#It's nice to have a predictable foundation to rely on but just for me personally i think its also now holding me back from experimenting an

[peppermint-moss]

12 for the ask game :D

12. describe your process while drawing

for more straightforward stuff it goes: sketch -> lineart -> colour -> colour lineart -> backgrounds -> shading -> effects/finishing touches (somewhere within there might be some backtracking/jumpin around/going searching for inspo/references etc)

more complicated stuff: sketches/planning (usually traditionally in my sketchbook) -> digital sketch/gather inspiration images/references -> lineart, colour etc. .... redo lineart.... dislike and fiddle with colours... etc fajdkslh

ask game questions here

[ausetkmt]

It is unpleasant to be around people who are selfish, mean, and cynical, especially when they take advantage of you. When these personality traits reach extremes, they can become manifest in a personality disorder, creating a lifelong pattern of maladaptive behavior and strained relationships with others. The psychiatric diagnosis of personality disorders in the DSM-5-TR classifies personality disorders into distinct categories, but the so-called “alternative model” of personality disorders instead relies on a set of continuous rating criteria on the seven traits of attention-seeking, callousness, deceitfulness, grandiosity, hostility, manipulativeness, and suspiciousness.

According to University of Koblenz-Landau’s David Scholz and colleagues (2022), it's possible that all of these traits reflect the quality of “antagonism,” or being "at odds" with everyone else. Traditionally seen as low "agreeableness," the German authors suggest that antagonism in the pathological sense is much more than just being a "not-nice" person. Their model proposes a 4-part approach to understanding the psychological makeup of a person whose high levels of antagonism make them ideal candidates for a personality disorder diagnosis.

Unpacking Antagonism’s A’s, B’s, C’s and D’s

Antagonism’s four parts, as the German authors suggest, fit into an A-B-C-D, which they elaborate on as follows:

A: Affect

People low on agreeableness as defined in the Five-Factor Model of personality tend to have little empathy or concern for other people. However, their inner feelings may not translate into actions. They might sneer internally but keep their disdain for others to themselves.

B: Behavior

Things get more interesting when you add the "B" or behavior to the equation. Now, this disdainful person turns that cold-heartedness into actions that can ruin someone else's life. The highly antagonistic person, in seeking to manipulate and destroy others, uses any and all tools at their disposal, from lying even to physical harm.

C: Cognition

The German team next proposes that pathologically antagonistic people have a distorted view of humanity built on a foundation of suspiciousness and paranoia, a perspective that falls into the category of "social" cognition, or ways to think about other people. They might even look at your attempts to help them solve a problem as just a way for you to show how much smarter you are.

D. Dark

In testing their theoretical model of antagonism, Scholz et al. transform "D", or the "dark" personality trait, into a quality that may supersede A, B, and C. Perhaps all of those seven personality disorder traits are just manifestations of D, they suggest, which itself is a more inclusive factor than even all of the other three put together. As the authors propose, "D is conceptualized as the underlying disposition from which all aversive traits arise as specific, flavored manifestations."

Testing the New Approach to Antagonism

After laying out their theoretical model, the German research team then went on to test its fit to the data based on questionnaires of each of its components that they administered to a sample of 3,400 adults ranging from 18 to 74 tested two times, about one month apart. Scores on measures of A, B, C, and D were used to predict those seven DSM-based personality traits to see which combination of measures would have the greatest statistical weight.

What Is Personality?

Find a therapist near me

Here are sample items from each of the seven scales used in the prediction formula:

Callousness- “I don’t care about other people’s problems.”

Hostility- “I have a very short temper.”

Manipulativeness- “Sweet-talking others helps me get what I want.”

Deceitfulness- “I’ll stretch the truth if it’s to my advantage.”

Attention seeking- “I like to draw attention to myself.”

Grandiosity- “I’m better than almost everyone else.”

Suspiciousness- “Plenty of people are out to get me.”

Turning to the findings, the study's predictions were upheld. Scores at the first test on the separate measures of A, B, C, predicted the seven DSM-5-TR traits, but D alone went above and beyond these individual components in the statistical modeling equation. As the authors concluded, antagonistic people aren't just low on agreeableness, they have their own unique blend of affect, behavior, and cognition along with high levels of pure aversiveness. Indeed, it was D itself that “offered the most balanced representation of the seven antagonistic traits under scrutiny” (p. 966).

Personality Essential Reads

The Take-Home Message

As you were reading through the description of the seven DSM-5-TR traits, perhaps you thought about the qualities of someone you know who would come out high on each one. Even if you’re lucky enough not to have a person like this in your life, you can surely think of a fictional character or a notorious criminal highlighted in a reality show or docudrama that fits the bill. In so doing, it may be hard for you to separate the person’s affect from their actions or even their distorted view of the world. Indeed, the German findings suggest this holistic interpretation is warranted.

Some of these distinctions from the study itself may seem overly nuanced to you and best reserved for personality psychologists or clinicians. However, the value in understanding pathological antagonism as a multifaceted component is that it can give you greater ammunition the next time you’re trying to avoid being drawn in by a pathologically antagonistic person. Be on the watch not only for the short fuse of high hostility, but also the bending of the truth (deceitfulness) and lack of trust (suspiciousness) that are just as dangerous.

To sum up, when antagonism reaches pathological levels, it’s a quality you want to steer clear of in the people you interact with. By knowing what to look for, you’ll be better able to find fulfillment with the people whose trust is well-deserved.

[palbabor-writes]

Headcanons for the type of ppl who would attract or be of interest to Satoru Gojo and Kento Nanami???? WHATS THEIR (personality) TYPE

ooh, yes. there’s so much to love about these two & i like analyzing them from a personality standpoint

warnings: none really, i tried not to spoil too much since the anime is just getting going

Gojo

I see him as someone who’d be attracted to those who are self-assured

That doestn’t mean you need to be brash, or outgoing, not that you can’t be those things, but we do see that he’s often very attuned & drawn to others who are a little quieter in their mannerisms in the manga: Getō, Megumi, Nanami. However, he also really likes being around louder characters like Yuji. So, I think as long as you give off an air of confidence and reliance, he’s gonna respect that

He’s also gonna look for that in a partner - gotta have some kinda foundation for him to notice & I think having an inner spark, or even a separate passion, is a great start

With that being said, I could see him having a difficult time being with someone who is not a jujutsu sorcerer

Namely because his own life is constantly on the line & he’s often away or busy with his own work

Chances are, curses are gonna know that you’re a weak spot & we’ve seen how manipulative and downright dirty some of them can get to achieve their goals

He’s likely not looking for a partner that he has to keep an eye on all the time

In fact, I can see that getting old, fast

Plus, he’s canonically stated that he doesn’t like those who are weak

So, sorry if you’re in the normie crowd

With a sorcerer, obviously you’re gonna be lesser than him, talent wise, but I think he’d also like to see growth and effort from you

I don’t see him being attracted to someone who settles

So even if you’re doing a sparing match and he’s completely got you on the back foot, don’t stop getting back up

I can totally see that piquing his interest because it shows that inner spark & if he’s gonna take down the higherup’s he needs people with that forward thinking determination

We’ve also seen that he likes people that push back: see - Getō

So, I don’t think he’d be bothered if the two of you have different opinions

However, he’s gonna want you to be able to hold your own in a debate

Speak your mind

Don’t just go along to get along

I do think he likes people that can keep him on his toes

He wouldn’t mind if you were someone who’s spontaneous

Just one day you’re like: Hey! We’re gonna do this! Come on! & refuse to take no for an answer

I think that’s a good way to keep his interest & keep things fresh

He likes the non-traditional things: so don’t think dinner dates, he’s fucking gonna take you along on this wild mission, or hey, found out there’s this cursed carnival, let’s GO

If he likes for you to be cuff of the moment, then you need to be able to put up with his own bursts of spontaneity, too - you have to at least tolerate his antics

However, don’t be clingy - we haven’t seen him dealing much with others like that & he’s been around independent people for most of his life

You need to be confident enough to be able do your own thing

He’s a busy guy: he can’t be on the phone with you all the time

But, I think he would like to be thought of

Let him know that there’s a spot for him in your life

By that I mean, even though you’re busy and have your own missions, you still might see something and pick it up for him

People expect soooo much from him & he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders

So for you to just say: Oh, found this & know you like it! Here you go!

Be it candy, flowers, whatever - I think he’ll be so fucking touched by that

I can see him returning that favor to you - he likes to bring souvenirs back to those he cares about

It’s nice to know that you’re loved, even if your schedules don’t allow you much time together

Nanami

I think what’s going to catch his eye is someone who encapsulates a mature and rational state of mind

Practicality and effort are gonna speak volumes, especially in the beginning

We’ve seen how he reacts to those who are over the top (cough: Gojo) and it’s not in a very positive way

Now, if you’re someone who is on the exuberant side, don’t give up hope!

Similiarly to Gojo, I think he can learn to accept and respect those outbursts, we’ve seen this from him, especially with Yuji or his partner Haibara

He has been shown to like bright and energetic people, but it’ll take a little more time to crack into his trust

If you’re more excitable you might face a more uphill battle, but if you want him, and honestly who wouldn’t, you just need to show him that you can be relied upon

Once you’ve cleared that, I can even see him liking that his partner has a different world view and a little bit more pep in their step

After all, I think he places a very high value on independence

He’s not gonna be the partner who immediately wants to move in with you, no matter how long, or how much he cares for you

No, he strikes me as the sort of guy who likes to know that he can lean on you & can go to you when he needs to, but he’s likely going to be very protective of his own space, and yours as well

Unlike Gojo, I do see Nanami being interested in a civilian and not just a sorcerer

He’s so big on comfort and just being able to kick back, he mentions that often when he’s discussing his future retirement and if you’re a laid back person, and not someone fully entrenched in the sorcerer world, I can totally see him looking twice at that

I think he’d like the normaliacy

After all, he’s one of the few sorcerers who have been in the “real world,” even though he was bored with his office job, I think there are still parts of that life that he values - hence why he dresses like a business boy

I feel like he’d like someone who can talk about low key things

It might seem like a simple conversation but I think he’d love chatting about the freaking news, or that new shop that just opened

OMG

Wait, WAIT

You immediately pass GO & collect the full $200 if you’re a baker & you snag his attentions

Like, dropping everything and haunting your bakery every free moment he has until you notice him

Yo. He is a foodie

If you’re a chill person who likes to restaurant hop, damn, you’re ticking boxes bb

OK. SORRY. Had to get that off my chest. BACK AT IT

He’s a cynical, realist - so I think he’d like to see someone who is encouraging and optimistic

If you’re easy going and can see the glass half-full, it’s likely a win-win for Nanami

His schedule varies, even when he tries to get off at 6 on the dot

So if he has to bail on plans, or things get moved, you need to be someone who’s understanding & can roll with the punches

But he’d also want someone who can set a routine and who plans things out

He’s big on rules and, let’s face it, he’s surrounded by incompetence

If you’re reliable and predictable, I feel that he’d really like that combination

It means he can let his guard down around you & for a jujutsu sorcerer that is HUGE

Again, don’t expect normal dates: I don’t see him being big on PDA, or the: let’s get a table for two with the candles bs

I’d see him really like making a meal with you, even if he’s tired

Restaurant dates would be fine, but I could see it being a more relaxed kinda thing: like two people who are hashing out the days gossip, not these long, drawn out, lovey topics

You’d likely look more like friends, than lovers

He is focused on money

So while he may not take you to cheap places, he strikes me as a bit of a penny pincher

Don’t expect hella fine dining every night of the week - as long as it’s got interesting food, he’s not gonna care much about the rest

He strikes me as an acts of service kinda guy

So anything you can do to help, be it big or small, I think he’ll appreciate you thinking of him

He’s a busy guy and it’s nice to have even the tiny things taken off of his list

Besides, the less he has to do, the more time you get to spend with each other

[i-love-you-all]

Brimstone has thoughts that he doesn’t control...

~1.4k words, mild violence, memories, hurt, implied death. (anything else? pm me and i’ll add them here.) Rough draft here, will edit then make a series on Ao3

What makes a friend a best friend?

Brimstone then didn’t know the answer, that much was for certain.

When he was young, it was all about who had the guts to go against him in a game of soccer, football, or hockey. The ones who competed, who played to win, who smiled as easily as he did in a world that did its best to push you down were his friends. But still, one by one, they lost their connection to him. Some moved away, others turned arrogant, and others still just turned on him. Were they even friends?

As he got older, he realized just how little he understood about relationships past the professional ones made between peers. Even when he joined the military at eighteen, he had trouble identifying friend from rival, and rival from enemy. Friendships were shallow and they didn’t give Brimstone any feeling of connection or deep trust.

That all changed the day he got assigned to clean the gun closet with Kay.

Up to this point, he had never met someone with a more innately friendly disposition than that man. And despite his aloof façade, Brimstone was readily accepted by Kay as a friend.

“Why are you so… friendly,” Brimstone asked him one day, feet hanging off the roof of the barracks. They snuck up here on nights where Brimstone couldn’t sleep.

“I used to have these long conversations with my grandpa.” Kay was staring off into the night sky, not really watching Brimstone who was studying him like he would get them out of drills the next day. “His philosophy in life was just… If you’re not sure, start off nice. Things were way more likely to go your way. And that no matter what judgements they made about me before speaking a word, a well said compliment could wash it all away.”

Brimstone nodded his head. “I think I was actually told the opposite. Don’t trust anyone unless they profit off your success.”

“Kind of a sadder way to live.”

Brimstone shrugged. “Helped me out in the end.”

Eventually, Brimstone found himself trusting and relying on Kay as he would on his sister or his father. He would gladly admit that it was easier that way, and through Kay’s eyes and actions, he could agree with him on the fact that having friends was much easier than toughing it out on your own. A day eventually came when he realized that Kay was basically his family at that point.

People said that he smiled more often those days. And that it was a start reminder of what went wrong when it stopped.

The war was something that no one saw coming. How could anyone have predicted that one day, a substance would arrive on earth that gave people actual superpowers? Just like that, he found himself on a precarious battlefield. They knew that they were just men. He and Kay were pinned down on the top floor of an office building, and their escape options were… deadly to put it lightly. One, they could try to take the stairs to the bottom floor, but with the building already on damaged foundations and leaned over, ready to topple any moment, Brimstone wasn’t sure if that was even an option. Still, it was better than option two: rappelling down the side of the building amidst a firefight. If even one person looked up at them, they’d be dead.

“End of the line for us.”

He didn’t even get a response. Well, not one in words. The room shook as something exploded behind them.

When he regained his vision and finally looked at his surroundings, he had another choice in front of him. On one side, a masked figure in a hoodie and sweats was literally glowing green as trails of smoke drifted from his fingers. The smell of dust and rubble filled his nostrils and Brim just knew that this was the one who caused all this damage. Had he been alone, had he never met Kay, this would’ve been simple… but…

Kay looked half conscious; his fingers dug into the cement floor blood dripping from the various scrapes he had suffered from the explosion. And Brimstone felt his heart skip a beat.

Deal with the radiant first.

That was the first thought. It wouldn’t matter if Brim could even get to Kay in time if the radiant was still there. He took a few shots at his target, only one hitting, before rolling behind cover. He almost felt the need to slap his hands over his ears when he heard the scream of fury come from the mystery person. Inhuman. That’s what the noise was.

He couldn’t stay on his feet though as another shockwave shook the unstable floor, and he heard cracking coming as well as the pained grunts of his best friend hanging on for his life. It only took a split second for Brimstone to locate then lunge at the radiant, knocking them off their feet. As he aimed to take a shot with his pistol though, the radiant quickly regained their bearings and hit the gun out of his hands. With superhuman strength, he was shoved to the side as another shockwave rolled out from the radiant… then another. The dark red liquid dripping down their side showed their weakness, but Brim was too unsteady to make it any worse.

And Kay…

The radiant fled, parkouring down the ruined buildings with no fear. With the threat gone, he rushed over to Kay, who was barely hanging onto one of the metal supports that was now exposed.

“Hold onto me,” Brimstone called out, trying to reach out to his friend. The hazel eyes looked back at him with so much fear that… that for a moment, Brim truly thought that this attempt was hopeless.

Not that it mattered when he reached down to grab ahold of that same beam and started trying to pull Kay up – at least so that he could pull himself up the rest of the way.

“Not enough,” Kay managed to say, after a failed attempt at grabbing something sturdier to hold onto. “You gotta go. This building isn’t gonna–”

They were cut off as the top of the building – their floor – creaked and groaned as it tilted further.

“No… No not like this.” Brimstone, once again, reached out for him. “Grab onto me.”

Had he been thinking clearer, which he had ample time to do in the decade since the incident, he would’ve come to the same conclusion to as Kay. It didn’t matter. If Kay grabbed onto Brimstone, he wasn’t strong enough at that moment to pull him up. It’d be more likely that they both tumbled over. If he didn’t tumble over due to the weight, one more shift in the building would’ve done it too. And should the impossible happen and he lift Kay up… well, they would both need to get to the ground floor, and Kay, who was already injured, had new gashes on his leg and side from his slide to the edge.

“You have to let go.” It didn’t make sense at the time. Because it wasn’t him holding the metal bar, but in hindsight, Kay was telling him in advance to move on.

“Brimstone!” A large pair of hands was wrapped around him and pulling him away from the cliff’s edge. He looked back into the one brown, one blue eye of Sova, who had his arms wrapped around him and was straining to keep him topside. He was holding onto – not Kay – but Kay/O.

“You have to let go,” the robot was saying in that vaguely familiar voice.  “I’m just a machine. I can be rebuilt.”

“Let… go, Brimstone,” Sova said again, heels digging into the dirt. Kay/O wasn’t even holding onto Brimstone – it was the other way around.

“Remember to rebuild me,” Kay/O said, more directed at Sova than Brimstone. “You leave me for scrap, I’ll kill you.”

Sova chuckled and gave one last heave backwards. Brimstone let go of the machine and watched him fall.

“Are you ok, Brimstone? You lost focus,” Sova immediately started checking in with him.

Any other day and he would maybe tell this younger man about the dangers of making friends in the midst of a battle.

Today, he said, “I’m fine.”

[prompt-master]

Prom gimme your thoughts on tbhk

Favorite characters? Characters you hate? What d'you think of the plot so far? The art style? Sh i p s??

Yeahhh I would love to talk about it!

1. Definitely Hanako is my favorite, for pretty much every reason you'd expect. Hes mysterious, mischevious, morally grey, fun, adorable, and one of my favorite tropes is characters that care a lot but don't really show it normally.

But the trio in general is also a lot of fun.

2. I don't think i have any characters that I hate! It's pretty hard for me to hate a character, thats usually reserved for characters that outright hurt the foundation of the story

3. I love the plot so far! It completely sucked me in. I don't know what I was really expecting since I went in blind, but knowing about the hanako-san legend I was only really expecting a yokai/ghost hunting or horror anime. I was really surprised at how lighthearted it could be and I loved that because it was cute, fun, and then the darker moments hit much harder as a result.

I wasn't a...MAJOR fan of the shrine maiden/no6/sumire arc? I like what they were attempting, but I wish there was more build up for Aoi's character exploration. I also personally disliked the part where Akane chokes her, and then it ends with then being romantic again.

My only other complaint is that Yashiro is a bit TOO much of a damsel for my tastes, and it got a bit predictable even if I loved the scenes where Hanako shows his protective side for her. I get that theres an underlying theme of her being treated like a princess, but even just a little more bite would be nice. I mean even rn when she literally can't rely on Hanako to save her, we have Kou saving her

Regardless the manga did make me tear up multiple times, it was an absolute joy to read

4. The art style is what piqued my curiousty (along with thr character design). I love it every thing about it especially the colors. And I love how you can really tell the characters are 14/15 with how big their eyes are in comparison to the third year characters, often anime makes the first years look much older.

5. I'm obviously new to this fandom since Im finishes indulging today, so I don't know the ship names but hanaka/yashiro and kou/mitsuba. At the beginning I felt a bit of an ot3 vibe with the main trio but as mitsuba was inttlroduced that fell away quickly

[wellhalesbells]

as i no longer sleep (apparently), let’s do this awesome thing @yodas-yo-yo tagged me on!!  thank you!!

Rules: Tag 9 people who you want to know better/catch up with and then answer these questions.

3 SHIPS

i’m going with not necessarily my all-time favorite ships but the ones i’ve been reading like crazy lately

stiles and derek, as i’m sure we’re all well aware.  those’re my boys.  the dynamic they have just cannot be beat; it’s all shades of gray and built rather than plopped down without foundation.  derek, who has been betrayed and abandoned and is neglected at every turn by every other character in this universe, and stiles, who - importantly - doesn’t have pity for him but pragmatism: ‘you’re a useful dude, and so i am going to use you regardless of how everyone else would just like to write you off.’  it’s not an immediate, ‘ah, you’re perfect for each other,’ moment, it’s kind of a, ‘shit, dude, that is not a guy you should use because he’s suffered that too many times already and this is bad.’  but only through that does it become less about using derek and more about relying on each other, trusting each other’s judgments, and being the first call rather than the last.  i’m so emotionally tied to it because it’s freaking earned and no one is... pure.  stiles’ motives aren’t pure, derek’s actions aren’t pure, no one is a one-dimensional hero who can abide by a concept as infantile as good vs evil, they’re more real because of it and i’m more attached to them because of it.

okay, weirdly, lately..... clark and lex (and after i was just talking about one-dimensional good vs evil characters, lol), preferably with the smallville backstory of once being besties.  it’s just like the best of the best when it comes to tropes that do it for me.  they’re baked in and, unless it’s an au, unavoidable.  epic pining, best friends turned enemies turned lovers (or some variation thereof), a betrayed character (love when that’s lex and it’s post-belle reve), a morally gray manipulative genius who if they are depicted as not having ulterior motives is considered WILDLY out of character, a fucking canonical son made from both their dna, parallel universes in canon, not to mention there’s sex pollen in canon as well with red kryptonite in the mix.  (there’s nothing better than fics where clark is dosed so he’ll finally kill lex luthor only to fuck him practically down to his soul instead.)  i never even finished smallville and while i was always a fan of the ship, it was sort of more of a ‘ships in the night’ kind of ship, like: oh yeah, i know you *waves as you cross my dash* and nothing more.  then i read (and read and re-read and read some more) reconcilable differences and.... there is not enough fic for them out there, friends.  there just isn’t, and i’m sad.

merlin and arthur from bbc merlin.  again, i really like what’s often baked into this pairing: a scenario that comes up with some regularity is a betrayed or banished!merlin and arthur realizing too late what merlin means to him and having to go after him and prove himself.  i live for that shit, okay?  i live for the character who seemingly has everything realizing they have nothing without this other person (especially if said person is often mistreated or sidelined in canon - thank you, fix-it fanon!!!!).  i never was big into merlin fanfic UNTIL ao3 came up with the ‘exclude’ part of the search function.  i don’t want modern merlin pretty much ever and somehow that fandom is about 50% modern aus????  so i never read fic for it because it was so hard to find what i was looking for.  literally the day i saw the exclude option, i started reading merthur fanfic.  i wish there were more percival/merlin fics (i am SO FUCKING INTO size difference lately and i do noooot have a pair that i LOVE that has that, some that i casually read like jaskier/geralt but none that i can’t live without yet and i NEED IT), especially ones featuring a jealous arthur that endgames into merthur but that’s, er, a bit specific?  haha, and i have less than zero desire to write for either this fandom or the one above it sadly.

LAST SONG I LISTENED TO

clairo - sofia, i love how hard my radio station is fangirling over clairo, she has such a nostalgia-inducing sound for me.

CURRENTLY WATCHING

okay, well, i actually just finished the shows i was watching: prodigal son, which was like a less avant garde, less horny, less gay, less people-eating version of hannibal.  instead of a guy who was too unstable to qualify to be an actual fbi agent and who has a loose relationship with reality and mental health, and maybe also a darker side, and a cannibal who definitely does, both of whom badly want to bang each other, it’s a serial killer father who has a darker side and a guy who was fired from the fbi for being too unstable, who maybe has one of his own, in addition to a loose relationship with reality and mental health.  i mostly enjoyed it.  i really liked the actors, the morbid and understated humor was hilarious (seriously, some of those one liners, both the delivery by the actors and the offhandedness inherent to them were just perfection), but.... they fridged the love interest (very VERY predictably) and they’re clearly shoving together the only unattached (”normal”) vagina and penis on the show because HETERONORMATIVITY!!!!!  (i expect more of you, greg berlanti, tsk.)  i’m hoping for more edrisa in the future because she is a fucking GEM (and it’s just SO NICE to see lane on my screen again!!!!), more jessica who might have the best sense of self and humor in the whole dang show, more michael sheen (because i just love the man in anything and everything), and about that finale (even though i saw it coming WELL in advance) i’ll just say: AINSLEY, MY GIRLLLLLLLL!!!!

the other i finished was the crown, season four.  this show never really wows me tbh.  i watch it mostly for a) the performances and b) my mom and dad, who love it immensely and love to talk about it with me.  if not for them i could easily zone out for an entire episode without even realizing it, with all the quietness and sweeping landscape shots, there’s just nothing grabby in there for me.  it’s very uppercrust british, y’know?  haha.  where a comment about your lilac drapes is really a dig about how you’re bringing down the entire commonwealth, which i love to read but watching?  it doesn’t really pull me in.  the high point of this season for me was gillian anderson’s portrayal of margaret thatcher, just the way she would contort her face was amazing to me, and the episode with fagan because hey, i totally knew about that already (which never happens, lol) and i love that actor from preacher and it was just really well-written and acted.  but, overall, pretty much i spent the whole season wanting a violent and bloody and embarrassing death to befall charles, that entitled and cruel little piss-ant, while knowing it wasn’t going to happen.  it’s one of those shows i watch where i’m glad i watched it, but i won’t remember any details about it in a week’s time.

and as for what i soon will be currently watching: i’m starting the great tomorrow!

okay, tagging: @livthelion, @ohlookagaydraco, @grimmypuff, @clotpolesonly, @midnightisquiet, @urban-barbarian, @callunavulgari, @hrast-ika and @i-sveikata!!

[p1harmonyofficial]

[📰] Interview: P1Harmony Want to Speak their Truth

One day, a mysterious virus appears. It seeps through every crack on Earth, swift and uncontrollable, infecting millions of people. Soon enough, a global pandemic sets in and the worst facets of humanity flourish—wrath, viciousness, extermination.

To a person living in 2020, this paragraph is nothing extraordinary. We have now become used to a daily, dim diet of updates about the COVID-19 outbreak wreaking havoc in the world. But last year, when everyone was still blissfully unaware, the six members of soon-to-be P1Harmony (P1H) were recording their ambitious full-length movie, centered around this same theme. “People might think that we predicted the future or something, but it was a very weird coincidence for us as well,” says Keeho, the Korean-Canadian leader of the group. “We made a movie about a virus and, sadly, this situation happened.”

P1H: A New World Begins hit Korean cinemas on October 8, and is the first-ever feature film to revolve around a K-pop group’s universe. In it, P1Harmony plays extraordinary versions of themselves that are the world’s only hope against the devastating Alcor virus. With cameos by Yoo Jae-seok, Jung Hae-in, Jung Jin-young, CNBlue’s Yonghwa, AOA’s Seolhyun, and more, the movie is a compelling introduction to FNC Entertainment’s newest boy group.

Twenty days after the movie premiere, P1Harmony finally made their official debut with the brassy, powerful “Siren,” off the EP Disharmony: Stand Out. And now, a few weeks into their busy schedules, they are sitting in a conference room to talk to Seoulbeats over Skype. It’s past 11pm in Seoul and they are still in their Show Champion outfits, but the energy in the room is unrelenting. After training for a whole year together, Keeho says that their debut “feels just like a dream.” The most talkative members—Jiung, Intak, and Keeho—take the front row, while Jongseob, Theo, and Soul sit behind them, following along with observant eyes and keen remarks. 

“The connection between the movie and our album is the virus,” explains the lavender-haired maknae Jongseob. Despite recently turning 15, he speaks with the wisdom of a seasoned idol — in 2017, he won the competition show K-pop Star 6, and in 2018 he endured YG’s survival show Treasure Box. “In the movie, the virus is a metaphor to show that the world is in a disconnected state, so we got together to bring peace to this world. The six of us are here to stand up for what we feel it’s right and speak our truth,” he adds. 

Differently from the SARS-CoV-2, the Alcor virus from A New World Begins is spread by drones who detect human voices. It’s a pandemic of silence — a parallel to feeling impotent against dominant structures — and to survive, you have to keep your mouth shut. That’s why speaking up is so important to P1Harmony. “Because we are teenagers, we tried to portray the things that people our age go through and inspire them to do what they want, regardless of what others are saying or thinking,” explains Keeho, his articulate words complemented by wide hand gestures.

In these moments, it’s easy to see why Keeho was chosen as the leader: he knows when to take the reins, but is also encouraging towards the other members, helping in translations and making sure everyone has the space to talk. At 19, he is part of P1Harmony’s hyung line along Theo and Jiung, but he affirms that age difference is never an issue. “We just talk to each other as friends, we rely on each other a lot, communicate a lot, give feedback. I don’t feel much pressure [being a leader] anymore because I know I can trust my members to do their best,” he says.

Rapper and dancer Soul, who is half-Korean but was born in Japan, is a testament to Keeho’s words. The members call him a “viber” — a word they invented to express Soul’s easygoing nature — but he affirms that adapting to the group as a foreigner was “not difficult at all.” Rather, the five other members of P1Harmony could be described as “vibers” themselves, gliding along the waves of an unprecedented year and trying to enjoy the present moment.

But knowing how to vibe doesn’t mean it’s all roses. Theo, a passionate vocalist who was sure he wanted to be a singer since childhood, reflects that “it’s a bit unfortunate that we couldn’t perform in front of our fans in person yet,” and Intak, Soul, and Jongseob, who still go to school, acknowledge the difficulty of working long hours. “For music programs, we do pre-recordings during early mornings and then go to classes after. It’s hard, but we try to balance as much as we can,” reveals Intak in his characteristic liveliness. “Your thoughts define who you are,” he continues. “Despite the negatives and hardships, I try to be optimistic, control my mind, and bring out good vibes as much as I can.”

This spirit is reflected throughout Disharmony: Stand Out. A collection of powerful hip hop sounds and echoes of old-school K-pop, it also features lyrics written or co-written by the members in all tracks. “We wrote a lot as trainees, but because we were writing for our album this time, me and Jongseob just tried to enjoy the process. We talked a lot about keywords, about what we should write, and the experience was really fun and satisfying,” says Intak.

“We wanted to emphasize our personal traits,” further explains Jiung. A versatile singer, rapper, and dancer, he also revealed a talent for comedy when asked about his hidden skills. “I’m great at cycling. I was so great that I almost entered a professional competition when I was in school. Thanks to that, I have really nice, strong, thick thighs.” Keeho confirms, saying that Jiung’s thighs are, indeed, “very thick.” Needless to say, the room cracks up in laughter, while Jongseob covers his face in disbelief.

It takes a good minute until everyone fully recovers, but this irreverence is part of the group’s solid foundations. By showing their own colors and standing up for their message, whether it’s hilarious anecdotes, breaking stereotypes in “Intro; Breakthrough,” or enjoying what you can’t avoid in “Nemonade,” P1Harmony is set for a bright future.

A New World Begins has an open ending that suggests the possibility of a sequel. “There’s nothing officially set in stone, but maybe there’s some thoughts about it. Maybe!” says Keeho, but he does confirm that a second album is in the works right now—cue in Jiung’s “ta-dahhhhhh!” and a round of applause by the other members. “Hold on! We have never told anyone about this before,” he realizes. “We cannot tell you when it will come out, but we can say that we are working hard on it, and it’s something you guys should keep an eye out for.”

[bevvydraws]

This is going to be my feelings/opinions towards all of the main characters in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. This is directly related to my interpretation of events in the series! If you disagree with my thoughts/feelings that’s totally cool but this isn’t meant to be a debate! 

A lot has been going on right now and I don’t have the energy to do much digital art right now, so I figured I’d just open up a little more about one of my favorite series! Maybe I’ll do my opinions on characters for the other games next. 

** This post will contain information that will spoil the series for you, so continue at your own risk**

Makoto Naegi:

Honestly I really like Makoto. He is really average but honestly I think that’s what makes him so appealing. Not only that, but he comes off with a type of charisma that only “average” people can pull off. He has a base knowledge on a variety of subjects that allows him to talk to the other students. That and I find the concept of his “luck” very interesting. Also, side note, but that sprite of him focusing with his finger under his chin is probably one of my most favorite DR sprites ever. It’s just so cute! (I might redraw it someday hehe) 

10/10 

Aoi Asahina: 

While I adore Hina, I really wish that they would have made her more than just a ditzy character who was obsessed with donuts in this game. I loved her energy though! Her interactions with everyone always made me smile. My appreciation for her character just increased exponentially after watching the Despair Arc of Danganronpa 3. All in all I’m super glad that her character survived in THH.

8/10

Byakuya Togami: 

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about Byakuya. I think he’s a great antagonistic character, truly, but beyond that I’m not sure. I definitely think that his character is humbled throughout the course of the game, and in later games/animes he seems a lot less asshole-ish, but I’m not sure if I like him or hate him. I guess that just goes to show just how great he is as an antagonist. One thing I thought was hilarious though was how he casually admitted to being a true-crime nerd. I’m really glad he survived because I think his “talent” was really important for the Future Foundation. 

6/10

Celestia Ludenberg: 

Okay so real talk, I used to be a huge Celestia fan when I first stumbled across the series. But now, I don’t really like her character all that much. I think that out of all of the killers in THH her motive was the most shallow and that really is terrible considering how much potential she had. Her disconnect with her true identity could have made for an interesting character arc. And I really hate how they gave her literally the most complicated murder scheme when it would make sense for her to take a little risk as possible. Her character design is really cute though. 

5/10

Chihiro Fujisaki:

I think Chihro’s death was one of the hardest for me in the game. I played through all of his freetime events and was super attached to him (I know, a horrible idea in a game like DR), and as soon as he died I was just in shock. One thing I love about how they portrayed his character was truly allowing the brilliance of Chihiro shine through even after his death. He created the AI that not only helped aid in their escape, but ultimately saved Makoto's life. I also really liked the juxtaposition of Chihiro and Mondo (the seemingly weaker one ultimately being stronger after all). All in all, Chihiro is a great character. 

10/10

Hifumi Yamada:

I’m not really a fan of Hifumi, but I definitely think he gets wayy too much hate or just gets overlooked completely. I think that the creators leaned a bit too far into the stereotypes for him, and that made him come off as stiff and just… there. I knew from the very beginning that he wouldn’t survive, and honestly he’s the only character I had that feeling with (minus Leon). There are some quirks about him that I like, though, like how he never fails to refer to the others politely.

4/10

Kiyotaka Ishimaru:

So I originally found Taka annoying but after playing THH again he became one of my favorite characters. I find his enthusiasm adorable and his free time events boosted my admiration of him. He’s the only Ultimate that makes a conscious effort to prove himself and not rely on his prodigy-type status. And his relationship with Mondo, albeit short-lived, was so pure. It was so obvious to me that he was happy to have a friend (because Mondo is the first friend he’s ever had), and having that suddenly ripped away and listening to his desperation at the end of chapter 2 made me sob. 

10/10

Kyoko Kirigiri: 

Kiri’s background made me feel really sad for her. I first thought she was just the aloof, cold, smart type that was a bit snobbish. But then you realize that she’s been raised to not be in the spotlight, to work alone and without credit behind the scenes. Detective work is basically her birthright and she’s clung to that like a vice. Her character development throughout the game was really nice, and I think her and Makoto are super cute for each other. The side plot with her and her dad in DR3 made me really sad, too. I really liked overall that she was unapologetically holding true to her beliefs, even if it made her come off as cold. She was a solid, strong female character. 

8/10

Leon Kuwata:

It was super obvious from the beginning that Leon was gonna die. There was 0 attachment to his character for me and he just came off as just...kinda there. I don’t really have much to say about him, other than that I’m not a fan.

1/10

Mondo Owada: 

Mondo was such a big sweetheart in his freetime events. I thought his character was really well rounded and I was so sad that he ended up killing Chihiro. Despite that, I thought it worked really well for the story and played off of both of their weaknesses. Again I really loved his friendship with Taka, and having it formed and ended so quickly surprisingly hurt. 

8/10

Sakura Oogami: 

Honestly I didn’t like how they made her character the spy, because it seemed ridiculously out of character for her. Honestly I think this would be something better suited to Celeste, as she would view it as a way to increase her chances of living if she’s in “kahoots” with him. I dunno, I think the spy thing was unnecessary anyways. I loved her character though and her friendship with Hina was super cute. I also loved how they mentioned that she wanted to embrace her femininity while also not wanting to give up being the strongest person in the world. 

7/10 

Sayaka Maizono: 

Honestly even though I’m not the biggest fan of Sayaka I really like the role she played at the beginning and I think they played it off perfectly. Her desperation fueled by the fear and harsh reality that comes along show business and easily being forgotten really works in the narrative. She seemed like a well-rounded character but I think that if she had lasted past chapter 1 I would have liked her less. All in all her character did a great job of kicking off everything. 

6/10

 Toko Fukawa: 

I hate how they portrayed her character in THH, but her obsessive and odd behavior (outside of her split personality) is easily explained by her traumatic past. She obviously has a warped sense of what “love” is, and that plus her intense delusions turned into obsession for Byakuya. I started loving her character a lot more in UDG, when she started becoming more well rounded and open around Komaru. 

Also, I loved Genocider Syo’s personality. While I obviously don’t condone serial murders, I think that her character is extremely interesting. She doesn’t try and condone her own actions, admitting there is no rhyme or reason. Plus I think it’s really interesting that she considers herself a “professional” and is incredibly particular about the details. 

Overall 6/10 in THH

Yasuhiro Hagakure: 

I feel like Hiro gets a lot of shit as a character because they think he doesn’t contribute anything. I think he adds a lot of much-needed comic relief. Also I think that everyone glosses over the fact that once Taka goes silent he actually tries to encourage him to speak up again. And then tries to do his part and keep everyone together and upbeat. I really think that Hiro is a fun character who deserves more love, even though I can’t say he’s one of my favorites. 

7/10

Mukuro Ikusaba:

I wish Mukuro’s personality would have been able to actually show through in the game. The only glimpse we really see of it is in the bonus school mode while she is still posing as Junko. I wish in the anime they’d have harped less on her odd obsession with Junko and focused more on her internal struggle. I think her character has potential but I can’t say I was particularly attached to her (I suppose that was kind of the point, though). 

4/10

Junko Enoshima: 

Junko is probably one of the most well-written villains I have ever seen in a series. At first I thought it didn’t make sense, and was confused how one person could have so much influence on a mass amount of people. Then it was revealed in later installments that Ultimate Fashionista was not her real talent, just a cover she forged for herself to help her blend in to the school. Her real ultimate talent as the Ultimate Analyst allowed her to predict people’s actions and more importantly, their reactions. Her innate ability and incurable boredom made her seek out something unpredictable: despair and chaos. I think what made me love her as a villain was the line “You can’t argue with me, because there's no reason for anything that I do.” 

As a villain I give her 15/10. If I were to rank her as a person? -11037/10

Overall Opinion: 

I really find most of the characters charming but it’s super obvious when comparing this game to the others that these characters were not as fleshed out as characters in other games. I found it hard to be super attached to most of them and felt that some of their actions were really uncharacteristic. However I really do like the characters and what they add to the story, even if some of it doesn’t add up completely. I’m the least attached to these characters out of all of the characters in the DR series, although there are obviously some exceptions. I think there couldn’t have been a better opening cast of characters.

[astrotranslations]

[Drunk-dols ①] ASTRO's Moonbin "Cha Eunwoo Is A Model Student? He Hides His 'Foolish Sides'"

This is an official question. What’s your drinking capacity? MJ: The most I’ve drank is a bottle and half of soju. I control myself when I drink. There hasn’t been an instance where I’ve no recollection of what happened and I’m the sort to get sleepy when I’m drunk so I go to bed. I don’t know what my drinking habits are. JinJin: I’m also one to control myself when I drink. I start to reject alcohol once I drink about a bottle’s worth of soju. I’ll continue to drink if adults offer me. I think the most I’ve drank is about 8-9 200cc glasses of beer. Eunwoo: To be honest, I’m not one of those who likes alcohol. I think I’ve drunk somaek* with 2 bottles of soju. I’m the sort to endure it till the end and then pass out afterwards, I don’t get drunk easily. My drinking habit is that I get chattier. Losing my memory has never happened to me either. Moonbin: My drinking capacity according to somaek* standards is around 2 and a half bottles of soju. My parents also drink well so I think that had some influence. When I get drunk, I grow more talkative, I become excited and I have a lot more aegyo. I usually don’t have tons of it. I sometimes behave like that around the people I like but it happens more often whenever I get tipsy.

Do you often go out for a drink between the members? JinJin: If there’s something we’re having a hard time with or something we’re brooding over then I’ll mention having a drink and we’ll make time for it. There are times where the four of us from the hyung line and our manager hyung would have a round of drinks together. Moonbin: But we’re all preoccupied so we don’t have the time to talk. We’re busy passing out after coming back from finishing a schedule.

The other members are underaged so they couldn’t come to the interview. What did they say? MJ: They told us, "Hyungs, work hard. Don’t drink too much."

What do they do when the older members drink? Moonbin: They just sit there. They clink glasses filled with cola or juice.

Sanha seems to have grown a lot. JinJin: He keeps growing so it’s a concern. He’s currently 184cm but we predict he’ll reach 187cm. I hope he’ll stop growing. As the shortest one, it’s starting to hurt my neck looking at the tallest member. Sanha has two older brothers and they’re both 183cm. His parents are tall too. My dad’s 180cm but why am I like this?

Who came up with 'refreshing-dols'? MJ: The fans mentioned how we were refreshing and since then, we became 'refreshing-dols'. It’s a nickname that really complemented our team who’s bright and innocent. Moonbin: Our songs are good so I think we fit the 'refreshing-dols' image well too.

I feel like you would all have pride in your visuals. Moonbin: They tell me I’m handsome but to be honest, I’m not quite sure. Everyday when I look into the mirror, there are a lot of times where my faces is bloated. My opinions change according to the extent of the bloating. There are a lot instances where I think I don’t look all that great. MJ: I joke around saying that of course I’m handsome, of course I’m the best, but there hasn’t been once where I say that I’m good looking and actually meant it. JinJin: I think of myself as good looking when I look into the mirror. In my opinion, the standard of 'good looks' is charms. I think my eye smile is my most charming facial feature.

How did you feel when you heard you’d be doing 'Drunk-dols'? Moonbin: I was flustered when I heard that the 'refreshing-dols' are suddenly doing a drunken interview but it’s a first for us so it felt novel. It’s nice since we’re able to comfortably talk as we eat.

You recently wrapped up promotions. If you had to grade it? Eunwoo: The number’s greater as compared to our previous promotions although there are regretful aspects. But looking back, it’s an album I’m thankful for and I think it’s an album that laid our foundation once more and created footing for us. If I had to put a number to it then I’d give it 73 points. Moonbin: I want to give it 50 points. There are a lot of things we’ve fulfilled through this album and our skills have improved, be it as a team or individually. But still, you have to be harsh with yourself so that’s why the 50. MJ: More than anything else, it’s an album where I’m grateful for our fans. Us being able to hold a solo concert was made possible because we had our fans. I’d grade our fans 100 points and the grade I’ll give myself id 65 points. There are still a lot of things for me to learn and many paths for me to walk on. Eunwoo: Was I too generous with my grading? JinJin: There are a lot of things we achieved through this album. We held our last broadcast on 'Music Core' and it was the first time the audience section was completely filled out. We were also nominated for no. 1. It’s an album which I’m extremely satisfied with so I’d like to give it 90 points.

You had sales of 60, 000 copies for your 4th mini album. JinJin: I was honestly shocked. I was really grateful. It made me realise that the number of fans we had increased a lot as compared to when we started off. It was thanks to this that we became no. 1 nominees. So I became greedy. I really want to grab the no. 1 spot the next time.

You were contenders for no. 1 alongside Twice. Moonbin: That’s why I thought it was amazing how we were nominated. I got greedy when we were waiting for the results on stage.

In which aspects do you think you’ve grown as compared to your debut days? Moonbin: Listening to our 1st album then our 4th as we moved around, our vocal colour has changed a lot and our singing skills have improved. I think our sound changed when we tried going down a positive route.

How long have you been trainees? JinJin: 3-4 years for Eunwoo and myself, 4 years for MJ. Moonbin has been one for 8 years. He’s an ancestor.

Why was Moonbin’s trainee period long? Moonbin: I started off as a child actor because of my parents’ suggestion and then became interested in this field of work. I did have my worries halfway whether or not this path was right for me. But I stood on stage once and there was this electrifying feeling. So I was determined to become an idol. If someone asked me why I’m doing what I do then I’ll tell them, "Being on stage is gratifying." And it’s fun communicating with fans. It’s not about showing off what I do well and feeling good about it, I like seeing people enjoy themselves when I sing my songs for them and I think that’s why I became an idol.

What’s your personality like? Moonbin: I’m straightforward and I carry myself drawing a clear line between what I like and dislike. I have my timid side like an A blood type would but I’m your typical B blood type.

Isn’t the leader position hard for you, JinJin? JinJin: It’ll be a lie to say there’s nothing difficult about it. The burden is pretty big. I’m a leader who leads his team and I have to know everything about my members. Only then will I be able to control the team. I put in effort so I can hear them tell me a trivial 'You’ve worked hard'. I think I’m able to endure through it all the more because the members, the staff and even the fans recognise that it’s very tough on me.

Who makes it the hardest for you amongst the members? JinJin: They all have it out for me (laughs). Sanha’s the youngest one so he plays a lot of pranks. We’re all people so when we’re fooled around with, there’ll be at least once where we’d lose our temper.

Who does the leader confide in regarding his concerns? JinJin: I talk a lot to the three people gathered here today. Eunwoo and Moonbin are younger than me but they’re adult-like. MJ is older than me. I’m the sort to really rely on the people around me. Sometimes I lean on the people around me too much that I’ve been hurt but it isn’t easy fixing the fact that I like people.

They say that Eunwoo 'hardcarries' ASTRO all alone. Eunwoo: I don’t think that way but it’s a lie to say that it isn’t difficult on me. On the surface, Cha Eunwoo is more well known if you mention ASTRO but under that, there are more things I learn from the members. I often learn dancing and singing. What I can do is doing my best in getting our team name out there. If I’m having it rough then I’ll confide in Moonbin. We share a room so we talk to each other a lot.

What is it that you’re having the most trouble with now? Eunwoo: Realising that I can’t accomplish something with my own strength. It’s hard when no matter how much I endeavour and no matter how much I try to find a solution, there’s nothing I can do.

For example? Eunwoo: I was individually shooting for a drama, going on variety shows and filming for CFs when we were preparing for our concert. Even if I pulled an all nighter, it was difficult preparing for the concert to a T. Time was closing in on me and I was growing more anxious but my self-confidence was dropping and I felt apologetic towards the other members so I was walking on eggshells alone. No one was saying anything about me but I was feeling like that on my own. It became a cycle for me and it built up inside so I was filled with resentment.

Do you talk about this kind of concern to your members? Eunwoo: Everyone’s sensitive when they’re busy so I’m reluctant. I’m not the only one going through a hard time. If we happen to gather to have drink then I’ll let it out.

Don’t the other members get jealous when they hear things like 'ASTRO=Cha Eunwoo'? JinJin: Rather than jealousy, our desire to do well is the same. I feel bad watching from the sidelines Eunwoo suffering. He promotes ASTRO a lot even when he goes for an individual schedule. He’s younger than me but there’s a lot to learn from him.

Is there anything you feel like you’re better at than Eunwoo? JinJin: I’ve a good looking face (laughs). I’m kidding. Personally, I want to be acknowledged for my rap. I have to accomplish things bit by bit but I keep getting greedy. Eunwoo: I think JinJin hyung would be good at variety. I’m not the funny kind. I want for ASTRO to win no. 1, to be stable after gaining popularity and to hear the public say we’re idols who’re big fun.

Eunwoo has an image of a model student. Do you want to break it? Eunwoo: Yes. I hope the public views me for who I am. It’ll look unnatural if I take it over the top. But I’m not a total model student. The members know. I studied hard when I was younger but I’m not well behaved when we’re together.

In the members’ opinions, do you agree with what Eunwoo said? Moonbin: Eunwoo’s really foolish. He’s perfect but there’s also something about him leaving you feeling like, "Huh?". He’ll make you form this preconception that he seems like someone who’s virtuous but when you see that other side of him, you’ll feel him human.

Has there been an instance where you’ve fought amongst each other? Moonbin: We’ve never thrown punches. Though sometimes when we’re getting the dance details down, we’ll be like, "This angle is right. That angle is right. Try lifting up your hand."

Your group’s an even number so it must be hard mediating opinions. Moonbin: We sort it out one way or another. The one who loses makes it obvious he’s sulky about it. Rocky and I are in charge of dance so it’s often that we’d be disappointed in the other and quibble with each other when it comes to dance. Every time that happens, JinJin hyung would ask what’s the problem and play the mediator. We’d talk it out outside and walk in with our arms over the other’s shoulder.

Is there a member you feel the most sour towards? Moonbin: I don’t bear a grudge towards anyone. We settle it right away.

*somaek is the short form for ‘soju + maekju (beer)’.

Source: http://news.joins.com/article/21844537

Translations by @99pmh Take out with full credits

[premk-blog]

How Tech Industry Recruiters are preparing for Next !!

Technology Is a Key Business Driver 

This is the idea that every day, the U.S. economy has become increasingly dependent on technology as a key business driver. As organizations continue to battle to survive, or better yet, to thrive amid a transforming ecosystem, they are looking to technology as a tool for innovation, efficiency and a competitive edge.

“For some organizations, AI tools may have been perceived as ‘nice-to-have’ technologies prior to 2020. … But in a future characterized by uncertainty, only organizations that embrace the most advanced AI tools will be able to weather future storms,” according to Betsy Schafer in AI Is Already Building a More Resilient Post-Pandemic World. If your organization isn’t already doing so, then you may want to consider getting on board with digital innovation — and the talent that delivers that innovation — to unlock the key to your robust future.

Leveraging Technology for Operational Speed + Customer Experience

Many enterprises are on the move, leveraging digital to propel supply chains forward and to speed processes that directly impact customer experience. For example, a McKinsey survey revealed that “one-third of surveyed companies have accelerated the digitization of their supply chains, half have sped up the digitization of their customer channels, and two-thirds have moved faster to adopt artificial intelligence and automation.”

Virtualized business models are accelerating as industries such as healthcare, and medtech in particular, rethink their business practices to remain relevant in our digitally-centric business ecosystem

“Digital technologies are key to unlocking the power of data, and data is set to power the transformation of medtech and the broader healthcare ecosystem,” according to findings from an EY Medtech mentioned in this PRNewswire article.  “Greater collaboration, with competitors as well as customers, built on data can open future growth possibilities.”

Recruiting at the Intersection of Technology + Economic Recovery

At this intersection of economic recovery and technology, new recruiting strategies are emerging to ensure companies attract the cream of the crop tech talent to drive their digital transformation forward. However, recruiting effectively during a time when the pandemic has uprooted so many foundational HR processes, has its challenges. 

A recent Lever survey addressed those challenges, and the results included responses rooted in optimism and action. For example, of 117 tech industry recruiters surveyed, 48% predict they will emerge stronger. 

Sixty-eight percent agree that a change in recruiting strategies is necessary to accommodate more employees who are working remotely. And, for remote hiring, virtual interviews are going to be crucial. Already, a majority (60%) of tech companies have shifted to relying more extensively on video and phone interviews.

To ensure a personalized and professional virtual interview that resembles your in-person process, consider OfferZen’s remote interviewing process tips:

Extend your interview by 30 mins or so to really deep dive into questions with a candidate and get to know them.

Prepare better questions to ensure the longer interview is maximized. Consider testing your interview questions on someone in your team. 

Create a backup plan in case your technology goes haywire during the interview.

Don’t leave prep until last minute, particularly those adjustments to accommodate virtual processes: whiteboard interviews, simulation days, and culture-fit interviews. 

Furthermore, consider the skills that are increasingly more valued and necessary in this ‘new normal,’ and how you will vet those skills during the recruitment process. According to Lever’s survey, those skills include communication (66%), technology proficiency (65%), adaptability (56%), resilience (43%) and change management. With those skills in mind, prepare meaningfully targeted questions that will help you uncover a candidate’s unique abilities in those areas. The article, Uncover the Candidate’s Communication Skills in the Interview, suggests asking behavioral interview questions such as: “Tell me about a time when you had to communicate a difficult concept to someone and what challenges you encountered” or “Have you ever had to sell an unpopular idea? If so, what was the idea and how did you go about selling it?”

Remote Work in the Technology Industry: Here to Stay?

Tech is enabling more efficiencies within product to enable workforces a choice to work from home or not, here and in the future. It may be too soon to tell, but if inclined to look at the tech giants, it appears remote is here to stay – and when not fully remote, hybrid models seem to be the go-to.

Before the pandemic, only 11% of Lever’s survey respondents say that telework was widely available and negotiable, which has nearly doubled to 21% today. Enable more attractive benefits by overcoming preconceived notions that your tech team must be onsite to be effective.

Consider this insight from Robin Beattie, managing director of tech recruitment firm Spinks, in a recent Computer Weekly article, “Many clients felt pre-lockdown that they needed their tech teams onsite with them. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown has–on the whole–shown that isn’t the case. Businesses have worked just as efficiently with their engineering teams working remotely.”

Moreover, 80% of tech companies now believe it is more important that candidate relationship management be built into applicant tracking systems. Finding a talent marketing system that nurtures the candidate relationship from the first touch point is key to ensure consistent and meaningful engagement.

[centaurrential]

The first.

The nice thing about blogging is that one doesn’t need to follow a strict academic essay structure: the issues and concepts I want to write about are always architectures built upon some underlying causal, foundational plot. It would be nice if we could hyperlink the written representations of our thought processes, but alas, that is one domain in which modern technology has fallen short. You might see that I jump around between topics, but I promise there are connections everywhere. So, here we go!

I’ve been hesitant to write about what ignites my passion the most.  

There are a couple of reasons for this.

For one, save for some semblance of a university degree I attempted to put together years ago, I have little in the way of ‘respectable’ credentials. I rely on my own observations of what is happening around me. A high school friend once revealed to me a technique in visual arts that has stuck with me since. “Draw what you see, not what you know to be there.” I have applied this not only to achieve realism in the scant visual artworks I have produced and which have gone unseen by most others, but also to compose a coherent understanding of my world--or in other words, everything I feel. This “motto” of sorts shows that we often ignore details about our experience that are in plain sight. Despite holding this key, I am well aware that I have not necessarily earned any institutional authority to write on the matters that compel me so--yet, as a person who has simply lived and observed, I still feel that I should express myself, for what ever it may be worth.

Second, though my risk of legal and political persecution in some form or another is not as dire as was obviously the case in the past with established thinkers, I’ve felt compelled to dress my thoughts in verse, marching what I think are critical ideas down the runway, letting the audience gently scrutinize the layers of different conceptual fabrics in motion rather than to place what is thought to be controversial on a podium, open to the personalized savagery of modern “progressive” critique. Misunderstanding is a very real fear of mine as I believe it is one of the greatest tragedies of the human condition. I suppose, as a sensitive person who is deeply emotional and deeply invested in my own thought as a means to a better world, my intent up to now has been to create a buffer of some sort between what I theorize and the ideology-driven hate that tends to characterize Internet culture (which, incidentally now, always carries a ‘social media’ component with it). But I don’t wanna hide anymore.

Something I’ve noticed about that very vehicle for thought is how utterly unforgiving it is. Someone uncovers a person’s past involving a stupid, ignorant mistake along the lines of political incorrectness and suddenly all the good they may have recently put into the world evaporates because there is some sort of twisted expectation of social perfection we’ve adopted--even though there is some overlap between this absolutist, impossible approach to other, equally fallible human beings and the tendency to wax poetic about one’s own cathartic emotional experience, along with a new awareness emerging from the remnants of self-destruction, and forcing ‘compassion’ toward oneself in light of one’s mistakes.

The message is that “I” can learn, but “you” cannot. It seems that people are so volatile these days, they’re ready to pounce without really thinking about what a person is trying to say in earnest. And while I believe that we should work hard at our collective and individual duties to skepticism, I cannot condone, to the furthest reaches of any influence I may have, the deadlock of pseudo-critical thinking when it involves scapegoating and self-righteousness.

I sense (and feel) a lot of (justified) anger, and many well-meaning individuals are looking for a place to which they can direct such intensity. The unfortunate thing is that the fire mutates into hostility toward people who don’t deserve it. Shuffle formless anger into boxes designed to look nicely and glamorously radical, and chuck it at those who--excluding the really terrible people in the world--are honest and serious about answering the questions of “how to achieve the maximum possible distance from pain”, and, “what is, essentially”, and you’ve got a problem on your hands. Nothing is ever as simple as we’d like it to be.

And by the way, I find the dismissive “ok, boomer” attitude reprehensible. Like, OBVIOUSLY there are going to be differences among generations in “opinion” and lifestyles and so on. And obviously past generations have made what we now deem to be ‘mistakes’. But just like any individual who may regret past actions, whether personal or professional, one makes decisions supported by the most convincing reasons they can muster, and so they do the best they can with the knowledge they have at hand, at some particular moment. Maybe some visionaries in the past were able to extrapolate from the contemporary and predict what would happen in the future. Even if their equivalents exist in society today, we will not know for certain the downright traumatizing effects current societal mechanisms could force to manifestation in the years beyond, until they actually become fact. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” And, there is wisdom that only comes through living life. That, I’m afraid, is not up for debate.

I must say this here, now. I realize I’m walking on eggshells with what I’m about to say.  But, while it is clear that there is a significant degree of ‘white privilege’ in North American society, I’d be careful to declare ‘privilege’ an inherently white experience.  It is an historical reality (and is therefore biased). Not all ‘white people’ are the same; and it is CERTAINLY not the case that it has only been ‘white people’ that enforced slavery, for example. And it is definitely true that different members of different religions and different races and different ethnicities and different cultures and different dialects have, historically, perpetuated evil across many axes. Furthermore, I believe that the explicit and intentional denigration of ‘white people’ MADE BY WHITE PEOPLE THEMSELVES is probably one of the greatest expressions of white privilege. How secure must one feel if they can freely diss their ‘own kind’ and know that nothing diabolical will happen to them? We owe justice through opportunity to people we have marginalized, but that is not the way. I just think that people are either willfully ignorant, accidentally ignorant, or have forgotten that all kinds of people can be villains, and further that a truly corrupt person will even torture people with whom they may have a great deal in common.

I tend to think that ‘intersectionality’ is a seriously important concept and is most empirically aligned with individualism. People move around more, cross-cultural contact happens more; global connection ushers cuisine, rituals and traditions, spiritual beliefs, and languages into landscapes that were previously barren of particular social technologies. The result is a person who may have many characteristics sort of in common with others who share those qualities in a scattered manner, but unless one of those forces was exceptionally prominent in the person’s life, the commonality is negligible.

Emergent from this phenomenon is the serious tension between individual self-actualization and the requirements for so-called proper functioning of the broader ‘community’ to which one feels they belong. The needs of each can often be at odds with one another, and it doesn’t appear to be an easy task to resolve this conflict. I do know that sacrifices will have to be made, as there is always a price to pay; I almost think of that as a universal law.

When I was 19 and took a philosophy of feminism class, I started noticing what problems arise when a mode of thinking is assumed to apply to a particular “community” (loosely speaking), just because its members all share some intrinsic quality. In the particular case I’m talking about, it was “being female”. When someone speaks the word ‘feminism’, it is loaded. You have liberal feminism, eco-feminism, radical feminism, third-wave feminism, black feminism, post-colonial feminism, and so on. The relevance of these various types is stretched so thinly throughout the human landscape that one could legitimately wonder why those theories should even be considered to have anything in common. In other words, how can you possibly come up with an ethic of revolution that applies universally to, I dunno, how many billion people in the world? Here’s a situation: women in the West, particularly in the Deep South, are fighting for their choice to have an abortion. Meanwhile, in some parts of India and China, female infanticide is more common than a decent person should like to admit, and that’s not because Indian and Chinese women want it! Asking someone who is thoughtful in ANY respect if they are a feminist is like asking someone if they believe in God, and that is not, nor should it be, an easy question to answer.

To be clear: what I am talking about is definition, and if you break down the etymological components of that word, you see that it is about deciding what sorts of conceptual boundaries must be drawn (the finiteness)--to determine what is included, and also what is excluded. My belief is that it is actually the interplay between those qualities intrinsic to a person and external forces placed upon us that dictate the degrees of self-satisfaction and happiness we experience.

That pain is to be avoided is generally unquestionable, though the finer details of rational action (because I do see the treatment of pain as an issue of rationality, and as something more fundamental to the exercising of rational action than market economics is) are still up for debate. And, I suppose, that is the case for many injustices that an active, voluntarily thinking society wishes to eradicate. I’d like to return to that topic some time in the future, but what concerns me today is the issue of essentialism.

Essentialism has been a problem for philosophers for a really long time. Often it is conceptualized as “what makes something that thing”, but in my view, Essence seems to lie in the realm of the experiential. In one minor paper I wrote for a metaphysics class, I argued (incompletely) that an object’s ‘essence’ could be partly defined by the function one identifies when they come into contact with said object. For example, because even though chairs can be made up of different numbers of legs, or be of different colours, or be upholstered or not, we place them into a category of ‘something to be seated upon’. But then again, there are many things that can be sat upon, and, on the other hand, one does not look at a real life dog and think of it as an object that innately serves a purpose, let alone is built for one.

So why am I talking about what seems to be an obscure and useless topic?

It is the utility of Essence that gives form to our experience. And for those who believe that we erroneously categorize and judge every single damn thing we come across in our lives, go ahead and try to reverse neurological evolution through time of geologic scale. I mean, this mode of existence came to be before we even defined what ‘values’ were.

Tangentially, my introduction to the study of philosophy started with the great divide between ‘rationalism’ (ie. some inherent structure which creates the capacity to ‘know’ already exists in a person at the time of birth) and ‘empiricism’ (the school of thought where a person only collected knowledge through experience after they were born with a ‘blank slate’ of a mind). I never understood why the distinction between rationalism and empiricism was so important, because it seemed so obvious that our system of moving through the world was a combination of the two. We see now that the belief in one to the exclusion of the other is just plain stupid: genetics, epigenetics, logarithmic counting in BABIES, education, debate, and research, all contribute to an individual’s understanding of the world. (It is this idea, too, that contributes to my belief that free will is an illusion [though a helpful one at that] and that ‘luck’ is an epistemological concept. I will also use this idea to, eventually, communicate my argument that astrology is theoretically plausible, but that involves discussing archetypes and the cyclical nature of our known world...) Note: “Epistemology” is the study of knowledge and how we come to accumulate it. I went on this tangent because I think we need to demonstrate a great deal of respect for both pre-existing neurological realities and the staggering potential of science to teach us about our environments and ourselves. There are some core things about us that we would be wrong to ignore, and unforgivably so if the sound science is right there.

We do not typically go through life coming into contact with objects or people and checking off items on a list that comprise criteria for something being what it is (unless, of course, you’re prone to collect little hints as to whether a potential lover loves you back or not.....). To do so would reduce the fluidity with which we interact with externalities. That being said, I can conceive of a time when one goes outside for a cigarette in the night and watches a creature (as I just did) that may be a cat, or that may be a raccoon, cross the road. You peer at this creature for several seconds, up until the point that you conclude, and are certain, that it is, indeed, a cat. It is then that you can move on with your life. Perhaps what helped you to come to this conclusion was a short list of criteria that separate catness from raccoonness. Obviously that would be more efficient than consulting an exhaustive mental list of “cat properties” and comparing it to a similar list, but of “raccoon properties”. But even so, by the time you’ve witnessed the cat/raccoon, you’ve already filtered out any possibility that the creature might be something else, like a stray dog, or a lizard, or a floating chair. In conclusion, I propose here that context is essential to Essence. And Essence is a fully whole sensory experience, insofar as your sensory faculties work. This is why it is so hard to define.

The social relevance of the concept of Essence is becoming more important with the emergence of identity politics, the crises in feminism, “queerness”, the feminine/masculine dichotomy, and even paradigms in psychological health. Inherent to Essence is continuity, and no one can argue against the notion that we rely on general continuity to go about our daily lives.

But out of continuity develops expectation. Expectation is immensely helpful for the reason I laid out above. Additionally, in public, we rely on a common yet tacit understanding that individual members of the public will behave in a way that is safe and appropriate for everyone. The problem is, if you have experienced a good chunk of your life, well into adulthood, having never seen an unfamiliar and idiosyncratic expression of certain properties, why WOULD you do anything else other than fumble in your acceptance that that is the way something is? Your mind scrambles to organize what you are interacting with in the way that makes the most sense.

I was once accused of being an essentialist because of some remark I made referencing biological differences between men and women. I wondered if the dude was joking because I really cannot grasp why someone would think that the differences are trivial. Lately I’ve toyed with the conclusion that there must be something essential, something bounded, about the way we express ourselves, which matches what we are that isn’t seen by absolutely everyone, including exuding femininity or masculinity. If there wasn’t something essential about these “descriptions”, why would anyone make an effort to look a certain way in the first place? Or, why would anyone have a subconscious tendency to adopt certain characteristics? The point I’m trying to make is that communication in the form of appearance is just as important as a verbal explanation of something, and can in fact be more truthful than what is verbally expressed. Whether one wants to admit it or not, you are offering information that allows others to draw conclusions about you. And it’s not that you merely fulfill a checklist of the sort that I mentioned earlier. It is that, often, though not always, each separate quality supports all the others, forming a sort of “mesh-like” coherence. If there wasn’t something essentially feminine that you identified with, or something essentially masculine that you identified with--if these things didn’t matter--there would be no point in going to great lengths to change your appearance to communicate something. (And I think this holds even in the case of the non-binary person.)

Of course, judgments are made all the time about people, which have nothing to do with being transgendered or cisgendered. A person asks you your age. Why? Because they’re collecting information about you and the particulars in the category of “age” should reveal something about you that you’re not stating explicitly. And this information is only grounded in other information the inquirer has about you. And the only reason this information might be reliable is because a consolidation of an individual’s past experiences tells them that a certain age represents an axis of consistency of mentality and/or behaviour. The deductions we make are not always accurate, but if we didn’t instinctively think of this information as important, we wouldn’t seek it!

I will now apply the above problem to sort out why we are in such a mess, socially. First of all, the person is born into expectation of behaviour. That expectation depends on their sex at birth (assuming the person is not intersex), their social, economic, political class, the levels of education their immediate family members have achieved, their spiritual practices, et cetera. It seems to me that feminism arose in the first place because of the particular kind of anticipation of behaviour that swirls around whether you have a testicle-penis or a uterus-vagina combination. The traditionally ‘male’ realm was the unexplored frontier to many women; it was one of excitement, possibility, and opportunity, and arguably more freedom than the domain to which women were typically assigned: the home. Women can produce babies, and if you could produce babies then you SHOULD produce babies, and you should care for them too. And not only that, but by virtue of the fact that you are a mother you can’t even fathom leaving your babies behind. I haven’t yet come across a proper articulation of why this point is so crucial to understand. The women who have the term “TERF” (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) slung at them are attacked by people who don’t understand that this fundamental difference in expectation between female-born individuals and male-born individuals is looming in the background, and how damn well important it really is, because it inevitably shapes a person’s perception of the world and quite possibly the expectations they have of other people! And the perception that falls upon you isn’t just something you can shed on a whim. And also, why are people surprised that this is still an issue? Even as advanced creatures we still succumb to evolutionary forces. I don’t think any reasonable person could say that “you aren’t female even if you feel female”, but it’s not about how you “feel”. It’s about what happens between you and people once they figure out a vital fact about you. It’s about the context in which you, a whole being, operate. You want to talk about oppression? I think your self-identity being misaligned with how other people think you should be is pretty high up there in the ranks.

So, to digress a little: the notion of changing yourself and making an impression on strangers, making a difference in the world, is intoxicating. But we enter dangerous territory when visions of child-rearing and home care become afterthoughts. Child psychologists have identified the age range between 2 and 4 to be particularly crucial in socializing children; it is at that age that they are the most impressionable with regard to how they learn to interact with others. That’s not really a huge window to make sure you ‘get it right’. I think the family unit, whatever its configuration may be, is pretty foundational to the rest of society. While many people presently carry harmful opinions about things we don’t understand, and changing those opinions tends to be rather difficult, the most radical, most powerful thing we can do to initiate reform is to make sure the children we are responsible for grow up valuing honour, kindness, and a sense of duty and justice, not just in relation to themselves and their immediate families, but to society as a whole.

People are throwing tantrums because society hasn’t given itself an overnight makeover. I think that anyone involved in politics understands, either consciously or unconsciously, that even though political institutions and bureaucracies were created by real people, they’ve sort of become fragmented away from human life and are entities of their own, floating above our heads like clouds in the higher atmosphere, and which do not have any readily identifiable boundaries. It appears that the various bodies of legislation and bureaucracies have become so bloody complex in correlation with the complexity of human interaction that they seem almost impossible to disentangle. Furthermore, ideas take a long time to die...if they ever even do.

Rather than viewing child-rearing as a burden, I choose to view it as the greatest responsibility and the greatest tool we have for genuine change. I feel, honestly, that sometimes we waste energy trying to convince people of something where there is no convincing possible. We often preach to the choir because they’re the only people who make us feel heard--but our own little choirs already know and believe what we know and believe.

So. I think, once I reviewed what I said above, that I’ve attempted to illuminate a conundrum about simultaneous utility and danger found in the act of expecting. This “study” of sorts is a microcosm of a world where darkness and light are aspects of all things. I’m convinced that the formulation of potential is expressed in binaries, but unlike computers, we are able to interpret ambiguities, and in many pockets of society people are tolerant of self-expression. With so many belief systems up for grabs, and with the world as it is in its ebbs and flows, it is up to the individual to craft their own transcendent values as a way to “orient themselves”, as Dr. Jordan B. Peterson put it. Be mature and do not dismiss nuance. Challenge yourself. And for God’s sake, the next time you’re thinking of buying that innocuous avocado that’s become the symbol for the Millennial generation, ask yourself what is more important: dismantling violent and antisocial Mexican drug cartels, or supporting Mexican farmers who are trying to make their ways through life, just like every. last. one of us.

[oliveratlanta]

Should you buy a home in Atlanta in 2020?

Sarah Dorio

“People love gentrification, as long as it’s not happening to them”

Talk to recent Atlanta homebuyers and you’ll hear a mix of experiences. Some have struggled with nerve-wracking bidding wars and unaccepted offers, while others are the benefactors of equity windfalls. And then there are the increasingly rare first-time buyers who’ve managed to seize whatever’s left of the American dream.

Not so long ago, as the city began shedding the Great Recession’s malaise, the question of whether it made sense to buy a home for yourself in Atlanta was, in many cases, a no-brainer. Values seemed destined to appreciate for those who could—or who wanted to—take on mortgages. And in the vast majority of city neighborhoods, especially on the eastside, prices have gone up.

But after roughly a decade of economic upswing, whether it’s a smart move to buy property now isn’t as clear. We asked nine experts—keen observers of intown Atlanta, all—to wade through the thorny and complex answers to the ever-present question: Should you buy a home in Atlanta this year? They leaned on current data, personal experiences, and strong opinions to create arguments for and against—or something in between.

We collected the responses below before the outbreak of novel coronavirus in the U.S. How might its spread impact the housing market this year? Read this.

Saba Loghman

Director of acquisitions, Empire Communities (formerly EA Homes)

We’re in the early stages of Atlanta becoming a dense metropolis. With this comes profound assurance for homebuying.

The city’s population is expected to triple, and the metro area is expected to add 2.5 million people by 2040. Pacing with this, we’re seeing strong job growth. Atlanta has 15 percent more jobs today compared to the pre-Recession peak, our GDP has increased 32 percent since 2012, and we’re expecting to add 305,000 jobs by 2030.

We’ll continue to see an increase in demand for homes. This demand is met with low inventory (currently 2.6 months of supply) and a constrained market, driving a sustained upward trend in home prices. Only 25,800 single-family units were permitted in the last 12 months, compared to 30,000 to 60,000 or more annual permits between the early 1990s to 2006.

Twenty twenty is an advantageous year to buy a home, as supply in the near future is not increasing to accommodate our growth. We also have the competitive tailwinds of millennials moving into prime homebuying age, homeowner equity approaching an all-time high, and incomes rising faster than home prices for the first time since 2012.

Let’s also not forget the 30-year mortgage has swiftly declined from 4.8 percent last year to 3.5 percent today, making buying in 2020 more attainable compared to previous years.

Ben Harris

Realtor, Ansley Buckhead; Ansley Atlanta

When you consider the most important factors in considering whether or not to buy a home, all of the leading market indicators point to a resounding, “Buy!”

The overall robust national economy has resulted in consistently high consumer confidence index numbers, which is important to support the housing market. These two factors work in unison to build a solid foundation for current home values and continued expected rates of appreciation, making this an extremely opportunistic time for potential buyers to enter the real estate market.

Perhaps the greatest driving factor of all are near record-low mortgage rates. Ken Folds, vice president of mortgage banking with CenterState Bank, is seeing 30-year fixed rate notes in the low to mid 3 percent range, and forecasts predict that these record low rates will remain available for at least the first two quarters of 2020.

Kit Sutherland

Former Fourth Ward Alliance neighborhood association president who’s lived across the street from Ponce City Market for nearly two decades

I do love Atlanta dearly and always will. I would certainly urge people to relocate here and—if they can afford it—to buy homes. The challenge would be identifying where to buy, since Atlanta has so many neighborhoods in dramatic evolution right now.

As much as I love the Old Fourth Ward, I think sales prices here have reached unsustainable levels, such that a “market correction” (such a nice euphemism) is inevitable. The question is, when might that happen, and how bad could it get? If I were a prospective buyer, with money in hand and a stable life/work situation, I think I would shop around extensively, then wait for prices to drop in a neighborhood that I had identified as desirable (for me) in terms of location, walkability, character, and so forth.

I would not suggest that anyone buy property in 2020 just as an investment (meaning, because you’re convinced you could resell it at a higher price in the foreseeable future). In general, I think doing so is just too risky; prospective buyers should buy what they like and can afford, in a neighborhood that suits them, with the understanding that they might be there a long time.

Bob Callner

Home renovator, Callner Properties president/owner

Yes! Definitely buy a house in 2020. Here’s why:

Like most people, when I bought my own home in Atlanta, I was very nervous. Is it the right time? Will values drop and I’ll lose my equity? I jumped in and relied on historical data that says owning a home is still one of the best places to build wealth.

Interests rates are insanely low. I remember buying a house when the mortgage rates were at 18 percent. I swear! And I didn’t charge it on my Visa card. I found an amazing deal at 12 percent and was so excited. And now, forecasters say mortgage rates for 2020 should average around 3.7 percent.

Atlanta is the place to be. It continues to outgrow and outpace the nation’s best-known metropolitan regions. It’s consistently ranked as one of the top cities for economic growth, transportation access (airport), Fortune 500 headquarters, top sports facilities, world-class educational institutions, mild weather, and the list goes on. All qualities that make it a desirable place to live with a strong job market and low cost of living.

I believe housing demand will stay strong, making homeownership in Atlanta a solid investment.

“There are a lot of people who really do want to buy a home as a way to set down roots in Atlanta, and I wish them the best. But for everyone else who’s looking to make a quick buck, and move on to [another] real estate project, you’re doing nothing to preserve the history and legacy of Atlanta, nor are you doing enough to actually help Atlanta.”

—King Williams

King Williams

Host of The Neighborhood Watch Podcast; director of The Atlanta Way: A Documentary on Gentrification; and author of iamkingwilliams newsletter

“Where is gentrification going to happen next?” That’s one of the five most asked questions I’ve been asked, and my reply is always, “I’m not your personal Realtor.” My experience: People love gentrification, as long as it’s not happening to them.

This year we need to do a better job, myself included, on explaining the differences between gentrification and revitalization.

There are also a lot of people who really do want to buy a home as a way to set down roots in Atlanta, and I wish them the best.

But for everyone else who’s looking to make a quick buck, and move on to [another] real estate project, you’re doing nothing to preserve the history and legacy of Atlanta, nor are you doing enough to actually help Atlanta.

Bryan Gates

Realtor, Bryan Gates Realty; PalmerHouse Properties

In my opinion, Atlanta is behind the curve in comparison with all the other major metro areas. The numbers fell here tremendously when everything came to a stall with the big R.

Commercial real estate continues to thrive at a high rate for opportunity-zoned areas, which helps create live, work, and play environments, or in other words, sustainability for communities to enjoy their neighborhoods. It’s a great time to buy with the interest rates low. There’s not a lot of inventory for every price point, but that comes with the territory, or how times have come to be in subareas, which plays a major roll.

Ben King

Columbia Residential project manager, focusing on affordable housing development

It’s basically impossible to not to be a gentrifier because of how the housing system is set up. We have a metro-wide housing shortage, and it doesn’t matter if you rent or buy.

Even if you don’t move into a “transitioning” neighborhood and end up changing that community, you are bidding up rents or home prices wherever you do move. Whoever you outbid will end up moving to the transitioning neighborhood, and they’ll do the same to someone else.

The only way to not contribute to this dynamic is to work on reforming the system to build more units. The research is clear that the best way to prevent displacing existing residents and to reduce prices on housing is to build more units—both at the neighborhood level and at the metro level. Fixing the system means reforming zoning and incentives systems, investing in transit to eliminate parking costs, and subsidizing below-market units.

Patrick Peyer

Decatur-based Realtor, Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta

The spring market has started early this year, with many properties receiving multiple offers as buyers look to take advantage of interest rates that have dipped to under 4 percent and sellers vying to take advantage of low inventory levels.

In the Atlanta market, there is currently 2.7 months of supply, and a balanced market is six to seven months. That means that, at the current rate of home sales, it would take less than three months to sell every home on the market if no new homes were listed.

If you feel you’re up for the challenge, there’s no time like the present when it comes to buying property in the ATL. Strong appreciation for the past eight years has pushed values higher than many buyer’s budgets, but rents have also increased.

Are we at the top? Don’t bet the farm on it.

The median sale price increased from $272,000 to $287,500 in January 2020 compared to January 2019. That’s a 5.7 percent increase, which is higher than the national historic average of 4 percent, but our home prices are well under many major metro cities.

Strong consumer confidence, low unemployment, and booming industries in Atlanta all suggest that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

Deanna Kansas

Realtor, Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty

Yes, buy (and sell) in 2020. Buying a home is an important life decision; so is selling one. Good news: 2020 is a good time to do both.

How could that be? Low interest rates, a strong local economy, and continued population growth strengthen demand. Pricing, interest rates, and a good economy also make builders happy, increasing supply. Of course, not every submarket is the same, but overall, Atlanta is doing very well.

According to our 2019 data, closings for single-family homes were up 4 percent, with condos/townhomes remaining flat. The price of single-family homes was up 4 percent, while condos/townhomes were up 6 percent.

Single-family home inventory was down 3 percent, while condos/townhomes were up 23 percent. Downtowns and hubs within suburbs will outperform the overall market, with buyers favoring more densely developed communities that include restaurants and retail.

In 2020, the price of entry-level homes will continue to grow faster than incomes. Low interest rates and a shortage of starter homes will continue to push up prices. This is especially the case for lower price points, since builders have tended to focus on more expensive, higher-profit houses and less on replenishing low inventories of entry-level homes.

“I would say we’re potentially going to lose a generation of community members, because the baton that should be passing is in this age range now, where they begin to be rooted in place, being neighbors to one another, trading in the community. Sadly, that’s not the case; that’s not what’s happening.”

—Donell Woodson

Donell Woodson

Board member with Historic District Development Corporation, one of Atlanta’s oldest surviving community development groups, which aims to preserve affordable housing in Old Fourth Ward

I get asked this question when I’m traveling around the country, doing training and consulting. I get asked about Atlanta’s housing: Is it a good time? What do you guys do in response to the monster of gentrification, and the monster of the real estate market? I think it is always the best time to buy, and always the worst—that’s my response. You’re never going to find a perfect or ideal mix of the two with a growing and changing city. What we’re discovering is, the ability to develop housing for all has to lead. And the decisions have to be made with all at the table.

What we’re not saying, to be blunt, is that gentrification is horrible. We’re saying that when you have a comprehensive plan and approach that’s all-inclusive of everyone, gentrification can actually benefit a place. But when it’s a plan for developing the neighborhood without those original neighbors, or a variety of options for everybody, then it’s going to become exclusive, even if that’s not your intent. This is what the real estate market is doing, building and selling for transplants coming into the neighborhood. Not for those who actually live in the neighborhood. So this is the issue with [the question] “Is it a good or bad time to buy?”

For those living in the neighborhood, it’s a horrible time, because no one’s considering what housing—or scale of housing—looks like for them. Everyone’s building it for those coming, or just to see a return on investment, and then expecting people to be able to afford to live here. The builder sets the financial bar for what housing will be. We’re seeing that on the ground, where even our bartenders and our waiters in these new restaurants and apartments can’t afford to live in the neighborhood.

Preservation, restoration, and development—if these three groups can come together, it would be the best of times to buy housing in the city. We’re not just thinking about cookie-cutter development. Most of the time the market is forcing us in one direction—building only high-end. That just isn’t going to win. That makes it the worst time. We’re going to continue hemorrhaging “legacy residents”—that’s the kind of PC thing to talk about, those people who’ve been here so long. But the young people getting moved out, that’s a gray area.

From young people, I’m hearing that they can’t afford Atlanta. That’s the overwhelming response of people in the city. Sadly, they’re like, “We don’t have an option; we can’t go back to the suburbs where our parents are because it’s gotten to reflect the city in terms of pricing there.” That inability to find housing that gives them the option to enter into homeownership, they can’t afford it, because of how fast we’ve scaled in the past three years. Overwhelmingly, that’s the issue; they feel the only option is to just not live here. Which means, also, not work here either, because once they leave the city it’s not worth it to commute back in.

I would say we’re potentially going to lose a generation of community members, because the baton that should be passing is in this age range now, where they begin to be rooted in place, being neighbors to one another, trading in the community. Sadly, that’s not the case; that’s not what’s happening.

Interview responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

source https://atlanta.curbed.com/2020/3/11/21133709/buying-a-house-atlanta-2020

[caycancan]

Listening Woman (title courtesy of Tony Hillerman)

(by Helen Hardin)

10-25-2017

I have had a particularly interesting variety of timely conversations with my contemporaries of late. They have been about both predictable and unexpected topics. We talked about wedding trends, grandchildren, aging parents, bucket lists, and living with our spouses whose quirks seem to accentuate with age, as do our own.  Among the unexpected conversations however, have been the ones about spirituality. It seems to be more on our collective minds.

Some of us have always been faithful in the rituals of a specific religion. I find these friends apt to be more involved and spending more time with their church family. Others have been agnostic or outright atheist and are tenaciously remaining so, but are also more openly sharing thoughts about what happens when we die and what kind of burial they want.

Yet, all this strikes me as distinct from the topic of spirituality.  We are also thinking and talking about our place in the universe, our souls, and, yes, the meaning of our lives. A part of me thinks this is mostly about coming to terms with our own mortality, which now looks to be just around the corner and down the road a piece. A larger part of me thinks that we give ourselves permission now to explore or reexamine our faith. That is, what do we feel about our spirits and souls and the forces of the universe based not on any scientific foundation but based on simple belief. Faith is about believing in things that have no definitive explanation.  We all have some degree of it, and it appears to blossom with age. There are more things, perhaps, that just feel right and true. As an example, I have always believed that there is sentient life out there on other planets. Now, I would say I have a firmer faith that this is so. No specific reason.  It’s just that, otherwise, to paraphrase the movie Contact, it would feel like an unfathomable waste of space.  What about other faith-based beliefs that are more far-fetched?

What about heaven and hell? Personally, I can’t wrap my head around a religion that relies on them. I have no faith in them as actual or metaphoric places. I can’t come to grips with an eternity in a divine or horrific place for anyone.  Eternity itself is an incomprehensible construct, by the way. I have faith that it exists. Still, contemplating time with no beginning or end just gives me the willies. As humans we live on timelines. Existence or non-existence without a timeline is a mind-bending idea.  But I have faith that there is an eternity of some shape or form, astrophysics notwithstanding.

What about ghosts and spirits trapped in this world?  It is almost Halloween, after all. The interesting thing is that several folks I know who once would declare there is no such thing now vacillate.  I hear sincere stories of encounters. I have had one or two inexplicable encounters of my own, if you can call them that. I have faith that spirits of some sort are possible.

The thing that is nice about all of this is that my generation seems to have reached an age where we are more comfortable thinking about our faith and spiritual side and sharing that with one another.  There is less fear of sounding crazy or stupidly gullible or making others uncomfortable by talking about possibilities. We don’t know what lies ahead after our souls or kinetic energy leave us or is it simply when our brain’s electric synapse firings cease? There is nothing to be lost by considering that there are more possible answers than those we have already been taught. We don’t know what we don’t know.  

So, what is our spirituality? Is it the origin of our faith? For me, it’s about trying to embrace the ethereal. When I look out into the woods this time of year and the beauty feels tangible, that is a spiritual feeling. I want to hug it close and not let it out of my grasp. Something about it feels wonderful.  It’s something I appreciate being able to talk about aloud with others and to have the time to try to understand more deeply.

Listening Woman is a Navajo character in Tony Hillerman’s detective novel. She is a blind shaman who talks to her visitors about witches and restless spirits, and the supernatural. I suppose that is a little of what I am blindly doing in this blog post. But, I also like the title ‘Listening Woman’ because this describes part of what I am hoping to do more of in retirement. It’s a time for thoughtful conversations and ideas that we may not have had the luxury of time or energy previously to explore. I get that not everyone has the desire to go down the winding spiritual path that likely has no definitive conclusion. I won’t be dedicating huge chunks of my time to this either. But now that I am reconfiguring how I spend my time, it’s nice to let my mind wander down that path more often and further than before and to see that in this life chapter, I have more company than expected.

Next time, 2001: A Space Odyssey

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[gywair]

There are a lot of websites for learning new skills. Trying to keep them straight can be a hassle. What are the pros and cons of each one? I picked up a Humble Bundle for Zenva Academy and decided to try it out.

If you’re like me, then you have NO IDEA what you are doing and every day is an anxiety-induced fever dream of terror and uncertainty. Most of this fear comes from the realization that the market’s demand for skills has drastically changed in ways we are still struggling to comprehend or predict. When I entered college, I was told any degree would work for getting a stable office job. Graduating, I was told that I was up a dry creek without a boat.

Luckily, there are several different online learning websites to help me gain an advantage in furthering my career. Most of these services work as a learning management system but paired down from say a higher education environment. Features like assessment, rubrics, and anonymous course evaluations can really bulk out an LMS. Since Zenva is one of the commercial options, like Lynda, Khan, and Udemy, it is much more straight forward than say Blackboard or Canvas. Those are more geared toward a personal instructional environment at a college or corporation. In Zenva, you have a course, videos for each lesson, course files, class discussion, and a review page. In that way, it is very similar to other offerings of its type.

My experiences with these online commercial learning websites have been a mixed bag. Khan is really great but its courses are much more content restricted. It’s mostly for elementary to high school students preparing for college. Udemy has a huge collection of courses but the content is not as supervised. Some courses are great, some are terrible, and some are borderline scammy. Lynda seems like the best of both worlds but it is much more expensive. Khan is free, Udemy is by course, and Lynda is a subscription service.

Zenva is priced by course like Udemy. The content seems more moderated than Udemy but not as strict as Khan. Zenva has similar offerings to Lynda but you don’t have to pay monthly for courses. Lynda is nice in that you get access to everything when you are paying, however. Zenva’s big draw for me was a Humble Bundle deal. I got a huge selection of courses for game development and web design at a pretty nice price. They also have regular sales on their inventory.

The first course I dove into was the Unity Ping Pong class. It was designed so that you could get an introduction to Unity 3D, build a full project, and learn the workflow. Personally, I got lost a few times. The instructor would show you how to do things one way, change their mind, and then show you a new way. I had to do the whole thing a couple of times before I got close to completing it.

You can play the finished product on my itch.io page. Mine has an asset swap. It plays well and it did teach me a whole lot about Unity. The course also offers the completed project files and closed caption notes.

Overall, the experience was good. Starting some of the other courses, I found out that there are several instructors. If one course doesn’t work for you try some of the others. The Intro to Unity has an instructor I can follow much easier. They do have a class discussion page to ask questions if you get lost. I figured out my problem before trying but you can also read other peoples’ questions there.

In addition to the website, there is also a phone app. It links to your Zenva account. I haven’t gotten very far but am pretty impressed with what I have tried.

It has a number of courses that you can purchase by logging in each day. I assume there is also a way to buy in-app currency. Each course restricts you with prerequisites courses. That way you have to build a good foundation before getting ahead of your self. This is nice for a mobile experience since you are going to probably spend shorter periods of time working on it. Each course won’t have to reteach you everything.

It also has assignments and quizzes. The app uses gamified assignments to track your mastery. It seems like a nice compliment to the website.

So far I am pretty happy with the content, pricing, and delivery method of Zenva. It has the best features of its top competitors without glaring drawbacks. I don’t think I would have tried it without the Humble Bundle (or rather having a few courses to compare to one another). It has more specialized courses than Khan. It has better quality than Udemy. I like the price per course sales model. The only real flaw at this point is the number of courses. There are a LOT of courses available but compared to Udemy and Lynda they are more focused on coding. Since their offerings have more support than say Udemy (which relies on the individual instructors) I don’t really mind the smaller catalog.

The art for the applications and courses is a little different. It feels like they wanted the courses to have a uniform look. That’s fine but it’s at the expense of meaningful cover art. So I don’t always know what a course is based on the icon. I don’t hate the art direction but this is something Lynda has really mastered. I can open their catalog and know exactly which course is which without the title.

Something I like is that Zenva does certificates. Lynda does as well but I can never tell if that’s something I should actually be pushing to my curriculum vitae. Zenva goes a step further by adding ‘mini-degrees’ in grouped subjects as well as course certificates. It’s probably not as official as say being A+ Certified but it feels a little more definitive with the URL attached to the file. Someone could actually go out and verify that I finished it online. Rather than just putting it on my resume and hoping I can set expectations of exactly how much I know (cause there is a difference between I made a Hello World website from scratch and I made a new Facebook all by myself).

Closing thoughts: Zenva seems like a solid training site. It works better for me than just YouTube video or StackExchange tutorials. It’s right up there with its competitors. If you like learning through these kinds of websites, then I highly recommend checking them out.

I had some thoughts on Zenva Academy after trying out some of their courses. They are a pretty fair experience overall. There are a lot of websites for learning new skills. Trying to keep them straight can be a hassle.

[samyelbanette]

Makeup Won’t Help Me Oblige Too Much (It’s Not Fair): An Omenshipping Oneshot

I wrote this for Day 2 of @yu-ri-oh‘s YGO Femslash Week. The prompt was “formalwear”. The title is a reference to one of my favorite songs, “Evening Wear” by Mindless Self Indulgence.

Warning: this one’s gonna get sad.

Carly knew that as a journalist, she should be excited that she got an invitation to a shindig like this. There were so many celebrities here tonight in their tuxedoes and ballgowns, waiting to be mingled with and interviewed. Her editor was relying on her to get something for the front page tomorrow, so she knew she was going to have to pick a person soon and get her tape recorder ready.

But, she just felt so…..inadequate. She’d spent all yesterday trying to find a dress she could actually afford that would be appropriate. The blue gown she’d selected from a shop near the bridge that connected the city with Satellite wasn’t bad, per se. It just obviously wasn’t in the same tier as the designer dresses the other attendees were wearing. She’d already seen Angela wandering around in a curve-hugging, red little number that made her look like Cinderella – and made Carly feel like an ugly stepsister.

“And my makeup looks stupid, too,” Carly muttered to herself, wanting to cry. “I’m no good at stuff like that, so…..”

“So maybe you just need someone to teach you,” said a soft voice behind her, and Carly jumped. Nobody was supposed to hear her rambling!

She turned and found a gorgeous, raven-haired woman smiling at her. She recognized the comely face instantly.

“You’re Misty,” she realized. “The famous model!”

“Yes, that’s me,” Misty chuckled. “How have you been, Carly-san?”

“H-how do you know my name?!” Carly gasped.

Misty’s eyes widened. “You don’t remember? I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to you since I……came back, but…..”

“Remember what?” Carly blinked.

“Oh, no,” Misty said softly. It never occurred to her that Carly would not remember her time as a Dark Signer. Misty, for her part, couldn’t forget the night she had held a sobbing Carly in her arms after the young woman, as if possessed, had dueled Divine with intent to kill.

Was it because Carly’s death had been accidental?, she wondered. Whereas I drove off a cliff because I thought it meant Toby-kun and I would be together again, and Kiryu-san killed himself in his cell in the Facility…..

The friendship the two female Dark Signers had developed had been a deep one, and Misty couldn’t believe that every second of it had been wiped from Carly’s mind so easily.

But, perhaps it’s better if she doesn’t remember, Misty considered. The memory of my death, and the awful things I did as a Dark Signer after it, are often so hard for me to bear. I want to spare Carly-san that same pain.

“Oh, I remember now,” Carly said, scrunching her eyes up in concentration, and Misty jumped.

“I remember…..we met once before, and you told my fortune,” Carly recalled, flushing as she recalled the part where Misty had grabbed her face and brought it close to her own. “You said……that I was going to die.”

And I was right, Misty thought to herself. Divine killed you days later. But, you don’t know that.

“I’m glad you were wrong,” Carly giggled. “That was a very scary prediction, Lola-san!”

“You’re right, I was wrong, I’m sorry,” Misty lied with a fake smile that buried the turmoil beneath. “And you may call me Misty, if you’d like.”

“A-are you sure?” Carly asked hesistantly. “I still barely know you…..”

You know me better than you know, Misty thought. We’ve talked many times, and cried together, and one night, in the Dark Signer’s hideout, when we were both so lonely, we……

No, Misty chastised herself. There was no point in reminding her of that. It only happened because Carly believed that, because she was dead, she could never have Jack-san. But, since her resurrection, Jack-san has indicated that her interest in him may be reciprocated.

I should just stay out of the way. She doesn’t remember me, and she doesn’t want me anymore.

It hurt Misty to come to this realization, because she found Carly so beautiful, so captivating. Her aura had fascinated her from the moment they first met (the only meeting Carly knew of). But, what passed between them that night would not occur again. She had to accept that.

“I’m sure,” Misty smiled. “Anyway, Carly-san, I wanted to tell you that I think your dress is very pretty.”

“Thank you,” Carly blushed. “You look very beautiful as well, Misty-san.”

“I know you think I just said it to be nice,” Misty sighed, “but you really look better in formalwear than you think, Carly-san.”

“I just wish my eyeliner looked as gorgeous as yours,” Carly said enviously.

“Right, I was going to offer to fix your makeup for you,” Misty remembered. “Come with me.”

She grabbed Carly by the hand and led her out of the banquet hall, into the women’s restroom. Carly flushed as her fingers intertwined with Misty’s.

“I have some makeup with me,” Misty explained, pulling out her evening bag. “You’re not wearing any foundation, are you? Our skintones are similar, so I think mine will look good on you.”

“Oh, thanks,” Carly said gratefully.

“Here, let me help you apply it,” Misty offered. She put some of the ivory cream on her fingers, and began smearing it across Carly’s nose.

“Sorry, I forgot my makeup brushes,” she explained, wiping her foundation-caked hand down Carly’s cheek.

“T-that’s ok,” Carly muttered. Misty noticed warmth creeping into the bespectacled girl’s face as Misty’s fingers continued to stroke her face.

Misty had to bring her face closer to Carly’s to scrutinize what she was doing. She smirked as she watched Carly turn visibly red.

Carly is still attracted to me, she thought triumphantly. Even if she wants to be with Jack, she can’t pretend that part of her wouldn’t love to be kissed by me right now.

But, Misty wouldn’t take the obvious opportunity to claim Carly’s lips. Even as a Dark Signer, Carly’s love for Jack had been strong. She’d dueled Jack because she wanted to rule the Dark Signer’s sinister world with him as King and Queen.

If she remembered our night together, Misty considered, she would probably call it a mistake.

“Misty-san, what’s wrong?” Carly asked. “You look like you want to cry.”

Misty’s fingers froze on Carly’s chin. She hadn’t realized that she’d allowed her feelings to become so obvious.

“It’s nothing,” she denied. “Here, I think that’s enough foundation. Let me find something to put on your eyes. I think I have a blue eyeliner that would match your dress perfectly.”

She began digging in her evening bag, refusing to look at the other girl. She doesn’t love you, she repeated to herself, like a mantra. She never will.

“Misty-san,” Carly demanded, grabbing the model by her elbow. “Please, look at me.”

Misty met Carly’s eyes, and was surprised to discover that they held tears, as well.

“There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?” Carly cried. “The night we met, it was early September! The next day I remember is in October! I don’t know why I’m missing weeks of time, and Jack-sama won’t tell me! He says it’s all in my head, and I’m just confused, but I know there’s something else going on here! Godwin-san built that bridge between Neo Domino City and Satellite. That doesn’t just happen, after years of anti-Satellite discrimination! Something big occurred, didn’t it? A huge scoop. And I was there. And so were you.”

“So, you are starting to remember,” Misty gasped.

“No,” Carly shook her head. “No, there’s just a big hole in my memory, and I don’t know why. But you and I…..we were together in the days I can’t remember, weren’t we?”

“……Yes,” Misty confessed, unsure how much to say.

“Tell me what happened to me, Misty-san,” Carly begged.

What do I say? Misty wondered. Am I supposed to just tell her, “You died, and then you came back from the dead, but evil, and homicidal, and you hated yourself, and you thought you could never have the man you really wanted, so you slept with me, and then you died again, and then you came back to life again, and you made me fall in love with you but you don’t remember any of it”?

Suddenly, another woman walked into the restroom, and saw Carly, sobbing and clutching Misty like a lifeline.

Misty didn’t recognize the blonde, but Carly must, because she gasped, and jumped away from Misty like she was on fire.

“Ooh, what’s this?” the blonde said with a cruel smirk. “A secret rendezvous between supermodel Misty Lola and her lesbian lover?”

“Angela-san, please, that’s not what’s going on here!” Carly cried, embarrassed.

“This would make a hell of a headline in tomorrow’s paper,” Angela cackled, undaunted.

“Please…..please, don’t,” Carly begged. Misty realized she had to do something to save her unrequited crush’s reputation (and her own).

“I do not have any relationship with Carly Nagisa,” Misty said clearly and succinctly. “Nor will I ever.”

It was true, wasn’t it? They could never be together.

“No, you’re right, what was I thinking?” Angela laughed. “As if a woman as beautiful as you would ever be interested in Nagisa-san.”

Carly looked away, clearly wounded by her reporting rival’s words.

“Carly-san is incredibly beautiful, actually,” Misty confessed with eyes full of cool rage. “Much more beautiful than you.”

Angela gasped, offended. “Clearly you just don’t have taste,” she scoffed, and turned and exited the restroom in a huff.

“Did…..you really mean that, Misty-san?” Carly asked, flushed.

“Yes,” Misty said, eyes sweeping over Carly’s form one, last time. “But, I can’t talk to you again.”

She picked up her skirts and dashed out of the restroom, her heels clacking on the tile as she fled in shame.

“Wait!” Carly called after her. “I want you to tell me what it is I can’t remember!”

Forgive me, Carly-san, Misty thought to herself as she ran out of the party to hail a cab, not caring about the gossip that would surely ensue. You must unlock the secrets of your past on your own. I cannot meet you any longer.

I cannot trust myself not to pull you into my arms and kiss you if we are alone again.

[darciguillory9-blog]

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