500 of PD spending.
  • 2018: ~$76k - Product Manager / Instructor: I get a raise at my day job (modest - about $2500) but it's a crackerjack year for the course I teach - it's a high enrolment year so I have more sections. Less free time, but now that I'm more experienced it's a bit easier and it'd be hard to find another side gig that pays as well for the amount of time I put in.
  • 2020: ~78k - Product Manager / Instructor: Sensing a theme? I'm not much of a job hopper, which I know is impacting my salary growth, but I'm a "craves stability" person and I love my job, they are constantly giving me opportunities to learn and grow and investing in my PD. Plus a 10% raise.

Section Three: Expenses

• Rent: $1,505 including utilities - just went up from $1,476 in September. I live solo in a one-bedroom in an old walk-up building.
• Renters insurance: $29
• Retirement contributions: $1,600
• Sinking Funds contributions: $205
• Emergency Fund contribution: $500, plus occasional random lump sums if I have discretionary funds left over.
• Donations: approx $100/mo, sometimes more. I volunteer about 10-15 hrs/month with different organizations throughout the year, though it varies based on their activities. Been helping with a lot of digital admin/tech support/mailing list stuff this year.
• Internet: $68
• Cellphone: $48
• Transit: About $14/month - I'm working from home, and my neighbourhood has everything I need within walking distance. I use transit a handful of times a month these days, so I just plonk some money on my card when I need to.
• Therapy: $540 per quarter for BetterHelp, approx $168/month.
  • I get $800/year reimbursed under my work benefits.
• Subscriptions: $27 - Netflix, Spotify, extra iCloud storage, and a Quip toothbrush.

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Diary:

Day 1 - Thursday ($42)

9am - Slept in! I have today and tomorrow off (using up some PTO) and am glad for the extra rest, but the construction work around my apartment building kicks off at 9:01 on the dot, waking me up. I browse the internet before showering and getting the day started.
11am - I have a massage appointment so I mask up and walk over. It’s a sunny fall morning, so an enjoyable walk. I’ve been in a lot of pain the last while after an unexpected hospital stay and medical procedures so I’m really looking forward to some relief now that I’m cleared to have this massage! ($30 tip for my RMT, insurance covers the actual bill.) I was nervous about COVID safety but this is a small clinic and they’re taking it really seriously (face shields and masks for all!), and it’s nice to have a massage - it’s the first “non-invasive, non-medical” human touch I’ll have since March, since I live by myself and have been strict about distancing. I have to say, it feels incredibly weird to be naked except a mask. Like being naked with a watch on.
12:45pm - I feel so much better! I walk a long route home to enjoy the sunshine and stop at a bakery and pick up some pumpkin, apple, and caramel scones ($12 for three, incl tip), since they have a little doorway table for service. Most cafes in the neighbourhood have restored indoor seating and I feel weird about going inside past unmasked diners. Once I get back home I have a scone, spend a couple of hours answering students’ questions for my teaching job, and wash some dishes in the kitchen. The afternoon sort of disappears into that, plus some random internet browsing/YouTube sewing tutorials.
6pm - Therapy call (prepaid - I use BetterHelp and pay quarterly - I’m due to pay in 2 weeks). I am so grateful to be back in therapy. Isolation has been hard on me, and my medical situation really left me raw. It’s scary to have a totally normal day and end it in an ambulance unexpectedly, and I’m still unpacking my feelings about it.
7pm - I sodastream some water, add lavender syrup, and hop on Zoom for game night with some friends. We play Jackbox games together and snort-laugh the whole way through. This is a new group I was just starting to befriend IRL in the weeks before the pandemic. These weekly game nights have been so great to keep the momentum.
9pm - I dress my last tortilla as a pizza, bake it, and then dump the remainder of a box of arugula on top after it’s out of the oven and eat it over the sink like a crispy pizza taco. After eating I text a bit with a guy I met on reddit (henceforth RG - Reddit Guy - same guy from my last MD.) He sends me a video of his dog doing tricks, and we count down and hit play on the same TV episode. We’ve been doing this little nightly ritual since the start of the pandemic, and it’s a nice way to keep this long-distance whatever-this-is going. Things have stepped up from merely flirty to decidedly romantic in the last year, but with the US/Canadian border closed for the foreseeable future who knows where this is going or if we’ll ever get to meet.
11:30pm - I have a quick warm bath before bedtime and after making a nest from all my pillows, fall asleep to a “sleep story” from the Calm app. Some smooth-voiced man talking about an island in Norway takes me away.

Day 2 - Friday ($69)

8am - I wake up before my alarm, laze around in bed reading newsletters and reddit. I open my work email, file away all the automated messages I get from our software, and close it again. I usually check it once a day on vacation just to clear that shit as a gift to my future self.
9:30am - I shower while listening to a podcast and check my messages while brushing my teeth. A neighbourhood pal asks if I want to have a coffee in the park with her before it gets too cold for these outside meetups. I reply and we arrange a plan to meet up.
10:15am - My friend texts and says she’s going to stop at Starbucks on her way to the park - do I want her to grab me anything? I mobile order a caramel apple spice ($5 - I’m off caffeine - doctor’s orders) and tell her it should be there waiting when she gets there. I bring the two remaining scones from yesterday’s bakery trip for us. We hang out at the park for a few hours on our distanced blankets, chatting until our fingertips are thoroughly chilled. Like a lot of my friends, the pandemic has had her and her partner seeking cheaper, more spacious dwellings out of the city. They’re moving in a few months. This is the fourth such announcement I’ve had this fall, so I’m better at being excited for them and asking questions all about their new digs rather than being openly bummed. But inside I’m a little gutted. It’s hard to watch my people move away!
12:30pm: I took the long route home from the park, then settle in with some mint tea and check on my students. I’m teaching online this semester and the course is “asynchronous” - meaning they move through interactive modules of written+video content at their own pace, so I post and reply frequently on the discussion boards, answer emails, and help them along. I have a chatty group this term - there’s a very active kdrama discussion thread in the “non-course related” board. I love when my online students still work at connecting with their classmates - I can’t imagine what it would be like trying to do fully online school and missing out on that in-person experience.
2pm - I whip up a quick chicken soup with some chicken and veggies from the freezer, some egg noodles and a bouillon cube and eat that before spending the afternoon cleaning up - vacuuming, laundry, and online browsing for some sewing supplies. I spend $64 on some additional fabric and bias tape I keep forgetting to buy to finish some projects. I can’t wait to go to fabric stores in person again someday. While waiting for my stuff to finish in the dryer, I do a short Yoga with Adriene video.
7:30pm - After dinner, a friend calls to complain about her boyfriend and we chat for awhile while I organize my craft supplies into bins I picked up at the dollar store last weekend. He’s been a grade-A dingus since the beginning of the pandemic, and just told her one of his roommates tested positive for COVID - on Monday. He stayed with her Tuesday and Wednesday and “forgot to mention it”. DUDE. C’mon! I tell her if she needs anything dropped off at her place - groceries, drugstore stuff, emergency ice cream or baked goods - just call.
10pm - I make some popcorn and queue up Kim’s Convenience with RG, we chitchat about the day and plans for the weekend. After a few episodes I crawl into bed while he tells me all about a COVID-safe date we could go on if we weren’t separated by a few hundred kilometres. It’s a nice daydream.

Day 3 - Saturday ($0)

~1am - My downstairs neighbours are suddenly blasting music so loud my bedframe is vibrating. At 1am. Shoot me. By 1:45 I’m over it and go downstairs to knock on their door. I bang on their door a few times, no answer. One of the other tenants down the hall comes out, we commiserate over the noise. He bangs on the door too, but the music blasts on. We shrug at eachother and go back to our apartments.
~2am - I’m losing my mind at the noise, which seems to be coming from directly under my bedroom. Assuming they maybe have the bedroom door closed and couldn’t hear the knocking, I go to the living room and grab my set of weights and start dropping them on the bedroom floor over and over again like a maniac hoping to catch their attention. It works though - after a few minutes the music is off. Sweet silence!
8:45am - I wake up, roll over, and doze a bit more before getting up to take my medication and instead of staying up, I crawl back in. I chat with RG a bit and send a check-in text to my friend with the crummy boyfriend.
10:45am - I finally get out of bed (I love laying around. If I’m going to be single with no responsibilities I am going to bask in every moment of it) and I eat leftover roasted cauliflower from last night’s dinner for breakfast. Afterwards I clean the bathroom, put away my laundry from yesterday, and log on to my online class to check in on my students and reply to their posts, and review the material that’s going up next week.
4pm - After the day spent with chores I finish putting together a meal plan for the week and grocery order for delivery tomorrow. I actually love grocery shopping in person, but with the uptick in cases recently I’m less interested in going. Afterwards I check my online class forums again (there’s an assignment due tonight so I want to watch for questions) and then go for a short walk around my neighbourhood. It’s nice to get out a bit and see the leaves changing.
6pm - I make a chickpea and lentil curry in my Instant Pot, adding an assortment of random veggies from my freezer, while RG shoots me a text about starting our “together time” a bit early tonight so we can watch Hamilton together. I agree, and after dinner work on some sewing.
9:30pm - Almost completely finished sewing a shirt - I’ll finish the hem another day and the neckline when the bias tape I ordered shows up. I put everything away and I eat some arrowroot crackers with nutella while watching Hamilton with RG. I’ve already seen it a few times but I love it. Midway through I exchange a few emails with a student who is rapidly approaching the midnight assignment deadline and just can’t get her code working. I can tell right away she’s made a teeny tiny typo that’s had a domino effect on her whole assignment. I point her in the right direction, she fixes it, and ends the night happy.
12am - Curling up in bed. I put on another Calm app story and fall asleep.

Day 4 - Sunday ($127)

7:30am - Trying to reacquaint myself with my alarm after a few days off. I roll over and doze a little until 8, then get up, take my meds, and hop in the shower.
9:45am - One of my American friends calls to chat. She was invited to a wedding and doesn’t want to go because the groom’s family are anti-mask QAnon types and she won’t feel safe there. We brainstorm about what kind of gift is appropriate as an in-absentia “Sorry you married into a family of nutjobs” gift.
10:30am - I wash the dishes from last night, then make a sandwich with hummus and sliced veggies and sit down to eat it while I download my students’ assignments for the week and reply to a few more discussion posts. I’ll get to grading later this afternoon.
1pm - Time vanished into a bunch of little tasks and a wormhole of researching possible holiday gifts for family members.I text with my brother’s girlfriend to get a sense of their whereabouts this week - I’m trying to get a birthday treat delivered to his apartment. She confirms a date and I place the order for some safe-to-eat-raw cookie dough in fun flavours ($37). I’m secretly jealous that this place isn’t local to me because it sounds delicious.
2pm - I sodastream some water, add lime juice, and heat up some leftover curry from last night and settle in to start grading assignments with some music.
4pm - My mom calls to talk about Thanksgiving (next weekend here in Canada). They really want me to come, but with cases rising in the province I don’t know how safe it is and I have a lot of guilt about bringing my city cooties to them in a rural area. They haven’t been that cautious - she talks at length about going to a party the night before. By the end of the call I’m frustrated and undecided. It’s pretty clear if I opt not to go I’ll be the “bad guy”, the daughter who abandoned everyone to move to the city and thinks she’s smarter than everyone else. But I have a lot of anxiety around it.
5:30pm - My grocery delivery arrives ($90, including a tip for the delivery person). I put everything away and eat a few pieces of dried pineapple and mango before getting back to marking.
7:30pm - I cook some salmon and roasted veggies and, while eating, text with a friend about my Thanksgiving dilemma. She’s in a similar boat with her parents, we weigh the pros and cons together but neither of us end up deciding anything.
10pm - I watch an episode of Kim’s Convenience with RG before he goes to bed (he has an early morning tomorrow) and afterwards do a Yoga with Adriene video, poke around on Reddit, and go to bed myself around 11.

Day 5 - Monday ($9)

7:15am - Alarm goes off. I wake up, but mostly scroll Reddit until 8. I desperately miss working from an office with other people and better chairs, but if WFH ever ends I will miss getting to stay in bed as long as humanly possible.
8am - Shower, moisturize and put on some lipstain - that’s the extent of my morning routine these days. I get dressed (I’ve been wearing the same threadbare jeans almost all quarantine. They’re so comfortable, but hideous). I make some tea and oatmeal and move over to my desk.
8:45am - I check my credit card statement online while eating. A return I’ve been waiting on is finally processed (+$41.28) - returns by mail are so slow - I put the parcel in over a month ago. I check my class boards too - no new posts to reply to.
9am - Log into work and post my “hello” message in our staff chat. We have a “Hellos and Goodbyes” room to keep track of people’s comings and goings throughout the day. Our CEO pings me and asks how my time off was. He’s been very attentive since my hospitalization and has been checking in about my workload, how I’m feeling. It’s nice to fee seen.
10am - One on one with my junior PM. We chat on Zoom re: what’s on the docket for our projects this month, and I take her temperature a bit re: work/life balance, how she’s managing our extended work from home and the pandemic. She has a lot of vacation days left and I encourage her to use them even if she’s not planning to go away - mental health and rest is important!
11am - One on one with my manager. She calls via phone since her teenage daughter is doing school on Zoom and their internet is overtaxed. She runs through what I missed last week and updates me on a new project I’ll be taking over from her later this month. I’m currently responsible for ⅗ of our major software projects and this will bring me up to ⅘. (Don’t think I won’t make a big deal about that when it comes time for our next reviews.)
11:45am - Answer a customer support email from someone struggling to use the site. After a bit of back and forth I discover it’s because they’re using a decade-old version of Internet Explorer. I hop on the phone, walk them through upgrading to Edge, and they’re a happy camper. We don’t have customer support at our org - the PMs and Junior PMs manage support for their projects. Some days I hate it, but most of the time it’s satisfying to tackle a small and solvable problem amidst the bigger-picture work.
1pm: Team meeting with my software team. We usually do these in the morning but one of the devs had to take his kid for a COVID test since he’s a bit sniffly - schools here are pretty strict. It’s a short meeting, just getting a sense of how everyone’s moving through the current open projects, and then a show-and-tell of pets, since the aforementioned sniffly kid joined at the end. I do not have any pets and am as delighted by them as the kid.
1:20pm: Lunchtime! I heat up some leftover curry and chat a bit with RG, who’s checking in about my stress level. Since my hospital stay he’s been worried about me pushing too hard and not giving myself time to heal. We talk about our mornings and he tells me he added some new songs he thinks I’ll like to a shared Spotify playlist, so I know what I’ll be listening to this afternoon.
2pm: I spend the afternoon working on spec writing for upcoming development projects while my developers investigate a bug a customer reported over lunch.
5:10pm - I set an alarm on my phone to go off when it’s time to log off for the day. I change into some pants with more structural integrity, mask and jacket up, and go for a walk.
5:45pm: While I’m at the pharmacy picking up my prescription, the pharmacist mentions they have flu shots in, so I get one while I’m there. ($8 for my prescriptions, $1 for the impulse coffee crisp bar, $0 for the peace of mind of being flu-free even if I barely leave my house). While I’m walking home, RG calls from his commute to ask what I’m going to do about Thanksgiving. He thinks I should go - it’s generally safe in my parents’ area (less than 30 active cases in the county), and he gently suggests that the fall is probably going to be pretty hard on me emotionally and it might be a good idea to take the opportunity to go away while it’s relatively safe. I keep thinking it over.
6pm - Cook some chicken and roasted veggies for dinner, and after eating, set up my sewing stuff to finish up that shirt hem and start cutting pattern pieces for another project, a robe, while listening to podcasts.
10pm - I set up my iPad on a stool next to my bathtub and watch Kim’s Convenience with RG on chat while soaking in the warm, bubbly water and drinking some chamomile tea, and eventually dry off and head to bed around 11:30.

Day 6 - Tuesday ($0)

8am - Did I snooze my alarm for an hour? You bet. I just couldn’t stay asleep last night. When I finally wake up, RG has left a little video message for me, which I watch, and then watch again, and then start getting ready for the day. I braided my hair before bed so I have those great post-braid waves today.
8:55am - At my desk, logged in and ready to go with some oatmeal. I drop a note in the staff Hellos and Goodbyes and peek at my class discussion board before picking up where I left off yesterday.
10am - Client call. This client is hoping to do something a little “off label” with our tools. We chat a bit about what they’re hoping to accomplish and what their goals are, and I answer a few data questions for them.
10:30am - Team meeting! We spend some time puzzling through my client’s “off label” ideas, do some digging on another client’s data issue, and then spend a little time watching a funny news blooper one of the devs screenshares and joking around. I don't mind a little fun in our meetings!
11am - Biweekly all-staff meeting. Our CEO gives a little roundup of how things are going big-picture, and then one by one each of my colleagues gives a brief update of what they’re working on. Many pets and children make appearances - as a group the general vibe with interruptions on zooms is “delight”, which I appreciate. Nobody’s trying to “keep up appearances”. It’s all a mess we’re in together.
12:20pm - Lunchtime. Check COVID case counts again for my parents’ area (still undecided) while chatting with a friend about her thanksgiving plans. She and her husband have been isolating at a family cabin since early summer, when their city apartment building started renovating. They’re planning a “so bad it’s good” movie marathon, so while I eat leftover curry we chat about our favourite bad-good movies.
1:25pm- Reacquainting myself with some material for my 2pm meeting. I’m on an HR Committee at work and we’re meeting to check in on our work/life and wellness strategies as we head into another WFH quarter. The transition to remote has gone (mostly) well for our company, but there’s always room to improve!
3pm - After the HR meeting I put together a custom report request for our database team to run for me, and then pull up our team’s roadmap for the fiscal year and make some tweaks. I share developers with other teams and I know a big project has dropped in for them elsewhere, so I adjust. We’re already close to hitting our metrics for the year so I’m happy to let the other teams keep my devs busy for awhile while I prep and spec some larger feature builds for them.
4pm - My friend with the dingus boyfriend texts. Luckily, both she and her boyfriend tested negative, but since he lives with someone who’s sick, they’ll both need to test again in a few days. She talks about wanting to break up with him. I encourage her to take her time thinking about it. I think they should break up - he’s a dope. But she’s the one in the relationship - not my call!
5:15pm - I log off for a bit. I’m feeling a bit drained today. I didn’t sleep well last night and I know my indecision about Thanksgiving is weighing on me. I do a yoga video and lay on the floor crying afterward. It happens, part of that good ol’ depression life. Sometimes you just need a lil cry. I’ve been really emotionally overwhelmed since my hospitalization, and some close friends have really broken my trust recently. I’m working on it with my therapist, but sometimes you’re just fresh outta emotional juice, and while I love my family, we’re not close - time with them would be nice, but it’s not restorative.
7:10pm - Alright alright. Time to rally. I log on to my online portal and reply to my students’ board posts and questions. They seem like they’re doing a good job grasping the material, which makes me happy. I never wanted to be a teacher but it makes me feel so satisfied when I can see their progress. It cheers me up a little.
8:45pm - Time got away from me doing that work. I throw some fish and veggies into the oven and call my parents. I tell them I'm still undecided about Thanksgiving, Mom complains that I'm taking things too seriously, I text her the graph of cases again. She tells me I can make a day-before decision if I want to, that they'll isolate the rest of the week, for real, but she just needs to know by Friday around noon if I want to be picked up. I appreciate the extra time to consider things. Then Mom asks me to place a grocery click-and-collect order for her (she's not good at internet). I say I will, and she proceeds to slowly text me a grocery list one item at a time for the next hour. LOL. Moms.
10:15pm - I drink some sparkling water while watching Kim’s Convenience with RG on chat. After one episode I’m wiped, so I go to wash up. By the time I’m getting into bed, RG has left me a video message - the first half is his dog adorably snoring. The second half is just him telling me everything’s going to be OK and apologizing that he can’t be here to do our own Thanksgiving. Cry again - happier tears this time.

Day 7 - Wednesday ($0)

8:20am - Cutting it close today, wakeup-wise. It took me forever to fall asleep last night so I snooze a lot today, but when I finally get up, RG’s left me another voice memo encouraging me to get up and kick this day’s ass. I’ll try! I have a quick shower, mist my hair to refresh the curl a little, and get dressed.
9am - Log on and say hi to the team, then help the marketing team with some content for our monthly newsletter. Once that’s done, I make a smoothie with frozen mango and dragonfruit, then head back to my desk to load some data into our internal dashboards for our CEO’s reports later this week. Once it’s loaded, he DMs me and we chat a bit about the comparison year over year, possible insights, nerd out about graphs a bit.
10:30am - Team meeting. Alongside the usual updates I’ve added extra time to discuss some upcoming features and the specs I have in progress. I don’t love speccing something without involving them - they feel a lot more ownership when they’ve had a chance to be involved in the process. They get really excited about the new build and ask if I can reassign them to this instead of the other project they’re pinch hitting on now. Nice try!
12:15pm - Lunchtime! Some colleagues and I hop into Netflix Party to watch an episode of Queer Eye together. When we were in the office we used to have occasional TV lunch parties so we’ve been trying to mimic that in our new WFH life. I eat the last of my leftover curry while our Netflix Party chat goes OFF in full home-porn-drool at the reveal of Bobby’s house makeover.
1pm - Back to work, more data audits for our research team.
2pm - Internal meeting with another colleague about a section of her project I’m pitch-hitting on - super productive. She runs a tight meeting and I really admire her. After the meeting I write specs for the rest of the day based on the meeting this morning. I put on some old episodes of Reply All and get stuck in.
5:15pm - Head out for a short walk around the neighbourhood to get some air and outside time, talk a bit with RG while he’s on his commute. Once I’m back home, I do some tidying up.
6pm - Therapy call, I talk a bit about my Thanksgiving dilemma but we move on to other topics too. Feeling a bit better than yesterday, but a little rough around the edges. These are the kinds of days where I tend to feel tempted to order in, and while I scroll UberEats, nothing really looks that good, so I close the app and decide to just cook what I’d planned.
7pm - Make dinner, chicken and roasted veggies again. What can I say, I’ll party down on garlicky roasted broccoli any day of the week. I wash dishes when I’m done eating.
8pm - Pop online to check out my students’ posts for the day and reply to some emails. I briefly scroll through stuff on the IKEA website. I’ve been hoping to get some inserts for my Kallax unit, but the ones I want aren’t in stock, still.
9pm - Shower and wash my hair. I get out a shower scrub from Lush and really go to town, I do the Aztec Secret clay mask too. Why not!
9:45pm - Post up on the couch with some sparkling water, ready for TV time with RG. We watch the last two episodes of Kim’s Convenience and chat a bit before bed about what to watch next - we have a lot of good options, but decide to just see what we’re in the mood for tomorrow.
Weekly Total: $247

• Food + Drink: $108
• Fun + Entertainment: $0
• Home + Health: $38
• Clothes + Beauty: $64 on sewing supplies (future clothes + entertainment while I make them?)
• Transport: $0
• Other: $37 (gift)

Reflections: I keep an MD 365 days a year so I can tell by comparison this is on the lower end of an average range for this year so far - I usually get delivery at least once a week (sometimes twice), but I wasn’t feeling it this week! My average spend has really been ticking down the last couple of months. While the pandemic sucks and the isolation is rough (shoutout to my fellow live-aloners), I’m enjoying not spending as much, and that my spending is really heavily weighted toward things that contribute to my sense of well-being.

This is the third of three posts with responses from our second annual 2019 community survey. This part is on questions and answers about the app and game, including moments from the game and the community, etc.
Please remember that what you're seeing are just opinions! You're free to agree or disagree.
(Note: You can see all the responses here) We had 1601 responses.
Also note: Answers have NOT been edited for spoilers. Please proceed at your own risk.
There are too many free-form answers overall, so what we do is present both aggregate data and a selection of free-form answers as well.

Moments and Opinions

Happy Game Moment

People's lists of happy game moments generally consisted of the final culminations of a book - either victories or moments with LIs. The Endless Summer endings were also a popular happy game moment, across a bunch of different endings, though primarily the La Huerta ending.

• When mc and li lived happily in la huerta in endless summer
• Ahmed talking about his religion, and not drinking. I also don't drink so it was just nice.
• When Damien tells MC that he doesn't mind them being poly and accepts them as they are and has no desire to change them.
• Kicking butt as Kenna
• When my mc was turned in bb2
• TF - I forget the exact chapter of it, but talking to Becca in Eskea about why we fell for her. It just gives me good chills every single time.
• Oh, dear...this is a difficult question, 'cause Choices does a great job with their stories and there's many scenes where I feel really happy or something happened to make me laugh. Since I'm currently replaying Desire & Decorum, though, the first moment that comes to mind is when MC confesses her love to Hamid. He's so happy that he starts speaking different languages, because he can't control himself, and he says that no language in his head conveys how much he loves her. It's very sweet and always makes me smile stupidly.
• In ACOR, where MC has FINALLY reached her goal of revenge for her fellow Ghaul and was reunited with her family. Her wiles, strength, and determination finally came to a head that day when she had finally ‘killed’ the man who took her life away from her. That was a great moment, indeed.
• When Michael asked me to be his bf in HSS (and in HSSCA when we see Maria in the cafeteria try to get my MC to join the homecoming committee and Michael mouths to save me from it behind her, for nostalgia I was grinning from ear to ear)
• Every scene with the daughter in MOTY. Or finally getting with your LI after a slow burn.
• Hugging Olivia and she actually manages to be happy, and adopting Tim in TE and he makes that happy little face at you.
• The Epilogue for It Libes Beneath wherr you just have fun aimlessly with no real goal or plotline. Being able to relax with your friends after the hell you just went through without any motive (like boosting nerve) or plan (like stopping by the arcade while investigating) felt beautiful. Especially after seeing how Tom grew from a posessed side character I beat up in It Lives in The Woods to a badass Hero who could finally enjoy time with friends. Being kidnapped at the end was an amazing ending too, but the calm after the storm was happy.
• The first time we were allowed to seriously tell Maxwell that we liked him (and kiss him!) after he officially became an LI! From the beginning I’d always wanted him to be an LI - and I wasn’t involved in the fandom at the time so I had no idea that others felt the same or that PB had actually made the change!
• Probably an odd moment to choose, but when the MC from It Lives Beneath broke out of the coffin and then proceeded to murder Richard. Best thing I've ever read in a Choices book.
• In MotY, when Thomas and MC had the conversation about being an invisible minority or feeling like you don't live up to the culture. I have never been prouder of Pixelberry for their content. I want to see more from whoever wrote that section.
• I won’t say a moment but i’d definitely chose the last few chapters of PT, the fact that her friends and LI had her back and went overboard just to get her her fans back just felt so genuinely sweet. It feels great to have someone believing in you and they made me feel that way. Another moment where i was happy was when we finally got engaged to our LI is D&D, i honestly couldn’t handle seeing The Duke any longer and felt like i was going to lose it if i had to stay engaged to him longer.
• MC getting pregnant in the Royal Heir + I like any scene where the "cold bitch" (e.g. Madeline and Olivia) gets shocked when MC does something nice for them
• I screamed at my phone in joy when Ride or Die MC rammed the car in one of the last chapters I was like YES GIRL YES YOU RAM THAT CAR

Sad Game Moment

Endless Summer endings as well as the end of the Elementalists series were common answers here.

• ALL THREE ENDINGS OF ES
• Diabolos the horse’s death, poor Imogen.
• ES2 Spoilers - Quinn dying on the bridge in the tree city, knew it was coming because of the totem but the shock of realising it was actually coming true and the fact my LI was dying made me so goddamn sad.
• Syphax in prison and me still not reciprocating. Turning down Liam's proposal in one gamethrough. Turning Drake down on another xD ROD MC fighting with dad.
• The discovery that Dames was not really Damien in PM, and we had inadvertently left him behind at the Eros headquarters.
• Death of professor vasquez from the freshman
• I sacrificed Noah in my playthrough of It Lives in the Woods, but I felt sad for those who sacrificed their MC.
• The baby part of Open Heart. I can't play that chapter. I literally click through without looking
• Ending and no continuation of Platinum, WT, Hero, and ACOR
• When the little boy vampire (who was a smidge of a dick) died in BB. Also when MCs Dad died in D&D.
• when Leon got killed by the lighting bitch i think
• Hayden dealing with the fact they're not human, don't have a past, etc.
• Being forced to pick a LI in Ride or Die
• Josephine Vance not getting into afterlife. Actually, it made me more angry than sad. I hated how she was treated by the narrative and I wish we (as Harper Vance/the MC) had the option of hating and not forgiving Arthur Vance instead of automatically loving him and being all "you never did anything wrong ever and I love you!!!111"
• Anytime my daughter is sad in Mother of the Year

Guilty Game Moment

The most common guilty moment that people listed was rejecting "Liam" in TRR and going with another LI instead. The Noah vs. MC ending of ILITW and Mrs. Martinez in OH were also commonly cited. Also, not adopting the puppy Pebbles in Sunkissed!

• Rejecting Liam's proposal. I really can't play that chapter at all if I'm not going to accept.
• Everytime that I can't spend diamonds to help someone, I'm like "Yeah sorry I can't stay to help you cope with your mother's death but hey, I'm broke so see you later"
• When I hooked up with Ivy
• When is selected to have a final fling before marriage thinking the fling was with the fiance Hana. Her look of disappointment was heartbreaking
• Leading Aster on only to choose Shreya. Naming the hawk in TC&TF Tom Sato (gets killed in the first book)
• Ms Martinez's death. The whole thing was so unprofessional. It made me furious rather than guilty at moments, though.
• any adoptable animal moment and i have no diamonds
• None. It's just a game. Why feel guilty at all??
• HHS:CA unintentionally breaking my previous MC's leg
• The Noah vs MC decision. I always choose to let Noah make the sacrifice, but it seems so unfair to either of them.
• whilst romancing Estela during the entirety of Endless Summer I accidentally bought a diamond scene where I slept with Sean. Ironically it was at the New Year’s party/birthday party so after Sean and i had sex and i left the room in the morning i found Estela and she was sad (because she found her mum’s room in the hotel but i didn’t know that yet and i thought she was upset because i slept with Sean) I felt horrible so I replayed the chapter and bought the diamond scene with her and then i realised she’d be sad either way because it wasn’t about the sex it was about her mum.😂
• Choosing Marc Antony in the finale of ACOR. It just felt wrong because I've romanced Cassius too much and it didn't really make any sense in general since he's technically been our villain as well.
• MC storming the stage during the Vinyls. (PT) I felt so bad for Jaylyn and was quite angry that I didn't have a choice in the matter. My attempts to be kind to her throughout the book all seemed for naught. I almost quit the book right then.
• Having to say no to Maria's invitation in HSS book 1 after I accidentally flirted too hard with her when I was going for Emma on my first playthrough
• I hereby apologise for hoarding my diamonds and thereby murdering people in IT LIVES.
• Having sexy time with Dames, not realizing it was a robot.
• Not occasionally, but I would sometimes get my character involved in polygamy just to get to know them better and see who is a better match.
• I felt guilty when I chose to lie to Simon in The Haunting of Braidwood Manor to get his key. I felt so guilty after choosing that that I immediately restarted the chapter and told him the truth.
• None guilt is a weakness

Unpopular Opinions

The question was "Do you have an opinion about Choices or its books/endings that others might consider unpopular?" A common topic of discussion was the issue of MC gender choice, or

• Love Hacks is underrated. TRR book 3 is the worst of the TRR series. ES is too paywalled.
• Across the Void should have been a diplomatic mission transport vessel no a cruise ship with annoying passengers. This should have been a covert mission that went sideways and full of lies, betrayal, and an antihero main character.
• Braidwood Manor is insanely unpopular and ending made me cry, when we learnt MC's brother committed suicide
• Choices doesn't do trans people well.
• "I grew to hate the ""friends"" of the MC in In Lives in the Woods after I saw that they didn't care about the MC if he/she died at the end of ILITW or in It Lives Beneath. I ended up replaying ILITW, killing off those ungrateful brats, making Noah take Jane's place (again), and had my MC ride off into the sunset with Connor, her love interest. Absolutely NO REGRETS going into ILB with all the ILITW gang dead. Also, I know a lot of people have a soft spot for Lily in ILITW, but she bugs the snot out of me and rubs me the wrong way with how she's willing to defend legitimate bullies. She lets her feelings for someone get in the way of her common sense and the fact that there's so much at stake. Again, no regrets with killing her off (or any of the other ""friends"") in my version of ILITW."
• I hated that Landry turned on us in Open Heart, but I also love the guy. I forgave him as soon as I could and I really wanted him to stay.
• I understand that some books may abruptly end for many factors, but going off community reactions, people can be way too hard over a few books that may have had an (interesting/better written) sequel.
• "I don’t like the suggestions of a male-only book as a spiteful response to female-led ones. A, like, NFL story, fine. Some books are stand-alone and that’s okay. There’s books like that in real life. It’s not PB being stupid or spiting players, it’s a choice. "
• Maybe that I get frustrated with people getting upset over not being able to pick our gender. I play so many games as a male because I have to, and I loose interest because I can't play myself, as a woman. I fully understand wanting the choice, but the way some people respond and/or mock PB for it upsets me. I finally have a genre where literally every book either only has a female MC or offers one, and people get angry over that.
• Yeah Justin is a jerk and I’m all about women getting respect...obviously, since I’m a woman, but come on, this is just how the character is written, he will obviously have some type of personality change, and I would bet half the fandom will love him. Also, I’m sick of hearing about Ethan forcing himself on us... PB isn’t trying to force sex on us and people who take it that way are being a little extra... Ethan is obviously one of the main LIs and that’s just how it is. And with the forced LI’s... again yeah it sucks, but this is just a game, I’m sorry that it’s like that, but to sit there and bitch like I’ve seen some players do on this page is crazy. Like I get it, I wish Jax had more screen time than Adrian, but I’m not gonna throw a fit bc that’s just how it is! Sorry if I seem insensitive, I promise I’m not. I completely agree with the players that wish there were weren’t so many gender locked books though...that’s is a complaint I’ll get behind and support them on!
• The LIs most of the time have one personality trait: loving the MC. I mean come on, give me some personality please. 80% of them are the same person.
• I don't mind single books if they end fully fleshed out, don't really want 3 books tbh if there's not enough story to go with it
• TC&TF is paint-by-numbers epic fantasy. It has some fun moments and characters, but is hugely overrated by the fandom.
• I 100% wanted to forgive Ivy and be her friend — I got her to ally status even before the diamond choice before the final of AME.
• PTR wasn’t that bad 😬
• There needs to be more tragic/bittersweet endings to the stories (e.g. self sacrifice in Endless Summer, Across the Void, etc.)
• The quality is declining and there's nothing wrong with criticizing Pixelberry for it. Also I hate the re-use of sprites (especially those who were important characters. Even worse LIs like Khaan).
• let users submit stories or ideas for new books or the continuing of the books that are already ended
• I am a big fan of wedding books.
• Why does the MC always have to be the underdog/inexperienced/weak? Give us a sword wielding, pants wearing, steal your girl MC.
• I would've romanced Duke Richards. Sure he's a vile abuser but given that he is a Duke and has immense power, getting a marriage with him would've solidified Edgewater's status in the UK. Given that he himself is easy to manipulate, MC could theoretically have further influence in British society.
• I enjoy HSSCA more than HSS. I identify more with my dorky theatre kid MC.

App Questions

How long have you been playing Choices the game?

The majority of players have been playing the game for at least the last two years. One third said they had been playing since the beginning.

Played Since	Number
Since the beginning (August 17, 2016)	518
At least the last two years	420
At least the last year	240
At least the last 9 months	124
At least the last 3 months	80
At least the last 6 months	76
I don't remember	60
At least the last month	24
Just started playing within the last month	18

How many chapters have you completed?

Just under a quarter of players have played over 1000 chapters, meaning they're basically all caught up with everything. The majority of players have played over 750 chapters.

Chapters Played	Number
750-999	442
1000+	369
500-749	326
250-499	242
Under 250	151

Have you ever bought diamonds?

A majority of players have purchased diamonds.

Bought Diamonds?	Number
Yes	919
No	590
Maybe	47

Have you ever bought keys?

Most players have not purchased keys, however.

Bought Keys?	Number
No	977
Yes	541
Maybe	36

How did you find out about Choices the game?

Method	Number
App Store/Google Play	643
Mobile Ad	494
Older Pixelberry Game	373
Social Media	197
Word-of-mouth	107

Here are some other reasons people listed:

• I was just searching for games that have "choices" and this naturally came out in my search for "choices game"
• My friend had Pinterest boards for Choices books and I was intrigued lol
• Searched for lesbian romance games on reddit
• Used to play episode, jumped ship when I found bettee
• Downloading Choices got me a coin reward in another game I played. Then I got hooked to Choices and haven't played the other game in months lmfao
• Was playing episode initially and got bored when I ran out of keys so I downloaded another story app
• From choice of games tex based CYOA game books, i wanted a game that had more visual and found choices in the play store
• I got told of it by friends and played Choices to mock it. Didn't expect it to actually be good
• My mom installed it so I was curious what it was. Turned out, it was fate!

How do you like Choices the game overall?

Overall across 1550 ratings people's average for the game came out to be 4.40 out of 5.

Any suggestions for improvements or changes to Choices the game?

• 1) Multiple savegames per book like episode that you can switch at any time. 2) A subscription model where you can buy a book for a reasonable price and have ALL diamond options in that book unlocked.
• A betteneutral/bad content system for people who purchased premium scenes or not. From what I played most of the books are either you pay and get content or dont pay and the book feels like a minute long. Also make choices that have more rewarding/punishing consequences. Not many books have those.
• As much as I’m a sucker for romance, I would really love more of a variety of book genres. The weddings, babies, and country yeehaw is getting excessive. I would also love more diverse sex scenes (i.e. MC being a top), and more consistent with the characters’ genders. Lastly, can we switch up the flirting dialogue?! Not so direct and straightforward all the time? It can sound so cringeworthy and unnatural.
• Diamond/Keys aren’t as plentiful as they should be. buying them shouldn’t be a requirement for a solid ending
• Do better for the LGBTQ+ community. More diverse characters, including more explicitly trans characters. Less genderlocking. Prioritize quality of content over quantity. Make diamond choices count.
• Either include more options for lesbians and male players or stop teasing those options in advertisements
• Every series should have more than one book and also many side-stories like The Freshman. When you tap on Browse by series and only find one book in one series. It looks very strange and empty. No serie should be left alone even if it is unpopular. I hope Perfect Match comes back and The Royal series should never end, maybe after The Royal Heir it comes The Royal Academy. And I am waiting for Hero Volume 2.
• Grittier stories. Add swear words. We can kill people and fuck people but we can't say "fuck"? Stupid.
• I feel like the diamond choices are getting out of control. Instead of adding flavour to the story, like outfits, pets, steamy scenes with LIs, etc. they’re now hiding bits of the story that could be important like information your character should already know, spending any sort of time with your LI, etc. behind a paywall. It feels like by the time a book is finished, you have to pay $50 to read the whole thing, which is ridiculous.
• I know this isn’t really in their control, but I just wish they would stop ending popular books that people like, such as Nightbound, The Elementalists, and Platinum. I know budget can be an issue, but they need to be more transparent with us instead of waiting until the very last chapter to reveal that there won’t be a sequel.
• I wish they could be more comfortable writing what they love without much financial concerns. I'd like to see their real vision of ATV before it got scrapped for example. Also, the fluffy books might be released in balance with other genres that I consider great but generally not generating enough money, like Nightbound. Lastly, diamond routes could be better like they did with TC&TF where our Choices are still matter without them diamonds.
• I’d say ungenderlock some books, but that’s asking too much. I’d say add a bookmark feature where you can replay your favourite chapter anytime (cost 2 keys though).
• I'd like more asexual options, like in TE. I'm not asexual myself, but sometimes I just don't like any of the LIs or want to play a book without romance.
• Less genderlocked romance books, and better treatment for the female LIs.
• LIs/Characters with more personality. Lately a lot of the books have really dull side characters without any defining traits, which means I'm not invested in the story. PtR is the worst for this, along with AME and SK. On the flip side, I thought the characters from ES and tCatF were really well fleshed out for the most part.
• Maybe let us store more keys than 2 maybe 5?
• More female LIs. I don't want to sound greedy but it would be nice to have a choice of female LIs a little more often. The ability to see where you have made purchases without playing through the story again would be useful, even if it just said 'In this book you have purchased 1 Casual Outfit and 2 additional scenes' or something like that.
• Multiple partners in the ending and gender option for all the books.
• No more forced LIs, no more LIs getting all the screen time and pushing the others out of the story, and let us choose our sexuality at the beginning to prevent unwanted advances
• Stop favoring one love interest over the others. Focus more on character development and the plot instead of more romance.
• Wrap up underperforming stories better, rather than ending them abruptly with dozens of loose ends and unfulfilling conclusions.
• Yes, tell whoever keeps doing it to stop writing that a character's lips "quirk" into a smile. It has become so overused, especially in recent books, and every time I see it I go into a rage because I hate that phrase. I hate it. I absolutely detest it because it is horrible. I get so angry when it appears. It's not something anybody says. It's something that you read in Twilight and then again in 50 Shades of Grey. If I wanted to read Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey I'd stick my head into a vat of boiling acid. I should not have to read about mouths acting like eyeballs at any moment. Nobody should. If you are going to borrow a writerly quirk from another author, please choose an author who isn't objectively terrible. It does not make your writing better. It does not make your stories more interesting. I'm sure you're proud of yourself, but it's lazy writing and more importantly it's terrible writing. Remember, not everybody is a freak about this stuff, and they probably don't remember that it's there. So what are you including it for? The people who don't mind it don't remember, and the people who mind do remember. You'll make me so happy if you stop that. Also, please, it's terrible writing and will improve how people feel about the stories.

Community Questions

Did you create a Reddit account just to participate in Choices?

About a third of all Reddit users created an account just for the community!

Answer	Number
No	906
Yes	370
No Reddit Account	226

How long have you been subscribed to Choices or been part of the community?

The majority of users just joined our community within the last year.

Answer	Number
At least the last year	319
At least the last 6 months	216
At least the last 3 months	205
Just joined within the last month	171
At least the last 9 months	147
At least the last month	134
I don't remember	122
Since the beginning	26

How often do you visit Choices on average?

The vast majority of members visit our subreddit weekly, and almost half, daily.

Answer	Number
A few times a week	424
Daily	379
Multiple times a day	289
When I see a post while browsing Reddit	131
Weekly	122
Monthly	58
When I get a notification	22

Favorite part(s) about Choices?

The number one reason people put was discussion threads, followed by memes and news and the friendly community. Here are some other answers:

• Thirsty b*tches i can relate to
• i find it cringey at times but i’m impressed at how devoted n positive people are in this subreddit
• The fact I can ask something I don't understand and someone else could answer it.
• The memes hit - like they brighten up my day
• literally everything, its so creative lol i love yall
• Everything lul, as long as it has to do with a book series I have read.
• It’s nice seeing people having the same opinions as me about the chapters/ characters
• Debriefing after chapters
• Seeing pictures of people’s customisable MCs/LIs etc to help me decide which one to pick
• the memes are HILARIOUS

How often do you change your userflair on Choices?

A majority of respondents have userflair on the subreddit, but most change it infrequently.

Answer	Number
I don't have any userflair	628
Rarely	316
Never, I've picked one and am sticking with it	219
Occasionally	157
Very often	26

How do you like Choices the community overall?

The average rating people had for the subreddit was 4.11, out of 1 to 5.

What other online platforms do you talk with others about Choices?

No surprise, Tumblr was the most popular one here with almost half of respondents here being active on there. Followed by the Wikia/Fandom, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. The overlap between Facebook, Discord, and Amino is rather low since all were fewer than 15%.

Any suggestions for improvements or changes to Choices?

Most of these changes are regarding the community and other members rather than things mods can do, but here they are! A reminder that for threads where there are personal attacks, etc... please report the comments in question. We get something like a thousand comments a day and there's no way we can read through all of them, so reporting helps bring things to our attention. Same thing goes for reposts.

• A masterthread for "They shouldn't let me name things" posts
• Actually read threads that are already in existence, and don’t just make a new one. Less low effort/meme posts
• As impossible as it is, more open mindedness about others' opinions. Guys who are upset with some books being Genderlocked get shut down and even harassed for such a simple opinion.
• bring back disco jax!!
• People need to stop being so reluctant to criticism and getting upset any time someone says PB is problematic.
• Bring Tantrum Thursdays back!!!! Let us rant if we want to, stop trying to shut down criticism of the app.
• Nope, this is one of my favorite communities and Subreddits.
• For every book that someone doesn't like, someone likes that book. Whenever a subreddit starts to gang up on a book, someone probably loses the will to talk about said book. I'm not saying that bad things shouldn't be discussed. I'm just saying theres got to be sort of compromise to make someone want to talk about a book they're reading rather than being scared they'll be bullied for not following the crowd or something. If that makes sense?
• Higher mod activity, so we can avoid multiple people uploading the same thing over and over, and this is a long shot, but it would be really cool to ban the people downvoting just because.
• Stop shitting on books the second they are announced and stop overhyping things, downvoting for disagreeing with your LIs
• I like the tournament style book vs book, character vs character things you guys have.
• Just keep on being friendly 😂😘
• Keep up the good work, guys, y'all are amazing
• kill the mods. replace them with bots. make choices great
• Mod Chazz
• Need to bring more artist into this community and spread our influences.
• Love the subreddit, keep up the great work!
• More memes!!!!
• While I feel that our community is generally civil and respectful, some of y’all are just... sigh. I haven’t been as active anymore because people get so defensive and aggressive, even though I feel that I make myself clear in explaining myself. It’s usually when topics like racism - specifically anti-Blackness - come up. It’s just a shame because as progressive as Choices is compared to other media, the community could improve with open mindedness and learning.
• Surveys, March Madness--any type of polling really. I like taking surveys, so thank you for making this one!
• No! I’d just like to thank the mods who have been keeping this subreddit alive

Surprised at the results and answers? Expecting them? Want to give your own hot take? Comment below!

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• After you have gone over the juicy details in the launch kit above, set your clocks for launch day!
  

Live Streaming begins at 11:05 PM UTC or 6:05 PM EST

• Live Countdown Timer
  
• Arianespace TV live webcast
  
• Spaceflightnow stream
  
• No access to a computer? No worries! Download the iOS app here
  
• Don't have an iPhone? There's an Android app for that problem too!
  

Fast Facts

• This will be the first Ariane 5 launch this year
  
• The 1st Arianespace launch from CSG in 2016
  
• The 56th Intelsat satellite launched by Arianespace
  
• The 84th Ariane 5 flight
  
• The 228th Ariane rocket launched from CSG
  
• The 273rd mission overall for Arianespace
  
• The launch (from liftoff to satellite separation) is expected to last about 30 minutes.
  
• The last time an Ariane 5 launched a solo commercial customer was the Terrestar-1 satellite in July, 2009. At the time of its launch, Terrestar-1 was the most massive single satellite launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
  

Mission Details

• Payload: Intelsat 29e
  
• Total payload mass: 6,700 kg
  
• Targeted Orbit: 250 km x 35,546 km x 0.5°
  
• Mission: Next generation fixed and mobile communications
  
• Launch Operator: Arianespace
  
• Launch site: Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3) in Kourou, French Guiana
  
• Launch Date: January 27th
  
• Launch Time:
  

PT	ET	GFT	UTC	Event
3:20:41 PM	6:20:41 PM	8:20:41 PM	11:20:41 PM	Launch Window Opens
4:40:41 PM	7:40:41 PM	9:40:41 PM	00:40:24 AM (28th)	Launch Window Closes

Weather Forecast

• Kourou latest weather forecast

Updates (newest updates closest to top)

• T plus 4 hr 30 mn 00 s - Intelsat 29e and Ariane 5's upper stage cataloged in 280 x 35525 km x 0.6 deg, 275 x 35555 km x 0.5 deg orbits
  
• T plus 0 hr 56 mn 00 s - That'll do it for the livestreams. I'll be sure to update this post with the exact orbital parameters when they become available. Congratulations to Arianespace, Intelsat, Boeing, and everyone else who was involved in tonight's awesome, nighttime launch.
  
• T plus 0 hr 53 mn 00 s - Stephane Israel- With Soyuz, Arianespace may have 12 launches this year, plus a commercial surprise for Ariane 5 during 2016. Very interesting.
  
• T plus 0 hr 50 mn 00 s - Here is a tweet which shows Intelsat 29e's schedule of activities in the coming weeks leading up to operation.
  
• T plus 0 hr 36 mn 00 s - "#VA228 is our first launch of 2016! #Intelsat29e has separated and we have achieved our 70th #Ariane5 success in a row". Still waiting on exact orbital perameters
  
• T plus 0 hr 33 mn 00 s - Time for post launch speeches
  
• T plus 0 hr 29 mn 31 s - Intelsat 29e separation!
  
• T plus 0 hr 29 mn 00 s - A quiz question? Interesting new feature. I bet anyone who read the fast facts might know the answer :)
  
• T plus 0 hr 24 mn 43 s - Second stage cutoff. Satellite separation is scheduled to take place in about 5 minutes.
  
• T plus 0 hr 22 mn 15 s - Now to a Boeing film about the production of the Intelsat 29e satellite
  
• T plus 0 hr 18 mn 00 s - The livestreams just finished discussing the lengthy history between Intelsat and Arianespace spanning over 50 missions (!)
  
• T plus 0 hr 10 mn 15 s - As is typical during the long Ariane 5 second stage burns, the livestream has switched to a prepared video by tonight's launch customer.
  
• T plus 0 hr 08 mn 56 s - The second stage is now burning. This burn is expected to last a little less than 16 minutes.
  
• T plus 0 hr 08 mn 52 s - First stage separation
  
• T plus 0 hr 08 mn 46 s - Main engine cutoff
  
• T plus 0 hr 05 mn 40 s - Everything is nominal, first stage burn to last another three minutes.
  
• T plus 0 hr 03 mn 38 s - Fairing jettison at over 120 km up
  
• T plus 0 hr 02 mn 24 s - Solid booster burnout and separation. Great view of booster separation in the night sky. The first stage engine is now burning solitarily as planned
  
• T plus 0 hr 00 mn 07 s - Ignition of solid boosters. Liftoff
  
• T plus 0 hr 00 mn 00 s - Ignition of the first stage engine. The first stage is ignited seven seconds before the solid rocket boosters to ensure that it is running properly.
  
• T minus 0 hr 01 mn 00 s - One Minute Switch to onboard power mode
  
• T minus 0 hr 04 hr 00 s - All green for launch
  
• T minus 0 hr 11 mn 00 s - Joshua Jampol will be providing English commentary during tonight's livestream
  
• T minus 0 hr 15 mn 00 s - Livestreams have started
  
• T minus 0 hr 20 mn 00 s - Twenty minutes until the start of the launch window. Livestreams should be starting in five minutes. Bare with the pre-stream message on the livestreams :)
  
• T minus 3 hr 40 mn - Start of filling of the second stage with liquid oxygen and hydrogen
  
• T minus 4 hr 20 mn - Filling of the first stage with liquid oxygen and hydrogen should have started by now. Everything remains green for tonight's launch
  
• T minus 11 hr 30 mn - Start of final countdown. The countdown comprises all final preparation steps for the launcher, the satellites/spacecraft and the launch site.
  
• T minus 28 hours - "#Ariane5 & #Intelsat29e are in the launch zone"!
  
• T minus 29.5 hours - Rollout of the Ariane 5 has started and it is on its way to the launch pad
  
• T minus 48 hours - "Green light! Arianespace’s year-opening Ariane 5 mission is approved for launch"