#We sold ourselves cheap on the concept

[delcat177]

I keep thinking about how kind of mean and hopeless the Harry Potter books were in worldbuilding

Harry Potter is set up to be poor and miserable and have nothing, and to have all of that "corrected" by finding out he's a wizard and his family is rich and he'll never want for anything again

Ron Weasley is set up to be poor and miserable and have nothing and suffer forever for it

Like, I grew up in the extinct middle class that was between lower-middle and upper-middle, just middle-middle, but it was an economically depressed town in an economically depressed state, and my economically depressed friend fucking HATED Ron

I also hated Ron, everyone hated Ron, but it was more the past few days I've really been thinking about the difference, that if you're poor, you get to be poor as a wizard, you get this representation but it's as The Ron, and for the entire time that the audience is supposed to be going along with Harry on this new, magical journey...your MC role is to be *nice* to poor people as your defining characteristic of this dynamic, because oh, look, being poor sucks ASS and everyone will hate you and make fun of you.

JKR just...didn't worldbuild for shit. Like, she made all these pretty, silly, wacky things, but under the cozy Wonka-esque trappings of "oh what a lovely place I wish I could live there", life is unreasonably hard and unreasonably unfair for an Earth where magic is real.

"If Muggles knew about magic, they'd want it to solve all their problems all the time" yeah Christ forbid you solve problems, you can't even get student loans running you senile old fuck

[wufflesvetinari]

Hi! This is so bizarre, and feel free to ignore, but I'm planning a trip to Japan in November. If you feel comfortable, would you share some of your favorite places. And also where you saw the shows? It looked like such a good trip from what you've shared.

hey not bizarre at all, i love talking about it!!!! disclaimer that i don't know shit

so we chose to do something slightly unusual and skip kyoto, which is like. the big one other than tokyo. we did it because 1) we wanted to spend half the time in a less touristy place and 2) we think we will come back. so keep in mind that my experience missed a really big "essential" stop according to some. so we did 1) an urban leg in tokyo 2) an outdoorsy/quiet leg in nagano prefecture and 3) one night at a ryokan in hakone

in tokyo, staying in shinjuku was great for nightlife/people watching during said nightlife. it was also very central both for getting trains out of town and for easy access to harajuku and shibuya, which were my favorite neighborhoods. ginza was also a good contrast as like a very high-class commercial center. go to Bar Owls for a secluded li'l classy basement bar. our two super splurge restaurants in tokyo: X X

also a kind of overlooked neighborhood is yanaka, which is quieter with more historic buildings + a huge cemetery. yanaka ginza is a cute cheap shopping street themed around black cats

the show in this first photo is the samurai restaurant in shinjuku, which is VERY touristy but so much fun. the dancing and costuming and atmosphere were all super good

we also did a tea ceremony with MAIKOYA (where you are invited in to participate and given context for everything that is happening) and saw a sumo tournament with an english-speaking guide

in nagoya prefecture we based ourselves in hakuba for the hiking--it's an off-season ski resort and quite charming. i do think if i did the area again i'd stay in matsumoto nearby, which besides its castle has more public transport and central routes to a national park, the snow monkeys outside of nagano city, etc (we did not get to see the snow monkeys but they might be more present in november, idk). we saw several shrines and buddhist temples, and rode the ski lifts up happo-one to hike (bottom left)

LOVED going to a ryokan. hakone is a hot spring resort town and we could have spent more than a night there!! we stayed at kowakien mikawaya. they fed us SO well and we got a room with a private onsen (top two + the food middle right). very good, very relaxing concept for a vacation

my other bit of general advice is to double-check whether the things you really want to do need reservations, and do it EARLY. there's a great direct tourist train from shinjuku to mt. fuji, but tickets were sold out by the time we got there (it's better to get a service to buy them for you ahead of time is my understanding) and the same was true for the ghibli museum. but we had a lot of fun just meandering in neighborhoods between our booked activities so i don't feel like we were missing much

[wegotlost]

I’m sure we’ve sold and made ourselves available in a million different ways; in defiance of looming fates, and deceived, tricked, and lied to loves, which we could still believe could be her hopeful conception. Like an island where time has stood still, and your expressive gaze penetrates like a scalpel into my kidney. In my vulnerable heart, years of refined thorns have taken an aggressive root— and only your gentle, nurturing hand can heal. We have been immersed daily for a long time now in self-deceiving filthy foams, which, like spiral nets, surround us with their false or even false values, while we could well guess that all false, tyrannical selfishness was also broken and destroyed a long time ago. To thee would I bend my oppressed head: How can our two heartbeats, on secret biological pathways, be entwined, tell me? And can the half-hearted, pompous will conceal nothing but that we have both been reduced to cowards at the decisive moment?

We were as cruel to each other’s unselfish and foolishly noble feelings as two ruthless despots who alone think the question— “Do you still love me? Or was I just a cheap, disposable object of your use, while I was a palace clown, jumping here and there for you?” I, as well, can be tired and I can tell you that I already am. I pushed myself to my limits and gathered my words out, putting them into waste.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression - Ep 44 'Guitar Center' preparing to file for bankruptcy & Urgent announcement.

On screen text:

Notice

27th Dec 2020 (Sun) 23:30~ The Freedom of Expression LIVE #3 Live broadcast.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe, Tasai, welcome. Well, I feel kinda attatched to the topic this week. Joe, please could you..?

J: Yes, its sad news, but.. America's largest musical instrument retail chain 'Guitar Center' is preparing to file for bankruptcy. According to the New York Times, its possible that the chain might go bankrupt due to business difficulties. The chain is the biggest musical instrument chain in America, and has around 300 stores nationwide. Taken over in 2007, the business struggled hard with the switch to online sales, but was pretty successful in two and a half years, and up until this February had been increasing sales for ten quarters in a row. However, because Guitar Center is dependent on in-store sales, the business took a huge hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Sales for the most recent financial year were declared to be $2.3 billion, but the chain has $1.3 billion in debt, and its credit rating was downgraded in April. According to the New York Times, the chain fell behind with interest payments of $45 million this month for the first time ever, and although they have been given 32 hours, there is a chance they will default on thier debts. According to specific sources, Guitar Center have been in contact with thier creditors, will file for bankruptcy within the month, and are considering a plan to withdraw at the start of 2021. 

K: It says within the year, right?

J: Oh, yes, sorry, within the year.

K: The first time I went to this store was about 23 or 24 years ago, when we went to America for recording. We were taken there..me and the other members, but it was so huge!

J: It is huge, yeh.

K: It was in LA, but I never relised that type of place existed.

J: Its Hollywood, right?

K: Yeh.

T: How big was it? Like how many guitars?

K: It was as big as a Japanese supermarket.

T: Ehh?

J: Its as big as a wearhouse, isn't it?

K: Well, yeh, it looks like that from outside too.

T: Was it like the instrument shops you see in Tokyo?

K: No, no, no. They normally don't have drum kits and stuff assembled in stores here, but they do there.

T: Ehh? Thats really big.

J: It is. So Kaoru, did you go there and test out the guitars?

K: I have done. But back then, I didn't really feel any preferences as for the instruments, I just got the feel of the place. I was just like, 'Wow, Im in Guitar Center!'. It was a great feeling seeing all the different instruments.

J: The Americans try out the instruments pretty enthusiastically, don't they?

K: They were really good! haha

J: Right?

K: The people playing...I gradually just stopped trying stuff out there.

J, T: Hahha.

K: But when we go on tours and the equipment breaks or something, we have been to Guitar Center to get replacements before. So if it disappears, we could be in a bit of trouble on tours.

J: Thats right.

T: Yeah.

K: Its a bit risky ordering stuff online to arrive at the venue in time.

T: Of course.

K: If you go to the store you can just get what you need and leave.

J: With 300 stores, it seems like there are quite a lot in big cities, so if anything happened on tour, you could just drop into one of the stores..

K: Yeh yeh yeh.

J: And they would have what you wanted.

T: America is amazing. It says here they worked hard with the move to online sales, but don't you need to test-play a guitar before buying? Is it ok to buy online?

K: Nah, but people buy everything online these days.

J: Yeah.

T: I kinda imagined you would go to the store, play the instrument, and then decide you want to buy it.

K: Well, yeh. But I didn't test out my first guitar before buying it.

J: Oh, is that so?

K: It was a specific model that was sold out, so I had to reserve it..

T: I see.

K: And pay for it in advance, then wait till it arrived.

J: Ehh? But you knew what type of guitar you were getting though, right?

K: Yeh, I knew what shape it would be and stuff, but its cause that was my first guitar.

T: By the way, how old were you when you bought your first guitar?

K: Around first year of high school.

T: Ahh, I see.

J: Ahh. Eh?! First year of high school when you bought your first guitar?

K: Yeh. I started playing a bit earlier than that using borrowed guitars.

T: So, you thought, 'I want one', and bought your first one, right?

J: I bought my first electric guitar when i was in Junior High school. Everyone starts a band at that age, don't they? And I thought, if Im gonna do it, then I should be on guitar, right? With drums you really need space at home to set them up, so I couldn't buy a set. I bought a kind of cheap guitar/amp set for beginners. But I couldn't play the F chord properly, it was pretty frustrating.

T: This will make me look clueless, but Kaoru, how many guitars have you actually bought?

K: I havn't really..

T: Oh, not many?

K: No, I havn't actually bought that many...Like 10? I usually have them made through contracts with ESP.

J: But by now you have signature models and stuff, right?

K: Yeah. I mean, I will buy a guitar myself if I want to play it at home or something.

J: Ahh. Well, its kinda sad seeing these musical instrument stores disappear.

K: I've always had the impression that musical instruments don't sell in large numbers anyway.

J: But..well, i've done some interviews in relation to this, and it seems like musical instruments have been selling quite well during covid. Especially in America, it seems like there was a lot of people in the countryside playing guitar at home. But as for sales, they would probably buy online, especially during covid when you couldn't go to the store in person, I think some of the stores would have been closed. So even if online sales have increased...like with Guitar Center, if you have that many stores..there will be the burden of maintenance costs, staff wages, rent, and somehow the debt will grow and grow. But if online buying continues to develop in this way, we might see an increasing trend of people who play guitar without having tested it first.

K: Hmm, yeh, they won't be trying them out first. ???*1

J, T: Yeah, thats right.

J: What are your thoughts on this, Kaoru? About the concept of a test-run disappearing?

K: I wonder whether young people will still buy guitars. I think the people buying them will be like wealthy people etc. But I don't think young people these days are that interested in buying a guitar and starting a band. If they do become interested in musical instruments, I think it will be more and more online sales.

J: I wonder how thats gonna go, with the guitar makers and musical instrument shops struggling..

K: But even if guitars sell, I wonder if there is anyone who will still buy amps?

J: Ahh, I see.

K: Young people these days don't really buy amps, do they? There are amp simulators now, so you can buy one of these machines and input the data digitally, and then just use a regular speaker.

J: And thats just enough, right?

K: Well, you can do it like that, yeh. And you can simulate lots of different types of amp, so you can get specific sounds. People probably aren't buying the real thing these days.

J: But the subtleness of the sound is different, isn't it?

K: Its totally different.

J: Right? Its completely different. So its...Well, for peope like us, we've heard the sound coming through amps at live houses, we've been hearing that kind of sound for years, but for young people, in one sense a different sound is...

K: (*Kaoru talking about amps/simulators. I don't know enough about amps to really get what he means here, sorry!*)

J: Ah, so if they start thinking there is only one choice, rather than listening to the old types and making a reasoned decision?

K: Yes. So even now, if you go to a Japanese musical instrument shop, there used to be amps all lined up, like Marshall or Fender etc. Now, there are no amps, but many types of simulator machines. You can just buy them and take them straight home. It seems like they sell well. So if you find one guitar that is easy to play, and you have one of these simulators, you can make all sorts of sounds.

J: Yeah.

T: I see.

J: Like usally, if the neck is different, the responding sound will differ, but you will be able to compensate for that with a simulator, so..

K: I don't think many people do that.

J: Oh, right.

K: But I don't know.

Kami: Um, can I ask something? Um, I've played guitar before. But I got blisters straight away, and my wrist started to hurt. Does that happen to you too, Kaoru?

T, J: Haha

T: Thats a grest question to ask a guitarist, Kami.

K: Well, during recording...or like when recording something all in one go, it does start to hurt, haha.

T: Haha

J: If you are playing non-stop? But hey, I wonder how this situation will look in 10 or 20 years?

K: There'll be no music stores like Tower Records etc by then.

J: Yeh, yeh.

T: Hmm, yeh.

J: Old guys will be sad. 

K: But even with cars and stuff, there is that kind of rental service now, isn't there?

T: Carsharing?

K: Yeah. So won't car showrooms eventually disappear?

J: I think so. And with clothes, there's a high possibility that stores will start to disappear.

K: Oh, now you mention clothes, do you remember that online thing we talked about before where they put the clothes that you like onto your photo?

J: Yeah, yeah.

K: I had thought about doing that, but the site has shut down!

J: Ah, its over?

K: Yeah, so I couldn't do it.

J: Oh, thats a shame.

T: It is.

J: So many businesses have been hit by covid, I think the view that we see before us will be a lot different by next year, or the year after. Getting aound this will have an effect on the way we live or express ourselves, I feel.

T: I lived on an island in Kagoshima when I was little. We had a Shamisen in our house, it had a kind of plastic stick to play it.

J: Can you play, Tasai?

T: No, not at all. I only ever just picked it up sometimes for fun.

J: You could show us a Kagoshima folk song to finish.

T: Haha, no no no. Why?

J: I don't know. To wrap it up?

T: No, it wouldn't wrap it up, haha. 

K: In that case, Joe, you should play guitar.

J: Lets perform together sometime!

K: No way!

T: Joe!

K: No thanks, haha.

J: I'd gain prestige by playing with Kaoru from Dir en grey. There would be no merit for you though, Kaoru.

T: I'd go numb, I wouldn't be able to play at all if I were you. haha. Playing next to a pro.

J: Well, what can I say? I have big dreams. No, but if we did play together, I'd practice, I'd give it my best.

T: Of course.

K: Well, yeh.

J: If, for example, we played together on this youtube channel next year, I'd be serious about practicing.

Kami: I'll do it too.

J: Kami too?!

K: Hahaha

J: Would you, Kami?

Kami: I would.

K: But your hands would start to hurt.

T: Right.

Kami: I'd practice.

J: You'll practice? In that case, we could have Tasai on Shamisen too, and all play together.

T: Shamisen is ok? Well, I guess its a stringed instrument like guitar.

J: Lets announce something.

*...silence...*

K: Hahahaha

J: No-ones getting on board with this?

K: hahaha

J: Oh, nevermind then! haha.

K: Well, if the opportunity arises, right?

J: Yes, if the opportunity arises.

K: Ok, we'll finish here for this week. Please subscribe. Thank you very much.

On screen text:

Notice

27th Dec 2020 (Sun) 23:30~ The Freedom of Expression LIVE #3 Live broadcast.

*1,2 Couldn't catch.

* Feel free to inform if it looks like I've misinterpreted some of the amp/simulator talk.

[wisdomrays]

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Why is Atheism So Widespread?

Atheism means denying God's existence, which of course involves rejecting His commandments, as well as religious reflection and seriousness, and believing in the possibility of total self-independence apart from God. As such beliefs negate the concept of sin, people imagine that they can live as they please. Therein lies in the corruption of people's hearts and minds. Atheism spreads because education is misused, young people are neglected, and schools actually defend and foster it.

Ignorance about the essentials of faith and religion is the primary reason why atheism starts to grow and develop. People whose minds, hearts, and souls have not been directed to the truth inevitably become vulnerable. Only God's help and grace can save them. If a community does not confront this trend decisively and successfully, its members' hearts and minds become open to other influences that lead to deviation.

Atheism first manifests itself as a lack of interest in the principles of faith. People with this attitude often claim that it is positive, for it represents a desire for the mind's independence and freedom of thought. As the demands of faith are strenuous, indifference turns toward what is easier. It seeks any pretext to excuse it from honest and serious reflection, and so falls easily into neglect, then heedlessness, atheism, and even contempt for religion.

In fact, atheism is neither grounded on sound reasoning nor supported by human intuition or experience. Still less is it based upon "scientific" truth. It is no more than a mood, typically lazy but sometimes active and militant, of not caring and of rebellion.

The countless manifestations of God within and outside ourselves testify that there is only One Creator and Governor who administers, directs, and sustains this universe. We may think of each manifestation as a letter or book from God to us, reflecting His Divine Attributes in a way that we can understand. These Attributes can be traced everywhere in creation, which is no more than a vast area for testing and teaching humanity. However, some people with incorrect concepts have erred greatly in their understanding and observation of these signs. As a result, they have presented nature, as well as it principles and relationships, it such a way that many people (especially the young) have abandoned true faith.

Much has been said and written about the natural world's delicate balance and innumerable subtle harmonies. Such an order can be attributed only to the All-Mighty. Planets and stars move within an interrelated complexity of drifts and orbits that are infinitely more precise than anything we could ever design or make. If what we make is accepted as evidence of intelligent design, why is the far more vast and complicated universe considered an exception to this rule?

Nature resembles a huge factory of enormous (actual and potential) generative power. Its working principles are astonishingly subtle and supple, yet firmly established in reassuring patterns and rhythms. From where does nature get these operating rules? Some say that nature is self-created, but how can that persuade anybody? Of course one of the operating rules is a measure of self-organizing power. But we want to know the origin of this rule.

Principles are non-essential attributes of a thing or being and, as such, are secondary and dependent on substance and essence. Attributes cannot exist before or independently of the compound or organism of which they are attributes. Thus, if a plant demonstrates a measure of self-organizing power by seeking light, moisture, and nutrients for its growth, it means that a measure of self-organizing power has been embedded in its seed. Similarly, the principle of attraction in physics operates in and through existent masses, distances, and forces. To claim that such principles are the origin or source of existent things or beings is untenable.

Just as untenable is the confidence with which such claims are asserted. To claim that this extraordinarily subtle and ordered universe is the outcome of haphazard coincidences is absurd, contradictory, and quite unscientific, for all the evidence points to the exact opposite.

As the result of long experiments and reflection, Muller declared that reason could not explain the origin of life. He established, on the behalf of science and scientists, the absurdity of "coincidence" as a possible explanation. Similarly, after a 22-year series of studies, the Soviet Institute of Chemistry, under the chairmanship of Oparin, proved that the laws of chemistry and chemical reactions shed no light on the origin of life, and that science still has no answer to this question.

When these scientists acknowledged the limitations to human inquiry, they did so on behalf of all science and scientists. Yet such work has not undone the damage done by earlier, less careful scientists, who offered only guesses as reliable scientific theory. Unfortunately, general attitudes and values continue to be shaped by such guesses and not by the realities established by better scientists.

For example, many textbooks and encyclopedias continue to present humanity's evolution from apes to human beings as fact instead of theory. In reality, a growing number of scientists, most particularly evolutionists, argue that Darwin's theory of evolution is not a truly scientific theory at all. Many critics of the highest intellectual caliber admit that we still have no idea of how this "evolution" took place. While there is a great deal of divergent opinion among the experts about probable causes and the actual process, the general public and less-informed scientists continue to believe in it.

Various research projects and published studies cast doubt on evolution and seek to give a truer picture of nature as creation and our place in it. Works like Why Do We Believe in God? help those who considered non-believers in evolution as rather odd people reconsider their opinion and reflect more wisely on the matter.

Given the fact that a sound, reliable understanding of the natural world leads to belief in a single, universal Creator, atheism has more to do with obstinacy, prejudice, and a refusal to give up illusions than with the mind's independence or freedom of thought. Young people remain vulnerable, for their understanding of their behavior's nature and consequences is incomplete, their awareness of their spiritual being and their resulting deep-seated spiritual needs is limited, and their grasp of the balance between material and non-material values that characterizes a total human existence is deficient. Thus they are easily deceived by outdated concepts presented as "scientific" truths, although scientists know (and have said) that they are no more than theories. This is why teaching and learning about the truth are more important today than other duties and obligations.

If this vital task is not taken up, we may be unable to rectify the worsening situation in the future. Some of those evil consequences are with us already. This may be the major reason for our suffering over the years. We are the unlucky generation that was deprived of good teachers—teachers who had attained inward unity and harmony of mind and heart, truly knew themselves in their deepest thoughts and feelings, desired to teach others, and were willing to suffer to promote others' happiness and welfare. We hope such noble-minded teachers will arise among us and undertake this truly humane mission to rescue people from them current moral and spiritual suffering.

If this can be done, present and future generations will acquire the necessary stability in their thinking and reasoning about life's great questions. They will be able to resist the lure of false beliefs and illusions, and thereby be saved from the anxiety of constantly doubting the nature and purpose of their lives. They will be immunized, at least partially, against atheism and its attendant self-centered and neurotic behaviors. Atheism is caused by a lack of knowledge and learning, an inability to synthesize one's inner and outer life, and is the result of an undernourished heart and soul. People cling to what they know, and resist what they do not know—or at least try to remain uninterested and unconcerned.

The mass media continually presents ideas, lifestyles, and character types that encourage self-indulgence and self-abandonment. Thus it is no surprise that many young people try to become hippies or punks or whatever the latest craze is; seek immediate gratification and pleasure; and do not bother to cultivate their minds or their tastes, but prefer triviality and banality, loudness and vulgarity.

People quickly adopt ways considered exciting and attractive. What they do not know becomes even more strange and alien, and eventually a matter of total indifference. Thus we have to find effective ways to introduce young people to the deeper ways of religious life, ways that lead away from anxiety and toward tranquillity, away from darkness and toward light.

Young people are excitable and susceptible. They crave limitless freedom and have an abundance of unsatisfied appetites and desires. Their overly generous hearts and minds cause imbalance and disharmony, which can lead them toward atheism. They prefer immediate pleasure, however slight or brief, to the misery and distress that come in the wake of indulgence. They jump at the pleasures and enjoyments that Satan displays to them, and so prepare their own calamity. They fly to the fire of atheism just as moths are drawn to light.

While ignorance and unfed hearts and souls increase, materialism and carnality gradually subvert the desire for truth and annul any nobility of purpose. This is what happened with Faust. This man, who desired extraordinary powers to do whatever he wished for a limited period, sold his soul for a very cheap price to Mephistopheles, Satan's agent. But when he received these powers, his noble aims of serving humanity left him and he wasted his years of power by pursuing trivial pleasures.

When the soul is dead, the heart dies, compassion disappears, and the mind and reason become so bewildered and confused that people become helpless victims of their own passing whims or the worst fads. Anyone who becomes obsessed with carnal passion and sensuality will suffer crises and change direction continually, applaud every new fashion in thought as if it were the truth, and swing from one ideology to another—from confusion to doubt and back again. They will find no attraction in faith, in a steady sense of duty, or in a patient, enduring heart.

Nor will they find any merit in moral education, self-discipline, contemplation, the soul's improvement, or in strengthening their morals and manners. Wholly addicted to triviality and self-indulgence, they will deny any achievement to our ancestors and remain willfully ignorant of what real culture and civilization can make possible: a balance between spirituality and sanity, between virtue and happiness.

Not everyone can be saved. Therefore, we should direct our efforts toward educating those young people in whom the worst habits have not become firmly established. They must be taught the fundamental principles of the system on which we depend and to which our existence belongs. They must be led to a systematic, straight, and honest way of thinking. Those who fail in this effort will see their community or nation continue to sink into moral and spiritual corruption until it can no longer be rescued.

An additional cause of atheism is the deliberate rejection of all constraints and prohibitions. Such undesirable and unrestrained indulgence has entered Muslim societies from western Europe via a degenerate form of existentialism (mainly French) that rejected traditional values and formal religious education in favor of absolute individual freedom. The theory was that the individual would (and could) mature and develop into a noble, moral being through personal experience.

This theory, regardless of where it has been applied, has never produced sane, caring, and compassionate human beings. Rather, it has intensified misery and selfishness by isolating individuals from their families, traditions, and even from themselves. Its adherents do not cultivate their morals or tastes, but rather live shallow, private lives and make no effort to find the truth. In short, they simply survive from moment to moment in the illusory hope that they may yet find happiness.

These few reflections do not cover the whole subject. Yet I hope that future guides, teachers, and leaders with discernment and foresight will consider them when trying to stop the spread of deviation and atheism. I have presented a brief insight into the problem, with the prayer that some people may be alerted to the truth, conquer the self, and regain the means to do what is good.

[jedi-order-apologist]

I finished reading Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, and I have to say, I really, really loved it! Everyone who recommended it to me was 100% right - this book is great, and especially great in its representation of the Jedi. I think I like it even more than Shatterpoint, and I really liked Shatterpoint.

There are some weak points - it was a little slow to pull me in, and there’s a couple of Weird Legends Things™ that, with me not being particularly immersed in that continuity, don’t quite fit in with my conception of Star Wars (Dooku apparently having had a Master that was not Yoda; the infamous 13-year-old age limit (though I was at least familiar with that one), the Jedi being so far in the public eye that there exists a famous Yoda impersonator, etc), and I was a little iffy on how it handled the “Jedi shouldn’t be in the war” angle (I’m fine with there being Jedi who think that the Jedi shouldn’t be in the war. I’m less fine with an author deciding that other Jedi can’t find the words to defend their involvement, because that’s a cheap way of framing the argument), and a small moment of the “everyone falls in love” stuff I dislike.

But those were very small aspects of the book, all things considered, and pretty much everything else about this book is really, really good, and very Star Warsy - a very healthy mix of the wacky as well as the philosophical sides of the franchise, which suited my tastes really well. This book is fun - Yoda is the grumpy grandpa that he deserves to be, and spends a good portion of the book disguised as an astromech that gets into all sorts of trouble. Obi-Wan and Anakin have peak sibling energy in the handful of scenes that they show up in - Anakin at one point insisting that a woman would have to be desperate to want Obi-Wan, and only a younger sibling could possibly say something like that with a straight face to a man as attractive as Obi-Wan, as well as Obi-Wan lying to Mace Windu’s face to cover for Anakin and then immediately grumbling about it to Anakin that he doesn’t know why he does these things for him is such an older sibling thing to do.

Where this book really shines, though, is the serious stuff - the philosophy and the dark side and especially grief. What absolutely sold me on this story, and what made me sit up and go “this is going to be one of my favorite Star Wars books”, was the part where Yoda speaks to the padawans and helps them address and work through their grief. It was phenomenal, and beautiful, and absolutely everything I want out of depicting the Jedi - especially in the context that only a chapter earlier, Ventress had been hurling those standard accusations of “the Jedi don’t let you feel”, and this book wonderfully, completely demolishes that nonsense. This section is absolutely amazing:

Yoda set his bowl of gumbo regretfully aside. “Hear it working, do you?”

“Hear what?” Whie snapped.

“The dark side. Always it speaks to us, from our pain. Our grief. It connects our pain to all pain, our hurt to all hurt.”

“Maybe it has a lot to say.” Whie stared at the starscape hovering over the projector table. “It’s so easy for you. What do you care? You are unattached, aren’t you? You’ll probably never die. What was Maks Leem to you? Another pupil. After all these centuries, who could blame you if you could hardly keep track of them? Well, she was more than that to me.” He looked up challengingly. Tear tracks were shining on his face, but his eyes were still hard and angry. “She was the closest thing I had to a mother, since you took me away from my real mother. She chose me to be her Padawan and I let her down, I let her die, and I’m not going to sit here and stuff myself and get over it!” He finished with a yell, sweeping the plate of crêpes off the projection table, so the platter went sailing toward the floor.

Yoda’s eyes, heavy-lidded and half closed like a drowsing dragon’s, gleamed, and one finger twitched. Food, platter, drinks, and all hung suspended in the air. The platter settled; the crêpes returned to it; Whie’s overturned cup righted itself, and rich purple liquid trickled back into it. All settled back onto the table.

Another twitch of Yoda’s fingers, the merest flicker, and Whie’s head jerked around as if on a string, until he found himself looking into the old Jedi’s eyes. They were green, green as swamp water. He had never quite realized before how terrifying those eyes could be. One could drown in them. One could be pulled under.

“Teach me about pain, think you can?” Yoda said softly. “Think the old Master cannot care, mmm? Forgotten who I am, have you? Old am I, yes. Mm. Loved more than you, have I, Padawan. Lost more. Hated more. Killed more.” The green eyes narrowed to gleaming slits under heavy lids. Dragon eyes, old and terrible. “Think wisdom comes at no cost? The dark side, yes - it is easier for them. The pain grows too great, and they eat the darkness to flee from it. Not Yoda. Yoda loves and suffers for it, loves and suffers.”

One could have heard a feather hit the floor.

“The price of Yoda’s wisdom, high it is, very high, and the cost goes on forever. But teach me about pain, will you?”

“I...” Whie’s mouth worked. “I am sorry, Master. I was angry. But...what if they’re right?” he cried out in anguish. “What if the galaxy is dark. What if it’s like Ventress says: we are born, we suffer, we die, and that is all. What if there is no plan, what if there is no ‘goodness’? What if we suffer blindly, trying to find a reason for the suffering, but we’re just fooling ourselves, looking for hope that isn’t there? What if there is nothing but stars and the black space between them and the galaxy does not care if we live or die?”

Yoda said, “It’s true.”

The Padawans looked at him in shock.

The Master’s short legs swung forth and back, forth and back. “Perhaps,” he added. He sighed. “Many days, feel certain of a greater hope, I do. Some days, not so.” He shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

“Ventress was right?” Whie said, shocked out of his anger.

“No! Wrong she is! As wrong as she can be!” Yoda snorted. “Grief in the galaxy, is there? Oh, yes. Oceans of it. Worlds. And darkness?” Yoda pointed to the starscape on the projection table. “There you see: darkness, darkness everywhere, and a few stars. A few points of light. If no plan there is, no fate, no destiny, no providence, no Force: then what is left?” He looked at each of them in turn. “Nothing but our choices, hmm?”

“Asajj eats the darkness, and the darkness eats her back. Do that if you wish, Whie. Do that if you wish.” The old Jedi looked deep into the starscape, suns and planets and nebulae dancing, tiny points of light blazing in the darkness. “To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan.” His matted eyebrows rose high over his swamp-colored eyes, and he poked Whie with the end of his stick. Poke, poke. “Be a candle, or the night, Padawan: but choose!”

Whie cried for what seemed like a long time. Scout ate. Fidelis served. Master Yoda told stories of Maks Leem and Jai Maruk: tales of their most exciting adventures, of course, but also comical anecdotes from the days when they were only children in the Temple. They drank together, many toasts.

Scout cried. Whie ate. Fidelis served.

Yoda told stories, and ate, and cried, and laughed: and the Padawans saw that life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

I want to show this passage to every hot-take Yoda-critical fan who’s ever leveled that kind of nonsense at him. I want every one of them to read this and still try to tell me that Yoda is detached and uncaring of the galaxy around him. I want every fan who thinks the Jedi are expected to be unfeeling to read this and understand what the Jedi actually say and do and why giving into these feelings is the issue, not the feelings themselves.

The confrontation with Dooku is also amazing. Yoda challenges him to explain why the dark side is so great, and Dooku only gets more and more frustrated as Yoda is unswayed by any of what he tempts him with. I especially love this bit where Yoda lays out exactly why what the dark side promises is false:

“Want something else. Want power.”

“Power have I.”

“Want wealth.”

“Wealth I need not.”

“Want to be safe,” Dooku said in frustration. “Want to be free from fear!”

“I will never be safe,” Yoda said. He turned away from Dooku, a shapeless bundle under a battered, acid-eaten cloak. “The universe is large and cold and very dark: that is the truth. What I love, taken from me will be, late or soon: and no power is there, dark or light, that can save me.”

That then leads into a bit where Dooku has a vision of what a dark!Yoda would look like, and realizes how utterly terrifying that would be.

Dooku also has abandonment issues on full display - lashing out at the lady who had given her son up to the Jedi, getting furious at her on the son’s behalf (but so clearly, his own, speaking of his own resentment towards his parents), and throwing an absolute hissy fit because he’s convinced Yoda likes Anakin more than him. I’m not kidding, he’s so offended by Anakin’s entire existence that just his mere presence in his house is enough for Dooku to stop feeling conflicted about the whole thing and jump right back into the dark side.

And there’s just so many good little moments throughout it all on top of all that. Whie’s dreams - and oh, I knew exactly what his dream of his own death was when he described it to Scout and it hurt at the end when he hugged Anakin while saying “I’m so glad you’re not coming to kill me!”. And Ventress, calling Dooku out on the fact that it’s so obvious that Sidious will end up replacing him (also for a more humorous bit - the fact that she apparently has some petty grudge against Anakin and Obi-Wan for stealing her ships so she goes out of her way to steal their ship at the end), and the droids, and Scout’s cleverness in winning the tournament despite her disadvantages, Jai Maruk’s last stand and refusal to fall when he was at the edge, and...so much, really.

And above all else, the book really latches onto the idea of Jedi as family, and you all know how much I really, really love the idea of the Jedi as a big found family. The idea that they consider each other to be family is driven home again and again, in their words and in their actions, and I absolutely adore this book for that emphasis.

[nebris]

How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

In 2015, Bic launched a campaign to “save handwriting.” Named “Fight for Your Write,” it includes a pledge to “encourage the act of handwriting” in the pledge-taker’s home and community, and emphasizes putting more of the company’s ballpoints into classrooms.

As a teacher, I couldn’t help but wonder how anyone could think there’s a shortage. I find ballpoint pens all over the place: on classroom floors, behind desks. Dozens of castaways collect in cups on every teacher’s desk. They’re so ubiquitous that the word “ballpoint” is rarely used; they’re just “pens.” But despite its popularity, the ballpoint pen is relatively new in the history of handwriting, and its influence on popular handwriting is more complicated than the Bic campaign would imply.

The creation story of the ballpoint pen tends to highlight a few key individuals, most notably the Hungarian journalist László Bíró, who is credited with inventing it. But as with most stories of individual genius, this take obscures a much longer history of iterative engineering and marketing successes. In fact, Bíró wasn’t the first to develop the idea: The ballpoint pen was originally patented in 1888 by an American leather tanner named John Loud, but his idea never went any further. Over the next few decades, dozens of other patents were issued for pens that used a ballpoint tip of some kind, but none of them made it to market.

These early pens failed not in their mechanical design, but in their choice of ink. The ink used in a fountain pen, the ballpoint’s predecessor, is thinner to facilitate better flow through the nib—but put that thinner ink inside a ballpoint pen, and you’ll end up with a leaky mess. Ink is where László Bíró, working with his chemist brother György, made the crucial changes: They experimented with thicker, quick-drying inks, starting with the ink used in newsprint presses. Eventually, they refined both the ink and the ball-tip design to create a pen that didn’t leak badly. (This was an era in which a pen could be a huge hit because it only leaked ink sometimes.)

The Bírós lived in a troubled time, however. The Hungarian author Gyoergy Moldova writes in his book Ballpoint about László’s flight from Europe to Argentina to avoid Nazi persecution. While his business deals in Europe were in disarray, he patented the design in Argentina in 1943 and began production. His big break came later that year, when the British Air Force, in search of a pen that would work at high altitudes, purchased 30,000 of them. Soon, patents were filed and sold to various companies in Europe and North America, and the ballpoint pen began to spread across the world.

Businessmen made significant fortunes by purchasing the rights to manufacture the ballpoint pen in their country, but one is especially noteworthy: Marcel Bich, the man who bought the patent rights in France. Bich didn’t just profit from the ballpoint; he won the race to make it cheap. When it first hit the market in 1946, a ballpoint pen sold for around $10, roughly equivalent to $100 today. Competition brought that price steadily down, but Bich’s design drove it into the ground. When the Bic Cristal hit American markets in 1959, the price was down to 19 cents a pen. Today the Cristal sells for about the same amount, despite inflation.

The ballpoint’s universal success has changed how most people experience ink. Its thicker ink was less likely to leak than that of its predecessors. For most purposes, this was a win—no more ink-stained shirts, no need for those stereotypically geeky pocket protectors. However, thicker ink also changes the physical experience of writing, not necessarily all for the better.

I wouldn’t have noticed the difference if it weren’t for my affection for unusual pens, which brought me to my first good fountain pen. A lifetime writing with the ballpoint and minor variations on the concept (gel pens, rollerballs) left me unprepared for how completely different a fountain pen would feel. Its thin ink immediately leaves a mark on paper with even the slightest, pressure-free touch to the surface. My writing suddenly grew extra lines, appearing between what used to be separate pen strokes. My hand, trained by the ballpoint, expected that lessening the pressure from the pen was enough to stop writing, but I found I had to lift it clear off the paper entirely. Once I started to adjust to this change, however, it felt like a godsend; a less-firm press on the page also meant less strain on my hand.

My fountain pen is a modern one, and probably not a great representation of the typical pens of the 1940s—but it still has some of the troubles that plagued the fountain pens and quills of old. I have to be careful where I rest my hand on the paper, or risk smudging my last still-wet line into an illegible blur. And since the thin ink flows more quickly, I have to refill the pen frequently. The ballpoint solved these problems, giving writers a long-lasting pen and a smudge-free paper for the low cost of some extra hand pressure.

As a teacher whose kids are usually working with numbers and computers, handwriting isn’t as immediate a concern to me as it is to many of my colleagues. But every so often I come across another story about the decline of handwriting. Inevitably, these articles focus on how writing has been supplanted by newer, digital forms of communication—typing, texting, Facebook, Snapchat. They discuss the loss of class time for handwriting practice that is instead devoted to typing lessons. Last year, a New York Times article—one that’s since been highlighted by the Bic’s “Fight for your Write” campaign—brought up an fMRI study suggesting that writing by hand may be better for kids’ learning than using a computer.

I can’t recall the last time I saw students passing actual paper notes in class, but I clearly remember students checking their phones (recently and often). In his history of handwriting, The Missing Ink, the author Philip Hensher recalls the moment he realized that he had no idea what his good friend’s handwriting looked like. “It never struck me as strange before… We could have gone on like this forever, hardly noticing that we had no need of handwriting anymore.”

No need of handwriting? Surely there must be some reason I keep finding pens everywhere.

Of course, the meaning of “handwriting” can vary. Handwriting romantics aren’t usually referring to any crude letterform created from pen and ink. They’re picturing the fluid, joined-up letters of the Palmer method, which dominated first- and second-grade pedagogy for much of the 20th century. (Or perhaps they’re longing for a past they never actually experienced, envisioning the sharply angled Spencerian script of the 1800s.) Despite the proliferation of handwriting eulogies, it seems that no one is really arguing against the fact that everyone still writes—we just tend to use unjoined print rather than a fluid Palmerian style, and we use it less often.

I have mixed feelings about this state of affairs. It pained me when I came across a student who was unable to read script handwriting at all. But my own writing morphed from Palmerian script into mostly print shortly after starting college. Like most gradual changes of habit, I can’t recall exactly why this happened, although I remember the change occurred at a time when I regularly had to copy down reams of notes for mathematics and engineering lectures.

In her book Teach Yourself Better Handwriting, the handwriting expert and type designer Rosemary Sassoon notes that “most of us need a flexible way of writing—fast, almost a scribble for ourselves to read, and progressively slower and more legible for other purposes.” Comparing unjoined print to joined writing, she points out that “separate letters can seldom be as fast as joined ones.” So if joined handwriting is supposed to be faster, why would I switch away from it at a time when I most needed to write quickly? Given the amount of time I spend on computers, it would be easy for an opinionated observer to count my handwriting as another victim of computer technology. But I knew script, I used it throughout high school, and I shifted away from it during the time when I was writing most.

My experience with fountain pens suggests a new answer. Perhaps it’s not digital technology that hindered my handwriting, but the technology that I was holding as I put pen to paper. Fountain pens want to connect letters. Ballpoint pens need to be convinced to write, need to be pushed into the paper rather than merely touch it. The No.2 pencils I used for math notes weren’t much of a break either, requiring pressure similar to that of a ballpoint pen.

Moreover, digital technology didn’t really take off until the fountain pen had already begin its decline, and the ballpoint its rise. The ballpoint became popular at roughly the same time as mainframe computers. Articles about the decline of handwriting date back to at least the 1960s—long after the typewriter, but a full decade before the rise of the home computer.

Sassoon’s analysis of how we’re taught to hold pens makes a much stronger case for the role of the ballpoint in the decline of cursive. She explains that the type of pen grip taught in contemporary grade school is the same grip that’s been used for generations, long before everyone wrote with ballpoints. However, writing with ballpoints and other modern pens requires that they be placed at a greater, more upright angle to the paper—a position that’s generally uncomfortable with a traditional pen hold. Even before computer keyboards turned so many people into carpal-tunnel sufferers, the ballpoint pen was already straining hands and wrists. Here’s Sassoon:

We must find ways of holding modern pens that will enable us to write without pain. …We also need to encourage efficient letters suited to modern pens. Unless we begin to do something sensible about both letters and penholds we will contribute more to the demise of handwriting than the coming of the computer has done.

I wonder how many other mundane skills, shaped to accommodate outmoded objects, persist beyond their utility. It’s not news to anyone that students used to write with fountain pens, but knowing this isn’t the same as the tactile experience of writing with one. Without that experience, it’s easy to continue past practice without stopping to notice that the action no longer fits the tool. Perhaps “saving handwriting” is less a matter of invoking blind nostalgia and more a process of examining the historical use of ordinary technologies as a way to understand contemporary ones. Otherwise we may not realize which habits are worth passing on, and which are vestiges of circumstances long since past.

Josh Giesbrecht is a writer, artist, programmer, and public-school teacher based in British Columbia, Canada.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-the-ballpoint-pen-killed-cursive?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[kyogre-blue]

Nanowrimo, day 13 (wc 2385)

The first thing they had to do after docking was find out whether there were any local restrictions on who could do trade in the city and how. Once it was pointed out, Sinbad understood the concept. Although far less intense, it was the same as Partevia — outsider had to battle regulations and paperwork to earn their right to trade in the country. 

One of the dock master’s subordinates readily, if somewhat distractedly, pointed them in the right direction. 

To trade in Napolia, and indeed in Reim as a whole, it was necessary to become a member of the trade union. And as for the details of what the trade union required to grant membership… 

“1000 gold coins?!” Ja’far hissed in shock. His hands seemedling instinctively itched toward his hidden darts — until Rurumu’s hand came down on his head in a light chop. Light by Imuchakk standards, anyway. 

“Proper comportment, always,” she reminded him in a gentle, lilting voice. To the trade union receptionist, she smiled and gave a small nod of acknowledgement. “Thank you for the information, sir. Please allows to discuss how we will proceed.” 

The trader had to crane his neck back to look at her from where he was sitting. Clearing his throat slightly, he said, “C-certainly. We look forward to your application. I’m sure your business would add exciting new business to our city.” 

Since their group was fairly large, they had decided that only Sinbad, Rurumu and Ja’far would head to the trade union to apply — or fail to apply, as the situation turned out — while Hinahoho, Vittel and Mahad worked on docking and unloading their goods, and Alibaba headed out on his own matters. By then time the first group made their way back to their dock, the second group was halfway through unloading everything onto the pier, and Alibaba had also returned. 

“That girl in Reim? Girl? Yunan, what kind of description was that…?!” he was muttering to himself, holding his head and pacing in the shadow of the stacked merchandize. 

It seemed like his matters were not going well. Fortunately, Sinbad was more than willing to provide a distraction. 

Calling everyone over, he quickly summarized the situation. “In short,” he said, “we need 1000 gold pieces and a letter of recommendation from a member.” 

“1000 gold pieces! That’s highway robbery!” Ja’far insisted. 

“Is it really that big a problem?” Vittel wondered. “I mean, the treasure from Valefor was much more than that. Most of it went to the national chief, but there was still some left aside,” — Sinbad had learned his lesson in that respect — “and if there was anything left from Baal’s dungeon…” 

“There wasn’t really,” Sinbad said quickly. “Not unless we borrow from Alibaba.” He glanced at his friend. 

“It’s fine, I’ll keep the interest low,” Alibaba assured him. It was hard to tell whether he was joking. “It most likely won’t be just one thousand though. The only way to get a recommendation is to pay something in return. Right now, you don’t have any connections, not among the merchants or the nobles, so you can only rely on money, which will be a lot to convince someone to potentially risk their reputation by endorsing you, or on giving away part of your future business in some way.” 

“And we’ll need to find out who the trade union members are first, and who we can try approaching about the recommendation,” Sinbad realized, sighing. 

“Please leave the information gathering to us,” Vittel said quickly. “We have experience with that kind of work.” ...In a sense. Assassinations often required first researching the target, and Sham Lash had also at times served as a branch of Partevia’s intelligence agency. Their methods ran more toward stealing documents than asking around, but it was at least something they had familiarity with. 

“Alright, then I’ll be counting on you,” Sinbad agreed. “We’ll speak to the dock master about paying for a longer stay. Then, we can load the merchandize back on for now and live aboard in the meantime to save some money. I can’t imagine the hotels or warehouses are cheap around here…” 

Rurumu nodded. “But, Lord Sinbad, what shall we do about the food? Even with Valefor’s ice magic, it can’t be kept indefinitely without losing freshness.” 

“If we can’t sell it, then…” Sinbad frowned, pursing his lips. 

It was frustrating. 

Since everything had been coming together, he had gotten too hasty. Something like the perishable nature of some goods like the rare extreme north fish should have occurred to him even without knowing about the difficulty of getting a trading license in Napolia. There were any number of other issues that could cause delay in travel, so he should have rejected anything that wasn’t suited to transport and storage. But he hadn’t been able to predict what would be most appealing to Reim citizens on the market, so Sinbad had focused on taking as many different things as Rametoto was willing to offer. 

This was just a delay. They would enter the trade union eventually, Sinbad was sure. The interest in their Imuchakk goods was clearly high. And even without the perishables, they would have plenty of merchandize to sell. Fortunately, he had even set aside some additional funds from the treasure this time, remembering the difficulties of having kept nothing from Baal. 

It was just a delay. But it was so frustrating. 

“It’s not that you can’t sell entirely, it’s that you can’t sell in public,” Alibaba pointed out. “It should still be possible to sell privately. That is to say, if you approach an individual buyer and sign a contract with them without putting anything on the market in public.” 

“You don’t sound very enthusiastic about it,” Sinbad noted. “I’m guessing this isn’t a good option.” 

Turning it over in his mind, he thought he had an idea why. 

Alibaba nodded. “It’s not great. You don’t want to be a supplier, you want to be an independent trading company. A famous one. If you resell, someone else will take the goods you’ve brought over and becomes the ones known for selling Imuchakk goods to the public. You’ll lose the first time on the market advantage, which is especially strong in this situation, not to mention the money lost depending on how much the resell buyer drives down the prices.” 

“If it’s like that, better to throw it out and start over clean,” Ja’far judged ruthlessly. 

“It’s just food, right? Compared to our other Imuchakk goods, it’s probably not as distinctive,” Hinahoho disagreed. “Most of it is fish or meat, and you can catch a lot of it outside Imuchakk territories too, so it might have even appeared here before.” 

“That might be true for Eumera sea bream and the like, but I do not think anyone except our warriors would be able to hunt a black elder moose successfully,” Rurumu said. The creature she was referring to towered over even the Imuchakk and was extremely dangerous to hunt. She had a point — Sinbad couldn’t imagine any other tribes treating them as a prey animal, or sharing their kills with outsiders in the rare cases where they succeeded in bringing one down. 

It wasn’t common even for the Imuchakk, and the fact that Rametoto had sold them some was a sign of his high expectations. 

Both selling it to some other merchants to profit off of and just throwing it out felt unacceptable. 

Everyone felt that way, regardless of which option their ultimately favored. The discussion continued back and forth in circles endlessly. Closing his eyes, Sinbad tried to block it out and think. 

There had to be another way. He refused to believe it could be this kind of inescapable situation. He had never gone along with what the world wanted, so there had to be some other solution that would let him come out on top. He just had to find it. 

“I think,” Alibaba said slowly, making everyone quiet down habitually, “there might be a third option. It’ll take extra work, but there might be extra benefits too.” 

“In that case, please educate us, Mentor,” Sinbad said, smiling. 

Again, he received an undeserved look of judgement. 

Clearing his throat, Alibaba began to explain. “The reason you shouldn’t resell is that you’ll be giving ground to competition. Other merchants are your opponents, competing for the same resources — the buying power of the public. But not all merchants sell the same things, so not everyone is in direct competition for the same markets. In that case… why not make use of a market you couldn’t otherwise pursue?” 

Vittel was frowning in confusion, and Mahad’s face was even more blank than usual. It was clear they didn’t understand, and the others were not much better off. 

Only Rurumu nodded thoughtfully. “I see… As expected of Lord Alibaba,” she said. Glancing at her fiance with a smile, she explained, “Imagine if you bring down a silver frost bear. You don’t want to just give away the meat or the fur or the bones, since you can use those. But what about the fangs or claws? You’re not any good at making jewelry, and neither is Rika, and you don’t really have a use for them either. So why not go ahead and sell them?” 

“Oh-ho, so it’s like that,” Hinahoho brightened. 

“Yes, like that,” Alibaba agreed, beaming. “But if you play it smart, you can even have the person you’re selling to tell their customers, ‘These are made from the claws of a silver frost bear, that fearsome beast! The great warrior Hinahoho brought it down himself!’ as free advertisement. ...Well, using that analogy.” Taking a deep breath, he said simply, “What I’m suggesting is to resell to a restaurant.” 

The idea that had been slowly taking shape finally came into focus, spreading out in Sinbad’s mind full of detail — and benefit. 

“Oh!” His eyes brightened with excitement. “I see! We’ll never start a restaurant ourselves, so it’s not like we’re losing potential customers. And if presented right, we can even get people interested in Imuchakk, so they react even better when we finally open our own store!” 

Sinbad had never been to a proper restaurant, but he imagined it was something like the taverns he’d sometimes visited with some of the merchants and sailors he worked with — on their expense, of course. One older man, whose clothes had been tailored for a much rounder figure before the war took a downturn, had proudly boasted about dining in the royal capital and in Aktia, back when his business had been flourishing. 

‘Oh, this fish is quite interesting,’ the rich visitors would say. ‘How did you catch it?’ 

‘It’s all the way from the extreme north! Look at that powerful tail, you can only catch them with an enforced net, but the extra weight makes it hard to maneuver,’ the restaurant owner would brag, for some reason very familiar with the particulars of fishing. ‘Only an Imuchakk warrior would have the arm strength to turn them dexterously enough!’ 

‘Imuchakk? Tell me more!’ 

The image in Sinbad’s mind was a bit too... cozy to be a high class restaurant, but it was not entirely off. 

Unaware of what Sinbad was imagining, Alibaba nodded along. “That’s right. When you think about it, people aren’t really going to know what to do with this kind of food items anyway. They won’t recognize most of them or know how to cook them. So this method of introducing Imuchakk cuisine to them is actually better, right? Especially if Miss Rurumu can provide some basic recipes when negotiating. Since you’re providing a one of a kind attraction that will give them an edge over their competitors, with Sinbad’s persuasive skills, a high profit is quite possible!” 

“I can certainly do that,” Rurumu agreed. Turning to their young boss, she asked, “Lord Sinbad?” 

Sinbad grinned. “Let’s do it!” 

Once the decision had been made, he didn’t hesitate and immediately put together a plan of action. 

“Rurumu and Hinahoho, look over the food stuff we brought and decide what kind of recipes we can sell. Also, put aside what we can use as a sample meal when we go to make the deal,” Sinbad issued orders rapidly. “Vittel, find out about the famous restaurants in Napolia and what their owners are like. Ja’far and Mahad, you’ll help me look for an office for our company and move the other goods there. After we’re done with the offloading and the deal, I want most of you to head back to Imuchakk and get a new shipment. We’ll figure out what we want to bring over once we see how the first few days go. Everyone clear on what to do?” 

“Yes!!” A chorus of voices rang out. 

The founding members of the Sindria Trading Company dispersed quickly, leaving only the two dungeon capturers in the ship’s cabin. Sinbad let out a silent breath. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t at least a little nervous, betting like this on obtaining a license somehow. But he would naturally forge onward ahead. 

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he smiled and clapped Alibaba on the shoulder. 

“Thanks,” he said simply. 

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. The hard part will be landing the deal and making sure it runs smoothly,” Alibaba insisted, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. However, there was a pleased smile tugging on his lips. 

“Mm. Well, that’s true. I’ll handle the negotiations, but I’d like it if you could come too,” Sinbad said. “Just to observe. You can tell me afterwards how badly I let myself get cheated.” 

There were things Sinbad didn’t know, like the tricks of business. But after making a mistake once, he would certainly never repeat it. He just needed to make sure he knew what his mistakes had been in the first place. 

“Alright,” Alibaba agreed easily. “As long as it’s within the next few days, I’ll go with you. I’ll be heading out to Remano after that.” For some reason, he sighed heavily. “Not that I know what’ll do there. How am I even supposed to meet her...” 

Sinbad patted him on the back. 

[terravilla]

New Home Owners- Mini Renos

When I first divulged to my boyfriend that I was painting the kitchen black, he gave a very distinctive look like he smelled something fowl or was chewing on a lemon. It is a bold statement to pick dark/deep colors for walls and if done wrong, can make a space look cheap and dirty. If done correctly, can make a space look classy and striking. It can also be very difficult to repaint so using a matte finish makes it much easier to redo the walls if down the road, you decide to lighten them.

As you can see from the above photo, the kitchen was redone by the previous owners with very busy black, grey, white, and dark blue granite countertop. It draws so much attention to the eye that it washes out the rest of the room and almost seems like it isn’t properly integrated into the space. 

The backsplash is a solid grey that has a slightly olive tone which severely clashes with the countertops much to my dismay. My boyfriend wants to keep the backsplash so with the constraints of the existing tile and countertops, the next step would be the cabinets, walls and window treatments.

The hardware is silver which matches the stainless steel appliances and the light fixtures installed by the prior owners. To save money we are leaving those as is. The white cabinets are a nice contemporary style so I decided to leave those white which will also save us some money.

Since black is such a striking color, I plan on doing a flat black paint to give it a cozy and natural feel. The peninsula wall and waterfall counters are a defining piece in the kitchen so I will be installing wood shelving with leather straps to compliment to silver and leather bar stools we purchase for the counter.  (Bar stools and concept color photos below)

The inlay detailed backing on the counter facing the dining area is currently white but for posterity, I will be painting that black. Since the peninsula wall is a standalone wall, to create drama, I will follow the black paint into the dining space on the small half wall. This will compliment and create flow from the counter which waterfalls in the opposite direction. 

The switch plates will be subbed out with silver or nickel plats to match the rest of the fixtures.

The window treatment is going to be the next big item in the kitchen in order to define the space. We had blinds custom made to our old apartment which were wooden slat blinds. The brown tones of the blinds will incorporate well with the bar stools and shelving. I think they would be a perfect addition if they should actually fit! We will know more when we get situated in the house.

The prior owner seemed to have slopped together a bunch of remnant items to make this house sellable. The walls were painting a light robins egg blue and the trim a darker robins egg blue which it looks intuitional. The doors and door handles are industrial grade like a hospital and the floors are a lower grade vinyl wood which can warp and scratch easily with furniture and liquids. Not a very pet friendly service but it will do in the interim until we decide to either replace them or at least get area rugs to protect them to some extent. 

If you are going to install a floor in your house, make sure that it is installed by a well known professional flooring company and to purchase midrange to upper range quality because over time, you will get the best bang for your buck! Otherwise you’ll end up paying double within 5 to 10 years just to have decent looking floors again.

There are a lot of things that need to be redone soon with the home to make it a more valued asset than the basic renovation that was done to get the house sold. Our purchase of the home was not based on the quality of its’ interior but more on how clean it was, its’ location, and the potential return on investment 5 years down the line. This is not our forever home but I intend of bringing this bilevel mid-century home back to its’ former glory!

That being said, the house was built in the early 1960′s and it structurally appeals to a mid-century vibe so instead of fighting that to keep up with current trends in the design market, I am going to appeal to its natural lines and use accent pieces that are removable to define the personality of the interior spaces. I will be changing the front of the house to reflect this as well. The garage doors will be exchanged with horizontal wood doors with windows, the shutter will be changed to match the garage doors, and the front door will be removed and replaced to reflect a sleeker less traditional look.

Since Mid-Century Danish style architecture and design seems to have a timeless appeal, its not much of an effort to move forward with it. The real struggle is going to be staging the house to appeal to a wide range of home buyers.

We have a moving target of budget to do these renovations and more. Having priced out most of them so far, we suspect total cost in renovations will be around $6,000.

The house was valued at 315K and we purchased at $309K. Total break even if sold at 315K. We are hoping that we will be able to list the house at 350k 5 yrs from now. Profit is important when doing a long time flip on a house. For me, creating a space and making it better than I found it is also important. Sometimes those things go hand and hand and sometimes they don't. Once the project is up and running, I will do a play by play on cost and time it took to complete. The kitchen redesign will take the least amount of time. The front elevation will likely take the longest and in-between many other smaller project will hopefully be completed to make the house really what it needs to be.

With a little help, I know my boyfriend and I can do most of the work ourselves cutting down substantial labor costs. For me, it will be worth it. I love projects. For him, he’ll gripe at first but eventually see the fruits if his labor and feel pretty good about it. A good test to a strong relationship is renovating a house together. If you can live through that, you got something special!

[roxyallnutt]

persuasive sales pitch

With ideas now flowing and our overall theme basically confirmed I've started to build our presentation. While constructing this elevator pitch I'm attempting to confide all of our discussions and project ideas into an easy to interpret snapshot. This pitch will be our first opportunity to share our ideas and receive feedback from peers and course instructors. As a group we wrote our purpose statement and agreed on our target audience to be the mass consumers of fast fashion today, however, we are unsure exactly who they are and their background's. To find this we intend to start surveying and testing our ideas in different environments.

As our pitch allures, we are aware that our project topic needs to be somewhat narrowed down. Exploring further into the travesty of fast fashion and its impacts on the environment and its workers, we have finalised some key areas that we may follow through with.

These include : (Nat Peacock, 2019)

- Clean water consumption

- High Electricity & Fuel consumption

- Harmful toxic dyes and chemicals (that pollute waterway)

- Harsh damaging insecticides/pesticides (injury farmers & enter waterways)

- Production of cotton textiles happens in low-income countries where labour is cheap due to limited safety regulations and poor economic status.

- Transportation (shipping/training/trucking) of cotton & finished product

- Brand new apparel that doesn’t even make it to shelf due to fast trends

- Donated clothing that mainly gets squished into huge bales and sent to third world countries to be sorted through and sold in markets, otherwise put into inadequate and unregulated landfills.

- Clothing that gets dumped in rubbish and goes straight to landfill. Clothes are so cheap it isn’t worth fixing them if broken.

- Water and power used to wash and dry clothes.

With these concepts now in mind and on paper, we have spent today grouping and comparing these ideas. I am worried about biting off more than we can chew. While fast-fashion and slowing down fashion is an incredibly motivating topic of study, the problem is hugely vast. To take on fast fashion as a whole and attempting to support every inch with justice will be pretty difficult. I'm wondering if its best to take one of these key ideas and nailing it.  Around the table, I believe we may take an approach of identifying and working on a couple of these key ideas. Pursuing from here I will take mindful watch that we don't find ourselves too over our heads.  While we have not play-tested these ideas yet to our imagined audience we are going to include the areas of environmental waste and materialistic waste when clothing is disregarded. Donna recently opened our eyes to the side of the wasteful throw-away culture of the fashion industry we do not typically see. Personally, I am more attracted to issues that are not typically in the public eye. This side of fast fashion is one that I believe may hit an audience a little differently as the plastic waste campaigns are so evident in the media at the moment.

Nat drafted our first conceptual statement after the conversations held today. I've included this in our presentation.

“Fast Fashion”, driven by consumer capitalism, is the current popular business model that produces excessive amounts of low quality, short-life garments that are sold at relatively low prices in the high-demanding Western countries. These garments are produced in low-income countries by workers in poor conditions who are earning wages under the poverty line (Bick, Halsey & Ekenga, 2018).

Cotton, being included in 75% of apparel, is a primary source of fabric in the textile industry (Anti-Slavery International, 2015). Due to the large water footprint, energy consumption and harmful chemicals necessary in growing and producing cotton, the garments produced are having drastic impacts on both the environment and workers of the industry (TED-Ed, 2017). Considering the wasteful “throw-away” culture of fashion and the attention we place on other industries, such as food, why doesn’t fashion get the same criticism? Fashion is at present, and just as harmful, if not more. 

[ronaldbryson1]

Get 15% Returns + Shares in My Top Businesses (like MentorBox)

Most by a wide edge DON'T KNOW THIS BUT…

"SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER" IS THE HOLDING COMPANY FOR MY TOP BRANDS (MENTORBOX, FARMER'S BOX, KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY, GLOBAL LAND HOLDINGS, ETC.).

IT'S ORGANIZED LIKE WARREN BUFFET'S COMPANY: BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY.

Budgetary stars GET:

• 7-12% GUARANTEED MONTHLY CASH-FLOW PAYOUTS

• OWNERSHIP IN A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF TOP BRANDS

• SIGN UP CASH BONUSES

• UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS EVENTS

• WHATSAPP ACCESS TO ME AND MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PH.D.

• ACCESS TO OUR INVESTOR-ONLY PARTIES AND NETWORKING MEETUPS.

Up until this point, WE'VE ONLY LET IN "Assistants and FAMILY" THOUGH FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS WE'RE OPENING A ROUND FOR NEW INVESTORS.

In case THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING AND YOU'RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

YOU SHOULD JUMP ON A ZOOM CALL WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR TO DISCUSS DETAILS:

Out of the blue…

If YOU'RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

By then YOU'RE SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH TO KNOW IF YOU'RE BEING "PITCHED," RIGHT?

RIGHT.

WHICH IS WHY I'M NOT GOING TO BEAT AROUND THE BUSH HERE.

I KNOW YOU'RE BUSY…

I'M BUSY TOO.

SO INSTEAD OF "PITCHING" YOU ON SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

LET'S MAKE IT SIMPLE…

In the occasion that INVESTING IN MY HOLDING COMPANY SOUNDS INTERESTING…

Additionally, YOU'RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR (THIS IS IMPORTANT)…

In a general sense JUMP ON A ZOOM CALL WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR AND HE'LL CHAT YOU WITH ABOUT DETAILS.

LIKE I SAID…

Direct.

Regardless of the way where that IF YOU'RE STILL READING THIS (MEANING: YOU HAVEN'T SCHEDULED A CALL YET)…

By then THAT MEANS ONLY ONE OF TWO THINGS…

1. It is conceivable that YOU'RE A BIT CONSERVATIVE WITH YOUR INVESTMENTS AND THEREFORE WANT MORE DETAILS…

Or then again...

2. YOU'RE MORE OF A "GUT" INVESTOR THAT NEEDS MORE BACKSTORY.

BOTH ARE FINE.

I UNDERSTAND.

Possibly YOU JUST WANT MORE INFORMATION BEFORE CHATTING WITH ALEX?

Sensible ENOUGH.

By then LET'S GET GRANULAR…

Partner with ME to uncover to YOU EXACTLY WHY I CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

Similarly, MORE IMPORTANTLY… WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF JOINING OUR SHAREHOLDERS CLUB?

(Fabulously… JUST TO MAKE THIS CLEAR…

THERE'S NO GUARANTEE THAT EVEN IF YOU DO WANT TO INVEST WITH US THAT WE'LL LET YOU IN…

So similarly, HERE'S WHY…

I THINK OF INVESTORS LIKE BUSINESS PARTNERS…

Similarly, OBVIOUSLY I'M NOT GOING TO JUST GO INTO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE.

SO TRUST ME…

THAT'S NOT FALSE SCARCITY.

THAT'S JUST SMART BUSINESS.

CAPITAL, REMEMBER, IS JUST A COMMODITY…

People LIKE US DON'T REALLY NEED MORE CAPITAL.

WE NEED MORE DEAL FLOW AND PARTNERSHIPS.

WHICH IS WHERE YOU COME IN…

In spite of the way where that WE'LL GET TO THAT LATER...)

At any rate…

THE REASON I CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PHD…

(WHO, BY THE WAY, IS A NASA SCIENTIST, HAS GROSSED OVER $1 BILLION IN ONLINE SALES, AND JUST SOLD HIS LAST COMPANY FOR $255 MILLION… )

(Sign: THERE'S A REASON I PARTNERED WITH HIM… )

… THE REASON WE CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER IS BECAUSE WE WANTED TO COMBINE THE TWO MOST POWERFUL FORCES IN BUSINESS INTO ONE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE…

In such a case, that WE'RE HONEST…

THERE'S REALLY ONLY ONE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION THAT INVESTORS LIKE US ASK OURSELVES…

"HOW DO I PLAY THE LONG GAME OF COMPOUND INTEREST…

In like way, SIMULTANEOUSLY INVEST IN THE NEXT UBER?"

Since BOTH WORK BY THE WAY…

FOR EXAMPLE… IF YOU HAD INVESTED 10K IN BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY IN 1964…

TODAY YOU'D HAVE OVER $240 MILLION DOLLARS.

Regardless of the way that ALSO…

If YOU HAD INVESTED 10K IN UBER JUST TEN YEARS AGO… ?

THAT'S AN EASY $100 MILLION.

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY INVESTORS LIKE US ARE OFTEN HEDGING OUR BETS…

Continually MANAGING RISK-REWARD...

10% HERE…

40% THERE…

$500K IN THIS COMPANY…

$1 MILLION IN THAT INDUSTRY…

$2 MILLION IN REAL ESTATE…

$750K IN THAT NEW STARTUP…

ETCETERA.

ETCETERA.

ETCETERA…

In a general sense, WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO IS THAT WE WANT TO PLAY THE LONG AND THE SHORT GAME… .

WE WANT SAFE RETURNS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR BIG WINS.

WHICH MAKES SENSE.

IT'S HUMAN NATURE.

WE WANT OUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.

We when all is said in done in everything considered WANT THAT.

Disregarding the way that IN ALL MY CAREFUL THE STUDY…

THE ONLY PERSON THAT REALLY DOES BOTH AT THE SAME TIME… ?

...THAT'S OUR FRIEND WARREN BUFFET…

(WHO IS ONE OF MY "VIRTUAL" MENTORS BY THE WAY)

(I MODELED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER AFTER BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY… ALMOST DOWN TO THE SYLLABLE)

… BECAUSE HERE'S THE THING…

THE REASON WHY BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY IS SUCH A MONSTER IS STRANGELY QUITE SIMPLE WHEN YOU BREAK IT DOWN…

WHAT EXACTLY DO THEY DO?

1. THEY INVEST IN (ALREADY HEALTHY) COMPANIES WHEN THEY'RE CHEAP...

2. THEY INVEST IN MANY OF THESE COMPANIES TO DIVERSIFY...

3. By then THEY RIDE THE MARKET UP OVER TIME (COMPOUNDING THEIR RETURNS), THOUGH...

4. WHILE ALSO TAKING ADVANTAGE OF "Gigantic EXITS" AS THEY COME.

SEE…

THEY'RE "Truly" INVESTORS…

SURE.

Regardless…

...THEY'RE BUSINESSMEN.

Additionally, THAT'S THE TRICK.

THAT'S THE SECRET FOR HOW TO PLAY BOTH THE SHORT "Preservationist" GAME AND THE LONG GAME AT THE SAME TIME.

IT'S SIMPLE....

Rather than INVESTING IN A STOCK (WHICH IS RISKY)…

Or on the other hand obviously A FUND (WHICH HAS NO MASSIVE UPSIDE)…

… YOU INSTEAD INVEST IN A "HOLDING COMPANY" THAT DOES ALL THE WORK FOR YOU…

A FUND LIKE THIS (LIKE SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER), AS AN EXAMPLE…

THEY PICK PROVEN COMPANIES.

THEY HELP GROW THOSE COMPANIES.

THEY PAY YOU OUT INTEREST EVERY YEAR.

Also, IF ONE OF THEIR COMPANIES BECOMES A UNICORN… LO AND BEHOLD…

(LIKE MENTORBOX FOR EXAMPLE)…

WELL…

AS THEY SAY… TO THE WINNER GOES THE SPOILS.

Everything considered… SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER'S INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO…

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS…

Stage ONE: ALEX AND I BUILD BUSINESSES USING OUR OWN CAPITAL TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE PROPER PRODUCT MARKET FIT… (READ: LESS RISK)...

Or then again obviously WE PURCHASE HEALTHY COMPANIES THAT ARE UNDERVALUED… (ALSO LESS RISK)...

By then STEP TWO:

WE USE OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN TO…

(Additionally, REMEMBER… BY THE WAY...

WE'VE ALREADY PROFITABLY SPENT OVER $500 MILLION IN DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING

In like manner,

Amassed OVER $1 BILLION IN SALES AND…

HAVE MORE THAN 12 MILLION SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS AND…

WE HAVE DIRECT CONNECTIONS TO THE SILICON VALLEY PIPELINE OF HOT STARTUPS.)

SO…

… AFTER WE DECIDE TO SCALE AN ALREADY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS…

WE STEP TWO: USE OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN AND ADDITIONAL CAPITAL TO BUILD MASSIVE BRANDS.

IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY AN EASY ONE-TWO PROCESS WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT THAT WAY.

Besides, WE ALREADY HAVE EASY PROOF OF CONCEPT...

IN ONLY THE PAST FEW YEARS, FOR EXAMPLE, WE GREW A FEW MASSIVE BRANDS AND ALREADY PUT THEM UNDER THE SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER BANNER…

FOR THE 10 TRILLION-DOLLAR EDUCATION MARKET…

MENTORBOX ALREADY HAS 75,000 PAYING SUBSCRIBERS…

In like manner, KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY GOT TO 7-FIGURES IN JUST A FEW MONTHS.

FOR THE 5 TRILLION-DOLLAR FOOD MARKET…

WE HAVE GRASSLAND FARMS, WHERE WE'VE CREATED A BEEF JERKY COMPANY…

In like manner, FARMER'S BOX (A "FARMER'S MARKET DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR") WHICH SOLD OUT IN JUST A FEW WEEKS…

By then FOR FASHION… .

WE HAVE OUR OWN SUCCESSFUL CLOTHING LINE: "A BETTER MAN."

WE ALSO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE UNDER GLOBAL LAND HOLDINGS (GLH).

WE HAVE A FINTECH PLAY WE'RE WORKING ON ("FOUNDERSBANK")…

...In addition, OBVIOUSLY MANY MORE.

THESE ARE ALREADY OR WILL BE UNDER SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

...In addition, MORE WILL BE ADDED EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

…

WHICH BEGS THE QUESTION…

WILL EVERY SINGLE ONE BE THE NEXT UNICORN?

NO. OF COURSE NOT.

Regardless, ONE OF THEM PROBABLY WILL…

In like manner, THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF THIS MODEL…

Remember WHAT SHAREHOLDERS GET… ?

Screens GET:

• 7-12% GUARANTEED MONTHLY CASH-FLOW PAYOUTS

• OWNERSHIP IN A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF TOP BRANDS

• SIGN UP CASH BONUSES

• UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS EVENTS*

• WHATSAPP ACCESS TO ME AND MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PH.D.

• ACCESS TO OUR INVESTOR-ONLY PARTIES AND NETWORKING MEETUPS.

WITH SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WE'LL PAY YOU OUT A MONTHLY INTEREST PAYMENT…

WHICH IS THE CONSERVATIVE LONG PLAY…

Regardless of how YOU ARE ALSO ABLE TO CONVERT SOME OF YOUR INVESTMENT INTO OWNERSHIP SHARES…

WHICH IS THEN DIVERSIFIED…

INTO HEALTHY BUSINESSES…

ALL OF WHICH HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE NEXT UNICORN.

Thusly… YOU'RE ABLE TO PLAY THE LONG AND SHORT GAME AT THE SAME TIME.

WHICH…

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING…

THIS ALL BEGS THE QUESTION…

For what reason DO ALEX AND I NEED YOU THEN?

…

Awesome QUESTION.

…

THE TRUTH IS THAT WE DON'T.

WE DON'T TECHNICALLY "NEED" MORE CAPITAL.

ALEX AND I COULD HAVE RETIRED ALREADY A LONG TIME AGO.

YOU'RE PROBABLY IN THE SAME BOAT....

Regardless, JUST LIKE WARREN BUFFET DOESN'T "NEED" TO READ 500 PAGES A DAY TO FIND THE NEXT COMPANY HE WANTS TO PURCHASE BECAUSE HE NEEDS THE MONEY...

NEITHER DO WE DO IT FOR THE MONEY…

TRUTH IS THAT WE JUST HONESTLY ENJOY BUSINESS.

WE THINK IT'S GOOD FOR THE WORLD.

WE LIKE GIVING MORE AND MORE VALUE TO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE.

WE LIKE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXCHANGE.

Other than IT MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

Truly IT DOES.

In like manner, SURE, IF WE HAVE NICE LIFESTYLE

Website:   http://www.schweitzeralexander.com/A3086930

[sharesinmytopbusinesses112]

Get 15% Returns + Shares in My Top Businesses (like MentorBox)

Most by far DON'T KNOW THIS BUT…

"SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER" IS THE HOLDING COMPANY FOR MY TOP BRANDS (MENTORBOX, FARMER'S BOX, KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY, GLOBAL LAND HOLDINGS, ETC.).

IT'S ORGANIZED LIKE WARREN BUFFET'S COMPANY: BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY.

Financial specialists GET:

• 7-12% GUARANTEED MONTHLY CASH-FLOW PAYOUTS

• OWNERSHIP IN A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF TOP BRANDS

• SIGN UP CASH BONUSES

• UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS EVENTS

• WHATSAPP ACCESS TO ME AND MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PH.D.

• ACCESS TO OUR INVESTOR-ONLY PARTIES AND NETWORKING MEETUPS.

Up to this point, WE'VE ONLY LET IN "Allies and FAMILY" THOUGH FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS WE'RE OPENING A ROUND FOR NEW INVESTORS.

If THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING AND YOU'RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

YOU SHOULD JUMP ON A ZOOM CALL WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR TO DISCUSS DETAILS:

Unexpectedly…

On the off chance that YOU'RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

By then YOU'RE SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH TO KNOW IF YOU'RE BEING "PITCHED," RIGHT?

RIGHT.

WHICH IS WHY I'M NOT GOING TO BEAT AROUND THE BUSH HERE.

I KNOW YOU'RE BUSY…

I'M BUSY TOO.

SO INSTEAD OF "PITCHING" YOU ON SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

LET'S MAKE IT SIMPLE…

In the occasion that INVESTING IN MY HOLDING COMPANY SOUNDS INTERESTING…

Also, YOU'RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR (THIS IS IMPORTANT)…

Basically JUMP ON A ZOOM CALL WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR AND HE'LL CHAT YOU WITH ABOUT DETAILS.

LIKE I SAID…

Direct.

Regardless of the way that IF YOU'RE STILL READING THIS (MEANING: YOU HAVEN'T SCHEDULED A CALL YET)…

By then THAT MEANS ONLY ONE OF TWO THINGS…

1. It is conceivable that YOU'RE A BIT CONSERVATIVE WITH YOUR INVESTMENTS AND THEREFORE WANT MORE DETAILS…

Or then again...

2. YOU'RE MORE OF A "GUT" INVESTOR THAT NEEDS MORE BACKSTORY.

BOTH ARE FINE.

I UNDERSTAND.

Maybe YOU JUST WANT MORE INFORMATION BEFORE CHATTING WITH ALEX?

Sensible ENOUGH.

By then LET'S GET GRANULAR…

Allow ME to disclose to YOU EXACTLY WHY I CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

Also, MORE IMPORTANTLY… WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF JOINING OUR SHAREHOLDERS CLUB?

(Unexpectedly… JUST TO MAKE THIS CLEAR…

THERE'S NO GUARANTEE THAT EVEN IF YOU DO WANT TO INVEST WITH US THAT WE'LL LET YOU IN…

Likewise, HERE'S WHY…

I THINK OF INVESTORS LIKE BUSINESS PARTNERS…

Also, OBVIOUSLY I'M NOT GOING TO JUST GO INTO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE.

SO TRUST ME…

THAT'S NOT FALSE SCARCITY.

THAT'S JUST SMART BUSINESS.

CAPITAL, REMEMBER, IS JUST A COMMODITY…

People LIKE US DON'T REALLY NEED MORE CAPITAL.

WE NEED MORE DEAL FLOW AND PARTNERSHIPS.

WHICH IS WHERE YOU COME IN…

Regardless of the way that WE'LL GET TO THAT LATER...)

At any rate…

THE REASON I CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PHD…

(WHO, BY THE WAY, IS A NASA SCIENTIST, HAS GROSSED OVER $1 BILLION IN ONLINE SALES, AND JUST SOLD HIS LAST COMPANY FOR $255 MILLION… )

(Sign: THERE'S A REASON I PARTNERED WITH HIM… )

… THE REASON WE CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER IS BECAUSE WE WANTED TO COMBINE THE TWO MOST POWERFUL FORCES IN BUSINESS INTO ONE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE…

In such a case, that WE'RE HONEST…

THERE'S REALLY ONLY ONE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION THAT INVESTORS LIKE US ASK OURSELVES…

"HOW DO I PLAY THE LONG GAME OF COMPOUND INTEREST…

In addition, SIMULTANEOUSLY INVEST IN THE NEXT UBER?"

Since BOTH WORK BY THE WAY…

FOR EXAMPLE… IF YOU HAD INVESTED 10K IN BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY IN 1964…

TODAY YOU'D HAVE OVER $240 MILLION DOLLARS.

Regardless of the way that ALSO…

If YOU HAD INVESTED 10K IN UBER JUST TEN YEARS AGO… ?

THAT'S AN EASY $100 MILLION.

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY INVESTORS LIKE US ARE OFTEN HEDGING OUR BETS…

Reliably MANAGING RISK-REWARD...

10% HERE…

40% THERE…

$500K IN THIS COMPANY…

$1 MILLION IN THAT INDUSTRY…

$2 MILLION IN REAL ESTATE…

$750K IN THAT NEW STARTUP…

ETCETERA.

ETCETERA.

ETCETERA…

Basically, WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO IS THAT WE WANT TO PLAY THE LONG AND THE SHORT GAME… .

WE WANT SAFE RETURNS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR BIG WINS.

WHICH MAKES SENSE.

IT'S HUMAN NATURE.

WE WANT OUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.

We all in all WANT THAT.

Despite the way that IN ALL MY CAREFUL THE STUDY…

THE ONLY PERSON THAT REALLY DOES BOTH AT THE SAME TIME… ?

...THAT'S OUR FRIEND WARREN BUFFET…

(WHO IS ONE OF MY "VIRTUAL" MENTORS BY THE WAY)

(I MODELED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER AFTER BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY… ALMOST DOWN TO THE SYLLABLE)

… BECAUSE HERE'S THE THING…

THE REASON WHY BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY IS SUCH A MONSTER IS STRANGELY QUITE SIMPLE WHEN YOU BREAK IT DOWN…

WHAT EXACTLY DO THEY DO?

1. THEY INVEST IN (ALREADY HEALTHY) COMPANIES WHEN THEY'RE CHEAP...

2. THEY INVEST IN MANY OF THESE COMPANIES TO DIVERSIFY...

3. By then THEY RIDE THE MARKET UP OVER TIME (COMPOUNDING THEIR RETURNS), THOUGH...

4. WHILE ALSO TAKING ADVANTAGE OF "Colossal EXITS" AS THEY COME.

SEE…

THEY'RE "Really" INVESTORS…

SURE.

In any case…

...THEY'RE BUSINESSMEN.

In addition, THAT'S THE TRICK.

THAT'S THE SECRET FOR HOW TO PLAY BOTH THE SHORT "Preservationist" GAME AND THE LONG GAME AT THE SAME TIME.

IT'S SIMPLE....

As opposed to INVESTING IN A STOCK (WHICH IS RISKY)…

Or then again A FUND (WHICH HAS NO MASSIVE UPSIDE)…

… YOU INSTEAD INVEST IN A "HOLDING COMPANY" THAT DOES ALL THE WORK FOR YOU…

A FUND LIKE THIS (LIKE SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER), AS AN EXAMPLE…

THEY PICK PROVEN COMPANIES.

THEY HELP GROW THOSE COMPANIES.

THEY PAY YOU OUT INTEREST EVERY YEAR.

Furthermore, IF ONE OF THEIR COMPANIES BECOMES A UNICORN… LO AND BEHOLD…

(LIKE MENTORBOX FOR EXAMPLE)…

WELL…

AS THEY SAY… TO THE WINNER GOES THE SPOILS.

In this manner… SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER'S INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO…

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS…

Stage ONE: ALEX AND I BUILD BUSINESSES USING OUR OWN CAPITAL TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE PROPER PRODUCT MARKET FIT… (READ: LESS RISK)...

Or on the other hand WE PURCHASE HEALTHY COMPANIES THAT ARE UNDERVALUED… (ALSO LESS RISK)...

By then STEP TWO:

WE USE OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN TO…

(Also, REMEMBER… BY THE WAY...

WE'VE ALREADY PROFITABLY SPENT OVER $500 MILLION IN DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING

In addition,

Collected OVER $1 BILLION IN SALES AND…

HAVE MORE THAN 12 MILLION SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS AND…

WE HAVE DIRECT CONNECTIONS TO THE SILICON VALLEY PIPELINE OF HOT STARTUPS.)

SO…

… AFTER WE DECIDE TO SCALE AN ALREADY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS…

WE STEP TWO: USE OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN AND ADDITIONAL CAPITAL TO BUILD MASSIVE BRANDS.

IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY AN EASY ONE-TWO PROCESS WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT THAT WAY.

Additionally, WE ALREADY HAVE EASY PROOF OF CONCEPT...

IN ONLY THE PAST FEW YEARS, FOR EXAMPLE, WE GREW A FEW MASSIVE BRANDS AND ALREADY PUT THEM UNDER THE SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER BANNER…

FOR THE 10 TRILLION-DOLLAR EDUCATION MARKET…

MENTORBOX ALREADY HAS 75,000 PAYING SUBSCRIBERS…

In addition, KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY GOT TO 7-FIGURES IN JUST A FEW MONTHS.

FOR THE 5 TRILLION-DOLLAR FOOD MARKET…

WE HAVE GRASSLAND FARMS, WHERE WE'VE CREATED A BEEF JERKY COMPANY…

Also, FARMER'S BOX (A "FARMER'S MARKET DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR") WHICH SOLD OUT IN JUST A FEW WEEKS…

By then FOR FASHION… .

WE HAVE OUR OWN SUCCESSFUL CLOTHING LINE: "A BETTER MAN."

WE ALSO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE UNDER GLOBAL LAND HOLDINGS (GLH).

WE HAVE A FINTECH PLAY WE'RE WORKING ON ("FOUNDERSBANK")…

...Also, OBVIOUSLY MANY MORE.

THESE ARE ALREADY OR WILL BE UNDER SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

...In addition, MORE WILL BE ADDED EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

…

WHICH BEGS THE QUESTION…

WILL EVERY SINGLE ONE BE THE NEXT UNICORN?

NO. OF COURSE NOT.

Regardless, ONE OF THEM PROBABLY WILL…

Also, THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF THIS MODEL…

Remember WHAT SHAREHOLDERS GET… ?

Speculators GET:

• 7-12% GUARANTEED MONTHLY CASH-FLOW PAYOUTS

• OWNERSHIP IN A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF TOP BRANDS

• SIGN UP CASH BONUSES

• UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS EVENTS*

• WHATSAPP ACCESS TO ME AND MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PH.D.

• ACCESS TO OUR INVESTOR-ONLY PARTIES AND NETWORKING MEETUPS.

WITH SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WE'LL PAY YOU OUT A MONTHLY INTEREST PAYMENT…

WHICH IS THE CONSERVATIVE LONG PLAY…

In spite of the way that YOU ARE ALSO ABLE TO CONVERT SOME OF YOUR INVESTMENT INTO OWNERSHIP SHARES…

WHICH IS THEN DIVERSIFIED…

INTO HEALTHY BUSINESSES…

ALL OF WHICH HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE NEXT UNICORN.

In this way… YOU'RE ABLE TO PLAY THE LONG AND SHORT GAME AT THE SAME TIME.

WHICH…

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING…

THIS ALL BEGS THE QUESTION…

For what reason DO ALEX AND I NEED YOU THEN?

…

Extraordinary QUESTION.

…

THE TRUTH IS THAT WE DON'T.

WE DON'T TECHNICALLY "NEED" MORE CAPITAL.

ALEX AND I COULD HAVE RETIRED ALREADY A LONG TIME AGO.

YOU'RE PROBABLY IN THE SAME BOAT....

Regardless, JUST LIKE WARREN BUFFET DOESN'T "NEED" TO READ 500 PAGES A DAY TO FIND THE NEXT COMPANY HE WANTS TO PURCHASE BECAUSE HE NEEDS THE MONEY...

NEITHER DO WE DO IT FOR THE MONEY…

TRUTH IS THAT WE JUST HONESTLY ENJOY BUSINESS.

WE THINK IT'S GOOD FOR THE WORLD.

WE LIKE GIVING MORE AND MORE VALUE TO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE.

WE LIKE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXCHANGE.

Other than IT MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

Truly IT DOES.

Also, SURE, IF WE HAVE NICE LIFESTYLES BECAUSE OF IT… ?

ALL THE BETTER.

In any case, THAT'S NOT THE MOTI

Website:   http://www.schweitzeralexander.com/A3086930

[sharesinmytopbusinesses]

Get 15% Returns + Shares in My Top Businesses (like MentorBox)

MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THIS BUT…

“SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER” IS THE HOLDING COMPANY FOR MY TOP BRANDS (MENTORBOX, FARMER’S BOX, KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY, GLOBAL LAND HOLDINGS, ETC.).

IT’S ORGANIZED LIKE WARREN BUFFET’S COMPANY: BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY.

SHAREHOLDERS GET:

•         7-12% GUARANTEED MONTHLY CASH-FLOW PAYOUTS

•         OWNERSHIP IN A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF TOP BRANDS

•         SIGN UP CASH BONUSES

•         UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS EVENTS

•         WHATSAPP ACCESS TO ME AND MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PH.D.

•         ACCESS TO OUR INVESTOR-ONLY PARTIES AND NETWORKING MEETUPS.

SO FAR, WE’VE ONLY LET IN “FRIENDS & FAMILY” THOUGH FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS WE’RE OPENING A ROUND FOR NEW INVESTORS.

IF THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING AND YOU’RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

YOU SHOULD JUMP ON A ZOOM CALL WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR TO DISCUSS DETAILS:

BY THE WAY…

IF YOU’RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

THEN YOU’RE SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH TO KNOW IF YOU’RE BEING “PITCHED,” RIGHT?

RIGHT.

WHICH IS WHY I’M NOT GOING TO BEAT AROUND THE BUSH HERE.  

I KNOW YOU’RE BUSY… I’M BUSY TOO.

SO INSTEAD OF “PITCHING” YOU ON SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

LET’S MAKE IT SIMPLE…

IF INVESTING IN MY HOLDING COMPANY SOUNDS INTERESTING… AND YOU’RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR (THIS IS IMPORTANT)…

JUST JUMP ON A ZOOM CALL WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR AND HE’LL CHAT YOU WITH ABOUT DETAILS.

LIKE I SAID… SIMPLE.

THOUGH IF YOU’RE STILL READING THIS (MEANING: YOU HAVEN’T SCHEDULED A CALL YET)…

THEN THAT MEANS ONLY ONE OF TWO THINGS…

1. EITHER YOU’RE A BIT CONSERVATIVE WITH YOUR INVESTMENTS AND THEREFORE WANT MORE DETAILS…

OR...

2. YOU’RE MORE OF A “GUT” INVESTOR THAT NEEDS MORE BACKSTORY.

BOTH ARE FINE. I UNDERSTAND.

MAYBE YOU JUST WANT MORE INFORMATION BEFORE CHATTING WITH ALEX?

FAIR ENOUGH. THEN LET’S GET GRANULAR…

LET ME TELL YOU EXACTLY WHY I CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER… AND MORE IMPORTANTLY… WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF JOINING OUR SHAREHOLDERS CLUB?

(BY THE WAY… JUST TO MAKE THIS CLEAR…

THERE’S NO GUARANTEE THAT EVEN IF YOU DO WANT TO INVEST WITH US THAT WE’LL LET YOU IN…

AND HERE’S WHY…

I THINK OF INVESTORS LIKE BUSINESS PARTNERS… AND OBVIOUSLY I’M NOT GOING TO JUST GO INTO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE.

SO TRUST ME… THAT’S NOT FALSE SCARCITY. THAT’S JUST SMART BUSINESS.

CAPITAL, REMEMBER, IS JUST A COMMODITY…

PEOPLE LIKE US DON’T REALLY NEED MORE CAPITAL.

INSTEAD… WE NEED MORE DEAL FLOW AND PARTNERSHIPS.

WHICH IS WHERE YOU COME IN…

THOUGH WE’LL GET TO THAT LATER...)

ANYWAYS…

THE REASON I CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WITH MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PHD…

(WHO, BY THE WAY, IS A NASA SCIENTIST, HAS GROSSED OVER $1 BILLION IN ONLINE SALES, AND JUST SOLD HIS LAST COMPANY FOR $255 MILLION…)

(HINT: THERE’S A REASON I PARTNERED WITH HIM…)

���THE REASON WE CREATED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER IS BECAUSE WE WANTED TO COMBINE THE TWO MOST POWERFUL FORCES IN BUSINESS INTO ONE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE…

BECAUSE IF WE’RE HONEST…

THERE’S REALLY ONLY ONE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION THAT INVESTORS LIKE US ASK OURSELVES…

“HOW DO I PLAY THE LONG GAME OF COMPOUND INTEREST… AND SIMULTANEOUSLY INVEST IN THE NEXT UBER?”

BECAUSE BOTH WORK BY THE WAY…

FOR EXAMPLE… IF YOU HAD INVESTED 10K IN BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY IN 1964… TODAY YOU’D HAVE OVER $240 MILLION DOLLARS.

THOUGH ALSO…

IF YOU HAD INVESTED 10K IN UBER JUST TEN YEARS AGO…? THAT’S AN EASY $100 MILLION.

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY INVESTORS LIKE US ARE OFTEN HEDGING OUR BETS…

EVER-MANAGING RISK-REWARD...

10% HERE… 40% THERE… $500K IN THIS COMPANY… $1 MILLION IN THAT INDUSTRY… $2 MILLION IN REAL ESTATE… $750K IN THAT NEW STARTUP…

ETCETERA. ETCETERA. ETCETERA…

BASICALLY, WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO IS THAT WE WANT TO PLAY THE LONG AND THE SHORT GAME….

WE WANT SAFE RETURNS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR BIG WINS.

WHICH MAKES SENSE. IT’S HUMAN NATURE. WE WANT OUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.

WE ALL WANT THAT.

THOUGH IN ALL MY CAREFUL THE STUDY…

THE ONLY PERSON THAT REALLY DOES BOTH AT THE SAME TIME…?

...THAT’S OUR FRIEND WARREN BUFFET…

(WHO IS ONE OF MY “VIRTUAL” MENTORS BY THE WAY)

(I MODELED SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER AFTER BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY… ALMOST DOWN TO THE SYLLABLE)

…BECAUSE HERE’S THE THING…

THE REASON WHY BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY IS SUCH A MONSTER IS STRANGELY QUITE SIMPLE WHEN YOU BREAK IT DOWN…

WHAT EXACTLY DO THEY DO?

1. THEY INVEST IN (ALREADY HEALTHY) COMPANIES WHEN THEY’RE CHEAP...

2. THEY INVEST IN MANY OF THESE COMPANIES TO DIVERSIFY...

3. THEN THEY RIDE THE MARKET UP OVER TIME (COMPOUNDING THEIR RETURNS), THOUGH...

4. WHILE ALSO TAKING ADVANTAGE OF “BIG EXITS” AS THEY COME.

SEE…

THEY’RE “TECHNICALLY” INVESTORS… SURE.

BUT REALLY…

...THEY’RE BUSINESSMEN.

AND THAT’S THE TRICK. THAT’S THE SECRET FOR HOW TO PLAY BOTH THE SHORT “CONSERVATIVE” GAME AND THE LONG GAME AT THE SAME TIME.

IT’S SIMPLE....

INSTEAD OF INVESTING IN A STOCK (WHICH IS RISKY)… OR A FUND (WHICH HAS NO MASSIVE UPSIDE)…

…YOU INSTEAD INVEST IN A “HOLDING COMPANY” THAT DOES ALL THE WORK FOR YOU…

A FUND LIKE THIS (LIKE SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER), AS AN EXAMPLE…

THEY PICK PROVEN COMPANIES.

THEY HELP GROW THOSE COMPANIES.

THEY PAY YOU OUT INTEREST EVERY YEAR.

AND IF ONE OF THEIR COMPANIES BECOMES A UNICORN… LO AND BEHOLD…

(LIKE MENTORBOX FOR EXAMPLE)…

WELL…

AS THEY SAY… TO THE WINNER GOES THE SPOILS.

HENCE… SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER’S INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO…

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS…

STEP ONE: ALEX AND I BUILD BUSINESSES USING OUR OWN CAPITAL TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE PROPER PRODUCT MARKET FIT… (READ: LESS RISK)...

OR WE PURCHASE HEALTHY COMPANIES THAT ARE UNDERVALUED… (ALSO LESS RISK)...

THEN STEP TWO:

WE USE OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN TO…

(AND REMEMBER…BY THE WAY...

WE’VE ALREADY PROFITABLY SPENT OVER $500 MILLION IN DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING AND…

GARNERED OVER $1 BILLION IN SALES AND…

HAVE MORE THAN 12 MILLION SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS AND…

WE HAVE DIRECT CONNECTIONS TO THE SILICON VALLEY PIPELINE OF HOT STARTUPS.)

SO…

… AFTER WE DECIDE TO SCALE AN ALREADY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS…

WE STEP TWO: USE OUR BUSINESS ACUMEN AND ADDITIONAL CAPITAL TO BUILD MASSIVE BRANDS.

IT’S ACTUALLY REALLY AN EASY ONE-TWO PROCESS WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT THAT WAY.

AND WE ALREADY HAVE EASY PROOF OF CONCEPT...

IN ONLY THE PAST FEW YEARS, FOR EXAMPLE, WE GREW A FEW MASSIVE BRANDS AND ALREADY PUT THEM UNDER THE SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER BANNER…

FOR THE 10 TRILLION-DOLLAR EDUCATION MARKET…

MENTORBOX ALREADY HAS 75,000 PAYING SUBSCRIBERS… AND KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY GOT TO 7-FIGURES IN JUST A FEW MONTHS.

FOR THE 5 TRILLION-DOLLAR FOOD MARKET…

WE HAVE GRASSLAND FARMS, WHERE WE’VE CREATED A BEEF JERKY COMPANY… AND FARMER’S BOX (A “FARMER’S MARKET DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR”) WHICH SOLD OUT IN JUST A FEW WEEKS…

THEN FOR FASHION…. WE HAVE OUR OWN SUCCESSFUL CLOTHING LINE: “A BETTER MAN.”

WE ALSO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE UNDER GLOBAL LAND HOLDINGS (GLH).

WE HAVE A FINTECH PLAY WE’RE WORKING ON (“FOUNDERSBANK”)…

...AND OBVIOUSLY MANY MORE.

THESE ARE ALREADY OR WILL BE UNDER SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER…

...AND MORE WILL BE ADDED EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

…

WHICH BEGS THE QUESTION…

WILL EVERY SINGLE ONE BE THE NEXT UNICORN?

NO. OF COURSE NOT.

BUT ONE OF THEM PROBABLY WILL…

AND THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF THIS MODEL…

REMEMBER WHAT SHAREHOLDERS GET…?

SHAREHOLDERS GET:

•         7-12% GUARANTEED MONTHLY CASH-FLOW PAYOUTS

•         OWNERSHIP IN A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF TOP BRANDS

•         SIGN UP CASH BONUSES

•         UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ALL OUR BUSINESS EVENTS*

•         WHATSAPP ACCESS TO ME AND MY BUSINESS PARTNER ALEX MEHR PH.D.

•         ACCESS TO OUR INVESTOR-ONLY PARTIES AND NETWORKING MEETUPS.

WITH SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WE’LL PAY YOU OUT A MONTHLY INTEREST PAYMENT…

WHICH IS THE CONSERVATIVE LONG PLAY…

THOUGH YOU ARE ALSO ABLE TO CONVERT SOME OF YOUR INVESTMENT INTO OWNERSHIP SHARES…

WHICH IS THEN DIVERSIFIED… INTO HEALTHY BUSINESSES…

ALL OF WHICH HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE NEXT UNICORN.

HENCE… YOU’RE ABLE TO PLAY THE LONG AND SHORT GAME AT THE SAME TIME.

WHICH… I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING…

THIS ALL BEGS THE QUESTION…

WHY DO ALEX AND I NEED YOU THEN?

… GOOD QUESTION. …

THE TRUTH IS THAT WE DON’T.

WE DON’T TECHNICALLY “NEED” MORE CAPITAL.

ALEX AND I COULD HAVE RETIRED ALREADY A LONG TIME AGO.

YOU’RE PROBABLY IN THE SAME BOAT....

BUT JUST LIKE WARREN BUFFET DOESN’T “NEED” TO READ 500 PAGES A DAY TO FIND THE NEXT COMPANY HE WANTS TO PURCHASE BECAUSE HE NEEDS THE MONEY...

NEITHER DO WE DO IT FOR THE MONEY…

TRUTH IS THAT WE JUST HONESTLY ENJOY BUSINESS.

WE THINK IT’S GOOD FOR THE WORLD.

WE LIKE GIVING MORE AND MORE VALUE TO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE.

WE LIKE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXCHANGE.

PLUS IT MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. TRULY IT DOES.

AND SURE, IF WE HAVE NICE LIFESTYLES BECAUSE OF IT…? ALL THE BETTER.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE MOTIVATION.

THE MOTIVATION FOR STARTING SCHWEITZER ALEXANDER WAS SIMPLE…

WE WANT TO TEST A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF INTERESTING COMPANIES QUICKLY… SCALE THE ONES THAT HAVE MASSIVE UPSIDE… AND MEET A TEAM OF AMAZING ENTREPRENEURS ALONG THE WAY.

WHICH… THEN… AGAIN…

STILL…

WHERE DO YOU COME IN?

WELL… LOGICALLY…

WITH A MORE DIVERSE GROUP OF INVESTORS IN OUR CLUB…

1. WE’LL SEE MORE GREAT DEALS

AND…

2. WE’LL HAVE MORE CAPITAL TO DEPLOY WHEN AN OPPORTUNITY IS THERE

BUT ALSO EMOTIONALLY…

THE MORE INVESTORS WE HAVE….

3. THE MORE BADASS ENTREPRENEURS WE’LL GET TO MEET, AND...

4. THE MORE FUN WE’LL HAVE.

THAT’S IMPORTANT TOO.

AND OH-BY-THE-WAY…

WE CAN ALSO HELP PEOPLE LIKE YOU MORE EFFECTIVELY POSITION THE CAPITAL YOU HAVE LYING AROUND…!!!

LIKE I SAID… IT’S ALL PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD…

…TRYING TO DO GOOD THINGS FOR GOOD PEOPLE.

ANYWAYS…

IF YOU’RE STILL WITH ME AT THIS POINT…

...THEN IT PROBABLY MAKES SENSE FOR YOU TO JUST JUMP ON A CALL WITH ALEX AND CHECK OUT MORE DETAILS.

HE CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE ANY LEFT.

AND BY THE WAY, OF COURSE YOU’LL DO ALL YOUR DUE DILIGENCE LATER AND YES, ALSO OF COURSE WE HAVE OUR OWN VETTING PROCESS…

SO IT’S NOT NECESSARILY GUARANTEED THAT WE’LL BE A GOOD FIT FOR EACH OTHER…

BUT IF YOU’RE STILL READING THIS(!) AND YOU’RE AN ACCREDITED INVESTOR…

THERE’S ZERO DOWNSIDE FOR CHATTING WITH ALEX…

SO GO AHEAD AND SCHEDULE A CALL WITH ALEX AND MAYBE I’LL SEE YOU AT OUR NEXT INVESTOR DINNER…?

Website:   http://www.schweitzeralexander.com/A3086930

[chapitre7]

30.000 Years

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo [달의 연인-보보경심 려] fanfiction

Soul Mates/Chance Meetings AU / Partially canon

Wang So/Hae Soo

Mentions of Lee Ji An from My Ahjussi

Shameless use of Utada Hikaru

For @wyndrider. Happy birthday!

Read on AO3

“If I lived a million lives, I would’ve felt a million feelings and I still would’ve fallen a million times for you.”

— R.M. Drake 

  He was a tree, once. It may have been the first time they met, but not the one that started it all. Time, always twisting and turning, yet a mystery to our conceptions, has a tricky way of working. It branches out, up, down, backwards, forwards. One simple event, one single spark, is enough to set it free. Time is alive, perhaps. Self-aware. A romantic.

 He was a tree. Giving her shelter, giving her shade. Showering her with flowers in spring, littering the ground with leaves in autumn to provide her with an outdoor blanket. She often came to see him, to be with him. There was something wrong in the main house and he was her escape. Sitting upon a hill, it was like everything behind them wasn’t important, didn’t exist. Her father never came after her, and for that, he was glad. He could give her a little comfort. Peace for her reading, for her crying.

 When she came to him dressed as a bride, he was sad at the prospect of a farewell.  The wind carried away his leaves, his branches shaking, as if sobbing. Nothing could have prepared him for her plan. He was just a tree who lived in the moment, who could not think ahead, who could not stop anything. So he just witnessed as she tied the rope around his tallest branch and took her leap into the abyss.

 He died not much longer after they came to take her away. At least, it wasn’t a long time for a tree. It might have been years until his trunk dried out, perished to nature’s merciless hands. No, he could not blame nature. Without someone to enjoy the summer sun under his protection, he no longer had a meaning to live. No one from the main house ever came near him again.

 And no one was her.

  The first time he was a woman, she was a woman, too, so it was doomed from the start. At least at that point in history. Time may be a romantic, but it cannot promise happiness — that much we know, from their story alone. Spiraling, spiraling through the fabric of ages, their threads would always entangle, always design the most intricate shapes in their desperate quest for love. But threads are so delicate, so easy to unravel, though they always tried their best. They tried.

 His soul belonged to a saleswoman. She sold accessories for women. Hair pieces, bracelets, cheap trinkets for simple girls. She helped design them and she was proud about it, always making sure the finished product was just as she had envisioned them. As she was a woman, her temper and demanding tone weren’t well seen, so some said she was bound to end up alone forever. That was fine by her. She had no interest in marriage or tending a house.

 The other came unannounced, as she always did. Her presence was always so innocent, almost as if she didn’t mean to be so special. In truth, neither of them were special, neither of them meant to challenge fate so strongly. It wasn’t their fault that Time fell in love with their souls. So they were innocent, lived innocently, until the impact of their touch set history off course, set a mark. Threads, entangling.

 The touch on her hand meant to be casual. Just a woman selling a ring to another woman. But that hand was smaller, fairer. She was definitely a noble, was the saleswoman’s thought. Definitely, with that healthy complexion, that silky hair. She didn’t know if she was envious or if the desire to touch the lady’s hair was something else entirely. The saleswoman slipped the ring on her finger to show her how it looked, and the lady’s smile was an unexpected blow. The saleswoman, without thinking much at all, reached forward and placed a hairpin on her hair. “It looks beautiful on you, agassi,” the woman said, praising her own merchandise, but the lady laughed. She laughed. When was the last time she received such a treasure?

 The saleswoman never married. The lady probably did. Did she think of her on the long nights of life as well?  If not on all of them, maybe on some, with the moon as her witness? Did she wonder what it would be like, to give in to uncontrollable feelings? If she was a noble lady, did she love the husband her family chose for her? The saleswoman hoped so. Somewhere in the back of her consciousness, she felt she had already felt too much sadness over failed marriages. Bridal robes floating in the wind.

 With her last breath, she hoped she could love all she wanted in her next life.

 Or to not be born at all.

But what was special about their souls? Was there simply a void the other filled, made complete? Is that what the songs said, the poetry, the lovers? Is that what dreams are made of, the legends, what keeps us going when there’s no other hope to have? Soul mates, soul twins, one soul, divided in two?

 What is known — he was once a prince. She was nobody, and she was his everything. Their eyes, meeting through a crowd; his arms, seizing her and setting her on his own path, unaware of the meaning of the action, of the weight of her life on his. And what other ending could there have been for them if not premature death? Words dead in throat, never to have lived to see the light of day, so much love yet to give but nobody left to give it to? Their tragedy, their incompleteness, is the start. A spark that unsettles the map of the universe. Souls are but speckles of stardust, they are but energy, there can’t be such specifics pairs to match, to come together. There is only energy. There is only life, to begin where one ends.

 So what made their souls different? What about them inspired broken-hearted writers?

 Maybe Time’s own broken heart, gripping their threads tightly, spinning them so they could meet again and again and again. Maybe Fate’s regret. Love’s dreams. Or the prince’s longing, his heart’s cries echoing through the infinity of space.

 However it was, whatever happened, their souls traveled. They wandered, they sought each other out, with no memory of their loss until their bodies, the vessels of their souls, remembered what it was like to feel the other. A recognition unlike any other, that made no sense. There’s no sense about the two of them; sometimes one is the bird that sings by the other’s window after their mother passes away; sometimes they’re a plant, giving the other oxygen. Sometimes they’re a precious pet, who warms the other on cold nights of winter, signifying a whole life of happiness in the brief time they’re alive. They’re not sense; they’re the pursuit of happiness.

 The prince’s soul, who’s lived for thousands of years, is birthed again. And just like every other time, it suffers; that’s how we know it’s him. That’s how we recognize him, as if Time did not have the power to change him. In that petite girl’s body, the prince’s soul loses again. Struggles. Hates, when it wanted to love. Abandons, when it wanted to stay. Lives every pain that he lived, almost like a monstrous joke. The girl survives. Like the prince survived.

 But Fate tries their hand at something else. With a bleeding heart, it sets a different course for that soul. Somebody else comes into the girl’s life, someone who was not who Time intended. Someone with the power to change everything.

 Could it be that Fate was breaking their ill meetings? That they were finally made for something different in that life?

 But reader, we’ve come this far. We know they’re naught but remains of old stars, that nothing is set in stone for them. It’s a conspiracy of the cosmos, nothing more, nothing less. So what could different meetings mean, if not the enrichment of their own souls, the accumulation of energy for something more?

 Oh Fate. I can see your bleeding heart from here.

 So, we find ourselves here: our last destination. Not the last for them; theirs is an endless loop of meetings. But maybe this is the happier one. Maybe this is the one we’ve been looking for. It’s where they find joy. Because despite her heart belonging to another, she, who bears the prince’s soul, still meets the court lady’s soul. And because she promised to be happy, she gives in to the meeting. A meeting just like it once happened. Maybe more than once. It’s hard to keep track.

 They bump into each other on the street.

 She drops the coffee cups she was carrying back to her office. She has a gut feeling to snap, but she doesn’t. In this life, she was not raised among wolves. In this life, she has suffered, but she has also learned to live, to give happiness a chance. So she just sighs and bents to pick up her trash, nodding to his apologies, not looking at him until she does. He has a funny expression on his face, a grimace, like the court lady used to wear. She lets out a chuckle, unable to contain herself. She already knows that people wear so many masks to hide their true selves, so many that sometimes they don’t even know themselves, but still she chuckles, bares her emotions for a second. The next second she’s biting her lower lip, composing herself, but it’s too late, he’s heard her, and he’s smiling and offering to pay for the damage. Her impulses say no, tell her to leave, but that’s just the fear talking, the past talking. She nods instead, follows him, and their threads come together again, walking towards a complete circle.

 I will not say it’s a happy ending, or even that it ended at all. One does not simply find happiness with such simplicity, or so early. I will, however, say that when she lies awake at night, his body warming her back, their fingers interlaced before her eyes, she wonders if that’s what happiness feels like. She didn’t know, she hadn’t learned, just like our prince never had his chance, had to fight for it. She’s tired of fighting, she has already fought so much, she wants to let go.

 She turns in his arms, faces him. With her hand, she traces his cheekbones, his eyelashes. She doesn’t know, but fate can see how they’re mirrors of each other’s soul. Fate knows how the scene plays itself again, and how even her thoughts are an echo from centuries ago, playing against the walls of creation. Am I allowed to be happy like this?

He smiles in his dreams, opens his eyes to the reality of her. He exhales soundly through his nose, places his hand upon hers.

 “Ji An,” he says. “Sometimes, I feel you’re so far from me. Where do you go?”

 She smiles, almost as if she can see the irony of his words, but knowing she’s always the one left behind.

 “Thirty thousand years ago and back,” she says. He chuckles.

 “Is that how old you are?”

 “Yes.”

 He hums, pulls her closer to his chest.

 “In that case,” he says, and she can hear his heartbeats punctuating his pauses, “will you take me with you?”

 She wraps her arms around him, as if accepting his request, thinking that maybe, thirty thousand years is all she’ll get in the end. She thinks that maybe, this is where her journey finally ends. The moonlight showers their bodies on the bed through the open window, casts shadows on the wall, shadows of a past where it all began. The prince who suffered, the court lady who gave it all back. The end meeting at the beginning, a flawless circle. But it’s only flawless to those who don’t know any better. We know better; we see the knots, we see the spots where the threads almost tore themselves apart. But Time, hopeless Time, marches on, their souls carefully cradled between its hands.

 So is it the end?

 I’ll tell you there were partings, there were tears. There were misunderstandings, there were reconciliations. There were almost ends, and new beginnings.

 But everybody finds love, in the end.

If I can live again, I want to be the rain that falls, the rain that falls on you, that wets your path so it can reflect your light in darkness.

 I want to be the flowers that blossom to you in spring, the leaves that protect your fall in autumn.

 I want to be the air you breathe, and everything you see. I want to be every life that you live, every part that makes you who you are.

 This I swear. I’ll fight time, and I’ll fight fate, and I’ll fight whoever stands in my way.

 If I can, I’ll find you.

 I’ll find you, and I’ll be with you, in any way that I can.

 And I can, and I will.

 This I promise you.

[indivtech]

Best Technologies To Learn In 2022

Introduction

Learning is never-ending. We're learning from the beginning like from making a step on the earth to a step on the dream or process of it. After several years, of being busy grooming ourselves for a better future, we've learned a lot. Now the confusion is about what to learn next and besides how to cope with the change. Humans are so-called upgrading creatures. We accept the change and try to get accustomed to it. So we've been accepting new technologies for years. We are living in an era where on one side people are using artificial intelligence for almost everything and on the other side, there's a lack of education, lack of maturity to adapt, and finally lack of evolution. We have to evolve to live in the revolution. In 2022, we've met with huge progress in case technologies. If you have a serious interest in technologies. You should learn the following technology trends -

Robotic Process Automation

RPA or robotic process automation is a new generation of software technologies that replicate human activities while dealing with a digital system or software. They can perform a range of defined activities like putting the right keystrokes by understanding what's on the screen. They are even faster and more consistent than humans as they are not bothered about getting up from their sit and having a coffee break. Let's point down some points that are the major reason to adapt to such technologies.

Robotic Process Automation - Accelerated transformation 63% of global executives mention RPA as a major component in digital transformation - Major cost savings RPA makes a significant change in the business metrics by never letting the profit graph downside. - Greater resilience RPA robots can meet work deadlines quickly by improving their activities. - Higher accuracy 57% of the global executives say that RPA reduces manual errors significantly. - Improved compliance In 2018 there was the 3rd Annual RPA survey organized by Deloitte where 92% agreed that RPA has met or even exceeded expectations for better compliance. - Boosted productivity Among 4500 global workers in the UIPath survey, 68% of global workers declared that automation would make them more productive. - More value for personnel 60% of the Forrester executives agreed that RPA is an exclusive key to turn on the focus of the people towards more strategic work. - Happier employees 57% of the Forrester executives mentioned RPA as a factor that increases employee engagement as well.

Virtual reality and Augmented reality

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two technologies that create different realities that we explore and enjoy. Virtual reality is totally an artificial computer-based realistic reality where augmented reality takes digital images and wraps your world with them.

Virtual reality and Augmented reality VR devices are pretty much expensive, especially the screen-built headsets like Oculus Rift, the Vive, or the PlayStation VR which connects to the PlayStation 4 game console. Examples like Gear VR and Google Cardboard are relatively cheap. AR headsets are more expensive than VR headsets but augmented reality doesn't only depend on headsets. They can also be used on smartphones and laptops. Remember the popular game Pokemon Go? Yes, that is a good example of augmented reality. You'll be surprised if I tell you that Snapchat or messenger filters are also a part of augmented reality. So now you are having a clear piece of concept how valuable these things are in now and the near future.

Non-fungible tokens or NFTs in blockchain technologies

Nonfungible tokens are blockchain-based tokens that represent unique assets. This is a digital certificate of ownership for a given asset that can be both digital and physical. An NFT is basically being created for a certain community and possesses value only to the buyers and their communities. NFTs can be bought and sold through the NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, Rarible, Foundation, etc. You will be very much surprised to know that the most expensive NFT was sold at 91.8 million dollars!

NFTs in blockchain technologies

Conclusion

Technologies are always interesting and provide adequate ingredients for the future. So any of the above-mentioned options is priceless to know. We didn't just provide you the options, we have provided you with the best options you can get. So choose what you are fond of. If you have more interest in robotics, go for RPA. If you are more of a creator type go for VR and AR or NFTs. WEBSITE Read the full article

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Life Story 103

David let Roxanne in to the apartment one evening. She was about to turn herself in, and there was nothing in the house to steal. She looked terrible. Meth had really done a number on her. Bounty hunters were on her tail too. She had all kinds of legal action mounting against her from all the times she had been caught shoplifting from Walmart and K Mart. Sagen was also in deep, though being a minor she wasn't being hunted by bounty hunters quite as extensively.

Roxanne was tired of running. The thing of it too was, Roxanne was reckless among her other drug people, it was just how the meth made her act. She was a liability to everyone she knew who used with her or sold to her. A bigger and somewhat dangerous crowd of drug dealers and peddlers from Spokane had become her new gang of people, and when these people pissed her off, she threatened to turn herself and them in for the sake of proving a point. She was crazy, and people were afraid to sell to her anymore. Someone could have hurt her. So she was sitting in the back room, and she had planned on spending one night to get clean, and then taking herself to the police station the next morning. She knew she was gambling with her life, that she had hit a point where if she kept going she would never get better. She missed her children. As she was sitting there, I guess she had been watched and followed by some bounty hunters go into my mother's apartment. They suddenly burst through the back door and dragged her out, cuffed her, and from then until Christmas, Roxanne was behind bars. It was a huge relief, and maybe one of the best things that ever happened to Roxanne. We knew she wasn't dead. And she was going to have to stay sober for a time – and though there were going to be consequences for what she had done, we knew Roxanne was resourceful and scrappy and most importantly we wouldn't have to worry about being stolen from, or about her dying anymore.

Whitney ended up getting a job at Zany's. She didn't have work, and she wasn't really looking and the whole thing came about suddenly. Allison, Sarah, me and Whitney went to eat at Zany's. Back in those days  I used to order a milkshake and nachos which were enormous (I love Nachos). We were sitting in a booth eating, when Patrice (my old boss) came up, asked Whitney to smile, and then make stink eye, told her she liked her look and that she was hired. Patrice was random in how she chose people for Zany's. So from then on, Whitney, me and Sarah all worked at Zany's. Whitney of course, would be part of the exclusive front staff with Sarah. I was kitchen.

Those first weeks living with Josh were some of the weirdest days of my life, and it's hard to describe just how. I guess I was so thoroughly used to the mode of living with my own family. I didn't have any footing. I felt blank and hollow, like someone had carved out my thoughts and left space for someone new. It was probably good for me though. The kind of hysteric and sad nights I had at my mother's didn't follow me in the same way at Josh's. Josh and Whitney had different ways of seeing things and doing things – and when I was taken out of my old environment it became much clearer to me that there were many things about myself that I had thought were solid truths about myself, but were in fact only temporal facets of my coping mechanisms for survival. My sense of humor stayed, my aesthetic was essentially the same. But my assumptions changed, and it had a lot to do with Josh.

Josh I learned, was extremely habitual. He went to work five days a week as a cableman. He went to work at eight and he came home at five. He parked his cable truck in front of his apartment. I could hear him pull up – it was very predictable. Then he went into the house, ate some cheap meal and take a gross nap, shower, and he then watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, and sometimes a movie. He had free cable and free high speed internet through his work and this included all the movie channels people traditionally pay for. A lot of his life was based around his habits. And I guess it made sense. Before taking this job, before having his own place, he was essentially homeless, and with bipolar, it's very difficult to trust your whimsies. His personality wasn't all that grounded. He could be rather repetitive, but he was probably one of the least grounded people I had ever met. His responses to life were intriguing to me. He didn't respond to challenges, or get sad the same way other people did. He played games with himself. He was always in a state of experimentation. Much of the time he seemed overwhelmed by things that weren't actually happening. He felt the need to be reborn, or to see himself in higher regard than those around him. At times he was painfully blind, but at other moments he was very introspective about human nature. He was always scheming – to the point that you had to wonder eventually what his reasoning was, or if he was delusional. And through all of it, he was extremely witty. Even when he was wrong, even when he was being petty and self important, or pointless, he was extremely funny and had a strange humility about himself that was very dark and at times sad.

Josh talked to me in a way that nobody else ever really had before, good and bad. He asked me questions about myself that I hadn't thought about. It made me nervous at first, and somewhere between fascinated, embarrassed and afraid. I just listened, hiding inside behind a wall of anxiety half the time. He seemed to really care about me, and Allison and Sarah. He wanted to know how we operated. He didn't have boundaries and wasn't as taken in by the simplicity that was very typical of my understanding of what most people – men in particular, expected from people. And it was a shock at times to listen to him talk, or to have very revealing questions asked towards me. It was extremely intimate. It probably intensified the situation that I hadn't have a lot of exposure to different kinds of people. Sure, I worked with a motley crew of different characters, grew up with my crazy family members, but I was always somewhat distant to people outside of Sarah, and my family, though complex in the factor of keeping up, at heart they really were very simple. Everyone was angry. Josh found that kind of anger boring. He had seen a lot of it. It didn't interest him. He saw me and Allison as rising above that kind of anger and doing something with ourselves.

Some of the things Josh said alarmed me in a bad way. It started to become at times unclear if Josh really meant anything he said. Because he would change from week to week. But he told me he quit smoking one day, and then told me this philosophical concept about smoking and somehow made the act seem meaningful. He told me he was only interested in dating insecure women. I thought that was alarming, but then he told me he would only date someone who exceeded his standards of perfection. He told me that his greatest fear in life was success – that the only thing worth living for was to always be reaching for the carrot that reality dangled before you that you could never reach. But success was also what he spent a lot of his time thinking about.

Beyond this, he was really into motivational speakers like Tony Robbins. He talked about Robert Anton Wilson, and about Eris and chaos and some kind of Apple. I would sit out in the living room with him, and we would be watching Jon Stewart when he would suddenly pause the television and start talking about rewiring yourself, creating illusions that would trap people, or bring what you wanted to you. It was some strange stuff, things that I had thought about from time to time throughout my life at disconnected moments, but hadn't truly put together. Meeting Josh for me was in many regards, evolutionary to my development. It was hard to say if he really actually encouraged me or not, if he was a force for good or a force for bad, but Josh was a catalyst for higher thought, and change. And I needed change. I needed to get so far away from my old life, from my old feelings and Josh gave that to me. I started feeling like the best thing my mother had ever done for me was kick me out of the house.

One thing that did bother me though, was that he didn't want to hear about my past. He only liked hearing from me, things that pertained to him – there was this fatal flaw of being incurious on certain subjects, unsentimental, and impatient. He was great at deductive reasoning, but he didn't really want to focus on me or anyone around him the way people traditionally might (ex. You want to know about a person's childhood when you get to know them and care about them). He told me several times that as far as he was concerned, I had only started to exist the second he met me. Before that, I wasn't real. The idea started to seem appealing to me, and it was an identity that evolved with me and became very real. Nobody cared about who I had been when I was twenty. I was an ugly, fat nobody as far as the world was concerned. I thought Sarah liked that person, but in fact, I had been used and pretty heavily abused socially by everyone in my life, and I currently was still battling that.

That Renee was dumb enough to believe the world was at face value what I saw it as – I wasn't playing the power games that are inevitable. I had found ways to survive, but I looked at my former self as a coward that needed to  be forgotten in the sands of time. The fact that I hadn't done anything with my life that anyone could actually recognize had made me quite ready to abandon that facade that character forever. Josh offered in his myopic vision of me, the opportunity for me to rebrand myself, to outlive my former selves, to blossom, to hatch, to become someone new, to be the revenge those who had hurt me or had failed to consider my intrinsic worth, simply by existing. I didn't want to correct the damage. I would use the damage to create something beautiful, and that would be my life's work. I wanted to wake up every morning and breath new purpose with each breath, to glow and entrance people I walked passed in grocery stores, that I wasn't even interested in talking to. So in turn, I believed  him. Josh's version of what I might be was better than any other idea anyone had ever had of me, and so what if he didn't know about my acne problem in high school or my favorite toys when I was little?

Granted, there was this big lack of sympathy. He could have been warmer to me, could have been gentler. He had absolutely no sympathy that I had been in love with Zack for seven years, or what my father had been like. He didn't care. He liked the idea of me being an artist or a writer, but was in no way interested in what it took for me to find those place internally. He wasn't interested in my perceptions – and maybe not about me in some ways. However, what he did provide me with was something that held more weight than the indifference, resentment, malicious comments, the discrediting, muffling and ultimately flaky relationships I had with everyone else. Talking to Josh, I really started to feel like nobody in my life woke up with purpose or actively looked for ways to improve their lives. My father was very judgmental, but his entire life was based around the drugged feeling of finding fault so he could be angry. He just wanted to feel angry everyday because to him it was a source of power. My mom was looking for some easy fantasy to fall behind – something more akin to Jesus coming down and telling her she was a prophet. She didn't want to work for it, she simply wanted to believe it was true, and when Jesus never came down and made her life seem special, she was only as resourceful as it took for her to create a fantasy around herself.

Allison just wanted attention. She would take it cheap. She just wanted to be the center, and I could appreciate where she was coming from, as she was young and as I've explained, she was trying to fill the void of being neglected and overlooked. But in the end, she wasn't actually moving towards anything. She was only trying to set everyone up around her to get her own kind of drug, similar to my father in her extroverted behavior, but different in that she wanted attention rather than to be angry. And David was sick. He clearly needed to feel like he was in control and to feel angry all the time, but it wasn't fun for him at the same time. His ego seemed ill. And Sarah, Sarah was good at getting what she wanted, but there was this sense with her that she was afraid to even want anything, and she couldn't differentiate her values. She didn't know the difference between a song being catchy and good. Perhaps she suffered from the mysterious pains of not having ever truly suffered, and for this reason she wasn't trustworthy. She didn't know her own weaknesses. She had too much pride to admit fault.

In any case, all of them were thorn in my side now – thorns that had punctured and killed someone who was once me, but no longer existed. I stopped trying to confide in Sarah or Allison. It was clear to me that neither one of them actually liked me. Trying to go about the idea that they somehow still did like me was getting me nowhere, and if they didn't like me, than I didn't like them either. I did like them to a certain extent I guess, but when Sarah showed up, the more I saw her I got this punchy feeling in my stomach. I just associated her with feeling valueless. I associated Allison with the idea that I was inadequate. Neither one of them supported my progress, and neither one of them actually believed or understood what real progress was. So I just confided in Josh, and though nobody seemed to like it, none of them actually seemed to care enough about me to put in the efforts to be my friend like Josh did, heck David had told my mother that he considered me dead. If I was going to live with that kind of thing, I had the right to move on. I found that I related to Josh a lot more than anyone I had ever met, and nobody had the right to judge me.

One thing did become exceptionally clear however. Sarah would sometimes come over to visit me at Josh's, and when she came over, she generally brought Zack with her. Josh was extremely jealous of Zack, and it was clear that he pined over Sarah. It was also clear that he didn't have a clue who Sarah was. I was frustrated when he told me things about Sarah I knew weren't true. I tried to explain to him for instance, that she was fairly disinterested in philosophy, but he insisted she was fascinated with philosophy and that they were 'really connecting' on a philosophical level. I wanted to shout at him at times that it was he and I that were connecting, not him and Sarah. Sarah liked Josh. Like everyone, she thought he was funny (in a way I can't do justice in my writing), but ultimately she wasn't attracted to him. She saw him as a nerd, and on a very visceral level, Sarah wasn't interested in having a psychologically complicated relationship with Josh. And I kind of understood in a sense why she liked Zack. Zack was intense, he was emotionally distant, and he was simple. She liked the simplicity of him. She wasn't interested in a bookish relationship with someone. This isn't to say that Sarah couldn't be nerdy or complicated, but when it came to romance, she liked boring. And despite all the hype about his addictions and former talent as a musician, now that I was old enough to see it all clearly, Zack was an incredible bore.

One day I went with Sarah and Zack up to Moscow briefly (I don't remember the reasons), but it was more and more sickening for me to just watch Sarah pamper Zack. He did nothing for her. He wasn't nice to her. But it wasn't ultimately the fact he was leeching off her, or that he was at his very core, extremely selfish. Selfish made some sense, and selfish can be creative, or intriguing. You can dig into selfish, even if it is ultimately miserable and dead end in it's own way. It was the fact that he was disgustingly stupid. It was abhorrent how dumb he was. I couldn't believe he was so fucking stupid. Had I ever met anyone this dumb? In a way, a person couldn't even really get mad at him. What was the point of being mad at someone who was so stupid that they discredited their ability to even understand anything going on around them? And Sarah looked all the time like she was pretending he wasn't stupid, but good lord, she had to know. He was listening to either Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney or some country musician that Zack liked in the car that day, and in an attempt to be nice – since he made a comment that I was 'too cool' for main stream country music (which I am), I tried to compliment one small fraction of one of the songs he put on – since it used an effect similar to one I heard in a Magnetic Fields song once. It was very minor, and the song was actually atrocious. I was just trying to make him feel better about being an idiot, and he was so stupid, that my compliment was too complicated for him and he took it as an insult because he was too fucking stupid to understand it. And he began driving erratically because he was angry and hurt and Sarah had to baby talk him to make him drive better.

Not only that, but his beard was unkept. It looked soiled and nasty. And he hadn't changed his pants. Even if he didn't use drugs, he would still be stupid. There was nothing to win with him. Zack at his best was someone who was still a horrible person. Some people use hard drugs or become an alcoholic and it shapes them into a bad person, but you know that they still have potential, still have moments where the good overcomes the bad, and you know that underneath it they love people and know better. Zack really wasn't that way. He was just foul.

Sarah took me with her to go to Dairy Queen one day to get Zack ice cream (one of the few things that Zack and I had in common was a love for ice cream). I ended up getting some for myself, and on the way back, Sarah made a statement, assuming that I wanted to go get Zack ice cream with her. She still was stuck in that train of thought still, that she wanted me to be with her in a way that I was not. She had stopped really following my state of mind, she was still stuck with the idea that I was in some way in love with Zack. She just hadn't been there. She had always hid from me. So I had evolved. I had evolved a lot, and rapidly. It was sort of crazy how much I had changed while she had closed off. She said something like 'Isn't it crazy that we will do just about anything Zack wants?', I think in hopes to find solidarity with me in some unhealthy way that enabled her to continue her dumb new lifestyle. And I had to suddenly really listen to this statement, because as much as I didn't want to admit it, even three months ago it might have been true for me as well, I might have gone pretty far for Zack's preference or well being. Now it sounded abhorrent and foreign to me. I had no interest in Zack''s ice cream, or in Zack. I wanted her and him to break up, and I never wanted to see this idiot again. I was grateful for what it was worth that I had been given over to Josh. I valued Josh in a way I couldn't value anyone else. He was special to me, and if he was the consolation prize, I had to accept what had happened for what it was. But I had no lingering feelings towards Zack, even being angry at Sarah in the direct way I had been felt like an extension of leftover feelings and those weren't quite the same either.

Zack ended up not going to North Dakota. On the day he was supposed to leave, he didn't show up that night before, and he came in that morning with Pete. Both of them were high, and Zack started ranting at Sarah in the parking lot, screaming at her about random insanity and nothingness. He called and made some rude message to North Dakota Josh (not the one who was my new best friend), and it was all off. Go figure. Zack didn't follow through with something.

One of the the things that united Josh and I in fact was our mutual distaste for Zack. Josh felt like he wasn't allowed to not like Zack. His mother was married to Zack's dad, Zack was Whitney's brother, and he didn't want Sarah to hate him when he said bad things about Zack in front of her. With that said, Josh really truly loathed Zack. I remember feeling oddly similar. I felt like I had brought Zack on my own head, that I had a duty to find ways and reasons to accept him. Sarah had invested her entire life into this relationship. She'd bet it all. So if I wanted to even try to be close to her, I felt like I had to withhold my thoughts. There was one evening where Sarah and Zack showed up for an hour, ate Josh's food, watched his television and left. Josh was quietly in the corner on his computer. I was sitting in the corner on the floor. Zack and Sarah left, and it was only this buzzing silence left in the room between Josh and I. We listened quietly as Sarah and Zack drove away. After a full minute, Josh spoke. He said 'I hate Zack..'

And it really hit me then that I wasn't alone. I wasn't the only person that hated this guy. I hadn't even allowed myself to think it, had been maybe too afraid to eat crow on the subject of Zack. But I hated him too and I realized this the second I heard it stated by someone else. It was okay to hate Zack! I had been spending the last two months finding creative ways to work out alternatives, making the whole thing more complicated than it really was, but deep down, I loathed him. He made every room he stood in worse, it was degrading for me to even really know the guy. And Josh had freely admitted what I hadn't allowed myself to say. I looked over at Josh, and I said 'me too'. And Josh smiled. We were friends after that moment.

One night after talking to Josh, we were going to bed, he to his respective bedroom and me to mine, and as I was walking down the hallway to my room, I realized this odd warm feeling I had for Josh. I saw him just as valid as myself, in some very personal fashion. Some aspect of him was locked in my heart. Was I in love with Josh?? I went into my room, closed the door and laid in bed all night contemplating it. Things had just happened really fast. My life had really taken some swift turns, and now I was living with this guy, this really special weird, bright insane weirdo, someone unlike anyone else I had ever met who I didn't have to try to explain certain things about myself to, who either accepted me and seemed to understand me, or who demonstrated to me that some of the things I thought were important actually were not. I felt like he had a lot to teach me, and I felt open and empathetic towards him, I wanted to be there for him when nobody else was. I hadn't really ever felt so sympathetic to another person in my entire life. All the other times I had thought I was in love, while they held there own meaning, they paled in comparison. I hadn't ever really dared this kind of vulnerability with anyone else. I had more or less been treating people like drugs. All I wanted to do was curl up in his thoughts and live in his mind like a quiet sleeping furry cat. No past, no future. I would give up my life and my body as I knew it simply to live there with him. All I really wanted was his acceptance. He was napping around noon the next day on the couch. I didn't want to be a weirdo and stare at him (generally speaking there is something very vulnerable and maybe weird about looking at a sleeping person unbeknownst), but the brief glimpse of his sleeping spectacled face, and I thought he was perfect, and beautiful. I really couldn't imagine ever having loved anyone else, though I quickly left the room not to be intrusive.

Since losing what felt like, my old life, friends and family and former identity included, I guess I felt like I had no home. What you are supposed to feel at the core of your thoughts, the sense of love and safety that you get when you are young, the quiet of the ends of exhaled breath that lead you to inhale with second nature, was this sense that if I moved too rapidly, if I thought too hard, if my the boat of my life rocked too hard, or lost my breath, I would fall off into the abyss, that my lungs would cave in and I would be lost in some pitch black emptiness of my inner self. There was nothing grounding me. My past was nothing but brokenness and pain and futility. Josh became the ground. He was my only home. He replaced every broken relationship, and he intensified my journey of self discovery. He made me feel wanted, safe, appreciated.

I eventually wanted to tell Sarah. I promised myself I could keep a secret, and that lasted for a few weeks. Eventually I needed to tell someone. Sarah was having a lot of issues with Zack, and I thought it would be nice if we went somewhere on a day off that we shared. I decided that we should drive half way down the state to a small town called Riggins. It's mostly a tourist attraction in central Idaho for people who like serious rapids. We booked a hotel by the river. I thought it would be fun to listen to music driving and just get away. Plus it gave me the perfect opportunity to explain to Sarah that I had a crush on someone. We were laying in the hotel room after bathing and relaxing, and I told her I had a crush on someone. She immediately guessed it was Josh. She just sensed that him and I had a lot in common and it made sense that I would feel that way about him.

I ended up telling Allison as well. She was at Melissa's, and for some reason she was really struggling to adjust there. I called her from my cheap cellphone, and I told her I was in love with Josh. I don't know why. I guess telling people about your feelings is a little bit contagious, your ego just wants to say it out loud. She sounded calm. She told me it was not love. Then she told me something that surprised and kind of horrified me. She was in love with Josh too. It took me awhile to process that information. It made our little conversation a bit awkward. I was standing out in the drive way, and it was just before everything gets really dark, but you can still see the sun in the very distance. I didn't cry or get upset. It just seemed absurd to me. Allison was fifteen years old. Josh was almost thirty. Some people could say that he was too old for me – I was twenty-one, let alone her. They were fifteen years apart.

She went onto explain how age was just a number, and she had reason to believe her and Josh would eventually be getting married. I was afraid she was losing her mind. I mean, fuck that. What was this nonsense? Why couldn't I ever just love someone without having to think about Allison or Sarah, or anyone else getting mixed up? It was horrible enough to me that Josh was in love with Sarah, and that I had very recently had been emotionally invested in something Sarah ended had her hands in. It wasn't fair. What on earth was going on? Why did everything have to become so seedy and disturbing? I guess I put those frustrations aside however, and I tried very hard to understand what Allison was feeling. She was fifteen, and extremely confused. Life was changing drastically for her as well. And Josh gave her a lot of attention. Perhaps she had misconstrued that attention. Because she was talking about marriage. The poor girl was hardly out of junior high, and she felt destined to marry this thirty year old man she had just met who gave her attention.

I stopped telling Allison anything after that, and of course the next weekend when Josh came to visit, she sat him down and explained him the very 'SERIOUS' problem of me being in love with him. She told him everything I had and had not said. Josh had already suspected it. So Josh came back from his sister's house thoroughly weirded out by me. I just accepted it. I had already known he was going to find me out. He offhandedly confronted me with it, and I admitted that it was true. He was rude to me about it, like I had done something wrong. I shrugged. There was nothing I could do. And secretly, I could also tell that he was very pleased that I was in love with him. It was like he was conflicted in some way. I didn't know what it all boiled down to, but the fact that he wasn't kicking me out and still wanted to spend a majority of his free time with me, it gave me a strange sense of encouragement. He proceeded to talk to me, and in those conversations there was an unspoken knowing between him and I that I was in love with him, and over time he seemed to rely on my feelings, and on rare occasions, I felt like he was reciprocal.

Here is what I didn't know. Allison had gotten carried away with her feelings towards Josh. But Josh had instigated her feelings in a very inappropriate way, creating this huge ordeal with poor Allison. He had been drinking, and he, Whitney and Melissa had been doting on Allison and obsessing about how cool and young she was. She was full of herself with all the attention, particularly from Josh. Josh had patted her back, and told her that when she was thirty he would marry her. He hadn't meant it of course – and he claims it was a testament to how cool she seemed (I am not so sure that he wasn't toying knowingly with her innocence), but it was gross just the same. Inappropriate, disrespectful, out of line, and a perverted comment. He didn't respect Allison's age. It sort of destroyed my ability to really think well of Josh in some regard, when I found out three weeks later – only after having established a more settled emotional landscape within myself. It explained why Allison was going crazy too. She thought that me and Sarah were stealing Josh away from her while she was trapped up at Melissa's. She had taken what he had said literally and thought of herself as his child bride, and every day for her, to the time she turned thirty was some kind of waiting game. I couldn't turn off my love for him – which made me sick with myself and question my moral character, but it created this need for me to reel back from the situation. I wasn't like Sarah. I wasn't going to sell Allison's feelings off because I wanted something. Allison was my sister, and regardless of whatever it was I foolishly wanted, who I wanted to waste my time with, she came first.

Josh didn't remember having said that to Allison, so when Melissa told him that Allison was in love with him too he got weirded out worse than he had me. Allison expected twenty-four seven attention from Josh. She followed him around like a puppy. She talked and acted out like a very little girl – like Josh was a father almost. It was so alarming that everyone just stood back and watched it unfold when she came to visit. He eventually shut the door on her, and locked himself up in his room, and she waited outside the door for him to come out oblivious. The truth of the matter was that Josh had really put on a huge act around Allison, pretending he was more childish than he actually was. He had liked the fact that he had separated me and her, and he was in his own way playing us both. His game, was hoping that creating this illusion of being desirable would make Sarah fall in love with him. Because he really just wanted Sarah. He was obsessed with her. And Josh believed in playing these really stupid social mind games. I didn't really recognize how petty and stupid it was for a thirty year old man to be doing this to us three girls. Not to say that I wasn't an adult, I definitely was, and I was free to make my own decisions and he wasn't too old for me per say. It's just that I was so naive. I really didn't know anything about how these things worked. I had a very innocent view of relationships and instigating relationships. Sadly, a lot of his theories were true – though they never seemed to work for him in regards to us. In a situation at work where you garner the interest of one person, it's likely that instinctively other people will see that and subconsciously see you as more desirable. The more suitors you have, the more desirable you come to outsiders.

But really, Sarah never adhered to any of that. If anything, she was indifferent and slightly grossed out by his egotistical lack of self control. She liked him well enough, but given she and I had just gone through this big painful process with the whole Z thing, I just don't think that even if all the planets aligned, that she would have mixed herself up in something that meant a lot to me, intentionally. He was hoping he could draw her away from Zack and to him. Allison and I were means to an end for Josh, ways to lead Sarah in his direction like she was a dumb animal.

I let go of my expectations for Josh, Sarah, Allison. I just stopped trying to build anything. I realized that this was not the time for me to be an idealist, not in any way. I was going to have to become a survivor before I ever could really build a life for myself. And survival now meant more than hunkering down and disappearing. It meant I would have to fight, boldly take risks at times, and it meant that I would have to give up on things that weren't right. If I had learned anything from Sarah, it was that I didn't want to give into my feelings because they were there. I knew after most of the year of 2011 had passed, that I could probably survive anything. I had to let go of my desperation, and if I just let go of my thoughts very hard, the universe would take me to the opportunities I was looking for. If Josh and I were meant to be, then things would unfold for me. If not, then things would drift apart. But I wasn't going to try to get Josh. I did want to earn his love, and I wanted him to earn mine, but he had a lot to make up for, and it wasn't particularly appealing to be in battle with Whitney, Sarah and Allison for Josh's affections. If I naturally won the race I would accept the medal. But I wasn't going to force anything. It was going to have to be possible for me to be in love with Josh, and stab him to save myself if need be – and it was so strange to have that kind of duality, both instincts equally as strong in me. I had to hold two simultaneous viewpoints at the same time, entertain them both as modes of existence rather than real truths.

My only other option was to move back in with my mother, or father, give up and pretend that none of this had ever happened to me, to just try and fill the small box of what had previously been my life as if I could fit into those small shoes, and those options were worse than death to me. I would never go back, particularly to my father's. I was going to live with Josh anyway, and Sarah and Zack and Whitney and Allison even with all the turmoil and unrequited love and resentments. It was economically the only feasible option, and I had to honor that this was where my strange psychological journey had brought me. I had something from this situation that I had to take with me. We were set to move into the new house by August, a week before my twenty-second birthday. Everyone in the house was both a friend and an enemy, but nobody had the courage to really say it.

A week before we moved, I had taken a small walk to the convenient store by Josh's apartment. It started to thunder and lightning outside. As I walked back home with my diet blue mountain dew (a specialty of that year), I looked out over the hill over to where my mother's house was smelling that weird thunder/lightning smell in the air, and I suddenly watched lightning strike what looked like her apartment. It was about a mile and a half off. I couldn't be sure – but it was at the exact location. Later I learned that Allison had been at her computer, and the lightning had struck right outside her window, and essentially it blew out that computer permanently. It seemed so odd to me that I had watched it all happen in the distance.

PART 102 - https://tinyurl.com/yc5m3cq7

PART 101 - https://tinyurl.com/yafyhse2

My Life Story in Chapters, PARTS 1-100 (this link below will lead you to a list of all the chapters i have written thus far). 

http://aleatoryalarmalligator.tumblr.com/post/168782771574/life-story-sections-1-100