#a majority of the ii community oop | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

meditatemoremedicateless · 7 years ago

Text

Something Wicked: Moonlight (Part II)

Art by @flowersonpaper

Fandom: Life is Strange

Pairings: Christward, Amberchrist, Victaylor

Major Tags: Fluff, magical girl, witch, magic, polyamory

Words: ~ 10,000 (oops)

Summary: Taylor pulls off a heist in Nathan's room. While she's busy uncovering the secrets of his phone, a monster follows her to the outskirts of the town. Taylor has her second showdown with a shade. A new witch reveals themself.

Read the full story on Ao3

Rachel and Taylor were severely tardy and giggly by the time they entered the gym. Luckily, that meant that they'd missed stretches, and people had already arranged themselves around the small badminton nets from last week. This time though, people were paired up to hit volley balls back and forth. There was one empty mini-court, though, and Dana and Juliet were standing against the wall next to it, Dana with a volley ball tucked under her arm.

Taylor unlinked her fingers from Rachel's, nodding her head over to Dana and Juliet. As they approached, Juliet took notice, smiling and waving. Which was . . . unusual.

"Sup?" Rachel asked once they made it over.

Dana shrugged. "I guess we're all tardy, but whatever. You're lucky we managed to talk you down from a truant, though."

Taylor smiled, clasping her hands in fake prayer. "Thank you, almighty Dana."

Dana looked the both up them up and down quickly, smirking. "Well, you two look happy."

Juliet butted in suddenly to ask, "So are you guys dating?" She stood up from against the wall, swishing a little. Taylor wasn't sure she had ever seen her so animated.

Rachel smiled nervously, and she and Taylor both made the nervous tic to fix their hair. "We're . . ." Rachel started, then immediately faltered. She raised her hand up towards Taylor, adding an, "Um . . ." but that just faltered as well.

"Are we dating? We never talked about it."

Taylor wasn't exactly sure whether or not kissing meant they were dating, but rule of thumb said no. But they had gone on a date? "We're just . . ." but she quickly gave up trying to finish that sentence either.

Dana looked back and forth between the two of them as awkwardness beset all of them. Then she said, "Welllll, we'll come back to that one. Why don't we just-"

WHAM!

A volleyball slammed into the wall over their heads, rebounding just behind Juliet, who screamed for a second before realizing what happened. When they checked who it had come from, though, Zach waved from the other side of an adjacent court. Quickly approaching their little group, though, was Logan. Taylor immediately took a step back, and she wasn't the only one - only Dana didn't seem to flinch, instead taking a few steps over to pick up the ball.

He raised a hand now, greeting her with a, "Yo."

"Hey," Dana replied curtly, tossing the ball a little too high so Logan had to step back to catch it.

Once he'd caught it, he took another step towards the four of them, but Dana immediately pivoted towards Taylor. "Hey, so, want to play volleyball?"

"S-sure," she replied, taking a look over at Rachel before the two of them moved to the other side of the court.

Unfortunately, this brought their path a little too close to Logan, who muttered, "Bitch."

Rachel turned to glare, but Taylor couldn't even bring her eyes up. He was back in his court by the time they got set up, and Taylor had to look up.

On the other side of the court, Dana stood alone, Juliet sitting back against the wall, unable to play thanks to never changing. Dana lifted the ball to about stomach height, then looked over at Rachel and Taylor. "You ready?" she called.

"Literally never."

"Lay 'em on me, girl," Rachel called back, clasping her hands together.

Taylor snorted, knowing her wrists were probably going to be sore by the time class was over. Dana was a server for the girls' volleyball team. This was going to suck.

At least it was better than playing with those football assholes.

Taylor: hey vic.

Victoria: Hey T what's up?

Taylor: not much Taylor: just wondered if we could hit up nathan and smoke

Victoria: I've got my own if you just want to chill and do homework

Taylor: nah i kind of want to hang out with nathan. maybe we can do homework during lab tomorrow? i don't think it's gonna take us long to take a pic of the mountains

Victoria: Sure. Victoria: I'll hit up Nathan and we can hang out tonight

Taylor: cool

Taylor switched over to her new group text, Nancy Drew 1.2

Taylor: yo so i'm gonna try and get nathan's phone tonight.

Juliet: You sure? I mean, even if you get it, it's going to be locked you know. Juliet: He's not dumb.

Taylor: i think i've got that worked out, don't worry Taylor: or maybe do, who knows

Taylor's plan was, in fact, ludicrous. She was pretty sure she had mind controlled Logan somehow Thursday night when she got him to back off. At least, she had proven way more persuasive than she was before she had super powers, so that was close enough.

Dana: Good luck Dana: Text me if you need anything

Taylor: yeah Taylor: and thanks for helping me Taylor: i know i've been super shitty to both of you guys Taylor: but seriously thank you

Juliet: If you end up getting Nathan expelled for dealing roofies we can call it even?

Taylor: ha yeah Taylor: shit wow that's what might happen isn't it Taylor: that sucks

Juliet: It kind of already sucks, honestly.

Taylor: ha Taylor: well if i die or disappear you'll know exactly who did it Taylor: literally any member of the AB police department or Blackwell staff

Taylor's heart was already racing by the time she left her room that evening. The inevitability of her embarrassing failure when she tried to control Nathan only seemed clearer and clearer throughout the day until now she was actively blocking out her constant warnings to give up. Luckily, her body rarely seemed to communicate well with her head, and soon she found herself climbing the stairs up to the third floor of the dorms.

As she reached the first landing, the third-floor door opened and Samuel stepped through, dragging his cleaning supplies with him. The dormitories weren't very old but they were designed like shit, and accessibility changes had only started last week thanks to a local grant. As such, Samuel had to carry much of his supplies up and down the stairs every day. It was a damn uncomfortable thing to watch, as the cart was obviously not made to be carried, and yet he pulled it off several times a day, six days a week.

"Hey Samuel, do you need any help?"

As Taylor reached the top of the stairs, Samuel turned to look at her, the heavy steel door closing behind him with a loud ka-chung. "Why, I don't suppose so, Taylor, I'll manage. Do you need any help?"

See, now, this is why Taylor didn't usually talk to Samuel. She may not have the same visceral reaction as Victoria just because his voice made it sound like he was trying to tell a ghost story 24/7, but he rebounded everything you said in uncomfortable ways.

"Ah. Um, no, I don't think so. Just going to go hang out with some friends." She kept her arms close to her body, scratching to remind them to feel sensation.

Samuel nodded. "It's good to have friends," he replied. "They keep each other safe in dark times. At least tonight is bright."

"Uh . . . yeah." Taylor looked him in the eye, hoping she could get some peek into this guy's mind. Still, no voice appeared, so they just sat there in silence.

Without breaking eye contact at all, Samuel said, "I need to keep vacuuming now."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Taylor walked around the cart so he could access the stairs, still clutching her own body.

Samuel pushed his cart closer to the edge, then got on the stairs so he could lift it. But before he did, he paused and said, "It's a beautiful night tonight. It might be nice to take a walk.

"Yeah," she replied. Once he lifted the cart, though, she just pushed through the door and headed for Nathan's room.

Smoking in Nathan's room was always, inevitably, a little uncomfortable. The bondage art on the walls was one thing - Taylor had accepted long ago that what was creepy for her was 'artistic' to some people - but it was really the wall of foreign slasher films that Taylor didn't like. There's no way you watch that many people get murdered in French and walk away intact. Taylor barely managed to keep her mind intact when Victoria thought it was bourgeois to say random idioms in French. Still, there was one use to the room that never wore out: no matter how much it smelled like pot, you'd never get busted if you were in Nathan's room.

Taylor really would have liked to be high for this. But for some reason, no matter how much she was smoking, she wasn't really feeling it right now.

Victoria and Nathan were chatting about this football season, which Nathan was compelled to care about and Victoria somehow, genuinely cared about. Like most conversations when the three of them were together, Taylor sat out of it, played on her phone, or just sort of looked around the room and pet soft objects.

"Hey, that reminds me," Nathan said, (Taylor had no idea what preceded that) "how did you get chosen as the number two for that photo contest? I didn't think that was how that worked."

Victoria grimaced. She and Nathan sat next to each other on the couch under the projector, alternating between trying to relax and hunched over smoking from their pipes.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I was probably on the table to begin with, and when Max didn't show, Mark just made an executive decision. Especially if we were the last two in deliberations, I don't think anyone would question it."

Honestly, Taylor had been trying not to question that very thing. As much as she wanted to believe that Victoria was the obvious second, there was no way Evan and Rachel were far behind. Even taking family influence into account, the Chases didn't have much of a leg up on the Harris family in terms of artistic renown or the Ambers in community goodwill. The only thing that made Victoria seem like a sure second, only behind Max, was Jefferson's preference - he adored Max, and Victoria had been kissing his ass since day one. No one would want to say that out loud, and it certainly wouldn't be Taylor.

Victoria blew out a thin stream of smoke like a sigh. Then she said, "Guess I can't compete with a pet project, huh?"

Nathan side-eyed her. "Pet project? What makes you say that?" His hands twitched as he talked. Not that that was unusual for Nathan, but it still caught Taylor's attention.

Victoria returned the glance, then rolled her eyes. "Oh, just, when you're in class with him you can tell. Lets her off the hook, gives her lots of praise, tells her about photography opportunities after class, lectures as if it's just for her. Well, her and Rachel. The two of them together are the worst."

"Oh. Huh." Nathan looked at the floor. He didn't even reply with some witty, derogatory comment. Then he looked up at Taylor and asked, "You went to the party Thursday with Rachel, right T? Like, she asked you out."

Taylor shrugged. Then, she realized that was a question with clear answers. "Oh, yeah, I guess. She asked me, but then she couldn't make it."

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Yeah," he said, "that sounds like Rachel all right."

I need to put out a notice that no one is allowed to be mean to Rachel while we're dating or else I'll mind control them into the swimming pool.

Taylor drummed her fingers on her jeans, criss-crossed on the bed. "I mean, we still went out Sunday. She didn't just flake."

"Oh, okay," Nathan said, suddenly grinning. "And just why'd she bail on the party, then?"

Taylor gripped her jeans as well as she could as she became flustered. "She - she had to do a thing with her mom."

Nathan chuckled. "Oh, okay, sure."

Victoria swatted his shoulder and shot him a look somewhere between an eye-roll and a glare. "Just stop it, Nate."

He held his hands up in surrender. "Sure, sure. Look, I'm's glad Taylor's getting some ass as we all are." His eyes rolled up as if he were picturing something. "Kind of a lot of ass, actually."

Victoria flushed, but that was far enough that Taylor stopped feeling so flustered. "Shut. Up. Nathan," she growled. "I don't want to hear what you have to say about Rachel's ass. Or Rachel at all, actually."

"Fine, fine." He leaned back on the sofa, but he wouldn't get rid of his pleased smirk, and that was what was pissing Taylor off the most, honestly.

A few more minutes passed by while Victoria and Nathan talked and Taylor sulked, wondering if she was going to have to defend Rachel against all of her friends, sooner or later. The only people who were being happy for her were Dana and Juliet, unlike everyone else who basically just agreed to back off. She wondered if Rachel was having to do this same thing on her end, hound Chloe and Max about being mean for . . . well, Taylor had no idea what they'd choose to be mean behind her back for, but she knew she wouldn't want it said about her. Why wouldn't people just get that all of this bullshit high school drama was going to disappear the second they graduated, but Taylor's chances for love and companionship and all that stupid Disney bullshit were never going to stop being limited? What was the point in treating a nice girl badly?

Thoughts of Dana and Juliet began to pool in Taylor's mind, and she wanted to think about anything else.

Victoria spoke up. "I'll, uh, be right back," she said as she got up.

Taylor latched onto the distraction. "Where're you going?"

"Uhh, bathroom. You need to go?"

This is perfect. Although Taylor did kind of have to go.

Taylor shook her head, "Nah, I'm good."

"Okay."

Once Victoria was out of the room and definitely out of earshot, Taylor turned her attention to Nathan.

"Hey, Nate," she said, scooting forward on the bed, "I need a favor."

Nathan immediately looked irritated, but he held it back enough to ask, "Like what?"

Taylor took a quick breath to prepare herself for the practiced lie, what she had been banking every possibility of not outright trying to steal his phone on. "I want to buy something you don't normally sell. But I know Frank used to have it."

Nathan just quirked his eyebrows, waiting for her to finish the request.

"Oxycodone. I know Drew used to run it, and I need some."

Now he looked concerned. "Is this . . . about your mom?" he asked.

Taylor looked down, rubbing her arms like she did when she was anxious. And she was anxious, just not for the reasons that she wanted to look anxious. "I don't want to talk about it," she said. "I just need it quickly. Can you get it for me?"

He exhaled slowly as he thought about it, hesitating. Or maybe he just really was concerned about her mom, it wasn't that easy to tell. Taylor wasn't picking up anything from his mind, after all.

"Yeah, yeah, totally. How much do you need?"

Taylor licked her lips, working out the smoothest option for her plan. "Not a lot right now, but I'll probably need more."

He nodded. "Gotcha. I gotta tell you though, T, this stuff's not cheap."

"I know. But I'll pay."

He shrugged. "Alright, then. I'll set something up."

"Thank you."

She waited for a few seconds while they sat in awkward silence. When it became clear he wasn't going to get something set up right now, though, Taylor said, "Could you do it as soon as you can? I don't want to be pushy, I'd just prefer Victoria didn't know about this."

"Totally," he replied, waving his hand to dismiss the possibility. "I'll get it going tonight, you'll have your oxy in a few days. I won't be able to take a tab for something like this, though."

Taylor nodded . . . but that still wasn't enough. "Could you do it right now? I'm just really worried, is all."

Finally, Nathan seemed to catch on, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I . . . could. But I think I'll just do it after you two leave."

Taylor was frightened that she was going to fail. Luckily, it was easy enough to channel that into frustration. "Nathan - I know you deal, and I know you're buying from Frank. You don't have anything to hide from me - would you just do it? Please?"

They entered into a staring match, while Nathan's mouth hung slightly open in irritated disbelief. Still, Taylor was small and harmless and, hypothetically, a friend to Nathan, so she kept up the stare as long as she could.

And Nathan was the one who finally caved. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. Just don't fucking talk to anyone about how I do business, okay?"

Nathan grabbed the bottom of his couch and scooted forward, dragging the whole thing with him an inch. Then he turned around and reached over it, pulling something from the backside. When he turned back around, Taylor could not believe her luck - it was a cell phone, but not his regular one. She hadn't even thought about that. He opened it up and, with another discontent sigh, started typing a message.

God, I hope this works.

"Nathan, I need you to give me the phone."

His eyes flicked up to her. "What the fuck?" He didn't seem to be sure exactly what tone to use, so it came out as muddy confusion.

Taylor took an unsteady breath. She gripped her knees and tried to remember the feeling she'd had when she stood up to Logan.

"Nathan . . ." she lifted her right hand, slipping it into her pocket. She dragged a finger over the surface of the cold stone. "Give me that phone."

She almost yelled when she saw his pupils dilate suddenly - it looked even freakier in bright light than it had in the red of the End of the World party. He looked down at his phone, then up at Taylor.

He shrugged. "Yeah, whatever, take it." He held out his phone, but otherwise sat still.

Taylor scurried on all fours to the edge of the bed, then reached out and snatched his phone. He was mid-message to an unknown number. She hit up a few times to feel secure that the phone wouldn't go to sleep mode, then stood up.

"Yeah, thanks Nate. And when Victoria gets back from the bathroom, just tell her I went to bed."

"Roger."

Taylor began to walk as fast as she could as soon as she was outside of the room, making her way into the stairwell. Then she pulled the phone to her face again, trying to figure it out as quickly as she could. She hit End until she got to the home screen, then found the Settings. Settings to Personal Information? No, that was a profile. Back, down to Security. Yes, perfect - Password settings. Change Password. Input current password to change password.

Fuck! I should have thought of that first.

She didn't want to try and go back to the room. First, she had no idea if she could pull the Jedi mind tricks on Nathan a second time, and secondly, getting caught by Victoria sounded like one of the most uncomfortable, nevermind unexplainable, situations Taylor could imagine. No, she would just have to get all the information she could without letting the phone die or fall asleep. If Nathan wasn't the dealer . . . she was going to be in for some total shit.

Taylor thought about actually going to her room to figure this out, but there were two issues: one, she needed to make a call (and Victoria might check on her sooner or later), and two, she had no idea when Nathan would be capable of realizing what he'd done and come to get his phone.

You're going to be okay. Just get somewhere you won't be found.

It looked like it was time to take a walk.

Dana: "Wait, holy shit, you got the phone?"

Taylor: "Ha, yeah! But I can't change the password so I'm just kind of tapping buttons every few seconds to keep the screen lit. I don't know how much longer I'll have it, so, I need you and Juliet to take notes or something. Is she nearby?

Dana: "Yeah, we're just hanging out in her room. Can I put you on speaker?"

Taylor: "Please don't. Do you have headphones?"

Dana: "Yeah, sure. Who do you want to talk to?"

Taylor: "I, um. Not sure."

Dana: "Juliet says she'll do it - she's a better note-taker than I am. Give us a sec."

Taylor: "Mmhm."

Ever since she'd left school property, Taylor had gotten the feeling that she was being followed. Still, Blackwell was not that far from downtown and it wasn't late enough for no one to be on the streets, so she couldn't tell if the feeling had any merit. She walked as quickly as she could without looking like a total freak, alternating between looking at the phone and up at her surroundings.

Juliet: "Hey, Taylor, I'm here and I've got my notepad. What do you want me to write?"

Taylor: "None of the contacts in the phone are labelled, so I just need you to separate them and we'll work it out, okay?"

Juliet: "Sure, sure. What's the first one say?"

Taylor: "Okay, so, the first one looks like Nathan setting up a deal to buy something called 'G.' He made deals on 9/10 and 9/25. The first time, he complains that he got sold water."

Juliet: "Water?"

Taylor: "Like a watered-down product, I think. I don't know what G is - maybe Dana can look it up? I'm going on to the second one."

Juliet: "Okay. I got the drug, dates, and the complaint down."

Taylor: "Cool. Second contact, all the messages are more recent. Nathan asks repeatedly if there's any parties going on. The other person tells him to go to one of the parties 'his daddy' pays for. He says that's not enough and he needs a rager. Other person tells him to get bent. That was . . . oh, last week. 10/9."

Juliet: "Okay, weird, but whatever. What's next?"

Taylor: "It's literally just Nathan buying weed every few days for like the entire summer. I think this is just Frank's regular phone he's texting or something."

Juliet: "Okay, sure. Anything else?"

Taylor: "Yeah. Okay, wow - fourth contact is a lot. It's three messages that Nathan sent. "Here's the first one: 'Hey whore. Keep your fucking mouth shut or else. I know where you sleep.'"

Juliet: "Jesus fuck, Nathan. But, yeah, okay, go on."

Taylor: "The first one was last month, 9/16. Second one: 'Next time it won't be pig's blood. Feminazis will be exterminated.'"

Juliet: "Nathan's such a fucking red-piller. I really hope it's him." Juliet: "Oh and real quick, Dana wants me to tell you that 'G' might mean 'GHB', which is a muscle relaxant. It's a party drug that - come again? - can induce comas or death when mixed with alcohol. So it's a depressant, that's all we've really got there."

Taylor: "All right. The third message reads, 'What the fuck are you?' That's it."

Juliet: "Hmm. When were those last two messages sent?"

Taylor: "The second one was on 10/8. The last one was on 10/10."

Juliet: "October 10 . . . that was Thursday, right? What time did he send that?"

Taylor: "Um, about 11:30pm."

Juliet: "Wow, okay, ominous. But I guess we know what he was doing instead of going to the Vortex Club party, sheesh. Uh, is there more?"

Taylor: "Unfortunately, yeah."

Taylor had gotten through most of the town and was starting to walk along the hybrid of low-income homes and dirt roads that made up the northeastern corner of Arcadia Bay. And now, when she checked over her shoulder, she knew she was being followed. Not just by a person, either. She could see the flicker behind her, but it was making no attempts to catch up with her. Sooner or later, she was going to get cornered by this thing, and she was going to have to fight her way out.

I can get to the park. Maybe I'll have enough time to call someone if I can't figure out how to get my staff back. God, I don't want to do this.

Taylor: "Um, so, fifth contact. Only one message, real recent - 10/12. It says verbatim, 'Nathan, I know this must be a confusing time for you, but you have to believe me that this is for your own good. I wanted to wait until you were ready to receive this gift, but circumstances demanded more of both of us. Don't fuck it up.'"

Juliet: "So like, quick question - what the fuck is Nathan's life? Who has messages like this in their phone?"

Taylor: "Ha! I super don't know but I'm freaking out, to be honest. And there's one more. This one's got a few messages."

Juliet: "Okay, just lay them on me. Try and stay calm, Taylor, we'll handle this."

Taylor glanced back. The thing was staying almost a full block behind at all times, but it was getting harder and harder to see anything but its flaming eyes and fear made it hard to breathe.

Taylor: "Yeah, yeah, I am, I'm good. Here we go. The first one is from Nathan, and it says, 'Everything went great. Meet me in 30.' But about an hour later there's a message from the unknown contact that says, 'I don't know how you managed to ruin this, but consider yourself on probation. I wish to share my wisdom with you, but as long as you continue to behave like a tweaked out teen instead of the man you tell me you are, it's wasted. This will not happen again.' Nathan's message is from a little after 11:00 on 10/3, the other message is just past midnight on 10/4."

Juliet: "Hm. Yeah, okay, Dana would like me to say, 'what the fuuuucckkk what the fuck what the fuck?'

Taylor: "Ha! Yeah, same. And, hey look, I think I have to go, could I say goodbye to Dana?"

Juliet: "Oh, um, sure. One sec."

Taylor was on the path up to the park, and she was really banking on having a dramatic flip-around-to-face-her-opponent moment. She felt like hanging up immediately before a fight would give them the upper hand and, well, she needed any sort of help that she could get.

Dana: "Taylor?"

Taylor: "Yeah, hey Dana. I just wanted to let you know that I have to go. I'm being followed and I'm, uh, I'm going to call the police now. But I wanted to say thank you for helping me! You and Juliet are so sweet."

Dana: "My god, Taylor, are you going to be okay? Where are you?"

Taylor: "I'm in the city park like a mile north of the school. But I'll be okay, don't worry! I can take care of myself."

Dana: "Okay, just call the police. Juliet and I can come get you and-"

It was time. Taylor couldn't put this off anymore.

Taylor: "Don't come. I've got to go now, love you! Bye."

Taylor hit 'end', and immediately winced. She did not mean to say that. But maybe now was not the time to be worried about embarrassing herself in front of Dana when she had a demon or whatever to embarrass herself in front of.

Taylor reached into her pocket, made sure the gem was right where she left it, and paused. "You haven't been very stealthy, you know!"

She pivoted, expecting to find the shade coming up the path and into the field where she stood.

But she didn't. It was Logan. He had his hands in his letterman's jacket pockets and didn't even seem to realize Taylor was there - it was like he was just out for a stroll in the park one night. It was late enough at night that, if he weren't such a recognizable giant and the moon weren't nearly full, Taylor would probably have no idea who she was looking at. She refused to believe it was a coincidence that the shade was gone and Logan was here.

After a few more seconds, Logan's eyes fell on Taylor, and he stopped walking.

They stood about thirty paces apart - far enough that Taylor felt uncomfortable about having a confrontation out loud, but she'd also much prefer to keep him at a distance for the feeling of security.

"Oh, is that Taylor?" he called. "Weird meeting you here, huh?!"

Oh god. She hadn't been prepared for the pre-fight banter.

"Ha, yeah, too weird." Fuck, no, say something witty. "Kind of like your relationship with Dana."

What!? No! That's just going to piss him off!

"Oof. Y'know, really, that hurts right here," he said, tapping his fingers over his heart. Then, he snapped his fingers and pointed at her, as if he'd just remembered something. "Funny you should mention that, though. I think I happen to remember you having something to do with that going sour." He took a step forward, put a hand up beside his face and stage-whispered (about as loud as you possibly could, honestly), "Speaking of which, how is her and Justin? I've never seen someone try so hard to get cucked before."

"What? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Taylor actually, literally didn't know what that meant, but she would have been equally confused if she did.

He just shook his head. "Taylor, Taylor, Taylor. When are you going to learn that you wouldn't have so many problems if you just shut up and stayed out of people's way? Maybe then you wouldn't come off as such a schizo bitch."

Taylor could feel something around her now. It was like a thin fog seeped from her person and slowly made everything hazier, the moonlight dimmer. The longer this conversation went on, the more sure she was that she could kill this thing.

"You know what, Logan? You were just fucking irritating when you were some football player. Even when you were hooking up with Dana you were never anything but some dumbfuck linebacker who had to beg his way into a relationship. You weren't even worth manipulating because you were too fucking stupid to take instructions."

She could feel the light of the moon fading away, and there was little she could see in the field except for Logan - the fog wasn't just a blur now, it drifted over the grass and blot out the stars like LA smog. She wasn't sure if she should be scared - but she wasn't. Not anymore.

She started to laugh. "But now? Now that you're some monster? I'm happy, Logan. It's finally worth it to hurt you. And I'm so, so glad that I can." She drew the red stone from her pocket and clasped it tightly in front of her heart. It didn't feel so cold anymore - she could feel some heat, some energy leaking out of her, comforting her.

Logan grinned, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, all right, you're real scary." He tapped on his chest with both hands. "Give it your best shot."

It was like a heart beat that started from her hand. The gem began to glow, and a ripple ran through the fog, pulling some of it in, towards her. It began to swirl around her body, much like she had seen happen to Warren, only she wasn't drowning in it. When the pulse came again, the fog lifted from her, and the clothes were back. The robe, the lace glove, the gaudy bangles that no one in their right mind would wear. And so was the staff.

"Cool," Logan called, deadpan.

How the fog would behave became apparent to her immediately, though not in any rational way. All she knew was it only took a small motion.

She gripped her staff with both hands and swiped it through the air. A wave formed in the fog, dense and utterly black. She knew it was dangerous, and for a second, when she saw only Logan in front of it, she wondered if this might kill him.

Just before the mass struck him, however, a gout of flame appeared in front of him, and the wave broke. When Taylor recovered from the flash of light, at first she thought that Logan had disappeared.

Instead, he was replaced. The shade that stood where he once stood wasn't like the first - it was so much larger, more than eight feet tall at least, and the fire wrapped around his strange arms as well. But the one thing that was the same, the same it had been every time, was that Cheshire smile like a window to Hell.

Well. Fuck.

"Well, I was just getting-"

The distorted, horrible voice came across the field as if distance couldn't weaken it at all: "Shut up now, Taylor."

The fire that snaked around the shade's arms began to shift and squirm, then drop from its body like weights. He caught the ends of them while the rest plunged into the earth.

"Well, okay."

She wasn't sure quite what to think about that until the ground in front of her blasted itself into the air, and chains of fire emerged and wrapped themselves around her legs. She managed one shocked look up at the shade's grin before she was pulled forward, landing on her back as she was dragged over the field. She hit her head but managed to keep a grip on the staff.

She could see the chains of fire all the way back over at Logan, coiling around his arms as it fed up from the ground, pulling taut. She used the few, painful seconds she had before she reached him to come up with a plan, the only plan she had: jab him with the staff. It had worked last time.

He was laughing when she finally reached him, the chains unraveling themselves from her body and back onto his. She jabbed the staff up at his chest hoping some magic would happen, but he just grabbed the head of the staff.

Fuck. Why did her magic have to require motion? That was so stupid and now she was going to die and-

"Hey, dickhead! Paws off my girlfriend!"

The shade froze, glancing over its shoulder at something Taylor couldn't see. When she tried to use the distraction to pull the staff free, he ripped it from her grasp and threw it away. She tried to scramble to her feet, but the fire just snaked its way off of his arm again and grabbed her ankle. She couldn't move, and she was only feet away from her staff.

Rachel stood at the end of the path to the park, wearing what was probably her only warm vest. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail like it was time for gym, and she looked about as pissed as if it were gym with Logan, too.

The shade turned to face Rachel, the same smile never fading from its face. "Another one?" it asked.

"Yeah." Rachel reached into the vest's breast pocket, and drew out a huge, shining white gem. "Another witch."

In a flash of light, everything about Rachel changed. Light that looked silver and liquid wrapped around her body. The gem shined, and beams of light seemed to grow from it. The dark fog that covered the field split where she stood, basking her in the light of the moon even once the flash was over.

In the darkness, Rachel shined, and a bow carved from pale wood sat in her hand. Her clothes, too, had vanished, replaced by a gray dress (with buttons down the center for no clear reason, and a faux belt. It looked kind of ridiculous) and black boots.

Luckily, Taylor was the only one who was distracted by the clothes. Rachel turned and lifted the bow, raising her hand to the string. She actually looked like she knew what she was doing (which was a relief, because Taylor had been pretty convinced they were both about to die).

The shade raised one of its massive hands and beckoned Rachel with a hand. "Fine then. Bring it on."

Once Rachel's hand touched the string, a bolt of light coalesced, knocked on the string. As she drew it back, its light radiated further, brighter. Taylor could clearly see her take a deep breath.

At the last second, Rachel pivoted just a little, and loosed the bolt. Another burst of flame rose to protect the shade. But it came like a flash and rent the chain that held Taylor and the fog around her alike. Taylor stumbled forward to her staff, catching herself from topping over entirely.

By the time the shade realized what had happened, Taylor already had the staff in her hands again. It spun around to face the blade of darkness that formed this time, Taylor charging at the giant, hoping to catch it by surprise.

The flame rose again, and Taylor's attack was dispelled into nothingness.

"Fancy trick, but-"

There was another flash, and then a shining arrow pierced through the shade's body.

Its hands fumbled along its body, wrapping around the arrow where the fire inside only seemed to glow brighter. "No," it said, little more than a whisper.

Rachel didn't seem interested in moderation. When the second arrow emerged from the shade's torso, it began to scream in that horrible, horrible voice. The fire inside its body grew and grew as the darkness burned away, and soon all there was was a tower of flame. Taylor fell back in awe and fear.

And then, the fire extinguished, and Logan fell to the ground. Taylor placed her staff against the ground and pulled herself up from the ground, no longer afraid as Logan gasped, the darkness pouring out of his mouth and forming a mist around his body. Taylor just held her staff aloft, and let the darkness spill out, drawing itself into the gem atop her staff.

And then it was over.

"Taylor, you were amazing!"

Taylor hadn't even heard Rachel approaching, but suddenly Rachel had flung her whole body onto Taylor, and only by sheer luck and Rachel's cooperation did she keep them both from plummeting to the ground.

Rachel started to plant kiss after kiss on Taylor everywhere she could reach - her neck and her jaw and her cheek - and she held on so tightly that Taylor couldn't even turn to hug her back. "Are - you - okay? Did he hurt you?"

Taylor just opted to drop the staff, grab Rachel's hand, and pry it off her. That way, she was able to pivot and pull Rachel into the tightest hug of her life. "No, no, no, I'm all right. What are you doing here?"

Rachel didn't reply until their hug broke, and she started to stab pokes into Taylor's chest. "I was saving your ass, genius! And I was damn good at it, too!"

Taylor grinned, and pulled her into another hug. "You're a witch!" she exclaimed.

"I'm a witch!"

And for once, things were so weird that they both got to laugh about it.

When the hug ended, Taylor still left her hands on Rachel's shoulders. "And you called me your girlfriend!"

Rachel's eyes went wide. "Aaahh, I did! I'm sorry, I got really caught up in the rescue and-"

"No, no, no-" Taylor wrapped her hands around the back of Rachel's neck and pulled her into a kiss. She had absolutely never had a high like this moment, and every single touch felt weightless, easy, and electric. When their kiss broke, Taylor finished, "Please let me be your girlfriend."

Rachel's face was bright, shining like the light she conjured. Her eyes were wide and filled with the same wonder that suffused Taylor's whole body.

Rachel nodded, and didn't stop nodding. "Okay, yeah." More nodding. "I wanna date you."

"Same."

Another kiss - this one interrupted by a squeal that gradually grew in Rachel until she just had to let it out.

"I JUST FUCKIN' KILLED A DEMON, DID YOU SEE THAT!?"

They let each other go just long enough to lace their fingers together. Taylor let herself get just as loud. "I DID! YOU'RE A BADASS!"

"I'm so excited, oh my god. Just - just, make out with me. Holy shit everything is-"

They kissed until their witch costumes faded away and they had real clothes again, and once their hearts had settled down a little.

Rachel asked, "So we just have to do that like, like a bunch more times?"

Taylor nodded, still refusing to let go of Rachel's hands (and Rachel didn't seem interested in letting her). "Yeah, basically. We're supposed to get one more person in the team, I think. The Raven said there were two others."

"Okay, okay - cool, cool cool cool." Rachel leaned down, slipping her arms around Taylor's waist and pulling herself against her chest. "Oh, god, that was scary. When I saw that he had you I-"

"You saved me. You're a rock star, seriously."

"God, I love you."

Taylor grinned. She was starting to be able to tell the difference between the sound of someone talking and them thinking.

"Hey," she said, "I love you too."

"You heard-?"

"Yeah. It's okay, it's okay. I'm happy. I get it."

"Okay."

They stood like that, holding each other, for quite some time. The conversation mostly died after the 'I love you', but it was okay - Taylor was so happy she was dizzy, and holding Rachel just drew out the best moment of her life.

But sooner or later, someone had to break it. And that someone was Rachel. "Is he . . . gonna be okay?"

"I . . . think so? Zach was fine."

"Maybe we should . . . get him somewhere safe?"

"How?"

Rachel shrugged, finally breaking the two of them apart. "I guess . . . I guess we'll need a ride." She blinked. "I'll give Chloe a call, and we'll get you home."

Taylor smiled. She wished the moment never had to end, but one fight didn't end everything. Or anything. It just kept them going.

"Okay."

Chloe hadn't brought up anything strange about the situation as they'd all worked together to load Logan into the bucket of bolts she called a pickup truck. In fact, she was pretty short on conversation until they were scrunched up in the cab, Rachel without a seatbelt as she wedged between Taylor and Chloe. It wasn't until they drove past Blackwell that Taylor thought it might be a good idea to figure out what was going on.

"Um, Chloe, right?"

"Mhm."

"Hey, so. Where are we going?"

Chloe leaned comfortably against her window as she drove, as if she did this sort of thing all the time. Her eyes flicked over to Taylor for just a second. "The beach, I guess. Kids from Blackwell show up there passed out more than you might think. And there's no way I'm trying to explain this to David right now."

"Oh."

Back to quiet in the car. Taylor had been anticipating either the most confusing explanation of her life or stubborn denial and deal-making, but she hadn't expected to just pretend that nothing was happening.

After a moment, Chloe said, "So, you're Taylor, right?"

"Um, yeah."

"One of Victoria's friends, right?"

Taylor shrugged. "I mean, yeah."

"You don't have to say it like that," Rachel's mind grumbled.

"I heard she got some photo award because Max didn't show up, right?"

Taylor winced. "Yes, technically.

Chloe nodded. "Cool. I know photography is a big deal for her - she'd never shut up about it."

Taylor was rapidly getting confused by the conversation. When Chloe brought up something good in Victoria's life (ex. Everyday Heroes) it sounded mean, but when she brought up something negative (ex. Victoria talking too much), she came off as genuinely interested in her life. Did Victoria and Chloe actually know each other? And if they did, why didn't Taylor know that they did?

Taylor swiped hair behind her ear. Rachel noticed and smirked, leaning against Taylor's shoulder.

"I hope Max isn't too disappointed she didn't get to go. I know her photography is really important to her."

Chloe chuckled. "Yeah, no, she'll live. The two of them, though . . . huh."

Rachel peered over at Chloe. "What is it?"

As they pulled into one of the beach parking lots, Chloe said, "They should just bone already. It's got to be insufferable for Jefferson to teach when they're so competitive."

"Um, gross? Illegal?" Rachel high-talked, sitting back upright as they parked.

As they were dumping Logan out on the sand, Chloe said between strained breaths: "So - are you two - like - an item?"

Rachel hasn't said anything?

They dropped Logan's body like a mattress, then looked around at each other. There was a general aura of, 'this is very criminal, and the less we talk about it, the better.'

Rachel looked at Taylor for a second, then back at Chloe. Just the same as she had in gym. Only this time, "Yeah. Like, literally fifteen minutes ago, actually."

Chloe snorted, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Well, you know what I say. Nothing to bring girls closer together than killing a man."

Taylor stuffed her hands inside her jacket and in her armpits, hoping to keep the smallest portion of warmth to herself. "Um, he's not dead."

Chloe quirked her eyebrows, and asked, "Logan?" Then she kicked Logan's side experimentally. "Shame."

As they arrived at Blackwell, Rachel was back to laying on Taylor's shoulder (!!!) and starting to look very sleepy. However, once she recognized where they were, she said, "Babe?"

"Hm?" Taylor and Chloe hummed in unison. Taylor did her best to hide her embarrassed smile, staring out the passenger-side window.

"I know I said I was going to come over, but I think I want to stay close to Blackwell tonight."

Chloe's eyes darted between Rachel and Taylor for a second before she shrugged and said, "Sure."

Unfortunately, there was someone to greet them in the parking lot. As they pulled up next to the curb that would lead them up to the school, David Madsen, the school's head of security, came down the steps. Chloe didn't seem that troubled, although she did roll her eyes when she parked.

Taylor unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door. She wasn't really sure what the consequences for being out late were, but at least she wasn't drunk.

"Beep beep. Late night delivery," Chloe called as David approached.

Initially, David looked pissed. But once he noticed Rachel getting out of the car after Taylor, he just rolled his eyes and sighed. "Whatever," he said. "Just get to your rooms, okay?"

Rachel grabbed Taylor's hand with her left and gave a two-fingered salute with her right. "Can do."

As the two of them basically jogged hand-in-hand into the school courtyard, Rachel started to laugh once they reached the school fountain. She twisted around and grabbed Taylor's other hand, tugging it around as she gesticulated excitedly. "We are going to own this school!"

The feelings were kicking in immediately now that they were alone again. "Oh? Does the school have a new power couple?"

"Super-power couple, maybe."

Rachel pulled Taylor's hands down to her hips, standing on her toes to lean into a kiss. The sound of the fountain was all there was for a second until Taylor's gripped tightened and she pulled Rachel closer, prompting a soft moan.

Which completely short-circuited Taylor's brain.

Once they broke apart, all Taylor could say (or think) was, "I really like doing that."

Rachel, delighted, began to walk her fingers up Taylor's arm to her shoulder. "Oh yeah? Well we don't have to stop anytime soon."

There was a new smoothness in Rachel's tone that made Taylor shiver excitedly, but it also prompted questions. "What - what do you mean?"

Once Rachel's fingers reached the top of Taylor's neck, they gently began to slide down her neck, over her throat. "I mean . . . well, you could sleep in my room, if you wanted to."

The fuses in Taylor's brain went from just malfunctioning to shooting sparks and potentially starting very dangerous fires.

"Um, like, to . . . sleep? Or . . ."

"That's up to you."

"Hhhhh," was the only sound Taylor could produce in response, clearly freezing. A proposition for sex was absolutely not something she had been mentally or otherwise preparing for. Nothing had ever prepared her for the possibility of physical chemistry with somebody she really liked. She hadn't even thought she'd like kissing as much as she did, and she thought about kissing a lot.

Rachel's expression sank from seductive to nervous. "Or - or not, like, don't let me pressure you, I'd super just like to-"

"No, no, that's something we should talk about."

Rachel quirked her eyebrows, obviously stuck in a state of anomie.

Taylor took Rachel's hand and continued their walk towards the dorms.

"So. Shit, I should have brought this up earlier, but, uh, I'm not . . . super interested in the sexual part of a relationship."

Rachel tilted her head. Her thumb worked comforting circles into Taylor's palm, which helped with the 'don't totally shut down and blow everything' thing she was trying to do.

"I'm ace," Taylor said, only making quick side-eyes at Rachel to watch her reaction.

"Oh . . ." Rachel said, looking ahead now. Her face pinched as she thought. ". . . okay. Hm."

Taylor should have expected as much, but these seconds of hesitation still made her want to be invisible. Rachel held her too tightly for that, and for that she was grateful.

"So," Rachel said, "I'm just gonna be real with you - I really like sex, and it's important to me. But I also like you." She looked up at Taylor now with a smile, while Taylor's lungs struggled to continue to breathe.

"I like you too," Taylor replied. She had to force her smile, even if that was a genuinely good thing to hear.

That broadened Rachel's smile, and she nodded. "Good. So we'll work something out. Together."

Taylor was flushed red as they entered the dorm courtyard. Rachel looked like she was in much the same state, her mouth crushed into a flat line as she tried to hold back an awkward grin.

"Because we're together," Rachel tacked on, like the most awkward fuck on the planet.

"Mhm," Taylor replied, trying just as hard not to grin.

That basically immediately failed once Rachel held up their linked hands and yelled at the dorms: "TAYLOR CHRISTENSEN'S MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Ssshh shh shh!" Taylor tried to bring her mouth over Rachel's face, but she wasn't having any of it - once she was done yelling, she just started to cackle at an inappropriate volume. "Stop - stop it, you'll embarrass me!"

Rachel broke their hand hold to make as big a 'whatever, man' pose as possible on the steps of the dorm. "Yeah? And I can do that now, because you're my girlfriend."

"Stop."

"Make me."

Taylor smiled, settling down a little. "Okay." She started to raise a hand to tuck her hair behind her hair again (that infernal tic!), but Rachel beat her to it, reaching out to brush it back and stroke her cheek at the same time.

Taylor took a hesitant step forward and kissed Rachel one more time.

Before they entered the dorms, Taylor leaned her forehead against Rachel's (they were almost the same height if Rachel stood on one of the dorm steps), taking a deep breath. "I think . . . I think I want to sleep by myself tonight," she said. "But . . . maybe this weekend . . . we could have a movie night in our pajamas or something? And then, maybe . . ."

Rachel closed her eyes and smiled. "I'd like that."

"Cool."

They stood like that for a moment, foreheads touching, eyes closed, basking in the orange light of the courtyard and the excitement of a new relationship. It was more than Taylor had ever imagined, and it was only just beginning.

"Come on," Rachel said, lifting her forehead away and planting a kiss on Taylor's. "It's bed time."

Taylor nodded. She didn't want the night to end, but she also couldn't wait for tomorrow to come. "Yeah . . . and I should probably tell Dana and Juliet I'm okay."

"Yes, you should," Rachel replied as she dragged Taylor inside.

They said good night once, came to the shower room to brush their teeth at the same time, messed around, kissed some more with the overwhelming taste of mint, and said good night again. When Taylor went to bed that night, she thought not at all about the things she'd found on Nathan's phone, even when she sent Dana a few text messages to say everything had worked out fine (the guy ran off when the police showed up, after all. She just got a ride home). She fell asleep dazed by the light in her life now.

End of Arc 1: Light and Dark

10 notes · View notes

t-baba · 5 years ago

Photo

What Does PHP Stand For?

In this quick post, we’re going to discuss what PHP stands for and what you can build with it. If you are new to PHP, this article should help you to understand the basics.

What is PHP?

PHP is an open source, server-side scripting language which is mostly used to build web-based applications. You could use PHP to build a wide range of applications that may range from a personal blog website to full-fledged enterprise level applications.

If you want to use PHP as a server-side scripting language, you need to configure it with a web server. For Unix-like operating systems, Apache and Nginx are the most popular web servers. On the other hand, Microsoft IIS is a popular choice for Windows-based servers. When it comes to choosing a database for PHP websites, MySQL is one of the most popular choices.

You can learn more about how to install PHP in my post on how to run a PHP file.

PHP

How to Run a PHP File

Sajal Soni

PHP

How to Open PHP Files

Sajal Soni

PHP

What Is a PHP File?

Sajal Soni

But What Does PHP Stand For?

PHP is a recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. It is a recursive acronym, so the first 'P' actually stands for PHP! Originally, though, it meant Personal Home Page tools. It was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994.

As per the official PHP documentation:

PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.

PHP is a server-side (back-end) scripting language, so the code written in the PHP file is executed on the server. The PHP engine on the web server converts all the code written in PHP to HTML, and the resulting web page contains only HTML code when it’s sent to the client for rendering in the user browser.

Learn PHP With a Free Online Course

If you want to learn PHP, check out our free online course on PHP fundamentals!

In this course, you'll learn the fundamentals of PHP programming. You'll start with the basics, learning how PHP works and writing simple PHP loops and functions. Then you'll build up to coding classes for simple object-oriented programming (OOP). Along the way, you'll learn all the most important skills for writing apps for the web: you'll get a chance to practice responding to GET and POST requests, parsing JSON, authenticating users, and using a MySQL database.

PHP

PHP Fundamentals

Jeremy McPeak

Even If you’re new to PHP, it's a very easy language to learn if you want to build based websites. In fact, if you’re familiar with basic programming concepts, you could get started with PHP in a few hours.

And make no mistake, it offers a plethora of advanced features for professional programmers as well that allow them to build complex enterprise level web applications. You may be surprised to know that big names like Facebook, Wikipedia and a few others are using PHP as a part of their web development stack!

Since its inception, PHP has continuously evolved as a programming language. With every new major version, it has added new features and rewritten existing features to improve the overall performance. As of now, it’s running the latest stable version PHP 7, which brings significant improvements over its predecessors.

Show Me an Example!

Let’s have a quick at look at what a PHP program looks like:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>PHP Example</title> </head> <body> <?php echo ‘Hello World!’; ?> </body> </html>

The above script is a simple PHP program which outputs Hello World! in the user browser when it’s executed. As I said earlier, since PHP is a server-side scripting language, the code between <?php and ?> tags is executed on the server by the PHP engine.

In fact, the above example is one of the simplest examples to introduce you to PHP. In the real world, PHP is capable of building complex and amazing applications! In the next section, we’ll see what kind of applications you can consider building with PHP.

Things You Can Build With PHP

As I said earlier, PHP is one of most popular scripting languages for building a wide range of web-based applications. In fact, PHP is used by 78% of all websites!

Let’s have a look at the kind of applications that you could choose to build with PHP:

blogs

content management systems (CMS)

customer relationship management systems (CRM)

eCommerce platforms

B2B marketplaces

community and social networking websites

media processing applications

and many more

In fact, if you’re serious about PHP programming, there are a lot of ready-made PHP frameworks available in the market. The benefit of using these kinds of frameworks is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to build a feature and it’s already leveraged by the framework. They reduce your overall development time, as you don’t have to do repetitive coding for what is already available.

The Best PHP Scripts on CodeCanyon

Explore thousands of the best and most useful PHP scripts ever created on CodeCanyon. With a low-cost one time payment, you can purchase these high-quality WordPress themes and improve your website experience for you and your visitors.

Here are a few of the best-selling and up-and-coming PHP scripts available on CodeCanyon for 2020.

12 Best PHP Event Calendar and Booking Scripts

Looking to add more interactivity to your site? If you could benefit from online bookings or event calendars, check out this list for some of our favorites!

Kyle Sloka-Frey

06 Sep 2019

PHP

10 Best PHP URL Shortener Scripts

In this post, we will review the ten best free and premium PHP URL shortener scripts that you can use in your projects.

Monty Shokeen

22 Jan 2020

PHP

12 Best Contact Form PHP Scripts for 2020

Are you looking for an efficient and easy to integrate a contact form PHP script? Contact forms are a must-have for every website, and whether your need is...

Esther Vaati

05 Mar 2020

PHP

Comparing the 5 Best PHP Form Builders

Looking for a PHP form builder for your website? Today, we compare the five best PHP form generators available at CodeCanyon. This post will help you decide...

Nona Blackman

10 Dec 2018

PHP

Create Beautiful Forms With PHP Form Builder

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use PHP Form Builder, a feature-packed form builder library, to create and beautify forms. You'll also learn how to use...

Ashraff Hathibelagal

20 May 2019

PHP

by Sajal Soni via Envato Tuts+ Code https://ift.tt/3dDlvRs

#CSS3 #HTML5 Branding #HTML5 Weekly #HTMLl5 demos #Javascript #Javascript Branding #Javascript Weekly

0 notes

abroadinthedesert · 7 years ago

Text

Sadness, Happiness, Stressed, De-stressed

December 12, 2017

Last Thursday school was a half day for students, while teachers had an afternoon of professional development. Our principal thanked us for our continuing comment to our profession as we are tired, the students are tired as we have all been at for 16 weeks without a break. That is right , 16 weeks of teaching, lesson planning, corralling students to learn, and duties without a break. WOW! I can feel all that as we come down to the last two weeks before winter break. No, not Christmas break, remember I am a Muslim country. We did get a three day holiday for Mohammad ‘s birthday last month and an unexpected school cancelation last Tuesday. Why you may ask? Kuwait is trying to mediate the disputes between Qatar and the other Arab nations, and the government was closing certain roads for all the dignitaries coming to the country. The government closed all the public schools and many private schools in the area began to announce their closure (kinda of like ice days in the States). Our school announced closure very late in the evening, and many teachers had already gone to bed because school starts at 7:15 each morning and the last bus to school leaves at 6 AM (yep, I am on that bus each morning, I am NOT a morning person). I got the message right before I went to bed, so I stayed up late to read a bit more, but forgot to turn off my THREE alarms for my morning wake up process. The bad part of this unexpected free time was the fact that I did not bring my school bag home because the night before was the Music Concert for the high school band and choir, and I stayed at school to work until the concert and knew that I would not do any school work at home that night; thus, I left my bag. So I did not get that never ending grading, planning, and organizing done. I did enjoy the reading, sleeping and cat time.

I had a doctor’s appointment today to get my prescriptions refilled. I go every three months for this process. It is a process. I sit in a waiting area, get called by the doctor’s nurse (they are called sisters here) where I wait in HIS waiting area. I then get called into his office where most times I do not spend more than five minutes. Then I am on my way to the pharmacy where I must either wait for insurance to approve the prescriptions or come the next day to pick them up. Today I waited (one hour).

Now on to my Sadness, Happiness, Stressed, De-Stress

The negative topics first so we end on positive notes for this blog post. I am a bit sad and stressed, but the end of the semester is always SSSTTTRREEESSSFFFUUUULLL!!!!!!

Getting three version of finals completed along with the regular teaching duties is always stressful and I should be used to this after 26 years of doing this, but every year it stresses me out. Add on to this I had procrastinated another project for the social studies that need to be done ASAP and then I need to grade AP Psychology tests. Add to this I had run out my prescriptions, especially the one that keeps me balanced and optimistic most of the time. There have been a few moments when just thinking about what needed to be done brought me close to tears. Additionally, my birthday is very close, I am turning 53. This birthday seems to be not such a happy occasion this year. Last year my AP Psychology surprised me with a birthday cake! When your birthday is a week before Christmas your birthday seems to be overshadowed with the holiday; although my momma does wrap my presents in birthday wrapping paper and not holiday paper (happy notes!!!)! So I do not expect any birthday presents or cake this year! Should I expect to feel special after living this long? I think my expectations are set just to high. Of course Christmas is around the corner and I am not in Texas to oohhh and ahhh over the Christmas lights, decorations, and packages under the tree. Nor to enjoy all the wonderfulness that my momma creates for this her favorite holiday. I do not put any Christmasy-ness up, I would just have to put up again after the cats had fun taking it down each day. Being a mom with grown children is a bit sad. They are busy with their lives and it seems that they just do not need mom anymore. I know that they are successful, and happy with their lives, but I do miss being apart of all that. Maybe I did my mom job to well.

Typing all that lighted my heart and soul, so thanks for letting me vent my stresses, sorrows and disappointments. On to the positives!!

I bought real Dr Pepper today!!!! You think that is funny, but here in Kuwait you can buy Dr Pepper that is made in Great Britain by Coke. I only like the real Dr Pepper made in my home state of Texas. Bought three six packs from the grocery store near the school, the same grocery store near where I live does not carry it. The strange thing about US products here in Kuwait is that the store may have it one week and not the next week. So when you see it, you better buy it. One branch of the store may have it and the others do not. In fact I am taking a can of cranberry sauce I bought in the store last month all the way to New Zealand for Christmas dinner. So a supper happy note is that I will be spending my Christmas not with my mom, dad, papa, and son in Texas but with my daughter in New Zealand. We plan on cooking a mini US Christmas feast for ourselves and her lovely Kiwi beau. I have been to New Zealand before and it is an AWESOME place, plus the fact that I will be with my daughter camping in the summer of the Southern Hemisphere!! My momma would be proud that I have already started to pack. I am trying very hard to pack light (only a backpack). Another positive to remember is that the teacher community I live with is a great group and very supportive. We celebrated Thanksgiving together and everyone loved my “stuffing”, I laugh at this because in the South it is dressing. I learned how to make cornbread dressing working beside my momma growing up. Thanks, Mom!!! Everyone here was excited too that I had decided to stay at the school at least one more year. It is nice to be with a good group of people, but sad that some are moving on (oops, a sad note slipped in).

One last positive note before I leave you with this lengthy post. Each day before I Ieave for school I usually turn on the radio for the Leo and Boutiquali (the cats) to listen to while I am gone. The radio is tuned to BBC news, but this morning I pushed the wrong button and changed it to an Arabic station. I could not have that, after all I am trying to Americanize their little furry brains, so I quickly turned it to iPod mode so that they could listen to my entire music collection. I started in at ten minutes to six this morning and as I finish typing this at ten minutes after nine it is still playing my music. That is AMAZING!!

Please excuse my mistakes, because most of this is typed off the cuff. I do proof read before I post, but I am history major and not an English major..

So bye for now and thanks for keeping up with....Abroad in the Desert II

1 note · View note

eurekakinginc · 6 years ago

Photo

"[Discussion] The 6 types of data scientist:"- Detail: (Inspired by a bunch of recent blog posts I've come across with titles like: "The Next Generation Data Scientist" and "The 3rd Wave Data Scientist", etc...)Type I - the olympian deity: Works as part of the core ML or research team of a FAANG or for an academic team at a major university. Has multiple papers at NeurIPS or a similar status conference or publication. Wouldn't be able to recognize domain knowledge even if it punched her/him in the face. Envied by all others in the data science / machine learning community, but is actually miserable because she/he hasn't received the Turing award or gotten a theorem or class of neural networks named after them. Is this close to giving up and becoming a tenured lecturer for linear algebra 101 at a community college. Type II - the demigod: Works for an applied ML/product team at a FAANG or an up and coming very promising startup. Actually knows how to program in C++, understands dynamic polymorphism, and can solve Leetcode hard problems in their sleep. Also the envy of all others in the data science / machine learning community, but is actually miserable because they have to work 85 hours a week, and the awesome framework they contributed major chunks to 2 years ago is no longer fashionable and has been superseded by another framework. Also miserable because they could have worked for a startup and been billionaires at the age of 32, but instead are making a measly 250K a year in a city where a suburban one bedroom costs 1.5M. Type III - the grumpy old hand: In their late 40s/50s, was around during the previous Neural Networks hype cycle, and worked on them before the Tensorflow core dev team was even born. Has survived at least one A.I. Winter. Works for Boeing or Walmart or something like that. Doesn't know what StackOverflow is, and doesn't need it since she/he learned how to code back when people had those huge "The Java Bible" and "The Unix Bible" reference volumes on their desk, and therefore can actually figure stuff out from the documentation. Is almost as good a coder as the demigod, and almost as good a mathematician as the olympian, and beats them both in domain knowledge. But she/he has no idea what GitHub is, never had to spin up a docker pod or run something on a GPU, and haven't done an interview in 27 years. The last time they did, interviews were 45 minute affairs conducted over the phone. They are not really the envy of anyone in the data science / machine learning community, except for the fact that they have accrued 7 weeks of PTO by this point in their career. They are miserable because they know they are stuck in their current role, ageism is a definitely a thing, and they will likely be the first to go come the next economic downturn. Type IV - the hipster data scientist: young, very likely a millennial or even Gen Z, although might be a Gen Xer who is in very good shape and has tattoos. Recent college graduate or somehow managed to transition from a marketing or sales role into data science after completing a couple of classes on Udemy. Has a huge social media presence, and their LinkedIn profile picture is one of them at a podium with a mic or giving a TEDx talk. Has produced several blog posts and/or podcasts. Doesn't know any languages besides R. Doesn't know what a partial derivative is, and freaks out whenever they see an integral, but is still very good at explaining and simplifying concepts, hence always has the attention of the business stakeholders. Says things like "Cross-Validation is fun", "And I love boosting" with a straight face. Usually works for a small to mid-level company, but occasionally manages to land a role at a FAANG, after which they develop weapons grade levels of obnoxiousness. Not so much the envy of all others in the data science / machine learning community. More like the object of lust of all others in the data science / machine learning community. Is miserable because they are not Mark Zuckerberg. Type V - the overseas data scientist: As good as the olympian, the demigod, and the grumpy old hand combined, but nobody takes them seriously because of their skin color and very thick accent. Their career is additionally hampered by their cultural aversion to self-promotion and BS artistry which comes so naturally to many Westerners. Can do EDA, prototyping, production deployment, A/B testing, performance testing, and devOps all in one day, yet still somehow manages to be out of the office by 16:45 (they also don't show up until 9:45 in the morning). Is the reason why the hipster data scientist is able to get away with so little real work. Is the envy of all others in the data science / machine learning community, because they know that the overseas data scientist will be the last one to be let go in case of a $#!tst0rm, since they do the majority of the work on the team despite having the lowest salary. Is also the envy of everyone else, because at 35, they already own a home and have two teenage kids who are getting straight A+s in school. Is none the less miserable because their H1b might get revoked any day now. Type VI - the stealth data scientist: Very smart dev or TPM, who never actually used the title 'data scientist' or even 'machine learning engineer' (they might even sneer at those titles). A mix of the hipster, the demigod and the overseas data scientist in terms of personality and demographics, who works mainly on infrastructure or platform stuff, or maybe on the web portal team, but has also prototyped and deployed more than one regression or clustering model to production, without ever having taken a single machine learning or stats class. Has no idea who Andrew Ng is, and thinks A.I. is mainly about robotics and the Turing test. Masters Shell, Java, Scala, Kotlin, Node.js and PL/SQL, and can shift between on-prem and cloud systems at will. Thinks Python is a joke, and is floored every time somebody says they are a Python expert even though they don't know OOP. Is not so much envied, as they are feared by the rest of the data science and machine learning community, because the stealth is unphased by any of the Deep Learning hype, and once the AutoML frameworks finally mature, they know that the stealth will make the rest of them redundant. Is not miserable at all, because the stealth knows that they will be around long after the whole DS/ML hype died down, and don't really care because they will be Sr. Director or VP of Engineering by then anyway. . Caption by AlexSnakeKing. Posted By: www.eurekaking.com

#machine learning #data science #software #programming #engineering #saas #eCommerce #marketing

0 notes

entergamingxp · 5 years ago

Text

Crusader Kings III Details Decisions, Stress, Events, and Audio in Latest Dev Diary

July 5, 2020 9:45 AM EST

Crusader Kings III introduces several gameplay mechanics in dev diary including decision-making, coping with stress, event scripting, and music.

In preparation for the September release date for Crusader Kings III — Paradox Interactive’s latest entry in their Crusader Kings franchise — the developers have released another developer diary finely detailing even more gameplay mechanics. This diary deals with decisions, how to cope with stress, changes made to event scripting, and audio in the game:

youtube

Decisions are made up of both major and minor choices in the game that either directly or indirectly influence both your character and their realm. An example of a major decision is if you decide to break out of imprisonment, while a minor one is petting your cat or dog.

Event scripting will be of interest to the modding community, as the devs made sweeping changes to how events are coded. Namely that events aren’t hard coded but scripted, making mods much easier to implement.

Stress is an interesting mechanic as it’s caused by your player character taking an action that conflicts with their personality. There are three levels of stress that bring different levels of penalties. It’s a mechanic that can’t be avoided as some actions are necessary for the realm’s betterment; players must instead learn to balance and reduce stress.

The last section details music and sound design. The composer wanted to create a certain ambience with the sound effects such as rushing water in the ocean, wildlife, etc. The music is also soothing and calm so players can listen to it for hours.

The release date for Crusader Kings III was revealed to be September 1st in a new story trailer, with the game making its initial debut through a story trailer. Said trailer highlighted the title’s theme of using both cunning and alliances to strengthen your kingdom and secure its dynasty for generations to come. Crusader Kings III will be the most recent installment of the popular strategy game franchise Crusader Kings from Paradox Interactive,

According to Game Director Henrik Fåhraeus concerning the latest installment: “Crusader Kings III is a grand medieval simulator where you are free to live out any plausible ruler fantasy that we could think of — but not without challenge. Seeing its predecessor explode in popularity was very satisfying, especially considering that user friendliness was never our primary goal. Now we have a chance to address an even larger audience.”

The official site also details what to expect from the latest Crusader Kings title:

Shape Your Dynasty: Guide unique characters through history, choosing lifestyles best suited to their personalities and your ambitions.

Rewrite Medieval History: Dynasties will change and adapt to changes in family and politics, and religious beliefs are more firmly under your control.

Build a Mighty Kingdom: Use your vassals’ fear of you as a weapon or call on familial obligations to persuade reluctant relatives to submit.

Experience High Drama: Stranger than fiction stories leap off the screen, as characters plot against you and events push you to extremes.

Learn as You Go: Guided advice to help newcomers navigate a rich medieval world. In-game suggestions tip you off to paths you might not have considered.

The Usual Crusader Kings Fun: Keep a stubborn council in line, scheme against your overbearing uncle or marry the rich duchy…oops, I mean pious duke or duchess of your dreams.

Meanwhile, for those wanting to sharpen their skills for next year, Crusader Kings II‘s base game is now free to play for Steam. There’s also plenty of DLC content once you run through the main campaign such as the Monks and Mystics Expansion, Jade Dragon Expansion, and the Holy Fury Expansion.

If you’re a fan of board games, the Crusader Kings The Board Game was fully funded on Kickstarter just last year. Crusader Kings III will launch for PC via Steam and is included in Xbox Game Pass for PC. Be sure to check out our extensive preview of the game here as well.

July 5, 2020 9:45 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/crusader-kings-iii-details-decisions-stress-events-and-audio-in-latest-dev-diary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=crusader-kings-iii-details-decisions-stress-events-and-audio-in-latest-dev-diary

0 notes

theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

Link

On Tuesday, close to 200 climate activists crowded into the Capitol Building offices of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who will re-assume the position of House speaker when the new Congress is sworn in come January.

The activists called on Pelosi to lead Democrats in developing an ambitious, comprehensive plan to address climate change — a Green New Deal. Halfway through the protest, rising Democratic star and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited to show her support, which drew a torrent of media coverage.

New Dem star protests speaker on first day of freshman orientation! The media loved it.

[embedded content]

I’ll be honest, though. I’ve seen intra-left disputes on climate change reprise themselves over and over again, to no one’s benefit, and when I heard about this protest, I felt a twinge of dread. Why target Pelosi, who has always been a climate champion? And how is she supposed to have a comprehensive climate plan already when she hasn’t even taken the gavel? Aren’t there worse enemies of the climate to protest?

But I talked it out on Twitter, emailed with a few of the organizers, and now have a better handle on what’s going on. And it turns out to be quite a bit richer and more significant than what you might get from the headlines.

As I said in my Monday post on Democratic climate strategy in a polarized era, there are three basic prongs of a unilateral left strategy. The first is using House congressional committees to investigate and slow President Trump’s deregulatory agenda. The second is accelerating policy innovation in states that Democrats control.

And the third is defining a long-term, comprehensive federal climate agenda for when/if Democrats regain the power to implement one. That is why climate activists swarmed Pelosi’s office. The left is making an early bid to set the highest bar possible for the 2020 Democratic climate change agenda.

Here’s how it unfolded and what’s at stake.

AOC thanks climate protesters. Sunrise

Climate hawks received a few disconcerting signals in the wake of the midterm elections (which turned out to be a much bigger victory for Democrats than they appeared early on).

A piece in the Hill reported that House Democrats had no plans to move on climate change, which appeared nowhere in their list of priorities. Meanwhile, Pelosi, who is very much intent on keeping her speakership, started talking the day after the election about a “bipartisan marketplace of ideas,” which is not exactly what you’d call reading the room.

Pelosi had signaled that she planned to revive the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (2007-2011, RIP), but activists and the incoming class of social democrats wanted something much bolder. They needed something to rally around.

And here it is: AOC plans to introduce a draft resolution that would put parameters around the committee, its work, and its membership. It is … bold, to say the least.

The resolution — supported by the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, two youth-led organizations pushing for a Green New Deal — has a number of interesting provisions, but two demands are central: that the committee be given a mandate to develop a Green New Deal that would decarbonize the US economy, and that no members be appointed who accept donations from the fossil fuel industry.

Reinstating the Select Committee is a great decision that I fully support.

These dynamic leaders want to ensure is that the committee: – Has a mandate to draft a Green New Deal for 100% renewable energy – No appointed members that accept funding from the fossil fuel industry

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 13, 2018

Specifically, the committee “shall have authority to develop a detailed, national, industrial, economic mobilization plan for the transition of the United States economy to become carbon neutral and to significantly draw down and capture greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and oceans and to promote economic and environmental justice and equality.” It would be required to produce a draft plan by January 1, 2020, and draft legislation by March 1, 2020.

In other words, the committee must produce a package of legislation ready to move if Democrats take power in the 2020 elections.

Here are the goals the resolution sets for the Green New Deal:

(1) 100% of national power generation from renewable sources; (2) Building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid; (3) Upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety; (4) Decarbonizing the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries; (5) Decarbonizing, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure; (6) Funding massive investment in the drawdown and capture of greenhouse gases; (7) Making “green” technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely carbon neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.

That … pretty much covers it! It’s difficult to imagine how you could get any more ambitious than that.

Of course, every one of those bullet points represents dozens of policies and thousands of implementation challenges. Wonks like me look at this list and we wonder about the details. We wonder so hard, our hair tingles.

But that’s not really the point, at least for now. The point is this represents perhaps the first time in US history that a Democrat has proposed a plan for addressing climate change that actually scales to the problem and has some chance of influencing the party’s agenda.

Pelosi testifies at a House hearing on climate change — way back in 2007. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

But there’s more. The resolution is equally ambitious on the subject of equity. It says that the Green New Deal “is a historic opportunity to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation.”

To that end, it instructs the committee to develop a plan that would include a job guarantee, measures to combat income inequality and racial injustice, and maybe a universal basic income (UBI) for good measure.

Here’s the full list of equity provisions:

(i) provide all members of our society, across all regions and all communities, the opportunity, training and education to be a full and equal participant in the transition, including through a job guarantee program to assure every person who wants one, a living wage job; (ii) take into account and be responsive to the historical and present-day experiences of low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous communities, rural and urban communities and the front-line communities most affected by climate change, pollution and other environmental harm; (iii) mitigate deeply entrenched racial, regional and gender-based inequalities in income and wealth (including, without limitation, ensuring that federal and other investment will be equitably distributed to historically impoverished, low income, deindustrialized or other marginalized communities); (iv) include additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security, labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism; and (v) deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment.

As iv demonstrates, this is about much more than carbon. It doesn’t separate out the climate problem from society’s other ills, as climate wonks have so often advocated. It sees environmental, economic, and social problems as intertwined, with a common set of solutions.

It’s a full-spectrum vision of a sustainable social democracy — a level of progressive ambition that most US citizens have likely never encountered.

As for how to pay for this, all the resolution says is that funding will primarily come from the federal government, “using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks, public venture funds and such other vehicles or structures that the select committee deems appropriate, in order to ensure that interest and other investment returns generated from public investments made in connection with the Plan will be returned to the treasury, reduce taxpayer burden and allow for more investment.”

So that’s AOC’s proposal: a committee on steroids, charged with developing the most ambitious national climate plan in history, with equity at its heart.

Political media desperately want the story of this protest, and AOC’s participation in it, to be another chapter of “Dems in Disarray.” But the truth is close to the opposite: This was a case of the Democratic base and leadership working together for mutual benefit. It was one big alley-oop.

Here’s how it went down.

Sunrise and Justice Democrats were planning a protest to push Pelosi on climate. AOC and her staff, who are in close touch with the activist left, suggested that protesters need something concrete to rally around, some specific demands; that’s why they wrote this draft resolution.

So protesters go to Pelosi’s office — where the cameras will be — as a show of force, to demand that Dems stop taking fossil fuel money and start planning for a real climate solution. AOC then comes to visit and support the protest, thus bringing more attention and more cameras.

Together, they help thrust climate change into the news cycle and get the term “Green New Deal” published in most of the nation’s newspapers, a fairly adroit bit of agenda-setting in a hostile media environment.

As for Pelosi? It would not surprise me at all to find out that she knew it was coming — was maybe even in on it. At the very least, she welcomed it and gave it further publicity:

Deeply inspired by the young activists & advocates leading the way on confronting climate change. The climate crisis threatens the futures of communities nationwide, and I strongly support reinstating the select committee to address the crisis. https://t.co/rjVJYSJraf

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) November 13, 2018

Of course, this falls far short of accepting the protesters’ demands. (There will be much more intra-Dem negotiation before anything like that happens.)

But Pelosi is signaling to Democrats on her right that she is being pressured from the left on climate change, that this is where the energy and enthusiasm is among the party’s most active young supporters, that Dems will get hounded endlessly if they don’t act on this. She and AOC are working together on this, not at odds.

Thank you, @NancyPelosi.

We have 10 years left to plan and implement a Green New Deal before cataclysmic climate disaster.

Reinstating the Select Committee is exactly what we need to do. https://t.co/Uy5BnrLZcR

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 13, 2018

Now the trick is to build more pressure. “Right after we left Pelosi’s office,” Evan Weber of Sunrise tells me, “we went to the offices of Raul Grijalva, Mark Pocan, Pramila Jayapal, and Ro Khanna to ask for their support for the resolution.”

So far, freshman Reps. Khanna, Rashida Tlaib, and Deb Haaland have endorsed the resolution. The movement is pushing for more and believes, according to Weber, “there is actually an opening to have this resolution included in the rules for the new Congress.”

This is how activism is supposed to work. The climate left sent the signal it needed to send — that it is mobilized and fully willing to be a pain in the ass — and Pelosi was happy to amplify it. The political world heard.

It is an inverted mirror image of the Tea Party: Rather than trying to bring out the worst in Republicans, activists are trying to bring out the best in Democrats.

I admit, I have trouble envisioning the resolution passing in anything like its current form — it’s such a quantum leap from where the party currently stands. But I have proven an abysmal political prognosticator in recent years and no longer presume to predict anything. Maybe it will pass!

Regardless, it strikes me as a significant development in US politics that there is finally a constituency for full-scale mobilization on climate change — for making decarbonization a top national priority. At long last, there is an actual climate left! Perhaps that label will no longer be applied to a bunch of hapless wonks and economists.

Just as the Republican House climate caucus is shrinking, the Democratic House climate caucus is growing. And as it grows, its ambitions increase. The Overton window is shifting before our eyes.

In the long term, Waleed Shahid of Justice Democrats tells me, the movement will focus on “repeating the success we had in recruiting, training, and helping elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.” The idea, he says, is to “build a caucus of like-minded, mission-driven legislators who will fight tirelessly for solutions that match the urgency and scale necessary to tackle the systemic crises in our country.”

From California to New York – @justicedems challenged the status quo by running candidates who truly represent the people – not corporate interests. Candidates who come from all walks of life and fight for voters, not donors. pic.twitter.com/nie8co7dpB

— Middle Seat Digital (@MiddleSeatCo) November 13, 2018

Suffice it to say, that won’t be easy. There are many among the 200-and-some House Democrats who are not going to look with delight on the prospect of supporting a huge, deficit-financed investment plan that includes a job guarantee and possibly a UBI. And that’s to say nothing of how Democratic senators might feel on the subject. Centrist and more conservative Democrats from purple states will not go gentle into this good night.

But now the 78 percent of Americans who say they support a clean energy transition have something to rally around. Now there is an actual left flank on climate change, a coalition of civic groups and elected officials who take the IPCC’s warning — that we have only 12 years left to take transformative action on climate change — seriously.

And like it or not, having a left flank will inevitably mean that Democrats in positions of power come under pressure and suffer criticism.

”Today’s Republican Party is an organized alliance between fossil fuel billionaires and white supremacists. They must be stopped, and we are not confused about this in the least,” says Weber. “Stopping the Republican Party does not mean unconditionally supporting everything that Democrats do; to the contrary, it means fighting for the party to lead vocally and unapologetically on issues that matter to the majority of Americans.”

Original Source -> Climate activists to Nancy Pelosi: go big or we won’t go home

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

0 notes

ngop3 · 7 years ago

Link

10 Software Engineer Interview Questions to Help You Hire the Right Developer Published Jan 10, 2018 https://www.codementor.io/blog/software-engineer-interview-questions-3ey7wme14h 10 Software Engineer Interview Questions to Help You Hire the Right Developer Whether it’s in-house or freelance, finding the right software engineer takes some work, and it's even more difficult if you're unsure of what to ask. Software developers are technical people, so most interviewers tend to jump into the technical interview right away, but there are plenty of personality and ethics questions that you can ask to ensure the one you hire is the best fit for your project. In this post, we'll walk you through the interviewing and hiring process. Preparing for the Interview As with any interview, you need to know what you plan to ask before you start. Although the questions will depend on your software project, here are some general steps for your preparation: 1. Know your project requirements software engineer interview You need a software engineer that understands your needs. The only way for the developer to understand what you need is for you to have clear project specifications in mind before the interview. If you already have project documentation, review it and identify important components. 2. Know your budget Every software developer has their own rate. Most of the time, years of experience, tech stack, location, and project complexity determine what you'll pay a developer. According to our study of app costs, an iOS developer in North America has a median rate $150/hr, whereas it is $11/hr in Indonesia. There is no need to interview a software engineer that is outside of your budget, so understand your budget constraints before you start an interview. Tip: If you're hiring a freelance software engineer, be sure you know your scope, budget, and design before you start interviewing developers! 3. Know your deadline You need to set a realistic deadline, and a software developer will give you a general estimate based on project requirements. Some developers don't work well under pressure, so knowing your timeline and asking a developer for a time estimate helps identity the right candidate. 4. Prepare your questions Some interviewers ad-lib their questions, and many times the interview goes off course as conversation continues. Prepare to ask the developer questions that relate to both their technical and soft skills. Software Engineer Hiring Process There are three main interview phases when working with any type of app or software developer. You may do only one or all of the following: Phase I: This is the basic introduction phase and usually involves basic questions about previous employment and any previous projects the software developer has worked on. Phase II: This is the technical stage of the interview. If you're not a technical person, you might have another developer or project manager familiar with development ask these questions to evaluate the developer's skill. Usually, they result in pseudo-code or logic skills that show whether or not the developer understands the question. Phase III: This is the final part of the interview where the developer can ask questions and clarify any confusion. hire software developer interview Interview Questions to Ask a Software Engineer Once you have a shortlist of software engineer candidates, below are the essential questions to ask them. Keep in mind that these questions are general software development questions that don't refer to any specific language. Not only do they test the developer's knowledge of engineering and building software, these questions will help you understand whether or not the developer can communicate effectively with you. 1. Discuss one of your previous projects and explain how you completed it successfully. This question allows the engineer to openly discuss their previous project without getting too technical. There are several advantages with this discussion. The first one is that you can identify if the candidate worked with a team and if he or she was able to work together to brainstorm solutions. It also helps you understand their management skills, time estimates, interactions with project managers, and their contribution to the overall project. 2. Did you run into any obstacles with your project and how did you handle the issue? This is an important question, because it identifies how the candidate deals with obstacles, delays, and any problems that come up during the project. Most software development projects have hurdles of some kind, so a developer that has troubles identifying an obstacle with their previous project may raise a potential red flag. If you decide to hire a software developer, you need to know how they are able to overcome problems to get the job done and within the deadline. 3. Do you follow the Agile software development process? Today, Agile is the most common way to manage software development procedures. Software developers should be on board and familiar with the process, so you can ask them if they are willing to work under those circumstances. Learn more about Agile development here. 4. What do you know about multi-threading? Multi-threading is a way to improve the performance of an application. Multi-threading is a process that uses several processors to run snippets of code. It improves performance and stops code from "hanging" when it runs. 5. What are your thoughts on unit testing? Unit testing and test driven development (TDD) are often regarded as best practices in software development and code maintenance. Unit testing is an extra set of code that tests various methods and procedures for logic errors and coding flaws. This helps eliminate many of the bugs that could be promoted to production. Every developer should be familiar with unit testing, and it’s important to know how much a software developer prioritizes it in their workflow. 6. What is MVC? MVC stands for Model-View-Controller. It's a way to separate code into its own compartments, like so: Controller holds the business logic View is the front-end presentation layer Model holds the data that is passed to the controller, which then passes it to the View. 7. How familiar are you with OOP analysis and design? Object-oriented programming (OOP) is the core of major languages such as VB, Java, C++, and C#, so top software developers should have strong OOP skills. OOP is a process of using classes to describe components of a program. For instance, if your program explains a house, classes would be the roof, doors, windows, and rooms. Your programmer should be able to explain classes using a similar analogy. software developers how to hire 8. How do you organize your class modules and assets? This will help you understand how the candidate organizes their code. There is no one "right" way to answer this question, but your team probably has a set standard and it helps to know if the developer organizes code in a way that is easily maintained and can be further documented. 9. What do you know about ORM? Object-relational mapping (ORM) is a way to use software code so it can map to database tables. This technique turns tables into their own classes, so then developers can use those classes for LINQ queries. The candidate might mention Hibernate, which is one of the most common ORM frameworks. 10. What is your process for finding a bug in an application? How much time do you typically spend on debugging? The first question tests the way the candidate thinks when working with difficult bugs. Every candidate has their own process, but they must use a debugging tool, understand how to sift through each line of code using that tool, and then understand what must be done to fix the bug without affecting other code within a project. The second question helps gauge how often a developer needs to debug his or her own code. Developers that need to spend a vast amount of their development time debugging may be ones who need extra help improving the code that they write. Wrapping up the Software Engineer Interview Once the more general questions are out of the way, you can then ask the software engineer some follow-up questions that are specific to the tech stack or programming languages/frameworks that your project requires (e.g. React.js, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Java, etc.). Before you end the interview, remember to ask the candidate if he or she has any questions, as they should have several regarding your business, the specifications of the project, the team, and more. If possible, try to keep a record of their answers, and be sure to follow-up with any engineers that you are interested in hiring after your interviews. Hiring top software developers can be an arduoous task, especially if you’re spending time vetting inexperienced candidates, unqualified developers, or just not sure where to look. Learn more about CodementorX and let us know what type of engineers you’d like to hire. Have any software engineer interview questions that you'd like to add? Let us know in the comments below! hire-developers Codementor Team Codementor Team On-Demand Marketplace for Software Developers Our team is obsessed with learning about new technologies. We post about development learning, step-by-step guides, technical tutorials, as well as Codementor community announcements to help keep you up-to-date.

0 notes

techjobwall · 8 years ago

Text

.Net Developer for FinTech Platform (f/m) - Germany Startup Jobs

http://www.germanystartupjobs.com/job/leondra-gmbh-berlin-2-net-developer-for-fintech-platform-fm/

.Net Developer for FinTech Platform (f/m)

Your Responsibilities:

Being part of a team to develop a middleware to integrate external partners and internal systems including blockchain based components

Work with cross-functional project teams to design and develop web-based applications

Discuss and evangelize best practices with project teams

Developing libraries of APIs to provide a sophisticated touch point to our technology

Produce high quality, maintainable and scalable software – follow a use case based and test-driven approach

Perform maintenance and enhancements on existing or new projects

Work on projects either individually or in collaboration with other developers

Ensure architectural principals and standards are maintained across your code and project lifecycles

Ensure quality of work through development standards and QA procedure

Collaborate and work closely with other technical leads and domain experts, such as Blockchain based Infrastructure, Database, Middleware, and Front End (App/ Web) as the team develops features and platform enhancements (defining, building and troubleshooting applications)

Capable of leading and contributing to technical discussions (written and oral)

Required Skills and Knowledge:

Bachelor’s Degree and 5+ years professional experience in web application development and at least 2 years of related experience with large-scale and enterprise projects

Solid understanding of OOP programming and principles

Comprehensive experience with .NET (4.5, 4.6, Core 1.0, 1.1), ASP.NET, C#, and ASP.NET MVC Core 1.0

Comprehensive experience with modern front-end development techniques using HTML, CSS and Javascript

Knowledge and experience building robust back-end web development solutions

Knowledge and experience with major internet protocols and methodologies (APIs, web services, AJAX, etc.

Knowledge of Web Experience and understanding of SQL Server (or other RDBMs, e.g. MySQL, Oracle, etc.)

Good knowledge of Entity Framework 6.0, Core 1.0

Good understanding of Dependency Injection and Localization in .NET Core applications

Ability to work in a self-directed manner

Ability to communicate effectively

A love for technical challenges

Ability to learn quickly and thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment

Ability to work in a distributed, international team environment

Excellent problem-solving skills

Strong analytical skills

Strong experience with Microsoft IIS service and security settings

Very good English knowledge (written and oral to communicate via e-mail and within the team). Knowledge of other languages will be considered as a plus

Preferred Skills/Advantages:

General web sockets communication knowledge, Pub/Sub and RPC knowledge

Service Bus technologies

REST Services

Entity Framework 6+

Unit testing

Windows Azure services

Experience with:

IIS 7+ Administration

Source Control: GIT/GitHub

Agile development methodology. Experience with Jira

An eye for design

Our Offer:

International working environment and conditions in a very promising startup

Efficient introduction and continuous training within a supportive and proactive team

#Array

0 notes

allthingstailoredlive-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Top 35 Albums of 2016

I’ve heard several different people argue that 2016 was where the music matched the of our newly elected President: trash. While there were a fair share of tepid releases, there were even more gems and masterpieces released as well. It marked the comeback of some major industry icons, the big break from some under the radar talents, and the domination of a legend. Below you will find my ranking for the top thirty-five albums of 2016. Feel free to comment with your opinions and feedback.

35. Ariana Grande, “Dangerous Woman” — Not quite on level with her first two studio albums, D.W. takes some risks where Grande has yet to explore. While standouts “Sometimes”, “Touch It”, and “Leave Me Lonely (featuring Macy Gray) are true delights, her transition falls short on tracks such as the unconvincing “Bad Decisions”, the overdrawn”I Don’t Care”, and the overrated radio-tune gem that is “Side to Side”. The album is probably the most evident of all of her releases that she is still trying to find her own sound, though there are some delights along her journey.

34. Shy Glizzy, “Young Jefe 2” — One of the most anticipated projects in the urban market was “Young Jefe 2” from Shy Glizzy. While ultimately the work doesn’t offer many full length tunes that enable you to crave it, it does suffice as a guilty hip-hop pleasure for 2016. Gems such as “Waiting on My Time”, “Rounds”, and “How It Go” prove that the rhymer can spit real life lyrics aligned with versatile concepts — a rarity amongst his generation’s peers.

33. Meghan Trainor, “Thank You” — Trainor’s sophomore release continued her trend of radio friendly pop tunes (“No”, “Me Too”), with some lavish, soul ballads (“Champagne Problems, “I Won’t Let You Down”) proving she why she continues to evolve as an artist. The standout track of the album is the median between these two styles, “Hopeless Romantic”, which has single written all over it. While the album didn’t exceed expectations in terms of sounds, it provides curiosity to what may come of her work in the future.

32. Childish Gambino, “Awaken My Love” — Another highly anticipated album in the hip-hop community came from Mr. Gambino. Riding high off of the success of his television show, “Atlanta”, he couldn’t have released new music at a greater time. Rich in sounds for the eerie and dramatic, the album takes an alternative route than that of “Because The Internet” album, while still focusing on real life centered lyrical content.

31. Blake Shelton, “If I’m Honest” — Adding to controversy this past year was the ever-blossoming relationship between superstars Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. Sparking his album was about the relationship, the ‘honest’ approach behind the album lived up to expectations in a raw, yet predictable approach to his usual content. While a pleasant listen for Shelton fans, doesn’t overly add to the drama or impact of his relationship with Stefani.

30. Fifth Harmony, “7/27″ — One of the greater surprises this year was the quality behind pop girl-group, Fifth Harmony”. Riding off of the success of their single, “Worth It”, the group quickly capitalized with a sophomore release, leading to their second top-ten single, “Work From Home”. The album dances with balladry with the reflective standout, “Write On Me”, and showcases superstar powers with tracks “Flex (All In My Head)” and “Not That Kinda Girl” featuring Fetty Wap and Missy Elliot respectively.

29. John Legend, “Darkness and Light” — 2014 was the biggest year of John Legend’s career. It took him to new heights after being in the music business for a decade. Taking his time to properly carve out his next release to the world, “Darkness and Light” shed ‘light’ on where he planned to go next. While the lead single, “Love Me Now”, is a slight departure from his adult-contemporary work that has followed his career, the majority of the album sticks to typical John Legend formula. The tracks “Overload” and “Penthouse Floor”, are singles waiting to dominate urban radio, with the assistance of Miguel and Chance The Rapper respectively.

28. Miranda Lambert, “The Weight of These Wings” — One of the most consistent workers in country music is without a doubt Miranda Lambert. It isn’t just because she releases new music, but she releases QUALITY good music. Need proof? Listen to these cuts from the album: “Vices”, “We Should Be Friends”, and “Smoking Jacket”.

27. Shawn Mendes, “Illuminate” — For his sophomore release, Mr. Mendes further embellished in the sound that made him a hit with young teens the year prior: heartwarming ballads and luscious tunes to churn. Lead by the single “Treat You Better”, you’ll learn early that no single on the record quite tops that one, or that of “Stitches” from yesteryear; but that doesn’t mean you won’t find pleasant listens such as “Patience” and album-opener, “Ruin.

26. Post Malone, “Stoney” — After creating quite the buzz with “White Iverson” earlier in the year, Malone’s first full length album proved that he could handle the pressures of a new release. The album luckily doesn’t focus so much on the mainstream style that it’s lead single invokes, but that doesn’t say that it lacks appeal either. The Justin Bieber assisted “Deja Vu” is one of the albums greatest gems, while listeners will surely find plenty more worth vibing to.

25. Kid Cudi, “Passion, Pain & Demon Slaying” — It has been an interestingly rocky past few years for Kid Cudi. His personal life has been not just bait for the tabloids, but also for fellow rappers (just ask Drake). Luckily, that hasn’t stopped his abilities to produce a consistent album worth waiting for. Lead by singles “Frequency” and “Surfin”, the album would return Cudi to the sound that made him one of the leaders of the alternative rap game. Drawing inspiration from his first album, the album is broken into chapters. Standouts include “Swim In The Light”, “Baptized In Fire”, and “Cosmic Warrior”.

24. Usher, “Hard II Love”–It had been an overwhelming four years since Usher last blessed our ears with his music. Moreover, for his traditional, old-school Usher fans, it had been well past that since they had received music that they were satisfied with. Despite your opinion on what his past had produced, his current was a steady body of work. The lead single, “No Limit”, showed fans the the veteran still could deliver an urban radio gem. As for his slow jams, “Missin U” and “Tell Me”, prove he can still sing effortlessly amongst the records in his prime. Welcome back, Usher!

23. Britney Spears, “Glory” — To this date, Britney hasn’t been able to find a sound or album that recreates the magic of ‘Oops…’ or ‘Britney’, and critics don’t let her forget it. For “Glory”, Britney let go of those antics and simply focusing on the music. From start to finish, this album easily produces Britney’s finest collection of songs in over a decade. The songs, with the exception of the lackluster “Private Show”, display an album that is a full body of work, starting with the standout “Invitation” and its effortless transition into the G-Easy featured single, “Make Me”. Britney also ventures into new sounds with the reggae-sexy “Love Me Down” and “Slumber Party”, and delivers sonic perfection on the edgy “Liar”. If there’s any doubt to whether or not teen-pop’s most prized possession still has it eighteen years later, listen to “Glory”.

22. Alicia Keys, “Here” — It’s hard to believe Alicia Keys has been around for sixteen years. Unfortunately, for her past few releases, it has been somewhat apparent. That changed with 2016’s defiant “Here”. The album follows no current trends whatsoever, not even that of her own past works. The album is complete with conversations and interludes to transition between the different songs. Keys confidently displays her message through rap-styled delivery, playing with the apparent change in her vocals in an array of different manners. The true gem of the entire album comes in the form of lyrically, musically, and delivery is an absolute masterpiece: “Illusion of Bliss”.

21. Fantasia, “The Definition of…” — In search of a new-retro style sound, Fantasia produced what was a complete sleeper of the year. With production that perfectly blends with her rasp and power, the entire album gradually progresses and telling a story: the definition of the woman who is Fantasia, and not just the artist. She experiments as well with more gospel-tingled tracks, with a surprising cameo from Tye Tribette, and country music with the daring “Ugly”. Standouts include “No Time For It”, “When I Met You”, and “Sleeping With the One I Love”.

20. Travis $cott, “Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight” — Alternative rap has become a popular sound and trend in current music. No one currently showcases this with such mastery the way that Travis $cott does. His second full-length album showcases his versatility as a producer, as an lyricist, and as a storyteller. Features aside, he holds his own on the same track as Kendrick Lamar in standout, “Goosebumps”. If this album is any indication, expect to see many more great moments from Mr. Scott.

19. Rihanna, “Anti” — The first major release of 2016 came from Rih-Rih herself. Lead by her historic number-one single, “Work”, the album shows why Rihanna continues to dominate the music scene. The album features some of her absolute finest ballads (“Love on the Brain”, “Same Ol’ Mistakes”), and her at her absolute finest (“Needed Me”, “Kiss it Better”). While in some tracks its evident she should not reach of showcasing vocality, such as “Higher”, the album is still a solid welcome. See the full review for this album available on a separate page.

18. A Tribe Called Quest, “We got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your service” — An as a formal goodbye from one of the most acclaimed hip-hop groups to ever grace a microphone, A Tribe Called Quest blessed listeners with this cry for nostalgia. While not their finest body of work, it easily outpaces many of the releases from today’s rappers with its underlying messages, intellect, and assertive abrasion. To name just a few standouts, would take away from the overall message of the album so I’ll suggest to start with “The Space Program” and end with “The Donald”.

17. Metallica, “Hardwire…To Self Destruct” — There is no discussion on the greatest in heavy metal, without the inclusion of Metallica. After an eight year gap between this and their most recent work, this album proves why they should still be included in the discussion. The title track, “Hardwired”, speaks volumes for itself and sets the pace for a hard hitting album that rocks on all the way through.

16. Maxwell, “BlackSUMMERS’night” — Seven years is too long of a gap for what we need and deserve from Maxwell. He is such a gift to music. Changing the presentation of the title from his last effort, Maxwell reminds audiences why we fell in love with his last collection of greatness. The lead single, “Lake by the Ocean”, was just a sampler of an infectious collision of gems. The opener, “All The Ways Love Can Feel”, I would argue as one of the greatest songs of the entire year. If you’re looking for Maxwell at his finest, listen to the track “Hostage”, which is the perfect median from his last two albums. In entirety, the album is genius and draws large anticipation for where he will take listeners in the final installment of this trilogy.

15. Common, “Black America Again” — In the midst of the drama that is the election, Common produced one of the greatest odes to Black America in recent memory. From the cover art, to his HBCU campaign via social media, Common’s message was clear. And his album did not fall short of displaying that genius in work. The album’s closing track, “Letter to the Free”, is a perfect depiction and ending message to advocate for the message presented in a defiant, bold album worthy of its acclaim.

14. Lady Gaga, “Joanne” — One of the most overlooked projects from 2016 is the newest release from Lady Gaga. Known for her bold, daring pop creations, Joanne is one of her most personal releases to date and matches up with some of her best work. The lead single, “Perfect Illusion”, builds off of the successes that her former lead singles have seen in style and structure, but the remainder of the album explores the core of the pop star, revealing a side that’s been masked over the years. “Million Reasons” is one of her best singles to dates because the lyrics and power of her singing speak alone free of overproduced synths. “Grigio Girls”, “Hey Girl”, and “Angel Down” prove why she’s one of the greatest songwriters of her generation.

13. Jeezy, “Trap or Die 3” — A veteran to the rap game, Jeezy has seen many commercial successes. After experimenting with different arenas of rap, he returns to his roots: trap music. On an album that is feature heavy, Jeezy pulls his own weight with some of the most well thought out bars of his entire career. The production is also amongst his finest on an album from start to finish. While every track stands out for its own reason, “Sexe (feat. Plies)”, “Ain’t Bout That”, and “Pretty Diamonds (feat. Chris Brown)” confirms he is back in his element of trapping behind the microphone.

12. J. Cole, “4 Your Eyes Only” — Similar to the release of his last effort, “4 Your Eyes Only” follows the low-promotion approach to music rollout in attempt to let the music speak for himself. While the effort doesn’t surpass that of either of his two more recent works, it does suffice as a diligent listen. “Deja Vu” and “Folding Clothes” are standouts on an album that presents Cole focusing more on consistency than progression.

11. “The Hamilton Mixtape” — Released in the last month of the year, “The Hamilton Mixtape” is the epitome of nostalgia. As a compilation set comprised for the Broadway spectacle of the same name, this album does something that is a rarity amongst even the greatest of soundtracks (Titanic, the Bodyguard), sound like one cohesive body of work. Every song speaks its own story and brings to life the drama behind the Broadway production. The soundtrack is truly a well-vested production worthy of listening.

10. Sia, “This is Acting” — Long before she was a pop star herself, she was a critically acclaimed songwriter. For her most recent release, Sia’s primary interest was to showcase her skills as a seasoned, talented songwriter. Though the album is deeply regarded as being “impersonal”, it is very much an album true to its concrete form: a concept album. “Cheap Thrills” was such a gem that half it made folks realize Sia actually had an album out. Her genius collaboration with Kendrick Lamar is another stand out from the album and the title speaks for the record itself: “The Greatest”.

9. Drake, “Views” — Even if you have lived under a rock for the last year, you can recite the melody to “Hotline Bling”. You can recall the splendor that was “One Dance”. And you most certainly can’t state that you haven’t heard the radio banger that was “Controlla”. But the greatest moments on Views are the album cuts. While the album is definitely not a step forward creatively from any of his previous works, it is a steady median for those looking to become in tact with the Drake that was present on “Take Care” and “Nothing Was The Same”. The best song of the entire album is without a doubt the collaboration with Rihanna, “Too Good”, which is the perfect combination of radio and depth. Other standouts include “Redemption”, “Faithful”, and “Fire & Desire”. This is definitely not Drake’s finest hour, but it is without a doubt a steady worthwhile listen that defined 2016.

8. The Weeknd, “Starboy” — “Starboy” was one of the most anticipated albums of the entire year. In a way that many folks I’m sure didn’t expect, it delivered. For those hoping for more of The Weeknd that was on his earlier works, you are going to be disappointed. As evident in the singles from “Beauty Behind The Madness”, The Weeknd wants to continue to evolve as a pop-artist, following his inspiration behind Michael Jackson. That is present the most in album closer and second single, “I Feel it Coming”. Not only is the style reminiscent of Michael’s “Off The Wall” era balladry, but the way that he coos confirms the influence Michael had on his career. That doesn’t say that the record doesn’t include the more edgier tracks, the uncredited feature of Future on “Six Feet Under”, “Party Monster”, “Reminder”, and “Sidewalks (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” provide satisfaction. The album’s finest moments come in the form of the mid-tempo ballads, “True Colors” and “Die For You”, both combining the elements of alternative pop and soulful hip-hop.

7. Solange, “A Seat at the Table” — The perfect title for the perfect arrival of a superstar. Solange has spent majority of her career living in the shadow of her sister’s successes, but not letting any of that define her. She has made music that she believes in and that is just as relatable; it just never quite came all the way together for the masses. And then, there was “A Seat at the Table”. Easily one of the year’s most compelling stories, Solange flawlessly crafts real emotion with theatric, yet understated melodies capped off with slick, seductive production. Every single song and the interludes that coincide tell an intimate story, one worth indeed having a seat at the table to listen to. The interludes don’t at all feel forced together, as they are very reminiscent of vintage Janet Jackson styled-albums. As if “Cranes in the Sky” itself isn’t the gem of gems for the year, also listen to “Borderline”, “Mad”, “Where Do We Go”, and “Don’t Touch My Hair”, and it is clear that we have clearly overlooked a genius, star. Lets hope 2017 more tables are provided for us to have seats at.

6. Kanye West, “The Life of Pablo” — Mental state aside, there’s no arguing when Kanye puts his mind to the studio, fire ensues. ‘Pablo’ is no different. From start to finish, it is obvious that Mr. West has a story to tell, as present in the album’s first song, “Ultralight Beam”. The Rihanna-assisted “Famous” is an ode to controversy in the months that have followed it’s initial release. “Waves” and “Wolves” are also standouts where the production does take control, but not in a way thats overbearing; its very welcoming. While many may argue that many of the songs seem unfinished and a work in progress, the progression is what makes the album that much more enticing and satisfying to the ears. It allows you as a listener to create assumptions and do your own storytelling, which is the goal of any true author and songwriter. For what it’s worth, ‘Pablo’ is an example of Classic Kanye doing Classic Kanye. If you still need proof, just listen to the interlude “Old Kanye”.

5. Frank Ocean, “Blonde/Endless” — The most anticipated record of 2014, 2015, and 2016 was “Boys Don’t Cry” by Frank Ocean. Instead we got “Blonde” and “Endless”, two separate cohesive bodies of work. So why are they ranked together? While “Endless” is one visual gem put together, a la Prince, it serves as a teaser for what could come on a grander stage. That grander stage belongs to “Blonde”. It is hard to even put Frank into a genre, as he just yearns to be someone who continues to excel to new heights with his lyrics, his ad-libs, his harmonizing, and his production. “Nikes” is the perfect opener to those experiencing curiosity to Ocean’s style and sound. “Pink + White”, “Solo”, and “Self Control” present the vulnerable aspect of being alone, uncertain, and most of all of worth. “Blonde” not only serves as one of the greatest musical releases, it is one of the releases that absolutely defined 2016.

4. Kendrick Lamar, “untitled unmastered.” — Most albums that are put together of unreleased work feel uninspired. There’s not a universal element that brings them all together musically. It is a compilation of songs that were deemed unworthy for the album released at the time of the recording. There is something remotely different about Kendrick Lamar’s version. Weirdly enough, every “leftover” track is a complete gem in its own realm. And for the records to me unmastered, there’s a sense of nostalgia that binds them altogether to where they seem to be all influenced from the same creative vision. Or, perhaps that is why Lamar selected these records — because there was a commonality that he found when listening to them. Whatever the method in discovering the potential in each of the songs, the end product was one of genius. For a man who has been robbed of his full critical accolades, maybe this serves as a teaser for what is to become in 2017. All I know is if this is what leftover tracks from the past few years look like, I fear what the ones we have yet to see released behold.

3. Bruno Mars, “24K Magic” — One of the last releases of the year was Mar’s third studio album. While the title track/lead single follows the formula that took “Uptown Funk” to #1 in 2015, the remainder of the album ventures more into rap-sung gems that bring the soul of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s all to 2016. And unlike his counterparts, Bruno is fully capable of belting out the finest vocals right along with his cliche songwriting and divine production. “That’s What I Like” is the ultimate not-so-subtle invitation to romance that radios will be eating up in 2017. Meanwhile, “Versace on the Floor” is an infectious ballad dedicated to that special person for an anniversary, birthday occasion. If you’re looking to dance, get lost in the new-jack styled “Finesse”, which could’ve easily fit in on your parent’s wedding reception playlist in the 1980s. With assistance from Halle Berry, “Calling All My Lovelies” steals the show with a melody that flirts with the assumption that “all men cheat”. However, Mars puts up quite the dissertation to defend his actions. And if you’re looking for the churning of classics like “Just The Way You Are” and “When I Was Your Man”, the album’s closer, “Too Good To Say Goodbye” is a complete tear-jerker. Written and produced with the legendary Babyface, the song sounds directly out of the soundtrack to all of your favorite 90’s love stories. For a man who had many doubts about releasing an album that met everyone’s expectations, I think its safe to say Mars has completely exceeded them with the strongest release from any male vocalist of the year.

2. Beyonce, “Lemonade” — ‘You can taste the dishonesty/its all over you breath/as you pass it off so cavalier” coos Mrs. Carter with destain and restrain on the album’s opener, “Pray You Catch Me”. Speculation aside from what influenced the album, Beyonce took us to a place creatively she probably didn’t even think existed. After the slay that was her self-titled fifth studio album and the records it broke, what more was there for her to do? “Lemonade” answers that question with a short film and album that tell the story of woman’s journey back to happiness after being scorn by a lover. It is not an easy journey, just see rock-infused “Don’t Hurt Yourself” or the piano-driven “Sandcastles”. But that doesn’t say the album doesn’t have some fun moments as well; the-IDGAF “Sorry” dominated radio, the reggae “Hold Up” is everyone woman scorn’s first thought, and “6 Inch” is the perfect half-time performance before going back to love and heartbreak. The absolute showstopper, however, is “Freedom”, the rebellious anthem that adds the expertise of Kendrick Lamar. For an artist who has already achieved so many things musically, Beyonce once again cemented her legacy as a legend in this business with arguably the strongest album of her career.

Chance The Rapper, “Coloring Book” — While technically speaking, this was a mixtape and not an album, Chance has officially marked his presence as the future of all music. For an artist who isn’t signed and in control of his own music, he very meticulously crafted the best project of 2016 hands down. From start to finish, the entire project manages to color in the lines and never blur outside of them. The 2 Chains/Lil’Wayne assisted “No Problem” was an absolute juggernaut and still remains a massive hit. But that’s not it, there are so many things to be gained from his record. What he’s able to do perhaps more than any other project released in 2016 is produce an album that feels real and relatable from start to finish. The standout, “Same Drugs”, holds a double meaning. It derives not only from the literal content of the lyrics, but also as a metaphor for reaching new heights professionally and personally from fame and how it causes you to adjust in your life. The sexy “Juke Jam” reminds you of the days of early, dangerous infatuation as you began to understand your hormones. “All Night” should’ve been the highlight of every radio station this fall, and even though it didn’t, it certainly was a playlist favorite for everyone’s functions. To continue on a tangent and attempt to identify just a few stand outs would’ve be a crime as this ENTIRE album from start to finish. And it is evident with his commercial, endorsements, and appearances everywhere the Chance isn’t going anywhere or going to sellout anytime soon. 2017 will be a big year for Chance, with the hope all the recognition he deserves takes him to new mainstream heights. Until then, we have “Coloring Book” and every color properly merged on every page to depict the future of music for years to come, as long as Chance the Rapper is our author.

Here’s to more gems in 2017. Feel free to drop your comments and feedback below.

0 notes