Tag Archives: unemployed

Shape Up! – Week 57

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Geek Alabama Shape Up!

This is week 57 in my series of Shape Up!  The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

All right everyone, I have sat here all day with a very sore right foot.  It started to get sore on Saturday afternoon and this morning it became very sore!  So today I have let my foot get some rest.  I did some extra walking last week so that is probably the reason.  One good thing is I stayed away from the Valentine’s Candy!  Americans spend around $18 billion in Valentine’s stuff each year.  And the average shopper is expected to spend $130.97 this Valentine’s on gifts, candy and cards this year.  I did not spend one cent on Valentine’s this year!  No I did not have a date this year.  When you have been unemployed for 20 months; you don’t have any money to spend!

I also wanted to talk about this story.  A 31-year-old woman from New Zealand died from a heart attack after she drank around two gallons of Coca-Cola a day!  The Coroner said the large amount of Coca-Cola she drank likely led to metabolic imbalances that gave rise to her heart problems, adding that Coke was likely a “substantial factor” in her death.  Now public health officials are calling for health label warnings to be put on soft-drink labels.  Coca-Cola has run a commercial called Coming Together.  This ad talks about the The well-being of families and communities.  And it also says that soft drinks are not the only cause to the obesity epidemic.

In my opinion, I do see a city or state doing something to help people lose weight real soon.  Most of the talk is about a “fat tax” on soft drinks and fatty foods.  I don’t see a “fat tax” happening in Alabama anytime soon.  But I would not be shocked if places like New York City does something like this in the future.  I can see New York City doing something like this, they banned drink sizes over 16 ounces for one.  The problem that needs to be addressed is the costs of food.  If you have a family and earn really low incomes.  You have to be picky on what you can buy.

So if you have food stamps or low-income and have lots of mouths to feed.  What is going to be cheaper; fruits of veggies for around $10, or packs of cookies and chips for around $5?  Alabama also has the issue of charging a sales tax on groceries which hurts the poor even more!  There has to be a way to lower the costs of healthy foods for the low-income people to buy!  I even have trouble buying healthy foods since I have been unemployed for 20 months.  Food stamps does not give you a lot of wiggle room.  So that means I have to buy $1 TV dinners and party pizzas.  I wish I did not have to buy these things; but I don’t have much of a choice.  And yes to save money, I only eat one meal a day.  Someone needs to hire me!

Here is what I ate last week:

Saturday: Party Pizzas, Sweet Tea.

Sunday: Grilled Chicken and Hashbrowns, Sweet Tea.

Monday: Sausage and Biscuits, Sweet Tea.

Tuesday:  Hotpockets, Sweet Tea.

Wednesday: Breakfast Pizza, Sweet Tea.

Thursday: Grilled Chicken and Hashbrowns, Sweet Tea.

Friday: Party Pizzas, Sweet Tea.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

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Nathan’s Thanksgiving Wishes 2012

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I think this is something that would do well during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.  This Thanksgiving I just don’t feel thankful at all.  I have been through multiple tough things in 2012 and this Thanksgiving just feels like a bummer to me.  By the way; Geek Alabama will be transformed into Christmas 2012 over the weekend!

No doubt; 2012 has been a very tough year for me.  I have been unemployed for 16 months!  And I am still on that quest for my 14th job in seven years.  I have tried everything to find work.  I applied to many jobs online.  I went to 14 job fairs so far in Anniston, Gadsden, Birmingham, Boaz, and Roanoke.  I have tried every temp agency in the area with no success.  I have gone to several job events for openings like Publix and several factories.  The only problem is hundreds of people turn out along with me.  I have also chased down any job leads in the newspapers like the Anniston Star.  But nothing has happened there as well.

During the presidential election between Obama and Romney.  I Tweeted out something that got picked up by Headline News and CNN!  I was so happy seeing my Tweet re-sent by many people!  Then I got this reply from this person which hurt me big time!

Yes; there are people out there who believe I am lazy and not looking at all.  I did reply to Douglas Cole and I have not heard from him again.  I also believe the reason I am not working is because of my disability which is Asperger’s Syndrome.  In some of the last 13 jobs I did; I was put in some tough situations where I would screw things up.  Some of the crazy things I did on the job include dropping multiple gas caps in the water, breaking the soda machine, dropping food, breaking plates, causing an accident with the bosses car, etc.  You name it; if it’s a fast-paced job I have a good chance of breaking something.

There’s nothing I can do about being clumsy.  I try to be real careful while working but sometimes I will mess something up.  And this results in costing the company money; and this will mean I am being fired!  So now I am facing my next challenge.  I exhausted all of my unemployment and I have only $100 in the bank.  I will let you know how that goes. :(

Over the last year I have had great success with Geek Alabama.  I have been involved with multiple great events in NE Alabama/NW Georgia.  I have volunteered with several events and with TV 24 Pigskin Roundup.  Many people have come to Geek Alabama to read the posts I have written and I love that!  I was on ABC 33/40 in 2012 and appeared in a Atlanta Journal-Constitution Google Hangout.  And I appeared in a UAB documentary in Birmingham.  Here are the videos!

I feel like Geek Alabama is only going to get bigger and bigger with time.  Sadly this will mean I will make many more state politicians angry at this blog.  I love doing that by the way!  The new mayor in Anniston Vaughn Stewart wants me to be in a committee about streets and roads!  This is a prefect fit for me but mayor first; someone has got to hire me!  Maybe the mayor knows of folks who would accept a disabled person who might mess things up.

I am hoping for a great Christmas season 2012.  I will start it off by donating all the toys I  got from the Activision Family Game Summit.  Enjoy the holidays everyone.  And hopefully I am not living in a car and homeless in Anniston.  I guess getting paid for anything is a pipe-dream for me.  Believe me; starving yourself because of lack of income is not fun!  Also wondering about your future is not fun as well!

P.S.: Sorry folks; I voted for Obama again.

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Once Again; Another Useless Job Fair

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Over the week I went to attend my 12th job fair since becoming unemployed on July 2011. The Fall Employment Opportunity Fair was held and I hate to say this; it sucked again!  I was there in Fall 2011 and the job fair back then was not good.  And this year; I saw the same employers from the 2011 job fair!  And the employers have already said I don’t have enough experience or I am not qualified.  Here is the flyer they were handing everyone who showed up at the job fair.

The job fair was held on the second floor at The Learning Resource Center at Gadsden State Community College in Anniston.  When I got there I already knew nothing would happen from this job fair.  Look how empty this room is.

Sure; the people representing the employers were nice.  And I even knew a couple of the people there from last year!  So after about 30 minutes I walked out of the building disappointed.   If this is the best Gadsden State can come up with many people are in trouble.  The Anniston area is suffering through many job cutbacks.  And the employer BAE Systems which is right down the street from the college is closing down one of their factories at the end of the year.

So I guess I will keep heading down to the Cheaha Career Center to see if there are any new job listings.  Since they don’t update as often I look on Alabama Joblink and other employer websites often.  So my search for my 14th job in seven years continues on.

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Shape Up! – Week 36

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This is week 36 in my series of Shape Up!  The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

I have had many new readers to Geek Alabama so here is my appearance on ABC 33/40!

Alright; I experienced something for the first time this weekend in a very long time.  The feeling of constantly pulling up your pants so they won’t fall in public.  Now I have to start wearing a belt again and that’s a good thing!  My weight loss has been a slow and painful experience.  It’s even harder when you are 14 months into unemployment and you are still looking for your 14th job in seven years.  Some of the ways I am getting slimmer include eating one meal a day; only to save money.  I also don’t do much exercising; many people have coaches, personal trainers, and nutritionists to help them.  Or they enroll in weight loss programs like Weight Watchers.  My only exercising comes from walking.  Over the last weekend I walked around three miles covering a football game and the Aimee Copeland event.  This time of the year I enjoy those Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins.  One here and there is tasty!

Over the last week I read a report saying something not very good for Alabama.  By 2030, 62.6 percent of adult Alabamians will be obese, nearly double the 32 percent in 2011, according to “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future,” produced by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  If that statistic held true our health care system would be overburdened and might go bankrupt!  A couple of factors play into this including eating bad foods and not getting enough exercise.  Whenever I go out to walk at times I feel like I am playing a real-life game of Frogger.  I just hope a driver decides not to hit me or anyone else who walks or bikes along a road.  I also saw this for the first time at a McDonald’s over the weekend.  The menu board now has calorie counts, and for people like me who are getting in shape this is perfect!  And no; the government is not getting more control over our lives by requiring this.

One word has been in the local news a lot over the last week and it’s CANCER.  On Friday James-Paul Dice announced on FOX 6 News he is being treated for colon cancer and he predicts he will fully recover.  And in Gadsden, Bayleigh Phillips has been in an ongoing battle with a brain tumor that is sadly growing again.  I too have had a personal experience with cancer.  My brother, when he was a baby had a brain tumor and it was removed.  Cancer is a word nobody wants to hear and you know what; CANCER SUCKS!  I hope one day a cure for cancer will be found so no one has to go through the pain of treating cancer.

For the Caring Bridge journal from Bayleigh Phillips go to: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bayleighphillips.

For more information on J-P Dice’s cancer treatment go to: http://www.myfoxal.com/story/19608962/j-p-dices-cancer-journey

Here is what I ate last week:

Saturday: Party Pizza, Sweet Tea.

Sunday: Grilled Chicken, Rice, Sweet tea.

Monday: Party Pizza, Sweet Tea.

Tuesday: Tacos, Diet Coke.

Wednesday: Fajitas, Diet Coke.

Thursday: Burger,  Diet Coke.

Friday: BBQ, Sweet tea.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

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Shape Up! – Weeks 34-35

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This is weeks 34 and 35 in my series of Shape Up!  The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

Yes folks I took a week off on Shape Up!  I thought I needed a week to regroup and think of something new.  And now is the prefect time to mention football.  High school, college, and the NFL are getting many people pumped up each weekend.  And for me; well I am not as pumped right now.  Football players have to stay in shape throughout the year so they can play their best at game time.  The players run numerous drills and lift many weights.  And they eat properly and hydrate often as well.  So if the players are in shape, how are the fans?  You know many fans are going to sit right in front of the TV and enjoy many tempting foods like pizza, wings, beer and game food.  What if we swapped out the players with the fans.  Having the players laughing at you while you try to catch that ball or tackle the other fan would be funny to watch.

For me I would not do well in football.  I have tried playing football before but it only lasted three games at a private school.  Only around 15 boys were on the team.  And on the first game one went down with a broken leg and I almost had one too.  The other two games we played the same team and we only scored one touchdown in the three games we played!  The other teams had a field day with us.  I love watching football games and I even go out to a different high school football game every Friday night.  And I would like to look better when I go out on Friday nights.  Yes a couple of people so far have had some nice ugly words for me at the games.  Being heckled at because you are blocking their view of the game is something I do not like to hear.

Because of the limited income I have been buying cheap food to get by.  When you only have one meal a day and resort to the Totino’s Party Pizza’s that have 60% total fat and 740 calories you will get nowhere with your weight loss success.  But what can I do; I have been unemployed for 14 months and I am still looking for my 14th job in seven years.  The only exercise I can do is some walking.  Because I am stuck in front of the computer job searching and panicking because no one will hire me.  I have volunteered for several things and people have come up saying “I will contact you because I know someone with a job.”  A week later; they never contact me back.  I just wish someone out there would finally contact me!  I had a few calls and even went down to my 11th job fair.  And nothing has happened so far.  This is why I have no confidence and depressed as well.  Being out of work for this long puts you down; way down!

Here is what I ate last week:

Saturday: Personal pizza, Juice.

Sunday: Personal pizza, Juice.

Monday: Chicken and dumplings, Coke.

Tuesday: Personal pizza, Coke.

Wednesday: Chicken sandwich, Rice, Sweet tea.

Thursday: Rice, Sweet tea.

Friday: BBQ, Sweet tea.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

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Adventures in Car Trouble

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Most men in the south are car experts and knows how to fix the simple problems that occurs in a car.  By with me I am not a car expert so I need to ask people what might be wrong in a car.  So last week my car had some trouble.  I went to the store and when I got back to start the car it would not crank.  Thankfully someone had a portable jump-starter and my car started!  I thought I maybe left a light on so I drove around to let the battery charge and then I got back to my apartment and turned the car off.  I tried to start it again and it did not crank.  Naturally I got nervous as I have limited income because of being unemployed for 14 months.  I thought it could be the alternator or the starter and you know that would cost a lot of money to replace.

The next morning with the help of a neighbor I drove to the nearest Auto Zone and an employee came out and used a device to determine what is wrong.  It was determined it was the battery that was at fault and I needed a new battery.  After paying around $100 I needed a jump-start again just to get the car to the shop.  In most cars the battery is a very simple thing to replace.  But with my car; the mechanic had to take out the air vents just to get to the battery.

Can you guess where my battery is at?

A lot of work to get to the battery!

The battery is located on the right side under the window washing fluid tank.  To get to the battery you have to take out the air vents and when I got to the Texaco Express Lube where my car has been serviced before it took them around 40 minutes just to replace the battery and $20 later my car crisis was over!

After a morning with a broken car and $120 later my car is working fine again.  Don’t you hate when something happens to your car and you know it might cost you a lot of money.  You get that sick feeling in your gut that it might cost you a fortune to get the car fixed.  I just wished someone would finally employ me again so these crises would not be too hard and painful to handle.  Is it too much to ask?

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Shape Up! – Week 31

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This is week 31 in my series of Shape Up!  The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

Since this is birthday week.  The video of me on ABC 33/40.

All this week has been birthday week on Geek Alabama.  One; I am now 26 years old.  And two; this blog is one year old!  I am glad I have had this blog as a companion over the last year.  I have enjoyed the stories I have written, the events I have covered, the chats with people who like the blog, and the people who tell me they like the blog!  Over the last year over 55,000 people logged onto Geek Alabama and that’s a great start!  Once I have an income again I look forward to add new features to the blog; and doing more reviews and interviews.  I am even starting to look at designing a new look for Geek Alabama.  Once I have an income again I want to work with a designer to make that happen!

Over the last week I did my walking and on one day I ate nothing again to save money.  Even on my birthday I only had some birthday cake and some tea.  Look; when you have been unemployed for close to 14 months now and you are still looking for my 14th job in seven years you start to be put down.  Your self-confidence and self-esteem go down the drain.  It gets very depressing to be sitting here at the apartment for so long.  I just wish there were ways for people who have been unemployed for so long to get back into the workforce making a livable wage without discrimination.  Sure I am going to make mistakes and be clumsy and that might make me a liability.  But I sure want to be making money again without having the state to pay me.

I wanted to share these things I found this week.  First is this video called The Science of Appetite.  People are capable of overeating all the time and believe it or not there is science to this.  This video can show you how to beat the desire to overeat.

And this picture is for people losing weight.  When you lose a certain amount of pounds this photo below shows what it’s equal too.  Very interesting!

Here is what I ate last week:

Saturday: Nothing!

Sunday: Party Pizzas, Sweet tea.

Monday: Chicken, Chips, Sweet tea.

Tuesday: Hotpockets, Sweet tea.

Wednesday: Ice cream cake, Sweet tea.

Thursday: Hotpockets, Sweet tea.

Friday: Personal pizza, Sweet tea.

Have a good week everyone!

Shape Up! – Week 16

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This is week sixteen in my series of Shape Up!  The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

My last appearance on ABC 33/40

While I am writing this; I am still in love with the Gotye song Somebody That I Used to Know.  This is a very addicting song!

Anyway; this week has been good.  Still doing the walking since I am about to celebrate my 11th month of being unemployed!  That is not a great thing to celebrate.  Right now I am still on the job hunt searching for my 14th job in 6 1/2 years.  I thought I might have had an interview this week but it was with Jefferson County (BJCTA transit) and we all know the troubles they are having right now ;) .  This job market sucks right now and it’s worse for anyone under 30 like me.  I would love to expand my exercise regime as I have been talking to people but first someone needs to hire me!  At least I am not the only one in my family in this same situation.  My mom has a four-year degree and is also unemployed.

My choices for exercise and food is so limited right now but since I am still on unemployment I can not do very much.  I visited a new market in Birmingham called Freshfully and I would love to support them but I need a job first.  And the job needs to be the average Monday-Friday type of job.  Since weekends (Friday night through Sunday) is when I go out and cover events for Geek Alabama.  And on Memorial Day weekend the Alabama Phoenix Festival comes to Birmingham and I can not wait to do some interviews!  Maybe I will have one of my new Geek Alabama t-shirts on.

I would also like to show off a couple of blogs everyone needs to read.  These blogs are also done by people who are trying to lose weight.  And yes I do follow these blogs!

Who Ate My Blog

http://www.whoatemyblog.com/

The Jen West Quest

http://thejenwestquest.com/

Elizabeth Gentle No Excuses (WAFF-TV)

http://elizabethgentlenoexcuses.wordpress.com/

Big Life, Little Blog

http://biglifelittleblog.blogspot.com/

Here is what I ate last week:

Saturday: Pizza, Sweet Tea, Italian Ice.

Sunday: Chicken Fingers, Dirty Rice, Sweet Tea, Italian Ice.

Monday: Hotpockets, Sweet Tea, Italian Ice.

Tuesday:  Chicken, Brown Rice, Sweet Tea, Italian Ice.

Wednesday: Whataburger, Fries, Sweet Tea.

Thursday: Chicken Sandwich, Pork Chop, Brown Rice, Sweet Tea, Fruit Bar.

Friday: Burger, Chips, Sweet Tea, Fruit Bar.

As you can see; I am mostly only eating dinner and dessert.  So the calories being taken in is not the problem but I know if you do not take in enough calories your body fat burning machine slows down!  If someone can hire me I can increase the times I eat everyday and  lose even more weight.  So maybe the jobless streak will end very soon.  Have a good week everyone!

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My Very Long Job History

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I have to admit it has been very tough finding a new job.  I mean I am still looking for my 14th job in 6 years and I have been without work for around 10 months now!  So I thought I would talk about my last 13 jobs in this post in hopes someone would read this and contact me.  I am also going to talk about what I did on the job and what led the job to end.  So this is the life story on my job front.

1. Dockhand (Russell Marine Alexander City, AL) – This was a summer seasonal job that ended in September.  Some duties involved washing boats, moving boats in the water, putting gas in the boats, and ringing up customers.  Some of my fellow employees did not like me one bit and decided to bully me around.  And I can not handle the summer heat very well.  So I dropped over 10 gas caps into the water (which sink) and put holes into the seats of expensive boats.  I was suprised I was not fired.

2. Screenprinter (Russell Corp. Alexander City, AL) – This was also a summer seasonal job that ended in late August.  Some duties included lining up the shirt onto a board, using a tool to spread ink through screen which went onto shirt, reading the paper to see what numbers to use, and taking the shirt of the board carefully and putting shirt onto the oven rack.  Being around the oven was tough but they provided me a fan which helped a lot!  Otherwise I liked this summer job much more than the dockhand job.  Plus it payed more!

3. Line Worker (Temp. Company Clarksville, TN) – This only lasted two days.  I was put into a cramped van full of guys smoking that drove 20 miles up the road to a plant.  This plant made plastic molds for cakes and foods.  I had a hard time standing up all day and bended over quite a bit.

4. Christmas Tree Light Hanger (Labor Ready Clarksville, TN) – This was a temp job hanging lights onto trees for the Christmas season.  The workers did not like me because I had a hard time keeping up.  Only lasted a week.

5. Truck Unloader (Labor Ready Clarksville, TN) – I drove close to two hours up to Paducah to help unload trucks.  The work was okay but the work was not long enough.  At least it was cool at that time.  But the long drive was not worth the money.  Only lasted a week.

6. Cleanup Worker (Labor Ready Clarksville, TN) – This job involved cleaning up trash on the ground, but it was a quick job that only lasted a few days.

7. Line Worker (Staff Mark Ashland City, TN) – I drove for an hour for a two week temp job taking painted water heater parts of a paint line.  I did get some complaints due to having some parts get scratch marks.  The line was moving very fast.  At least they gave everyone a free turkey for Thanksgiving.

8. Fast Food Worker (McDonald’s Oak Grove, KY) – Did various things such as cooking food, cleaning, and stocking.  I did mess a lot of things up including dropping food and doing the unthinkable as I broke the soda machines.  So I was fired.  Job lasted only a few weeks.

9. Prep Cook (Applebee’s Gillette, WY) –  We were in the back of the kitchen preparing food to be cooked.  The bad thing was many of the recipes were missing so we were flying solo.  That meant some customers were mad because their food tasted bad.  And of course I dropped some stuff.  I left a few weeks later when I was offered this next job.

10. Shift Manager (Popeye’s Chicken Gillette, WY) – I ran the restaurant during my shift.  Most of the employees did not like me at all.  Of course I was never trained on doing things such as seasoning chicken or training employees.  And when I cooked I constantly dropped things.  I was fired after three months and soon after the place closed.

11. Front Desk Clerk / Server (Soda Butte Lodge Cooke City, MT) – I found this summer seasonal job which provided living arrangements and a good job.  But soon things quickly changed.  The hotel was run down as rooms had no hot water, some windows were broken, and some employees were rude.  The restaurant side featured poor food and service. And you guessed it, the guests took it out on me the front desk clerk.

Throughout the summer many employees came and left and even four foreign exchange students cried after they realized this was a bad place.  I even had to help comfort them.  And things got worse when the people living in the town told all the tourists about how bad the place was.  It was a emotional job and I eventually got fired.  The only good side was it was only four miles to Yellowstone National Park.  So the scenery was great!

After this job I could not find anything, I ended up homeless for a while and living under a bridge and trees.  Then this came up.

12. Truck Driver (Werner Enterprises Anniston, AL) – This job involved driving a truck.  But the trainer made me sleep in the top bunk while the truck was moving.  That was a dangerous problem.  Also sometimes I had to drive through the night and I struggled to stay awake.  I almost ran off the left lane of a interstate in Florida and almost hit a median barrier in the St. Louis area.  Thank the Lord for rumble strips.  When I got a truck the RPM and speedometer was not working, the tags and insurance was expired, and some lights did not work.  This job only lasted three months.

13. Delivery Driver (Fed Ex Anniston, AL) – This job involved doing a route and delivering packages.  Often I got the short end of the stick as I was given a route that lasted way too long.  Sometimes I was even delivering packages as late as 10:00pm.  Then I was given a route which involved driving to Guntersville, AL which was 70 miles up the road.  Often I was out for 12-14 to even 16 hours a day delivering.  I tried to tell management I needed help but nothing happened.  Then the Fed Ex lawyers told the management I needed to be fired.  And that’s what happened.  Hey; this job lasted for around three years.

All the gaps in between jobs were very long as it took forever to find work.  Today I feel like this blog is the only way to keep up with what I am doing as no one is willing to give me a chance.  Maybe one day I can make this blog profitable so I do not have to worry about finding a job.  But until then, I hope someone will give me a chance.

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