#(for context this was a scheduled post drawn about two days after last post went out. ive branched out a bit more since. you will See.)

[came0dust]

finally started playing hades after having it in my library for about three years and truly supergiant never misses im in absolute Love with this game so far

[mrgaretcarter]

My experience with Aftersun (2022)

One of my best friends watched this a few days ago and was really excited about it and excited for me to check it out, which always makes me a bit nervous because I don’t like to disappoint, but it turned out there was nothing to worry about here, I really enjoyed the movie and was surprised by how close to home it felt.

Before I get into the main event I wanted to just jot down some smaller things I loved. First off the fact that Sophie’s parents say “I love you”  to each other still, despite being separated, and his explanation to her about why that is. I also really enjoyed the focus on Sophie experiencing and observing people being physically affectionate in a romantic context, and the underlying theme of her mind opening up to that side of life throughout this trip, including the fact that the last and most drawn out instance of this is her watching two men kissing after only seeing heterosexual couples throughout the rest of the movie, which went nicely with the later reveal that adult Sophie has a wife and daughter.

Alright, now onto the thing the movie is mostly about.

The way Sophie dresses and acts and the circumstances of the vacation read as very familiar to me, the whole thing had almost this flashback quality from my perspective, and Sophie’s relationship with her dad really reminded me of my dad and I as well. The closeness, the gentleness, down to the scene where he is teaching her how to get away from an attacker and she’s not taking it very seriously and he’s trying to make her understand this is important, I swear I’ve lived through an almost identical version of that.

Another thing that felt familiar was the physicality between them. I think in general stories about the relationship between a parent and a child tend to emphasize touch more when it involves mothers, however, my experience with my parents was very balanced, and my dad took very close care of me. It was emotional to see that closeness onscreen, not only in affectionate touches, like Calum carrying Sophie around, or the way she hangs off him constantly (which I also did a lot with my dad - and still do!), but in utilitarian ones too, like the scene where Calum takes Sophie’s shoes off, or applies sunscreen to her back.

To build on that, the sheer fact that he was attuned to her schedule and committed to deliberately caring for her, not just in the sense of providing, but of nurturing, and that he did so very naturally, was incredibly special, and I think reflects the current zeitgeist where we’re seeing more and more stories that challenge some of the archetypes of masculinity. I thought it was interesting that the movie itself brings up that dichotomy when it shows Calum’s frustration at not having more money to spend on Sophie and the pressure he feels around that.

The fact that their relationship was so loving though, only makes it all the more heartbreaking when you realize how much pain Calum is in and how lost he feels. Once it becomes clear where things are headed it’s apparent that he is saying goodbye to Sophie at every turn, with every gesture, and that he means all the love he feels for her really sincerely, and deeply regrets not being able to give her more of himself. He is constantly grieving the time they won’t have. The movie does a great job of showing how complex the situation is, and makes it nearly impossible to judge Calum because there is just not an ounce of anger in how it tells his story.

Considering this was based on the director’s real life, I think both the daughter inside the movie and the real one outside of it hold these memories and relay them in a way that serves as a testament to the man their father was; he did something that was deeply devastating for her and yet, the way she remembers him is completely coated in two things: empathy for his pain and the absolute certainty of his love for her.

The movie also reminded me of this post:

Anyway, the direction was great, the whole thing is shot beautifully and Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio give really wonderful performances.

[clevercatchphrase]

2020 Year Review~

2020. Pretty unique year, don’t you think? It’s the first year since 2002 to have only two different digits in it. After 2022, this won’t happen again until 2111. Yep. Absolutely nothing more interesting than that.

Anyway! It’s time I reflect on my 2020, look back on my yearly goals and rant about things that happened to me this year. I made a post like this last year, where I went over my 2019 goals and talked about what I accomplished and what I didn’t, and it’s only fitting I do the same again this year. Read more under the cut for a random stream of consciousness ramble!

So, first things first, let’s look at my 2019 goals;

Finish paying off that last student loan

Put more stuff on my redbubble

Illustrate my own fan fics

Sew at least one stuffed animal

Make an enamel pin

Read one new book a month

Write one page a day/Complete at least one new fan fic

Learn Python or C# for the game I want to make

Finish fully scripting Ghost Switch

Boost my patreon

 Paying Off My Last Student Loan: Going down the list, I am proud to say that I FINALLY paid off all my student loans! (and not a moment too soon. The last payment I made was literally days before the first quarantine rolled out). It took me roughly 4 years on my part-time paycheck to pay off all my loans, and once I finished, I had no money to my name (literally; I had less than 1k as emergency money in case of car troubles or health issues). Heck, I’m STILL living at home as a save up for a place of my own. Finally paying off all my student loans DID activate my secret 2020 new year’s resolution, which was to adopt a cat! I did this too, literally a week later! She is the best thing that’s happened to me this entire year and I love her so much and she is the snuggliest cuddle bug I’ve ever met. I’m so happy she’s in my life now~

Put More Stuff On My Redbubble: ah ha ha ha… I thought I did this, but then I went and checked, and it turns out-! I did not. I made art I intended to go on my redbubble, but haven’t put there yet. They are all drawings of some OCs from a game I want to make, but because I haven’t progressed on making the game this year, I never got around to putting more stuff related to it on my redbubble. At the time of writing, there are 7 days left in December, so I guess I could go and put it up on my redbubble right now, but without context on where the characters are from, there wouldn’t be much point, now would there?

 Illustrate My Own Fan Fics: Another goal that I was so stoked to actually do… and then just didn’t. Gee, I wonder why I couldn’t find the energy or motivation to do it this year? Truly a conundrum. (Hey, you know what? If Ghost Switch counts as a fan fiction in a visual form, then I am doing GREAT on this goal. 2.5 years in, 1 of ~4 arcs done, and still going steady~)

 Sew At Least One Stuffed Animal: Okay, I have a valid excuse for not doing this one. I even knew which stuffed animal I wanted to make, and had the pattern drawn out and everything, but I had no money for materials because I had just paid off my student loans. And then, by the time I did have enough money again, quarantine was in full effect and I couldn’t go out to the fabric store. I’m still trying my best to stay out of public places even if the rules are laxer now, because I don’t want to catch the plague even if everyone in my goddamn city thinks and acts like the problem is over already. Even if they’re all wearing masks, even if they’re staying 6 feet apart, I still don’t want to risk it. I will stay inside until health experts give the all clear, and when that day comes, then I will buy some fleece and make a plush.

 Make An Enamel Pin: I ACTUALLY DID THIS ONE. TWICE! Halfway through quarantine, I was feeling anxious and depressed about my job and how they were planning to have me work with the public despite climbing infection rates and positive covid cases. I didn’t quit then, but in a desperate move to try and become self-sufficient, I went to madebycooper and made two enamel pins based on some butterfly dragons I drew last year. They’re on my etsy store now! I even went out of my way to open a P.O. box just to start a small business! I haven’t sold a single pin yet, and I’m actually really nervous to sell my first because I don’t trust the efficiency of the postal system thanks to the actions of the GOP that really screwed them over this year! (If you would like to see my enamel pins, click here!)

 Read One Book A Month: I did this! With dragon books I bought a couple years back! In fact, I read FOURTEEN dragon books, and still have more books for next year to read! The 14 books I read this year were:

 The Hive Queen

The Poison Jungle

Wings Of Fire Legends: Dragonslayer

Dealing With Dragons

Searching For Dragons

Calling on Dragons

Talking to Dragons

The Bronze Dragon Codex

The Brass Dragon Codex

The Black Dragon Codex

The Red Dragon Codex

The Silver Dragon Codex

Dragon Strike, and

Hatching Magic

 To be honest, I had read The Red Dragon Codex years ago when it first came out, but completely forgotten what it was about. I remembered liking it, and I knew the reading level was on the lower side, but the whole dragon codex series was pretty good! So far, the Silver dragon codex was my favorite, and black dragon codex was probably the worst! Hatching Magic was also really slow and bad and had plot points that went nowhere, but the book was written in the 80s, so I don’t know what I expected. The Dealing with Dragons series was very charming and great for the most part, save for one line in the last book that really rubbed me the wrong way, and all the Wings of Fire Books go above and beyond in this third arc. The second legends book could be a little tighter, though (sky and wren are the best duo and I want a book solely about them, but I honest to god do not care about leaf and ivy’s stories.)

 Write one Page of any story every day/ complete at least one fic: I… did this? Okay, I kinda cheated near the end of the year. I was keeping up the one page a day thing for the first four months, but then the world went to shit and my schedule and habits got disrupted and I fell off my good track record. I completed 7 out of roughly 12 one-shots I had planned for this year (my goal WAS supposed to be one short a month, but… you know how it happens) I kept trying to catch up on this goal all year, but the days kept piling up…. Until November hit. I managed to write over 250 pages for Nanowrimo, and I consider this goal a win. 365 pages of fiction in total, which averages out to about one a day~. SHUT UP IT COUNTS.

 Learn Python or C# for the game I want to make: Another goal I didn’t have the mental energy to commit to this year. Truly a mystery to where all our willpower went in 2020.

 Fully Finish Scripting Ghost Switch: still haven’t done this one yet! The Snowdin arc is completely planned, but I just haven’t gotten around to getting the other areas. I’m not worried, though. I know all the major plot points I gotta hit, it’s just weaving them together in a way that flows nice is the final task. I’m not too worried though. I don’t expect to finish the Snowdin arc for another year and a half, at the bare minimum.

 And my last goal of 2020, Boost My Patreon. I did this at the beginning of the year, but then very intentionally stopped about a third of the way through. It didn’t sit right with me to tell you guys to donate to me when suddenly EVERYONE was financially strained from layoffs or being furloughed. I told my patrons the same, and if you ever need to stop donating to me to take care of yourself first, then by all means, please do. I would feel much better knowing you’re using your money to see yourself fed and housed instead of given to me (where it is pretty much only used to buy gas for my car, honestly)

 Welp! That was all my goals for 2020! I achieved 4 out of 10 goals plus 1 secret goal! Pretty much the same ratio as last year, but now this time I can blame all my failures on the pandemic! I don’t feel so bad about myself anymore~

 ON TO 2021!

 I have 11 goals for the new year, again some rolled over from this list, and some from even older years. They are, in no particular order;

 Read 12 new books (roughly 1 book a month)

Finish the first draft of 2019’s Nanowrimo project and rewrite it

Script TDV

Finish Scripting Ghost Switch

Build A Comic Buffer

Sew 1 Stuffed Animal

Finish 1 Song Comic

Make another Enamel Pin

Finish 2 short original comics (this one counts as 2 goals)

Finish the 5 remaining one-shot fics

 Now to go into depth on each one, more for my own sake, really. I want to know exactly what I have planned for each goal this year, and sometimes just looking at a short list doesn’t capture all the smaller details.

 1)Read 12 new books. Same as last year! I The only difference is I might not be able to make it all dragon-related books. (I try my hardest not to buy from amazon anymore, but half-price-books doesn’t always have the obscure stuff I’m looking for)

 2)Finish 2019’s nanowrimo project. If you read my 2019 year reflection, you’ll notice I said I wanted to do some original writing. And I did! The story I wrote for nanowrimo back then was a story I’ve been toying with since 2017, but it was only last year I finally got pen to paper. Now, you may find it odd that the keyword says “finish”. You may think, “but isn’t that what you’re supposed to do for nanowrimo?” and to that I say, WRONG! I wrote 50k words for nanowrimo, but the draft was only about halfway complete. I was kinda discouraged about what I had written last year, because I didn’t like how it was coming out, but I did manage to get it half done. Now it’s time for me to bite the bullet and just finish the thing so I can finally revise it and make it into something I DO like. (It’s still gonna be hella long, tho. That’s what I get for trying to write an epic fantasy, I guess.)

 3)Script TDV. TDV is the abbreviation of the game I want to make. I… still need to do so much for this project OTL… In addition to getting the story solidified, I still need to draw art and game assets, and learn how to code for it, both of which are no small task. I keep having some sort of new year’s goal related to this on my list, and every year I just don’t hit this one. Will 2021 be different?

 4)Finish Scripting Ghost Switch. (Or at the very least, get the waterfall arc completely written out). I have a plan to break this down into simpler steps, by focusing on just one arc for a month or two. Every major arc has 2 to 3 parts, broken up by flashbacks, and if I can just finish one section a month, then I should have the entire thing scripted by the end of the year. It’s not a difficult pace, but seeing if I stick with it will be the real challenge, as it is will all my goals it seems.

 5)Build a Comic Buffer: I’m actually working on this one right now! Since I paid off my last loan and got a new job this year, my current Patreon goals are kind of out of date. They had all been centered around me paying off that last loan, and working towards full-time employment, but those are both completed now! So instead, I would love to get to a place where my patrons could read pages at least a week ahead, and to do that, I need to build a buffer. And since I’m working 5 full days a week now, I can’t afford to fall behind. But you can’t fall behind if you constantly stay ahead! I would like to have… a 10 to 12 page buffer. That’s roughly 3 months’ worth of pages to always have on hand in case I get swamped with work, or something. Right now I currently have a buffer of 3, which will cover me for half a January, which is better than not having anything at all, but still not the best. (ultimately, I would love to have a buffer so big, I could queue them up for the whole year. Wouldn’t that be something?)

 6) Sew one stuffed animal: same as last year. ASSUMING the plague gets under control in 2021, I don’t expect to get to this goal until the summer at the earliest.

 7)Finish 1 song comic: I have 7 song comics planned. One is a gift, one possibly for wandersong, one is a collab that’s currently in the works, but I’m waiting on a friend to do their part before I can continue mine, 2 are UT related, and 2 (well, technically 3, but one is the collab) are KH related. It’s one of the UT ones that will probably get finished, if I’m being honest. It’s completely story boarded, and now I just need to ink and color it. I would like to get it done for UT’s 6th birthday, since I made a song comic on the fly for the anniversary this year, and it was fun, and I’d like to do it again! So, look forward to that next september~

 8) Make another enamel pin: I have a dolphin design I’d like to make because dolphins are cute, if not little murder machines. (need to save up some expendable income first, tho. THESE THINGS AIN’T CHEAP TO MAKE.)

 9 and 10) start and finish 2 original short comics: I’ve got some comic ideas I want to do, but I need to get them written out first. I don’t think either would be too long. Each maybe a couple “episode’s” length, if envisioned on a website like webtoons or tapas. They’d both be heavy in allegory, but not overly drawn out (hopefully)

 11)And lastly, Finish the 5 remaining one-shots I had planned for this year but never got around to. I’m going to try to write one every other month. Pure self-indulgent shipping fluff. If I finish these 5, then maybe I’ll ask other people for more prompts and ideas, which I’ve never done before. We’ll see how it goes~

 Also, Like last year, I’d like to look at everything that’s happened to me this year, though to be honest, I’m not sure how much I remember/how accurate it’ll be. God, I don’t even remember what January was like. Who was I back then? Who were we all back then? I guess I’ll start my yearly retrospective in march because, heh, god we ALL know what started happening in march.

 Firstly, I paid off my last student loan! Then a week later on March 18th, I drove half an hour out of my city to adopt a cat and I love her and it was the best day of this year for me. Spring break is just beginning this weekend, but the attendance at the zoo is shockingly low this year. Apparently, a lot of people watch the news, and they’re all taking precautions about social distancing. I wasn’t too disappointed. Fewer people at the zoo, the easier my job is for me. I was looking forward to getting some free overtime on spring break, since I’m broke after paying off that loan, and I’m a cat parent now and have a furry child to feed. Monday rolls around. My manager calls me and tells me that the zoo is going into lockdown until further notice. I worry for the birds I take care of, but understand it’s for everyone’s safety.

 For two months I sleep in and watch way too much YouTube. I join a couple writing discords. I have nightmares about my birds escaping their enclosure and I dreamed one of the security guards I really like at the zoo gets covid and has to go to the ER. I woke up really upset.

 I started and finished BBS for the first time. I also replayed and finished KH2 final mix for the first time. It had been about 5 years since I last played KH2 before my PS2 died, and it was like coming home~ I also finished tearaway, and played and beat Ryme for a second time (which I can’t remember if I did that last year, but it was a fun experience regardless)

 Mid-June, and I’m allowed to start going back to work, be it on reduced hours. The zoo is still closed to the public, but I’m loving it! I get to work with full-time keepers and do full-time keeper things. It’s so much fun not having to deal with the public. August starts to creep up and there’s a rumor that the zoo will be opening to the public again, which I’m not stoked about. I don’t want to go back to standing in one exhibit all day, talking to guests who don’t listen to the rules or to me. 2 of my younger coworkers (who had both only been there a couple of months) get chosen for full-time positions, while I get passed up which really pisses me off. My other 2 coworkers quit when they think we might be reopening because they cannot risk catching the virus due to at-risk family. I am now the last keeper in the interactive bird exhibit.

 I keep working, the zoo slowly opens, but with me as the only interpreter in our interactive bird exhibit, we can’t open because I can’t run the entire exhibit by myself. So my exhibit stays closed. September comes and goes, and then October starts. Now there is more serious talk of opening my exhibit before the end of the year because the zoo expects to bring in larger crowds for the Christmas lights event in November/December. I ask if I get hazard pay or health insurance since I’m doing full-time hours until they hire more staff. They say no.

 I immediately start searching for a new job feeling incredibly indignant/hurt/slighted/insulted/used/abused/ALL the negative feelings at my job. I had been there for 4 years, but never got a chance to work full time, while the two newest hires who had only been there 2 months both got moved up. I can’t help but feel they were holding one mistake I made two years ago against me and never wanted to give me a chance. (that, or they knew I was reliable when it came to showing up for work in such a volatile position that sees a lot of new faces, and they didn’t want to bother going through the process of hiring someone new) I don’t want to risk my life working around guests who don’t wash their hands and don’t properly distance. I don’t want to gamble with my health when they won’t offer me health insurance because I’m part time.

 Mid October, I get an interview for a full time job and get hired on the spot. I peace out at the zoo 2 weeks later, literally 3 days before they planned to open my exhibit to the public. It was a close call for me to escape before they opened to the public (and pettiness was only partially the reason I dipped out so close to opening). Sorry new hires who are now in charge of the bird feeding exhibit. I taught you the best I could in the short time I had. If the managers are struggling with what to do with one less person, I can’t say I feel bad. I can only hope they delayed opening/closed you down again for your own safety. You are not lightbulbs. I really hope the higher ups stop considering you as replaceable as one. Will I go back to the zoo to visit? Probably. But not for a year at least.

 I started my new job the very next day after I quit the zoo, and have been there ever since, (which isn’t that long yet, tbh. Christmas day was my 2 month anniversary). It’s full time, but it’s also a small business, and everyone’s hours this year have been on the short side due to the plague. I understand, though. They don’t want us to work if they can’t afford to pay us. Everyone is nice enough, though some people smoke and it’s hard to avoid them with how frequently we have to go in and out, and I really don’t want to get lung cancer, sorry not sorry, please and thank you. Also, with such a small team, gossip is certainly harder to go undetected, so it’s a relief knowing people don’t talk behind one another’s backs.

 I participated and beat my 4th nanowrimo in a row, I made TWO apple crisps on thanksgiving, and made baklava on Christmas and both of these recipes were my first time making them, and they both came out adequately! I voted the first day of early voting, and I did an art trade/collab with two of my friends for my birthday! (normally we would have done monthly “art days” where we get together and do art projects for fun because we’re adults and we can spend our time together however we want, but the plague said otherwise this year) We drew pokemon and it was fun! (hopefully I can show you all the results soon. At the time of writing, I’m still waiting for the last two colored parts to get back to me)

 I reached 100 pages on my undertale comic, and finish the first arc out of…! (im not sure. It’s either going to be 4 or 5, I haven’t decided yet)

 Over all, I managed to stay healthy as far as I know. I wasn’t as productive as I wanted to be this year, but then again, who was? (don’t answer that. I don’t need that kind of comparison in my life right now)

 Will 2021be any better? Honestly? I don’t think so. Not right away, at least. Just because a new year is about to start does not mean the slate is completely wiped clean. The change of the calendar year doesn’t magically make all our current problems disappear. Covid will still be here and cases will still climb when January starts. Small business will still be strained when the month rolls over, police will still go on murdering innocent civilians and getting away scot free, amazon and disney will still be monopolizing all consumer goods and media, and I can’t help but feel like there’s an impending shit show about to go down on inauguration day. I do hope things will get better, though. It’ll be arduous and unpleasant, but I do hope things will improve, because sometimes hoping is all you can do.

 Good night.

[sunriseintropicisle]

Things that makes me happier

I gave up posting number in front of my post title, initially it was to mark whether I reach the goal of posting a writing every week, which made me had to post 52 writings for the year of 2021, and by this point I am pretty sure I am not gonna reach that number so yes, we can forget it. 

So I personally feel like recently I am in a better state of being, and have lots of idea coming up in my head. While I still religiously write on my handwritten journal, I feel like writing, in case my nonexistent reader would like to know, or give some inspirations. Lol, like who you are. 

No, really, I am just really believe in sharing, and I would love to know if my mundane knowledge or experience be insightful even to only one other person. Because I myself found multiple times that a knowledge/sharing that someone posted online impacted me greatly - hence I am just thinking about the other me who may be seeking the things I am about to say/share. 

Things that makes me happier are:

Intermittent Fasting

I have been doing IF for 2 weeks now, and yeah, it makes me feel good. I started initially because, duh, like everyone else, I wanted to lose weight. Some might want to kick me in the ass for saying such thing, and assure me that I have normal body and yada yada. And, as straight forward as it is - I just want to be as skinny as possible. Hahaha. Maybe it is something to do with me very sold into the standard beauty, or maybe it’s got to do with something in the past - I was quite cheeky. 

However, even though I always say that I want to lose weight, over the years I have never really made the effort. Some days I took it hard some days it just a normal day, me eating this and that and whatnot. But then I have noted the intention of  me wanting to be so skinny, on top of those beauty standard I believe have huge impact in me and a quite hard time in the past for being cheeky is because it simply makes me feel lighter, not holding anything within my body. Because for the context and some TMI, I have a not so good digestion, so yeah. There was a period of the time that I often I feel stuffed and bloated - which felt so uncomfortable, that I can’t stand working while sitting because I felt my stomach is getting on my way.

I tried IF a while back, and it worked for me, so now I decided to try it again now. Intention achieved. I believe it was because the time window for eating that pool all the food I eat in a day to be only consumed for certain times (I do 7 hours, my best convenience). I used to eat on times where, looking back, I was not really hungry, you know. Like breakfast - turned out (I don’t know why I forget about this) that I am not a breakfast person. All through high school I don’t remember myself sitting, eating breakfast in my uniform. 

But then I just picked up a habit of eating breakfast while my stomach is actually not really ready for it, which end up making me feel bloated that last long all through lunch and pretty much for the day - and then without me knowing the new day has begin, and the cycle starts all over. 

So yeah, IF had helped me to be to schedule my eating time which made my digestion works better I guess, and no more me having a bloated stomach constantly.

Quitting Social Media

Finally I succeed in cutting myself with social media. This, I also had tried in the beginning of the pandemic I guess - went on without social media for weeks and at that time I really felt the benefit and all, until I came back to social media and can not disconnect ever since. Even though I have been wanting to detox myself, but at the same time I felt really dependent on it.

It took me one lows moment of life to finally be able to went cold turkey about disconnecting. It was when I felt frustrated on Twitter news where every day it seems like there were a bad news - people died, people lost jobs, people complaining, the news about our incompetent and corrupt government and so on. Without me realizing, it took a toll on myself. Other than that was me who checking in Linkedin constantly at the time and seeing my friends’ profile whose climbing up the corporate ladder, while I was unsure and questioning whether I am in the right place (sounds like the problem of these days youth who lives in their own bubble, yeah?). 

So one Friday where I had one of my breakdown, I went MIA for the weekend to the people who are close to me, as well as to my social media. It’s only been 2 weeks now, but it is safe to say that I can reclaim myself within these times, suddenly lots of thinking came up to me, as if all these times the bad news maybe somewhat oppress it or something. And, I also feel more certain about what is going on my mind/heart. 

I believe quitting social media has its downside as well, as like I really am not having an update on the news (90% of my news source is Twitter - how sad yet could not be truer for most of us), I completely blind on our Covid update I even think that Covid is slowing down in the territory. Yeah, as expected you lose win some as well as you lose some, but for now at leas, I decided to win for myself. 

Olympic 2020

I have never watched Olympic before, as far as I remember. Nor that I care about it. But this time is different. I believe the fact that we are on privilege to be in the safety of home have a huge part in me having the opportunity to watch the Olympic - thanks for that. For almost two weeks I was hooked to my TV, even one time I was on my TV from 6am to 10pm and watched all the games they aired. 

To have the company to watch was a big advantage as well. As now I have my sibling in the house, I teamed up with my sister to watch the Olympic, we both did not know that we enjoyed it so much that we invested in each game we watched. We cheered for athletics, we scream for badminton, we gasped for weightlifting. It was a very fun experience. For almost two weeks I change my work station in front of the TV and so did my sister. 

On top of that, what made Olympic special and very intrigued me was the diversity of the athletes. I guess I just did not exposed to such diversity as it was presented in the Olympic. I was presented with some very foreign countries whose name I hardly heard, or the people whose features were different one another. 

Questions like why some sports dominated my a certain race while other sports dominated by others also popped out in my head. And not to mention my awed to each of these Olympian athletes when they perform their sports, I always wonder what it takes for them to be there right now - how many years of training, how much tears were sacrificed and relationships had to be let go. There were just so many elements of the Olympics that made me really drawn and invested in it. 

Youtube

Surprise, surprise. 

Well, my attraction to Youtube recently was different because of the previous para - Olympic. Because of getting really drawn into the Olympic athlete, I was searching lots of reference videos. And as we all know how we are being spied and we are mere a number for these big tech companies, they get to know me better know and present me with more content that I love (or else I had never discovered). 

I am not sure what I searched previously, but Youtube chose that I now an avid cultural researcher, jk. Yeah, I watched a lot about something culture-related on Youtube because it is funny, looking back, I was once really attracted to be a global citizen and what not (what a flavor of youth!!), traveling the world, meeting people from other countries, make impact in the NGO (before long I know the NGOs are mostly funded by big corporations as well, heart breaking reality for me). 

What I am saying is that the savvy man-made tech of Youtube has made me rediscover my old interest about culture! And I just actually learn that you can learn a lot from Youtube’s comment section, which debates often open up you to things which are (1) people can comment based on data and have every intention to educate other people; and (2) people more often be ignorant, and how much you are on the right stance, with the wrong people, you can still be, yeah wrong. 

Somehow the lesson I gained in the Youtube’s comment section was really grounding to me to realize these polar of people, and in the end what you can do is only simply be you because after all, people really will hold on to their own opinion and belief. 

Jigsaw Puzzle 

RECCOMENDED 100/100. Damn, wasn’t it a good choice when one day I decided to try out jigsaw puzzle to entertained myself while waiting my partner to reply my chat message? 

On the one of the breakdown moment I mentioned I believe that I had to have distraction and I thought of either a puzzle or a coloring book. I ended up buying both, but I am positive that I am more drawn to jigsaw puzzle. I first ordered a 1500 piece puzzle and when it first came, I kind of secretly afraid that I will give up. Also my mother being my mother and she was pessimist that I would finish the puzzle. 

But one time I was just playing by myself, not expecting anything or even asked anyone to help me (afraid that I put too much task on other people), yet my sister helped me out, and a while after my mom helped we out as well. Resulting in the puzzle finished in 3 days. Soon after I order new puzzle, and so did my sister. Her order came first and it was a 1000 pieces puzzle, which we finished in 2 hours (boo, it turned out to be too easy), and now we are opening up our 3rd puzzle and tried to work on it. 

I am just really happy that I discovered it, it is really great way to bond and filling time. And every time I successfully put the pieces together - that just very satisfying feelings! I believe I will have more and more puzzle to come in the near future. 

--

I hope one of the thing above will work out for you and make you happier as well as it had affected me. 🤗

[famedbasearchive]

OUR SONGS: EPISODES 3 & 4

Timeline: September 5, 2020, to October 10, 2020

On-Set Filming Dates: September 5, September 6, September 24, October 8

Deadline: October 1, 11:59PM KST 

Those involved in Our Songs this month may earn up to 9 points total for writing, by the end of October 1 KST:

Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)

Up to two solo paras of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 3 & 4. (2 points each, up to 4 points total).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with another competing muse based on the Our Songs episode 4 and 5 schedule. This must be with a different muse than the thread you collected points for last month, if applicable. (2 points)

An aesthetic of the color assigned to the muse representing its tie in to the song they wrote. This should include a description. (1 point)

These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos2. Please remember the number of the above tasks completed by each muse will factor into eliminations during blocks with eliminations.

There are not tasks available for muses outside of the main cast for this task block.

IN-’VERSE INFO

Following the performances on September 5, the competitors will go backstage to their dressing rooms for a little under an hour while the audience is instructed to vote for two songwriters each. These votes will be calculated and combined with online track votes based on a weighted formula, and then the competitors are brought back out. They are first told the cast members that got the most votes in the live voting and the online as follows:

- Live audience vote: Kami - Online vote: Jaewon

The overall rankings with both voting combined and ranked are then announced from eighth place to first place as follows:

8. Joohwan 7. Eunah 6. Sun 5. Suji 4. Kami 3. Taeyong 2. Youngjoo 1. Jaewon

It is then announced that no one will be eliminated this episode, as the votes were surprisingly close between all competitors, but two competitors will be eliminated following the next round.

On September 6, the idols will once again return to the “recording studio” set they first met at on their first day of filming. Competitors will be seated based on their rank (first place in seat one, second place in seat two, etc.). Basic pleasantries will be gone through recounting the last round and reminding everyone of the rules and structure of the show before their attention is drawn to a table in the middle of the room with a box on it. One by one, each idol will go up in order of their ranking (first place first, second place second...) to the table. They will pull out a small, colored sheet of paper without explanation yet as to what this means. The colors drawn will be as follows:

Jaewon: White Youngjoo: Red Taeyong: Green Kami: Blue Suji: Black   Sun: Purple Eunah: Gold Joohwan: Pink

After all competitors have drawn, they will return to their seats with their colored paper and Choi Jihoon will inform them of their second songwriting mission:

“As songwriters, you won’t always get the chance to write around around a theme as specific and personal as your own identity. A good songwriter should be able to take a simple concept and shape it into something memorable. They should also be versatile. For this task, you’ll be asked to write a song based on the color of the card you have pulled out of the box. How you interpret the color is up to you and you may take it as literally or as figuratively as you’d like. There’s only one catch: the song you write must contrast with the song you wrote for the first round in some way. This could be in genre, mood, themes, lyrics, or anything else you feel represents a strong contrast from your introduction.”

The competitors are given time to react to the prompt before the filming ends. Before leaving the building, each musician will film a talking head interview in a private room with a small team of cameras and producers where they are asked the following questions:

You’ve had some time since you found out your ranking in the last round. How do you feel about your ranking and what pressure do you feel it puts on you this round?

What are the first thoughts that come to mind when you think of the color you drew from the box?

Do you already have an idea in mind for what you’ll do for your song this round?

After seeing everyone compete in the first round and knowing the task for this round, has your view on your biggest competition changed? Who do you expect to do the best this round?

From September 6 to September 23, all competitors are given time to work on their songs and they will be filmed both through the stationary cameras installed in the studio in their company buildings and will also be instructed to continue to use their self-cam to record their creative process.

On September 24, all competitors will return to the recording studio set. The process for this filming will again be very similar to the last episode, with Choi Jihoon reminding everyone of the task and offering time for all of the competitors to discuss how their songwriting went among each other as a group conversation. Each competitor will then be asked to go back into the recording booth part of the set and give a live “recording” performance of the demo version of their song in front of the rest of the cast. This time, they will go in order of ranking from the last episode, from first to eighth (Jaewon → Youngjoo → Taeyong → Kami → Suji → Sun → Eunah → Joohwan). The rest of the cast will be filmed reacting to the performance and will be allowed to comment and give constructive criticism or praise following the end of each demo performance.

Final mastered versions of all songs are due to the production team by September 27.

On October 4, the final version of each competitor’s song for round two will be released onto streaming sites and voting will open for online audiences.

On October 8, all competitors will arrive to a venue in Mapo-gu, different from the one they performed at for the last episode. The venue is a real indoor concert venue and not just a set, and it has an intimate capacity made for live performances. The venue is frequented more by mid-tier singer-songwriter types than idols. The competitors won’t be aware they’re performing in a different setting until they arrive. The process here is the same, though: they will perform their songs to be voted on by a live audience. Minor prop elements are permitted, but they should be small and easy to store when the performer is not on stage. The respective companies will be responsible for the styling and performance preparation of their idols. 

Once filming begins, the competitors will be informed they will be performing in order of their ranking from the latest episode. In case anyone has forgotten, the host will remind everyone what this order is. As everyone expects the show to proceed without anymore changes, Choi Jihoon reveals one last twist to the contestants: the show did not open online applications to draw a live audience by lottery like they did for the last episode, but, instead drew an audience entirely by having production assistants pass out flyers on the street for a concert by mystery artists. The audience is composed this time by passer-byers on the street who were interested in a secret concert and were willing to sign a release form for filming for broadcast television. The context of the concert was only revealed to the audience after they had all entered the venue. This is intended to give them an audience representative of the general public and the real music lovers of today and not only a crowd of eager fans. After this news, the performances will proceed as follows:

Jaewon - “Reply” (performance reference)

Youngjoo - "RUNNIN’ BACK” (performance reference)

Taeyong - “21″ (performance reference)

Kami - "Superwoman” (performance reference)

Suji - “Arari”

Sun - “Dystopia”

Eunah - “Count You Out” 

Joohwan - "Whistle”

As each competitor is performing, the other seven songwriters will sit backstage together in a large dressing room while their reactions are filmed to a large monitor of the performance happening onstage. At the conclusion of each stage, each competitor will be given time to talk about their thoughts on the song that was just performed before the competitor who just performed returns to the room and is switched out for the next performer. In the final airing of the episode, only some competitors’ comments will be aired per song.

During the break following all eight song performances, each competitor will be pulled into a room for another talking head interview (admin note: please wait to complete this interview until all songs have been chosen and listed above):

Talk about your song. How does it contrast the song you wrote for the last round “Introduction / Identity”?

Did the different venue and audience atmosphere impact your performance in any way?

Which of the other songs/performances caught your attention the most?

Which song do you expect got the most votes?

OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO

As will be done with all rounds, the overall rankings for the first round were determined by random generation in groupings of the number of tasks completed. In this case, spots one through six were generated by those who had five completed tasks in the #fmdos1 tag on their muse’s blog by the deadline and spots seven and eight were randomly generated between the muses who had four completed tasks in the #fmdos1 tag on their blog by the deadline. (Posts must be in the appropriate tag on the muse’s blog before the deadline to count, but if there has been a mistake, please contact the admin, and if this is the case, the ranking will be fixed accordingly.) The only exception here is that the admin’s muse will not be eligible for the first place ranking unless they are the only muse who completes the most number of tasks. Proof shots of the name picker can be found here (note: admin is in EDT, while the deadline was in KST, so the names were drawn after the deadline for round one).

The winners for separate live voting and online voting were determined using weighted selection based on the randomly generated overall rankings. Rank one got eight submissions into the generator, rank two got seven, rank three got six, etc., and then names were drawn. Proof shots of the name picker results for this can be found here.

For this task block you will need to submit the following information: the song you would like to claim for your muse to create for this round’s task (and a performance reference if one is available) and the creative claims on it.

The form link will be uploaded here at 12AM KST September 5/11AM EDT September 4, twenty-four hours after this post goes up. The form link can be found here. A reminder of the limits of creative claims on each muse for the show can be found here. If you think there is a mistake or if a song is released that leads to a necessary update, please contact the main.

Songs Claimed:

Han Seungwoo - Reply

zai.ro - Whistle

Minzy - Superwoman

Leebada - RUNNIN’ BACK

Dean - 21

Lucia - Arari

Zico - Dystopia

Jimin Park - Count You Out

SONG LIMITATIONS/REQUIREMENTS

The simplified theme for this round is “Color / Contrast”. Please read the prompt in the in-’verse info for full details on what this means.

For all rounds, a song must fit all general rules of music claims (i.e. matches muse position, is not too explicit, must be by an artist in the Korean music industry, etc.) and must receive admin approval.

For this round, these are the additional limitations and requirements on songs that can be chosen:

The song must be solo. This means it cannot be a collab or have a feature.

In real life, the song must not be a title track according to Melon and cannot have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, choreography videos, and minimal production lyric videos are acceptable, but the song will have to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.

In real life, the song cannot have charted higher than a tank of 75 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.

You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. Choreography will only be performed during the final stage with the live audience, not the demo performance for the cast. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.

[haikumomentsandinspiration]

#healthcarevacation, part IV

Today is Sunday, May 10, 2020: Mother’s Day. (I like that in Turkish, the name of the day is Mothers’ Day—plural. I prefer that.) 

This felt like the appropriate time to sit down and catch up with the documentation of this long journey. 

If you need to catch up, you can read Part I here, Part II here, and Part III here. 

So where were we? Ah, yes. December 2019. The pregnancy/birth guarantee program at Fertty International Clinic in Barcelona, Spain. 

In my research looking for a new clinic after the last failed transfer (and the poor communication after staffing changes at our old clinic), one thing became clear: G. needed to have more tests and analyses done to try to figure out why all these transfers, including a donor egg cycle with two transfers, had failed.

After much struggle trying (in vain) to have Kaiser cover the tests and analyses Gene and I needed to have done, we realized it was going to be cheaper and easier for Gene to fly solo to Spain in November to get all that done. He would come back to SF, we would wait about three weeks for the test results, and then, based on the test results, we would finalize the protocol for me and the embryo transfer. 

Thankfully, G’s results came back normal, everything within expected ranges and levels. So our application to the birth guarantee/shared risk program was officially approved. I would go to Barcelona (solo this time) at the start of my winter break, have a first scan to check my lining, adjust my medication as needed, and get ready for transfer day in about a week. 

On December 10, G and I went out for sushi in San Francisco one last time (we hoped) before pregnancy, and a week later, I left for Barcelona. My first check up at Fertty the day after my flight was mostly just blood work and an initial scan to see how my lining was coming along. The lining was fine, but surprise, surprise: I was getting sick with a cold—December flights/weather change were working their magic on me again. My doctor asked to see me in a couple of days, and told me to keep the clinic updated on my health. Two days later, my cold had gotten worse, but my lining was still all right. I spent the rest of the day looking for a reputable and affordable acupuncturist (the second part being the challenge), and thanks to a friend’s rec, I made an appointment, with a focus not on uterine lining support this time, but on kicking this cold’s ass before transfer day. 

I took it easy that week, feeling no pressure to do any sightseeing since my priority was the healthcare part of this #healthcarevacation without a doubt. I feasted (!) on soup, bone broth, and hot tea and not much else for several days, and slowly started getting better. My clinic decided to keep my transfer day as scheduled: December 27. Meanwhile, Rina joined me again in Barcelona for a few days for emotional support leading up to transfer day (she doesn’t need much of an excuse to travel, especially to Barcelona). 

December 27: Transfer Day! I went to the Fertty for my final blood work before the transfer and to sign some papers. Then, off to fertility acupuncture, and back to the clinic for my transfer. Everything went smoothly; we transferred one embryo this time, with four more good quality embryos left for future attempts/a sibling, so I was feeling good and positive. Besides, their recovery/rest room was the most comfortable one I’d been in in all these cycles at three different clinics. After resting a bit, I went out for lunch, then headed back to my acupuncturist for a post-transfer fertility acupuncture session. Stick, baby, stick! 

I took it easy the rest of the time I was in Barcelona. Went out for a walk at least once a day, but had lazy days for the most part. 

On New Year’s Eve, the woman I was staying with, Renata, and I went for a late lunch at her favorite Brazilian Bistro (she’s from Brazil). And for dinner, we decided to go to my favorite Turkish restaurant, which I knew would be open till late with their regular menu and would not be charging an arm and a leg for a modified menu. After lunch, Renata, another Brazilian friend of hers, and I walked to the beach for a Brazilian ritual honoring Iemanja (Brazilian spelling). We made wishes, prayed, meditated, and threw yellow and white carnations to the sea for Iemanja, then sat together and watched the sunset. I felt so grateful to be invited to join this ritual (this will be my new cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation example the next time I teach that class!). Ever since I’ve known about her, I’ve always felt drawn to Iemanja—being a Pisces and considering my home to be the sea more than any piece of land and all. I felt at peace, and all felt right in the world in a way that I hadn’t felt for a while during this long fertility journey. 

I took it easy the next day. And the day after that, the morning of January 3, I had some spotting...very faint, but still spotting. I called G. and cried on the phone. But as he said, we were not out yet. I let Fertty know, too; they said they would up my progesterone dosage and monitor me closely. I had a big lunch and a late dinner that day. Big mistake. I woke up around 3:30 am, nauseated, and threw up twice. In the morning, my spotting had gotten slightly darker, but it was still not heavy spotting and definitely not considered bleeding. I went up from 600 to 800 mg of progesterone a day, and followed the BRAT diet—well, just the R part. The following day, I was feeling better, and finally went outside and played tourist. Surrounding myself with the beauty of Barcelona felt healing. Meanwhile, my clinic told me I could come by the morning before my flight back home for a blood test so they could tell me sooner than later both the result and what the next steps would be. If I weren’t pregnant, I didn’t want to keep taking all those pills and patches loaded with hormones. 

January 7, 2020: pregnancy test day! A year ago today was transfer day at Irema clinic, I noticed. I had a glimmer of hope, but no gut feeling either way. I repeated the lesson I had learned from a guided meditation that had been helping me a ton: there is hope in uncertainty! I distracted myself by finally sitting my ass down and doing some lesson planing for my cultural competence/equity literacy unit. In the middle of that, around 2:30 pm came the phone call from the clinic. “Do you want me to tell you on the phone or do you want to come in?” I didn’t want to go in just to hear “I’m sorry...” and I wasn’t sure I wanted a hug. You can just tell me now, I said, bracing myself. 

And that’s how I found out I was pregnant. 

I don’t remember the exact words the patient coordinator said. I just remember it took a second for it to sink in, and then I started crying while still somehow continuing the conversation and smiling from ear to ear. I finished up my work, and headed to the beach for sunset, which was my plan whether it was positive or negative. Whether I had to celebrate or grieve, I wanted to do it facing the sea. 

I went to the beach, watched the sunset, thanked Iemanja, thanked the Universe, and recorded an “IVF Log” video, which I assumed we would eventually share with our baby. 

At this point, you may have noticed I didn’t call G as soon as I heard. The next day, January 8th, was my flight back, and the day of our first date 11 years ago. The plan was to tell him in person—our anniversary gift. 

When I arrived home, I didn’t let him know I already knew. I didn’t know if he knew that I knew. We had decided on no anniversary presents this year since we had plenty of medical expenses. Turns out G got me a couple of gifts. I would have been upset with him when we had said we weren’t doing presents. Instead, I went to the bathroom, took the pregnancy tests I’d been saving for this day, then went back to the living room, saying I did have some presents for him from Spain. I gave him the couple of small gifts I had gotten for him from Barcelona. Then, I said I realized there was one more thing, and went back and got the pregnancy tests. 

The adventure didn’t end there, leaving its place to a blissful period. I had some bleeding week 7 and week 8, and ended up going in for five ultrasounds in those two weeks, freaking out each time since that’s around the same time in my pregnancy and the exact way my miscarriage had begun back in 2016. Each visit, though, instead of the “I’m sorry...there’s no heartbeat” of 2016, we heard “there’s the heartbeat” and exhaled, immensely grateful. After week 8, all was well, but I remained cautious and scared, and didn’t want to share the news with anyone other than family for a while. 

Then, the month after my return from Spain, of course: a global pandemic! We were handling all the challenges of this fertility journey so well, apparently, that the Universe thought, “Here, how about a global pandemic during your pregnancy in case things seem too easy now?” “Awesome,” I thought sarcastically; “what perfect timing.” Then, I realized: wait...this IS perfect timing. I came back from Spain, and not long after, Spain was suddenly one of the epicenters of the pandemic, one of the first countries that took significant precautions. This pregnancy did have perfect timing for real. I feel for women whose cycles had to be canceled or postponed. 

Today, Mother’s Day, is exactly 22 weeks into my pregnancy—we are more than halfway there to our estimated September 13, 2020 due date. So it feels like it’s a good time to share the news at last.

I want to say that I do not take this pregnancy for granted—especially with the context of a global pandemic and how it has impacted assisted fertility cycles in mind. Each day, I thank the Universe “for this healthy pregnancy—for all the healthy days so far, and all the healthy days to come.” Each time I light a Shabbat candle, I pray not just for my own family and friends’ health, but also for all who are pregnant, and for all who are trying to get pregnant.  I had thought that after almost five years of trying to conceive, when we finally succeeded, we would have celebration and community...and hugs! Instead, we found a global pandemic, isolation, distance from our loved ones, and more than the usual dose of a new parent’s fear of the unknown. Last month, I spent a lot of time crying upon slowly realizing all the things I wasn’t going to get in this pregnancy:

- being pregnant out and about in the world and experiencing what that’s like, even with all its irritations (people trying to touch my belly, people not giving their seat up for me on public transportation...); watching people slowly notice it at work...

- looking at baby stuff in person with G.: “OMG...Look at this one! Isn’t this soooo cute?!?” 

- an all gender (in-person) celebration/party with our family/friends in July or August (silver lining, I guess, is that family/friends who aren’t in the Bay Area can attend the Zoom party now...whatever that will look like);

- going to Turkey in June one last time in a while before the baby comes; being pregnant on a beach in Turkey; going baby stuff shopping with my family in Turkey; eating all the amazing food in Turkey and knowing it was nourishing not just my soul, but also our baby. 

- having my parents’ hands on my pregnant belly, feeling the kicks of their first grandchild; 

- coming back from Turkey with my mom, who wanted to come for a visit before the baby to help us get ready at home; 

- the September visit from both my parents; possibly having my mother in the delivery room, and knowing my dad is in the waiting room, being anxious and impatient; wondering if Rina could make it, even, and if she could, knowing she would be taking some amazing newborn photos. 

Gratitude has been my savior this whole time, and it still is. I know we will have time with my parents, my sister, and my in-laws as they each meet our baby in person eventually, and we will all make beautiful, sweet memories. I know there was a time when there was no FaceTime that would allow a partner who’s not allowed to be at the anatomy scan to still be there virtually. I know there was a time there was no anatomy scan via ultrasound. I could go on. 

There is so much to be grateful for still. Thank you, Universe, for this healthy pregnancy—for all the healthy days so far, and all the ones to come. 

[vesselblock65-blog]

Lindsey Harding | Learning a New Game

Not too long ago, Lindsey Harding seemed destined for Hollywood.

At least that’s what Gail Goestenkors thought.

“I fully expected to see her on the big screen,” said the former Duke University women’s basketball head coach, whom Harding played for during a standout career as a point guard for the Blue Devils.

In an individual meeting one time, Harding surprised Goestenkors by telling her that acting was her favorite class at the renowned ACC school. 

“She was getting ready to do what I believe was a monologue,” Goestenkors remembered, “and she said, ‘Do you want me to do it for you?’

“I said, ‘Yes!,’ and I mean she jumped right into character. I was about in tears, because it was so amazing and realistic. That’s when I said, ‘Oh my gosh, you have a gift.’”

Goestenkors wasn’t alone in feeling that Harding had a legit shot at becoming an actress. So too, Goestenkors said, did the acting coaches Harding continued to train with while she was in the WNBA.

Listen to Lindsey Harding's Appearance on The BroadCast

Whether Tinseltown is ever in the cards for the former National College Player of the Year and no. 1 draft pick remains to be seen. The anecdote, however, speaks to a broader, pertinent, and important theme of her life.

“She’s always very interesting, and always very interested,” Goestenkors said, “wanting to continue to grow, and explore different avenues. I always loved that about her.”

It’s a quality, by all accounts, that hasn’t changed, especially as it applies to Harding’s new line of work, a scout for the 76ers.

The game she’s learning might be different, but the approach - responsible for so many of her successes - has stayed the same.

Transitioning Into New Territory

In the modern NBA, four games in four nights is an unthinkable proposition. Truly.

Given the increasing (and justified) prioritization of player rest, the mere notion of inflicting such a demanding stretch on a player or team would be stopped dead before it could even qualify for nonstarter status.

These days, Lindsey Harding could be at a game on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Perhaps a Friday, too.

“It depends on the schedule, and who we’re trying to see,” said Harding, now four months into scouting for the Sixers.

Harding, by no means, is a stranger to the grind.

After completing a decorated career at Duke that earned her the no. 1 selection in the 2007 WNBA draft, Harding embarked on a pro career that was long and strong. It lasted 11 seasons, and featured stints with the Minnesota Lynx, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury.

In the off-season, Harding typically packed up and went overseas, like many of her fellow WNBA peers. Opportunities in Europe took her to Lithuania, Russia, and Turkey, the country where her journey as a player officially ended 19 months ago.  

“I came back [to the United States] in May of 2017, and was done,” Harding said. “I took four months, and just vacationed. I was on any beach I could.”

But for someone who, for two decades, had poured so much sweat and cerebral equity into basketball, her feelings for the game didn’t just recede into the ocean.

“I knew I wanted to be in the NBA,” Harding said, reflecting on her state of mind in early retirement. “I didn’t know exactly in what capacity, but I knew that I had a lot of relationships, and wanted to just talk to people and see what they suggested.”

So, Harding decided to go to that year’s NBA Summer League.

One of the most impactul encounters she had in Las Vegas was with Bethany Donaphin, then the Associate Vice President of NBA Basketball Operations, and now the Head of WNBA League Operations.

Donaphin tipped Harding off about a newly-created initiative for former NBA players called the Basketball Operations Associate Program.

By the fall, Harding was in New York.

“You were given the chance to rotate through different departments within [NBA] basketball operations, from officiating to data analytics to CBA / salary cap, just everything to get an understanding,” said Harding. “It also helps with the transition from playing, what direction do I really want to go.”

More than anything, Harding’s year in the Basketball Operations Associate Program gave her a sense of what she didn’t want to do, and that was be in an office around the clock.

“I really wanted to work with a team. I missed that competitiveness, I missed ‘my’ team. So, from there, I talked to different teams and organizations about getting my foot in the door.”

A door opened earlier this year in Camden, New Jersey, and here Harding is now, the first real chapter of her post-playing career well underway.

Putting a Premium on Relationships

Everytime Harding drops by the 76ers Training Complex, which, in-season, is a rare occurrence, due to all the traveling she does, she gets a bunch of hugs.

Fine by her.

“I’m a hugger anyway,” Harding said. “I’m from the South.”

By necessity, Harding’s new role requires her to throw her arms around a bunch of different people, in a metaphorical embrace.

That’s because intelligence gathering is at the heart of her gig as a scout, “a big piece of the pie,” as Vince Rozman put it.

“It’s a huge component, especially from the NBA perspective,” said Rozman, Senior Director of Scouting for the Sixers. “Everybody knows what players are good and what they do. Understanding how they might fit, how they might react to our team and our coaching staff, it’s huge.”

Coaches, players, other scouts, executives, agents - all represent potential sources of intel capable of helping paint a more complete profile of a player.

Scouts like Harding are responsible for procuring this type of information.

And what’s the most direct, effective, and reliable way to unearth nuggets, big or small, that could eventually influence key personnel decisions?

Relationships, which Harding is all about.

“That’s why relationships are big, right?,” she said. “If I really know someone, and I have a great relationship with them, they’re more likely to tell me good stuff, the really good stuff. Some of the information I may not know, or I may not know how true it is, or I may not know if it’s heresy. But for me and my organization, I’ll bring it back and say, ‘What do you think about that, or is this crazy?’”

It can be a tricky dance, as straightforward as Harding makes it sound. 

Imagine this scenario:

You’re Lindsey Harding, an already recognizable figure in basketball circles, given your accomplishments on the court.

Now, you’re a scout, and odds are, just about everyone of your counterparts probably knows who you work for, and what you’ve come to the arena for that day.

Valuable intellectual property.

Harding’s personality has helped her cut through any potential awkwardness. “Genuine” was a word Rozman used to describe her.

“She’s easy to talk to, very outgoing, confident, and approachable. All of those qualities, once you walk into a gym and need to talk to a coach or other people scouting the game, it’s helpful, it goes a long way.”

Sounds a lot like the point guard Gail Goestenkors coached at Duke.

“She’s outgoing, for one, and she’s never met a stranger, for two,” Goestenkors said of Harding. “When you’ve got a great communicator who’s outgoing, but also very caring, sensitive, and curious, I think people are naturally drawn to that, and feel comfortable. And when people feel comfortable, they tend to open up more, and share more. I think that’s vital.”

Nailing the ice breaker, Harding has learned, is critical to starting good dialogue. She often picks the brains of some of the Sixers’ more experienced scouts for tips on how to get the conversation rolling.

“You don’t ever want to be someone who comes in and is like, ‘Hi, I’m Lindsey, soooooo…,” Harding joked. “That’s kind of rude, because people have done it to me. I don’t know if they think, ‘Oh she’s a newbie, she’s going to tell us everything we want.’”

Harding, as gracious and affable as she is, doesn’t. She’s catching on quick.

“Everyone’s been very, very helpful.”

Offering a Wealth Perspective

To only highlight Harding’s interpersonal skills would be to do a disservice to the well-rounded package she brings to the 76ers.

It would also be shortsighted to simply play up another narrative that’s associated with her.

“I don’t want it to be ‘The Sixers mostly hired you for that,’” said Harding, the second WNBA player and first African-American WNBA player to land a full-time scouting position with an NBA franchise.

She even addressed the matters of gender and race with the Sixers during her job interview. The response heartened her.

“They were like, ‘Yeah, we see that, but you’ve had experiences and have done things that most of our people haven’t. We want you to bring that, and we feel it’s going to be different, unique, and that it’s going to help us.’

In Harding, here’s what the Sixers saw:

“The combination of her skill as a player, and the personality and the desire to coach and learn and integrate herself into the NBA, that package was overwhelming,” said Brett Brown.

“She really comes with an amazing resume, pedigree, and spirit. When you talk to her, you feel that competitive drive that I would feel from Jimmy Butler.” 

Determination, and an insatiable desire to succeed have long been parts of Harding’s DNA.

Before basketball, she was a track-and-field star. Subsequently, Harding picked up hoops relatively late.

While being recruited for college, she was ranked predominantly on state level lists in Texas, mostly flying under the national radar.

But by the time Harding departed Duke for the WNBA, she was the sixth player in ACC history to reach 1,000 points; 500 rebounds; 500 assists; and 250 steals. Putting how good she was into further context, her no. 10 jersey hangs in the rafters of famed Cameron Indoor Stadium, and this past fall, she was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame.

“She just continued to work and improve,” said former coach Gail Goestenkors. “When it was all said and done, she was the top player in the country, and the no. 1 draft pick. That’s how far she came. She was very good, don’t get me wrong. But she wasn’t considered one of the elite. But by the time she finished, she was the elite.”

In addition to Harding’s work ethic, the Sixers were intrigued by the vantage point she could bring to the scouting staff as a former pro who had not only played extensively in the United States, but also, particularly, in Europe.

“She’s played in the WNBA, overseas, and she was obviously a high-level prospect,” Vince Rozman, the Sixers’ Senior Scouting Director, said. “She’s experienced all of these types of progressions that players we’re looking at have gone through. She’s really seen it all.”

Harding, who played for Belarus at the 2016 Olympics, admits she wouldn’t see the sport the way she does now had she not competed internationally. There were differences everywhere - in styles of play, coaching, and cultures.

“There are a lot of things I did learn from [international basketball], different talent, different players,” she said. “Some players you’d look at and say they’re not a great athlete, they’re not this and that, but how do they keep ending with 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds]? There’s something about this player that makes them good, and I really liked focusing on that too.”

In 13 seasons with the Sixers, Rozman has come to believe that diversity of perspective is an imperative dynamic to have within a scouting department. Harding, given the depth of her experiences, figured to enrich the room.

“Most of the year isn’t coming to answers, it’s coming to identify questions, and argue through them,” said Rozman. “As many different backgrounds and viewpoints as you have, it’s great.”

“It is sophisticated,” Brett Brown said about the art of scouting. “It’s intel gathering, it’s the nuances of seeing something that others might not see. It’s studied stuff, it’s homework stuff, it’s gut feel stuff.

“I think that with Lindsey’s experiences, both domestic and internationally as a player, she’s got a real chance to be something different as it relates to a polished, versatile scout.”

End Game

The way the world works, now that Harding has gotten started scouting for the Sixers, it’s only natural for us to wonder what her end game is, right? Where does someone with as intriguing a backstory as hers want to ultimately end up?

At the moment, Harding, who's scouting a little bit of everything for the Sixers, is just happy to have found a rhythm to her still relatively fresh routine, while continuing to meet new people, and expand her network of contacts.

“I’m much more comfortable now,” Harding said. “Everyone, not just my organization, but other scouts, has been very helpful.”

For as long as Gail Goestenkors has known Harding, which is pretty much all of Harding’s adult life, she’s admired her former player’s perpetual interest in “everything going on in life, and seeing life as a great adventure.”

“The sky’s the limit for her. I love that she dreams big, then goes out and tries to make it happen,” said Goestenkors, who spoke to Harding shortly before the season started

“She said, ‘I’m glad I’m doing this right now, because I’m behind the scenes, and I get to see how things work and how difficult it is and the decisions that need to be made. So this is so good for her.’

Harding was always a fast study anyways, Goestenkors said.

“She learns quickly, adapts, adjusts, and then excels.”

As Harding continues to learn more and more about the ways of the NBA, she’s already discovered that when it comes to professional trajectory on the basketball operations side of things, oftentimes “there’s no exact path.”

“You don’t go to ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, then 12th grade,” said Harding. “Some people go straight to 12th grade.

“For me, and how I’m taking this, it’s one step at a time. I look at this as the opportunity of being a scout, a great opportunity to learn what everyone does, how they do it, and see what opportunities I have next.”

The partnership with the Sixers so far  has been productive, and promising.

“I just feel that at this stage of her life, and the timing we have in organization, I think it’s a great fit on both sides,” said Brett Brown. “We’re thrilled to have her. Male or female, she’s great at what she does.”

Source: https://www.nba.com/sixers/news/lindsey-harding-learning-new-game

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Antiheroes, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. van Vogt, Dreadstar

Popular Culture (Adam Lane Smith): Much has been made about the oft-lamented shift from Hero to Antihero and the modern obsession with romanticizing evil. Most frequently, I’ve heard this complaint directed at modern western media’s fixation on selecting one unyielding human trash fire after another as every main character. There’s a reason modern book sales and movie sales are struggling. To understand the shift over the last hundred years of stories and main characters, one must understand the cultural environments and the mental aspects at play, particularly attachment formation and its impact on society.

  Writing (Rawle Nyanzi): With every passing day, it seems that global pop culture disappoints us more. Classic franchises are vandalized into self-parodies to “modernize” them, creative talent increasingly treats fandoms as the enemy, and geek-oriented media champion the intimidation and silencing of creatives who don’t toe a very particular ideological line. The Pulp Mindset is not a book on how to make millions with one simple trick. It is not a book about gaming Amazon’s ever-changing algorithm. It is a book about having the right mentality for storytelling.

Hugo Awards (Dark Herald): This years Hugos went so far beneath my radar I didn’t know they had happened. I think we have finally reached the point where a Hugo Award is actually damaging to an author’s reputation. Certainly, no one who loves Science Fiction will want to buy a book with the words Hugo Award winner on the cover. As you may know by now. George R.R. Martin hosted the 2020 Hugo Awards and he was apparently too old to be Woke.

Fiction (DMR Books): Now I don’t have to wait six months to release my collection! Necromancy in Nilztiria will be available in next month, and the cover illustration (which you can see to the left) is based upon “A Twisted Branch of Yggdrasil.” In this tale, the Norseman Hrolfgar and the Atlantean Deltor have been drawn through the labyrinths of time and space to the world of Nilztiria by a sorceress, who commands them to slay her enemy, Xaarxool the Necromancer. But as you can see this is no easy task, for Xaarxool has giant skeletons to defend him.

Fiction (Marzaat): Like most critics, he regards Sturgeon’s supreme strength as characterization. Sturgeon was allegedly good at seeing the cruelty behind civilization and the ways “conventional morality” (supposedly Sturgeon distinguished that from “fundamental ethical systems”) created anxieties and phobias hence some of his horror stories like “Bianca’s Hands”). Stableford contends Sturgeon never was onboard with John W. Campbell’s enthusiasm for science and technology. He suggests that Sturgeon’s “Killdozer!”, with its bulldozer under the control of a hostile alien force, is a hostile metaphor for that enthusiasm.

Fiction (Wasteland & Sky): Much credit should go author and editor Richard Paolinelli for all the work he has done in the Planetary Anthology series. After Superversive Press shuttered it looked unlikely that the project would ever be completed and was destined to be a what-if, but not only has Tuscany Bay released more volumes than Superversive did (and next month will have re-released all of Superversive’s old volumes), it has also carried the project into a whole new medium. That would be into the burgeoning audio book world.

History (Jon Mollison): The pre-history of the Americas is a true dark age – a time of great uncertainty and filled with mysteries for which we may never have solutions.  The most basic of these, who was the first to arrive, remains shrouded in conflicting narratives and contradictory evidence provided by scattered and controversial archaeology sites. The question assumes the Bering Straits Theory is the only one that holds water.  A rather sizable assumption given the dearth of evidence.  And the possible explanation lies in the stone-age sailing ship piloted by Thor Heyerdahl.

Dragon Awards (Dragoncon): In this three-part series, past Dragon Award recipients talk about their award-winning novels and their Dragon Awards experience. During this time, nothing provides a better escape from the world than diving into the pages of a Dragon Award winning novel. The Dragon Awards, launched in 2016 in tandem with Dragon Con’s 30th anniversary, allows readers, writers, publishers, and editors a way to recognize excellence in all things Science Fiction and Fantasy. These Awards are by the fans, for the fans, and are a chance to reward those who have made real contributions to SF, books, games, comics, and media.

Cinema (Other Master Cylinder): John Saxon was born Carmine Orrico in Brooklyn, the first child of Antonio and Anna Orrico. His mother was born in Caserta, a small city near Naples in Italy. There’s some confusion about John’s age, partly due to his fiddling’ of the dates for his first contract. “I was born on August 5, 1936. Many have it wrong because I made myself a year older to get a Universal contract at the start. If I had been younger it wouldn’t have worked.”

Review (George Kelly): The 9th book in the Harry Dresden series features Dresden in a desperate quest to clear his vampire brother, Thomas, from a cunning plot by powerful Magical Interests. Harry Dresden, professional Wizard and Private Investigator for the City of Chicago, grew up an orphan. His upbringing included a lot of physical and mental abuse which explains his taciturn disposition.

Comic Books (Totally Epic): Finally! After 3400 pages of Epic Illustrated, we’ve (that is, I) have finally arrived at the first thing published by Epic Comics! Er, or, rather not, because first we’re doing Marvel Graphic Novel #3, Dreadstar. I mean, I kinda have to, because it bridges the story started in Epic Illustrated and The Price (over at Eclipse) and the Dreadstar series proper.

Fiction (Amatopia): I’m three-quarters through The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons–sequel to Hyperion and book 2 in the 4 book Hyperion Cantos series–and I can’t stop singing these books’ praises. I think so far I’ve convinced over ten people to give Hyperion a shot. It has been a long time since I’ve found a novel or series that has engrossed me to this degree, particularly a sci-fi novel.

Fiction & RPG (The Other Side): Over the last couple of years, I have been on a quest to find and read all the Raven books by “Richard Kirk” who was, in reality, the pen name of authors Angus Wells and Robert Holdstock.  Both wrote Book 1 and then they alternated with Wells on Books 3 and 5 and Holdstock on Books 2 and 4. The story is one that is simple, but close to many FRP gamers. Raven wants to kill Karl Ir Donwayne. How is going to do that? Well, they need to Skull of Quez to appease this ruler to get to Donwayne.

Review (Rough Edges): The Digest Enthusiast, Book Twelve – Richard Krauss, ed. Interviews

Tony Gleeson (Fantastic, Amazing Science Fiction, Mike Shayne, Personal Crimes).

John Shirley (Weirdbook, Fantastic, The Crow, Constantine, Wetbones).

Games (25 Years Later): From the very beginning, you are made readily aware of not only the stakes but the epicness of the tale at the heart of Darksiders. The tale I speak of is at first set in modern-day Earth, and you take up the role of War, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who finds himself in our realm in the midst of a battle between Heaven and Hell. This is where Darksiders gives us a taste of War’s power before stripping it all away when he is killed during the battle. After War’s demise, he is brought in front of the Charred Council, where the blame of the apocalyptic events is placed squarely on his shoulders.

Pulp Fiction (DMR Books): The story starts in the “author as ghostwriter” conceit, as was the fashion of the time ever since its popularisation by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Sword and Planet tales, and indeed utilised by Merritt himself in other stories such as The Moon Pool. So ubiquitous is this method of acclimatising the reader to tales of death-defying derring-do, it almost lulls the reader into a false sense of security – that this adventure will be just another ripping yarn, good for the mental exercise, but could safely be put down after reading.

RPG (Black Gate): Getting into Conan 2d20, for the casual gamer, or for the merely curious, demands a fair amount of cognitive load. This is because, I believe, the system is so innovative — and those innovations are precisely what makes this a Conan game. I have encountered many anecdotes of gamers and consumers gleefully obtaining this gorgeous hardcover tome (or PDF), riffling through it, saying, “Huh?” then setting it aside with a “Sorry, not for me, but the art is pretty, and this still makes a good resource.” adventures, the pandemic hit, and these two players weren’t interested in online play.

RPG (Silver Key): Ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s all about execution. The title of the post should speak for itself, but a little context. Heard on the intranets recently… “Gary Gygax ripped off Dave Arneson! Dave is D&D’s true creator!” My response: Horse shit. Ideas are like a@#$holes. We’ve all got one, and most stink. I can sit here in the calm quiet of my living room and fire off a dozen. “Weight loss app.” “Online mentoring program for pediatricians.” “Telehealth scheduling interface.” “Dying Earth role-playing game.”

Comic Books (Bleeding Cool): Sylvian Runberg writes: “When I was offered to do an adaptation of Conan, I was immediately thrilled, and for several reasons.     The first is that this character was a part of my childhood, especially with the comics drawn by John Buscema and obviously the film with Arnold Scharwzenegger. But the second, and maybe the most important reason, is Patrice Louinet, one of the worldwide best specialist of Robert E. Howard, who could advise us during the making of this adaptation, offered me the possibility to discover an another Conan from the one I had in mind from this childhood, a more complex character living in a more complex world, even if we’re still talking about fantasy, magic spells, epic adventures and monsters.

T.V. (Dark Worlds Quarterly): In 1982, Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian was brought to the big screen in a film featuring Arnold Schwartzenegger. The success of Conan the Barbarian spawned a plethora of bad Sword & Sorcery films (including Conan sequels). I will make no comment on those films here but state none was better than average and most were far below the worst of the Ray Harryhausen’s classics. Until 1999’s The Thirteenth Warrior I can’t think of a post-Conan film of a heroic fantasy of any real interest. Since the release of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Fantasy films have been experienceing another renaissance.

Tolkien (The Wert Zone): The Hugo Awards are the premier awards for science fiction and fantasy literature, first given out in 1953 and every year since 1955. One of the more interesting mysteries of the award is that J.R.R. Tolkien, widely regarded as the most prominent fantasy author of the 20th Century, was never given one despite being eligible on multiple occasions.

Science Fiction (Fantasy Literature): This collection of nine short stories, novelettes and novellas originally appeared in hardcover form in 1952, from the publisher Pelligrini & Cudahy, and sold for $3.50. By the time my edition came out, the Berkley Medallion paperback from 1963, with another wonderfully abstract/Surrealist cover by the great Richard Powers, the cover price had dropped to 50 cents but the number of stories in the collection had been reduced to seven. Missing were the novelettes “Vault of the Beast,” from the Aug. ’40 ASF, and “Heir Unapparent,” from that same magazine’s June ’45 issue.

RPG (Grognardia): I bought Mörk Borg solely because of its physical characteristics. A local friend of mine raved about it months ago and then, while perusing Free League’s website recently, I caught a glimpse of it in all its lurid glory. I was so intrigued by its bright yellow cover and black, white, and red artwork that I ordered a copy and anxiously awaited its arrival. I was not disappointed when it appeared at last: the 96-page A5 book is sturdy and well-made, like so many European RPG books these days. Most of the paper in the book has a satin finish, but its last section, presenting an introductory adventure, has a rough, natural feel to it.

Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): Today, July 24, is the birthday of John D. MacDonald (1916-1986). MacDonald wrote for the pulps and transitioned to paperbacks when the pulps died. (I wish someone would collect all his science fiction.) For today’s birthday post, I want to look at One Monday We Killed Them All. Dwight McAran beat a girl to death and went to prison for it. He’s about to get out. Dwight is Fenn Hillyer’s brother-in-law. Fenn is a cop. They don’t get along.

Sensor Sweep: Antiheroes, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. van Vogt, Dreadstar published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[vioncentral-blog]

Markus Howard Is College Hoops's Sharpshooting Secret—and He's Just Getting Started

https://www.vionafrica.cf/markus-howard-is-college-hoopss-sharpshooting-secret-and-hes-just-getting-started/

Markus Howard Is College Hoops's Sharpshooting Secret—and He's Just Getting Started

It has become all too easy to overlook any singular feat of greatness involving the three-point shot in this, the age of the long ball—of stretch-five fever and elbow-jumper embargos and the deification of Death Lineups and the proliferation of Daryl Morey proselytes. But Markus Howard did something for Marquette last season that deserves a closer look. We ought to appreciate how it happened and what it means.

Howard connected on 82 of his 150 attempts from three-point range last season, good for 54.7%, the highest percentage among qualifying Division I players. (His mark during Big East play was slightly higher: 57.3% on 96 attempts.) Howard’s marksmanship earned him a spot on the conference’s all-freshman team last season and its preseason second-team for 2017–18, boosted an offense that ranked among the top 10 in the country on a per-possession basis and helped the Golden Eagles claim their first NCAA tournament berth since Steve Wojciechowski was hired as the program’s head coach in ’14.

Few outside of Milwaukee seemed to notice, which is understandable. Howard’s team failed to crack 20 wins and entered Selection Sunday on the bubble after an opening-round Big East tournament loss to Seton Hall. In the Golden Eagles’ most notable game of the season, a 74–72 upset over then-No. 1 Villanova at the Bradley Center in late January, Howard turned it over twice, missed the lone shot he attempted and fouled out in only seven minutes. That he didn’t attract a lot of attention for his beyond-the-arc bombing in 2016–17 doesn’t mean it wasn’t incredible.

• SI’s Projections: Top 100 scorers | Top 100 transfers | Top 50 freshmen | NPOY

Anyone who kept track of him as a recruit could have, but probably didn’t, see it coming. He arrived at Marquette last year as the No. 71 prospect in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, a composite that incorporates data from multiple services, after a late reclassification from 2017 to 2016. That move had been in the works for a while, and Howard smoothed his transition to the college game by spending his final prep season at Findlay Prep, a high-major talent-producing powerhouse based in Henderson, Nev., that plays a national schedule.

By the time he suited up for his last game for the Pilots, Howard had evolved from a competitive kid trying to mimic Steve Nash who, as his older brother Desmond puts it, was “chubby and had goggles,” into one of the most potent scorers in the high school ranks. Desmond and Markus’s other older brother, Jordan, a senior point guard at Central Arkansas with a higher per-game scoring average than former Bear and Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, toughened Markus through physical, hours-long battles on the hoop in the backyard of their Chandler, Ariz., home. “We were really trying to bully each other,” Desmond says.

Howard laid waste to Arizona prep competition as a freshman, averaging 23 points per game and earning all-state honors at Gilbert Perry High, before committing to Arizona State in August 2014. Less than a year later, he backed out of a verbal pledge that he described as a “youthful” decision. Howard was drawn to Marquette, in part, by the presence of Stan Johnson, who recruited Howard while he was an assistant with the Sun Devils before joining Wojciechowski’s staff in May 2015. Howard committed to Marquette the following April, after a pair of visits to campus, over finalists Arizona State, Baylor and Central Arkansas.

He drew high marks from scouting services because of his scoring ability, and his pledge undoubtedly resonated as an important get for Wojciechowski, but with Markelle Fultz, Jayson Tatum, Lonzo Ball, Josh Jackson and others bathing in recruiting hype, Howard was relegated to the margins of the Year of the Freshman conversation that dominated the lead up to the the 2016–17 season. There were 13 point guards ranked higher than him in the class of 2016 247Sports Composite, and Sports Illustrated’s projection model did not peg him as one of the top 50 freshman scorers in the country.

Mark Howard down as a system oversight. He had a long track record of scorching nets from deep, including when he hit 40% of his attempts over two seasons at Gilbert Perry, according to MaxPreps; 15 of his 31 attempts at the 2015 FIBA Americas with the team USA U16s; and 18 of his 37 attempts at the 2016 FIBA World Championship with the team USA U17s. He had also spent years sharpening his stroke through exacting workouts with Desmond, a 23-year-old basketball skills trainer in Arizona.

Markus gets up between 500–700 shots in these sessions, which often take place twice a day during the offseason and extend out to halfcourt. Desmond described part of one workout: He’ll have Markus make 50 threes from one corner. The first 20 do not need to be consecutive makes, but the next 20 do, as well as the 10 after that. Markus will repeat that routine from four other spots (the other corner, the two wings, straight away) as he moves around the arc, and then do it again as he rotates back. Markus aims for a 70% make rate.

• Conference projections: AAC | ACC | A-10 | Big Ten | Big 12

The goal, Desmond says, is consistency and efficiency. Desmond isn’t around to rebound for Markus or give him pointers in Milwaukee, but they’ll FaceTime during runs on the shooting gun. “I’m very maniacal with it,” Markus says of his workouts. “If I don’t feel right about it, I won’t stop.”

The three-point percentage that Howard put up last season is ridiculous on its face, but it’s even more staggering when placed into context. He’s one of only 17 players since the 1992–93 season to attempt at least 140 threes and connect at a 50% clip or better. Howard is the only freshman in that group, and he bested 15 of the other 16 members of it with his 54.7 3FG%. If we lower the minimum attempt threshold to 100, Howard stands out as one of only six freshmen since 1992–93 to sink at least half of his triples. One of the others was a Golden Eagle: NBA journeyman Steve Novak.

Howard topped all those frosh both with his percentage and volume. When he lets fly, the palm of Howard’s guide (left) hand faces the basket on the follow-through, a mechanical flaw that makes it look “like I’m going to give you a high five.” As long as Howard continues hitting at this rate, it’s safe to assume defenders will keep turning him down.

Howard doesn’t fit the mold of a one-dimensional perimeter sniper. Although he says “primarily, I feel I’m a great catch-and-shoot shooter,” Howard shines on off-the-bounce pull ups. He led all Division I players with a minimum of 35 possessions last season by scoring 1.404 points per possession on jump shots off the dribble, according to data from Synergy Sports Technology.

Howard is adept at manufacturing space when being guarded tightly, and at 5' 11" and 175 pounds with a running back-like build—his father, Chuck, played the position for Indiana in the 1980s—he can absorb contact while attacking the basket without being bumped off course. The possibility that Howard will disrupt his low dribble to quickly rise and fire keeps opponents on edge, and he cooked when Wojciechowski put him in pick-and-rolls last season. Per Synergy, Howard rated first among high-major players with at least 75 possessions handling the ball in pick-and-rolls by averaging 1.109 PPP.

Going under screens on Howard is a non-starter, and big men forced to switch onto him risk getting burned by an in-your-face trey. Watch this sequence from Marquette’s game against Seton Hall at the Big East tournament last March, in which Pirates forward Michael Nzei shuffles over to check Howard after a screen from Golden Eagles big man Matt Heldt. Howard gets Nzei dancing out by the three-point line, crosses him up, then uses a step-back dribble to open up just enough breathing room to launch over his contest.

To get a better sense of Howard’s impact in 2016–17, consider that he is one of only four freshmen since the 2010–11 season who posted a usage percentage of at least 25 in a minimum of 20 minutes per game with an Offensive Box Plus/Minus—a statistic that weighs contributions on that end of the court—of eight or more. The three others were guards who went one-and-done before being selected in the lottery of the NBA draft. You won’t find Howard on any credible 2018 mocks right now, chiefly because of his physical limitations.

Wojciechowski is going to play Howard more this season, and he’ll be free to let fly from deep whenever he gets a good look. Howard will have a “bright green” light, Wojciechowski says, but he’ll need to progress in other areas to help get Marquette back to the NCAAs. (We project the Golden Eagles as the Big East’s seventh-best team.) As a freshman, Howard turned the ball over on about a fifth of his possessions, slightly higher than the portion of his teammates’ baskets that he assisted while he was on the floor, and he forms half of a vulnerable defensive backcourt with 5' 11" redshirt senior Andrew Rowsey.

What could help the Golden Eagles play better D than last season, when they ranked 165th in Division I and second-to-last in the Big East during conference play, according to Kenpom.com: They spent part of the preseason holding bricks during drills. “We can’t afford not to have them on the court for long periods of time,” Wojciechowski says of Howard and Rowsey, who knocked down 48.4% of his threes against league competition (second only to Howard’s 57.3%) in 2016–17, his first season after transferring from UNC Asheville. “Then you just have to figure out how to make defense work with being undersized.”

Howard is aiming to hit 60% of his long-range tries this season. It probably won’t happen, but he can provide more value to Marquette’s offense even if his percentage declines by shooting more often and taking better care of the ball in more time on the court. With Howard, Rowsey and sophomore Sam Hauser (45.3 3FG% on 139 attempts in 2016–17) raining fire from deep, the Golden Eagles could push for a top-10 offense again. “It’s kinda hard for us to have shooting competitions,” Rowsey says of he and Howard. “Because we rarely miss.” Rowsey was joking, but that would have been a suitable explanation.

Howard’s form may well dip as a sophomore, and if its defense doesn’t perk up, Marquette could be left scrapping for an at-large bid and a plus-.500 Big East win-loss record again. What could happen this season, though, doesn’t take away from what Howard accomplished last season. It’s plain the three-point shot has seeped into the fabric of the college game, but Howard offered one of the most vivid examples yet of the amount of damage one player can inflict on the opposition while standing behind the arc.

[marie85marketing]

Are You Being Difficult? How the “Hidden Work” in Your Onboarding Emails Kills New User Engagement (And What You Should Do About It)

Have you ever tried to take apart a high-end file cabinet?

We’re talking about the kind built with such thoughtful design that it makes a room look like the “after” shot on an HG-TV home makeover show…instead of the dingy unfinished basement “before” shot.

If you have, you know that taking apart a cabinet like this one is no easy feat. You have to pull out the drawers, crawl inside, and poke and prod all afternoon.

After 3 hours of guessing, you might give up. Or you might press on until you finally crack the code on how it’s built–and then marvel at its brilliance.

You either walk away defeated. Or you finish your project and exclaim that the designer behind it is actually a genius.

What does high-end furniture have to do with your SaaS app?

You may have built the best, most genius, most user-friendly app that completely blows all of the other apps out of the water.

But if you hide your app’s brilliant usability behind opaque instructions, you might lose your new users before they even have a chance to get started.

How do you bring your app into the light? You need to get rid of the “hidden work” in your onboarding emails.

Hidden work is the work you unintentionally create for your new users when you send them onboarding emails that don’t give enough information for readers to do what you’re asking them to do.

Onboarding emails that eliminate hidden work are the difference between new users giving up on your app–and declaring that it’s actually genius.

If you’re already sending triggered emails to free trial users based on who they are and how they use your app, great. If you want anyone to actually stick with you, your onboarding emails need to clear a path from your new users’ inbox to the task you’re asking them to accomplish. Any resistance you add decreases the likelihood your new users will engage with your app both now–and every time you ask them to do something in the future.

According to a study published by Nobuhiro Hagura, Patrick Haggard, and Jörn Diedrichsen out of University College London, we decide whether we’re going to do something based on whether the task at hand seems easy AND based on whether we’ve faced resistance when we’ve performed similar tasks in the past.

“…we demonstrate that the motor cost involved in responding to a visual classification task is integrated into the perceptual decision process. Our everyday perceptual decisions seem to be solely based on the incoming sensory input. They may be, however, influenced by the preceding history of physical cost of responding to such input. The cost of our own actions, learned through the life-long experience of interacting with the environment, may partly define how we make perceptual decisions of our surroundings.“

What does this mean for you?

It means that if the first few interactions new users have with your app feel like work, you’re risking two unwanted outcomes:

Your user decides to do nothing today.

The next time they see your name in their inbox, they might already be programmed to think that your app = work, and so they decide to do nothing again.

Eliminating Hidden Work: The 3 Questions Your Onboarding Emails Need to Answer for Your Readers

No matter what you do, you can’t reduce the amount of new user work to zero–nor should you.

In fact, Nir Eyal’s research on habit formation suggests that the work customers invest upfront in learning to use a new tool increases the likelihood that using it will become a habit over time. When we invest our time or other resources in something, we value it more and are therefore less likely to walk away from it. Behavioral psychologists and economists call this “the endowment effect“.

That’s why your goal isn’t to eliminate all work from learning to use a new app. Instead, you need to make sure you’re eliminating the hidden work that you create when you don’t give your readers the ability and motivation to act. According to BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model, ability and motivation are 2 of the 3 ingredients your new user needs to complete a task. The third is a trigger.

Your email tool sends the trigger. Your email copy provides the ability and motivation.

To make sure you have all 3 ingredients in your onboarding strategy, your email copy needs to answer these 3 questions for your new users.

Question #1: “Where do I do this?”

Imagine you’re lost in the middle of the woods. You meet a fellow hiker and ask where the closest shelter is. He replies, “Oh you just go find the trail and follow it. It’s simple!”

Only you don’t know whether you should head north or west. You don’t know if it’s a 10 minute walk or a 2 day trek.

If you’re stuck in the woods, you keep going because….you’re lost in the woods! But if you’re learning a new app, you might give up. You might try a competitor’s tool instead. You might decide that learning the app is more work than the problem the app solves.

Your new users can and will give up when things get difficult. That’s why you need to provide a crystal clear path forward for your new user to complete the task at hand. You can do this by joining the conversation happening in their head.

Your reader is asking, “Where do I do this?”

Your onboarding emails need to say, “Go here to do this.”

This means actually linking to the in-app page where users can do the thing you’re asking them to do.

Unfortunately, onboarding emails frequently fall short of this goal. Take a look at this email:

I’ve drawn red outlines around all of the places where this email asks its readers to do something without showing them where to do it.

This email asks its readers to do at least 8 things in at least 3 places (it’s hard to tell for sure), but there is not a single link or screenshot to make it easy for readers to do anything at all. When you force a reader to figure out where to go next, you create work. When you create work, you create enough resistance for users to give up and do nothing.

The Fix: Point your reader to their next click

When I began but didn’t finish the signup process for a free trial of Privy, I got this email.

Instead of telling me all the different things that I’ll be able to do with Privy, this email is focused exclusively on getting me to complete the setup process–and it shows me exactly where to click in this email to make that happen.

The button is clearly labeled and centrally positioned. If I’m unsure how to install Privy code on my site, I can click the link that matches my platform and get more instructions.

Not only does this email show me where to go next but it also gives me support links easily marked so I know which one is right for me.

Question #2: “How do I do this?”

The new Customer Engagement Automation tool (CEA) from Kissmetrics gives you the analytics to help you figure out what people are doing and whether they might need help–but analytics alone don’t close sales. It’s up to you to combine analytics with copywriting to send emails that make it easy for readers to do what you’re asking them to do.

When I signed up for a job posting app, I got an email with the subject line: “Would you like to post a job on [platform name redacted]?” Unfortunately, I opened it and saw that there were no instructions on how to actually post a job.

This email pulls a bait and switch. The subject line asks if I want to post a job, but the body copy doesn’t show me how.

Sure, it might be helpful to show me how to write job descriptions, but writing job descriptions and posting job descriptions are not the same thing.

Maybe one day I might need help making my post public instead of a draft, but that’s not the messaging I need to hear before I’ve actually posed the job description.

Since I still haven’t posted a job I need someone to show me how to do that first.

The Answer: Provide all of the info on HOW to complete tasks in the email (or one clear click away)

One of my all-time favorite examples is this email from video hosting and analytics company Wistia.

It’s a powerful tool, but you can’t do anything with it until you upload your first video. Fittingly, this onboarding email doesn’t say, “Hey, having trouble getting the analytics on your videos?” before I’ve uploaded my first video.

Instead, it says: Here is step 1. Just do step 1. Here’s a link to do it, here’s a video that will show you how to do it, and here are some links for support if you need it.

This email asks me to do just one thing, shows me how, and gives me ways to get help if I can’t get it done on my own.

Just how powerful is eliminating the hidden work of figuring out how to do something? This email and the other 7 in its sequence (authored by the team behind Copyhackers and Airstory) generated a 350% lift in paid conversions for Wistia.

Question #3: “Why should I bother?”

Someone at book club last week brought up webinars. The conversation went like this:

Friend 1: I had to do this webinar for work.

Friend 2: Uuuuugh webinars. I hate them so much.

Friend 3: Oh I love webinars! I love chatting in the margins. I love the buzz.

You can offer training through webinars, help articles, live demos, on-demand demos, or support videos. But whatever support medium you choose, you’re guaranteed to choose a medium that feels like “work” to some of your new users.

If your new user isn’t signing in because they don’t know how to use your app and the only support you offer them is with webinar invitations, then you’re asking them to do work–and increasing the likelihood they’ll bail.

Additionally, scheduled training forces your reader to consult a calendar in order to learn from you–and context-switching gives them a chance to decide not to come back.

You might have really great stuff in your webinars! But if you don’t explain what’s in it for your reader, it feels like work. And if it feels like all work and no gain, your best prospects won’t do it.

The Fix: Focus on the outcome, not the delivery

The truth is that a webinar is a big commitment and you won’t keep everyone. 60, 30, or even 20 minutes is a lot of time to give up. But even small amounts of time and seemingly small asks can be just as inconvenient to your readers without the right context.

Anne commented on another Kissmetrics copywriting post and she’s right: even simple CTAs sound like work.

To overcome the objections that your readers will inevitably have to taking you up on your offer of support or the small task you ask them to do, your email copy shouldn’t position the medium or the task you’re asking users to complete as the benefit.

Instead, you should answer one of the biggest questions on your readers’ minds:

“So what?”

You want your readers to attend a webinar? So what? What’s in it for them?

You want your new users to start a project? Why should they bother?

Your support channels are like your app’s features: your customers care way less about them than you do. They’re much more interested in the benefits of your app and your support. If you want your prospects to respond to your webinar invitation or to do anything else in your app, stress benefits, not features.

How? Focus on the outcomes your readers can expect as a result of taking you up on your invitation.

Here’s an example from Sumo that positions a webinar as a must-attend event:

This email has everything: 1. Specific results someone got in a specific period of time. 2. Growth techniques I won’t find anywhere else (which means if I don’t show up, I won’t get them). 3. Specifics about what I’m going to get from this webinar. 4. Urgency and scarcity.

In this email, the value is the information on how to grow your business–the webinar is merely the delivery mechanism.

Why Eliminating “Work Words” Isn’t Enough

I’ll be honest: I planned on writing this post to be all about “work words” as a follow-up piece to an earlier Kissmetrics post that kicked off this discussion. I thought it would be a great idea to have a list of “work words” for product marketers to avoid in their CTAs.

I wondered whether the word “workflow” right in the middle of the CTA might make Zapier–which is mind-blowingly easy to use–seem more complicated than it is.

Sean Kennedy (of Zapier and Really Good Emails) also wondered whether the word “Build” could also suggest that there may be “some assembly required” in getting your first Zaps set up.

But it wasn’t long after I started researching and writing this article that I realized a piece on “work words” in CTAs wouldn’t be enough. So much of the “hidden work” in SaaS apps happens before the CTA–which mean that’s where the biggest opportunities to improve engagement are hiding.

While you can and should use language in your CTAs that doesn’t suggest work, that’s only a starting point.

To keep your new users engaged, your onboarding email copy must answer your reader’s questions about where, how, and why they should do what you’re asking them to do.

About the Author: Alli Blum helps SaaS apps build messages that get customers. Want to make sure your emails don’t create hidden work for your prospects? Click to get her copywriting checklist for high-converting SaaS onboarding emails.

[samiam03x]

Are You Being Difficult? How the “Hidden Work” in Your Onboarding Emails Kills New User Engagement (And What You Should Do About It)

Have you ever tried to take apart a high-end file cabinet?

We’re talking about the kind built with such thoughtful design that it makes a room look like the “after” shot on an HG-TV home makeover show…instead of the dingy unfinished basement “before” shot.

If you have, you know that taking apart a cabinet like this one is no easy feat. You have to pull out the drawers, crawl inside, and poke and prod all afternoon.

After 3 hours of guessing, you might give up. Or you might press on until you finally crack the code on how it’s built–and then marvel at its brilliance.

You either walk away defeated. Or you finish your project and exclaim that the designer behind it is actually a genius.

What does high-end furniture have to do with your SaaS app?

You may have built the best, most genius, most user-friendly app that completely blows all of the other apps out of the water.

But if you hide your app’s brilliant usability behind opaque instructions, you might lose your new users before they even have a chance to get started.

How do you bring your app into the light? You need to get rid of the “hidden work” in your onboarding emails.

Hidden work is the work you unintentionally create for your new users when you send them onboarding emails that don’t give enough information for readers to do what you’re asking them to do.

Onboarding emails that eliminate hidden work are the difference between new users giving up on your app–and declaring that it’s actually genius.

If you’re already sending triggered emails to free trial users based on who they are and how they use your app, great. If you want anyone to actually stick with you, your onboarding emails need to clear a path from your new users’ inbox to the task you’re asking them to accomplish. Any resistance you add decreases the likelihood your new users will engage with your app both now–and every time you ask them to do something in the future.

According to a study published by Nobuhiro Hagura, Patrick Haggard, and Jörn Diedrichsen out of University College London, we decide whether we’re going to do something based on whether the task at hand seems easy AND based on whether we’ve faced resistance when we’ve performed similar tasks in the past.

“…we demonstrate that the motor cost involved in responding to a visual classification task is integrated into the perceptual decision process. Our everyday perceptual decisions seem to be solely based on the incoming sensory input. They may be, however, influenced by the preceding history of physical cost of responding to such input. The cost of our own actions, learned through the life-long experience of interacting with the environment, may partly define how we make perceptual decisions of our surroundings.“

What does this mean for you?

It means that if the first few interactions new users have with your app feel like work, you’re risking two unwanted outcomes:

Your user decides to do nothing today.

The next time they see your name in their inbox, they might already be programmed to think that your app = work, and so they decide to do nothing again.

Eliminating Hidden Work: The 3 Questions Your Onboarding Emails Need to Answer for Your Readers

No matter what you do, you can’t reduce the amount of new user work to zero–nor should you.

In fact, Nir Eyal’s research on habit formation suggests that the work customers invest upfront in learning to use a new tool increases the likelihood that using it will become a habit over time. When we invest our time or other resources in something, we value it more and are therefore less likely to walk away from it. Behavioral psychologists and economists call this “the endowment effect“.

That’s why your goal isn’t to eliminate all work from learning to use a new app. Instead, you need to make sure you’re eliminating the hidden work that you create when you don’t give your readers the ability and motivation to act. According to BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model, ability and motivation are 2 of the 3 ingredients your new user needs to complete a task. The third is a trigger.

Your email tool sends the trigger. Your email copy provides the ability and motivation.

To make sure you have all 3 ingredients in your onboarding strategy, your email copy needs to answer these 3 questions for your new users.

Question #1: “Where do I do this?”

Imagine you’re lost in the middle of the woods. You meet a fellow hiker and ask where the closest shelter is. He replies, “Oh you just go find the trail and follow it. It’s simple!”

Only you don’t know whether you should head north or west. You don’t know if it’s a 10 minute walk or a 2 day trek.

If you’re stuck in the woods, you keep going because….you’re lost in the woods! But if you’re learning a new app, you might give up. You might try a competitor’s tool instead. You might decide that learning the app is more work than the problem the app solves.

Your new users can and will give up when things get difficult. That’s why you need to provide a crystal clear path forward for your new user to complete the task at hand. You can do this by joining the conversation happening in their head.

Your reader is asking, “Where do I do this?”

Your onboarding emails need to say, “Go here to do this.”

This means actually linking to the in-app page where users can do the thing you’re asking them to do.

Unfortunately, onboarding emails frequently fall short of this goal. Take a look at this email:

I’ve drawn red outlines around all of the places where this email asks its readers to do something without showing them where to do it.

This email asks its readers to do at least 8 things in at least 3 places (it’s hard to tell for sure), but there is not a single link or screenshot to make it easy for readers to do anything at all. When you force a reader to figure out where to go next, you create work. When you create work, you create enough resistance for users to give up and do nothing.

The Fix: Point your reader to their next click

When I began but didn’t finish the signup process for a free trial of Privy, I got this email.

Instead of telling me all the different things that I’ll be able to do with Privy, this email is focused exclusively on getting me to complete the setup process–and it shows me exactly where to click in this email to make that happen.

The button is clearly labeled and centrally positioned. If I’m unsure how to install Privy code on my site, I can click the link that matches my platform and get more instructions.

Not only does this email show me where to go next but it also gives me support links easily marked so I know which one is right for me.

Question #2: “How do I do this?”

The new Customer Engagement Automation tool (CEA) from Kissmetrics gives you the analytics to help you figure out what people are doing and whether they might need help–but analytics alone don’t close sales. It’s up to you to combine analytics with copywriting to send emails that make it easy for readers to do what you’re asking them to do.

When I signed up for a job posting app, I got an email with the subject line: “Would you like to post a job on [platform name redacted]?” Unfortunately, I opened it and saw that there were no instructions on how to actually post a job.

This email pulls a bait and switch. The subject line asks if I want to post a job, but the body copy doesn’t show me how.

Sure, it might be helpful to show me how to write job descriptions, but writing job descriptions and posting job descriptions are not the same thing.

Maybe one day I might need help making my post public instead of a draft, but that’s not the messaging I need to hear before I’ve actually posed the job description.

Since I still haven’t posted a job I need someone to show me how to do that first.

The Answer: Provide all of the info on HOW to complete tasks in the email (or one clear click away)

One of my all-time favorite examples is this email from video hosting and analytics company Wistia.

It’s a powerful tool, but you can’t do anything with it until you upload your first video. Fittingly, this onboarding email doesn’t say, “Hey, having trouble getting the analytics on your videos?” before I’ve uploaded my first video.

Instead, it says: Here is step 1. Just do step 1. Here’s a link to do it, here’s a video that will show you how to do it, and here are some links for support if you need it.

This email asks me to do just one thing, shows me how, and gives me ways to get help if I can’t get it done on my own.

Just how powerful is eliminating the hidden work of figuring out how to do something? This email and the other 7 in its sequence (authored by the team behind Copyhackers and Airstory) generated a 350% lift in paid conversions for Wistia.

Question #3: “Why should I bother?”

Someone at book club last week brought up webinars. The conversation went like this:

Friend 1: I had to do this webinar for work.

Friend 2: Uuuuugh webinars. I hate them so much.

Friend 3: Oh I love webinars! I love chatting in the margins. I love the buzz.

You can offer training through webinars, help articles, live demos, on-demand demos, or support videos. But whatever support medium you choose, you’re guaranteed to choose a medium that feels like “work” to some of your new users.

If your new user isn’t signing in because they don’t know how to use your app and the only support you offer them is with webinar invitations, then you’re asking them to do work–and increasing the likelihood they’ll bail.

Additionally, scheduled training forces your reader to consult a calendar in order to learn from you–and context-switching gives them a chance to decide not to come back.

You might have really great stuff in your webinars! But if you don’t explain what’s in it for your reader, it feels like work. And if it feels like all work and no gain, your best prospects won’t do it.

The Fix: Focus on the outcome, not the delivery

The truth is that a webinar is a big commitment and you won’t keep everyone. 60, 30, or even 20 minutes is a lot of time to give up. But even small amounts of time and seemingly small asks can be just as inconvenient to your readers without the right context.

Anne commented on another Kissmetrics copywriting post and she’s right: even simple CTAs sound like work.

To overcome the objections that your readers will inevitably have to taking you up on your offer of support or the small task you ask them to do, your email copy shouldn’t position the medium or the task you’re asking users to complete as the benefit.

Instead, you should answer one of the biggest questions on your readers’ minds:

“So what?”

You want your readers to attend a webinar? So what? What’s in it for them?

You want your new users to start a project? Why should they bother?

Your support channels are like your app’s features: your customers care way less about them than you do. They’re much more interested in the benefits of your app and your support. If you want your prospects to respond to your webinar invitation or to do anything else in your app, stress benefits, not features.

How? Focus on the outcomes your readers can expect as a result of taking you up on your invitation.

Here’s an example from Sumo that positions a webinar as a must-attend event:

This email has everything: 1. Specific results someone got in a specific period of time. 2. Growth techniques I won’t find anywhere else (which means if I don’t show up, I won’t get them). 3. Specifics about what I’m going to get from this webinar. 4. Urgency and scarcity.

In this email, the value is the information on how to grow your business–the webinar is merely the delivery mechanism.

Why Eliminating “Work Words” Isn’t Enough

I’ll be honest: I planned on writing this post to be all about “work words” as a follow-up piece to an earlier Kissmetrics post that kicked off this discussion. I thought it would be a great idea to have a list of “work words” for product marketers to avoid in their CTAs.

I wondered whether the word “workflow” right in the middle of the CTA might make Zapier–which is mind-blowingly easy to use–seem more complicated than it is.

Sean Kennedy (of Zapier and Really Good Emails) also wondered whether the word “Build” could also suggest that there may be “some assembly required” in getting your first Zaps set up.

But it wasn’t long after I started researching and writing this article that I realized a piece on “work words” in CTAs wouldn’t be enough. So much of the “hidden work” in SaaS apps happens before the CTA–which mean that’s where the biggest opportunities to improve engagement are hiding.

While you can and should use language in your CTAs that doesn’t suggest work, that’s only a starting point.

To keep your new users engaged, your onboarding email copy must answer your reader’s questions about where, how, and why they should do what you’re asking them to do.

About the Author: Alli Blum helps SaaS apps build messages that get customers. Want to make sure your emails don’t create hidden work for your prospects? Click to get her copywriting checklist for high-converting SaaS onboarding emails.

http://ift.tt/2qRJerC from MarketingRSS http://ift.tt/2qWzHhf via Youtube

[ericsburden-blog]

Are You Being Difficult? How the “Hidden Work” in Your Onboarding Emails Kills New User Engagement (And What You Should Do About It)

Have you ever tried to take apart a high-end file cabinet?

We’re talking about the kind built with such thoughtful design that it makes a room look like the “after” shot on an HG-TV home makeover show…instead of the dingy unfinished basement “before” shot.

If you have, you know that taking apart a cabinet like this one is no easy feat. You have to pull out the drawers, crawl inside, and poke and prod all afternoon.

After 3 hours of guessing, you might give up. Or you might press on until you finally crack the code on how it’s built–and then marvel at its brilliance.

You either walk away defeated. Or you finish your project and exclaim that the designer behind it is actually a genius.

What does high-end furniture have to do with your SaaS app?

You may have built the best, most genius, most user-friendly app that completely blows all of the other apps out of the water.

But if you hide your app’s brilliant usability behind opaque instructions, you might lose your new users before they even have a chance to get started.

How do you bring your app into the light? You need to get rid of the “hidden work” in your onboarding emails.

Hidden work is the work you unintentionally create for your new users when you send them onboarding emails that don’t give enough information for readers to do what you’re asking them to do.

Onboarding emails that eliminate hidden work are the difference between new users giving up on your app–and declaring that it’s actually genius.

If you’re already sending triggered emails to free trial users based on who they are and how they use your app, great. If you want anyone to actually stick with you, your onboarding emails need to clear a path from your new users’ inbox to the task you’re asking them to accomplish. Any resistance you add decreases the likelihood your new users will engage with your app both now–and every time you ask them to do something in the future.

According to a study published by Nobuhiro Hagura, Patrick Haggard, and Jörn Diedrichsen out of University College London, we decide whether we’re going to do something based on whether the task at hand seems easy AND based on whether we’ve faced resistance when we’ve performed similar tasks in the past.

“…we demonstrate that the motor cost involved in responding to a visual classification task is integrated into the perceptual decision process. Our everyday perceptual decisions seem to be solely based on the incoming sensory input. They may be, however, influenced by the preceding history of physical cost of responding to such input. The cost of our own actions, learned through the life-long experience of interacting with the environment, may partly define how we make perceptual decisions of our surroundings.“

What does this mean for you?

It means that if the first few interactions new users have with your app feel like work, you’re risking two unwanted outcomes:

Your user decides to do nothing today.

The next time they see your name in their inbox, they might already be programmed to think that your app = work, and so they decide to do nothing again.

Eliminating Hidden Work: The 3 Questions Your Onboarding Emails Need to Answer for Your Readers

No matter what you do, you can’t reduce the amount of new user work to zero–nor should you.

In fact, Nir Eyal’s research on habit formation suggests that the work customers invest upfront in learning to use a new tool increases the likelihood that using it will become a habit over time. When we invest our time or other resources in something, we value it more and are therefore less likely to walk away from it. Behavioral psychologists and economists call this “the endowment effect“.

That’s why your goal isn’t to eliminate all work from learning to use a new app. Instead, you need to make sure you’re eliminating the hidden work that you create when you don’t give your readers the ability and motivation to act. According to BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model, ability and motivation are 2 of the 3 ingredients your new user needs to complete a task. The third is a trigger.

Your email tool sends the trigger. Your email copy provides the ability and motivation.

To make sure you have all 3 ingredients in your onboarding strategy, your email copy needs to answer these 3 questions for your new users.

Question #1: “Where do I do this?”

Imagine you’re lost in the middle of the woods. You meet a fellow hiker and ask where the closest shelter is. He replies, “Oh you just go find the trail and follow it. It’s simple!”

Only you don’t know whether you should head north or west. You don’t know if it’s a 10 minute walk or a 2 day trek.

If you’re stuck in the woods, you keep going because….you’re lost in the woods! But if you’re learning a new app, you might give up. You might try a competitor’s tool instead. You might decide that learning the app is more work than the problem the app solves.

Your new users can and will give up when things get difficult. That’s why you need to provide a crystal clear path forward for your new user to complete the task at hand. You can do this by joining the conversation happening in their head.

Your reader is asking, “Where do I do this?”

Your onboarding emails need to say, “Go here to do this.”

This means actually linking to the in-app page where users can do the thing you’re asking them to do.

Unfortunately, onboarding emails frequently fall short of this goal. Take a look at this email:

I’ve drawn red outlines around all of the places where this email asks its readers to do something without showing them where to do it.

This email asks its readers to do at least 8 things in at least 3 places (it’s hard to tell for sure), but there is not a single link or screenshot to make it easy for readers to do anything at all. When you force a reader to figure out where to go next, you create work. When you create work, you create enough resistance for users to give up and do nothing.

The Fix: Point your reader to their next click

When I began but didn’t finish the signup process for a free trial of Privy, I got this email.

Instead of telling me all the different things that I’ll be able to do with Privy, this email is focused exclusively on getting me to complete the setup process–and it shows me exactly where to click in this email to make that happen.

The button is clearly labeled and centrally positioned. If I’m unsure how to install Privy code on my site, I can click the link that matches my platform and get more instructions.

Not only does this email show me where to go next but it also gives me support links easily marked so I know which one is right for me.

Question #2: “How do I do this?”

The new Customer Engagement Automation tool (CEA) from Kissmetrics gives you the analytics to help you figure out what people are doing and whether they might need help–but analytics alone don’t close sales. It’s up to you to combine analytics with copywriting to send emails that make it easy for readers to do what you’re asking them to do.

When I signed up for a job posting app, I got an email with the subject line: “Would you like to post a job on [platform name redacted]?” Unfortunately, I opened it and saw that there were no instructions on how to actually post a job.

This email pulls a bait and switch. The subject line asks if I want to post a job, but the body copy doesn’t show me how.

Sure, it might be helpful to show me how to write job descriptions, but writing job descriptions and posting job descriptions are not the same thing.

Maybe one day I might need help making my post public instead of a draft, but that’s not the messaging I need to hear before I’ve actually posed the job description.

Since I still haven’t posted a job I need someone to show me how to do that first.

The Answer: Provide all of the info on HOW to complete tasks in the email (or one clear click away)

One of my all-time favorite examples is this email from video hosting and analytics company Wistia.

It’s a powerful tool, but you can’t do anything with it until you upload your first video. Fittingly, this onboarding email doesn’t say, “Hey, having trouble getting the analytics on your videos?” before I’ve uploaded my first video.

Instead, it says: Here is step 1. Just do step 1. Here’s a link to do it, here’s a video that will show you how to do it, and here are some links for support if you need it.

This email asks me to do just one thing, shows me how, and gives me ways to get help if I can’t get it done on my own.

Just how powerful is eliminating the hidden work of figuring out how to do something? This email and the other 7 in its sequence (authored by the team behind Copyhackers and Airstory) generated a 350% lift in paid conversions for Wistia.

Question #3: “Why should I bother?”

Someone at book club last week brought up webinars. The conversation went like this:

Friend 1: I had to do this webinar for work.

Friend 2: Uuuuugh webinars. I hate them so much.

Friend 3: Oh I love webinars! I love chatting in the margins. I love the buzz.

You can offer training through webinars, help articles, live demos, on-demand demos, or support videos. But whatever support medium you choose, you’re guaranteed to choose a medium that feels like “work” to some of your new users.

If your new user isn’t signing in because they don’t know how to use your app and the only support you offer them is with webinar invitations, then you’re asking them to do work–and increasing the likelihood they’ll bail.

Additionally, scheduled training forces your reader to consult a calendar in order to learn from you–and context-switching gives them a chance to decide not to come back.

You might have really great stuff in your webinars! But if you don’t explain what’s in it for your reader, it feels like work. And if it feels like all work and no gain, your best prospects won’t do it.

The Fix: Focus on the outcome, not the delivery

The truth is that a webinar is a big commitment and you won’t keep everyone. 60, 30, or even 20 minutes is a lot of time to give up. But even small amounts of time and seemingly small asks can be just as inconvenient to your readers without the right context.

Anne commented on another Kissmetrics copywriting post and she’s right: even simple CTAs sound like work.

To overcome the objections that your readers will inevitably have to taking you up on your offer of support or the small task you ask them to do, your email copy shouldn’t position the medium or the task you’re asking users to complete as the benefit.

Instead, you should answer one of the biggest questions on your readers’ minds:

“So what?”

You want your readers to attend a webinar? So what? What’s in it for them?

You want your new users to start a project? Why should they bother?

Your support channels are like your app’s features: your customers care way less about them than you do. They’re much more interested in the benefits of your app and your support. If you want your prospects to respond to your webinar invitation or to do anything else in your app, stress benefits, not features.

How? Focus on the outcomes your readers can expect as a result of taking you up on your invitation.

Here’s an example from Sumo that positions a webinar as a must-attend event:

This email has everything: 1. Specific results someone got in a specific period of time. 2. Growth techniques I won’t find anywhere else (which means if I don’t show up, I won’t get them). 3. Specifics about what I’m going to get from this webinar. 4. Urgency and scarcity.

In this email, the value is the information on how to grow your business–the webinar is merely the delivery mechanism.

Why Eliminating “Work Words” Isn’t Enough

I’ll be honest: I planned on writing this post to be all about “work words” as a follow-up piece to an earlier Kissmetrics post that kicked off this discussion. I thought it would be a great idea to have a list of “work words” for product marketers to avoid in their CTAs.

I wondered whether the word “workflow” right in the middle of the CTA might make Zapier–which is mind-blowingly easy to use–seem more complicated than it is.

Sean Kennedy (of Zapier and Really Good Emails) also wondered whether the word “Build” could also suggest that there may be “some assembly required” in getting your first Zaps set up.

But it wasn’t long after I started researching and writing this article that I realized a piece on “work words” in CTAs wouldn’t be enough. So much of the “hidden work” in SaaS apps happens before the CTA–which mean that’s where the biggest opportunities to improve engagement are hiding.

While you can and should use language in your CTAs that doesn’t suggest work, that’s only a starting point.

To keep your new users engaged, your onboarding email copy must answer your reader’s questions about where, how, and why they should do what you’re asking them to do.

About the Author: Alli Blum helps SaaS apps build messages that get customers. Want to make sure your emails don’t create hidden work for your prospects? Click to get her copywriting checklist for high-converting SaaS onboarding emails.

Are You Being Difficult? How the “Hidden Work” in Your Onboarding Emails Kills New User Engagement (And What You Should Do About It)

[footyplusau]

Before the siren

WITH three electric games scheduled for the MCG in the opening round, there is every chance all sorts of AFL attendance records will be smashed this weekend as the 2017 season gets underway.

If the Carlton-Richmond, Collingwood-Western Bulldogs and Essendon-Hawthorn games each attract more than 70,000 fans – and the expectation is they should – then not only would the AFL’s round one attendance record of 367,792, set in 2012, be under threat, but the overall record of 371,212, set in round 15 of 2013, could be surpassed.

We reckon the fans will turn up in droves as Australia’s No.1  sport returns. As episodes such as Luke Hodge’s ‘mystery’ training absence and Jordan De Goey’s bizarre broken hand episode demonstrate, don’t we badly need the games to start so that we can start talking about, you know, the footy? 

Anyhow, we’re putting our neck on the line to project how many people will attend each game. Check back Monday morning to see how we went. 

Carlton v Richmond (MCG, Thursday, 7.20pm AEDT)

Highest: 83,493 – round one, 2015*

We think: 72,000

It’s a Carlton home game, which might keep a few away but if you can’t be excited about going to the footy, when can you? Anecdotally, the opening game gets more than its share of neutral supporters.

Collingwood v Western Bulldogs (MCG, Friday, 7.50pm AEDT)

Highest: 67,920 – round nine, 2006

We think: 69,000

It’s not the Bulldogs’ flag unfurling – that takes place next week – but it is a replacement game for their members so they should rock up in big numbers. There’s always early season optimism at Collingwood and their fans will turn up in droves. Add the likelihood of Travis Cloke making his Dogs debut against the Pies and this is a great piece of fixturing.

St Kilda v Melbourne (Etihad Stadium, Saturday, 4.35pm AEDT)

Highest: 40,004 – round four, 2005

We think: 35,000

Another great piece of fixturing by the AFL as it pits the two clubs considered most likely to break into the top eight this year. Saints fans are up and about at the start of every season, but particularly now after a great summer. Melbourne supporters traditionally hate Docklands, but it is a different team this year, one that appears to have set itself to snap a 14-match losing streak to the Saints. If ever they dare venture to the western side of the CBD, this is the time.

Sydney v Port Adelaide (SCG, Saturday, 4.35pm AEDT)

Highest: 41,317 – round 13, 2014

We think: 32,000

The Swans are a big draw now and optimism is high for another finish deep into September. An issue here will be the weather, which can be sketchy in Sydney at this time of year. A few showers are predicted for this twilight game. Port aren’t a huge draw on the road although chairman ‘Kochie’ will be pleased to be able to drive to the footy.

Essendon v Hawthorn (MCG, Saturday, 7.25pm AEDT)

Highest: 61,006 – round six, 2010

We think: 85,000

The Bombers were given their choice of round one opponents and plumped for their great 1980s rivals. The banned Dons step out for the first time in 18 months, and even if you’re the most casual Essendon fan – there is no excuse for missing this game. Bumping up this crowd figure even further is the fact that this is a replacement game for Hawthorn members because of the Tasmanian deal, so they’ll be there in huge numbers as well, celebrating their own comeback game as new skipper Jarryd Roughead returns for the first time since 2015 after his cancer fight. Then there’s Jaeger.

Gold Coast v Brisbane Lions (Metricon Stadium, Saturday, 7.05pm AEST)

Highest: 16,593 – round three, 2015

We think: 16,000

It’s a football fiesta at Metricon with the AFLW Grand Final kicking off the day, and if enough Brisbane Lions fans choose to stick around for the nightcap then a healthy crowd figure can be expected. Do the people of the Gold Coast understand that a potentially very good team plays on their doorstep?

North Melbourne v West Coast (Etihad Stadium, Sunday 1.10pm AEDT)

Highest: 33,151 – round 5, 2005

We think: 26,000

The ‘graveyard’ of time slots, but it is that time of the year where we’re between junior cricket and footy seasons, so it’s not that bad for families. The Kangas are up to nearly 35,000 members, so unless they’re into motor racing and attend the Australian Grand Prix instead, let’s hope they turn up in droves. West Coast has about 5,000 fans in Victoria who get to every game.

Adelaide v Greater Western Sydney (Adelaide Oval, Sunday, 2.50pm ACDT)

Highest: 46,737 – round 10, 2016

We think: 42,000

There won’t be much away support, but the Crows can pack out Adelaide Oval on their own and despite some likely key outs for the opening game, hopes of Adelaide supporters are riding high.

Fremantle v Geelong (Domain Stadium, Sunday, 4.40pm AWST)

Highest: 38,565 – round nine, 2014

We think: 36,000

This is a great rivalry, and while serial irritant Hayden Ballantyne’s absence will be keenly felt, new skipper Nat Fyfe is back – and he’s fit, firing and likely to go head to head with Patrick Dangerfield for parts of the game. Going back to the days of Polly Farmer, the Cats have always had a loyal following in Western Australia.

Total crowd prediction: 413,000

* Highest crowd is for home and away games only with the first named team as the home club.

Sore and sorry Swans

Let’s not detract for a moment what a magnificent effort it was by the Western Bulldogs to win the 2016 Grand Final. It was a September (and early October) to remember and to cherish for the Dogs, while the match itself was as engrossing as they come for a flag decider. 

But a bit overlooked amid all the romance was how brave the vanquished Sydney was. They were a kick from the lead until late in the final quarter, and as the subsequent stories of woe started to mount, it is becoming more evident what a great effort it was from the Swans to even get so close. 

Lance Franklin entered the game with a shoulder banged up enough to require a reconstruction after the game and then he injured his ankle in the opening term. He played the game out, but was hampered. 

Kurt Tippett missed an earlier final because of a fractured jaw, but had earlier missed a huge part of the season because of a serious hamstring injury. Luke Parker played the Grand Final with a PCL injury from the week before that needed post-season surgery. Dan Hannebery hurt his knee in the final quarter and tried to play the game out, but had to retreat to the bench. 

Josh Kennedy was sore, Sam Naismith needed a shoulder reconstruction, Callum Mills and Jarrad McVeigh were underdone entering the Grand Final and McVeigh’s calf issues are now chronic. For Tom Mitchell, who came to Hawthorn during the trade period, once the fitness staff there took a good look at him, they decided he needed to be held back from full training until after Christmas.

What does this tell us? That’s eight players (that we know of) who were less than their best in the Grand Final and no doubt, there were plenty of hurting bodies on the other side as well.

The Swans have played deep into September for a few years and you can only admire that they keep fronting up year in and year out as they bash and crash their bodies for longer than most. They’ll likely do so again this year. 

And it probably adds further context to Hawthorn’s achievement of winning three-straight flags from 2013-15 with the physical toll that took. While the Hawks would dearly have loved to have won again last year to enter the record books, what you do hear out of Waverley is how depleted they were at the end of last season. They have subsequently enjoyed both their biggest break and longest pre-season for five years.

Dan Hannebery and Tom Papley were a picture of dejection on Grand Final Day. Picture: AFL Photos

Gabba problems laid bare

That Saturday’s AFLW Grand Final needed to be moved from the Gabba because of turf issues only brought to the surface what the Lions have known for more than a decade – they really are its second-class citizens. 

Talk to those at the Lions and they’ll tell you plenty of stories about the Gabba staff trying to put the Lions, and by extension the AFL, back in their place.

Former Lions coach Justin Leppitsch used to have regular run-ins with notorious curator Kevin Mitchell about access to the ground even in footy season. Never mind that the cricketers are allowed to kick the Sherrin for as long and as often as they want as part of their training sessions.

But as recently as a few weeks ago, Lions media staff were shooed away from the boundary area by security staff merely for trying to take a publicity photo for the AFLW team. That explains why whenever a new player joins the Lions, the obligatory happy snap in the new polo shirt usually takes place high up in the grandstand. 

And when there is cricket on, particularly the Test match that usually starts the summer, Lions admin staff usually aren’t even allowed into those aforementioned grandstands to watch a few overs on their lunch break. 

A caller to SEN radio the other night told of taking a guided tour of the Gabba recently, during which football and the Lions were mentioned once. 

Once!

It is Mitchell who cops much of the flak, and deservedly so. But there are a few others at the Gabba who need to understand that they work for the venue, not just for one of the sports that primarily use it.

The Lions have struggled for a fair go at their home ground. Picture: AFL Photos

My movers and shapers

The annual industry-wide movers and shapers survey has appeared on AFL.com.au the last few days and will also appear in full in this week’s edition of the AFL Record.

It is a fascinating project to compile and now in its second year, the extra twist is those who jump up the rankings and those who slide down or drop out entirely. 

The survey is anonymous and drawn widely from throughout the industry, but for the sake of the exercise, here is my personal top 12. 

1. Gillon McLachlan – Boss of the AFL. Nothing more to add. 2. Simon Lethlean – Brought AFLW to life and now heads up footy operations. Huge job. 3. Richard Goyder – Incoming AFL chairman. Not from Victoria, which is important. 4. Andrew Dillon – AFL chief counsel and McLachlan’s main confidant and sounding board. 5. Alastair Clarkson – The best coach and a brilliant innovator. 6. Caroline Wilson – The best journo in the game. Breaks news and creates agendas. 7. Patrick Dangerfield – Who said great players don’t need to walk down media street? 8. Kerry Stokes/Channel Seven – Shape so much of how we consume the game. 9. Paul Marsh – Happy players, happy game. Needs to bring the CBA home. 10. Ray Gunston – Negotiating the CBA and the AFL’s investment model. Both vital. 11. Eddie McGuire – A bruising year but still commands a huge voice. 12. Rupert Murdoch/News/Herald Sun – Also play a huge role in how the game is consumed by millions.

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