#It's an investment! I shout to myself as I hit buy because I absolutely have a problem someone help me

[leafy-m]

Friends, is it "a problem" to buy a fancy version of a book for a series you're supposed to be staying away from because it's being sold at half-price and ya need a photo of the inside dust jacket artwork because there's no good photo of it online and you're maybe the only idiot who cares about that and apparently willing to spend money on this book that you already own and read and mildly dislike because of continuity issues that no one else seems to be bothered by?

[izupie]

So in honor of the Fruits Basket reboot who would you say are your fave Furuba characters and ships (canon) and why? Least fave Furuba characters and canon ships and why?

Hey Anon! Sorry it took me so long to reply to this~ Saturdays are mad at work oof

Real talk though, like, Fruits basket was literally my very first anime that I knew was an Anime. I watched Pokemon, Cardcaptors, Digimon, Sailormoon etc etc as a kid, but only because they were cool ‘cartoons’ - Fruits Basket was what I bought as my first ever manga from a local bookshop after I found out what anime and manga was. I fell in love. I ended up collecting the DVDs whenever I raised up enough pocket money to buy each one. 

I watched the hell out of those DVDs. 

Long story short: Fruits Basket is probably one of the most nostalgic anime for me. I have many many happy memories of excitedly buying the DVDs and finding out about what happened in the manga after the show ended. Seeing it get a reboot has been so amazing

Back to your question though (wow, I derailed myself so badly there ahaha)

Fave Furuba characters: 

I think I’ll surprise absolutely nobody who has ever met me or seen my blog by saying Tohru and Kyo. I love themmm

Tohru is the queen of cinnamon rolls. Pure. Wholesome. But I really enjoyed reading her personal journey of growth too - the Tohru who we end up with by the last few chapters is so strong and mature. She’s still kind, but she’s ready to fight for what she wants now. I love her. I am ready to defend her when people try to drag her character down like no. you leave that girl alone ok. she went through hell and she’s lovely. She was a huuuuge inspiration for me growing up, since I really tried to be just like her. Maybe that was a bad thing since I tried to embody alot of the traits that in real life turn you into a bit of a pushover(?)

And I can’t mention Tohru without bringing up her angry cat boy. He really blooms as a character and grows up so much. He deserves to be as popular as he is. You can really see how much he’s had to overcome and how hard it’s been for him, and even though he’s so angry he’s also just so awkward and earnest.

But big shout out to Momiji for being adorable and making me cry like two times in the manga. His story is Tragic.

Oh and Hatori! Omg his story made me cry too. He deserves so much happiness with his teacher girlfriend (them getting together was so cute).

He c k most of the characters in Furuba are just So Good.

Fave Ships:

Again, nobody will be surprised by me revealing Tohru/Kyo to be my fave ship. They are the literal embodiment of the slow burn. So slowww, so painful, so beautiful. They just naturally fall in love and it gives me life. It’s so sincere and heartfelt. I want a love like that ;; the dramatic beats of their relationship really hit me hard - I was rooting for them so much! Whenever they had a cute moment I would genuinely feel like I needed to put the book down and screech. My heart couldn’t take it. 

Oddly though, as much as I love the show and the characters, that’s really the only ship I love. Rin and Haru were cute I guess? And I liked Kisa and Hiro but only because they were like a mini Tohru and Kyo so I almost feel like they don’t count or something? Just,, can I say all the zodiac members and happiness? That’s one of the best ships too ;;;

Least favourite characters:

Hmmm, bit controversial but I really didn’t like Machi? She was so boring. I just never got invested in her enough to care about her, but I could feel like the story was trying its hardest and I would feel bad for kind of switching off during the school council chapters. Actually, I didn’t like any of the school council members;;;;

I know it’s kind of cliche to say Akito, but yeah… What she did to the members of the zodiac not only physically but mentally was just,, bad. What she did to little Yuki especially was heartbreaking. I’m not going to list all of the terrible things she did cause there was A Lot but I definitely consider some of the worst things were the times she tried to murder people. Or like, nearly murdered them. I know she was just a product of her upbringing (also her mom is Evil) but… eh, I just can’t like her. Even when she was ‘redeemed’ at the end. (Was she redeemed? does accepting she messed up and is sorry really a good enough redemption for what she did ?)

Also Kagura also seemed super selfish to me?? But maybe that was just the Kyoru shipper in me not liking her. I’m big enough to admit that lmao

Least favourite ships:

Since Akito was one of my least favourite characters, you’d think that one of my least favourite ships would be her and Shigure right? But I fully think they deserve each other. Take from that what you will.

I disliked the hint of Hana and Kazuma that was at the end? Age gaps that big are ehhhh

Since I didn’t care much for Machi I wasn’t very invested in her relationship with Yuki ;;;

Wow this post got long ahahaha a 

thanks so much for asking Nonnie !~

[challengerbmxmag]

Sam Waller Interview

Sam Waller co-runs, the UK based Central Library, “a shop in the North West of England that sells zines, DVDs and other interesting bits and pieces.” He’s also part of the current resurgence of quality independent BMX media with his Red Steps magazine. In addition to that he finds the time to contribute to Challenger with his quarterly column, ‘Notes From A Fancy Island’ and of course, ride. And, when you talk to Sam, you can tell that riding reigns supreme.

Sam and I email back and forth fairly often because of the column but also about other random stuff like old spots, concrete skateparks, music, etc. It’s fun to email with Sam so I figured it would also be fun to ask Sam some more in-depth questions. Hit the link below for the full interview.

All photos by Gaz Hunt. Thanks, Gaz!

I know you live in Manchester, England now but where did you grow up and what is your BMX origin story? I grew up in the complete middle of nowhere in a place called Colton in the south of the Lake District. Whilst the countryside in film and television is often shown as a tranquil, quaint place, the reality is a fair bit different, and Colton in particular seemed like a hotbed for strange stuff going on. Only recently a large farmhouse was burned down by a wild woman who owned loads of pigs. She was exiled from the county, but the pigs remained to cause havoc.

Anyway, my older brother has played guitar since he was six or seven, but as I was a useless at it and couldn’t get my hands to move properly, I felt obliged to find a similar all-encompassing past-time.

I was mad on Formula 1 racing for a while (thoughts go out to the Schumacher family), and I went to a karate lesson once (a hobby quickly scrapped after the whole hour was spent being taught how to bow honourably), but up until the age of 12 or 13 it just felt like I was dawdling about.

All of this changed when, for some reason I’m not entirely sure of, me and my friends decided to make some jumps and drops and stuff to ride on our mountain bikes in some woods near a dual carriageway.

One of my friends knew some older lads from nearby who had proper bikes and Little Devil hoodies, so I think they must have planted the seed of raditude with him, but I think at that time I was just happy to be out the house and not playing Tekken 2. We later found out that the woodland we’d chosen was a popular dogging site frequented by truck drivers (I'm not sure if 'dogging' exists in America - maybe look it up), and quickly moved our spades and everything into another forest. By that point the damage was done and my mind was snagged.

After a bit of bouncing about on a mountain bike, I then splashed out on a second hand Standard that someone had painted post-box red, affixed some stunt nubs and never looked back (or lookbacked, for that matter).

The nearby town of Ulverston had a pretty big riding and skating scene, but thinking now about us lot trying to lay down ‘street style’ in this small historic market town, we may as well have been the Jamaican bobsleigh team — the rough ledges were strictly for stalls, and the closest thing to a flatbank was a grass verge round the back of a Texaco garage.

What were some of your biggest inspirations as a kid and what about now? I always think about how the 16 year old me would probably make fun of some of the things I'm into now. Is that the case with you at all? Apart from the receding hairline and the slight increase in responsibilities, I think I’ve stayed pretty much exactly the same since I was 16. Back then I think my favourite film was probably Natural Born Killers, and my favourite album was maybe something like Bad Moon Rising by Sonic Youth. Whilst I’ve maybe expanded my interests a little, I’ve pretty much been in a rut since then.

I’m not into memes or internet humour in the slightest, but I remember someone once showing me a video of a wrestling fan in America crying and shouting, “It’s still real to me, dammit.” That’s how I feel about a lot of things I was into back then. A lot of people who I went to school with moved on from being into music and films and pissing around on bikes, whilst I’m still snagged on it all, listening to The Minutemen and wearing check shirts. It’s pretty stupid really.

What's The Fancy Island? Good question. Just next to Strangeways prison and only a mere stone’s throw from Manchester’s slick centre, lies a true rat-pit of questionable activity. I’ve seen loads of stuff happen here, such as an aggressive man chase a prostitute with a two-by-four and a creep lying in an alley trying to lure small boys into his lair.

In amongst all this, there’s loads of naff wholesale shops that sell everything from low-end Halloween costumes to fake Air Jordans made out of cardboard and fuzzy felt. All these shops have mad names like EEZZEE and Vibe Centre.

Getting to the point now, coming up with titles for things is pretty difficult, so a few years ago when I was cobbling together a zine, I nicked the name Urban Mist from one of these shops, and then, when I went to set up a Tumblr during the carefree pre-Instragram era, I nabbed ‘Fancy Island’ from a similar establishment.

I think Fancy Island has closed down now, but it’s no doubt been replaced with yet another shop with a daft name selling cheap batteries and t-shirts with swear words on the front.

Whilst I’m explaining names, I’ll state that Red Steps is a classic spot in Manchester that I ride past on my way to work every day. It boasts a rusty, needle-thin flatrail, a few small stair-sets (that are indeed red) and a large flow of gormless students to crash into. I’m not too sure why I named a magazine after it, but it just struck me as a funny name for a spot and I was struggling to think of anything else.

One thing I struggle with is balancing how to take BMX seriously while balancing a sense of humor about it as well; i.e. it's pretty goofy but is also this amazing vehicle for new experiences, ideas, and a pretty incredible community. Do you ever think about this? Like with most things in life (except crucial necessities like eating and breathing), riding bikes is pretty stupid and abstract if you try and think about it too hard. That said, I don’t see why bike riding should look goofy (apart from actual goofy-footed grinding - as a self-confessed goofy grinder myself I’ve got a lot of time for George D, Ralph and Dave McDermott) — riding is loads better than pretty much all other activities, but it’s constantly being made to look daft, when it could so easily look dope.

I think to stay juiced and not turn sour, you’ve got to completely ignore most things going on with riding and stick firmly to the bits that you like. I treat riding like music or films or anything else. In the same way I don’t go to the cinema to watch big summer blockbusters, I don’t spend my free time watching Corey Martinez edits or endless hours of footage from some zany mega-comp.

I’m a simple man. As far as riding is concerned, I like smith grinds, bottles of Heineken, Galaxy chocolate, black and white photos, sitting on benches and talking complete nonsense. The rest of it is irrelevant to me.

I constantly hear/read people complain about the lack of BMX magazines but there's so much cool stuff being printed right now. We've discussed this in email a bit but it seems weird that people are complaining. It's almost like people just have an idea of what they think a magazine should be and if it doesn't have look or read a certain way they are just confused. How do you feel about all of this? A solid group of people do buy things and support these independent projects and whatnot, but I think it’ll take a while for the loud-mouthed Instagram warlords to come to terms with the fact that the new magazines around might have different names to the ones they used to subscribe to 15 years ago. I suppose it’s maybe easier to talk about the lack of magazines out there than actually go to the effort of seeking them out, but having said that, it’s not exactly hard to find stuff these days.

I remember years ago hunting down anything beyond Dig or Ride was an absolute hassle involving a lot of e-mail mither and blind faith - but now with yourself, Berks St. and 90East stocking interesting stuff in America, me and Clarky doing Central Library over here and the newly formulated Wiretap down under, it’s easier than ever for anyone to get their hands on zines and DVDs and all that.

The new stuff that’s coming out now is ten times better than Dig or Ride ever were anyway. Endless contest reports and dull bike checks have fallen by the wayside, and I haven’t seen a photo of Jimmy Levan’s zebra-print leggings in years. Things are really looking up.

What do you do for work? Thoughts on pursuing money via BMX and also what's the best job you've ever had? By day I work in an office writing stuff for a clothes shop. As you can imagine, trying to come up with an interesting way to talk about the 659th blue shirt you’ve seen this week can get a bit tough, but I can’t complain too much really. The office is fairly warm and there’s a kettle in the kitchen.

As for pursuing ‘serious wonga’ via riding, I’m one step ahead of you. Central Library has just received big investment from Duncan Bannatyne and Deborah Meaden (of Dragon’s Den fame), meaning we’re finally able to stock all those bizarre Caramac-coloured tyres that real bike shops seem to stock. We’re also expanding our print line to offer crime fiction and the Goosebumps novels. My main aim in life is to become one of those creepy industry characters who spends their time sniffing around young and naïve talent in the hopes of flogging a few ‘dad caps’.

My finest job was probably working for my dad in the family trade of dry stone walling (which explains my surname). I’m not sure if dry stone walls exist in America, but they’re those fairly humble looking stone walls you see dividing up the fields and forests around the English countryside.

Anyway, building them isn’t too bad as far as manual labour goes. When it’s raining and you’re miles up some hill wallowing in the mud lugging big stones around with nothing more for lunch than a chicken and mushroom Pot Noodle and a Penguin biscuit, then it’s a little miserable – but on a good day when the sun is shining and you’re working with ‘good stone’, it’s hard to beat.

The best days were when my dad would fall asleep just a few minutes before the end of the lunch hour, basically extending the break for at least another 45 minutes. Thinking about this job now, I’m not sure why I ever gave it up.

Do you have any other hobbies besides riding? Yeah, but I’d say the lines were pretty blurred. This is maybe a pretty boring answer, but I suppose riding lends itself to other hobbies pretty well. I might be wrong, but I don’t think keen swimmers or budding javelin-throwers get into photography or making videos in quite the same way. It’s sort of like the ‘pillars of hip-hop’ or something – riding, taking pictures, messing round with video stuff and generally snooping around all fits together nicely (or at least it does in my peppered mind).

It’s not like I’m slipping on my Etnies t-shirt for my weekly two hour power sesh and then the next night I’m wearing some short-shorts down at the climbing wall. Even when I’m on holiday with my wife, I’m still just snooping around the same way - we’re not buying tickets for some naff rollercoaster or dining out at exclusive restaurants with Abe Froman.

Are you able to take time off of riding and not feel like you're missing out or feel guilty? I have one friend who really goes in on the guilt tripping if I don't ride. Related: You said you like sitting on benches. Can you do that on a nice day? At the age of 28, I’d like to feel like I can just about deal with a few missed sessions. Obviously I still need a comprehensive run down of spots seshed and feats accomplished when I’m away, but it’d be mad if I was out all the time. The human body can’t handle that much raditude.

Fear of things going un-photographed does creep in sometimes, but Clarky will have filmed it anyway, and Gaz and Wozzy are better photographers than me, so if they’re about then hopefully someone caught the action.

Moving onto the subject of benches, these babies really come into play during my dinner break at work. I get on fine with everyone there, but when the clock strikes twelve I’m not going to be sat in the office spilling reheated chilli over my keyboard… I’m straight out into the city centre on full sit-off mode – hopefully getting into some daft conversation with one of Manchester’s many vagabonds.

A few months ago I was sat in town when I was approached by a fairly scruffy gentleman who was bleeding loads from his forehead after someone kneed him in the skull. The rest of my lunch break was spent trying to sort him out a bit. One meal deal, some wet wipes and a pack of king-skins later, he seemed alright. You don’t get these hijinks sat inside all day.  

I was just thumbing through the new Red Steps (nice job) and I just realized how much I enjoy your interviews -- what is it that you like about interviews? Not trying to stroke the ego here but you are really good at it... Cheers. Any ego strokes are much appreciated. This maybe sounds a bit daft, but I want to know everything. This is probably evident to the people who know me, but I’m a complete mither, completely hassling everyone with questions all the time.

This pesky nature extends into everything, meaning that I spend a lot of time reading a lot of interviews about the things that I’m into. I buy a lot of old copies of magazines like Wire, Ray Gun and Sidewalk on eBay, and even though the interviews contained within those pages might have been conducted in the corner of a pub maybe 25 years ago, they’re still worth reading today.

A proper interview with a little intro and some photos laid out nicely on a page… it’s mint – it’s a finished thing – sort of like a well-edited video or something. I know a lot of people are into ‘podcasts’ these days, and that’s fair enough, but to me – they’re not complete enough. I don’t want to hear people say ‘um’ and ‘err’ all the time, and I want something sick to look at (and by that, I don’t mean a load of pundits sat around a table with headphones on).  

I’m going to rattle on here whilst I’ve got the chance. Anyone reading this who gets the opportunity to answer questions for an interview, a ‘bike check’ or anything else…don’t just write a lazy sentence for each answer – go mad. Tell some funny stories. Or if you’ve got nothing to say, just make something up. No one cares about how responsive your headtube angle is or how you ‘usually just cut the bars down’. This could be your only chance to air your thoughts into the wider world, and you’re going on about what PSI you put in your tyres? COME ON PLEASE TRY HARDER YOU BORING GIMPS.

(above) Spread from Sam’s zine, Latvia Photos. (below) Cover of Sam’s zine, Around Town.

You also make photo zines/books not related to riding. Do you have any high art aspirations with this stuff? No real aspirations I’m afraid. Wine gives me bad heartburn, so I generally try and swerve anything resembling a gallery opening schmooze-off. As I was sort of saying before, making photo zines is just an extension of everything else. I like taking photographs, so it makes sense to put them together. It’s all pretty small-time really – it’s not like I’m getting thousands printed.

To be honest, it’s all a complete faff that I could easily avoid by not bothering and just sitting around watching American power-dramas, but it’s good to have stuff to look back on – even if it’s just a 40 page zine that nine people will see.

Crouching under a tattered old curtain processing rolls of film every night whilst being mithered by my cat isn’t particularly glamorous and I’d imagine there are probably easier ways to get cosy with the artistic elite.

What's your favorite slang word? Going back to my walling days, my dad uses some pretty intriguing slang terms. Unlike inner-city slang, which will usually be documented in music or useless BBC3 comedies, these more rustic words don’t get much recognition. I don't use these terms myself, but I certainly respect them. Here’s a few choice cuts…

“A few skins on the job” – a large workforce “Keitel” – a fairly humble work-jacket “Bait” – lunch “Bray it – hit it “Kessen” – when an unclipped sheep falls over onto its back and can’t get up due to its weight. This happens more often than you’d think.

You can buy scoop up a copy of Sam’s magazine, Red Steps, in the Challenger web shop here, look at the online shop, The Central Library, that Sam runs with Clarky here, and check out some of his other photo zines/books here.

[yeahhiyellow]

So this reminds me of the story of how I got my robot obsessiveness so I'm going to tell it thank you all for listening

Back when I was a baby, I was ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED of robots (I know what you're thinking, this is NOT like me). Whether it was your standard robot, an android or whatever, I was completely petrified of them. I'm talking crying and screaming and hiding whenever I saw one (which was almost always on a screen... just like the game about androids that I've now let take over my life, yes). This fear carried into my toddler years, elementary school years and even the beginning of middle school.

By 7th grade, however, my fear had been dampened so that I was only a little spooked, not screaming or crying or anything, luckily. Which was definitely good since I was already in middle school. Don't get me wrong, I was still scared, but at least it wasn't nearly as extreme as it was when I was younger.

Add to that the desire I had to conquer my fears I didn't have before, and you have a recipe for a potentially robot-obsessed nutcase.

In June 2018, one of my all time favorite YouTube channels, EnglishSimmer, started her Let's Play on Detroit: Become Human. I've mentioned this and that I believed in my mom's hatred for "violent videogames" before, but I've never mentioned my fear of robots, so that's another reason why I'm still kind of surprised at myself for getting into it at first. I mean, someone who's scared of robots and has been taught that videogames are morally wrong is not going to get into Detroit: Become Human, right?

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha nope.

After 3 weeks of scrolling past each new video in the Let's Play, I finally decided to give it one try. I could click off the video if I wanted to, but one of my favorite YouTubers was playing it, so I may as well give it a try. I told myself I would only give it this one try - and nothing else.

The first thought I had when I clicked on the video was, woah, the graphics. The second, who is this character flipping around this coin? He is so good at it!!!

When Emma's mom shouted at Connor to not save her daughter just because he was an android, that really hit me. At the time, I was just getting into human rights and figuring out my own identity. This was only the start of making me rethink my fear of robots and my dislike of "violent videogames."

As the game went on, I got emotionally invested in the characters and their stories, and started treating the game like what I used to treat only good books or movies. It soon became one of my favorite series of EnglishSimmer's on YouTube, and soon my favorite storyline and characters. That's why, when EnglishSimmer ended up with the dirty bomb ending, Connor dying in the Cyberlife Tower, Kara dying on her way to Canada and Luther dying in Jericho, I was incredibly distraught. (Btw - definitely check out her channel, she's amazing, but perhaps not her Let's Play on DBH if you don't want to mope and walk around depressed for an entire week?) Being so invested in the game, I cried for a solid hour. This is not an exaggeration, I promise. This actually happened, and yes, I am a crybaby.

A few days later, I decided to look up another Let's Play on YouTube just so I could see the characters get a happy ending. I ended up watching another YouTubers Let's Play (I'm sorry, I've looked everywhere but I can't find it!) because the last video in the series said, "Best Ending Ever!" Because I was so upset at the bad ending, I actually refused to watch any Let's Play that had any kind of bad ending. So, this was the one I ended up watching.

After I finished that series, though, watching every chance I could, the obsession was on a roll, and only getting larger. I got Connor's outfit for Halloween and wore it every day for a solid year (and am still wearing it now, although not every day), saved up all my money to buy the game and a ps4 since my parents wouldn't, and so much more. Goodbye fear of robots, goodbye dislike of "violent videogames."

Now, if there is a robot character in any book, movie, videogame, etc., I will immediately love them. And don't forget the robots in real life that I love. And that I wish would go deviant. 😂

Robot character : *is a robot*

Me : I love you so fucking much. I support you. I will protect you with my life.

[youdecode]

37+ Cool Things To Put On Desk [Exciting Office Desk Must-Haves 2021]

Workspace . . . Ah It is a space where you spend most of a day and that is why it should be the source of joy, happiness, and inspiration.

A goodwill space will not only keep energized but also more productive. That is why it is very important to replace all generic office supplies with inspires you and brings out the spark which sometimes gets missing.

Everyone deserves a desk that encourages them to work even harder which results in a fulfilled great day.

Great workspace is essential for me because it boosts the productivity which interns amplify self-confidence and self-belief to do something great in life.

If you have been following this blog then you might know that I talk all about self-belief.

Coming back to this blog post, I have compiled a few ideas for inspiration regarding some cool things to put on the desk.

Let’s make the inspiration come to you. Let’s dig in.

 Also Here Are Some Related Massively-Transformative Resources You Will Ever Need.

21 Things to do to be Productive 

17 Best Advice for New College Students

19 Will Power Strategies & Tips to recharge self discipline

PS : Don’t forget to grab the freebie at the end of post, specially crafted for you  !

1- Goal Digger Frame

  Check Price on Amazon

Other cool things to put on the desk are these cute signs, frames, and journals which shouts, “goal digger!”.

I have fallen in love with these cute motivational dosages.

2-String lights

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One of the next cool things to put on the desk is the string light. Who says that you need to wait for the holidays in order to enjoy the magical atmosphere which fairy light creates?

If you like a dreamy outlook for the desk then grab a few from amazon to make your workspace comfier.

3-Task lamps

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Never strain your eyes by relying on the laptop’s light in the late evening sessions. Rather grab good quality reliable task lamps to fill the need.

I have been guilty of using only bare minimum light sources. Trust me it has given nothing but high eye blood pressure and free uninvited medications. Get the task lamp of any finish you want (black and blonde are my personal favorite though).

You may prefer to match the overall aesthetics. I recommend the amazon task lamps as they offer adjustable height and a USB port.

Pro tip: you can combine both the task lamps and the string lights to make your desk appeal drastically lively.

4-Washi tapes!

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These cool things to put on the desk are my absolute favorite.

The use of washi tapes is not restricted to bullet journals or junk journals etc. You can own the assortment for comparing and organizing different studies or work documents. Get creative girl!

5- The desktop background

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Now next you need to own a desktop background that actually sets the scene.

I cannot stress enough the importance of owning a good background as it has the ability to transport you from one place to another.

Play with different backgrounds and see what resonates with your mood. You can take some really good inspiration from the picture above.

Get a world map, motivational frames, or photo strings. Different photos will make your desk look both bold and interesting.

The idea is to make your space as fresh as possible so that the work begins to excite you.

You can also hang in the photos of your achievement to maintain the stream of confidence going! Grab any motivation that could hit you directly.

6- Vision board

I am a huge fan of the law of attraction. I have been talking about it at large on this blog. We all practice the law of attraction anyway, the difference is that some are mindful while others are not.

If you believe that you attract what you constantly think of then I will highly suggest you to make a vision board as a background.

Paste the frames of your wants.

7- Laptop Stand

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There can be a probability that you get extremely tired sitting down and stretching your hands towards the laptop.

Sitting down and staring at the laptop screen from the same level can be a pain and that is why it is vital to improving your posture by investing in a decent laptop stand.

The laptop stand elevates the keyboard and promotes a better posture so that you can work and boost your productivity level.

With the laptop stand you will not feel much strained at the end of the day.

If you have been experiencing a pain in the neck then it is one of the signs to accessorize your desk with a laptop stand. Their awesome laptop stand is available on amazon.

8- Candle Light Holders

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When was the last time you accessorized your desk with the lighting? It truly gives off lovely vibes.

Grab some light my fire candle holders for not only lighting your room but also lifting your own mood.

Feel free to experiment and add spice with different desk candles.

9- Calendar

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Getting a beautiful compact calendar can help you keep track of the days and your productivity on your own.

One might argue that the calendar is present everywhere. Be it on your phone or laptop.

But you will not agree more that having a physical calendar in front of your eyes is very handy and useful to keep you organized no matter how many deadlines you have set on google calendar and other online digital platforms.

I myself am a fan of google calendar but having a physical calendar will make things even more convenient.

Plus girl, striking off things on the calendar gives you a sense of magical accomplishment doesn’t it?

So make your desk, even more, cuter and remain more productive by picking the best one available on the amazon.

10- Organizing set

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One of the next cool things to put on your desk is the desk organizing set.

Getting an organizing set is always a wise decision because it will keep your documents in one place without distorting the color coordination.

You can place your magazines, papers, and other mails into different slots while matching the entire look of your desk.

You do not have to go for a boring pick and choose only a black one because Amazon offers a great variety and range of options which you can choose from.

Even go for an acrylic organizer set where you can put all the necessities of your desk into neat compartments.

11- Himalayan salt lamp

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If you have not tried the Himalayan salt lamp then this is an absolute treat.

Get a super high-quality lamp from amazon. The lamps are not only incredibly beautiful but amazingly soothing.

The best part is that you can choose the intensity of light depending on your mood.

You might have already heard of the several healing benefits which the Himalayan salt offers. Include this piece of beauty to give your desk a unique overall look.

Get the authentic Himalayan lamp salt of the shape of your choice from amazon.

I am a fan of all these items which tend to calm our nerves and provide a peaceful serene environment.

12- Animal  stapler

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Have you been using the same stapler which you bought two-three years ago?

You can just add spice to your desk with cute little animal staplers from amazon.

This shape is personally loved because the shark symbolizes several things.

You can attack your goals the same way a this animal attacks its prey.

13- Cute Cat Pens

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Make note-taking a much more fun process by utilizing making use of cat pens.

You will likely want to write with them – the best recipe for turning boring note-taking into a fun-filled task.

 14- Reusable usable smart notebook

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If you are someone who learns better by scripting things out at the same time you eco-friendly methods that I will suggest you have a smart notebook.

Simply write retain and erase! Saving paper cannot be easier!

15- Blue light blocking glasses

 This accessory should be on your desk as you need to prevent your eyes from getting dry.

I myself experienced tiredness and dryness and thus I highly suggest this for maximum productivity.

Else you have to take breaks and pauses from your work which will affect your overall workflow.

16- EyeGlass holder

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We talked about eyeglasses and that gets naturally followed by a super cute eyeglass holder.

These are few inspirations available on amazon which can make your dress look extremely attractive while serving the purpose.

If you are more concerned with the aesthetic then you can choose the wooden case holder but I personally will suggest you go for a holder that has a furry interior so that your glasses remain protected from any potential scratch.

17- Desk foot hammock

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I am a huge fan of comfort when it comes to working and that is why I cannot stress more the importance of a foot hammock.

Create a more relaxing environment and workspace by placing the hammock underneath.

There are several of them available in a variety of designs that you are not compromising the aesthetics of the overall workspace.

18- Paper clips

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You can get fancy with paper clips to make your overall mood and desk aesthetic better. You can opt for the diy but if you do not have time then you can surely grab some cute ones available on amazon.

I personally think that paper clips are like hair clips the more you have the less. If talking about me then I tend to lose them very easily thus it has to be on the list!

19- Sticky notes

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Who said that gone are those days when people used to make use of sticky notes? Tired of getting the traditional sticky notes? Buy marble post notes they will even make your desk look classier!

Girl, no desk can be completed without a sticky note. Budgeting the sticky note you are in essence combining both the activity and creativity. Fill your day with inspiration by inking out this to-do list.

20- Wooden appeal

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If you love wood then this inspiration could not have gotten better. These cute wood stands amazingly organize your every accessory vital for your overall workflow.

You can place your headphones tablets and phones over a separate wooden corner. Brilliant isn’t it?

21- Productivity planner

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Have you gotten your productivity tender yet? If not then now is the time to include it in the list because it will not only motivate you but will also ensure timely completion of different milestones.

You will find several planners on amazon with different criteria some will come monthly or weekly planning grids.

While some will offer a more comprehensive grid of daily pages to optimize your workflow.

Including a productivity planner can be a game-changer especially if you have several things on your plate.

It will keep you focused and help you to get things done. Getting started with planners is a great way to prioritize different tasks.

Interestingly you will find different motivational quotes on the several planners that you remain motivated throughout the day and reflect.

It is also saving time to get motivation from other external sources! So get this trustworthy companion for a stress-free day.

Replace all your boring plain planners with something that excites you and makes your desk aesthetically better!

22- Time-Stamped Water bottle

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To ensure maximum productivity you need to take care of your health and drinking enough water tops the list.

I have read somewhere that by the time you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated! So won’t it be wise to manage your drinking schedule from the start?

Instead of just getting a normal water bottle get timestamps so that you can keep track of your hydration schedule.

If you have been taking an alternative approach and maintaining a bullet journal for water consumption then that is a different case. But if you aren’t practicing even that then I think a water bottle with timestamps is absolutely a must-have.

23- Ergonomic chair

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Check Price on Amazon

Apart from decorating a desk with cool things I personally believe that having a good comfortable desk chair is vital. They’re designed to deal with your pain points.

The best part about such chairs is that many times they own adjustable height and armrest. I think you should definitely go for the one which has a swivel base as it further reduces the strain.

You can also choose chairs that roll. Some like the rolling feature while others do not but it completely depends on your preference level but remember that a rolling chair will prevent the strain as you can easily move around and access the items which are hard to reach out for.

24- Cell phone stand

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Have you thought about a cell phone stand? You need to provide a separate space for your cell phone to boost productivity else it will rest on your lap the whole day and you will be doing nothing but scrolling the feed all day long!

25- Adjusting the tablet holder stand

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Coupled with a mobile phone cooler you also need to get an adjustable tablet holder stand.

You will not agree more that many tablets are a bit too big to be held when you work. Of course, you have the option to lay them flat but this will only give you a poor back posture and headache.

Thus you can address this issue by getting a quality tablet holder stand from amazon. You can get the one with a minimalistic design and as a bonus, it declutters your desk.

26- Monitor riser

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If you truly want to bring your whole workspace into a cohesive whole then it is advisable to get a monitor riser. A good monitor riser will offer you different slots to keep all different supplies organized like your phones and mugs.

The assembling process is not at all hard. Getting a monitor riser is truly a treat for those who own slick desks.

27- Extended mouse pad

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Another cool thing to put on your device is an extended mouse pad.

It can get truly irritating to be unable to handle the reach of a mouse. If you want to be in control of how much you can scroll then I will highly advise you to invest in a well-extended mouse pad. It will also reduce the wrist strain, stabilize the keyboard, and ensure that your arms are in a proper position.

28- Adjustable desk organizer

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Getting your good adjustable desk organizer means getting all the inspirational books on your eye level so that they are actually of any avail. It is a fact that what appears in front of eyes tends to get attention.

If you have any books which are covered in dust and sitting idly at the corner of any shelf then I will advise you to get a good adjustable desk organizer.

As not only you will expand your knowledge but also boost productivity level.

29- Book

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Apart from having an organizer, you should also have a couple of engaging books that should motivate you and keep you going.

Compile a collection of interesting books from your favorite authors so that whenever you feel bored or tired you can dig into such a hobby.

I will highly suggest you keep these books closer to your desk so that you can actually utilize them in isolation.

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These books will be your best friends especially during your short breaks and guess what?

Drifting your mind away from work and digging it into any book will refresh you which in turn multiply your productivity level.

I am guessing that you already own a bookshelf . . . why not grab a few from it and organize it right in front of the desk? Try this super helpful tip which I myself use.

30- Seat cushion

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Apart from giving great life lessons, quarantine has taught us how to effectively work remotely. Now setting 8 hours straight is not an easy task and you can develop pain.

So invest in a cute best gel seat cushion for amplifying your productivity.

31- Armrest pad

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You can also grab armrest pads so that you could not bruise your elbows. Grab these from Amazon as they are super soft and it will work very well in making workflow comfortable.

32- Plants

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 We touched upon the peaceful vibes that lamp tends to give.

Similar is the case with plants they surely render a welcoming feel.

Girl, there are several studies that already show how plants boost productivity if kept near a workstation. Isn’t it a treat? Like you get to avail both the aesthetic and productivity benefits.

I would advise you to opt for a plant that would require minimal caring because after all, you are just seeking aesthetic pleasures and productivity benefits.

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Go for small succulent or live plants. But even if they seem hard to manage then you can also get any synthetic plant to maintain the vibes.

These plants are recommended so that you can offer greenery to your space without actually committing constant attention.

You can go for haworthia succulent as you have to water them once a week.

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Fill your space with super cute and incredibly soothing plants.

If succulents are not your preference then you can always go for forex cacti. These plants are extremely detailed and so beautiful that it’s hard to distinguish them from the real ones.

 33- Body-Posture Correcting Belt

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When it comes to working correctly body posture plays a huge role in overall productivity and that is why I recommend you to have a body belt posture. Never experience that upper and lower body pain throughout the day again. This tool will help you girls to maintain your focus and mitigate any pain you experience.

34- Heating pad

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You can also grab a heating pad to maintain a comfortable workflow.

35- Temperature control travel mug

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One of the cool things which you can add to your desk is the travel mug.

Who says that you have to confine the use of these travel mugs to travel expeditions? Keep yourself fresh with coffee or other fluids throughout the day with temperature control mugs.

Plus the mug looks extremely cute especially when it matches the aesthetic or color scheme of your desk.

36- Headphones

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If you are like me then you would want to kill any sort of distractions. Sometimes I become so sensitive to noise that even a clock tick irritates me!

I know . . .extreme. Boost work productivity by grabbing noise cancellation headphones.

Noise cancellation earphones promise to get you in the work zone. If you are struggling with procrastination then try the headphones for hushing any unwanted sound!

Moreover, they look awesome, sleek, and classy when resting over a headphone stand on your desk.

Ready to make your life more organized?!

 37- Spinning desk caddy

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[mxrenacer]

father’s day

TW: abuse, violence, addiction, suicide

My parents might have been in love once. But their relationship was never without unhealthy (at best, toxic at worst) dynamics. My dad was buying my mom flowers and dancing with her in the kitchen one day, punching holes in walls and calling her a fucking cunt the next. In our world, love means compromise, which has been twisted and manipulated to mean sacrifice. A term which often directly implies forgoing your values, your self-worth, your children’s feelings of safety and stability. We lived on a roller coaster of emotional turmoil, small doses of happiness interspersed between heaps of violent language and huge blowups. Even when the big fights weren’t happening, the low-level bickering was so constant that I thought it was normal, that that was how all parents communicated. My mother internally battled thoughts of leaving him, back and forth, stay or go, for the 22 collective years my sister and I resided in their house. I knew in my gut it would never happen. That her thoughts were more like wistful daydreams, that she never had any intention of following through. She didn’t want us to grow up in a tiny apartment, struggling to live on her teacher’s aide wages. She told us she didn’t want us to carry a stigma as children of a single mother. I wish she had gotten the chance to prove how great a single mother she could have been. We have both been gone for nearly a decade, states away. And still she battles. 

Love was a privilege that was held under the absolute authority of my father. When he decided to give it, he was the ultimate romantic for my mother, the definition of caring dad to us. I wish I could wipe the memories of dancing on the kitchen table while he played The Beatles on guitar, hikes on his shoulders through Jefferson National Forest, learning from him about the beauties of the planet and poetry and food. I tend to use them to gloss over the bad parts, But look at this, he loved us. He gave us so much. But he could take it away just as swiftly. He terrified us with brutal shouting on bad days and his seething tone when he was angry at our mother can only be described as hateful. I could feel my blood pulse in my ears when he was in that state, not sure what would happen next. I silently hoped my mom would disengage, not respond, not add fuel to the fire. She usually couldn’t help herself and argued right back, which was exactly what he wanted and most often ended with him leaving to get drunk and disappear until the next day, sometimes we wouldn’t hear from him for two. She often called him a tyrant, which sounds funny but was not an exaggeration. He made it abundantly clear that our respect (all three of us) was not earned, but owed to him regardless of his actions toward us, a given that came with marriage and fatherhood. We were frequently punished with his drinking, a punishment intended for our mother, but we were always casualties, and we usually got a heartfelt apology when he sat us down the next day and responded to our “it’s okay”s with “no, it’s not okay.” He said that every time, and every time I felt as though I couldn’t even forgive him correctly.

He always felt dangerous to me, teetering on the edge of lashing out, leaving and getting blackout drunk and crashing his truck (he eventually flipped it over a guardrail after I’d moved out; the cop who found him drove him around until his BAC was low enough to reduce his DUI charges -- the privileges of white masculinity. He got community service thanks to his reputation of being such a beloved teacher in the county, a detail I’ve always found amusing considering his relationship with his own family). We were often threatened with his impending self-inflicted death, reminded of his severe, untreated mental illness, my mother shaking her head and warning us that we should be prepared. It always felt like I had to be very careful with my words because if I pushed him too far, it would be my fault he left, my fault he drank. My fault if he killed himself. 

We were told we had to keep his addiction a secret, otherwise he could lose his job. So after those weekends when he left in a rage and didn’t come home for a day or two, the ones I spent shaking with anxiety and unable to sleep or think or focus on anything else, I went to school and pretended everything was normal. I could not process what was going on with anyone else, could not enlist my friends for any sort of validation or support. Looking back, I needed therapy badly, but it was never mentioned. 

It never occurred to me that he was abusive because he never hit me. I only saw him put his hands on my mother once, and he played it off like an accident, like they got caught up somehow and that resulted in him almost dislocating her shoulder. Even now, I have a hard time feeling like I deserve to say I was abused. But I know that after I left home, when only my sister was there with our mother, the physical violence escalated. I know she sometimes put herself in the way so he couldn’t get to our mom. I know she sometimes got hurt, intentionally, unintentionally, I don’t know. Probably both. He was volatile and unpredictable. And good at playing the victim, filling everyone else with his guilt afterward. 

My mother enabled him, continues to enable him. I hate to say that she was complicit in all of our abuse, because it is so much more complex than that. Abuse is hard to escape; that is a main component of its power. She was just as much a victim as we were, and sadly, continues to be. I disengaged a long time ago, stopped emotionally investing myself in him. It has cost me in some ways (mainly, he is weird and uncomfortable around me, because he knows how I feel about him), but proves over and over to have been the right choice. I can usually breathe. There is always sadness and I imagine there always will be. But the fear is worse: Is the bad in him inside me too? If I have children, will I hurt them too? Am I capable of abuse? I want to say I know myself, that it’s impossible, but I am terrified. 

[anmousewrites]

Gundam Wing Rewatch Part 2

So unlike last time where I watched half the series and then tried to remember everything, this time I took notes the whole way through. That means some of this has a ‘live-blog’ feel to it, and I’ll sum up my feelings at the end.

1) What is up with Duo hitting the self destruct and not... self destructing. 2) See, now you’re back to being Zechs. I guess he defaults to Zechs when he isn’t sure of himself, because it is a facade that is comforting to him (added later: yeah, he definitely uses that side of him as a crutch) 3) Praise the Lord for Releena Peacecraft and Lucretzia Noin Re: creating defenses for the sanc kingdom. Actually praise the lord for them anyways. 4) Heero oscillates between being very communicative and exceptionally taciturn.  I don’t think he does it at will. The lying, however, I think he’s completely aware of although he might not know how to stop it. Get this boy a therapist please. 5) Quatre makes an interesting distinction between people meant to fight and people meant to lead 6) Treize stop being charming. Just stop. 6b) You too, Zechs

So Epyon showed Treize he was gonna die, which explains why he wasn’t really worried about Heero shooting him. I guess if Epyon shows the same thing to Heero, Treize will feel a little better about having to cut out of the party early. Kind of sad to think about though. Also, wise when giving a suit to Heero Yuy to take the self det offline. Very wise.

That answers a question I have had since childhood. Why does Epyon not have any ranged weapons? Because it was designed to fight mobile dolls, who have shields that render anything but the beam canon useless. Maaaakes sense. WHO THOUGHT THE ZERO SYSTEM WAS A GOOD IDEA? Like just... Everyone who touches it goes crazy. Yes, Heero, Quatre and Zechs all manage to make it work, but GATDANG that stuff is no bueno.

Amnesiac Trowa breaks my fucking heart. I don’t blame Catherine for having him call her sister, because she basically is, so it does make things a little easier to explain. Every time he shows up I similarly feel wildly protective so good job. Also A+ for a female character who likes to show up without wearing much and is never treated less by the narrative for it.

Hilde never really gets to the same level of greatness as the other female characters, but that’s kind of fair. The cast of GW is huge. She’s not bad, she’s just a little bland.

Also, weirdly, playing against type, Heero’s ongoing deep philosophical understanding of human nature and politics and Quatre’s ability to seamlessly slide through a battlefield leaving blood in his wake. There’s a lot less stereotyping going on than I remember. LOL @ Romefeller constantly trying to play catch-up to Treize’s charisma The fight against the invasion force at the Sanc Kingdom actually has me emotionally invested? Also Epyon is a Problem Child (TM). MAGUANAC COOOOOOORPS. Kay I love them idgaf they’re just SO GOOD. The Sanc Kingdom takeover must have been one of the most costly things they’ve attempted? Like the amount of troops they go through is bonkers.

Dorothy, you’re a wad. “You should definitely take up arms to defend your ideals of pacifism.” Releena ain’t falling for that. She’d rather dissolve her country and save the lives than betray her morality.

EPISODE 36 MARKS THE FIRST TIME RHYTHM EMOTION IS PLAYED IIRC AND IT’S GREAT. Ngl they play it a few times when things get real and it still hypes me up.

Heero and Zechs are two people who spend way more time fighting each other than they should. Why, guys.

“They should leave the fighting to me. I’m the only one who should have to suffer.” DUO JEEZ. “As they say, evil attracts evil.” Fucking get this boy to a therapist.

Lol @ Sandrock’s first fight in space where everyone else is really worried about the gundam but it is actually the least well equipped for space atm so really they should be worrying about the other guys

Man, I like Treize, okay? Like I think his idea is dumb (he’s not the only one with it though sideeyes Code Geass but like... He trades Releena spots for a bunch of reasons. One, she was going to be successful and that’s an issue. But also because he knows that if things go well, somebody’s going to have to die, and when he is talking to a comatose Une at her bedside (btw UNE’S BACK, kinda) it’s just... it’s sad. YAAAAY Everyone is finally in the same spot for once. I guess that’s how you know we’re getting near the end. Functional Amnesiac Trowa is a lot easier to watch, and Duo and Heero reuniting is a great time.  It reminds you how likeable they all are.

Amnesia cure via Zero System WELL THAT WORKS Also p surprised that Releena didn’t vidcall Milliardo with ‘what the fuck are you doing’

The politics/philosophy in GW really varies in quality. Sometimes they have some Important Shit to say, and other times it’s like... what does that even MEAN THOUGH. After a completely nonsensical conversation with Releena where half of what was said was pretty dumb (except her call-out. Burn.) they then manage to salvage it with something profound. Milliardo asks Quinze if he thinks that he’s weak for what he just saw with his sister. Quinze replies that no, in Milliardo wasn’t capable of trying to protect people, he wouldn’t be leader. That’s a very fair point I think.

Quatre begging not to go under the Zero system again sounds like he’s asking someone not to torture him... which it basically is. But him basically deciding to risk his sanity to help the team is very Quatre of him, and it also gives us Team Leader Quatre which is a bit of a subversion of his character archetype and I love it.

What are the rules to Space Empathy TM? No one know.

Okay sometimes this show really nails the badass elements. “There are no survivors.” Is an example. I laughed, but wow

Heero insinuating that Milliardo and Treize’s war is based on personal things (which is true, in a roundabout way) is kind of hilarious. His conversation with Releena is cute, too. His unfailing motivation in turn motivates her, and she’s shown time and time again how hilariously good she is at influencing people. They have very different roles, but they’re complimentary.

Hilde... redeems herself a little. It was nice to see her go out and DO a thing. Also, gimme my Une. Why she still asleep. Her boyfriend is gonna die in space. Where is my Une.

Screaming a little. I don’t remember how the series ends or how Treize dies. This is gonna be rough.

There’s Une. Suddenly, and like a boss. Hello. And then... does Une know? Like does she KNOW? It sounds like she does. It LOOKS like she does.

Okay so... the Dorothy and Quatre fight. He’s got her beat, talent-wise, and is absolutely not buying into the bullshit she’s spouting. Duo calling the scientists ‘the gods of plague’ is VERY fitting and I love his overdramatic ass so much. Dorothy is a cheap jerk... and she somehow discovered Treize’s plan. I reluctantly give her credit. She’s an interesting character but I really don’t like her much.

And Quatre, after being STABBED, still joins back in the fight.

I’m not sure why Zechs is till fighting in the end unless it’s to chase death. I mean, that’s probably it, and Heero isn’t buying it. Also Treize’s death was a lot harder to watch than I remember. Zechs is definitely trying to die in space, but we’ve all seen Endless Waltz. It doesn’t stick.

Heero shouting that he will survive, after how much he degrades himself and says he isn’t worth anything, is a great end. And the mirror with the birthday card vs her party invitation is also pretty great. It doesn’t tell us a lot about what happens to everyone else, but I guess that’s what Endless Waltz is for.

Okay so, end summary...

Gundam Wing is some good shit. I don’t know if it would hold up without the nostalgia factor and I have no way to tell, but I enjoyed myself. It has a few faults. It’s 22 years old and showing it’s age, it has some overused tropes in it, stuff like that. But the characters are just as interesting as I remember, the plot is better than I gave it credit for, and the music is fuckin’ on point. I genuinely had a great time re-watching it, and am proud to list it as one of the few shows I’ve seen cover to cover. They set up and examine character archetypes, they discuss some very interesting things about what peace means, and what people are worth, and they show us a very interesting, textured world full of very interesting people.

I’m gonna watch Endless Waltz again tomorrow and I’ll probably do a write up for that too.

10/10, do not regret my life as a fan

[fromtraveldiaries]

The Heir of Lingaraj Book Store

Rakesh Nayak joined our class in grade 5. His transfer to our class was a result of language choices all of us had to make early on in our lives. Each one of us had to give in writing to the school the language we wanted to study from among Odia and Sanskrit. I couldn’t understand why we had to make a choice and couldn’t study both. So a few kids were transferred to our class, an Odia section, Rakesh one of them. A scrawny kid having a bony face with an aquiline nose, a protruding Adam’s apple, and mischievous eyes is how I remember him.

We hardly interacted with each other till probably the last 2 years of school. Our early interactions were limited to shouting to each other asking for a pass when we were on the same football team and glaring at and pushing each other when we were on opposite sides. He was surprisingly strong and immovable for a wiry kid. He was given the nickname Dhedi Nayak, dhedi is an Odia slang for lean. Though he wasn’t tall, he used to sit in one of the last rows in the class where the taller kids sat. The occupants of these rows invariably didn’t perform well in exams. I am not sure if they sat there because they weren’t good at studies or if they weren’t good at studies because they sat there. I can’t quite recall if they sat there of their own accord or were made to sit there. I don’t remember a lot of things from back then but I remember learning 2 things about Rakesh a few years after he moved to our class. One, he played table tennis and was apparently quite good at it. Other students used to talk about his matches and wins or losses from time to time. I came to know that he used to go for practice on all days after school and over weekends. I don’t know where he practiced or who he was coached by. In retrospect, I think I was a rather incurious kid who didn’t bother to find out about things that didn’t concern him, especially about his friends or classmates - a trait I’ve regrettably carried to this day. The other thing I learnt about him was that his father owned the Lingaraj Book Store, a rather famous schoolbooks store in the vicinity of our school. You could get schoolbooks in Lingaraj Book Store that were unavailable elsewhere. As smaller kids, we used to go there with Mom to buy Diamond comics. It was a small store but was located at a busy crossroads in the city that was frequented by schoolkids and their parents along with daily laborers, office goers, college kids, railway employees, rickshawpullers, and riff-raff. Part of the crowd in that area was also due to Tip-Top Saloon, a hair salon for men with an old white-haired proprietor and the Kalpana Talkies theatre, a shady establishment that screened soft-porn and B-grade movies.

It was probably in grade 9 that Rakesh made attempts at getting better in class. Like a few others, he had probably realized that board exams were less than a couple of years away and that it was time to break away from the general mediocrity that afflicted the back-benchers and initiate the process of moving up in life by being serious about studies and securing good marks in the 10th board. We were all told by everyone around us that getting good marks in the board exams was our ticket out of the school, the small city, and the dreary working life of the lower middle-class in general. It didn’t help that most of us weren’t particularly interested in getting out at all. We didn’t see the school, the city, or being a part of the working lower middle-class section of our society as things that we needed to escape from. But we didn’t have the temerity to say that aloud and tried, or pretended to try, to take our studies seriously in the last 2 years of school. Meanwhile, having experienced a spurt of sudden growth, I had been moved to the second-last bench myself and found Rakesh sitting right behind me in class. It was then that our interactions increased.

I wasn’t a particularly bright student but Rakesh was somehow determined to take advantage of our physical proximity and consequently, used to borrow my note books. We used to exchange notes, share class and home work, and gossip about this and that in general. His grades improved slightly over the months just as the defects in my football skills became more pronounced. He invited me a few times to his home, an offer I haven’t taken up till date. He often used to visit our home, for notes, clarifying doubts, or just to kill time for a while. I became acutely aware of his athleticism and physique when once he changed clothes displaying a ripped body with an 8-pack abs with absolutely no fat on him at all. Regular exercise and table tennis practice had chiselled his body into perfection. I recall chuckling at his nonchalance when I drew attention to this and contrasted his attitude with some other classmates who didn’t have great physique but bragged nonetheless about visiting the gym daily. It was a big deal for a school kid in Bhubaneshwar to have gym membership and these mates of mine talked and acted like they were the descendants of Adonis himself.

I used to think that Rakesh was lucky to have a bookstore at his disposal, what with all the teachers asking us to buy multiple practice books and question banks in the 10th grade. For Rakesh it was an albatross around his neck though. Most teachers used to ridicule him on account of his average marks and often said he was undeserving of the study materials that he had access to. Many teachers also told the class that we must all study harder than Rakesh because he was the son of a flourishing businessman and his future was secure whereas we were the kids of lowly paid government employees. They conveniently used to forget that whereas Rakesh’s father had only a small bookstore there were others whose fathers had bigger businesses, were powerful bureaucrats, or were influential in the corridors of power. The heir of Lingaraj book store, he was christened. The same teachers shamelessly used to ask Rakesh to get materials for them or used to visit the bookstore directly and appropriate stationery and question banks without payment. Rakesh never talked about any of this, but it was there for all to see. If he felt bad when he was mocked in the classroom he never displayed any emotion to betray his feelings. He was as cheerful and enthusiastic as they come. I have only a few fading memories of our chats in the classroom. If I was in trouble then he figuratively had my back, sitting right behind me.

After the board exams we went to different colleges and lost touch. Occasionally I used to pass by his bookstore and he used to wave at me from his seat at the counter, always excited to see an old friend, always smiling. After moving to a different city for work, I used to look for him while passing by his store on my visits home. I never saw him there. A couple of times I saw his father but never cared to go inside the store and strike a conversation or ask about Rakesh. One day, I got a friend request from him on Facebook. He sent a flurry of messages asking about my whereabouts and well being. The same gushing warmth and unfailing enthusiasm as the kid who I had befriended in school. I distinctly remember that I was busy with work during that time and neither reciprocated his enthusiasm nor responded properly to him. I made a note to myself to get back to him but never did. Soon thereafter, I quit Facebook and lost all contact with Rakesh. On subsequent visits home, I rarely passed by his bookstore. The few times I did, I didn’t see him or his father. Either the bookstore was shut or new employees were at the counter. I didn’t pay much attention to this as I had taken it for granted that whenever I wanted to revive my connection with Rakesh, I just had to enter the bookstore and ask for him.

Last year a school friend informed me that Rakesh had passed away. He didn’t know when or where or how but he confirmed that he had checked his Facebook account and had seen RIP messages all over his wall. It came as a shock. A few months earlier we had lost another school friend Sidhanta to cancer and it was difficult to believe that Rakesh too had departed now. On asking around I discovered that most of our classmates were either unaware of his demise or had no information about how it came to transpire. Earlier this month on our visit home, I went to Lingaraj Book Store, 21 years after passing out from school. The big neon signboard at the entrance proclaiming the shop to be the sole dealer for specific question banks and all CBSE and ICSE books had been replaced by a small glow signboard that just said Lingaraj Variety Store. The shelves held grocery items along with stationery and note books. The imposing counter was missing and a rickety partition acted as the barrier between the shopkeeper and the customer. A young man was sitting on a stool at the head of this partition. I thought his face resembled Rakesh’s. I didn’t even know if and how many siblings he had. The young man was Rakesh’s younger brother.

He confirmed that Rakesh had passed away in 2018, a year after the death of their father. He said something about him hitting his head at home after a fall in a drunken state and breathing his last at a small private hospital. It seems that Lingaraj book store had fallen on hard times and the last few years had been terrible for business. With online retailers and other new-age competitors aggressively snatching their clientele, Rakesh’s father had bet big on exclusively publishing question banks for board and competitive exams to revive their business. But the exam patterns themselves had changed and anyways umpteen question banks were available online for free. The investment fell flat and the business never revived after that. The huge financial loss they incurred took a toll on the family. Their father lost interest in the business and became erratic at managing the store. Being the eldest son, it fell on Rakesh’s shoulders to manage both the family and the business. Though his heart wasn’t in it, he sat reluctantly at the store. Meanwhile, constant drinking damaged his father’s physical and mental health. The severity of the loss ate him away from inside. The atmosphere at home became corrosive and there were regular fights and arguments. Their father died a bitter man, heartbroken till the end. Their father’s death hastened Rakesh’s dive into an abyss of drinking problems and bad habits. His liver was damaged due to heavy drinking and he suffered a serious bout of jaundice for which he was hospitalized for a prolonged period. After that he developed high blood pressure and had to be hospitalized again. The business was as good as dead. After getting home from the hospital, he continued drinking and his health deteriorated steadily. One night, he got up from bed to fetch himself a glass of water, lost balance, and hit his head resulting in heavy blood loss. He was rushed to a hospital and put on ventilator. He died within 4 hours of admission. His brother paused for a long time after the narration.

I bid goodbye and left the store hastily. I went to a wedding from there and didn’t really ponder over what I felt after hearing about the manner of Rakesh’s demise. It was only the next day when I had some time to myself that I realized Rakesh had died a needlessly early death like countless others in a dimly lit hospital ward in utter anonymity. If his father or he had received economic assistance in time, or if only he had someone to talk to about his troubles before irreversible despair set in, perhaps he wouldn’t have spiralled into self-destruction. If only his friends were there for him, he would be alive. I kicked myself for not returning his messages on Facebook and not walking up to him when he used to wave at me from their store. The loss of a friend is not only a reminder of one’s own mortality but also a reflection of the friendship you shared. If you aren’t there by your friends’ side when they need it the most, then it speaks more about you than your friend or their situation. I realize as I type that in a typical defensive and self-righteous manner, I have turned this into a piece that’s more about myself than Rakesh. I’ll probably forget Rakesh’s misery in a few days and return to living my life. His family will also eventually come to grips with their loss, but the anguish that a life could have been saved will forever gnaw at our hearts. Who’s going to tell the others now that the heir of Lingaraj Book Store is no more?

[digitalhovel]

The Royal They is a jarring, aggressive punk album, and it rules

           If all you know of me is this blog, you may be surprised by my taste in music, as it’s a far cry from songs about Cats or musicals in general. I have, historically, been an amateur punk and metalhead, and in recent years I’ve taken it upon myself to find better music than what I knew growing up: NOFX and Metallica. Luckily, there’s a lot of better, more relevant stuff out there.

           Today I decided to write about one of my new favorite albums, by a band I have enjoyed since I first heard them. The Royal They’s eponymous album, first released in 2016, has some incredible songs on it and is full of quick, shredding chords and righteous, explosive lyrics. The Royal They is an NYC-based punk band composed of Michelle Hutt on guitar and vocals, Darrell Dumas on guitar, and Rick Martinez on drums.

The album comes out swinging with “Truncheon.” The mixing in this song perfectly sets the album’s tone. It begins softly, the singer’s voice just audible over muted drum hits and single notes strummed out deliberately and methodically, but soon Hutt’s vocals turn to an attack, and the cymbals and heavy chords come crashing in. This is the album’s core ethos, to hit hard and hit fast: “I can’t be vaguer, understated, so I guess I’ll be blunt. / Yeah, I just wanna fucking be done.” There are no minced words and no second chances. It’s an encouraging message that we don’t owe assholes anything. The album is absolutely feminist, dissecting and eviscerating dynamics and relationships based in misogyny and power control. Hutt’s vocals are visceral and paint a picture of people who play at falsehoods to get what they want while expecting the singer to remain silent. So, it’s time to push back, and this opener makes that remarkably clear.

          However, the album isn’t all outright anger and lightning. “Understate” is one of the more enigmatic tracks, having to do with self-acceptance and identity. The chord progression leads the listener along “spiral staircases.” While “some go as they should, some go in circles.” As someone with anxiety, it’s a relatable feeling. The lyrics attempt to transcend the limitations of this struggle: “unweavable are we / the endless few / with something to get through” but end with a fear that “you’ll push me in.” While “Truncheon” is a battering ram, “Understate” is a lockpick. There’s something haunting about the lyrics and their lack of clarity, especially amidst the bluntness of the rest of the album. But this works, because the act of self-discovery is a sensitive one, and this song underlies both the beauty and danger of it when other people can play the devil. Even though “Understate” is a slower song and far less heavy than the other tracks, its tonality in coming to term with the self is gorgeous and effective.

          The album switches back into heavier beats and picks up the pace again with “Laurels” and “Lyric Machine,” both songs that take a critical look at people in positions of power. “Laurels” targets those who have been given unworthy praise, and now they’ve become complacent and ineffective. It expresses a great frustration with stagnation, and it uses a unique metrical structure to emphasize this staggered, strange system. It addresses the subject and forces them to reckon with their place, resting on their laurels. “Lyric Machine,” on the other hand, appears to be a direct criticism of the music industry and people who are obsessed with profits at the expense of artists’ rights and emotions. The song’s lyrics are vicious, asking if the subject is “just predictably lazy?” and if they would “pay me to stay alive on a prayer?” It’s an effective assault on those who offer platitudes, thoughts, and prayers without actually supporting the people they claim to care about. Both songs have catchy hooks and, while they don’t hit as hard as “truncheon,” they’re solid, enjoyable listens.

          CW: Some of the following lyrics mentioned imply circumstances of abuse.

          With songs like these, this album sets itself up as a wicked critique of power structures, in both professional and personal settings. It’s some good punk, with crunchy guitars and solid drumlines that drive the beat through the end of the song. But more than any other song on the album, “Full Metal Black” sets The Royal They apart as something special (it’s also their most well-known song, as it was featured in an episode of Nightvale.) “Full Metal Black” depicts an abusive relationship. Coming right off the tail of “Lyric Machine,” “Full Metal Black” starts with screeching guitars and an immediate look into the speaker’s life, dealing with someone “made of malice and meat, whiskey and shitty TV.” This song has an incredible energy, and in each chorus break Hutt gives her all into the shouted lyrics and the determination that the speaker is stronger than ever. The song isn’t about suffering, it’s about redemption and recompense. The speaker asks, “You gave me bullets for bones, who’d you expect them to break?” These lyrics, are a visceral, deserved celebration for those who must rise from the ashes of something terrible to find life again. It’s a heavy song, but its unrelenting pace carries the weight of the subject matter into screaming crescendos with crashing cymbals and a self-confidence that has brought tears to my eyes more than once. And at its core, it’s a message about using one’s strength to fight back, which is something anyone suffering under a thumb can find release in.

          “The Royal They” (the album) is a little over 30 minutes long, and there’s never a dull moment in there. Every single song is catchy and inspiring in a way that sets your hair on end and gets your blood rushing as you pump your fist straight through the sunroof. The album’s opener makes it clear that the band won’t beat around the bush, and they don’t. They attack the corrupt and the coercive directly, each time with greater ferocity until the album’s finale in “Shinburner,” where all three band members chant together and finish with a final, powerful note. It’s a quick listen, and well worth the invested time. I’ve been listening to them on Spotify while saving up to buy their albums, which are available on bandcamp. Give them a listen, and don’t give up.

[johnbizzell]

Goodbye, Dolly

Ocado sent me a 20% discount voucher in the same month that David died. It felt like fate was telling me never to go out again, so I didn’t. It’s not the grief, I joked, it’s the means. He left me the flat and some very successful investments – and honestly when you can have a boneless organic chicken thigh delivered straight to your door, why risk getting your hair wet?

He loved this flat. He used to say he loved me, Barbra Streisand and the flat, mostly in that order, but Barbra and I were interchangeable if I’d forgotten to put the rubbish out or if she really hit that high D5 at the end of A Piece of Sky. It’s a recording, I’d say, she hits the same note every time. Yes, he’d say, but sometimes I just feel it more.

The flat is on the top floor of Ben Jonson House on the northern edge of the Barbican estate in London. It has two rooms, side by side, each with a barrel ceiling. From the inside the rounded white roofs make you think you have more space than you really do. From the outside I like to imagine it looks like two sleeping giants cuddled up under a duvet.

David started renting the flat when he was studying at the Guildhall School of Music, or Downstairs as he always called it. When the owner sold up in the early nineties David had to buy the place because he’d filled it with too many records to move. 1423 records line an entire wall of the living room in orange crate shelves. They are mostly original cast recordings of musicals in all the languages of the countries he visited. Only sixty-seven of them are by Barbra, but she does have her own crate. I got my own crate in 2006. Well, it was a drawer. David was twenty years older than me and everyone assumed I was more in love with his south-facing balcony in Zone 1 than with him, but I would have moved into one of his orange crates under the Hammersmith flyover if he’d asked. Me, David and 1423 records living happily ever after. Or, in the end, about twelve years.

The Barbican estate was built over the wreckage World War II left of this part of London. David loved that it was someone’s vision of optimal living realised on such a large scale, that from a bombsite they thought they could rescue the future. His balcony overlooks the entire complex, the terraces and tower blocks, the mewses and the museum, the Arts Centre and its plazas. From that angle all the odd shaped buildings and covered walkways form an insane Escher print. When I’d go out there to water the plants he would wrap his arms around me from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder, and let his hand trace a path for some new adventure across the cityscape. With all there is, he’d sing in my ear, why settle for just a piece of sky?

Even then I used to think it all depended on the piece of sky you were looking at.

I haven’t been out on the balcony since he died. I’ve barely opened the curtains. Half of the plants dropped their leaves over the side like desperate passengers jumping from a sinking ship. The half that couldn’t reach the edge just curled up on the floor. David left me the flat and the money and the records and the plants, but do you need me to tell you he took away more than he left? Because I can’t be bothered to go into it – actually, that sums it up: David died and I couldn’t be bothered anymore.

***

When anyone remarked on the twenty years between us, and anyone often did, David would rush his hand to his cheek as though he’d been slapped. I was born on the 26th June, he was born on the 27th. There were nineteen years and 364 days between us. It never mattered to me, but since other people seemed so keen on numbers he liked to make sure they got it right.

On my birthday, the first thing he’d do was fling the covers off and crow about how young he felt. On his, the morning after, he’d play the ancient crone. Of all the time we had together, those twenty-four hours in between were often our happiest.

Sometimes we never left the flat. Sometimes we never left the bed. Once, on the day I turned thirty and he’d failed to cook the chicken for long enough, we spent most of it in the bathroom. He claimed it was because he’d heated it on the dying embers of his forties. If you can find a man who makes you laugh after giving you food poisoning, he’s the one.

David’s warmth evaporated time. Today, those same twenty-four hours yawn with their lack of promise. I am now thirty-eight and I’ve woken up alone in our bed for nearly a year. The same bed that it felt so decadent to stay in as the turning of the world notched up another number for me then him. There’s nothing decadent about staying in bed all day when you have nowhere else to be. Or nobody to share it with.

I get up at 7am and shower. I realised quite early on that it was easier to get rid of time at the start of the day. Also, for all of the talk about optimal living, the walls between the Barbican’s flats are thin enough that I know when my bedroom-side neighbour Bianca has had an overnight guest – because I hear her shower going twice, not because she’s a screamer (though the guests sometimes are). With the noise of her, possibly plus one, and Pete and Soph on the living-room side all getting ready for work in the morning there’s really no point in trying to lay in.

I eat breakfast and get on with my Big Job of the day. There’s only ever one. If you don’t work or even leave the two rooms you live in, your To Do list is minimal. The art is to spread it out over the course of the week: one day for cleaning, one day for washing, changing the bed gets a whole day of its own because it usually takes everything I have. One day I throw things in a casserole dish. Everything tastes the same anyway and one bucket of stew will last me all week. That’s unless Soph is away and Pete comes over. But if it runs out I usually eat cereal for dinner. Or nothing.

By 9am everyone in bothering radius will have left the building. If I put on one of David’s records I’m either feeling brave or the exact opposite. Usually I stick to some quiet, measurable task: today I will knit fifty rows of this scarf or today I will read two-hundred pages of Persuasion or today I will open at least three of the letters that continue to get forwarded for David and try to forgive the writer for existing in a world where he is still alive.

At 6pm I heat up my dinner. If any of my neighbours are going to knock to check that I haven’t made their lives awkward by killing myself, it’s usually now. If they don’t, I put on David’s ancient headphones that are attached by a spiralling wire to a radiogram thing on a shelf above the bed. I lay down and listen to a crackling Asian radio station that could be broadcasting cricket scores or prayers, but that completely drowns out the sounds of Pete and Soph making their evening meal together or Bianca laughing into her phone on the balcony as she lights another cigarette. I’d take the sounds of endless morning ablutions over their easy early evening chatter and hopefulness.

It’s meditative, listening to a language you don’t understand. After long enough you can hear the music in it. Music that doesn’t remind you of anyone.

He would’ve been fifty-eight tomorrow.

***

My dad and I get on fine, thanks for asking, though we joke that he threw me out at eighteen. He just wanted me to want more than the generic comfort of middle class Bristol. He stays because it makes mum happy and he loves her. He’s a doctor who wishes he’d been a sculptor or a fashion designer or a maker of anthropomorphic miniature ceramics – it all depends on what documentary he’s watching at the time. I was quite happy pulling up weeds and laying turf for the housewives of Clifton Village, though I was well aware that I didn’t want to lay anything else for them. I applied to art college for him really. And, fair enough, to sleep with someone other than the barman at the Queenshilling.  

My mum was more comfortable with my lack of ambition. She called it being an old soul. When they dropped me off at Ravensbourne she gave me a backgammon set and enough tinned soft fruit for a lifetime of untroubled dentures. Following a succession of diabolical paintings and haircuts, a Duke of Edinburgh Award in navigating my way home from a different part of London every other morning -  before the advent of Google Maps - and absolutely no backgammon, I graduated and got a job as an estate agent.

The most creative thing I was doing was arranging the pictures of other people’s homes in the window. I told my parents I was having a fabulous time and they believed me. I told myself that too, but it was less convincing.  

***

Pete is on my balcony sweeping up rotting leaves and quite a few of Bianca’s discarded cigarette butts. He does this whenever he comes over for dinner since I never go out there now. He has a broom in one hand and his phone in the other, into which I hear him shouting to his wife Soph that he’s about to eat one of Dolly’s famous one-pot wonders. I am Dolly. I am microwaving a five bean chilli I made using only two kinds of beans and the entire last jar of fucks I had to give. I’ve barely moved from the sofa in five hours, but have only been trying to ignore Pete’s questions for the last fifteen minutes.

Pete was already David’s neighbour when I moved into the flat. At the time I had a quiff that my friends used to say was maintained by all the comments that flew over my head. I was twenty-five, I’d been passed around London’s vibrant gay Soho like a tray of unwanted cakes and I was finally getting bored of butching it up and dumbing it down. Maybe it’s different now that kids have to build a personal brand online before they’re old enough to drink, but back when I was fresh meat it wasn’t what came out of your mouth that guys were interested in. I met David in the toilets at the Green Carnation – don’t worry, it wasn’t as seedy as it sounds. We were standing side by side looking in the mirror wearing matching Joe 90 glasses; me tall and dark, him short and bald. He said we looked like Dolce and Gabbana. I looked down at my designer-imposter daps and his wide-fit loafers and said we were more like Dolcis and Garden Centre. When he laughed it felt like someone had heard my real voice for the first time. I came back to the flat with him that night and four months later I lived here.

Dolce having instantly become Dolcis then became Dolly. That’s how he introduced me to Pete. Say hello to Dolly. Pete had been a DJ on the rave scene in the early nineties and still shouted everything inches from your ear like he was trying to be heard over Josh Wink’s Higher State of Consciousness. He smelled so straight and alien, like weed and the hot plastic of a Gameboy. It was the forbidden smell of someone’s older brother’s bedroom and on reflex I stayed silent in case I got kicked out. He looked into the tops of my boxes and asked me if I played backgammon then, with no response from me, reached in and pulled out a Prodigy CD. He waved it triumphantly in David’s face, delighted to finally have a neighbour who might play something other than Color Me Barbra through the wall. David was unfazed. Neither then nor at any time since has there been a CD player in the flat.

Now of course we can instantly play whatever we want to hear on our phones, but Pete and I are both at an age where eating two bean chilli at Prodigy speed could cause intestinal woe for days. He comes in from the balcony and selects a record to put on. It’s Je m’appelle Barbra, the original 1966 Colombia LP. Side two, track six: I’ve Been Here.

We were going to knock on your birthday but the lights were out, says Pete. And on his too. Then, after a deep breath, he tells me that Bianca has told Soph who has told him that she’s been doing some PR for the promoters who put on summer concerts in Hyde Park and that she’s heard that this year Barbra Streisand will be doing one of them and she could get us all tickets and we should go. VIP entry, away from the crowds. It will be the first time she’s performed in the UK for years and might be the last. David wouldn’t have missed it. David would’ve been there in a Fanny Brice sailor suit.

Over on the record player Barbra is assuring us that she is not a frightened dove.

I say I’m not ready.

The record finishes and there’s only static to fill the silence. Pete takes our half-empty bowls and puts them in the sink, where he stands as the whispering record turns and turns and turns and turns.

I need to go Dolly, he says. And I don’t know if I can go without you.

David and Pete had both done a lot of drugs, though it was never part of David’s work like it was for Pete. David travelled – he’d been a singer and then an internationally renowned vocal coach – but when he was home, he was home. Ask Pete if he ended up with a drug problem because it’s hard for a DJ to draw a line between his professional and private life, he’ll tell you that he doesn’t know because he never even tried. He was having a brilliant time and getting paid a lot of money. He got a mortgage for the flat next to David’s in 1999 with the advances from a series of Millennium gigs that he wouldn’t end up playing. Instead he went on what he now calls the Bender Of Destiny. His bookings disappeared. He went from sucking MDMA off a model’s nipple to sucking fag ash from the footwells of Mondeos at a car valeting service. He could barely afford enough speed to get him through the weekend. When he finally got so desperate that he sold his speakers, David knocked on his door. This was years before I'd met David, years before Pete met Soph. At the time they may not have had much in common except a very thin wall, but David was probably the only neighbour in the world who had a problem if you weren’t playing music. Pete’s existence had descended to skirting board level and the flat was basically empty. The highest vantage point was a stack of unopened post. Recently Pete must have fallen off or into or in front of something or someone and there was a dried trail of blood weaving back and forth between the two filthy airless rooms. David sat down on the floor next to Pete anyway and put his arms around him whilst he cried.

David took Pete next door and ran him a bath. He washed his clothes and his bedding. He cleaned Pete’s flat, he cooked for him. He sat with him every night, made him tea whilst he opened all the terrifying post, sorted out his payment plans. He helped him find some furniture, a job at a friend’s recording studio, a reason to go on. He played him the 1964 Original Cast Recording of Funny Girl and the 1970 soundtrack to On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and every single studio album Barbra had ever released. When you can afford your own speakers again we can listen to what you want, David would say, until then let’s have something ageless and evergreen.

Pete gave the eulogy at David’s funeral. I couldn’t speak. He said that David had saved his life. He chose all the music too. People kept thanking me afterwards and telling me how perfect the songs were. I tried to say that Pete had chosen everything but he said it didn’t matter. He took me home and said I didn’t need to explain anything to anyone. I didn’t need to see anyone or speak to anyone if I didn’t want to.

Pete takes Je m’appelle Barbra off of the record player, returns it to its sleeve and its place on the orange crate shelves.

There’s seven months until the gig, he tells me, we’ll start small. He opens the balcony door and steps outside, then he turns back and holds out his hand for me to join him.

[ronaldmrashid]

Being Thankful For All That’s Good And Lucky In This World

Happy Thanksgiving!

Despite giving up all my portfolio gains for the year and then some, I’m thankful for the incredible recovery we’ve had since 2009. Without the bull run, I wouldn’t have been able to stay unemployed since 2012. The value of money comes nowhere near the value of time.

It’s sad the good times are going away. For so long, it’s been so easy to make easy money. Unless you’re Juggernaut, it’s probably not a good idea to step in front of a bus. The stock market is clearly telegraphing a slowdown in corporate earnings, and the economy by extension. The housing sector usually takes several years to work its way through a funk.

The Fed has also made it clear it will continue to raise rates, no matter how much carnage there is in the short term. You would think they’d slow down their pace of rate increases in 2019, but I wouldn’t count on them being rational. With the yield curve resuming its flattening as investors find safety in longer duration treasuries, we need to seriously be careful about how much risk exposure we really want to take. Flat or inverted yield curves have seldom ever signified good news for the economy. Build your CD step stool folks.

Enough of being a measured voice through times of volatility.

During this Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to share one extremely lucky event that occurred in my life. During times of difficulty, it’s always good to reflect and be grateful for what we have. I hope you will use the holidays to reflect on some of your fortunate events as well and share. 

The Secret Phone Call

The year is 2001 and the Nasdaq, down 50%, just celebrated its one year anniversary of hitting its peak. I’m finishing up the second year of my analyst program, paranoid that I won’t be getting the invite back for my third year.

I always knew my chances for getting a third-year analyst role were slim-to-none since only superstars get to continue. But I kept the faith, much like cryptocurrency investors have erroneously kept the faith all year. I was truly a subpar performer who didn’t belong at the best investment bank in the world at the time.

I dressed poorly because I didn’t know better as a public school kid who never had to dress up. Once, my VP barked at me, “Get that dog collar off your neck!” referencing a Hawaiian shell necklace my girlfriend had given me. I guess there is a benefit of going to an expensive prep school after all.

I annoyed people. Another time, as I was humming something indistinguishable while reading some research material, an MD on the Latin America sales desk told me to keep quiet. She was the same MD I had had to get permission from to buy an MCI Worldcom call option, which had quickly gone to zero after purchase. I’m sure she thought I was an idiot.

There was a reason why I had to go through 7 rounds and 55 interviews to get my job. No desk wanted me. I was an outsider who was forced into their vaunted club by an African-American recruiter named Kim Purkiss who never gave up on me. I owe her so much.

As a junior analyst on the sales trading floor, one of my jobs was to pick up and screen phone calls for all our senior colleagues. Our desks were arranged in I-formation, with my boss sitting at one base of the I and me sitting on the side. His face was always obscured by a couple Bloomberg trading monitors. We communicated by shouting.

At 9am, my boss’s phone rang and I hit his button on my large 20 line turret as quick as lightning. The trading floor was buzzing with activity in anticipation of the market open at 9:30am.

“Hello, can I speak to Tom, please? It’s Jim,” said the man on the other end. Jim was calling from Hong Kong, where it was 10pm. Jim was the Head of the Asian Equities business at the time. He was the big, big boss.

“Hi Jim! It’s Sam. Nice to hear from you. It’s late there. Hope all is well. Let me see if Tom is available. One sec.” I blurted out like a middle school boy trying to talk to a girl for the first time.

I zoomed in between Tom’s monitors and saw he was staring at his screen while pounding away at his keyboard.

“Tom! Jim is on line one!” I yelled as the buzz on the 49th floor of 1 New York Plaza started to crescendo.

The confusing phone turret we used

Tom didn’t acknowledge my call, but he picked up the line by saying “hello.” Not wanting to hang up on big bossman Jim in the middle of the night in Hong Kong, I stayed on to ensure they connected. In the past, I had sometimes accidentally hung up on the caller before a teammate hopped on. Our phone turrets were confusing as hell.

Jim immediately blurted out after Tom said hello, “I need to talk to you about Sam. We need to make a decision on whether to keep him or not.”

My ears perked up! Ethically, I should have hung up. But out of sheer curiosity and survival, I pressed mute instead. My future depended on it.

“Jim, it sounds like we have position open in Taiwan? But I don’t think Sam would be a good fit, despite his Mandarin skills. He’s unfocused because he’s always trading stocks while at work.”

Oh crap! I knew all my trading would come back to haunt me. I was already given a talk a couple times before about how I was spending too much time trading stocks, and not enough time focusing on my job. It would have been a dream come true to move to Taiwan to work.

“OK Tom, we’ll look elsewhere to fill these open positions. Guess that’s it for Sam. Goodnight.”

My heart sank. My boss didn’t like me and I knew my days were numbered. It was mid-April, 2001.

The Second Phone Call

Knowing my last day for employment would be sometime in June was depressing, like I was waiting for the electric chair. Plenty of people I knew were getting laid off and I was starting to panic mentally. Tom hadn’t explicitly told me I wouldn’t be asked back, but I wasn’t going to wait to see if he did.

Then another phone call came one early May afternoon. This time, there was no need for me to pick it up because the VP sitting next to me did.

During my job interview process, Elaine had been my harshest interviewer. A graduate of Barnard College and The Wharton School of Business for an MBA, she was a strong, single, 40-year-old woman you did not want to mess with. Just when I thought I had gotten the job, she requested to interview me a second time over coffee and asked more grilling questions.

After about a minute of conversation, Elaine said while on the phone, “I think you might want to speak to my colleague here.” She turned to me, told me to pick up the phone and have a chat.

I was confused, but I did as I was told. On the line was a guy named Michael. He had a nervous stutter.

“Hi there. Your colleague said you might be interested in working for a competitor covering west coast clients in San Francisco. Are you interested?” Michael said.

Are you kidding me? Hell yeah, I’m interested! I thought to myself. But I didn’t tell him that. Instead, I responded calmly, “I’m not sure Michael. I’m in a really good spot here. The offer would have to be extremely compelling for me to leave.”

“Sure, I understand. Let’s talk more in private when you’re off the desk about what it would take to make you move.” Michael responded.

I was thrilled! I turned to Elaine after I had hung up and told her thank you. She was looking out for me because she also knew my days were numbered.

The Offer Package

I took a day off in order to fly out to San Francisco and meet the team on a Friday. They were a great group of fellas and I especially liked the guy I was going to work directly under. He was intelligent, hardworking, and loved to enjoy life. At Berkeley, where he went to undergrad, he was the Bud Light rep on campus. Everybody loved hanging out with him.

One thing led to another and the new firm offered me everything I had asked for:

* An Associate title, reserved for those who had gone to business school or those who continued to be superstars after their third year as an analyst.

* A pay base salary pay raise to $85,000 from $55,000.

* A guaranteed bonus of $50,000 for the year, even though there would be only six months left if I joined.

* Subsidized housing for two months and $6,000 for relocation expenses

I went from being out on the streets in a month to getting a raise and a promotion in a new city with a new firm. This series of events was absolutely one of the luckiest turnarounds of my life.

For the next seven years, my boss and I competed against my old firm and often won. When my boss decided to leave to a large client, I ended up running the business and hiring a couple people to work for me for the next four years. Of course, since we had such a good relationship, I became a top 3 relationship as well.

It was a fantastic ride that culminated with me engineering my layoff at 2012 and preparing my junior colleague to take over. It was his time.

Embrace All That Is Lucky In This World

It’s easy to get down on ourselves. I’m my worst critic by far. But sometimes, we’ve got to look back and appreciate all the good that has happened to us. Let’s not take our good fortune for granted.

Being able to write about my time earning only $40,000 a year in Manhattan as a first-year analyst is a blessing. It reminded me of this lucky memory that had so long been shelved away. I feel lucky to have been able to write this article before this memory permanently faded away. I’m telling you, writing will keep you young.

It’s painful to lose money in the stock market and real estate market. It’s terrible to lose a job you had no intention of leaving. Let us accept that bad things will happen all the time. And when they do, let us not forget all the good luck we received that got us to where we are today.

Related:

The Best Financial Move I Made Is Something Everyone Can Do

Here’s When You’ll Finally Feel So Rich

Perpetual Failure: The Reason Why I Continue To Save So Much

Readers, what are you thankful for this holiday season? Please share a lucky break that you may have forgotten or taken for granted until now. 

The post Being Thankful For All That’s Good And Lucky In This World appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from https://www.financialsamurai.com/being-thankful-for-all-thats-good-and-lucky-in-this-world/

[fashiontrendin-blog]

What It’s Like to Join an Industry That’s 86% Male

http://fashion-trendin.com/what-its-like-to-join-an-industry-thats-86-male/

What It’s Like to Join an Industry That’s 86% Male

In partnership with Olay. 

The recent conversations around gender disparities in the workforce have focused on a variety of things: pay, mobility, respect. But woven through all of those things is culture. Cultural norms shape professional environments on visible and invisible levels, and shifting that narrative takes time, energy and resistance to the status quo. This is especially true in male- and white-dominated industries, where tradition and legacy still play a huge role in how companies grow and change.

In a four-part series with Olay, Man Repeller will speak with six different women who work in primarily male-dominated fields to learn more about how that change is happening — and what it’s like to be in the middle of it. Below, meet Abyah Wynn, the vice president of business development at a venture capital firm called Trimantium. Men make up 89 percent of the venture capital industry (white men make up 76 percent). I spoke with Abyah about what it’s like to work in venture capital, especially as a woman of color.

On Stumbling Into a Career in Venture Capital

I was working at a small investment banking firm in L.A. when I got this random LinkedIn message from a man named Philip. I honestly thought that he was hitting on me, because people are inappropriate on LinkedIn all the time — it’s very troubling. They’re all the same: “I would love to help you further your career.” I’m like, I’m sure you would.

At first, I didn’t give his message the time of day. Later, though, something in the back of my mind urged me to return to it. There was something unique about it. So I sent it over to my dad — who also has a finance background — and said, “Hey, can you suss these guys out for me?” He emailed me back and said, “Yeah, you want to respond to this message right away.”

Two weeks had lapsed by the time I finally replied to Philip, and he responded to me immediately with: “I’m on a 48-hour stint in L.A. Let’s meet for coffee tomorrow.” It was a crazy coincidence, because he lives in Australia, so for me to have caught him in this perfect window was unbelievable.

When we first sat down, neither of us knew exactly what we were looking for. I could tell he was kind of just feeling me out, saying things like, “I don’t know if this is something you’re interested in or if you know someone who is interested, but let’s keep the conversation going.” I remember walking into the coffee shop thinking, Well, this is a big waste of time, and walking out thinking, Wow, I really want this job.

On Entering a New and Male-Dominated World

Before I got the job, I knew the surface definition of venture capital, but I wasn’t fully briefed on what this world entailed. My biggest misconception was that you had to have a finance background and an MBA to be able to succeed in it, but you don’t. My degree is in advertising and marketing. You do have to understand how the numbers work and the legalities of term sheets, etc — I’ve learned a lot and I continue to learn every day — but I would say it is a lot more art than science.

It’s about intuition, knowing how to read people, understanding how companies work and how they grow. I think that my background has helped me with that. I’m also a very intuitive person. Being able to sit down with a founder and see how he or she is able to execute their vision, get a feel for the founding team and understand whether or not everyone meshes well — it’s all part of the process. I frequently tell founders: “Don’t take money from just anyone,” and I would never give money to just anyone, either. It’s like a marriage — you have to make sure that it’s right for both of you.

Trimantium is based in Australia, but I work out of L.A. The most challenging part of my job is probably the isolation — being a one-woman show. Having to be a consistent self-starter, because no one is telling me, “You have to wake up at a certain time,” or, “You can only take an hour lunch.” I sometimes miss the support system of having colleagues to interact with daily, but I also really enjoy the freedom and flexibility that I have with my schedule. It’s really a trade-off.

When I am in my office in Australia, there’s maybe four women. The rest are male. At conferences and events, it tends to skew mostly male too. It’s kind of comes with the territory, so I’ve just learned to grin and bear it, but I hope I can be successful in raising others up and diversifying the industry in any way I can.

On the Importance of Representation in Venture Capital

A lot of people that are in the VC world either come from privilege, have been groomed for this position or are part of a network that has created opportunities for them. It’s rare to find someone who comes from “the wrong side of the tracks,” so to speak, and become a successful venture capitalist. You just don’t hear that story every day. If you’re not in the right circles, it can be very hard. A lot of VC jobs are not posted on job websites; people don’t shout them from the rooftops. You have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone to get in the door.

When I was in college, I took a venture initiation class. Although I loved it, when I looked at venture capitalists, none of them looked like me. So I didn’t really know it was a path for me. Now, when I go to certain conferences and events and I look around the room, I still don’t see anyone that looks like me. Part of why I’m passionate about being successful in this industry is because I think it’s important for little girls, and especially little brown girls, to be able to look at me or Arlan Hamilton or Kirsten Green or any other minority or female VC and know that it can be a path for them. There are people that look like them who are killing it, and they can kill it as well.

In that sense, representation is really important. Up until recently, I’d say maybe in the past five or so years, a lot of HBCUs didn’t even have classes that focused on entrepreneurship or venture capital, and so the path really wasn’t paved for people who weren’t already a part of this homogenous network. I’ve thought a lot about teaching and being a guest lecturer for that reason. It’s something I’d like to explore at some point. If black women had been teaching me about venture capital in college, it would have been a completely different presentation than the one by my white male professor. There’s nothing wrong with either, but I think that being able to see myself would have been kind of cool. Even though I’m terrified of public speaking, it’s something that I’d like to do more of.

On Carving a Path for Women Like Her

The men in my professional circle are very respectful. They’re funny and charming and awesome — and, as far as I know, the ones that I’ve interacted with are not actively trying to keep women or people of color out. It’s just a matter of their networks. I think that it takes people like myself to bring attention to the lack of diversity and try to raise others up.

At Trimantium, I’m launching the Twenty65 Fund because I believe that a lot of other VCs are leaving money on the table by not investing in more female and minority founders. The fund is solely focused on investing in female and minority founders. People tend to discount how much buying power females and minorities have, and how these founders may have identified products and solutions for problems that are unique to their demographics. If we’re only investing in tech companies founded by white men, we are overlooking a lot of other solutions for other segments of the population.

I do feel a responsibility, but in the best sense of the word. I don’t think that it’s a burden or a pressure. It’s just something that I feel very strongly about. I’ve had a very non-linear path to venture capital, but I wouldn’t want to do anything else in the world. I absolutely love my job and I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to be in this industry. I’m deeply passionate about what I do, and because of that, it doesn’t feel like work.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

  Photographed by Maggie Shannon at General Public Art. 

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Original Article: How to make a business based on loyal customers and achieve the market fit in early daysProduct-Market Fit - the holy grail of all entrepreneurship.Retrospective analysis shows us that all businesses that thrive have achieved one.Still, there are few resources explaining how to get there.While being a big fan of Lean Startup by Eric Ries, which gives an instrumentation to iterate through the assumptions on what would a user like, even though I absolutely love it, it doesn't give any clue on how to properly structure the assumptions in the first place. It's like a brute-force method used for password hacking. It certainly works and I use it myself, but I want to get deeper into the rabbit hole. I want to have the understanding why this works and that doesn't.The general theory tells us that having a market fit is to provide values (cure pains or give gains) that have a great demand on the market. Who does it best of all - winsHowever, there are quite some companies that were providing great values and never succeeded.Market Fit - the holy grailThe very first example popping up is TiVo: a great product saving a lot of time and giving freedom.Has it succeeded?Doubtfully. It has never penetrated the main market.Why?The users had no reason to use it. Yes, there were certain gains provided, but the user couldn't figure out why one needed this.The Market Fit condition is a moment when the customers start running to you like crazies shouting "Take my money, I want your $hit!"How to get there? To figure this out we first need to dig deeper into several topics.If one finds the definitions controversial, please, just try to perceive it as I'm putting it here. At least for the sake of discussion. I hope at the end of the article the puzzle pieces will assemble in a nice picture. If not - send me a "love letter" that I have wasted your time to make me feel miserable. Joking or not - any feedback is highly appreciated.Value - the pain or gainEvery business has to give value to the customer.The value is not a product. The value is what's left after using the product.So, if you sell cell phones (the old ones, not smartphones) - the value you give is an instant communication possibility no matter where you are. If you sell a car - you give commuting freedom (or joy and status if it's an expensive car).Got the idea?The value and the product are not the same things.It should answer the question: What?Product - the way your customers receive the valueI'm working with startups. Every single day I hear: "We have a great product", "Good products sell themselves".They are really proud of what they do and are emotionally attached to the stuff they give to the customers.However, the Product is just a way to deliver the value to the customer.The best product is the one that has the least amount of barriers and has the most joyful experience.What I want to emphasize is that it does not matter what technologies you use or how great the idea of your product is. What matters is the least number of barriers between you and the customer.The right question to be asked while defining a product is: How?Mission - people buy why you do itPeople don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it. - Simon SinekIf we lived in a world where people act logically this part would have been redundant.The truth is that we (people) don't make decisions based on facts. All our decisions are emotional no matter if we like it or not.Yes, we look at the facts, but just to make sure our gut feeling is "right". It's just an argumentation for ourselves once the emotional decision is already made.Without judging, an entrepreneur has to take this fact into consideration.Moreover - it's way easier to get the inspired team once you have a mission. It's much easier for yourself to work on things you believe in. It's much easier to sell stuff you believe in.The question to answer here is: Why?Lean Vision - the simplest possible way to describe your businessSo far you have answered three questions (why? how? what?). This means you have defined the Lean Vision:Mission - why? Product - how? Value - what?Lean Vision is not an idea. It's seasoned. It's tangible. If you don't feel like it is, probably you should spend a bit more time figuring it out. Of course one will be adding lots of details in later stages, but this is the first step towards the functioning business.True Customer - one that shares your vision, needs the value and agrees on the value delivery wayI want to emphasize, that this part is heavily based on the Early Adopters psychology.Once you enter the Early Majority - different rules apply. The Early Majority uses what the Early Adopters recommend to use. The only way to win the Early Majority is first to make (almost) all Early Adopters in need of your value use your stuff.Why is Lean Vision defined as a combination of Mission, Product Value? Because this is how an Early Adopter judges if you're good enough.Lean Vision (Mission, Product, Value) is how an Early Adopter judges if you're good enough.True Customer is the one who is part of your team. He works without a paycheck. Still, he is the one who promotes you and defends your brand. The one who will give you a truthful feedback if you started heading the wrong direction.The True Customer is the foundation of any business.Lean Pitch - the simplest possible way to check if this is your customerBefore jumping with both feet into a new venture it's better to check if there is a solid foundation.There are different variations of pitches, including the Elevator Pitch (which is good to tell a potential partner about what you do), but to find a True Customer you should tell only what he cares about: Why? How? What? (Mission, Product, Value).As an example, I can give you a pitch for this article (I'm selling you my vision now, right?).Find your true customers, before investing time and money, to make sure your business will thriveOf course, there can be lots of variations on the wording, but the idea is very clear: pitch your Lean Vision, preserving the order: Mission, Product, Value (Why? How? What?).Sell - eliminate the risk of people being polite to youDon't pitch to your friends.Don't pitch to your family.Don't pitch to strangers.People are very polite. Most will tell you that whatever you're pitching is great.Unless they are your customers.Choose the sales channel (Social Media, Advertising, Direct sales, etc.) that suits best to the product or service you offer.Try to make early sales even before you have everything built.You don't have to take money. Collecting contacts qualify equally well (taking into account potential conversion rates of course).Use your Lean Pitch while doing these sales. Remember, your goal is NOT to sell as many units as possible, but rather to check if there is a True Customer out there.Analysis - what if there is no tractionShort answer take a deep breath and try again.There can be different reasons why you have failed:Poor wording Wrong sales channel No need for value Incongruent mission Add your reason here... The good news is: you have saved your time and money.The odds to fail at a later stage are dramatically high if you failed at this one.If you haven't found a true customer, probably you'll build an MVP and you'll get some early traction from advertisement, but as soon as you stop advertising - no growth will appear and your established users will sooner or later vanish.There is a second good news: you are one step closer to success.Reiterate with your current idea by tweaking it here and there or try something new. Eventually, you'll find the one that has a great base of True Customers. The one worth investing your time and money.You can change every part of your Lean Vision, Lean Pitch or the Sales Channel. The only thing you can't touch is your Mission (the why). You can narrow down or widen the why, you can use different wording, but you can't change it while trying to adapt to the market. It's an intrinsic property of yourself. You can't fake it.The Market Fit is the holy grail of entrepreneurship. To consciously head to one, we have to understand that the foundation of the Market Fit is our True Customer.Without a True Customer onboard doing business is like rolling a boulder uphill. Eventually, it will fall back from a steep slope and you'll lose.If you believe the above makes sense, share it with ones who are about to start now.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-make-business-based-loyal-customers-achieve-market-daniel-leping/

[youdecode]

37+ Cool Things To Put On Desk [Exciting Office Desk Must-Haves 2021]

Workspace . . . Ah It is a space where you spend most of a day and that is why it should be the source of joy, happiness, and inspiration.

A goodwill space will not only keep energized but also more productive. That is why it is very important to replace all generic office supplies with inspires you and brings out the spark which sometimes gets missing.

Everyone deserves a desk that encourages them to work even harder which results in a fulfilled great day.

Great workspace is essential for me because it boosts the productivity which interns amplify self-confidence and self-belief to do something great in life.

If you have been following this blog then you might know that I talk all about self-belief.

Coming back to this blog post, I have compiled a few ideas for inspiration regarding some cool things to put on the desk.

Let’s make the inspiration come to you. Let’s dig in.

 Also Here Are Some Related Massively-Transformative Resources You Will Ever Need.

21 Things to do to be Productive 

17 Best Advice for New College Students

19 Will Power Strategies & Tips to recharge self discipline

PS : Don’t forget to grab the freebie at the end of post, specially crafted for you  !

1- Goal Digger Frame

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Other cool things to put on the desk are these cute signs, frames, and journals which shouts, “goal digger!”.

I have fallen in love with these cute motivational dosages.

2-String lights

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A post shared by Poorvi J (@through.my_eyes)

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One of the next cool things to put on the desk is the string light. Who says that you need to wait for the holidays in order to enjoy the magical atmosphere which fairy light creates?

If you like a dreamy outlook for the desk then grab a few from amazon to make your workspace comfier.

3-Task lamps

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A post shared by asha's studygram🤍 (@majestical.study)

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Never strain your eyes by relying on the laptop’s light in the late evening sessions. Rather grab good quality reliable task lamps to fill the need.

I have been guilty of using only bare minimum light sources. Trust me it has given nothing but high eye blood pressure and free uninvited medications. Get the task lamp of any finish you want (black and blonde are my personal favorite though).

You may prefer to match the overall aesthetics. I recommend the amazon task lamps as they offer adjustable height and a USB port.

Pro tip: you can combine both the task lamps and the string lights to make your desk appeal drastically lively.

4-Washi tapes!

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These cool things to put on the desk are my absolute favorite.

The use of washi tapes is not restricted to bullet journals or junk journals etc. You can own the assortment for comparing and organizing different studies or work documents. Get creative girl!

5- The desktop background

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Now next you need to own a desktop background that actually sets the scene.

I cannot stress enough the importance of owning a good background as it has the ability to transport you from one place to another.

Play with different backgrounds and see what resonates with your mood. You can take some really good inspiration from the picture above.

Get a world map, motivational frames, or photo strings. Different photos will make your desk look both bold and interesting.

The idea is to make your space as fresh as possible so that the work begins to excite you.

You can also hang in the photos of your achievement to maintain the stream of confidence going! Grab any motivation that could hit you directly.

6- Vision board

I am a huge fan of the law of attraction. I have been talking about it at large on this blog. We all practice the law of attraction anyway, the difference is that some are mindful while others are not.

If you believe that you attract what you constantly think of then I will highly suggest you to make a vision board as a background.

Paste the frames of your wants.

7- Laptop Stand

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There can be a probability that you get extremely tired sitting down and stretching your hands towards the laptop.

Sitting down and staring at the laptop screen from the same level can be a pain and that is why it is vital to improving your posture by investing in a decent laptop stand.

The laptop stand elevates the keyboard and promotes a better posture so that you can work and boost your productivity level.

With the laptop stand you will not feel much strained at the end of the day.

If you have been experiencing a pain in the neck then it is one of the signs to accessorize your desk with a laptop stand. Their awesome laptop stand is available on amazon.

8- Candle Light Holders

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When was the last time you accessorized your desk with the lighting? It truly gives off lovely vibes.

Grab some light my fire candle holders for not only lighting your room but also lifting your own mood.

Feel free to experiment and add spice with different desk candles.

9- Calendar

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Getting a beautiful compact calendar can help you keep track of the days and your productivity on your own.

One might argue that the calendar is present everywhere. Be it on your phone or laptop.

But you will not agree more that having a physical calendar in front of your eyes is very handy and useful to keep you organized no matter how many deadlines you have set on google calendar and other online digital platforms.

I myself am a fan of google calendar but having a physical calendar will make things even more convenient.

Plus girl, striking off things on the calendar gives you a sense of magical accomplishment doesn’t it?

So make your desk, even more, cuter and remain more productive by picking the best one available on the amazon.

10- Organizing set

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One of the next cool things to put on your desk is the desk organizing set.

Getting an organizing set is always a wise decision because it will keep your documents in one place without distorting the color coordination.

You can place your magazines, papers, and other mails into different slots while matching the entire look of your desk.

You do not have to go for a boring pick and choose only a black one because Amazon offers a great variety and range of options which you can choose from.

Even go for an acrylic organizer set where you can put all the necessities of your desk into neat compartments.

11- Himalayan salt lamp

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If you have not tried the Himalayan salt lamp then this is an absolute treat.

Get a super high-quality lamp from amazon. The lamps are not only incredibly beautiful but amazingly soothing.

The best part is that you can choose the intensity of light depending on your mood.

You might have already heard of the several healing benefits which the Himalayan salt offers. Include this piece of beauty to give your desk a unique overall look.

Get the authentic Himalayan lamp salt of the shape of your choice from amazon.

I am a fan of all these items which tend to calm our nerves and provide a peaceful serene environment.

12- Animal  stapler

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Have you been using the same stapler which you bought two-three years ago?

You can just add spice to your desk with cute little animal staplers from amazon.

This shape is personally loved because the shark symbolizes several things.

You can attack your goals the same way a this animal attacks its prey.

13- Cute Cat Pens

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Make note-taking a much more fun process by utilizing making use of cat pens.

You will likely want to write with them – the best recipe for turning boring note-taking into a fun-filled task.

 14- Reusable usable smart notebook

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If you are someone who learns better by scripting things out at the same time you eco-friendly methods that I will suggest you have a smart notebook.

Simply write retain and erase! Saving paper cannot be easier!

15- Blue light blocking glasses

 This accessory should be on your desk as you need to prevent your eyes from getting dry.

I myself experienced tiredness and dryness and thus I highly suggest this for maximum productivity.

Else you have to take breaks and pauses from your work which will affect your overall workflow.

16- EyeGlass holder

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We talked about eyeglasses and that gets naturally followed by a super cute eyeglass holder.

These are few inspirations available on amazon which can make your dress look extremely attractive while serving the purpose.

If you are more concerned with the aesthetic then you can choose the wooden case holder but I personally will suggest you go for a holder that has a furry interior so that your glasses remain protected from any potential scratch.

17- Desk foot hammock

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I am a huge fan of comfort when it comes to working and that is why I cannot stress more the importance of a foot hammock.

Create a more relaxing environment and workspace by placing the hammock underneath.

There are several of them available in a variety of designs that you are not compromising the aesthetics of the overall workspace.

18- Paper clips

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You can get fancy with paper clips to make your overall mood and desk aesthetic better. You can opt for the diy but if you do not have time then you can surely grab some cute ones available on amazon.

I personally think that paper clips are like hair clips the more you have the less. If talking about me then I tend to lose them very easily thus it has to be on the list!

19- Sticky notes

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Who said that gone are those days when people used to make use of sticky notes? Tired of getting the traditional sticky notes? Buy marble post notes they will even make your desk look classier!

Girl, no desk can be completed without a sticky note. Budgeting the sticky note you are in essence combining both the activity and creativity. Fill your day with inspiration by inking out this to-do list.

20- Wooden appeal

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If you love wood then this inspiration could not have gotten better. These cute wood stands amazingly organize your every accessory vital for your overall workflow.

You can place your headphones tablets and phones over a separate wooden corner. Brilliant isn’t it?

21- Productivity planner

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Have you gotten your productivity tender yet? If not then now is the time to include it in the list because it will not only motivate you but will also ensure timely completion of different milestones.

You will find several planners on amazon with different criteria some will come monthly or weekly planning grids.

While some will offer a more comprehensive grid of daily pages to optimize your workflow.

Including a productivity planner can be a game-changer especially if you have several things on your plate.

It will keep you focused and help you to get things done. Getting started with planners is a great way to prioritize different tasks.

Interestingly you will find different motivational quotes on the several planners that you remain motivated throughout the day and reflect.

It is also saving time to get motivation from other external sources! So get this trustworthy companion for a stress-free day.

Replace all your boring plain planners with something that excites you and makes your desk aesthetically better!

22- Time-Stamped Water bottle

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To ensure maximum productivity you need to take care of your health and drinking enough water tops the list.

I have read somewhere that by the time you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated! So won’t it be wise to manage your drinking schedule from the start?

Instead of just getting a normal water bottle get timestamps so that you can keep track of your hydration schedule.

If you have been taking an alternative approach and maintaining a bullet journal for water consumption then that is a different case. But if you aren’t practicing even that then I think a water bottle with timestamps is absolutely a must-have.

23- Ergonomic chair

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Check Price on Amazon

Apart from decorating a desk with cool things I personally believe that having a good comfortable desk chair is vital. They’re designed to deal with your pain points.

The best part about such chairs is that many times they own adjustable height and armrest. I think you should definitely go for the one which has a swivel base as it further reduces the strain.

You can also choose chairs that roll. Some like the rolling feature while others do not but it completely depends on your preference level but remember that a rolling chair will prevent the strain as you can easily move around and access the items which are hard to reach out for.

24- Cell phone stand

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Have you thought about a cell phone stand? You need to provide a separate space for your cell phone to boost productivity else it will rest on your lap the whole day and you will be doing nothing but scrolling the feed all day long!

25- Adjusting the tablet holder stand

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Coupled with a mobile phone cooler you also need to get an adjustable tablet holder stand.

You will not agree more that many tablets are a bit too big to be held when you work. Of course, you have the option to lay them flat but this will only give you a poor back posture and headache.

Thus you can address this issue by getting a quality tablet holder stand from amazon. You can get the one with a minimalistic design and as a bonus, it declutters your desk.

26- Monitor riser

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If you truly want to bring your whole workspace into a cohesive whole then it is advisable to get a monitor riser. A good monitor riser will offer you different slots to keep all different supplies organized like your phones and mugs.

The assembling process is not at all hard. Getting a monitor riser is truly a treat for those who own slick desks.

27- Extended mouse pad

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Another cool thing to put on your device is an extended mouse pad.

It can get truly irritating to be unable to handle the reach of a mouse. If you want to be in control of how much you can scroll then I will highly advise you to invest in a well-extended mouse pad. It will also reduce the wrist strain, stabilize the keyboard, and ensure that your arms are in a proper position.

28- Adjustable desk organizer

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Getting your good adjustable desk organizer means getting all the inspirational books on your eye level so that they are actually of any avail. It is a fact that what appears in front of eyes tends to get attention.

If you have any books which are covered in dust and sitting idly at the corner of any shelf then I will advise you to get a good adjustable desk organizer.

As not only you will expand your knowledge but also boost productivity level.

29- Book

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Apart from having an organizer, you should also have a couple of engaging books that should motivate you and keep you going.

Compile a collection of interesting books from your favorite authors so that whenever you feel bored or tired you can dig into such a hobby.

I will highly suggest you keep these books closer to your desk so that you can actually utilize them in isolation.

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These books will be your best friends especially during your short breaks and guess what?

Drifting your mind away from work and digging it into any book will refresh you which in turn multiply your productivity level.

I am guessing that you already own a bookshelf . . . why not grab a few from it and organize it right in front of the desk? Try this super helpful tip which I myself use.

30- Seat cushion

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Apart from giving great life lessons, quarantine has taught us how to effectively work remotely. Now setting 8 hours straight is not an easy task and you can develop pain.

So invest in a cute best gel seat cushion for amplifying your productivity.

31- Armrest pad

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You can also grab armrest pads so that you could not bruise your elbows. Grab these from Amazon as they are super soft and it will work very well in making workflow comfortable.

32- Plants

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 We touched upon the peaceful vibes that lamp tends to give.

Similar is the case with plants they surely render a welcoming feel.

Girl, there are several studies that already show how plants boost productivity if kept near a workstation. Isn’t it a treat? Like you get to avail both the aesthetic and productivity benefits.

I would advise you to opt for a plant that would require minimal caring because after all, you are just seeking aesthetic pleasures and productivity benefits.

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Go for small succulent or live plants. But even if they seem hard to manage then you can also get any synthetic plant to maintain the vibes.

These plants are recommended so that you can offer greenery to your space without actually committing constant attention.

You can go for haworthia succulent as you have to water them once a week.

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Fill your space with super cute and incredibly soothing plants.

If succulents are not your preference then you can always go for forex cacti. These plants are extremely detailed and so beautiful that it’s hard to distinguish them from the real ones.

 33- Body-Posture Correcting Belt

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When it comes to working correctly body posture plays a huge role in overall productivity and that is why I recommend you to have a body belt posture. Never experience that upper and lower body pain throughout the day again. This tool will help you girls to maintain your focus and mitigate any pain you experience.

34- Heating pad

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You can also grab a heating pad to maintain a comfortable workflow.

35- Temperature control travel mug

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One of the cool things which you can add to your desk is the travel mug.

Who says that you have to confine the use of these travel mugs to travel expeditions? Keep yourself fresh with coffee or other fluids throughout the day with temperature control mugs.

Plus the mug looks extremely cute especially when it matches the aesthetic or color scheme of your desk.

36- Headphones

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If you are like me then you would want to kill any sort of distractions. Sometimes I become so sensitive to noise that even a clock tick irritates me!

I know . . .extreme. Boost work productivity by grabbing noise cancellation headphones.

Noise cancellation earphones promise to get you in the work zone. If you are struggling with procrastination then try the headphones for hushing any unwanted sound!

Moreover, they look awesome, sleek, and classy when resting over a headphone stand on your desk.

Ready to make your life more organized?!

 37- Spinning desk caddy

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