#What safety mode? (Carey)

[kodigriffinofficial20]

As promised here is the filled out version of the character sheet. I know it has been a whole day later but here it is.

“Extremely detailed character sheet template”

Character Chart

Character’s full name: Benjamin Rose Steven Rodgers

Reason or meaning of name: “Benjamin” was his grandfathers name (on his fathers side) “Rose” was his grandmothers name (on his mother’s side) and because his last name is Rodgers the family wanted to put Steven in there somewhere because of Captain America.

Character’s nickname: Captain of America.

Reason for nickname: He was in the military and because of last name and rank of Captain he was dubbed “Captain America”

Birth date: November 30th 2030

Physical appearance

Age: He is 29 at the beginning of my book.

How old does he/she appear: 25ish-ish

Weight: 265

Height: 6 foot 3

Body build: very muscular.

Shape of face: I don’t know, think Steven Amell-ish

Eye color: blue

Glasses or contacts: neither.

Skin tone: kinda light but tans well. Think Alycia debnam Carey

Distinguishing marks: I don’t remember any right now.

Predominant features: I don’t know what this means.

Hair color: brown

Type of hair: I don’t know, very over grown and long. you would have to read the book to understand why.

Hairstyle: I don’t know, very over grown and long. you would have to read the book to understand why.

Voice: kinda deep but not like James earl jones. Again think Steven Amell

Overall attractiveness: Again think Steven Amell mixed with Chris Evans and a little bit of grant gustin? I don’t know that’s what I see when I picture him anyway.

Physical disabilities: can’t draw, afraid of heights, overly sarcastic, bad luck, gets injured a lot, kinda clumsy.

Usual fashion of dress: prison clothes for now.

Favorite outfit: pajamas.

Jewelry or accessories: watch, AR-15, shotgun, .45 ACP, 9mm, m4 carbine, and Kevin.

Personality

Good personality traits: loyal, stubborn, fight till last dying breath, survivor, sarcastic, funny, a leader, wise, adapts well, a good friend, trusting, trustworthy, and Macgyver like.

Bad personality traits: stubborn, sarcastic, trusting, puts himself into danger to often, not cautious enough, unlucky, clumsy, self deprecating, impatient,

Mood character is most often in: sarcastic anger and story telling indifference.

Sense of humor: sarcastic, self deprecating, light hearted.

Character’s greatest joy in life: Kevin.

Character’s greatest fear: Heights.

Why? Because heights are freaking scary man, that’s why.

What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil?

There are a lot of different things that could happen that could do that. But I can’t say any of them without spoiling the book.

Character is most at ease when: petting Kevin while reading him a book.

Most ill at ease when: when Kevin takes to long to come back from his outings.

Enraged when: a crop dies or an earthquake happens.

Depressed or sad when: one of the birds dies or When thinking about everything that has happened to him.

Priorities: escape

Life philosophy: survival and petting Kevin (which was a new addition)

If granted one wish, it would be: freedom from where he is

Why? Because he doesn’t like it there

Character’s soft spot: Kevin or an old friend from the Army named Flash.

Is this soft spot obvious to others? If it’s Kevin than no because there are no others. If it’s Flash than yes it’s very obvious.

Greatest strength: his gun abilities.

Greatest vulnerability or weakness: heights.

Biggest regret: going to prison

Minor regret: not asking some questions of Certain people.

Biggest accomplishment: Winning the Medal of Honor/silver star/Purple Heart.

Minor accomplishment: Saving America

Past failures he/she would be embarrassed to have people know about: none that I have put into the book or can think of.

Why? Because I can’t think of any.

Character’s darkest secret: I can’t tell you that.

Does anyone else know? Not even me.

Just kidding, but no, literally no one on planet earth knows but me.

Goals

Drives and motivations: survival

Immediate goals: getting out of there.

Long term goals: finding out what happened then finding Jimmy and getting revenge.

How the character plans to accomplish these goals: by blowing stuff to smithereens and walking out and then hunting him down and shooting him in the face.

How other characters will be affected: they will also be shot in the face.

Past

Hometown: Denver Nebraska USA

Type of childhood: Nice? I don’t know what the question wants from me.

Pets: one golden retriever when he was six but it died when he was 13.

First memory: going to court with his father

Most important childhood memory: his parents dying when he was 14

Why: because his parents died when he was 14

Childhood hero: his “uncle” Greg

Dream job: Army soldier

Education: high school

Religion: Christian

Finances: very good.

Present

Current location: undisclosed location in in the USA

Currently living with: Kevin

Pets: several birds

Religion: Christian

Occupation: none

Finances: none

Family

Mother: dead

Relationship with her: none but before she died it was very good

Father: dead

Relationship with him: none but before he died it was very good

Siblings: none

Relationship with them: none

Spouse: none

Relationship with him/her: none

Children: none

Relationship with them: none

Other important family members: none

Favorites

Color: blue

Least favorite color: yellow

Music: Dan+Shay

Food: Chicken Alfredo, fried chicken, steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, cheddar and broccoli soup are his favorite foods.

Literature: anything by Jules Verne or Kodi Griffin

Form of entertainment: reading

Expressions: “We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it” or when asked how things are done or how he did that he replies “fermentation”

Mode of transportation: truck or walking

Most prized possession: Kevin or AR-15

Habits

Hobbies: working out, reading, meditating, listening to music, and writing in a journal.

Plays a musical instrument? The drums but that was a long time ago.

Plays a sport? American football back in high school.

How he/she would spend a rainy day: playing in the rain or on his bed reading with Kevin.

Spending habits: none anymore.

Smokes: absolutely not.

Drinks: occasionally but not really.

Other drugs: absolutely not.

What does he/she do too much of? Danger, working out, and reading.

What does he/she do too little of? Safety

Extremely skilled at: shooting, fighting, blowing things up, surviving, getting hurt, and petting Kevin.

Extremely unskilled at: doing nothing, waiting, art, and cooking.

Nervous tics: sarcasm and biting nails.

Usual body posture: that of a soldier but sometimes a teenager.

Mannerisms: Not really sure.

Peculiarities: I don’t know.

Traits

Optimist or pessimist? A realist which I guess means he leans more on the pessimist side

Introvert or extrovert? An introverted extrovert?

Daredevil or cautious? Daredevil

Logical or emotional? Logical

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Methodical and neath

Prefers working or relaxing? Working

Confident or unsure of himself/herself? Confident

Animal lover? Yes siree

Self-perception

How he/she feels about himself/herself: wants himself to live confident about his looks and doesn’t care what people think about him or his looks.

One word the character would use to describe self: fighter

One paragraph description of how the character would describe self: “A survivor until the bitter end. A fighter for freedom, peace, justice, and the American way. And if all else fails kill everything I see and be the last one standing.”

What does the character consider his/her best personality trait? His sense of humor

What does the character consider his/her worst personality trait? Judge of character.

What does the character consider his/her best physical characteristic? Eyebrows

What does the character consider his/her worst physical characteristic? Hands

How does the character think others perceive him/her: He doesn’t care about what others think of him because he is his own man and his own self worth is what truly matters.

What would the character most like to change about himself/herself: the way he approaches certain things

Relationships with others

Opinion of other people in general: doesn’t like them all that much. yes people are needed but most of them he don’t care for

Does the character hide his/her true opinions and emotions from others? Yes

Person character most hates: jimmy

Best friend(s): Flash and Kevin

Love interest(s): none, at any point in my book

Person character goes to for advice: none maybe Kevin

Person character feels responsible for or takes care of: Kevin

Person character feels shy or awkward around: none

Person character openly admires: Kevin

Person character secretly admires: Kevin

Most important person in character’s life before story starts: Flash

After story starts: Kevin

[rbonthedaily]

TWITCHING WITH TWIGHT

What's your problem? I think I know. You see it in the mirror every morning: temptation and doubt hip to hip inside your head. You know it's not supposed to be like this. But you drank the Kool-Aid and dressed yourself up in someone else's life. 

You're haunted because you remember having something more. With each drag of the razor you ask yourself why you piss your blood into another man's cup. Working at the job he offered, your future is between his thumb and forefinger. And the necessary accessories, the proclamations of success you thought gave you stability provide your boss security. Your debt encourages acquiescence, the heavy mortgage makes you polite.

Aren't you sick of being tempted by an alternative lifestyle, but bound by chains of your own choosing? Of the gnawing doubt that the college graduate, path of least resistance is the right way for you - for ever? Each weekend you prepare for the two weeks each summer when you wake up each day and really ride, or climb; the only imperative being to go to bed tired. When booming thermals shoot you full of juice and your Vario shrieks 7m/sec, you wonder if the lines will pop. The risk pares away life's trivia. Up there, sucking down the thin cumulus, the earth looks small, the boss even smaller, and you wish it could go on forever. But a wish is all it will ever be. 

Because the ground is hard. Monday morning is harsh. You wear the hangover of your weekend rush under a strict and proper suit and tie. You listen to NPR because it's inoffensive, PFC: Politically Fucking Correct. Where's the counter-cultural righteousness that had you flirting with Bad Religion and the vintage Pistols tape over the weekend? On Monday you eat frozen food and live the homogenized city experience. But Sunday you thought about cutting your hair very short. You wanted a little more volume and wondered how out of place you looked in the Sub Pop Music Store. Flipping through the import section, you didn't recognize any of the bands.

KMFDM?

It stands for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode. Didn't you know? How could you not?

Tuesday you look at the face in the mirror again. It stares back, accusing. How can you get by on that one weekly dose? How can you be satisfied by the artifice of these experiences? Why should your words mean anything? They aren't learned by heart and written in blood. If you cannot grasp the consciousness-altering experience that real mastery of these disciplines proposes, of what value is your participation? The truth is pointless when it is shallow. Do you have the courage to live with the integrity that stabs deep? 

Use the mirror to cut to the heart of things and uncover your true self. Use the razor to cut away what you don't need. The life you want to live has no recipe. Following the recipe got you here in the first place:

Mix one high school diploma with an undergrad degree and a college sweetheart. With a whisk (or a whip) blend two cars, a poorly built house in a cul de sac, and fifty hours a week working for a board that doesn't give a shit about you. Reproduce once. Then again. Place all ingredients in a rut, or a grave. One is a bit longer than the other. Bake thoroughly until the resulting life is set. Rigid. With no way out. Serve and enjoy.

"You see your face reflected there in a sweating brow, you hate what you see, but what can be done when there's no way out, no way out?" The Chameleons, "Intrigue in Tangiers"

But there is a way out. Live the lifestyle instead of paying lip service to the lifestyle. Live with commitment. With emotional content. Live whatever life you choose honestly. Give up this renaissance man, dilettante bullshit of doing a lot of different things (and none of them very well by real standards). Get to the guts of one thing; accept, without reservation or rationalization, the responsibility of making a choice. When you live honestly, you can not separate your mind from your body, or your thoughts from your actions.

"If you really want to hurt them and their children not yet born tell them the truth always". Henry Rollins, from the book See a Grown Man Cry 

Tell the truth. First, to yourself. Say it until it hurts. Learn the reality of your own selfishness. Quit living for other people at the expense of your own self, you're not really alive. You live in the land of denial - and they say the view is pretty as long as you remain asleep. 

Well it's time to WAKE THE FUCK UP! 

So do it. Wake up. When you drink the coffee tomorrow, take it black and notice it. Feel the caffeine surge through you. Don't take it for granted. Use it for something. Burn the Grisham books. Sell the bad CDs. Mariah Carey, Dave Mathews and N Sync aren't part of the soundtrack where you're going. 

Cut your hair. Don't worry about the gray. If you're good at what you do, no one cares what you look like. Go to the weight room. Learn the difference between actually working out and what you've been doing. Live for the Iron and the fresh air. Punish your body to perfect your soul. Kick the habit of being nice to everyone you meet. Do they deserve it? Say "no" more often. 

Quit posturing at the weekly parties. Your high pulse rate, your 5.12s and quick time on the Slickrock Trail don't mean shit to anybody else. These numbers are the measuring sticks of your own progress; show, don't tell. Don't react to the itch with a scratch. Instead, learn it. Honor the necessity of both the itch and the scratch. 

But a haircut and a new soundtrack do not a modern man make. As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You'll go back to your old habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai's desperateness and his insanity. 

Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off the fence and rip it up. Cut yourself off so there is no going back. Once you're committed the truth will come out. 

You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty. What you need is confusion; something that forces you to reinvent yourself, a whip to drive you harder. 

"I never try anything - I just do it. Want to try me?" White Zombie, sample from "Thunder Kiss"

In Dune, Frank Herbert called it "the attitude of the knife," cut off what's incomplete and say "now it has finished, for it has ended there." 

So finish it, and walk away, forward. Only acts undertaken with commitment have meaning. Only your best effort matters. Life is a Meritocracy, with death as the auditor. Inconsistency, incompetence and lies are all cut short by that final word. Death will change you if you can't change yourself. "If I can change one, then I can change two. If I can change two, then I can change four. If I can change four, then I can change eight. If I can change eight, then I can change." One Minute Silence, "If I Can Change"

[lethe-distillery-blog]

I loved you first

"Rock a bye baby,"

The little brat had quieted down the moment he had taken her into his arms. I watched them from down the hall. Listening as he cooed to her and told her a story, a silly nonsense thing about a princess. She had rested her head on his shoulder and cuddled into him. As if she too knew that it was safe there, and though a part of me was jealous that I would now have to share my favorite place, I figured that if there was someone in the world that I could share it with, it was my daughter. He was just that kind of man, open, caring, and protective. I've seen a lot of discussion of when stepchildren think of their parent's significant other as their actual parent and I don't think there was ever any doubt to her who her father was. But it was here, now. When she was three and in the middle of our romances had had a nightmare. She woke screaming, and he had simply smiled, slipped the condom off and into the trash, pulled on his pants, and went to get her. As if it were the most natural thing in the world. It was then, that I, personally, decided, that he was her father. Genetics don't make family. Love does.

"In the treetops,"

"We'll make it so good that she doesn't even miss what little he offered." He held me tightly, rocking slowly to help me feel better. I had been awaiting our yearly envelope, the only contact that my daughter had with her donor. Not out of her choice, but he stayed away even though I had always made the offer to let him come and spend time with the beautiful girl he had helped make. Instead, he had taken the cowards way out. And now, she didn't seem to be getting that small part of him, how could I explain to a girl of five, that just wanted to be a princess, that she wasn't wanted by the man that had given her life. It hurt so much, wondering what I had done so wrong to fail her so completely that she didn't even have a father. But as he let go of me, and splashed into the pool making her giggle and laugh at him, I realized that she did have a father. The one that was there, with her now. That ducked his head beneath the water and blew bubbles just to watch her laugh. She was his entire world, and though he had never tried to take the place of Jared, he had, beautifully. He was a true father, indulgent but fair, and he enjoyed spoiling her as much he did me, maybe even more.

"When the wind blows,"

"See?" Doesn't that feel better?" He looked up from where he had kissed the wound. She sniffed back big tears as she nodded though it still looked pretty messy. Honestly, I had teared up too and bit back a scream as she had taken a tumble. Instead, it was Dad to the rescue and he had swooped in from where he had been standing watching her, and untangled her from the bike, sans training wheels, and sat her on his lap and had helped pick gravel and rocks from a rather red, and bloody, knee. Thank gosh she had been wearing a helmet. I watched, trying to not flip and jump into panicked mom mode and rush out with polysporin, band-aids, ice, and ban her from ever riding a bike properly again. I knew this was a part of growing up, but gosh, it hurt to watch her take a tumble and scream in pain and know that he had it. He could take care of it. Mom could come in later and offer and kiss and cuddles for comfort, but this was a dad and daughter bonding time. And her laughter as she had screamed out that she was doing it, even if she had tumbled less than ten seconds later, would forever live in my heart at what God had provided for us in this man.

"The cradle will rock,"

I watched the impressive amount of emotions flicker across his features as I broke the news to him. There was anger, pain, joy, satisfaction, and something that I could only describe as heart-wrenching agony. Our little girl wasn't quite so little, in fact, at the tender age of fifteen, our beautiful princess had a boyfriend. She had told me after school, before Dad got home from work because she was scared he would be angry. He finally settled into something I could only describe as defeat and he let out a long breath. "And so it begins?" At my raised eyebrow he explained. "It's the end of where she comes running to me for everything. It's the beginning of a time when I can't protect her from others and she experiences full out pain for herself. I can't protect her from this baby." His eyes were shiny with unshed tears, and I realized that his anger wasn't at our daughter, but the fear and anger of what others might do to her. He wanted her safety, he wanted her happiness. "Well," he let out another impressive sigh as he pulled me close to go to bed, fingers tracing their way over my tummy and he kissed the top of my head. "I suppose I will have to work on my poker face lest the little bastard figures out that I want to kill him." He pulled me flush against him and made a thinking noise. "Then again, having him scared for his life might be a good thing." He trailed off in thought and I smacked his arm and laughed, he was hopeless.

"When the bough breaks,"

I watched from the doorway, my heart splintered as her sobs wrenched through the house. I had sent her two brothers over to their grandparents for the night. I had known as soon as she got home, that zombie-like stare was telling. He looked up and caught my eye and the raw pain there took my breath away. He shook his head slightly and held our girl closer against his chest as he stroked her back and cooed in her ear soothing nonsense. SHe hadn't lasted long, and I had called him home from work and sent the boys off so she would have some privacy to break down. As soon as he had come home and held her in his arms, she had broken. Dinner still sat, untouched on her desk on its plates, mine had been barely more than pushed around as I listened to her sobbing and weeping her heart out. I wanted to hunt down the little prick and kill him myself as much as I knew that this was just the natural course of things. It didn't change the fact that it ripped me apart to hear her screaming 'why?' into her father's chest as he held her doing his best to soothe her. As he had said when she first told me she had a boyfriend, it hurt, because there was nothing you could do to protect them from this.

"The cradle will fall,"

I smiled encouragingly at her as she faltered, her father looking at her curiously from where he sat in his favorite chair. It was his birthday, and we had celebrated it the way he liked. A nice meal, and some family board games. The boys looked back and forth from one another, bumping each other and grinning wide. It was taking everything in them to keep the secret and my baby better hurry or her brothers were going to ruin it. Smiling more at mine she moved forward and hugged her father tightly, she was an affectionate eighteen year old, it was something I think her father needed, though I doubted he would ever admit to that. He smiled though I could tell he was confused at the small envelope that was her gift to him. And as he opened it, pulled out the papers and started reading I could see the tears forming. Honestly, it had never crossed my mind that he hadn't adopted her, but when she had brought it up, I thought it was a perfect idea and I had done everything in my power to keep it a secret from him, and the boys. The boys had only found out about an hour ago, and even so, they had struggled. Now though, they whooped and cheered, jumping around like barbarians. Their father, however, sat, with their big sister's arms around him as he wept like a baby. I moved forward slowly, wrapping my arms around him from the back, so grateful that fate had brought him into our lives. And now we were, legally, a family.

"And down will come baby,"

I stood at the very front, listening to the organ play. My eyes were watering and I was very quickly running out of tissues. Not that anyone was looking at me mind you, but I think my girl would kill me if I got my makeup too messed up for photos later. I had been dreaming about this moment, and they looked incredible. He, as handsome as he had on my own wedding day, and her. Well, our girl looked splendid in white, teary-eyed, and looking at her father for encouragement and strength. He was there for her, just like he always was. He was our rock, our foundation. I looked over to her brothers, even I had issues telling them apart in matching suits, though I knew Carey had that awful goatee that made him look like some farm animal. I looked back to my girl, her features shaded slightly by her veil. She looked stunning, and I had enjoyed being a part of her big day. We had spent hours designing it, picking out perfect colors, stressing, and generally being the crazy women that her father stated we were, to which her brothers agreed. But it all had paid off, all the stressing, fussing, and worrying cumulated into today. And today, was beautiful.

"Cradle,"

The harsh crying stopped immediately and I smiled, unable to stop myself. As this new life, our grandson, learnt the same lesson his mother, uncles, and I had. That so long as his grandfather was around, everything would be alright.

"And all."

[rbpmc-blog]

Twitching With Twight

You’re haunted because you remember having something more. With each drag of the razor you ask yourself why you piss your blood into another man’s cup. Working at the job he offered, your future is between his thumb and forefinger. And the necessary accessories, the proclamations of success you thought gave you stability provide your boss security. Your debt encourages acquiescence, the heavy mortgage makes you polite.

Aren’t you sick of being tempted by an alternative lifestyle, but bound by chains of your own choosing? Of the gnawing doubt that the college graduate, path of least resistance is the right way for you — for ever? Each weekend you prepare for the two weeks each summer when you wake up each day and really ride, or climb; the only imperative being to go to bed tired. When booming thermals shoot you full of juice and your Vario shrieks 7m/sec, you wonder if the lines will pop. The risk pares away life’s trivia. Up there, sucking down the thin cumulus, the earth looks small, the boss even smaller, and you wish it could go on forever. But a wish is all it will ever be.

Because the ground is hard. Monday morning is harsh. You wear the hangover of your weekend rush under a strict and proper suit and tie. You listen to NPR because it’s inoffensive, PFC: Politically Fucking Correct. Where’s the counter-cultural righteousness that had you flirting with Bad Religion and the vintage Pistols tape over the weekend? On Monday you eat frozen food and live the homogenized city experience. But Sunday you thought about cutting your hair very short. You wanted a little more volume and wondered how out of place you looked in the Sub Pop Music Store. Flipping through the import section, you didn’t recognize any of the bands. KMFDM? It stands for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode. Didn’t you know? How could you not?

Tuesday you look at the face in the mirror again. It stares back, accusing. How can you get by on that one weekly dose? How can you be satisfied by the artifice of these experiences? Why should your words mean anything? They aren’t learned by heart and written in blood. If you cannot grasp the consciousness-altering experience that real mastery of these disciplines proposes, of what value is your participation? The truth is pointless when it is shallow. Do you have the courage to live with the integrity that stabs deep?

Use the mirror to cut to the heart of things and uncover your true self. Use the razor to cut away what you don’t need. The life you want to live has no recipe. Following the recipe got you here in the first place:

  Mix one high school diploma with an undergrad degree and a college sweetheart. With a whisk (or a whip) blend two cars, a poorly built house in a cul de sac, and fifty hours a week working for a board that doesn’t give a shit about you. Reproduce once. Then again. Place all ingredients in a rut, or a grave. One is a bit longer than the other. Bake thoroughly until the resulting life is set. Rigid. With no way out. Serve and enjoy.

One day you’ll look in the mirror and ask yourself, “How did I get here?” And more importantly. “How do I get out?”

Live the lifestyle instead of paying lip service to the lifestyle. Live with commitment. With emotional content. Live whatever life you choose honestly. Give up this renaissance man, dilettante bullshit of doing a lot of different things (and none of them very well by real standards). Get to the guts of one thing; accept, without reservation or rationalization, the responsibility of making a choice. When you live honestly, you can not separate your mind from your body, or your thoughts from your actions.

Tell the truth. First, to yourself. Say it until it hurts. Learn the reality of your own selfishness. Quit living for other people at the expense of your own self, you’re not really alive. You live in the land of denial — and they say the view is pretty a long as you remain asleep.

Well it’s time to WAKE THE FUCK UP!

So do it. Wake up. When you drink the coffee tomorrow, take it black and notice it. Feel the caffeine surge through you. Don’t take it for granted. Use it for something. Burn the Grisham books. Sell the bad CDs. Mariah Carey, Dave Mathews and N Sync aren’t part of the soundtrack where you’re going.

Cut your hair. Don’t worry about the gray. If you’re good at what you do, no one cares what you look like. Go to the weight room. Learn the difference between actually working out and what you’ve been doing. Live for the Iron and the fresh air. Punish your body to perfect your soul. Kick the habit of being nice to everyone you meet. Do they deserve it? Say “no” more often.

Quit posturing at the weekly parties. Your high pulse rate, your 5.12s and quick time on the Slickrock Trail don’t mean shit to anybody else. These numbers are the measuring sticks of your own progress; show, don’t tell. Don’t react to the itch with a scratch. Instead, learn it. Honor the necessity of both the itch and the scratch. But a haircut and a new soundtrack do not a modern man make. As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You’ll go back to your old habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai’s desperateness and his insanity.

Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off the fence and rip it up. Cut yourself off so there is no going back. Once you’re committed the truth will come out. You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty. What you need is confusion; something that forces you to reinvent yourself, a whip to drive you harder.

In Dune, Frank Herbert called it “the attitude of the knife,” cut off what’s incomplete and say “now it has finished, for it has ended there.” So finish it, and walk away, forward. Only acts undertaken with commitment have meaning. Only your best effort matters.

Life is a Meritocracy, with death as the auditor. Inconsistency, incompetence and lies are all cut short by that final word. Death will change you if you can’t change yourself.

[coaching4success-bizcoaching]

#Biz Traveling Mistakes

1. Not getting enough sleep

The worst thing you can do on an overseas business trip is conduct a meeting in a lounge with comfortable chairs you can sink into — and without having had enough sleep on the flight over the night before. That I nodded off while talking with the president of an important cruise line is a lasting embarrassment to me, though I was lucky enough to be with someone understanding: an hard-traveling working woman just like me. —Nancy Novogrod, founder, The Essentialist

2. Not being prepared

I have learned that in my busy life and travel schedule I consistently forget something — appropriate shoes, toiletries, favorite lipstick, charger, phone, even a computer! Not all at the same time, of course. Due to this, I always book myself in a hotel that either has a sundries store, plus electronics, clothing and shoe stores very near (as in walking distance). I don't want to have to spend time searching for what is near or driving/taking a car there. —Anne Chaisson, executive director, Hamptons International Film Festival

3. Assuming you know the visa requirements

I was headed to India on assignment and didn't check the visa requirements. My route was through Kenya and the U.A.E., and I only discovered I lacked the proper paperwork while checking in for an onward flight, at midnight, in Nairobi. I was refused entry. Not going to make that mistake again. My travel prep homework now includes the CIA World Factbook, U.S. Department of State travel alerts, the U.K. Foreign Travel Advice site, the Center for Disease Control and even a global religious holiday calendar app. This last one can be crucial. While I was waiting for that emergency visa, I got caught in a vortex of converging religion celebrations — Easter, Passover, Mawlid — when visa offices were shut down across all countries I traveled through. —Shane Mitchell, author, Far Afield: Rare Food Encounters From Around the World

4. Reserving hotels at the last minute (especially for big industry events)

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a massive event in the technology industry, and I've attended the past two years with Eight. Last year, we didn't plan on showcasing our product, so when I committed to go at the last minute, the only hotel available on the Strip — at a reasonable price — was also the furthest away from the main conference venue. I decided to book it, and I regretted it later. I ended up spending so much time on taxi lines and had to leave my hotel at least an hour before any meeting. Time not well spent! —Alex Zatarain, co-founder, Eight Sleep

6. Scheduling leisure before business

When planning a "bleisure" (business + leisure) trip, schedule the business part first, followed by your leisure stay. If you start with the leisure part of the trip, it's 10 times harder to shift into work mode. I once went on vacation to Cozumel and Tulum right before a conference in Cancun. I was so chilled out and relaxed, and then the conference set me abruptly into the high-stress mode. Massive vacation buzz kill! I've never vacationed before work on a bleisure trip since. —Tammy Peters, founder, Media Mixology

7. Not booking a hotel when you have a red-eye flight

Having traveled the world for work, I have found that booking your hotel in advance when you have a red-eye flight to be crucial. I once arrived early in the morning to my hotel to get some rest and shower after a red-eye flight and the hotel could not check me in until 3 p.m.that afternoons because it was fully booked and none of the rooms were ready. Now I always book the hotel for the previous night, as well, to have the room ready for me when I arrive at 5 a.m. —Daria Rebenok, CEO/co-founder, Grabr

8. Not getting Global Entry

I learned the hard way on the way home from a business trip to Los Cabos after standing in a three-hour immigration line to apply for a Global Entry. This simple application gives you pre-approved clearance to breeze through immigration. Some major credit cards will also give you a credit for the fee. —Carey Reilly, lifestyle/travel expert, and editor, Not So Skinny Mom

9. Not learning basic language skills

When I was in my 20's I was the regional director of sales at Swissotel for the East Coast and I went to Switzerland to see the hotels. I was late to the train station in Bern dragging too many bags, as I still was not an experienced international traveler. I asked someone in uniform if they knew which track was for the train to Zurich. The person said, "Nein," so I rushed off to track nine and ended up on a train to Geneva. Now I know: "nein" means "no."—Adele Gutman, vice president of sales, marketing & revenue, Library Hotel Collection

10. Taking it with you

I lost my passport in Hong Kong while going out for dinner. I had to stay behind for three days to have the embassy issue a new one. Lesson learned: Leave your passport and other valuables in the hotel room safe when going out. —Debi Bishop, managing director, Hilton Hawaiian Village

11. Not paying attention to local customs

During my first trip to the Middle East as a blonde American female, I took the time to read the 70-odd-page document that came along with my travel confirmation. There were warnings — from covering my head, neck, and shoulders to issues of water safety. Even more interestingly: to not accept a verbal agreement. Rather, it's customary to insist on a signed agreement. To this day, all this information has proved helpful whenever I travel to the region. —Michaela Guzy, founder, Oh the People You Meet

11. Not paying attention to local customs

During my first trip to the Middle East as a blonde American female, I took the time to read the 70-odd-page document that came along with my travel confirmation. There were warnings — from covering my head, neck, and shoulders to issues of water safety. Even more interestingly: to not accept a verbal agreement. Rather, it's customary to insist on a signed agreement. To this day, all this information has proved helpful whenever I travel to the region. —Michaela Guzy, founder, Oh the People You Meet

12. Not double-checking your plane ticket

Last year, I attended Pirate Summit in Cologne and then numerous tech events in Berlin. After a long week of work, I had a reunion planned with friends in Porto. From Berlin, I booked a flight to Cologne as my next flight was 6:30 a.m. from Frankfurt Hahn Airport to Porto. So I scheduled a BlaBlaCar from Cologne to Frankfurt. The driver agreed to drop me and another passenger off to the airport. We arrived at Frankfurt's huge international airport. But my flight was booked with a budget carrier from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, which was on the other side of the city. I'm lucky I didn't miss the flight. Lesson learned: the importance of planning. —Mevish Aslam, founder, Terminal 3 and Sprinters

13. Planning last minute

The worst thing that I have done is saying yes to a last-minute international business trip that demanded me to leave in the next three hours. With little to no time to pack left the country awaiting an email with my hotel reservation and transportation accommodations only to find out 30,000 feet up in the air through WiFi that they were unable to book them due to a card freeze. Now, I never leave to go to another country or even to another state without everything being secured before my departure. —Jae Scott, motivational speaker, and image consultant

14. Only bringing your work tote

I always have a versatile, small cross-body purse ready to go. I don't need it for getting to my destination, so I pack it in my suitcase. But if I plan to go out to dinner or wander around a town to bar hop, my large work tote is such a pain to carry around, especially in the Spanish towns where visiting a tapas bar is always a "squeeze-in-to-get-in" experience. Having that little bag to carry just my essentials

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Arizona Sees No Need to Tighten Rules on Self-Driving Cars After Uber Fatality

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/arizona-sees-no-need-to-tighten-rules-on-self-driving-cars-after-uber-fatality/

Arizona Sees No Need to Tighten Rules on Self-Driving Cars After Uber Fatality

Arizona officials said on Tuesday they saw no immediate need to tighten rules on the testing of self-driving cars in the state in reaction to a fatal accident involving an Uber autonomous vehicle that has focused attention on the safety of the new technology.

Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. said it will pause autonomous vehicle testing following Sunday’s accident in which an Uber Technologies Inc. self-driving SUV struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona.

Automakers and tech companies are evaluating whether or not to suspend their autonomous vehicle programs in the wake of the first fatality involving a self-driving vehicle. Uber said on Monday it was suspending its own program.

Toyota said it was temporarily pausing its testing on U.S. public roads to help its test drivers, who could be experiencing “an emotional effect” from the incident.

“This ‘timeout’ is meant to give them time to come to a sense of balance about the inherent risks of their jobs,” the automaker said in a statement.

Uber, along with other technology companies and automakers, has been testing in Arizona, which regulates autonomous vehicles with a lighter touch than neighboring states such as California.

The state has a long history of allowing automakers to test new vehicles on its wide, open roads, and a 2015 executive order by Governor Doug Ducey paved the way for companies to test autonomous technology without interference by the legislature. More than 600 self-driving vehicles are now testing on Arizona roads, according to the governor’s office.

On Tuesday, Arizona’s director for policy and communications at the state’s department of transportation, Kevin Biesty, said existing regulations were sufficient and that the state had no immediate plans to issue new rules.

“We believe we have enough in our laws right now to regulate automobiles,” Biesty told Reuters. “There will be issues that the legislature will have to address in the future as these become more widespread.”

During the early phase of self-driving vehicle testing, Arizona refrained from adding new restrictions on companies testing on state roads, Biesty said, adding they did not believe any new regulations would add to safety.

Biesty said his agency was waiting for federal safety regulators to conclude an investigation before drawing any conclusions. Arizona’s self-driving vehicle oversight committee has not planned any meetings or actions, he said.

Also on Tuesday, Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell issued a statement saying he supported Uber’s decision to suspend testing until the end of the investigation. His office said the mayor had not asked other autonomous vehicle companies to suspend testing in the city.

Full details are still forthcoming surrounding the death on Sunday night of pedestrian Elaine Herzberg after she was struck by Uber’s test vehicle, a Volvo SC 90 sport utility vehicle, operating in autonomous mode. .

Herzberg, who was homeless, was crossing a four-lane road with her bicycle outside of the crosswalk when she was struck.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix said it was awaiting the results of an investigation by Tempe police before reviewing whether any charges should be filed. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also are investigating.

The Tempe police department said in a brief statement it “would like to reaffirm that fault has not been determined in this case.”

The NTSB said investigators had viewed video captured by a camera in the Uber vehicle, and were gathering data from the vehicle and Uber. A photo posted on Twitter by the NTSB showed the front right corner of the vehicle’s hood seriously dented. Investigators will be in Tempe for the rest of the week and will not release findings until reviews of information from the scene and analysis of vehicle data are finished, the agency said.

Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group office in Tempe appeared empty on Tuesday except for a security guard who said only a small security crew was working at the site since the accident. The autonomous vehicles normally filling the parking lot outside were nowhere to be seen.

The fatality is drawing fresh attention to the safety of autonomous vehicles, and the challenges of testing them on public streets. Self-driving cars have been involved in minor accidents, but nearly all have been blamed on human motorists hitting the autonomous vehicle.

The outcome of the investigations in Arizona will be pivotal for companies racing to profit from robo-taxi services and automated delivery vehicles. Among them are General Motors Co , Alphabet Inc’s Waymo unit, ride services company Lyft, Ford Motor Co and others.

Waymo earlier this month said it began operating self-driving vehicles in Arizona without human minders, offering rides to select customers. GM, through its Cruise Automation unit, has said it plans to launch a robo-taxi service next year, and said on Tuesday it stood by that timeline.

Self-driving startup nuTonomy, owned by Aptiv Plc, said it was temporarily halting its testing on public roads in Boston, following the city’s request.

Analysts and experts said the fatality involving Uber could slow progress toward deployment in the sector.

“What this incident indicates is that the state of autonomous driving (and especially Uber) is very far from where it needs to be to become market-ready,” Richard Windsor, technology analyst for London-based Edison Investment Research, said in a blog post on Tuesday.

(Writing by Alexandria Sage, Additional reporting by Nick Carey, Joseph White and Paul Lienert in Detroit, Sydney Maki in Tempe, Ariz., David Schwartz in Phoenix, and David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Matthew Lewis and Cynthia Osterman)

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[iliveworldnews]

// Visit EnchantedLifePath.com Donate To Enchanted LifePath Alternative News & MediaClick To Subscribe To Enchanted LifePath TV On YouTube Bryan Hopkins: His Up Close Story of Mandalay Bay & Jason Aldean

https://youtu.be/uBD1tf1kXvw View Video on YouTube It is no surprise that conspiracy theories are a regular staple here on The Malliard Report. While a large number of people question the given narrative for many of the events that take place, (and the Las Vegas shooting is no exception) there is still an element that is often overlooked within the conspiracy circles. More often than not, a number of events are in fact orchestrated, or at a minimum allowed to happen, but there is a human element still attached to these situations. People still are affected by the events in many different ways, especially those that unfortunately bare witness first hand. This week on The Malliard Report Jim welcomes Bryan Hopkins to the show. Bryan is a slightly different guest than the usual line up, in the fact that Bryan has no background in the paranormal or conspiratorial. Bryan is a full time musician; front-man/ lead singer for the band Elvis Monroe. The success of Elvis Monroe is not why Bryan and Jim sit down for this episode. It was the events that transpired on October 1, 2017. Wanting to see Jason Aldean perform from the viewpoint of the crowd and “fanboy” with the rest of the people, Bryan and guitarist Ben Carey left the backstage area and moved their way to the front of the stage. Not long after chaos ensued. As shots rang out and people began to scatter, Bryan sprang into action. Grabbing two women and having survival mode kick into full gear Bryan began to flee for the backstage area. Discovering a large refrigeration truck, Bryan led the women into the safety and waited while hell unfolded around him. Bryan’s story is far more in-depth that what can be provided here, harrowing to say the least, and to hear him tell it adds a human element that many conspiracy heads tend to forget. The Malliard Report entertains its audience with insightful interviews that cover a wide variety of topics ranging from any number of subjects, you can be sure when you tune into the Malliard Report that you get yourself an earful of something that might just grab your fancy. With celebrity guests that come from all walks of life that include Loyd Aurbach, or even New York Times best selling author Jim Defelice, there’s always someone interesting to listen to. Skeptics, Authors, Paranormal Researchers, Mediums, even other talk show radio personalities, there’s no one involved in Paranormal that Jim Malliard won’t talk to. Please Visit his Website and Say Hello http://www.tmr247.com/ The Malliard Report Is a great Coast To Coast AM Alternative Bryan Hopkins: His Up Close Story of Mandalay Bay http://ift.tt/2FTbW0g http://ift.tt/eA8V8J News, Trending, Truth, Video, YouTube March 18, 2018 at 03:35PM