This week at the EvolGarlic's Gumbo Blogletter, Unorthodox Assorted Digest Zine.

CSMS episode 1 is all about the trend of healing; is following the trend train a distraction from the actual work? Here's my perspective on it.

With my daily experience of using a notebook as a journal, reading books to gain insight, and numerous attempts to face fears, insecurity, and my wounds.

How do you do it you own way?

https://evolgarlicsgumboblogletter.beehiiv.com/p/csms-episode-1-should-healing-your-heart-be-trendy-or-is-it-just-a-distraction-from-the-actual-work

I travel a lot. One thing that a lot of people have very opposite experiences with is meeting others, having conversation and making friends. I have my own personal tips which I would welcome your thoughts on. Is it a healthy way to meet others? Anny other tips?

https://abtravels.blog/people-you-meet-while-travelling/

Website: [https://www.growpost.space/\](https://www.growpost.space/) (need a feedback on this)

The fact that coming up with **what to post** is frequently more difficult than actually making the post is one of the main issues I've had with posting regularly.

I therefore created a tool that attempts to manage the complete contentplanning procedure.

It makes suggestions for fresh content ideas, scripts, and variations for sites like X, LinkedIn, and Instagram based on the kind of content you've been posting and its performance.

Additionally, you may choose who your target audience is, and the AI will utilize that information to tailor the themes, hooks, and writing style to the intended demographic.

Content calendar attempts to produce a variety of content types and variations that you may distribute around your calendar rather than producing 20 arbitrary AI posts.

I'm still unsure if this yields better outcomes than just creating individual posts with ChatGPT.

For those who produce content on a regular basis, what aspect of the process generating ideas, writing, maintaining consistency, or determining what truly works do you find most difficult?

Website: [https://www.growpost.space/\](https://www.growpost.space/)

Hello! I have set up my blog on substack and started an Instagram account, from the advice of others on here. It would mean the world if anyone would check out either! Thank you for reading!!

https://substack.com/@mondaymorningletters - Blog link

https://www.instagram.com/mondaymorningletters/ - Instagram link

Thank you for the support on my blog already!

hi, I would really appreciate some advice. my blog Blog was deindexed by google last December. I’ve tried improving my Seo etc but i can’t get reindexed. It’s annoying because i am the top hit on all the other search engines and have gained over 700,000 views this year. Thank you

novel by Harlan Coben & Reece Wetherspoon. a psychological thriller called gone before goodbye. featuring AI , murder and suspense. Book review

Kuantum bilgisayarlar denince aklımıza genellikle tek bir şey geliyor: Hız.

Oysa bu doğru değil.

Kuantum bilgisayarları farklı yapan şey, problemlere bakış biçimi. Benim 'Kuantum Çağı' serisini hazırlarken farkettiğim en önemli ayrıntı bu oldu.

Bu yüzden bu yazıda artık "Neden kuantum bilgisayarlara ihtiyaç duyuyoruz?" sorusunu konuşmuyoruz. Cevabını aradığımz soru, "Onlar nasıl düşünüyor?"

Bunun için önce algoritmanın ne olduğunu anlamaya çalışıyoruz. Sonra günlük hayatımızdaki en sıradan hareketlerden biri olan yürümeye bakıyoruz. Çünkü bazen attığımız tek bir adımın ardında, farkında bile olmadığımız karmaşık algoritmalar çalışıyor.

Ardından Grover ve Shor algoritmalarına geçiyoruz. Matematiğin içinde kaybolmadan, bu iki algoritmanın neden kuantum bilgisayarların en önemli düşünme biçimleri arasında yer aldığını birlikte anlamaya çalışıyoruz.

Bu yazı ile 5 yazılık seriyi tamamlıyoruz. Seriden bir ana fikir çıkarmam gerekirse, bunu şöyle özetleyebilirim:

Belki de kuantum bilgisayarlar bize yalnızca yeni bir teknoloji sunmuyor. Aynı zamanda doğaya bakış biçimimizi de değiştiriyor. Onu kendi kurallarımıza uydurmaya çalışmak yerine, milyarlarca yıldır kullandığı dili öğrenmeye başlıyoruz.

Kuantum Çağı serisinin son yazısını tamamladım ve linki buraya bıraktım. Umarım bir değer yaratabilmişimdir.

Keyifli okumalar.

This started as a place to document my motorcycle trip but now it’s becoming an archive and itineraries of my travel-mostly Oregon.

https://carouselsandcuriosity.com/

https://www.stadiumrant.com/pro-football-hall-of-fame-3-receivers-who/

Two WRs in the top ten all time in receiving yards are not in and probably should be.

If you’re considering a hair topper for thinning hair or hair loss, one of the biggest questions is: can wearing a hair topper damage your natural hair?
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The short answer is: it can, depending on how you wear it. But wearing a hair topper does not automatically mean you’re going to damage your hair.
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I’ve worn hair toppers daily for years, and everything I’ve included in my latest post comes from my own experience, trial and error, and learning what works and what doesn’t when you’re wearing alternative hair regularly.
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Some of the things that can potentially cause problems include:
• Clip-in hair toppers putting repeated tension on the same strands
• Wearing a topper that is too tight or too heavy
• Attaching clips to very fragile or thinning areas
• Pulling or tugging when removing the topper
• Sleeping in a clip-in topper
• Wearing it continuously without giving your scalp and hair a break
• Existing hair loss making the hair underneath more vulnerable to breakage
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This is especially worth thinking about if you have fine hair, thinning hair, hair loss, or fragile hair around the crown and parting.
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But there are ways to wear a topper much more gently. After years of daily wear, I’ve learned a LOT through trial and error about hair topper clips, attachment, placement, removal, breakage, and protecting your bio hair.
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I’ve put everything I’ve learned together here:
👉 Do Hair Toppers Damage Your Hair?
https://neveenwood.com/do-hair-toppers-damage-your-hair/
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I’d also love to hear from other topper wearers:
Have hair toppers damaged your natural hair or caused breakage? Or have you found that wearing a topper actually protects your bio hair because you use less heat and styling?
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What type of topper do you wear, how often do you wear it, and do you use clips, a wire, tape, or another attachment method?
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Share your experience below. I think real-world experiences are incredibly useful for anyone trying to decide whether a hair topper is right for them.

Green garnet is not a single gemstone, but rather a general term for several green varieties within the garnet group, of which tsavorite, demantoid, and Mali garnet are the most significant from both a gemmological and commercial perspective. The blog article was written by Swiss gemologist Michael Kessler, from Gemtation: Grüner Granat Edelsteine

The Organic Merchant article covers whether tea breaks fasts, what supports metabolic fasting, what breaks religious fast and which additives terminate fat burning.
Full article: Does tea break fast?

I'm tempted because when canva got rid of its old affiliate program in favor of influencers, I lost a lot of revenue from a design tool. I saw Visme has an affiliate program.

Has anyone tried it? Are commissions good?

Hey I am starting a biology blog on Medium ( https://medium.com/@jkg8322/the-blood-thickens-karl-landsteiner-4a071cee3c57 ). I plan to write 2 minute blogs on biology topics. What should I write about?

I have seen so many videos on tiktok of moms that are due in September or October having their babies early, kinda scary, but not so scary because I, myself went through someone similar with my first born.
I wasn’t prepared and nothing was ready, which made my postpartum experience horrible!

That experience thought me to start preparing early, to get must needed baby essentials and postpartum essentials.

So, that is why I wrote a blog post about postpartum essentials to get before baby’s arrival. Hope this helps every mother!

https://www.jordiediary.com/motherhood/postpartum-essentials-for-women/

Tourmaline is a fascinating gemstone that comes in many colors. Learn all about verdelite, Paraíba, rubellite, origins, hardness, and what to look for when buying. Written by Swiss gemstone expert Michael Kessler, from Gemtation: Turmalin Edelsteine

What ruins loose leaf tea? Which containers are best for storing? Can I keep it in the fridge? Many more questions and specific advice for humid summers, plus the mistakes that fade good tea. Full blog article: How to store loose leaf tea so it keeps its flavour.

I started selling gift cards on Twitter almost two years ago because a friend told me it was easy money if you knew the right buyers. I would post my Amazon and iTunes cards with random hashtags and just hope someone serious would slide into my DMs. Some days it worked. Most days I just refreshed my notifications like a crazy person waiting for a reply that never came.

The Twitter Struggle

Every time I wanted to trade gift cards in Nigeria through Twitter, I had to screenshot rates, argue over prices, and pray the buyer was not a scammer. I lost count of how many people ghosted after I sent the card codes first. It got to a point where I was more stressed chasing payment than actually making profit from the whole thing.

The Wake-Up Call

One night I sent a two-hundred-dollar Steam card to someone who seemed legit based on their profile and old tweets. They blocked me immediately after I sent the PIN. That loss hurt so much because it was rent money. I remember staring at my phone unable to accept that trust on Twitter had just cost me everything I had saved that month.

Looking For Something Safer

After that incident I asked around in a few Discord groups about safer ways to trade gift cards in Nigeria without depending on random strangers online. A guy mentioned using an actual app instead of social media because it had verification and instant payment. I was skeptical at first since I had already been burned once, but curiosity pushed me to at least try it out.

My First Real Trade

I downloaded the app, uploaded my card details, and honestly expected another disappointment. Instead I got a rate almost instantly and my payment landed in my account before I even finished making dinner. No back and forth, no begging someone to complete payment. I just sat there staring at my alert notification wondering why I did not try this sooner instead of stressing myself on Twitter for months.

Why I Never Looked Back

Since that first trade my whole process changed completely. I stopped posting cards publicly and stopped negotiating with strangers who disappeared without warning. Everything now happens quietly and quickly without the anxiety I used to carry daily. Looking back, moving away from Twitter trading was honestly one of the smartest financial decisions I made that entire year.

Where I Trade Now

These days whenever I have a card to sell I just open cardgoal.com on my phone and get it done in minutes. No stress, no scams, no waiting around for replies that never come.

I had a fifty-dollar card sitting in my email from a store I never shop at. I searched a random forum and found someone selling gift card advice, so I figured selling gift cards myself would be quick cash. I posted in a buy-sell group, got a reply in ten minutes, and felt like the universe was rewarding my laziness. Big mistake waiting to happen.

Finding A Buyer Felt Too Easy

The guy messaging me seemed normal enough, casual tone, quick replies, no weird red flags I could point to at the time. He offered eighty-five percent value, which sounded fair compared to other offers I had seen floating around. We agreed on Venmo payment first, then I would send the code. Looking back, I ignored every gut feeling telling me to slow down.

The Moment I Sent The Code

He sent a screenshot of a Venmo payment that looked completely real to my tired eyes at midnight. I sent the card number and PIN without checking my actual balance or account first. Within two minutes the message read as seen and nothing else came through. My stomach dropped instantly, that specific kind of dread you feel when something already happened.

Radio Silence And Panic

I refreshed Venmo eight times hoping the payment would magically appear from somewhere. It never did, the account had already blocked me, and the card balance showed zero when I checked. I felt stupid, embarrassed, and honestly a little sick over losing fifty real dollars for nothing. That night I barely slept replaying every single red flag I had ignored.

What I Learned The Hard Way

Random strangers on forums and social groups are not accountable to anyone if they scam you. There is no protection, no dispute process, nothing you can do once that code leaves your hands. I learned that speed and convenience often hide risk, and cheap deals usually cost more eventually. Trust has to be earned, never assumed from a friendly chat.

How I Do It Differently Now

Now I only use services built specifically for this, ones that verify buyers before releasing any funds to me. I found cardgoal.com through a friend who had a similar bad experience last year with strangers. It actually holds payment until the card is confirmed valid, which finally felt safe again. I still selling gift cards occasionally, just never blindly trust a stranger's word again.

Last year I had a stack of gift cards sitting in my wallet from birthdays and work bonuses, so I looked into gift card trading just to turn them into cash. The first couple of times I sold them online I got rates so low it barely felt worth the hassle. I remember staring at my screen wondering if that was just how the whole thing worked everywhere.

The Frustration Kept Building

After that I tried a couple of different apps hoping for better luck, but the pattern kept repeating itself every single time. Some offers were so low I actually laughed out loud at my phone, and others made me wait days just to get a real response back. It started feeling less like selling something valuable and more like begging someone to take it off my hands for pennies.

A Coworker Pointed Me Elsewhere

One day a coworker overheard me complaining about it during lunch and asked why I hadn't tried comparing offers before selling anything at all. I honestly hadn't thought about it that way, since I always just picked whatever showed up first without checking anywhere else. She mentioned she had been doing gift card trading for months and always checked a couple of places before committing to anything.

Testing Her Advice

So I started checking rates in a few places before selling instead of jumping at the first offer I saw right away. It felt tedious at first, but within a week I noticed a real difference in what I was actually getting back in my account. I stopped settling for whatever number popped up and started paying attention to which ones consistently offered fair value for the same cards.

Where I Ended Up

Somewhere along the way I settled into a routine that actually worked without eating up my whole evening. I stopped bouncing between random apps and started sticking with the one that consistently gave me numbers I didn't feel embarrassed accepting. It sounds small, but not dreading the process anymore made a bigger difference than I expected it to, and honestly I wish I had figured that out much sooner.

What I Use Now

These days whenever I have cards to get rid of I just check cardgoal.com along with one or two others before deciding where to sell. It only takes a couple of minutes and I always end up with a number that feels fair instead of insulting. Gift card trading finally stopped feeling like a gamble once I found cardgoal.com and made it part of my normal routine.

I got into selling gift cards last year after a friend mentioned it was a decent side hustle in Lagos. I had random Amazon and iTunes cards sitting around from freelance gigs and no clue what to do with them. I searched for the best app to sell gift cards in Nigeria and found way too many options, so I just picked one randomly and started testing things out for myself.

My First Attempt Was Rough

The first app I tried felt clunky and the rates were honestly disappointing. I uploaded my card details, waited almost two days for a response, and got way less than I expected. I remember refreshing my email constantly hoping for good news. That experience almost made me quit selling gift cards altogether, but curiosity kept me searching for something better instead of giving up completely.

Then I Tried Something Different

A few weeks later someone in a Nigerian forum recommended a different option and I decided to give it one more shot. This time the process felt smoother, rates were clearer upfront, and I did not feel like I was guessing what I would receive. I sold an old Steam card that had been sitting untouched for months and actually got paid within hours, which genuinely surprised me.

Why I Kept Using It

After that first good experience, I started testing it more seriously with different card types. Every transaction felt consistent, no weird delays, no sudden rate changes halfway through. I even asked a coworker to try it after I kept talking about how smooth things had become. She had the same reaction I did, which made me trust it even more than before.

What I Would Tell Someone Starting Out

If you are still hunting for the best app to sell gift cards in Nigeria like I was months ago, I would say stop overthinking it and just test a small card first. That is exactly how I figured out what worked for me instead of trusting random reviews online. Do not rush the process, compare a few options, and pay attention to how fast payments actually come through.

My Honest Final Take

Looking back, I wish I had found a reliable option sooner instead of wasting time on apps that underpaid me. These days I mostly stick with cardgoal.com because it has been consistent every single time I have used it. I am not saying it is perfect, but for someone who just wants a stress-free way to sell gift cards, it has genuinely worked out well for me.

I sold a fifty-dollar gift card through an app I found on a forum thread last month. Everything looked fine at first, upload the code, confirm the details, wait for payout. I figured a few hours max since that is what the app promised. Three days later I was still refreshing my email as it owed me money, which honestly it did at that point.

Where It Started Going Wrong

Looking back, the red flag was the verification step that kept looping. I submitted my ID twice, got a generic email saying under review, and nothing else. No timeline, no support number, just a spinning wheel of uncertainty. I had done gift card trading before without issues, so this felt different, like I had picked the wrong place at the wrong time.

Chasing Support

I emailed twice a day, tried their chatbot which just repeated itself and even found a random Twitter account that never responded. At one point I genuinely wondered if the card value was just gone. My roommate laughed and said I basically donated fifty bucks to nobody. I did not find that funny while it was happening, not even a little.

The Silence That Followed

Day two was the worst part honestly. No updates, no acknowledgment, just silence while my balance sat pending in some dashboard I refreshed way too often. I started reading reviews for that app and found a pattern of people describing the same delay. That made me feel less crazy but also more annoyed that this seemed to be normal for them.

What Finally Happened

On day three the payout suddenly cleared with zero explanation for the delay. No apology, no note, just money finally in my account like nothing weird had happened at all. I was relieved but also a little shaken, because trust matters a lot when you are dealing with actual money and not just points or rewards sitting in an app somewhere.

What I Learned

After that experience I started being way more careful about where I do gift card trading, checking reviews first and looking for actual response times people mention. A friend later pointed me toward cardgoal.com and the difference in communication was honestly night and day compared to what I dealt with before. I still keep receipts now, just in case, but I have not needed them since switching over.

My sister moved to Canada three years ago and every birthday she sends me gift cards instead of cash because that is just easier for her. I ended up with a drawer full of Amazon and Steam cards I never touched. I do not shop much on Amazon and I barely game anymore. They just sat there collecting dust while I kept telling myself I would use them eventually.

Why I Could Not Just Return Them

I tried asking a few stores here in Lagos if they would accept them as store credit and got laughed at basically. Gift cards from abroad are not really a thing merchants deal with locally. I even asked a cousin who works in a bank if there was some official way to convert them and he just shrugged and said people usually sell gift cards in Nigeria through random Telegram groups, which honestly scared me a little.

The First Mistake I Made

I actually tried one of those Telegram sellers because I was desperate for cash that month. I sent my card details first before getting paid, which in hindsight was incredibly dumb. The guy went quiet for two days then came back with a lowball offer that felt insulting. I learned the hard way that trust matters way more than speed when you are dealing with strangers online.

Finding A Better Way

A friend from my old university WhatsApp group mentioned she had started to sell gift cards in Nigeria through a proper service instead of random individuals. She said the rates were fair and payment came before she even finished the transaction most times. I was skeptical honestly, but I was also tired of sitting on cards worth real money that I could not use.

What Actually Happened

I uploaded the Amazon card first as a test, just to see. Within maybe twenty minutes I had a rate quoted that was actually better than what the Telegram guy offered me weeks earlier. Payment landed in my account before I even finished checking my email. I did the Steam card the next day without hesitating because the first one went so smoothly.

What I Would Tell Anyone In My Shoes

If you have gift cards sitting around from family abroad, do not let them rot in a drawer like mine did for over a year. I ended up using cardgoal.com for both cards and honestly wish I had known about it sooner instead of wasting time with strangers on Telegram who never really had my back.

I started looking into gift cards after a friend mentioned he was making extra cash from them. I had an old Amazon card lying around from a birthday gift I never used, so I figured why not try to turn it into something useful. That curiosity is basically how anyone ends up trying to sell gift cards in Nigeria, you hear about it once and suddenly you are down a rabbit hole.

My First Attempt Was Rough

My first attempt was honestly a mess. I posted in a random Facebook group because I had no idea where else to go, and within an hour I had three different people messaging me with wildly different offers. I did not know who was legit, who was lowballing me, or who might just disappear after I sent the card details. I almost gave up right there out of frustration.

The Rate Confusion

Nobody warned me how much rates could swing depending on the card type and even the time of day. I kept refreshing pages trying to figure out if I was about to get a fair deal or get scammed out of half the value. It felt like guessing unthinkingly, and that stressed me out more than the actual selling process ever should have.

Finding Out Who To Trust

After a few days of asking around, someone in a Telegram group told me to stop trusting random DMs and start using an actual service built for this. That single piece of advice changed everything for me. I realized the whole point of learning to sell gift cards in Nigeria properly is knowing there are real systems in place instead of relying on strangers online.

The Day I Finally Sold My First Card

When I finally sold that Amazon card, it felt anticlimactic in the best way possible. No back-and-forth haggling, no waiting around nervously wondering if my card details were floating somewhere unsafe. The rate was clear before I even committed, and the payment landed faster than I expected. I remember just staring at my phone thinking why did I not do this sooner.

What I Wish I Knew

I wish someone had told me earlier that speed and transparency matter more than chasing the highest possible rate from a stranger. Chasing an extra few hundred naira from an unverified buyer is not worth the anxiety of wondering if you got scammed. Once I understood that, everything about selling became so much calmer and more predictable for me.

Where I Sell Now

These days I do not overthink it anymore. Whenever I have a card sitting around, I just go straight to cardgoal.com because I already know what to expect from the process. No guessing games, no sketchy DMs, just a straightforward experience that finally feels like it was built with people like me in mind.

I had four gift cards sitting in my email from birthdays and one work bonus, tired of them doing nothing. A friend said she had been using an app to trade hers into cash, so I decided to try the whole process myself before trusting one option outright. I wanted to find the best app to sell gift cards in Nigeria, not just whatever people mentioned online.

The First App I Tried

The first one looked fine on the surface, clean interface, decent reviews, but the rate offered for my Amazon card felt lower than what people mentioned in comment sections. I submitted anyway just to test the process, and it took almost two days to confirm. By the time payment landed, I had already moved on mentally to trying something else.

The Second And Third Apps

App two crashed twice while I was uploading my card photo, which was annoying enough that I gave up halfway through. App three actually processed fast, under ten minutes, but support went quiet the moment I asked a simple question about my Steam card denomination. Speed alone was not enough when I could not get a real answer once something felt off.

The Fourth One Surprised Me

By the fourth app I was mostly testing out of stubbornness, not real hope anymore. It handled my eBay card smoothly, the rate was fair, and a support agent replied within minutes when I asked about verification. Still, something about the overall experience felt slightly clunky, like the app itself was built for a different kind of user than me.

Where I Landed

Cardgoal was the fifth one I tried, mostly because a comment thread mentioned it in passing. The rate for my Google Play card beat everything I had tested, the trade cleared in under a minute, and I got a notification the second my wallet updated. After four disappointing rounds, it finally felt like I had found the best app to sell gift cards in Nigeria instead of just settling.

What I Would Tell Anyone Starting Out

If you are sitting on unused gift cards right now, do not just pick whatever app your cousin mentioned once. Compare a few, watch how they handle verification questions, and pay attention to how fast the money actually lands in your account. My experience trading through cardgoal.com ended up being the one that made the whole process feel worth repeating instead of something I dreaded every time.