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lunaticlua · 4 years ago

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how do you make a home? // part 7

series masterlist

also available on ao3

a/n: hi! college is taking up most of my time this week. this chapter doesn't have much going on, but i like it nonetheless. soon, we will embark on a more canon part of the story. hope you like it :)

additional note: the title of the chapter is from 'time alone with you' by jacob collier ft. daniel caesar

gif by @mclines

chapter 7: time alone with you

“lay all day in bed with me and teach me how to love ya” (time alone with you – jacob collier ft. daniel caesar)

Lulu is scrolling through her Instagram feed on her bed Sunday morning, enjoying the sun's rays entering her bedroom and warming her body, when she hears a tapping. She gets up and walks to it. After opening the curtain completely and lifting the windows, she finds a pile of blonde hair and a pair of ocean blue eyes grinning at her. She tries to hide the growing happiness on her heart as she speaks. “JJ, what are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Seeing you,” he shrugs. “Now, can I come in?”

“Yes, but you do know that we have a door, right?” She jokes as he is jumping through the window into her bedroom and almost falling. She notices the same backpack he had with him the day prior on his back. Before sleeping, she revisited all the instances that should have given her a red flag about the state of his home life, but she hadn’t paid too much attention until now. Him practically living at his best friend’s house was one of those.

“Of course, I do. But this way is more romantic.”

“Oh, you are romantic now,” she teases, even though she is aware that she can’t stop smiling at his antics. His silly behavior had been the biggest cause of the lightheartedness that came with seeing him every workday of the last month, despite her attempts at closing herself off and not letting him in.

“Always have been, babe,” JJ winks with a juvenile smirk as he comes closer to her, taking her into his strong arms.

“I am ‘babe’ now?”

“Could have been earlier if you wanted to.” Instead of answering, she simply laughs, savoring the closeness of the hug. The comfort that it brings to both of them is unmatched. Lulu loves her aunt and uncle more than anything else in the world and she is forever grateful for having them in her life. JJ recognizes that, without the Pogues by his side, his life would be so much harder and sadder. But they know wholeheartedly that, even as cliché as it sounds, they had found a safe heaven on each other’s embrace.

The teasing atmosphere is gone by the time Lulu stares into his kind, loving eyes. Bearing her soul to him and listening to his deep secret the day before solidified the feeling she had been harboring for the boy. The words they hadn’t spoken yet are evident on their gazes and smiles. He leans forward, placing his callous hands on her rosy cheeks and connecting their lips.

As the kiss deepens, she moves her hands to his shaggy hair, feeling its softness through her fingers. His heart skips a beat at the caring touch. A lifetime with a negligent, runaway mother and a violent father made him unaccustomed to this kind of affection, even though the Pogues weren’t shy at showing their love for one another.

After some time, they end up, laying on her bed. Lulu has her head rested on his chest and he is playing with her fingers, relishing on the comfortable silence and on each other’s company. She props up and turns to look at him, still leaning on him. “Tell me something no one knows about you.”

“I am the best surfer in Outer Banks,” he deadpans.

“Be serious,” she pouts at him.

“I am! People should acknowledge this, but they don’t. It’s a shame,” she stares at him skeptical. “Okay, okay... Let me think.”

“I am waiting.”

He sticks his tongue out at her, making her laugh. “My real name is John Jackson.”

“John Jackson?”

“Yeah. For some odd reason, people in this island love to name their children John. But, since I became friends with John B in third grade, I go by JJ. I don’t even think Pope and Kie know my actual name.”

“I like it. Your name,” the answer brings out a smile on his face.

“It was my grandfathers’ names. My parents wanted to honor them or some shit. I think that the last person that called me John was my mother, but, after she went away, it is weird,” he grimaces, as it clearly is a sensitive topic for him.

“It makes sense. My mom used to call me Luluzinha, which it is an affectionate Brazilian way of saying Little Lulu. My aunt tried to keep calling me that, but I hated it. It sounded so wrong in another person’s mouth after everything.”

“You miss your mom a lot?”

“Every single day,” she replies, touching the star pendant on her necklace that it used to belong to the woman. “Do you? Miss your mother, I mean?”

“Not really,” he tries to sound nonchalant, but she notices the conflicted emotions on his eyes. “Tell me something no one know about.”

He changes the subject and she accept it without questioning. Talking about family is not easy for everyone and she understands it. “I like taking pictures.”

“Of yourself?” He asks with a malicious smirk, moving with a loose strand of her brown hair from her face.

“No! Pictures of places, of things, of fully clothed people.”

“Bummer,” he jokes. “You are any good?”

“I think so. The school paper back in Ohio used my photos quite a lot.”

“Can I see it?”

“Of course,” she voices cheerfully. His interest on her and all the things surrounding her never failed to make her happy. She gets up from the bed and walks to her closet, pulling a big box. It is filled with the pictures she took and revealed through the six years she been doing this. She picks some of her favorites, the majority from the two year. “It is not much. There weren’t many exciting things back there but photographing the football games was nice. I liked the movement and the emotion of it.”

He goes through the ones she puts on his hand, analyzing it carefully. “I don’t understand a lot about art and stuff, but these are good.”

“Thanks.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Since I was ten. When I moved to Ohio to live with Auntie Rita, I was appointed a therapist. I didn’t speak for a long time after that night. It was hard and Betty, the therapist, she said that I should try to find a way to express myself. After some time, I began talking again. Sounds dumb, but it made sense.”

“It is not dumb. It helped you, right?” She nods and he pulls her into his arms again. “Whatever helps you with all this pain is not dumb. Nothing regarding you is dumb.”

“Thank you, J,” she kisses him lightly. “I know this deep down, but it is hard to remember.”

They get back to lying position, cuddling. They are in complete silence for some minutes when he breaks it. “I want you to meet my friends.”

It draws a genuine smile from her. “Tell me more about them.”

“I think that you will get along with Kiara fine. She is this environmentalist, hippie chic. Her family owns the Wreck. She is actually a Kook. You know what a Kook is, right?”

“I grew up here, JJ, remember?” She quips, thinking about the Pogue v. Kook thing that everyone learned at a young age.

“Anyway, she is rich, but for some reason she likes us better than the trust fund kids from the Kook Academy. She is bossy and creative. Pope got the brain, but Kie is the one who actually makes sure that we don’t get arrested.”

“I already like her, then.”

“Of course, you do. Oh, man, you two being friends will be the death of me,” he grumbles, prompting a giggle from her. “Pope is the one who will get out of here. He has a scholarship lined up for him. He just needs to pass this one last interview, which he will definitely do, because he is the smartest person I know. And there is John B. The one who lets me crash at his place practically every other night. He is my best friend. His dad disappeared at the sea some months ago. He is in denial. Kie humors him with it, but we know that he is not coming back. No one get lost at sea these days and lives to tell the story,” he ends with a sad expression. Big John had been a father figure for him as well and his death shock him hardly.

“Is he living by himself?”

“Technically, no. His uncle is his legal guardian, but he hasn’t been home for months now. This would be a good thing during the summer, if DCS wasn’t all over John B because of it.”

“This sucks.”

“Yeah, it does. Family is a messy thing.”

He holds her tighter and brings her closer to his chest, seeking comfort with the action. Sensing that he is not on the mood to continue to talk about it, she just looks up to his face. His eyes are closed, preventing her from seeing the ocean of emotions present in it. He seems peaceful like this: lying down with her by his side. She analyzes his sun-tanned skin and his blonde hair, taking in his beautiful face.

“I like you,” he opens his eyes startled. “I know that it is pretty obvious now, but I wanted to say it either way. You are the first person my age who got close to me and I am happy that you did. I like you, J. A lot.” His surprised expression softens.

“I really like too, Lulu.” He beams at her and, then, brings her face closer, kissing her passionately. They spend the rest of the day together, enjoying the fact that her uncle was away for a fishing trip with some friends. They cherish the calmness, without knowing that the moments of peace were fleeting, and they would miss easiness of this day later on.

“do you realize you have the most beautiful face?” (do you realize?? – the flaming lips)

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nyxtoxicate · 5 years ago

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hello yearning: a'plyae mae.

Summary:

Jung Taekwoon, a fourth tier soccer player in the K3 division of Korea's football leagues, juggles the struggle of raising his nephew as well as pushing his career forward when he unconsciously commits an act which bestows a faerie of good fortune upon him. A problem; the faerie is very mischievous. Another problem; the faerie is also very, very attractive.

Rating- Mature.

artwork by @changbaegi. used with permission.

Chapter 5: Petrichor (or read on ao3)

Taekwoon begins to regret arguing with Jaehwan in the weeks to come. The reasons as to why Jaehwan became so upset with the ground rules Taekwoon had set were a mystery to him, but Jaehwan was particularly cold to him, going so far as to literally turn his back to the man whenever he entered a room.

And Minyul, in an act of solidarity with the asparas who was quickly becoming his new best friend, began to reject more and more of Taekwoon’s invitations. Even the ones where he could have skipped an extra tutor session after his regular class. Needless to say, Taekwoon was finding himself feeling down often these days. Not to mention that all of his left socks were slowly going missing.

So much for having a faerie of good fortune around.

The worst part, and he came to find this out begrudgingly when he stopped into the cafe down the street from his apartment ( a small thing, barely a hole-in-the-wall, but still somehow cozy and charming ) for the first time and was met with the sight of a very familiar looking barista smiling brightly from behind the counter at a few ogling, giggling female patrons.

“J-Jaehwan!” He may or may not have exclaimed extremely loudly right in the middle of the entryway to the cafe, where Taekwoon had frozen out of astonishment, effectively blocking both flows of human traffic in and out of the establishment. Jaehwan had simply shot him a wink, causing Taekwoon to (1) flush so profusely he nearly became dizzy from the rush of blood to his cheeks and (2) stumble so fast back out through the door that he almost tripped over his own shoes. His only saving grace had been clinging to the side of the building so hard his knuckles turned white even as the Fae’s tinkling laughter sounded from behind him, ringing in his ears on and on and on and…

Taekwoon went home coffee-less and with a growing headache that day. And the worst part was that the funny business didn’t stop there because, somehow, Jaehwan had choreographed his shifts at the cafe so that he was working whenever Taekwoon was out and in their home whenever Taekwoon was not. Taekwoon saw little of Minyul and way too much of the faerie, and Jaehwan was talkative. Oftentimes he had a story to tell the toddler, something that sent him giggling before he went to sleep, and Minyul was sleeping well lately. There were few nightmares where he would rouse Taekwoon from sleep to comfort him from before the asparas showed up, but in the following month, not a peep came from his nephew’s bedroom. Still, the glow of Minyul’s nightlight shone from his room down the hall, but no matter how much Taekwoon tossed and turned endlessly into the small hours of the morning, Minyul was silent.

Jaehwan took up residence in Taekwoon’s living room, much to the soccer player’s dissatisfaction, but there was little he could do stop it. Truthfully, it wasn’t all that bad considering there was just this extra person thrust into Taekwoon’s life who was now tearing down all of the carefully built walls that he had made to keep his nephew safe and healthy and maybe, hopefully, logical. There was just that small, little thing. (Jaehwan actually helped around the house, too. The living room was, somehow, never dirty. Messy, sure, but every day Taekwoon didn’t have to vacuum was a good day in his books.) The problem was the lack of knowledge. Taekwoon wasn’t learning anything about Jaehwan like this except that he could hold a grudge for a really long time, was incredibly petty and had an affinity for vanilla cream-filled cookies with rainbow sprinkles; many of which he found circulating around the house. Why they ended up in the freezer at one point, Taekwoon didn’t know, nor did he ever want to find out.

An end to his predicament didn’t seem to be in sight, either, and there’s a growing ache in his bones as the warmth of the sun begins to fade and there’s a tangible crispness to the air.

Taekwoon starts to get ideas as the season changes. The sweet bliss of summer had offered some weeks of relaxation for him, and the few weeks that Minyul had off school meant that he could take back some of the time Jaehwan stole from the uncle- nephew duo. Needless to say, there was much intake of sugary treats and little exercise that Taekwoon got, which Jinsoo made sure to poke fun of the next time they had a spar session and Taekwoon found himself out of breath rather quickly.

September came and went with few incidents. Jaehwan was gone more often, presumably working now that caffeine driven teens and young adults were pining for their fixes. (Taekwoon hadn't stepped foot in that cafe ever since the first time) and the thing was that the soccer player was getting used to having another body around. If anything, it was less... lonely. Taekwoon felt not so isolated nowadays, especially considering that his continuous mumblings to himself rarely went unheard. Pro: he didn't feel as crazy. Con: if Jaehwan was around, Taekwoon was sure the fae was storing everything the man said to use as blackmail for another day.

It gets to when the leaves change colours. A melancholy mood befalls the asparas, and Minyul is the one to point it out to Taekwoon when, after a while, it became clear that Jaehwan was not going to be teaching Minyul a 'super cool trick'.

“Ta,” the boy starts, blissfully unaware of the depth of human emotion, “he won’t play with me.” So, Taekwoon drops to knee level, square to his nephew so he can look into the heartbroken eyes staring back at him.

“Why don’t we all go to the game today? That might cheer him up,” Taekwoon suggests, because the football season was starting now and it was time to get back to the grind. He would be playing today; glad that Jinsoo put him through rigorous and relentless training after his previous lack of ingenuity.

Minyul perks up at that, with big brown eyes beginning to fill with excitement. He missed being a part of the crowd, Taekwoon knew. There was an energy in the stands that couldn’t be matched, and even if his nephew was unable to completely comprehend why the atmosphere was so electrifying, he could at least revel in it.

“OK!” Then he’s off, running into the other room without another care in the world and leaving his uncle still kneeling, fond eyes following the child because surely there was a time when he was so easily appeased, too. Taekwoon wished he was so easily appeased now.

Jaehwan’s mood was a downer in the home. His lack of enthusiasm for things had not gone unnoticed, and it made Taekwoon wonder… It made him want to pry. Taekwoon was not a slave to his curiosity, though, and could handle not knowing everything going on in other people’s minds. That had really been the last straw though, when Minyul came to his uncle unhappy. Taekwoon would not allow that, knowing that no person could be perfect all the time but also acknowledging that Minyul was harbouring growing feelings for the fae. Why couldn’t it have been someone Taekwoon was close with, at least? (Taekwoon was never going to admit that he felt threatened by Jaehwan. The lack of a mother figure in Minyul’s life was a painful thought, and Taekwoon constantly thought that Minyul may be better if he had someone else to look up to besides his uncle).

As the soccer player stands, his knees crack in a reminder that his body was getting older. Putting it through intense cardio may keep him feeling young, but every day was another day closer to the big three o, and that was scary- life kept going on, but where was he going to end up? He trudges into the living room, where Jaehwan is sitting at the windowsill, fixated on something down below on the street.

“I’m taking Minyul to the game later,” Taekwoon pipes up after a moment of silence, Jaehwan not paying his arrival any attention. “He’d like it if you joined us.”

Taekwoon isn’t sure what he’s expecting, but it sure as Hell wasn’t radio silence. But, that’s what he got. The asparas was motionless, still looking below. Every so often, he would blink, which almost alarmed Taekwoon because he might have been a statue otherwise. Taekwoon clears his throat.

“I would like it if you came, as well.” That seems to catch Jaehwan’s attention, because he is visibly startled. Shoulders tense, and the barest movements of his head in Taekwoon’s directions suggest the fae’s newly found interest. It looks like he nods, and that’s enough for the soccer player. It was time to attend to his kid.

As evening arrives, so does the taste of anticipation. Competitive genes were being brought back to life, stretching their stiff limbs in Taekwoon’s nervous lip bite and bouncing leg as he sits on the bench in the locker room beside his teammates. They’re a good sized group today, almost two full lines meaning that they would actually have time to stop and breath on the sidelines before they had to head back in and tear up the turf again. Taekwoon’s cleats felt like lead on his feet, even though he had just been going through warm- up in them. Out there, he knew Minyul would be watching, and he wanted his nephew to be proud; as proud of Taekwoon was Taekwoon was of him.

His captain is spluttering some garbage about friendliness, but Taekwoon had stopped listening some time ago. They all signed the waiver, they all knew the dangers that came with the game. Too many a broken limb for Taekwoon to bat an eye about the issue of a fair game. (He knew how to play dirty. They all did. The difference was that he didn’t go down after every hit to try and invoke a penalty. That was just plain rude, in his opinion). Anyway, bouncing leg. Jinsoo’s hand was on his thigh. Taekwoon didn’t hear what his friend was saying, he just knew that it was time to enter the field and start the game when everyone stood. He’d missed this. He’d missed feeling free.

The noise in the stands deafens him. Or was he deaf beforehand? Taekwoon wasn’t listening, perhaps, because his eyes were scanning for the one face that he actually wanted to see- or maybe it was two now. Jaehwan was sitting with Minyul today, as per the young boy’s request, high enough that he was most likely safe from any ball that decided to leave the play. Taekwoon made sure of that.

“It would be great if Leo made an appearance tonight,” Sungmin was spouting somewhere close to him. Sungmin was a good player, Taekwoon could remember. Sungmin also spent a lot of time with nation- deemed undesirables. Still no drug scandal, though, so Taekwoon had to give him props for that. He throws his teammate a thumbs-up, earning a bright grin from the midfielder before starts mingling with the other men. Caught by the entrance to the locker rooms, Taekwoon can see that Dongchul, their captain, is being hounded by press for that extra moment they can squeeze in before the game. Taekwoon’s chest is starting to feel tight again.

The whistle sounds, but the starting line is devoid of him. That was alright, though, because Jinsoo was pacing beside Taekwoon beside the rest of the team, encouraging their group on until it’s time for them to take over. Whatever goes through Taekwoon’s brain as he plays is a fuzzy recollection. He’s seen videos of himself on the field, a force of nature to be reckoned with and there were more than a few occasions his teammates admitted to never wanting to be checked against him. It’s because Leo was mean.

Sure enough, halftime rolls around in a blink when Taekwoon comes back into himself. He’s panting heavily, sweat rolling off his body from the exertion and he takes long gulps of the bright blue drink in his water bottle. It’s energizing him, he rationalizes, replacing the… Electrolytes? That’s what they were.

His head is between his knees so that he can stare down at the too- bright green turf below him, just too far on the side of fluorescent to look real. Taekwoon loved that he didn’t have the air to think when he was here. He reveled in it.

“The kiddo’s wavin’ at you, buddy,” Jinsoo elbows him in the ribs, effectively breaking Taekwoon from his short dissociation so that he can look at the plump fist rapidly gesturing in the air. A large grin breaks over his face when he waves back, not bothering to see if Jaehwan is doing the same. The life of a second forward could be hard, but meeting the asparas’ eyes was turning out to be a whole new level of difficult.

Twenty minutes of intermission is both too long and painfully short, especially if your team is lagging by two shots. They were all determined to prove their worth, though, and when Taekwoon turned on the jets, the game really started. He ended up assisting on three goals and scoring one in the entire match, earning him a clap on the back from his coach and captain alike because now they were in the lead, and that looked good to the press. Hometown heroes, a lot of them were; just silly children with dreams of making it in the big leagues. Every sport had its politics, however, and Taekwoon knew better than to disregard that fact.

“You and Sungmin really made it for us tonight, you know,” Jinsoo praises him later, when the stands are clearing out and it’s only the two of them left in the locker room to change out of their uniforms. “You don’t need to be playing with us lowly folks in this tier.”

“Then who would I smack around?” Taekwoon snorts, throwing his perspiration-soaked shorts at the defenceman and earning a spluttering sound from the other man. He grins. They were all riding the high of their victory, it seemed, because a win on the first game always felt good. They could expect their rivals to come back with a fury, though, and that was the best part. Always a new challenge, always something new to divert Taekwoon’s attention.

“More like ‘who would deal with your angsty teen whiny ways’?Drinks later? Yeonseok was telling me coach is buying first round. Besides, saw you got that babysitter. Now you can actually have a good time.”

The freezing of Taekwoon’s shoulders had nothing to do with Jaehwan being mentioned, he told himself.

“I’d like to head home, actually. I want to help Minyul with some homework,” he fibs easily. It was a bad skill to have, really, being able to make up an excuse so easily at the expense of his kid. Still…

“Alright, alright. I dunno the parent life, so you got me there. Anyway,” Jinsoo raises from his position, balling up Taekwoon’s shorts before chucking them with terrific speed at his friend’s head. “If you change your mind, I’ll text you the name of the place, how about that? Thought I saw Minyul trying to start a scrimmage before we came in here, too, and that’s waaay more interesting than you right now. Peace.”

Taekwoon shakes his head at Jinsoo walks his way backwards out of the room, performing a ludicrously cheesy spin on his heel before disappearing behind the wall. The sound of the swinging door pushing open reverberates, and then Taekwoon is alone. Finally time to let out a long breath, to actually take a real breath in.

His moment of serenity is short- lived, because too soon the door is opening again, only, the person who comes through is not who he would have expected to see.

“Oh!” Jaehwan jumps along with his exclamation, holding the collar of his yellow shirt out away from his chest where Taekwoon can see a red liquid stain blossoming.

“Are you alright?” Dad Instincts activate, concern riddling Taekwoon’s voice as he springs into action. He has a little boy, his first thought is blood.

“Y-yeah, it just spilled on me…” Jaehwan’s voice is small, more quiet than usual, and Taekwoon sees there’s uneasiness behind his actions. Most likely because Taekwoon had become very close to him very quickly.

“There should be… I have an extra shirt,” the football player recalls, turning his body to dig through the bag left on the bench beside him. “There isn’t really… We all just change in front of each other, so unless you want to find the washrooms…” Taekwoon trails off, attempting to find an escape route. “Actually, I’ll just wait outside for you, alright?”

A nod from the other man staring at Taekwoon’s shoulder, so the shirt is pressed into Jaehwan’s open palm and Taekwoon steps around the body to emerge into the open field. Only, he forgets his bag, his reflexes betraying him because he doesn’t think before reversing to retrieve the item.

And that’s when Taekwoon sees them. With Jaehwan’s bare flesh presented to him, although without the asparas’ knowledge, the haphazard array of angry white lines scarring the tan-tinted skin. They ran up the side of his body like a flame, licking hungrily even in their frozen state to permanently mangle the fae’s form. They were beautiful, in a horrific sort of way, and Taekwoon wasn’t able to stop the gaping of his mouth as his mind tried to register just what he was looking at. What could have possibly made a mark like that?

The clearing of Jaehwan’s throat is what he hears next, and Taekwoon startles at the sound, his eyes focusing on a spot on the floor as he dips his head shamefully. Even if Jaehwan hadn’t meant for Taekwoon to see the -they had to have come from a fire. It was the only thing that would make sense- pattern extending from Jaehwan’s ribs to his left hip, he shouldn’t have reacted that way.

“Yeah, they’re pretty bad. They don’t hurt, though, and it actually looks kind of cool, don’t you think?” Comes Jaehwan’s cheery voice, and Taekwoon winces internally, chancing a glance up at the fae whose resolve seemed to waver just about as much as his mood; which was never.

“Y-Yeah, it looks cool. Like a… Tattoo?” The soccer player tentatively responds, going along with Jaehwan because maybe something like that was normal in the realm of the FaeFolk. It wasn’t like Taekwoon was an expert on such things. Anyway, the other man seemed to relax at Taekwoon’s statement, so hopefully they were heading into safer territory now.

Jaehwan finished with slipping the loose t-shirt over his frame, covering the large patch of tarnished flesh with the cotton mass and flashing a smile at the football player now rooted to the spot. The longer Taekwoon spent around him, the more of an enigma Jaehwan was.

“It’s kind of like a tattoo, but one that you get if you’re not very good at your job. Or if you piss a high- seated fucker off. Or if someone just really doesn’t like you,” he continues nonchalantly- he being the asparas moving to sit on the locker room bench- his hands clasping with fingers folding together in front of him as his stare levels into one that’s blank. He was looking intensely at something that Taekwoon couldn’t, and didn’t want, to see. “I know you enough to know that you won’t ask, but I guess I should tell you. Just like you didn’t have a say in taking me in, I didn’t get to deny coming. Kinda funny how that works. If anything, I think They saw what you did and thought to themselves ‘gee, I bet he’d be a good guy to let Kalan off to.”

Taekwoon wasn’t going to stop Jaehwan at this point. There was a little voice in the back of his head telling him not to, that Minyul would be well looked after for a few more minutes by his teammates if no one else, so he takes the opportunity to sit slowly on the opposite end of the bench, ready to listen.

The shaky breath that Jaehwan lets out signifies that this is hard for him. There was always the underlying assumption Taekwoon had that no being could be as happy as Jaehwan seemed to be all the time (sans the last few weeks). Of course he would be hiding behind a facade of bright behaviour.

“I have a sister. She’s part of the Diamae sect, too, but she’s not a troublemaker like me. She looked out for me a lot even though she’s younger than me. Human families and Fae families are really similar like that.” Whether or not he intended to, the asparas started to smile. “Her name is Mavis because she has a really nice singing voice. She taught me how to sing. She said that it would help me to control my ‘mischievous nature’.” A trembling of his bottom lip and then Jaehwan is blinking, as though coming back to the present with a new clarity shining in his deep brown orbs. He actually turns to look at Taekwoon now, probably because he knows that Taekwoon is trapped under the spell of those eyes every time they’re laid on him. “They sent me to you to get me out of their hair, and now I can’t go back to her. But, that’s OK. Minyul is here, and you aren’t even that bad, either. I know you saw me that day in the park, because I was thinking to myself that being around you wouldn’t be as awful as everyone who was sent to the wosh realm made it out to be. But, I can’t help thinking that it would be easier for you if I wasn’t here anymore. You two are really… You’re all I have right now. The only reason I would want to go back is for her, anyway.”

When Jaehwan is silent for a few moments, Taekwoon knows that it’s his turn to speak, but he had no idea what to say. Encouraging Jaehwan would be cruel, he thought, since he was essentially contracted under the human now in an agreement neither of them had made the regulations to. The world could be cruel, and Jaehwan was still regarding Taekwoon with the same look as before, with that small smile still on his lips.

Attempting to speak resulted in a hushed noise sounding from Taekwoon’s throat, and he has to lick his lips before he can start again. He hopes that Jaehwan can see the truth in his words even if they were reflected in his eyes.

“If I had to be stuck with any creature that wasn’t human, I’m glad that it’s you.” (Wow, that was really lame, Taekwoon. Way to sound like a bad drama protagonist, he chides himself internally as he bites down nervously on his tongue.) “Minyul likes you, probably even loves you. That kid feels hard. And… I like having you here. Around. Even if you sometimes make me want to pull my hair out.” There was no way he was making the situation better, but Taekwoon couldn’t seem to stop the words from falling from his mouth. Jaehwan is looking at him with parted lips now and Taekwoon is sure that the furrow of his brow is from confusion, but even as he’s rambling, Jaehwan is moving closer. Inch by inch he was moving closer, until Jaehwan’s impish face is mere centimeters from Taekwoon’s and the nonsense coming from him had hushed to a murmur of unintelligible sounds before eventually ceasing entirely. Jaehwan was very close now; so close that Taekwoon can see golden flecks spastically decorating the irises of the fae’s eyes. They almost glowed, imbuing Taekwoon with an odd sense of astonishment. He was comfortably held in place by the stare, and in the next instant, he can feel the soft exhale of Jaehwan’s breath on his face. If the thundering of his heart pounding in his ears weren’t so loud, he might have heard the door to the locker room swinging open, but it took the bang of the door hitting the wall just inside the room for Taekwoon to spring into action. He jumped, and the moment was broken, Jaehwan leaning back and crossing his ankles as he looked expectantly in the direction of the short hallway separating the inner room from the door.

“Yo!” Jinsoo shouts, raising a hand in greeting to the two men sitting on the benches as his angular head rounds the corner. “Minyul’s challenging Kyung to a match. You wanna come out and watch your star nephew kick some professional soccer player ass?”

“You bet we do!” Jaehwan answers for Taekwoon, already up from his seat and Taekwoon might have been offended, but he wasn’t. He stands with creaking joints, feeling much older than his 25 -almost 26- years and thinking there were things much too ancient for him to be pondering over, but maybe he should be asking more about Jaehwan and less of him. They had only known one another for three months, anyway.

It isn’t until they’re back in the cozy apartment suite that they call home that the topic comes up again, and it’s when Minyul is in the washroom brushing his teeth while Taekwoon and Jaehwan just happen to be lounging in the kitchen waiting for their turns to get ready for the night. The man who broaches the subject isn’t even Taekwoon; it’s the fae sitting somewhat nervously on one of the bar stools beside the island, wringing his wrists together in front of him in visible uneasiness.

“I didn’t tell you all that so you’d feel bad for me!” He splutters when Taekwoon is reaching into a cupboard to grab a glass to fill with water. The soccer player pauses in his action, turning his head to look full-on at the man suffering in his vexation. The arm previously raised lowers, devoid of any cup, to splay its fingers out on the counter-top level to Taekwoon’s waist. There is no audio indication that Minyul would be out of the bathroom anytime soon, and so this would be as good a time as ever to confront the demons Taekwoon knew now plagued the normally jolly-tempered man.

“I didn’t think you had,” Taekwoon murmurs, his tone the softest - the one he used when Minyul accidentally scraped his knee or bumped his elbows against something hard- as he rounds the side of the island to slide into the empty seat beside Jaehwan. The black cushion of the chair did little to stop the chill of the metal frame beneath from seeping into Taekwoon’s skin, but he would live.

The man beside him is acting unlike Taekwoon had ever seen of him before, with nervous glances at the human from the corner of his eyes setting Taekwoon on edge. First, he would try to calm Jaehwan down. There was no doubt he might be feeling some insecurity after the confession from before, and Taekwoon wouldn’t judge him for that.

Yet again, the asparas takes Taekwoon by surprise though, when, in a terribly accurate Heath- Ledger- as- The- Joker impression, Jaehwan huffs out a “wanna know how I got these scars?” as if to set a happier mood to the conversation. If he hadn’t gone through years of being an uncle to an unpredictable young boy, Taekwoon might not have been able to keep in his laughter. Instead he wondered how Jaehwan figured out the means to watch The Dark Knight on his television in English considering Taekwoon didn’t own it and there was no pay-per-view option for his cable plan. (He would later toss and turn, thinking of the many possibilities to achieve such a thing before realizing that Jaehwan must have hacked into his laptop somehow to stream films.)

“I would… Appreciate if you told me. But, you shouldn’t feel like you have to. I’m sure it’s very personal.” Despite the times that the fae had driven him crazy, Taekwoon knew there was a limit to what he could ask of the man -creature- in his home.

He seemed to have said the right thing, because the tension in Jaehwan’s shoulders begins to fade, even though he is looking at the doorway to the kitchen and now refusing to meet Taekwoon’s wondering gaze. Taekwoon decided that he did not like, at all, when the fae got like this; it made him too unreachable.

“I told you, I got into a lot of trouble when I was littler. It’s not the same as here -people have no time or patience for the young folk- and when you don’t really have anyone to keep you in line except for some stuffy old Elders you’re supposed to look up to and cherish every waking second of the day from the day you can speak onward, it starts to feel like some BS,” the blond starts to ramble, the start of an electrifying current beginning to form in the air. Taekwoon takes a chance and rests one of his hands on Jaehwan’s, the one currently tapping a finger progressively more rapidly against the linoleum counter.

“Parents and stuff, that’s this world things, really human things. Well, I guess even the animals have got those, too, but where I come from, you take after the people around you. A community, really, who raises you and tells you what you’re supposed to be like and then what you’re GOING to be like. You don’t get a choice. They divided us into sects based on how we got along with the other FaeFolk, and I just happened to be placed in Diamae because I showed some potential. They called it potential, anyway.

“The Diamae heads, though, they didn’t really like that I was there. Probably because Grenog -that’s a great name, Grenog- never believed I had what it took. I was kinda… What’s that movie we saw the other day? Aladdin? I guess I was kinda like that ‘riff-raff’ ‘cause I was loud and stuff.” He takes a breath now, the unbroken speech too much for his (human-like) lungs before continuing.

“I was just lucky that my sister was in my sect, too. Everyone liked Mavis a lot, and none of them thought we were actually related. I heard them all talk about how she must have just taken me in as a brother figure because she was so nice -and she is nice. The nicest creature in the whole universe. She’d love Minyul a lot, I think. The Elders looked at her like she was a star, and she always made sure to meet all of their expectations, not because she wanted to all the time, but because she knew if she didn’t that I would be the one blamed.

“There’s one thing that humans and FaeFolk have in common, though,” and Jaehwan’s raw eyes (Taekwoon certainly wasn’t imagining it now; there was definitely something sparkling in them) land on the human beside him. Said human under the spell of the story, his shoulders leaning in to soak in the information even without his knowledge. “We feel things the same. Emotions and physical pain. We could make music like humans can because we needed it to keep us sane. But, it does sound different. When you guys sing, there are some who use those weird things to make their voices unnatural. That’s interesting, but it’s not really that beautiful to me.”

So what if Jaehwan lost himself on some tangents? Taekwoon was nodding his head rhythmically to the beat of his words. Melodic.

“I used to make music that they didn’t like, and they didn’t want me to sing, either. Mavis could sing, though, a lot better than I can. They wanted her to sing just for them, and I think that’s why they hated me so much; because she was always with me, and if she was with me, she wasn’t with them. I liked taking her from them, though. It made me feel powerful, like I had something the Elders couldn’t take away from me. I guess I should’ve known that they’d do something to get back at me for it.”

A vague knowledge of Jaehwan turning his hand over to grip onto Taekwoon’s comes over the soccer player, and he squeezes down in what he hopes is a consoling manner to the trembling digits. Queue the tragic backstory he might never tell Jaehwan.

“They got their opportunity when Mavis was called out for, I guess you might call it two weeks time here, her duty. There was a group of gialltravelers who were granted access to our realm and she was meant to lead them. She was basically a messenger, but she was also one of the most trusted Diamae, and she had to watch them to make sure they didn’t interfere with our way of life too much. The Elders warned us all the time that humans destroyed their own worlds and so we couldn’t trust them not to harm ours.

“Anyway, she was gone so I was basically in the Diamae sect alone because we still had places where we could live, like houses and stuff, but not like this. More like… We like flowers a lot, so usually it’s based off of those and we try to make them out of pretty stuff. Mavis really likes dandelions because she can stew them.

“They started to watch me really close for those two weeks, and I knew they would, but I was stupid and I started doing dumb things just to deliberately make them mad. I wanted them to know that I hated being around them just as much as they hated having me. It’s not a nice feeling, you know? Not a nice fucking feeling at all. I took the people who were actually rooting for me for granted, too, because there were people I cared about there. I don't think I could ever show my face to them after that, though, after what they did. Well… You saw.”

If nothing else, Taekwoon admired Jaehwan’s tenacity. It was clear that he wanted to tell someone his tale, and Taekwoon was humbled to be the one who heard it.

“I ended up hearing something I shouldn’t have. Where the Elders are is like a private place, I guess you could compare it to how there’s a president here. They’re in control of a lot to keep everyone happy and in line, and when there’s Defects… They called me that. I was a Defect, and so they had to deal with me properly. I used to sneak into the place all the time, and I just happened to hear something I shouldn’t have, so they had a reason to.. To…”

He can’t seem to go on after that, and there’s something that breaks in Taekwoon’s heart when he sees the utter despair present in Jaehwan’s expression. He takes the smaller man by the shoulders, bringing him close to Taekwoon’s chest as the tears that Jaehwan had been making a desperate attempt to keep at bay finally spilled over his eyelids to leave clear liquid tracks down his cheeks. Taekwoon noticed the shaking of the fae’s shoulders even though the asparas was clearly reluctant to make a sound. Taekwoon decided not to mention it.

The passage of time wasn’t clear until the sound of a running faucet in the bathroom suddenly ceased and Taekwoon looked at the digital clock on the microwave across the kitchen. The bright glowing green numbers told him it had been only ten minutes since Jaehwan began speaking. Somewhere, he thinks he hears a clock chime.

#hello yearning #vixx #keo #ken #leo #fae!au #fanfic #mine #do not repost!

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acuppellarp · 5 years ago

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Welcome (back!) to A Cup-pella, Morgan! We’re excited to have you and Jackie Puckerman in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

OOC INFO

Name + pronouns: Morgan/she+her Age: 26 Timezone: EST Activity level: 5-7, I’m on summer break so I’m pretty free Ships: Jitty, Jarley, Jackie/Chemistry Anti-Ships: Jackie/No Chemistry Anything Else? Nope!

IC INFO

Full Name: Jackie Bayla Puckerman Face Claim: Zendaya Coleman Age/Birthday: October 30th, 1994, 24 (lil bb scorpio) Occupation: Dance teacher, Forward for April’s Showers Personality: Flirty, Guarded, Dedicated, Stubborn, Sarcastic Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Bio:

It was a snowy December evening when a one Mr. Puckerman came to Pies and Fries where Aisha Sinclair was closing up. The man was a little too far gone and had said he needed to sober up before heading home. Aisha was nice, gentle with the man, probably more than she should have been. His eyes, they were kind and there was something about him that she just couldn’t put her finger on. Until she put her whole hand on it in her car later that night. Their conversations weren’t spectacular, there weren’t butterflies in her stomach, and he certainly couldn’t take care of her in the way that she knew she deserved. That didn’t stop her from meeting him multiple times after that first night, always in the dark, always the feeling of shame washing over her. It was the thrill that enveloped her, that drew her to him each time. Until she missed her period. She confronted the man and told him she didn’t want anything from him, that she could do it all on her own, hoping deep down he would chase after her. When that didn’t happen, she packed everything up and moved as far away from the mess as she could.

Being an unwanted child never fazed Jackie until holidays came around. Her mother was always looking for reasons to spoil her on days she knew she would be missing a father figure. Jackie didn’t really care. Not really. She had grown use to it by the time she was five. That was when she threw herself into dance. She didn’t know that she was an unwanted child, not truly. She did know two things: the dude that donated his sperm wasn’t around and he didn’t want to be around. That left her enough to figure out the rest.

Dance became her life, the one thing that she could ground herself to. School was hard, but she was an average student, enough so that she could go to college if she wanted. There were sports, there were recitals, there were enough things in the day to keep Jackie busy so she didn’t have to dwell on the things that would hurt her. She trained herself in a way to keep the emotions hidden and stay away from getting hurt. This built her a reputation of sorts when high school came around.

While at football games on Friday nights, Jackie could be found making out with the cheerleaders underneath the bleachers while their boyfriends played on the field. Jackie didn’t care what people thought of her. What right did they have to judge when their own lives were people just as messed up. It wasn’t until Aisha caught Jackie under the bleachers that she knew she would have a reckoning. Surprisingly, Aisha only felt hurt that Jackie never opened up to her before, being that they were so close. From that day Jackie vowed to always let Aisha know when big things were happening. They even pinky swore.

After attending the Joffrey Ballet School every summer since she was ten, Jackie made the easiest decision of her life to move to New York City to pursue dance. She knew that it was a long shot, but she didn’t have that many years left on her feet, she had to take the chance when she was young. After starring in a few programs, Jackie left the Joffrey School and began teaching dance full-time.

Jackie’s relationships, if that’s what they’re to be called, never lasted longer than 3 months, never got to the point of comfort. She never let people see the real her. This could be due to discomfort in herself (psh, nah) or the girls just weren’t right for her. Whatever the cause, Jackie never let herself cry about a girl, there were far more important things in life than girls.

Pets: No pets of her own. She can barely take care of herself most days.

Relationships: Jackie gets along with likeminded people and people that don’t get in her way or piss her off too much. She has a tempter at times and isn’t afraid to call people out when they’re wrong. This can rub some the wrong way. Jackie is very guarded and sometimes afraid to come out of her shell, this too can cause rifts when some are just trying to get to know her.

She is a good roommate despite her hairy exterior. She may groan when asked to do something, but eventually it gets done (like vacuuming or dusting. She freaking hates housework).

EXTRA INFO

Twitter name/twitter URL/description: Jackie P/puckerup-j

Five latest tweets:

@puckerup-j: I’m not saying there needs to be a masseuse in my house at all times…I’m just saying I’m really sore and could use a good pair of hands.

@puckerup-j: If you’re going to slow walk in NYC at least get to the right side of the sidewalk before I run you over with my skateboard.

@puckerup-j: I’m getting really tired of my Keurig not working when I need it to. It is definitely my fault for running late 99% of the time, but I need reliability here.

@puckerup-j: Being a dance teacher is all fun and games until one kid has a snack and then they’re all* hungry. (* = this includes me)

@puckerup-j: I may not be 100% that bitch, but I’m like, 99% of the way there.

#accepted

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theliterateape · 7 years ago

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The Musical Mr. M

by J. L. Thurston

I can name all my former teachers from K-12. After that, things get foggy as college classes flew by in a half-hungover and completely stressed blur. There was a time when I considered becoming and English teacher, and I only cast the thought aside once I pictured teaching unappreciative students. I’d probably burn out in two months. Thank god for real teachers who make the impact every single day for every single student. Truly, that’s an incredible feat very few teachers have the strength for. Can’t say I blame the ones who don’t, but I feel the urge to write something of a tribute to a teacher whom I’ll never forget. A teacher who was more than a teacher for all the students who passed through his tutelage. It was like the man was made of music, the embodiment of jazz with the soul of an orchestra.

He had a last name most kids couldn’t pronounce, so we called him Mr. M. The high schoolers and over-confident junior highers simply called him M. This was a man who had the skill and talent for greatness, but he chose to teach band to a school of three-hundred students. Three hundred total, kindergarten through twelfth grade. Band began in fourth grade, and that’s when M took our minds and threw them into a higher elevation using music.

I graduated high school twelve years ago and have since lost touch with M, but I can still picture him perfectly. I can even hear his voice as clearly as though he were right here reading over my shoulder and laughing that I’m even spending time writing a short tribute to him, being the humble guy that he was. This man once told me a story about how he dressed up in a monkey costume and went to the store shopping for bananas. As an adult. I’m just saying laughing at himself was not an issue for this guy.

M was a skinny man, not very tall though he seemed tallish to ten year olds. He had black hair that was only just beginning to gray. I assume he started each morning with his hair neatly combed, but by the time he made it to school he’d ran excited hands through it so that his locks pointed in the wrong direction like a mad scientist. He had a walk and a stance that suggested all of his joints were made out of rubber bands. I always thought that if someone could be Motown and still be a white guy with nerdy glasses, that’d be M. He’d stroll down the hallways and hear a shout from a student, “What up M?” to which he’d reply, “You be up!” To any whine or gripe he’d cry out- while failing to suppress a grin- “You weenies!” But anything that went his way by the hand of anyone, be they nine or ninety, he’d call out, “You rock!” M was enthusiasm personified, and everything he ever said or did was always about other people. Selfish just didn’t compute with this guy.

He was in constant motion, standing up on the podium directing a score, all eyes could be found drawn to his hands. M’s fingers were instruments of purpose, and had that strange power only a Maestro could possess. He drove forty-five minutes one way just to get to school every day, and he never left when the bell rang. Concert band, jazz band, marching band, music theory, after school lessons, and maintaining peace and order in the band room was all left to him. I never heard him complain once. He loved it, and his students loved to participate in all tasks M showed interest in.

I, like many students, spent a lot of time with him. I picked up the trumpet in fourth grade and fell in love with music in a way my nine-year old brain could never have done had it not been for band. As I grew, I followed M’s instruction and doors opened up for my musical brain. I remember in junior high, while playing the score from Lord of the Rings, I struggled to finish because of a lump in my throat. The music moved me, music that I was creating with my own breath and hands. It was the most real form of magic I’d ever discovered. I learned in those early days what incredible emotion could be found in music. To a young writer, music became a battery in which I could charge inspiration and draw energy.

My awkwardness loosened away in the sanctuary of jazz band where I was kidnapped by the pleasing insanity that is jazz trumpet. Through concert band I found pride in myself that soothed the rougher edges of my childhood self-esteem. Marching band was taught with much whistle-blowing and shouting from M, but twice as much laughter. Our tiny marching band kicked ass, and blew most big schools out of the water. Thanks to our coach, our captain. Clear as day, I can hear his chant and the echoing answer of the drums as he called, “Band! Horns up!” Excitement always followed that call. We knew we’d play our faces off for him. The town would come to football games just to watch us at halftime shows. We were damn good. And the cadence we marched to is still played by my old school to this day, carrying on the spirit in full liveliness.

Music theory humbled any thoughts I had that I was musically inclined. I took the class with only two other students. I’m pretty sure M didn’t fail me only because he appreciated my efforts. He did help me compose my first and only song. The track slipped during my clumsy editing, and it sounded like a hot bag of shit, but it was good for a laugh.

M was more than a band teacher for my tiny school. He knew us as though he was our favorite uncle in some kooky family. He shared with me a secret that I hope he doesn’t mind me writing about. When M discovered my passion for writing, he confided in me that he, also, was an unpublished writer. We exchanged chapters. I’ve never been so nervous about someone’s opinion as I was of his. I knew the slightest negative comment from him would wound me for far longer than any other critique. M must have known how it felt to bare one’s soul in written form, and gave me high remarks that set me soaring. His writing was, of course, genius and incredible. I hope he doesn’t mind me talking about it now; he swore me to secrecy about it when he let me read it. I heard a rumor from someone that he’s published now, so here’s hoping he doesn’t mind.

He retired from my tiny school my senior year. His last concert was the spring concert in which many of his alumni attended and even played in his honor. I gifted him with a journal that I had ran around trying to get as many people as possible to sign as a farewell gift. It felt weak as a parting gift. How could I thank a man who had molded my mind in such a positive and powerful way? All I can think of after twelve years is this article here. I think it will serve as some sort of kindness to share of him on this platform. To express in some way that there was a teacher who really was more than a teacher every single day of his career. That the spirit of music truly lives in people, regular people, and that M chose to use his spirit in uplifting students in a no-account school in the middle of nowhere. He won’t win any prestigious awards, but that’s because he is the most deserving and, at the same time, the most humble.

So, to the musical Mr. M, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I have only words of thanks, of the deepest gratitude, for being my band teacher.

“Because we have fun in band!” -M

#Teachers #Band #Music #Jazz #Concert #Marching Band #Dedication #Music Theory #Tribute #Non-Fiction #J. L. Thurston #Trumpet Players Rock

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auburnfamilynews · 5 years ago

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Let me start by laying out a few important things before heading down the dark path I am about to take you on: Auburn now has two losses, both to Top Ten teams,one of which was a mere three-point loss to the number one team in the country. Both games were on the road, which is hard for any quarterback, especially a true freshman. Both games were extremely winnable. The Tigers are still No. 11 and have a chance to finish in the Top Ten with two huge games remaining, both inside Jordan-Hare. If we Auburn fans know anything, it’s frustration, and the only way this season might be more frustrating would be to beat both Georgia and Alabama, which means that winning either the Florida or LSU contests likely would have resulted in a trip to the College Football Playoff. It’s almost destiny that Auburn will do just that. The Tigers certainly could do it, if nothing else, because of the Tigers’ defense.

If you still believe in Gus Malzahn, you might want to quit reading this article. Although some may think he can’t beat either Bama or Georgia, we know he can because he has.

However, the point of this post is the entirety of the Malzahn era in which 2019 is just another chapter of the book on Gus.

Let’s begin with this weekend’s loss. We are aware that Auburn’s magnificent defense, perhaps the best we’ve ever seen, stifled an LSU offense that was averaging 50 points per game and, yes, did it against holds, hands to the face, and refs that wouldn’t call either. If the refs throw just one flag, perhaps on the touchdown that gave LSU its first lead of the game, Auburn wins despite its offensive struggles. But the flag wasn’t thrown, and despite two fourth-down stops, an interception on the goal line, and a muffed punt in the red zone, Auburn lost the game. A frustrated Marlon Davidson, one of Auburn’s defensive leaders, offered a “no comment” on whether or not Auburn’s offensive ineptitude was responsible for the loss. Auburn fans are saying that Auburn’s best defense in a generation is being squandered by a bogged-down offense.

But, wait a second. Isn’t offense what Malzahn was brought to Auburn to deliver? Once again, however, Auburn’s play calling and execution against an elite team was beyond mystifying. Consider that Auburn’s best offensive play of the first half was a delay draw to D. J. Williams meant to run out the clock. Instead, Williams ripped a massive run that put Auburn in position to take the lead going into halftime. But, with seconds left, Bo Nix tossed up a terrible wounded-duck pass that was picked off. While one might applaud his willingness to “take a shot,” the fact is he was running for his life and simply threw the ball across his body in the general direction of a receiver.

Auburn’s best play of the second half was almost identical to the play that ended the half except, somehow, Seth Williams caught the ball. Yes, it was an outstanding catch. Yes, it led to an Auburn touchdown, but that’s not the point. That pass play, with mere minutes left in the game, finally put Bo Nix over 100 yards passing. But otherwise, Auburn’s offense had five false starts, two intentional groundings (neither anywhere close to being arguable), and a snap over and to the right of Nix by center Caleb Kim. Anthony Schwartz had only three touches, just one in the first half. This is another head-scratcher just weeks after Malzahn admitted to not using the speedster enough against Florida.

Bo Nix threw at least three passes out of the back of the end zone. D. J, Williams’s two big runs accounted for almost all of Auburn’s rushing yards. To cap things off, despite the trick plays, the screens, and other typical “Gusist” plays, Malzahn looked to Boobee Whitlow, two weeks out of knee surgery, to provide a spark from the Wildcat.This may be the worst and most irresponsible coaching move since riding an injured Sean White into battle for the duration of the 2015 Georgia game.

Sound familiar? Auburn fans around the country are wondering just how bad QB backup Joey Gatewood can be in order to warrant sticking around under a QB completing 42% of his passes while throwing more INT’s than TD’s in Auburn’s two losses. Certainly, Bo Nix is young, and that these are vital teaching moments for the true freshman that are important to his future development.

But, hold up. Let’s break that down for a moment.

First of all, the age of true freshmen being tossed into the fire, taking their lumps, and developing over time is over. Just look at Auburn’s biggest rivals: Alabama and Georgia have both played for national championships with freshman quarterbacks. Clemson beat Alabama for a national title with a freshman QB.

The list of successful freshman QB’s is long and speaks to the ability of SEC and other premier programs to recruit and develop young talent. Furthermore, they do it so well that backups from those teams have gone on to be successful starters at other programs. Jalen Hurts may win a Heisman at Oklahoma. Justin Fields didn’t win the job in Athens, but he may be a Heisman finalist for Ohio State. Jacob Eason couldn’t take the job back from Jake Fromm at UGA but is now starting in Seattle for Washington and finding a lot of success.

That brings us to our final point: what is Gus Malzahn doing differently than the rest of these successful programs? Is he recruiting and developing on the same level as his counterparts?

The answer is emphatically, no, at least on the development front. His innovative, fast-paced offense brought him to Auburn in 2009 as a coordinator and, then, as head coach in 2013. Since then, Auburn has had three ten-win seasons, all carried on the back of the offense led by transfer QB’s Cam Newton, Nick Marshall, and Jarrett Stidham. (Although the latter two seemed to regress in their second seasons.) Meanwhile, a Malzhan-recruited kid has never won more than eight games in a season.

One thing Auburn and Malzahn have done better than any one else is land freshmen recruits who don’t pan out. But while Barrett Trotter, Jeremy Johnson, and Sean White are easy to point at, the discussion should really be about all of the quarterbacks along who never saw the field in any real capacity under Malzahn: Kiehl Frazier in 2011, Zeke Pike in 2012, Tyler Queen and Jason Smith in 2015, Woody Barrett and John Franklin, III in 2016, and Malik Willis in 2017. While several of these quarterbacks were three stars, the vast majority of them were four- or five-star recruits. None made any impact at Auburn.

In today’s football, transfers are common, especially among highly-recruited players who don’t win jobs early in their career. This is exacerbated at the QB position as can be seen by the list from Clemson, Alabama, and UGA. The difference is, not only can Auburn not field a top-notch QB or develop them over the course of a career, it can’t even keep them on campus. Perhaps the most scathing aspect of all this is that these recruits haven’t been able to start at other schools. Woody Barrett was a four-star recruit and the sixth best in the nation in high school when he came to Auburn and sat behind Jarrett Stidham. Queen and Pike wound up changing positions at other schools. Smith played WR at Auburn in a limited capacity. White gave up the game. Johnson has become a punchline. Franklin couldn’t crack the QB spot at FAU and ended up getting NFL work as a corner. Currently, Barrett doesn’t even start for Kent State.

There can be no legitimate argument that Nix is on the same path as Jake Fromm or Tua Tagovialoa, and the lone point in his favor is that his offensive line hasn’t done its job in either pass or run blocking, even though Auburn is playing an all senior line. The future here is not bright, because it’s unlikely that Malzahn will develop Nix in the offseason, and it’s unlikely that he will have a competent line in front of him to start 2020. Meanwhile, Auburn’s 2019 running game has struggled mightily against good competition. Many believe Gatewood could give Auburn a chance to run to set up the pass to a good set of receivers. Yet, playing Gatewood during Nix’s struggles was never a thought in the coach’s mind, based on post-game interviews.

After another dreadful performance by Auburn’s young QB, one has to wonder if Gus can develop a quarterback? Following a second disappointing loss, fans are left with three possibilities: Gus is showing favoritism to Nix, Gus is too bullheaded, or Gus believes that Gatewood has no chance of being any more successful than Nix. Regardless of which it is, all three are on Gus.

The post Does Loss at LSU Expose Gus’ Inability to Develop QB’s? appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.

from Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog http://trackemtigers.com/does-loss-at-lsu-expose-gus-inability-to-develop-qbs/

#IFTTT #Blogger #auburn #auburn fast #wareagle #AuburnFamilyNews #war eagle #sec #football news #aubu

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rebeccahpedersen · 7 years ago

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Is Financial Literacy At An All-Time Low?

TorontoRealtyBlog

Many of you need read no further. You’re already shaking your head and telling your computer screen, “Yes.”

Some of you might be intrigued by the topic, and want to know where this is all going.

Others will vehemently disagree with the stance I’m going to take in the following story about two potential renters I encountered last month who were completely, utterly unqualified to submit an offer to lease.

Let me begin today with a personal anecdote…

Oh, the irony of that photo. Am I right?

Here I am, about to lecture “young people” on financial literacy, and I’m so old that I think people still read books!

And they use “spectacles” too.

Well, I don’t own a Kindle, and I never will. There’s something about running my fingers down the page of a fresh book (not to mention inhaling that “new book smell”) that I love so much, as well as the bizarre sense of pride I feel when I put a finished book up on my shelf as some sort of trophy, as if to say, “I read that!”

I ran out of bookshelf space a long time ago. In fact, all of my books are in storage, because I have this other bizarre idea that when I move into a house with room, I’ll display them once again.

Now before I dive into today’s story, I want to ask a cynical, and seemingly-rhetorical question:

Do ‘kids today’ read anymore?

I’m serious. Does it happen? Or is every book turned into a movie with an actor named “Zach” or “Blake,” and kids just watch a reenactment of whatever high school textbook they’re supposed to be learning from?

When I was 19-years-old and had just finished my first year of undergraduate business school, I was working out at the old Dunfield Club on Eglinton Avenue, and I knew a guy there who I called “Big Mike.” He was actually short, but thick. You gym rats know what I mean.

Big Mike was old-school, both in terms of how he worked out, as well as how he perceived the financial markets, and personal finance.

Big Mike wore an inside-out, XXXL sweatshirt, cut off at the bottom. Gym rats – can you picture it? He wore a ragged ballcap with a leather strap at the back, and pants with a stripe. He was a throwback to the old days of weightlifting, when Lee Haney was young.

I was an up-and-commer, and by that I mean was a university kid who had so much time on his hands, he spent 2 1/2 hours per day in the gym. Some people throw a frisbee, right?

I’d see Big Mike at the gym in the afternoons, and we would only talk about two things: weightlifting, and finance.

In between sets – back when you took five minutes before your “big lift,” Big Mike would give me advice on schooling, career paths, investing, and personal finance.

One day he asked me, “What book are you reading right now?” I think I told him I was reading a fantasy football magazine to prepare for my upcoming draft, and he said, “You mean you don’t read?”

I told him that I read a lot, actually. More than most kids my age outside of school. That year I had read biographies on Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Ken Shamrock, Arnold Shwarzenegger, and a few books on the human body, and health and nutrition.

Big Mike laughed and said, “Okay, well you seem to have a one-track mind. But why don’t you mix in some reading about the financial markets, investing, and personal finance?”

The thought had honestly never occurred to me. Even though I knew nothing, for some reason, I thought that was par for the course.

Over the course of the summer, Big Mike continued to quote books, over and over again. He’d tell me something about bollinger bands or exponential moving averages, and say, “Pring, have you read Pring?” even though he knew that I had not.

By the end of August, as I prepared to head back for second-year, I found Big Mike in the gym and said, “Okay, give it to me. Give me a list. You name a book, I’ll read it.”

And name them, he did…

Big Mike gave me the names of ten books to read, and I read every single one of them.

I can only remember nine of them off-hand, the last one escapes me. But here’s the list, as I’m sure many of you have read some of these as well:

The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham (1939) Technical Analysis Explained, Martin J. Pring, (1985) A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton Malkiel (1973) The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton (1989) Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki (1997) Creating Wealth, Robert G Allen (1983) Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill (1937) How To Be Rich, J. Paul Getty (1965) Financial Peace Planner, Dave Ramsey (1998)

I can honestly say that I didn’t understand Benjamin Graham, and that I had to read Martin J. Pring’s book twice to even comprehend the subject matter. But I remember this book came with a “CD-ROM,” which was a big deal back in 1999!

Books like “Creating Wealth” were old and out of date, and you’d laugh if you read it now and compared it to the Toronto real estate market. I loved this guy – talking about flying to Dallas in the morning, buying a house that was cash-flow positive by a thousand dollars per month in 1980’s dollars, and then flying home in the evening.

But the takeaways from these books were phenomenal. And even if the subject matter is dated – like Napoleon Hill on personal finance in the 30’s, the ideas still make sense.

So what is my point to all of this?

I think many of you know where this is going…

Back in January, I started the 2018 year on T.R.B. by talking about debt.

In fact, I wrote two blogs on the subject:

“What Is The Government Doing To Tackle Consumer Debt?”

“Household Debt Vs. Mortgage Debt”

One of the themes presented in the 200-something comments from TRB readers was that, perhaps, financial literacy is at an all-time low.

If you haven’t read the blogs, I encourage you to read them. Not just for my stories about personally witnessing consumers and how they handle debt in 2018, but also because of the readers and their observations and opinions.

The one mistake that I made in both those blogs was having the assumption that every man, woman and child out there today is financially literate.

As the readers pointed out, there is no “Personal Finance” course in school.

And as others argued, and as I would agree, the public education system in Ontario has been bastardized to the point where kids aren’t taught any true responsibility or accountability, nor do they suffer any repercussions for their actions (or inactions).

And it’s getting worse, folks! Don’t believe anything to the contrary.

Here’s an excerpt from an internal high school memo that I recently read:

….among the recommendations is to phase out the Grade 9 math test, as well as the Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, which is currently one of the requirements to earn a high-school diploma.

Instead, the report recommended implementing a new Grade 10 assessment that is not a graduation requirement to assess literacy, numeracy and other skills.

–

Great.

Set the bar even lower now.

I mean, why would we want kids to be literate?

Just implement an “assessment” that is not a requirement for graduation. If they all score zeros, we still drink fruit punch and eat cookies!

On the same day I read that internal memo from a Toronto high school, my brother told me that his 8-year-old child had five upcoming exams at her private school in England.

How in the world do we expect today’s young adults to be financially literate, and responsible, if we never teach it to them?

I had a recent listing for a King West condominium, listed at $2,400 per month.

Sadly, this is now what a 1-bed, den, 2-bath unit costs, but the market is the market, and it’s not my job to play social worker to the tenant-pool.

One of the offers that I received on the condo just blew my mind, and not in a good way.

Not to be overly dramatic here, but it made me wonder how the next generation is going to survive on their own.

The application was from a young couple, who were offering the full $2,400/month list price.

And they were so far from being “qualified,” I just didn’t know what to make of it.

She worked for minimum wage. No exaggeration – it was in her job letter. Assuming $14 per hour, over 40 hours, and 52 weeks, that’s $29,120 per year.

He was self-employed, but showed no income. That’s right – no job letter, no income verification, no pay stubs, no bank statement. Nothing.

He had $486 per month in student loans payable.

She had a credit score of 634.

He had a balance of $1,900 on his $2,000 credit card, $8,000 on his $10,000 line of credit, and $9,000 on his $15,000 line of credit.

And here they were, trying to tie up a $2,400 per month rental.

Folks, tell me I’m unsympathetic, but why in the world are these two trying to lease a condo for $2,400 per month, plus hydro?

That’s $30,000 per year in rent and utilities, for two people who, by all accounts, make a combined $29,120 per year.

I know, I know – he is self-employed, and likely makes something. But it’s curious that he chose not to show any proof of income. The application said $3,000 per month, so even if we take him at his word, that’s $36,000, plus her $29,120.

$65,120 of combined gross income, trying to rent for $30,000 per year.

These guys are going to spend 46.1% of their gross income on rent?

Let’s assume that the self-employed gentleman is making $25,000, since anybody that says they’re making $36,000 and provides no proof of income would be lucky to be making $25,000.

Now they’re looking to spend 55.4% of their gross income on rent.

An acceptable GDS ratio is in the 32% range, so what in the world are these two thinking?

I know the answer – they’re not thinking.

They found a pretty condo in a cool area that they like, and despite having a GDS ratio of 55.4%, and paying back $486 per month in student loans, and having almost $20,000 in combined credit card and line of credit debt, they felt this was a solid move.

And this line of thinking, I do not understand.

You can tell me I’m a cold-hearted capitalist, or that I’m an asshole real estate agent that doesn’t know what people in this city go through, or something else, and something else after that.

But I’ve always maintained that I am a realist.

And realistically, these two should be looking for a 1-bed, 1-bath basement apartment for $1,200 per month, so they can get out of debt, pay down their student loans, and save some money.

They should not be looking at a $2,400 per month King West condo.

Wow, I feel like I’m parenting these two. I might be far closer to 20 than I am to 60, but it sure doesn’t feel that way.

Is this really the future of this generation?

You want what you want, and you’re just going to go for it? Balls-to-the-wall, Y-O-L-O and all that?

Forget financial responsibility, let alone financial reality.

Financial literacy is a thing of the past.

I understand that this city is expensive, but unfortunately not everybody gets to rent a King West condo.

Perhaps this is a generational thing. Perhaps these two represent a small segment of a maturing part of the population.

But what if it’s not?

Will we ever look back and admit that taking accountability and responsibility (not to mention the times tables) out of the public education system was a recipe for disaster?

Honestly, folks, when did it become uncool to be financially literate in today’s society?

The post Is Financial Literacy At An All-Time Low? appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from https://ift.tt/2r9MFK1

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constructionaccounting · 7 years ago

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0222: Uniquely Highly Profitable Contractors Target High Profit Enjoyable Clients

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0222 And It Will Be About Uniquely Highly Profitable Contractors Target High-Profit Enjoyable Clients

Every Construction Contractor Has Clients Who Want To Help

Part of the reason is that they want to be sure the project is moving and things are being done. Other times the goal is to hopefully save money. In many cases, the most helpful thing a client can do on a project is keeping the area clean, pets under control and children out of the way. Anything other than that and you, the contractor could be at risk of losing everything you own or ever will if your client or customer is injured while working on your construction project even though it was their home or business.

There is a reason why most automotive repair shops have a sign like the one shown below and as a construction contractor, you would be wise to have signs professionally made and use them on every construction site.

Each type of construction has its own challenges but the overarching answer is to always give your clients what they want, not what you want.

Wake Up To An Overflowing River Of cash flow and profits beyond anything you have seen in the past or continue sleeping on the hard mattress of regret under the cold blanket of lost opportunity by refusing to change old tired worn-out wealth limiting habits that are keeping you from your best.

Right Or Rich Everybody picks one or the other to a degree because nobody can do both for very long. Pick one on purpose or the other by default. The more important it is to be right the less you will be rich and the reverse is true.

I Have Asked Thousands of homeowners, commercial property owners, landlords, commercial space tenants and even a few car buyers, computer buyers, ship buyers and consumers about their overall buying experiences and one common thread appears over and over; they got what they wanted and were happy repeat customers and clients who refer their friends and family or they didn’t get what they wanted and made the contractors life hell.

My Sales Script Book Has hundreds of questions that are continually honed, polished, updated and replaced from which I pick and choose the ones to use depending on the situation.

Develop Your Own Script Book And Record the questions and answers that you find encourage people to open up and get to the fourth level of truth because when you do the service you will render will be far in excess of the money you earn.

The Two Most Powerful Questions:

What are your most important criteria in making a purchase decision?

What is the one thing you remembered about your purchase?

Question #1 Most Common Answer "Price" because for most people it is a conditioned response they learned early in life. It is similar to ringing a bell; it gets people's attention; Stimulus & Response. If you ever get mugged, and I hope you never do; yell "FIRE" because everybody wants to see a fire but very few people will respond to a cry for "HELP".

Question #2 Most Common Answer "I could or could not get what I wanted!" There is a lot of money making power in this answer and it does not come fast or easy. In fact, in most cases, it takes a while to get to it...because:

Truth Is Four Levels Deep:

What people want to hear

What people want to believe

Everything else out in the world

The Truth of what they really believe

If Your Construction Company has annual sales volume of less than $1,000,000 and you want to double, triple and quadruple your cash flow and net profit pay attention to these tips:

Listen With Empathy And Understanding because this one of the most valuable gifts one person can give to another person is to listen and let someone speak until they are finished. Poor communicators make deep noises from the chest sound like important messages from the brain have a captive audience and it is 180 degrees opposite of truly listening.

Ask Good Questions When your construction customer or client makes a point about something that could be important wait until an appropriate break in the conversation and ask for clarification. For example, the new deck needs to be really strong...could be an important point...perhaps they entertain a lot of sumo wrestlers or professional football stars...show you care by asking. The preceding examples could save you a lot of money by not under-building something and in fact, could make you a lot of money with add-on sales.

Be A Keen Observer Detectives make a lot of money and the best ones have a keen eye for observation. Much can be said about this and I recommend you read the book "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko.

In All Of Our Construction Companies We Had Several Repeat And Referring Clients One particular client lived in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. A sweet little old lady on a "Fixed Income" that we did a substantial amount of work on her house.

Every Time, Like Clockwork when one of our Construction Service Professionals would quote a price for a new project she would almost break down in tears. Her voice would crack and her face would take on the saddest look you have ever seen while she talked about how she may have to do without something special in order to have the work done. The funny thing is whenever I would see her at a social event I would ask how she was able to survive on a "Fixed Income” of more than $8,000,000 a year. Her response as always, "It is not easy but thank goodness the house and car are paid for and I have no other debts”.

We Did A Lot Of work For her and her friends and neighbors in the area and they were all raving fans! Why? Because of Listening, Questioning and Observing and always, always, always giving a little more in value than we took in dollars. The key is always give a fair price that ensures your company will earn a handsome profit and hire professionals to do excellent work.

If You Own A Small Construction Company, brand new or been in business a while, we have a special consulting offer that you may be interested in...Click Here To Learn More

New Construction is clean work. As suggested in the name “New” The Construction is all New. Everything from underground to the roof is all new bundles, pallets, cases of material from rough in to trim. It is clean tidy and fresh.

Remodels are an entirely different story. It is taking the Old and tearing it out and making a new start. The challenge is marrying the two together and making it all work.

Another difference is the people involved in most new construction projects it has more of a Contractor to Contractor feel. The actual owner of the project will have limited contact with the individual contractors on the project.

New Construction Custom Homes and Remodels is all about the homeowner and what does the Homeowner want?

Do they know what they want; or is it an idea that the General Contractor has to translate into Construction-Eze for the other contractors on the job.

Residential Remodels may have the homeowner living in the home while the project is going on. If so this may include children and pets.

Service and Repair Contractors definitely have a higher chance of dealing with children and pets.

Everyone thinks children and pets are adorable except when they are running around getting into the tools or in the case of pets trying to escape outside every time the door is opened. It is hard to ask the client to put their pet in another room or a carrier; and suggest the children be in another part of the house or off playing at a friend’s house.

Clients understand the challenges and will automatically look for solutions.

Customers typically do not care unless they are paying “By The Hour” for services. The more skilled you are in your trade the easier it looks to outsiders. Because it looks so easy the customer wants to help or have you teach them what to do. So How to you nicely explain – Their help is not helping? One of the ways is to give them “Busy Work” – something that benefits them.

Years ago we were in Construction (which explains how and why we understand your world) Every job has a certain amount of cleanup and debris that needs to go away at the end of the job. Randal’s favorite was to suggest that since the truck was going to the dump anyway. “Did they have anything they wanted to get rid of?” Customers loved this because maybe they did not own a truck, or needed a second set of hands to load something bigger.

Most importantly – they would spend quality time looking around the house and yard for assorted things to get rid of. This would keep them busy. And while they were busy; our employees could be busy working because at the end of the day the progress needed to be done despite any interruptions, What About Questions, kids and pets running around.

Other customers will ask “If I help” – will the project go faster and be cheaper. It most cases the answer is No – if the Contractor wanted a trainee they would hire one. Many contractors have additional help during the Summer, Winter Vacation, and Spring Break. (It is called teenager or young adults of the owner, family or friends who want a little spending money before going back to school)

A more permanent solution is a “Trainee or Apprentice” who is starting out as a Gofer, Labor and working their way up to learning a trade or skill.

Most Contractors Like You Are Willing To Teach And Share Your Knowledge It is a very patient contractor who can deal with both “The Homeowner” who is trying to help and keep the project on track.

There are exceptions to every rule. I can think of a New Construction Mixed Use Project where the owner was active on the project. He was the guy pulling nails, doing pickup work, picking up trash and other laborer type tasks as directed by the project manager. If you came on the site; you would not have known or guessed he was the owner.

Very few Contractors are skilled to be able to Flip back and Forth between New Construction, Remodel, Service, and Repair. Just because you can Flip back and forth does not mean your employees have the same skillset. Part of the reason you are able to do it is – You Are The Owner!

You Are Motivated To Take The Call, Do The Estimate, Close The Sale, Get The Work Done, Invoice The Customer, Get Paid, Put Money In The Bank, and Pay Your Bills. We have taken the same principals learned in Construction and translated them to our Accounting Practice. We want for you to do the parts that only you can do. Believe me, that is a lot.

Take The Call

Do The Estimate

Close The Sale

Get The Work Done

Invoice The Customer

Get Paid From The Customer

Put Money In The Bank

Pay Your Bills.

Our Part Is Setting Up Your Contractor Bookkeeping Service System And Doing The Data Entry.

We are a production shop with a Contractors Bookkeeping System That Works know what to do, how to do it and do it quickly and efficiently. We have processes, procedures and know what software works well with each other. We try to “KISS” Keep It Simple Silly. Why because Construction Accounting is harder than regular bookkeeping.

Never Let Anyone Outside The Owners Of Your Construction Contracting Company Access Your Money!

There are lots of stories about “Bad Bookkeepers” who is given too much authority and too much access to the Contractor’s money have embezzled a lot of money and have never been held accountable. Know the signs of the Bad Bookkeeper:

Bad Bookkeeper Tell Tale Signs

They train the contractor like an organ grinder trains a monkey, click here to learn more

They refuse to invest time and money in continuing education because they know everything

They are passive aggressive and will study you and your staff to learn how to manipulate everyone

They are masters at gaining power over you, your staff, and new employees and outside suppliers

They hate change and will fight tooth and nail to stop it or they will destroy your company

They know you're responsible for taxes, fines, penalties, and interest; so this is where they get even

They know how to increase your quarterly tax return costs, click here to learn more

They understand that bookkeeping is 90% repetitive transactions and 10% complex transactions

They don't know what to do with complex transactions, so they put them wherever they feel like

They have side jobs working for other companies or an entire bookkeeping business on the side

They decide how much integrity if any, your company has and they tell everyone who will listen

They create a miserable work environment causing turnover in your staff which costs you money

They make your customers and clients feel unwelcome and unappreciated which costs you money

They act as if they are serving time in jail and do the minimum required to keep their job

They say things to suggest businesses are bad and construction company owners are the worst

They are jealous of your success and even more so if they ever had a failed construction business

They don't learn anything new, why should they, nobody is reviewing the QuickBooks

They never learn anything new unless the company pays for the training and it is on the clock

They quit when the tax return is being prepared because QuickBooks is a mess and they're caught

They come in a little bit late every morning and leave a little bit early to make up for it

They bait you with drama, nasty comments and minor actions to find your tolerance limit

They get even with you for every perceived injustice against themselves and society as a whole

They keep you busy with lots of mindless crap to divert attention from why the books are a mess

They let you think you are in control of the bookkeeping and the bookkeeper until it is too late

They make you think they are looking out the best interest of the company, LOL!

They let the work expand to fill whatever time you are willing to pay them to get it done

When they quit or get fired expect to hear: “Chaos, panic and disorder...my work here is done”

They become indispensable in order to take time off whenever they please and hold you, hostage

They negotiate for additional perks, benefits, changes, and elimination of personal accountability

They network for a better job with your clients, suppliers, vendors and your competitors

They represent themselves to outsiders as the owner or manager with decision-making authority

They text, message, e-mail, surf the web, chat on the phone and socialize on company time

They train you to leave them alone by getting upset or angry whenever you want anything

They work hard at causing just enough chaos so owner does not earn more than the bookkeeper

When your business fails they tell everyone you were incompetent and they saw it coming

They live in a chaotic, neurotic, psychotic, selfish, disorganized, blame game environment

They work through lunch to leave earlier in the day (At the office for 7 hours and get paid for 8)

Question - What happens when the person in control of QuickBooks is unhappy with you?

Answer - The same thing that happens when the person who cooks your food is unhappy with you!

In The End - Bad Bookkeepers leave contractors like you with unfiled and unpaid taxes, gasping, upset, with tear stained checks, wide-eyed, stupid, mouth open, standing in the middle of the highway of business success staring at the remains of your business, crashed, rolled over, upside down, in the ditch, on fire, with flames belching from all sides with no hope in sight.

And then things get real ugly as you recall reading The General Contractor And The River Of Construction Commerce and realize all of this could have been avoided!

I have seen bad bookkeepers ruin too many businesses, especially construction businesses. In most cases, it was Bookkeeper Incompetence or Bookkeeper Embezzlement and in other cases, it appears to me there may have been some deliberate identity theft; however, I cannot be certain.

All I know for sure is that I have witnessed business failures that have led to divorce, families destroyed, finances wiped out and people living on the streets. In a few extreme cases, I know of contractors that have taken their own lives and it needs to stop!

Because We Have Owned Construction Companies We Understand “What You Are Doing” And How To Help You. When you explain you do we know what you are saying.

When you ask if you should collect a Job Deposit – our response is always Yes you should be.

When you say you are having issues – We Get It And In Most Cases, We Can Suggest A Workable Solution.

One of the many challenges contractors have is the balance of information.

What To Know

When To Know It

Why Do You Need To Know IT

A couple of tips about Construction Accounting

If it is too complicated, it won’t ever get done and if it does you are too exhausted to learn what the answers to the questions that started the whole process.

A little information is as bad as wanting too much. Tax Accountants only focuses on what the IRS wants and needs to know. Your tax accountant rolls the numbers up to do the annual taxes. If any individual job is profitable is not one the thing that is needed to know by anyone but you.

As a contractor how useful is it to know How many 2x4’s were used on an individual remodel?

Will that information tell you anything that is helpful for the next remodel?

In QuickBooks Desktop Job Profitability Reports are easy to accomplish.

Estimates vs. Actual Reports In QuickBooks Desktop Version take a lot more effort on the part of the contractor (Unreasonable to expect office staff | spouse to look at a lumber slip and know what phase of the project to code it to) Everything needs to be coded, every single piece of paper and most contractors get too busy to do this and the pile grows higher and higher. (I can see it from here)

Messy paperwork is the biggest and most common challenge for any contractor.

Paperwork is so easy to get out of hand. Because of this, our clients love every time we find a new solution that is helpful to them. One less thing they have to touch, handle or over handle is a good thing.

We help a Little or Lot depending on your needs.

For Do-It-Yourself Bookkeeping solutions go to https://www.fasteasyaccountingstore.com/

Call me if you need assistance in choosing the right product for your needs at 206-361-3950.

I am also available to chat about other issues with your Free One Hour Consultation.

Looking forward to being of assistance

Sharie

When You Become A Client - Then we can tap into our resources of knowledge and strategy banks. We use the reports hidden in your QuickBooks in order to diagnose and understand your construction business and develop plans and help you implement a path to success for you and you alone because every contractor has unique Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (S.W.O.T. Analysis) that when understood can lead to a Strategic Roadmap which cannot help but make a lot of money.

We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations

For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of a QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online, and we have a custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.

This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that, and a lot more valuable to people like you so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or [email protected] and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation.

Profitable Contractors and Construction Company owners have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services and contractor coaching services like ours for a long time, and now you know about it too!

Thank You For Reading This Far, And I Hope You Understand we really do care about you and all contractors regardless of whether or not you ever hire our services.

We Scan Your Receipts, And Invoices link the appropriate transactions to QuickBooks or Xero Accounting Online depending on the construction accounting service you are using and provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.

Our Contractor Bookkeeping Services System Is A System

Thinking About Outsourcing Your Contractors Bookkeeping Services To Save Time And Money?

Click On The Button Below To Download A Free Guide

Business Process Management (BPM) For Contractors

Need Help Now?

Call Sharie 206-361-3950

[email protected]

Xero Outsourced Construction Accounting Services

QuickBooks Outsourced Construction Bookkeeping Services

We Are Xero Accounting Experts Specializing In Construction Bookkeeping Services

About The Author:

Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/sharie-dehart/ 206-361-3950 or [email protected]

Most Contractors Setup QuickBooks Desktop Version In One Of Three Ways:

#1 EZ Step Interview inside QuickBooks Setup #2 Asked Their Tax Accountant To Setup QuickBooks #3 They Attended A How To Setup QuickBooks Class Or Seminar

And QuickBooks Does Not Work The Way They Want It Too!

The Answer:

#1 Click Here To Buy An Entire QuickBooks Setup For Your Specific Contracting Company

#2 Click Here To Buy Just The Chart Of Accounts For Your Specific Contracting Company

Contractors_Success_MAP, Contractors_Success_Marketing_Accounting_Production, Contractor_Bookkeeping_Services, QuickBooks_For_Contractors, QuickBooks_For_Contractors,Contractors_Success_Map_Highly_Profitable_Contractors_Target_High_Profit_Clients

Check out this episode about Contractors Marketing - Accounting - Production (M.A.P.)!

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