Hello! My name is Joanne Joanne - drag legend, eleven-time Grammy winner, full-time resident of the tunnels in the Newman Building. This is OTwo’s best ever Agony Aunt column - that's right, the good people at The University Observer saw the way 2020 has gone, thought about who can be there as a light in the dark for the struggling students of UCD, and settled on a twenty-year-old drag queen from the backarse of County Wicklow. I'm as delighted as you are! I'll be answering your questions on love, sex, college, or anything else via submissions in my Tipbox - do send your questions in! Nothing is too weird! I am incredibly nosy!
"Dear Agony Aunt,
I really need to get out of my parent's house and I have an essential job that will let me travel, but if I were to move I could only afford to move in with my ex-boyfriend.
It's been a while since we dated and we both get along as friends, but I don't know if I should put myself in a situation where I could make things uncomfortable for both of us because I just want to live independently. What should I do?
Conflicted in the George"
¡Escandelo! I will be the first to admit that I don't have a lot of experience with actually moving out - all of my drag things are either in my childhood bedroom or hidden in plastic bags in the spare room. Every day, I live in fear that my parents will find them.
I get the financial insecurity, I really do - but I really don't think moving in with your ex is a good idea. I don't think it matters how well ye get along as friends if you ultimately want to live independently - if you have a feeling it might be awkward, you're probably right. Not to be plugging a Facebook group in a college newspaper in 2021, but there's this group I'm a member of called Queer Housing Dublin LGBT+ - I can only assume that's relevant to someone called Conflicted in the George. It's updated pretty regularly and it's a good way to find places to live where you know for a fact your roommates or housemates will not be homophobic. We all love a bit of conflict, but I would pass on living with a homophobe.
If there's really no other option, let me know and I will personally move in with you and your ex. I won't be paying rent and I will not contribute in any meaningful way, but I know good telenovela drama when I see it.
Dear Joanne Joanne,
Should I pay for Disney+ or continue to stream by...other means?
I am really poor in fairness.
Thanks
Other means, bro. I've never had Disney+ specifically - technically, I've never knowingly bought a subscription to any streaming platform. The only time I have was when I forgot that my month's free trial of Shudder was up and I woke up to sixty euro missing from my bank account. Normally, this doesn't happen to me - I've been using my friend's Netflix account since the start of first year. (Hi Carla!)
I don't know what these ~ other means ~ of streaming are, and for legal reasons, I cannot condone piracy in a student newspaper - but I will say that Disney+'s business practices feel a bit suspicious. I saw something on Twitter the other day about a so-called "experiment" they were doing where they charge already-paying subscribers an extra thirty quid to watch their newest movie a few months earlier. Thirty quid! The cheek! The nerve! The gall! The audacity! I know very little about Disney+ but I do know that I love a bargain - and that does not sound like one. Either share an account with someone else or be ready to make a whole load of email addresses to get those free trials.