#also it’s my blog and i literally have ‘full time diary’ on my pinned so that’s on you

[silkjade]

Girl why are you so negative and complaining about something all the time 😭 Lowkey you seem like a mean girl lmao

i can complain even more if you’d like

[ngame989]

Earning the Happily Ever After: Star’s Season 4 Arc Prediction (with a primer analysis for Seasons 1-3)

Time to break in my blog with my very own speculation post. This is going to be a very general but also very far-reaching take on the final arc of the show for Star, based on what I know about the show thus far and the tiny bit of detail we got at SDCC. I’ll be doing overviews on Star’s arcs and how the show always ties in the personal growth she’s undergoing to her relationship with the kingdom and her relationship with Marco. Finally I’ll try to piece together how things, on a broader level, might go down for our rebel princess and karate boy in what is almost certainly the last 21 episodes of the show.

The bulk of this post breaks down the past 3 seasons. There will almost certainly be redundancy with other posts people have written for Tumblr or elsewhere, and I don’t claim any of it is brand new information. I still do hope you give it a chance as it ties everything together in a way geared towards providing context for my Season 4 assertions, but if you are so inclined to skip ahead, simply search for “Season 4” and jump to the next instance after this paragraph (or even “TL;DR” for the fully abbreviated experience). There will be a recap of the critical context included.

Long post after the break!

So let’s begin breaking down Star’s primary arc season by season. Obviously character growth is fluid and you can’t pin down individual moments as the moment a character flaw was “fixed,” but there’s still some discernible changes to extract here. Each season’s title is her major obstacle during the season and the aspect of maturity she gains as a result of her growth.

Season 1 – Innocence/Awareness

Star’s defining trait of season 1 was being carefree to a fault. She uses her magic for whimsy and doesn’t really heed the consequences. It was the reason she was sent to Earth, after all!

Similarly, her initial crush on Earth is based entirely on literal flights of fancy.

As the season goes on, Star gets her first tastes of the seriousness of the real world and culminates in her first major confrontation with it. It’s almost poetic that Blood Moon Ball, where Star and Marco’s relationship gets the first real hit of emotional depth, is paired with the segment which introduces us to the first serious threat in Star’s life.

(see this is why I need new copies of the episodes smh goshdang subtitle typos)

She’s still not the most mature about it and is still scared to death or outright ignorant of the complexities in the world for a while,

but still makes some initial steps forward in her character.

The season concludes with Storm the Castle, a turning point where she has to tackle a major decision with serious consequences head-on. Is it any surprise that this involves both her relationship to the kingdom and Marco? By this point I should hope it isn’t.

Season 2 – Avoidance/Determination

So after Storm the Castle, Star had passed a point of no return. She was officially aware that the world is a complex place, that it’s not always going to be fun and games and rainbows and unicorns. Most of this season is about Star realizing that she can’t just sweep them under the rug and hope everything gets better on its own.

The season opens with both the results of plot seriousness and relationship seriousness affecting Star’s life, because of course it does.

Fetch, an episode most notable for appearing in lists of reasons why people don’t like season 2A, actually delivers one of the most direct character arc expositions in the show.

Let’s throw in By the Book, a segment entirely focused on her desire to just brush off magic training, just for fun.

And Sleepover is where it first becomes painfully obvious that she has romantic feelings for Marco,

but it’s clear from her diary in My New Wand (and especially now that the SDCC panel blessed us with the full “My Thoughts on Marco” chapter) that she’s been lingering on them and trying to avoid them since the beginning of the season, just like her other problems.

Star’s denial ran deeper than the actual Nile. Moving on.

Then we have Bonbon. Hey, what do you know? A pivotal episode in Star’s character growth which includes and connects both her relationship to plot and her relationship with Marco!

“I lost everything.” …mere minutes after feeling like she was losing Marco. Hell, even seconds if you count the moment he and Jackie had right after the green vortex closed.  Clearly the line is consciously about her book and mentor, which are very important to her, but obvious subtext is obvious.

There aren’t really any major turning points during season 2B until the finale. In Face the Music, Star uses Song Day to open up to the world because she knows hiding things for too long isn’t right, which (with a bit of “help” from Fallout Boy) spurs her to apply that to her love life in Starcrushed. Star exposing her bottled-up princess secrets to the world and her bottled-up feelings to Marco both happening in a finale? Egad, I dare say this seems to be a pattern! Let’s pretend like this is surprising.

Battle for Mewni is a bit of an edge case, as it is sort of separate from the Season 2 arcs while also being the resolution to them. Suffice to say that while the “official” character arc in Season 2 of hiding or running from her problems was “solved” within the official boundaries of Season 2, it took BFM to have her actually tackle the immediate danger posed by it.

And she’s fully owning up to her feelings for Marco to boot.

Season 3 – Idealistic Hastiness/Wisdom

I struggled more coming up with a single term to best address my take on this season’s arc, especially because it seems (to me, at least) that Star’s plot arc this season is split a bit more heavily by midseason than in Season 2. To elaborate on my choice of “Idealistic Hastiness”, I’m referring to her finding problems that she needs to solve and taking what seems like an easy solution – unlike in Season 2, when she may have tried to apply bandaids to cover up the problems, in Season 3 she is genuinely interested in solving them but jumps the gun and struggles with what seems like the “easy/obvious/right thing to do” not actually working.

I may abbreviate some details here, since I already helped Seddm construct the post to end all posts about this particular season, so please consult that for any further examples and supporting evidence about the meanings of Star’s words and actions especially in the relationship arc.

(It seems my subtitles are broken for most of Season 3 so I’m adding manual captions sorry if they look different or bad)

As the main part of Season 3 opens, we have Star identifying problems in her life and wanting solutions to them. In the case of Marco, it’s her unrequited feelings driving her insane.

In the case of the plot, it’s initially a vague desire to “be a better princess” which later takes a few coherent forms.

And Star isn’t totally clueless about her relationships, she knows she needs support and that her life is too chaotic to throw herself into a committed romance.

But the heart is a tricky thing, and a genuine emotional connection with someone she has some attraction to (plus a lingering heartache from Marco) leads to a romantic relationship with Tom. Suffice to say, that turns out to have the exact problem Star herself prophesied! She largely ignores Tom and isn’t willing to commit to their relationship (for a host of reasons, most of which involve Marco). And Tom isn’t a stellar supportive boyfriend either, but this post isn’t about that. Simply put, the emotional connection between them over their mutual struggles to improve is real, but it’s gone about in a very suboptimal way that they think is the correct one – Idealistic Hastiness at work.

For Marco, a similar dissonance between what she says and what happens are two different things. Lint Catcher has the wedding squire vows, in which Star basically outlines the importance Marco has in her life in a flashy ceremonial manner

followed by a nearly immediate 180 in Trial by Squire.

She did, to some degree, believe that the current situation was ideal, with Tom as her boyfriend going through a similar phase of self-improvement while Marco was still her very close friend to hang out with and help her. As everyone knows, Star ends up turning to Marco for virtually anything except for handholding and smooches from now until the end of the season, because of that dang ole’ rushed solution to her problems that didn’t really match what she wanted or needed.

Star knows she wants to help Mewni, but decides that the best way to go about it is throwing herself into a “princess” mold. Star knows she wants Marco by her side, but decides the best way to go about it is throwing him into a “squire” box. 

Interesting.

Now on to the plot side of things: we’ve got a lot going on here, so I’ll be briefer with each section, since none of them are all that subtle. Her encounter with Eclipsa in Stranger Danger is the first attempt at “being a better princess,” when she seeks to right the kingdom’s unfair treatment of Eclipsa. Her approach is respectably even-handed too, since she maintains a healthy skepticism of Eclipsa’s motives and isn’t jumping the gun too much.

There’s also the curious case of the sleeping portals. Once again, Star confronts the problem, but taking Eclipsa’s advice to just let herself go and see what happens almost gets her hunted down by Hekapoo. It takes Marco’s secret assistance in Night Life and their final expedition in Deep Dive to stop the portaling. The Realm of Magic is a whole separate issue, one which the show hasn’t fully covered, so I can’t clearly say she “solved” that. But the immediate problem at hand was actually more or less solved for real, so this is sort of a sped-up microcosm of Star’s character arc.

You all deserve a breather, so have a wholesome bug hug.

And finally, we have the issue of monster rights. This kickstarts in Starfari where Star explores the injustices against monsterkind on Mewni: Moon is unhelpful, Jelly Goodwell is a nutjob, and Star’s takeaway from it is to appoint Buff Frog to an ambassador role of sorts. A noble and well-intentioned idea with some actual thought put into it, but one which doesn’t really address the roots of the issue (as we’ll see when it eventually fails in Is Another Mystery).

Monster Bash (and the treaty in Death Peck) are similar cases where Star thinks that channeling her passion and drive will make everything work, but it doesn’t – hard work and idealism aren’t always enough to get the job done, and can’t quite combat centuries of ingrained prejudices.

This is sort of a turning point where all her rushjobs start to collapse on her head. If you somehow don’t believe me that this is the crux of all of her problems now, let the show itself tell you even more directly than in Fetch.

She finds out the injustice against Eclipsa is so much bigger than she could have imagined, Buff Frog leaves Mewni, Booth Buddies floors her with the revelation that their friendship/princess-squire relationship isn’t perfect like she thought it was, and she even finds out her birthright to the throne isn’t even legitimate! And in each and every case her next step is to say, essentially, “Well clearly my initial, rushed approach didn’t work. What now?” And that question doesn’t get thoroughly answered within season 3 in every case, but we can identify some key progress made.

Monster rights is one where not much happens, but we get a hint in Is Another Mystery about it becoming more relevant in the future. She’s learned her lesson with rushing in this specific case already, so Star should have a better head on her shoulders to try and make things right in the future.

Marco makes his return in Divide after being mildly absent to make way for the 20 billion other things crammed into 3B. Although stuff like Moon going missing has kept Star from dwelling on her feelings for Marco or Tom, she’s wearing her heart on her cheeks (in a different way than usual)

…and again in Conquer, where those feelings manifest as soul-crushing despair with his balloonifying (much like that which Star was feeling with monster rights, with her mom being gone, and with Meteora) and sheer joy when he returns.

It’s clear that her feelings for Marco are back in full, without any trepidation, and the only thing she needs is a moment to think about it when her or her loved ones’ lives aren’t in imminent danger.

At the tail end of Conquer, the whole issue with Eclipsa and her lineage comes to a head when she gives up the wand. Star sees herself as finally righting the wrong of how Eclipsa was treated – while it’s not entirely certain, however, it seems like she only really thinks she’s giving up the wand.

Eclipsa getting her daughter back and going to find her husband came as a surprise with potentially ominous consequences. And that’s where Star ends the season.

I’ll save the recap for those who opted to skip this whole shebang. So with that, let’s jump into the final section.

Season 4 – Inexperience/Efficacy and Stability

Hello everyone just joining us from your app or browser’s “find in page” option, welcome to this post. You missed a bug hug, shame on you. I’m opening this with a recap of Star’s character at the end of season 3:

She has failed at bringing monster equality to Mewni, but understands the flaws in her efforts before and should have a much better mindset to bring about the proper change. Her feelings for Marco are 100% back and stronger than ever, simply awaiting a calm moment to reflect on them, and she rectified the injustice of the throne by giving up the wand to Eclipsa (with foreboding implications).

This was all the info we had until a certain SDCC clip from season 4 was revealed just a few days ago. I’ll be truly brazen for the first time in this post and unshackle myself from the hilariously short chain binding my analysis to already-aired canon. I believe this two minute clip gives us most of the information we need to predict Star’s broad character arc for the rest of the show, and this is my explanation and attempt at justification for my theory. 

Clearly there’s a ton of context we don’t have yet, but there is some concrete information present in the clip. Moon is still missing, which is expected and obviously a very important plot point but not directly tied in to Star’s individual character arc (that we know of). Eclipsa being queen, on the other hand, is massive. We don’t exactly know the details, but one way or another, this prison torturer and his prisoner both accept that their ruler is Eclipsa right now. Star is still called a princess by the torturer, so it doesn’t necessarily seem like she’s been disowned, but she’s not actively in charge. And while many people thought Star would be queen for a large part of the season (myself included), it potentially makes a lot more sense for her own personal growth that she isn’t.

All three past seasons, and her three arcs have essentially been Star maturing on her path to being ready for the throne. Star’s far from perfect, but the fundamental flaws in her attitude about her role have mostly been covered. She knows what the problems are, is genuinely dedicated to fixing them, and has (or is prepared to have) a healthier and more patient mindset in tackling them now. If she became Queen… what exactly would there be left? SVTFOE is a heavily character-driven show, where plot doesn’t just drop from the sky and push the characters around and arbitrarily force character growth. The wand cleaving, Toffee/Ludo taking power in BFM, and Eclipsa getting the wand (and likely the throne) are all consequences, in large part, of Star’s actions.

If even a wandless Star was put in power, there’s nothing that stands out about her mindset that would lend itself to a season’s worth of impeding monster equality. If Star had the awareness, determination, wisdom, and efficacy to achieve her goals, the only things stopping her from “ruling Mewni her way” would be the passage of time, bureaucratic red tape, or enemies appearing out of thin air - none of which fit the show’s focus on character-driven plot. Even when she was the recognized legitimate princess trying to change the system from inside, it wasn’t all that effective, so one could argue she never really had the power to enact lasting change anyway.

(As a slight aside, Eclipsa being in power presents a lot of cool opportunities for Star and for the show – Eclipsa spent most of the season as a sketchy character, but one who was consistently pitted against the obviously unfair “system”. Neither the audience nor Star has actually gotten to see her in a vacuum, and a lot of neat plotlines could happen off of that.)

Technically we haven’t seen it in action yet in season 4, but even when Eclipsa officially gets the throne, I should hope it’s fairly obvious that Star is still going to want to act for the betterment of Mewni. Is Another Mystery and Conquer had strong moments of Star asserting her desire to protect monster rights and the people of Mewni in general, despite her already knowing she wasn’t a blood relative of the original Butterflies. So essentially, when the labels defining Star’s role on Mewni are broken down, she still takes all of this on as a personal choice, because it’s what her heart is telling her is right. Remember that last sentence.

I can’t call anything about specifics, but my conclusion here is that Star’s character arc for the final season is essentially using all of the growth she’s had thus far to rise up to the challenge and truly earn her destiny (figuratively and now quite literally). Plot would be much less driven by Star consistently screwing up on a fundamental level, and more about tackling the remaining consequences of her past screwups and learning through experience how to truly “rule Mewni her own way”. Just because I say she has largely matured doesn’t mean she’s perfect - simply having the maturity required for a good ruler doesn’t automatically qualify Star as a “finished” character, because her endgame as Queen must have some authority and permanence to it. Even if Star was in power now, we’d need to see her maturity actually take effect to confirm when the curtains close on this show forever that a “happily ever after” is in place (and having her not in power, at least temporarily, gives way more weight to the consequences of Star’s past actions and allows for more conflict). And if she’s constantly making things worse via her own personal flaws until episode 18, there’s no way she can actually achieve that happy ending.

If you know anything about me by now, you should know what topic is coming next. As I hopefully have established about 66.7 times throughout this piece, Star’s character arc always applies across all of her relationships and interactions in sync, so how does Marco fit in? Star has essentially gained all the internal maturity needed to start the process of becoming an effective ruler. At the same time, she’s essentially gained all the understanding of her own feelings, gone through ups and downs and knows in her heart that Marco is the one she wants as a partner in life and in love. I said above that all she needs is a moment to contemplate it to become fully conscious of her feelings (which would then result very quickly in the Tomstar breakup and a Starco talk). And guess what?

It’s already almost certain that the clip is from very early in the season (otherwise it’d spoil too much context) but there’s even some possible evidence it’s from the first episode of the season. Couple that with the previous importance of the Beach Day photo and you have a recipe for Star’s full realization happening very early on.(Additionally – and this is just my own pure speculation, so take it with a grain of salt – while we can’t say for sure the SDCC clip is from the beginning of a segment, we can also almost guarantee it’s not at the end of it from the general context of the clip. And it would be highly uncharacteristic for the show to linger on an important moment/symbol earlier on in a segment without having that be relevant to the segment itself, which gives me strong impressions that this segment may actually be where something important happens for Starco.)

Need more evidence stacked up for the immediate future of Starco? Like I said earlier, Star’s attachment to the “princess” label as a genuine attempt to help Mewni mirrors her attachment to Marco’s “squire” label as a genuine attempt to have him as a life partner. And that princess label got broken down, but she still did - and will almost certainly continue to - fight for bettering the kingdom. Is it so wrong to guess that, since the “squire” label (and even, to an extent, the entire concept of their relationship as purely platonic) clearly were nuked immediately following the kiss, Star will similarly open the season accepting Marco fully as her life partner without restraint? I don’t think it is, and therefore will claim that Star and Marco will start the season accepting their romantic feelings for each other (and the change in their relationship as a result) just as Star is doing for her role in the kingdom. Maybe they don’t call it “dating” until a handful of episodes later, but any hesitancy in figuring out and tackling the fact that she loves Marco for more than an individual segment focused on it would betray all the growth she’s gone through, just like being hesitant to continue striving to help Mewni would betray her growth. When the labels defining Star’s role on Mewni relationship with Marco are broken down, she still takes all of this on as a personal choice, because it’s what her heart is telling her is right.

Jumping to the endgame now - just like that maturity isn’t enough for Star’s queenly endgame, this isn’t enough for Starco’s endgame either. Star’s almost certain future as Queen of Mewni is a serious thing, and a serious commitment for Marco to make even if they have feelings for each other/are dating. Once again, a mirror to her princess arc can be found – if they keep screwing stuff up in the fundamental nature of relationship with their own flaws and doubts, there’s no way to dig out of that hole cleanly for that happy ending, so it’s gotta start sooner rather than later. Plus we already know that Marco’s arc is essentially coming out of his shell and finding his place in life (read the Seddm masterpost for way more in-depth info on that), so it’s apparent that a rock-solid endgame for Starco requires clarity that the two of them are prepared for everything a permanent romantic relationship means. In essence, we need to see the growth that lead to their mutual feelings applied practically, just like we need to see that for Star’s role within Mewni.

TL;DR Star’s season 4 arc will focus on applying her awareness, determination, and wisdom gained from the past 3 seasons to tackle the consequences of her past decisions, starting from a point of making the personal choice to embrace both her desire to help Mewni and her love for Marco, and through this she will both earn her place as permanent and effective ruler of Mewni, and develop her relationship with Marco into one that will confidently last forever. She’s gonna damn well earn that happily ever after.

There’s certainly a level of speculation to all of this, of course, but I have confidence in the requirements for endgame, so the general path seems clear enough to me. Naysayers on any side of the shipping war make claims that Star and Marco won’t get together for a long time, that the feelings are still uncertain, maybe that they’re not even endgame at all. If you’re a Starco fan that thinks this, then it’s likely that the whiplash of 3A was like a bad breakup that makes you never want to date again. I feel you, I really do, but it had its purpose. Don’t get yourself down that Starco is all a bait just because it didn’t happen one particular time that Star said Marco looked cute. As for anyone else, first off, thanks for sticking around this far! I honestly didn’t expect that! This post doesn’t attempt to shoulder the ambitious burden of convincing you why Starco is good on a philosophical level (my brutally honest response is “fix your eyeballs and earholes and watch the fucking show”), but at the very least I hoped I’ve made a strong claim for all of the connections in the past three seasons and how it will tie together in the fourth and final season of this show.

[makingmoneyonlinemethod]

HOW YOU CAN MAKE MONEY ONLINE IN 2021

It seems this pandemic we have been hit with has had a big effect not only in our health but also with our jobs and income, With lots of us now looking at how to make money online and in particular ways to make money at home. Learning how to make extra money online is more important than ever seeing as lots of people, Me included still are not that keen on leaving the house.

Would you like to know how to make extra money online and earn an extra £500 per month on top of your normal wage?

If you are looking for ways to make money at home and in particular how to make money online then this is the post for you.

All of these methods I have used personally and I have always made money from them.

It seems weird writing 2021 but after the year everyone on earth has had in 2020 I think everyone is looking forward to moving ahead. What better way to move ahead than to take on new ways to make money at home and in particular an extra £500 per month on top of your normal wage.

Some of my posts may contain affiliate links. This simply means if you purchase something after clicking one of the links I may receive a commission at no extra cost to yourself. Many thanks for the continued support.

So without further ado lets jump in and see how we are going to go about making that extra money online.

1: MATCHED BETTING:

I have said this before but putting it simply Matched Betting is the number one when it comes to the easiest way to make money at home. If you are not making extra money online by using Matched Betting then you are missing out on some serious extra cash.

Matched betting is the action of placing a for and against bet on a football team or other sport and using this to gain the bookmaker bonuses. It is 100% legal and is netting some people up to £1500 Per month. When looking around for how to make money online this comes top of most google searches.

There is a mom I know on one of the Matched betting forums who is earning approx £1200 per month from the comfort of her own home while her children nap.

It’s crazy and sometimes I feel people ignore this as they just think it is normal betting or it is not entirely legal but trust me it is.

If you are interested in learning a bit more then check out my guide on Matched Betting, it goes a bit more into how it works. This is my main way of how to make money at home and it has worked really well for me. I even taught a friend how to do it and he now makes around £400 extra per month in his spare time.

Or if you want to start making extra money online straight away then simply click on the banner below to get free access to Profit accumulator a site which has helped 300,000 customers by showing them how to make money online from Matched Betting.

Profit Accumulator literally walks you through each matched bet with full text and video guides to and will have you making extra money online in an hour or so. Check them out.

2: VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

So if you do a search on how to make money online I’m pretty sure that Virtual assistant will be close to the top of the search options.

There is a very good reason for that. We are now living in an ever-increasing digital age and this is getting more and more common especially with the pandemic as companies are working out that it saves them money having their staff work from home.

This also means lots of businesses will need digital assistants or Virtual assistants to assist them with their day to day business needs.

So how do I start making extra money online from being a virtual assistant and what will I need to do?

A virtual assistant could do any number of tasks online such as answering and replying to emails. Creating Facebook adverts, Decluttering emails, Setting up meetings and or organising an online diary.

There are plenty of virtual assistants who specialise in certain areas and I know of a couple of VA’s that specialise in making Pinterest pins for a blog and scheduling them out.

Assuming you have a laptop or pc and a good internet connection as well as some personal skills such as good literacy, typing skills and organisational skills then you should have the basics to get started.

Rebecca Lake over at Bosssinglemama.com has a great guide to getting started as a virtual assistant as she has great first-hand experience in this field. Go check it out.

3: SELL GOODS ON EBAY

Let me add before I get started that I hate eBay, Dont get me wrong I have made money with eBay and from time to time it is a good way of earning some quick cash but out of all the ways of how to make money online, this is one of my least favourites.

The reason is simply that there are lots of stupid people out there who bid for no reason or argue the item didnt arrive or is not as described and this can be annoying as well as very time-consuming.

Don’t let this put you off though as it may have just been my experience but it’s not for me. However, if you are looking to get started with ways to make money at home then this is a good a place as any.

The best place to start making extra money online with eBay is to have a clear out around the house and get together all the stuff you are probably thinking of just throwing out.

Have a search around the site and see what other people have listed these types of items for. Once you have sold your stuff you can then reinvest that money by buying some packing products off the site and then look for stuff to buy and resell.

Look around at car boot sales and thrift stores to get your bargains and then relist at a profit on eBay, Don’t forget to add the cost of your eBay fees and Paypal fees into the equation. When I first started looking at how to make money online eBay was one of the first places I came to.

4: CASINO OFFERS

Hold on, I’m not suggesting you go down to your local casino. That is not a great way to make money, In fact, your more often than not lose all of your money.

This is a cheeky way of gaining profit from the online casino bonuses offered to new customers. It works in a very similar way to Matched betting in that new bonuses are offered out to new customers and with a bit of background knowledge and trickery, you can obtain most of the profit from those bonuses without losing any money.

It might sound too good to be true but it is from the brainchild of the guys over at Profit accumulator.

Quite a lot of money earned within a day or two.

Simply sign up with Bonus Accumulator, and they will walk you through your first couple of casino offers and then you will get access to their site which includes guides for all online casino offers as well as a very good forum for members.

Sign up below and see how easy it is to make a good consistent profit. When I was learning how to make money online I didn’t have something as easy and accessible as Bonus accumulator. Hit the link below to learn more.

5: PINTEREST VA

As with being a virtual assistant as I mentioned above, you could also specialise in one certain area if you are looking at how to make money online.

Pinterest is essentially a search engine and requires not only great titles and descriptions but also very good graphics and visuals that stand out from the crowd when your potential customers are scrolling through it on their phone.

This is where the problem lies for most bloggers or business owners, we are not overly creative and have probably not used graphics sites such as Canva before.

Luckily I have used Canva and have now got pretty good at it, however, in the beginning, a Pinterest VA would have been very handy. A Pinterest VA can not only create pretty pins linking back to your site or blog but also they can schedule them out for you saving you more time to concentrate on other areas.

My advice when trying to start out is to join some blogging groups on Facebook and create a profile. Then just put yourself out there. As a new VA, you could always offer out your services very cheaply just to get some experience behind you.

Kristin from Believe In A Budget has a great post here on how she became a Pinterest VA and how to make money online from learning how to do it yourself.

6: OFFER SITES

OHMYDOSH:

Making extra money online and more specifically making around £500 per month is no easy feat. Offers sites are great at making you £20 here and £30 there but to do £500 per month you will need to combine 2 or 3 of these sites and hit them hard. It is possible though. You can certainly make £250 per month easily.

When looking back at what I did when I was working out how to make money online as I found offers sites and the first one I came across was OhMyDosh.

Offers sites are basically cashback sites that reward you with cash into the account when you sign up for certain things or do simple surveys etc. It is super easy and you can very quickly in one afternoon make a cheeky £50 or so with very minimal effort on your part.

OhMyDosh is one of the easiest offers sites to navigate in my humble opinion. This makes all the difference as well when you are new to the site so I stuck with OhMyDosh for quite a while.

You can sign up here for OhMyDosh if You use my special link you will also get a £1 sign up bonus for free. A nice little start to your profit without having to lift a finger.

Pin This For Future Reference:

SWAGBUCKS:

Swagbucks is a very similar website to OhMyDosh accept it is a little more well known. You simply complete offers and surveys in exchange for Swagbucks which when you hit a certain amount of you can exchange for gift cards etc.

It can get incredibly addictive as Swagbucks have a few daily targets for you to hit and achievements along the way. It becomes your goal to hit those achievements every day.

If you sign up using my Swagbucks Link you will receive 300 Swagbucks for free. What a great way to start towards earning your first gift card.

Swagbucks also have a chrome app button which you can install on your computer which can help you earn more each day giving you greater chances of earning some fantastic gift cards for yourself or your loved ones.

INBOX POUNDS:

Inbox Pounds is the last site you should try in the offers sites. When It comes to making extra money online then combining the 3 offers sites I have mentioned is the best way to maximise your income. Some of the offers will be the same but just skip those and move onto the next one.

Inbox pounds also has a different variant called inbox dollars for our friends across the pond.

The easy stuff is a section that I like on Inbox pounds whereby you can go on and answer easy questions or a simple survey for between 50pence to £1.50. You will be surprised how quickly these all add up.

Dont miss out on making extra money online and earning some really quick cash, sign up using my referral code and start earning now.

7: BLOGGING

Blogging is one of the top answers when searching for how to make money online. Although blogging is not a quick way to make money and it is certainly not the easiest it is one of the more rewarding ways to make money at home.

If you are starting a blog just to make money you need to know that for most people it can be more than a year before they start seeing income and for others maybe less.

It really does depend on how much effort you put into your blog. Take my blog for example. I work really long hours in my main job and a lot of the time I dont work on my blog until the weekend and then I am tired so just dont put too many hours in. It took me around a year before I started earning money.

Other people may put in 4 or 5 hours a day every day and they will progress faster. With blogging though and when it comes to making extra money online with your blog, you need a bit of patience.

If you have a passion for something then it is usually quite easy to turn this passion into a blog. It always helps if whatever you are writing about is something you really enjoy.

If this is something that sounds good to you then I have written a few blogging guides to get you started here. Starting out blogging can be a bit of a minefield so I’m hoping these guides help.

You can start your very own blog from as little as £5.99 per month.

Siteground is who I use to host this blog and I have found them really great to work with. see their link below.

 Seeing as starting a blog is so cheap then there is nothing to stop you making extra money online from your new blog.

8: BECOME A PROOFREADER

If you are always looking at how to make money online and keep seeing the same old stuff then try learning about how to get paid to become a proofreader. This is one of those great ways to make money at home by simply using your computer.

Here in the UK I occasionally read a newspaper called the daily mail. I read it via an online app and every single page I read has grammatical errors and misspellings and it drives me mad (Frantically goes back through this post to look for misspellings!!)

They clearly dont have anyone proofread their posts before they go onto the app and it makes me not read it as much. Im sure this is that same for other people.

This can lead to you losing business so paying someone to Proofread emails, documents and other such media can be valuable and companies will pay you to to do this.

Getting started Proofreading is a little harder but I would suggest setting up some profiles on sites such as People Per Hour Fiverr.com or Upwork. You can then offer up your services cheaply which will help if you have no experience.

A lot of proofreading jobs will need you to have a degree unfortunately however there are lots of free courses online to help you get a good feel for Proofreading and can give you some background knowledge.

If you love reading and spot mistakes easily then proofreading can be a great way of making extra money online. Read this beginners guide here and see how you feel about it.

9: TEACH ENGLISH ONLINE

It sounds like you need to go off and get some kind of degree but trust me you don’t. You already have the gift of being able to speak perfect English and if you are looking at how to make money online then that is the skill you can use to do exactly that.

I found out about this when my wife and I were hosting foreign students at our home. We got chatting to them and one group, in particular, said that a lot of the older students already speak good English but were struggling with conversational type language and how to sound more natural which must be an incredibly hard thing to do.

They said that a lot of the students pay up to £20 per hour just to chat to you online and for you to give guidance on how they can sound more natural with their day to day chat. It sounded like a great idea of how to make money online so I got more information from them.

Lots of companies are looking for people just like you to teach their students English and to reward you well for doing just that.

It can all be done from the comfort of your own home with skype or in a zoom type meeting. Make sure to provide yourself with a quiet room and make sure there are going to be no distractions such as mobile phones going off or family members popping their heads in.

So where do you go to find out more information and start making extra money online? Well, Education First is the biggest company and one im sure you will have heard of.

You can build your own schedule although it does have to fit in somewhat with the hours the student is available. You can also teach the same student each time so you can build up a rapport and have a little fun with it.

Click the link above and learn how to make extra money online by teaching students.

10: PUBLISH AN EBOOK

With that handy website Amazon, you can write your own E-book and publish it on their site. The great thing is you dont even need to write it yourself if you dont want to as you can pay people to write it and also get people to design a cover for your E-book as well.

The best way to prepare is to do a search on what keywords are doing well on searches within amazon and then base your E-book around those. As long as you are helping people learn something or solving a problem then you should see sales quite easily.

It might help if you put your E-book up for free for a few weeks to gain some interest and some good reviews before applying a price.

This E-book right here is the perfect example. How to write an E-book and sell it on Amazon step by step guide.

Just remember you do not have to be an expert in something just a little more knowledgeable than your average Joe.

11: FREELANCE WORK

In the current economic climate, we all find ourselves in, it makes sense to look for ways of how to make money online. Freelancing with skills you already have in your day job or skills you have in your hobbies can translate quite well when it comes to making extra money online.

You can create a profile on sites such as Fiverr and Upwork and list the skills you have. You may be able to use a program like Canva really well to create Pinterest graphics or Wedding invites.

There are people on Fiverr who get paid to play video games with lonely people which is a bit weird but shows that if you don’t think you possess a skill then you are probably wrong.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON MAKING MONEY ONLINE IN 2021

This global pandemic has taught me one thing and that is the importance of making extra money online and having a passive income is paramount.

How to make money online is now a more searched for term on Google now then it was at the beginning of the year.

Everyone’s jobs have been and still are at risk and to have a second or third source of income is like a safety net in case the worst happens.

Make sure you pick and try one of the making extra money online tips from above and see how you get on. I would love to hear some progress feedback in the comments.

[eat-travel-live-repeat]

Bhutan Through My Eyes – A Photo Blog

Current Scenario – Staying at Home, due to the lockdown imposed by the Government of India, to curb the spread of COVID-19 (The Pandemic that has spread like wildfire around the globe ), and making the most out of this Quarantine Life.

This time Last Year – Returned back to Delhi, after a memorable 7 Day Road Trip to Bhutan !

As I was sorting out photos of my previous travels on my hard drive, I stumbled across my Bhutan Travel Diaries, and realised that I never really got the time to share a lot of these pictures, as I was busy with back to back travels, back then. 

So heres presenting to you my Bhutan Travel Diaries, which is essentially A Travel Photo Blog.

    To be honest, this was my first trip, where I actually discovered the potential of my camera. I hope you like this Bhutan Photo Blog, and enjoyed travelling virtually all the way from the comfort of your homes to Bhutan – The Last Shangri La.

  While this is a Photo Blog or basically my Bhutan Travel Diaries, it also serves as a guide for Instagrammers and Photographers to make the most out of their trip to Bhutan, as I have first mentioned the main Instagrammable Locations in Bhutan which includes the Tiger’s Nest, the Buddha Dordenma, Dochu La Pass, the Punakha Suspension Bridge and the various Dzongs of Bhutan; followed by my photo series of the People of Bhutan, and of the Paro Tsechu.

  PS – I sincerely hope and pray that the World heals soon from the wrath of Coronavirus or COVID – 19, and we are able to travel again, like free-birds. However, until then, STAY HOME – STAY SAFE, and make the most of this Quarantine period, by doing some awesome things at home. If you need any inspiration, about what to do at home, check out these

30+ Awesome Creative Things You Can Do from the comforts of your Home.

  [toc]

  Top Instagrammable Locations in Bhutan

  Tiger’s Nest

Tiger’s Nest or Taktsang Lhakang in Bhutan, located 10 km north of Paro, at an altitude of 10, 000 feet, is Bhutan’s most iconic landmark, and one of the most Instagrammable locations in Bhutan. Tiger’s Nest or Taktsang, constructed back in 1692, is located on a cliff about 3000 feet above Paro Valley, with the temple being one of the most important holy sites in the kingdom. A hike to the Tiger’s Nest in Paro is a 100% must thing to do in Bhutan, and trust me, the 2 hours of hike up is definitely rewarding.

  The legend says that Guru Rimpoche flew to the site atop the back of a tigress and meditated in the cave for 3 years, 3 months, 3 days and 3 hours in order to subdue evil demons residing within it. The cave has been considered a sacred site ever since and many famous saints have travelled to meditate in it.

  A Hike up to the Tiger’s Nest is undoubtedly one of the Top 10 Things To Do in Bhutan, among others like witnessing a festival/tsechu in Bhutan, sending a post card from the Thimphu Post Office, experiencing the vibrant night life in Paro and Thimphu and of course visiting an artisanal brewery overlooking the Paro Airstrip.

    Buddha Dordenma

One of the most iconic structures in Thimphu, Bhutan is the 169 feet bronze statue of Buddha Dordenma. This Vajra Throne Buddha is located in the Kuenselphodrang Nature Park and is one of the largest statues of Buddha in the world.

    The hill top location provides a panoramic view of Thimphu and some amazing photography subjects. 

    Dochu La Pass

Dochu La Pass, a popular pit stop for tourists, travelling from Thimphu to Punakha and vice versa, offers amazing 360 degree panoramic views of the Himalayan ranges, making it one of the best Instagrammable locations in Bhutan.

  The highlights of Dochu La Pass are definitely the 108 memorial chortens / stupas also known as the ‘Druk Wangyal Chortens’. The 108 memorial stupas were built in memory of the 108 Bhutanese soldiers who were killed in the 2003 battle against separatist insurgent groups during the first ever operation “Operation all Clear”conducted by the Royal Bhutan Army.

        Punakha Suspension Bridge

The Punakha Suspension Bridge spans 160 – 180 m across the river Po Chu, is the longest bridge of Bhutan, and is draped with prayer flags all along, and provides a panoramic view of the valley.

    Tip – Rather than rushing to go from one end to the other, go to the middle and just enjoy the beauty of nature, and when the number of people on the bridge start getting less, take out your cameras, and get those Instaworthy shots.

    Streets of Thimphu

If you have an eye for detail, the streets of Thimphu are full of such interesting subjects.

    The Dzongs of Bhutan

Monasteries in Bhutan are known as Dzongs or goembas, pronounced very differently from the Tibetan equivalent, gompa. They provide the necessary solitude for both study and meditation. Usually built on rocky buttresses or on a remote hillside. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of courtyards, temples, administrative offices, and monks’ accommodation.

  In Bhutan, Dzongs serve as the religious, military, administrative, and social centers of their district. They are often the site of an annual tsechu or religious festival.

  The most popular Dzongs that you should visit are the Rinpung Dzong or Paro Dzong, Punakha Dzong, Simtokha Dzong (Thimphu) and Tasichho Dzong (Thimphu) – which has been the seat of the Government of Bhutan since 1952.

    Tashichho Dzong

Thimphu Dzong or the Tashichho Dzong, is the largest Dzong in Bhutan, and also the seat of the office of the King of Bhutan

  Simtokha Dzong

Simtokha Dzong is an important historical monument and a former Buddhist monastery, and today it houses one of the premier Dzongkha language learning institutes.

  Paro Dzong

Paro Dzong, or the Rinpung Dzong is a large dzong of the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school in Paro District, Bhutan, and  houses the district Monastic Body and government administrative offices of Paro Dzongkhag.

    Punakha Dzong

Punakha Dzong is the second oldest and second largest dzong in Bhutan, and it was the religious and administrative centre of Bhutan until 1950, when the capital moved to Thimphu.

    The People of Bhutan – A Photo Series

Bhutan literally has the happiest people in the world, and the kids are the cutest. See for yourself, in these portraits that I managed to capture, during my entire 7 Day Road Trip to Bhutan, back in March 2019.

Bhutanese people are some of the friendliest people that you’ll ever meet, and don’t mind being clicked. 

PS – All these pictures were taken with due permission.

                  Paro Tsechu – A Photo Series

Featuring dances performed by trained monks and laymen in amazing masks and costumes, Tsechus (festivals) are one of the best ways to experience the ancient living culture of Bhutan, and get some really Instagrammable Shots of the people of Bhutan. A Tsechu is a Buddhist festival in honour of Guru Rimpoche, the saint who brought Buddhism to Bhutan.

  The tshechu involves a series of dances, held over three days, to honour Guru Rinpoche. The timing of the event varies by district and from temple to temple, but are always held on the 10th day of a month in the Bhutanese calendar, a day dedicated to Guru Rinpoche.

  Heres some of the best shots, of my Bhutan Travel Diaries, that I managed to capture from my camera, during Paro Tsechu 2019.

            Pin this Bhutan Travel Photo Blog for later!

    I hope you enjoyed travelling virtually all the way to Bhutan, through my eyes, from the comfort of your homes.

And if you liked my work, I will be really thankful if you could 

LIKE | SHARE and SUBSCRIBE 

Bhutan Travel Diaries | A Photo Blog Bhutan Through My Eyes - A Photo Blog Current Scenario - Staying at Home, due to the lockdown imposed by the Government of India, to curb the spread of COVID-19 (The Pandemic that has spread like wildfire around the globe ), 

[emilyrumboldt-blog]

As it happens, Alopecia is much harder to write about than I’d thought.

Don’t let my ultra-personal blogs deceive you: I hate opening up. It’s not that I prefer secrecy – if that were the case, I’d be writing exclusively about my love for pop culture under an ignominious pseudonym. No, my problem is that, though I’m doing everything within my power to portray the positive side of Alopecia Areata, I’m hurting.  I’m hurting, because for the twelfth year in a row, I am trapped in this cycle of hair-loss and mockery. I’m hurting because, 12 years in, I’m still yet to meet a fellow Alopecian with whom I can maintain a strong friendship with. I’m hurting, physically and mentally, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

My hair was growing back! Atop my skull, a patch of peach fuzz was sprouting – uneven as Hell, but definitely there. Where is it now? Besides a few single, stubby hairs here and there, my bald patch has returned to its smooth, repulsive self. I can just about cover the thing up with what remains of my fringe, but to do so results in insufferable pain that lingers long after the final bobby pin has been taken out. Better still, a new patch has emerged above my right ear. Baldness The Sequel: Baby Bald Spot. The codeine I was prescribed, completely separately, for my Golfer’s Elbow is just about able to take the edge off the stabbing sensation in my scalp, but it also amplifies my looming self-consciousness and lack of self-worth. I need help.

The start of a new bald patch. (April 9, 2018)

April 10, 2018 (top)

April 10, 2018 (side)

It’s times like these which make me so grateful for the #AlopeciaAwareness community, and for the many individuals who have made me feel a little less alone through the years since my diagnosis. I’ve known very few Alopecians in person, so celebrities and social media influencers have become my anchor. Now seems as good a time as ever to recognise the people who have become role models to me, the people who do so much to “normalise” baldness and give people like me a renewed sense of worth.

My Alopecia Role Models

Joanna Rowsell Shand

When Joanna Rowsell Shand helped Great Britain win gold in the 2012 Olympic Cycling Team Pursuit, I was a 12-year-old girl battling a new bought of hair loss. When you’re that young, to see somebody who looks like you achieve something incredible… it’s life-changing. Joanna was that person for me. Her courage, beauty, and spirit did more than just inspire me: it transformed my entire mindset. From then on, I have been determined to achieve something too. I may not be Olympic material, but if I can find success in my own field and inspire young people with Alopecia to do the same, that would be a dream come true.

As an Alopecia UK Ambassador, Joanna has dedicated so much to raising awareness for the cause, something that I can’t thank her enough for. Her openness and bravery has stimulated a passion for campaigning in me that has shaped who I am as a person; without her influence, I certainly wouldn’t have found the confidence that I have today.

Joanna Rowsell Shand recently took on Celebrity Mastermind, donating her appearance fee to Alopecia UK. Well done, Joanna!

https://twitter.com/AlopeciaUK/status/951085100833345539

https://twitter.com/JoRowsellShand/status/951090817090949121

Jesy Nelson

When I first found out that Jesy Nelson had Alopecia Areata, I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading. I had loved her since her first X Factor appearance, and I have always adored her hair. Hearing that it had actually fallen out and grown back once upon a time was a MASSIVE confidence boost; her candidness about her experience made me realise that I wasn’t alone after all. Just like Jesy, my hair loss (at the time) was partially triggered by bullies who hated me because I was different. But as Jesy once said: “the world would be boring if everyone looked the same”. Alopecia doesn’t define me, but it is a part of who I am. Jesy taught me to be true to myself, and inspired me to carry on doing what I love without the weight of expectation on my shoulders.

Jesy Nelson (left) speaking on BBC Radio 1 with bandmate Perrie Edwards. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk

Malia and the Hayes Family

This list wouldn’t be complete without the Hayes family. My little sister Tamsin introduced me to the Ashley, Zach, and Malia’s YouTube channel about a year ago, probably in a bid to get me to take her to Disneyland. Straight away, I saw a young girl who radiated confidence, maturity, and compassion; what’s more, she was only 4 years old at the time. When I lost my hair for the first time I did everything within my power to conceal it, but Malia dances her way around Disneyland with her beautiful baldness so boldly on show. I can’t tell you how empowering that is. For somebody who, at the age of 17, still struggles with her image and self-esteem, I gain so much confidence and self-love from seeing such a beautiful child own her Alopecia. What this family are doing is perhaps the most magical thing of all; all of a sudden, I don’t feel abnormal. I don’t feel strange. Malia makes me feel valid, ordinary, and gorgeous, and I am going to do everything within my power to do the same for Alopecians all over the world.

The video below is one of my favourite Hayes Family vlogs so far; when Tamsin and I watched it for the first time, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I had absolutely nothing to say.

I hope you find as much strength in these videos as I have; Alopecian or not, the Hayes family offer a message of compassion and courage that has rubbed off on everybody I have shared their channel with.

Sasha Velour

  Though Sasha does not have Alopecia, the message she delivered to RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 was so empowering to me that I was compelled to blog about it. This blog, an open letter to Sasha Velour, was one of the toughest to write; it discussed many personal issues which dedicated her life to raising awareness for, ranging from her empowering bald image to the struggle of growing up LGBT+. I wrote: “seeing a queen walk out onto that runway without hair brings me so much joy, so much pride, that it literally brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me to love myself, a reminder which I desperately needed that day; the crown on your head just topped that off. Bald queens like us deserve the attention your bold use of technicolour provided, and I will forever be indebted to that.” To me, Sasha Velour is a true idol to Alopecians: a bald queen, just like the rest of us. Thank you, Sasha, for showing the world that bald is beautiful.

You can read the rest of my open letter to Sasha Velour here.

Sasha Velour: Photo by Lucas Blair

With all of these people (and so many more) inspiring me day in, day out, it’s hard to imagine that life with Alopecia Areata could feel lonely. The truth is, it really can. A lot of the time, there’s no escaping the staring eyes which follow you around in public places, or the muttering of curious strangers.  That is why, beyond all else, the people I am most grateful for are you. I know, that’s cheesy. The #AlopeciaAwareness community is something so special and empowering; I would like to thank each and every one of you for dedicating so much of your time to this wonderful cause. My confidence has taken a bit of a knock recently, but you guys have helped me right back up. So, to the Alopecian community online and beyond, thank you. You’re all true role models.

  If you have been affected in any way by Alopecia Areata and need somebody to talk to, feel free to send me a message or hit me up on social media. You can find my social links below.

  Stay woke, kids.

    As always, thank you so much for reading!

  If you want to support my work raising awareness for Alopecia Areata, click here to become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/EmilyRumboldt

Or, if you’re feeling generous and feel like fuelling my coffee breaks, you can donate to my Ko-Fi page here: https://ko-fi.com/N4N27QAS

All funds raised from either site will go towards making my blog and (eventually) my YouTube content more effective in their goals of raising awareness for the causes I care so much about. I am so grateful for all the support that I have received from you so far, and will continue to produce content for as long as I am able to do so.

For more, see my social media below:

Twitter: @EmilyRumboldt

Instagram: emily.rumboldt

For more contact information, click here.

Want more? Read my previous instalment to the Alopecia Diaries: Top 5 comments about my alopecia | Alopecia Diaries #2

NEW BLOG ALERT: Idols of an Alopecian | Alopecia Diaries #3 #AlopeciaAwareness #blog #Wordpress As it happens, Alopecia is much harder to write about than I’d thought. Don’t let my ultra-personal blogs deceive you: I hate opening up.

[cbltlifestyleblog]

⭐️MY FAVOURITE THINGS THAT I BOUGHT FOR LESS THAN €10⭐️ 1)My “Sparkle like a Unicorn” Cup I bought this cup a year ago in Primark (London), I think it cost less than £3 which still works out less than €10 . The holographic unicorn and pink glitter makes me feel all warm and happy inside. It holds over a litre of water and I find the straw so convenient for drinking cold water. I’m also very conscious of the environment and buying this cup has cut out the waste created from using disposable straws and bottles. 2)My Rainbow Umbrella I had my eye on this umbrella for many months until I finally bought it two weeks ago. I have always wanted one for some reason - it is a combination of everything I love. It is colourful and vintage, while also being practical. It only cost €5 from the “Flying Tiger” shop in Maynooth and it is also the perfect accessory. 3)My Fake Sunflower I actually bought three of these and I believe they cost around €4 each from Dunnes Stores. Sunflowers are so bright and joy-inducing, I just had to buy them. I weaved the three sunflowers into my wicker throne which made it even more perfect! The colour yellow makes me so happy, my room is decorated in so much yellow that I could write a blog on that alone. 4)My Rose Clip I bought this is H&M about 4 years ago and to this day it is my favourite accessory. It cost around €3 and it is a little worn out now from the years of use. I have such fond memories for this clip, people in my school would call me “senorita” which I loved because Spanish and Spanish culture is one of my true passions in life. I still wear it these days, to formal events or just to make a messy bun more tidy! 5)My Marvel Travel Mug This also came from Primark and cost less than €3. I take it everywhere with me and there’s nothing better than sipping hot coffee from a mug with Captain America and Wolverine on it! It is one of the many pieces of Marvel merchandise I own. 6)My Photo Shutter Remote This has been a life saver since starting my blog. Basically, this is a remote that allows you to take pictures without having to tap your phone. When I am taking pictures of outfits or even trying to get a group picture with me in it, I just position my phone and connect the remote using Bluetooth. I bought it in Eurogiant a few weeks ago for €3 and I would highly recommend it! 7)My Cork Memo Board I have had this for years, it cost about €3 in Homebase and I literally use it everyday. Sometimes I pin memorabilia but most of the time I use it for reminders and and appointments. I have a much bigger one in my college dorm which is a godsend for staying organised as a student. 8)My Diary At the beginning of every academic year I buy a diary because I have the memory of a goldfish- I could quote every line of Mrs. Doubtfire but I can’t remember assignment deadlines! A diary is great for students but also for planning holidays and meeting up with friends and for €1.49 in Dealz you can't afford not to buy it. 9)My novelty book “Thirty Days Has September Cool Ways to Remember Stuff” Every summer, my family and I visit Dunfanaghy. Dunfanaghy is full of quaint and quirky shops and restaurants, but one of the best is “Muck n’ Muffins”. That is where I bought this book and many other novelty bits. It is a book that is full of facts, that is easy read and I have actually learned some things from it. I believe the book cost around €9. I have obviously inherited my Mammy’s love for quirky books. 10)My LED Disco Light Honestly, this is one of the best things I have ever bought and I got it on sale for €7.50 in Heatons. I originally bought it as a one off thing for my 18th birthday party but the disco light is pulled out every time we have a party- which is quite often! This light has taken simple chill nights in front of the TV and turned them into incredible dance parties!

[superdecade]

Just Pinned to Brainfood: Can you use a BBC Micro as your main computer? Well the short answer is no (but I have been trying)... For a computer to be of any use I figure that it must be able to do the following well: Connect to the Internet and have a fast secure browser. Provide applications for work flow. Provide applications for playing media files. We'll look at these in turn but first some information about the BBC Microcomputer. A Graphical User Interface for the Beeb The BBC micro (or 'Beeb') was an 8-bit microcomputer commissioned by the BBC and built by Acorn in 1981. It was highly popular in education in the UK and survives today in the hands of enthusiasts such as myself. If you need to get your beeb 'fix' then there are a number of emulators available including browser-based and desktop (I recommend BeebEm). There is however nothing like running a vintage machine for the full experience. I recommend Retroclinic for all your BBC computer needs including the datacentre (more about that later). The Internet While Acorn produced Econet their own version of LAN connectivity for the BBC microcomputer in the modern world this is not going to get you very far. It is possible to connect a modem to a BBC micro computer however you must keep in mind that this machine was build before the World Wide Web was invented. You will be very disappointed if you need to upload your duck faces to Instagram on a beeb. You will find that you must keep your Twitter-rants to yourself and it will be virtually impossible to see what everyone is having for dinner on Facebook. As a main computer the BBC micro falls at the first hurdle. This was a pre-Internet machine and sadly you will need a modern computer to experience the modern Internet. That should be enough to kill anyone's dreams of using the BBC micro as a main computer however there are two other critical points of failure: Work flow Whatever your job business or hobby you will likely need to run some Office software or other such desktop publishing or productivity tools. If these are mission-critical to you then switching to a 35-year old computer is not an option. The Beeb doesn't fall flat completely however. Most BBC computers were packing work-flow software and although they seem primitive now you can get stuff done. My BBC Master computer has a word processor spreadsheet and text editor built into ROM and thanks to the Retroclinic datacentre it is possible to transfer files from the beeb onto my Windows 10 PC. That being said and despite having some albeit ancient productivity tools the beeb cannot replace my PC as a productivity machine (however I will talk about what it CAN do later). Media center I am currently typing away on a modern laptop and streaming music on a chromebook which is plugged into my amplifier. I have a library of music movies and photographs stretching back nearly two decades stored on a network drive and if any computer is going to be my main computer then it will need to handle my entertainment needs. For a while I used a Raspberry Pi as my main music jukebox although I now use Microsoft's Groove app. Whatever your media needs your BBC microcomputer is not going to do it. 8 bit machines simply do not have the codecs required to play audio and other media files. Although digital cameras were available for the BBC they are nothing compared to their modern counterparts. So it seems like the BBC computer cannot be used as a main computer. If however you accept these limitations then the beeb still has a lot going for it. In the rest of this post I shall talk about some of the cool things my beeb does for me. My BBC My computer is a Master series with 128K RAM and a second processor. The caps were replace about a year ago so there is no danger of the power supply failing anytime soon. The battery for the CMOS RAM is also in good condition having been replace fairly recently. I have a dual-drive disk drive however the main way of storing files is using the Retroclinic datacentre. This little device provides four virtual RAM disks a small non-volatile 64K RAM disk and it also has 2GB compact-flash cards which provide four 500MB hard disk drives. There is a USB flash drive sticking out of the front storing literally hundreds of disk images which can be transferred into RAM in just a few seconds. My microcomputer has 'pride of place' on my desk and supports a 32 inch monitor. When I first got it I promised myself that I would use it as an 'everyday' machine in order to justify its position on the desk. I often use the BBC as a notebook. The EDIT program built into ROM is always available and I use this to write notes to myself as well as my diary and other documents. I didn't go as far as writing this blog post on it however I just realised that I could have done and now I wish I had. I also use the spreadsheet program to help manage my accounts as well as other diverse tasks including calculating the most cost effective pizza as well as helping calculate options in online games. The Beeb performs all of these tasks admirably and there really is no need for a modern computer. I am waiting for the time a colleague requests some trivial or not critical information from me expecting an email but instead as I am a mischievous soul I will provide them with a text file on a portable USB disk drive. Mwah ha ha ha HAAAA! Although the BBC was not well-know for it's games this computer did have an extensive library of titles available for it and the beeb was no slouch when it came to graphics and sound for it's time. Most games are available to download online from such sites as Stairway to Hell. The best experience can be had from games with a focus on gameplayrather than graphics. Classic games such as chess backgammon connect-four patience solitaire UNO Yahtzee NIM Mastermind draughts reversi and cribbage all work very well on a BBC. There really is no need for a modern PC to play these games as the beeb will be a very challenging opponent. Being beaten at Minesweeper on the Beeb (again). Armies of programmers have over the years written countless applications for the beeb. I often trawl through the disk images that came with magazines in the eighties to find apps that are still useful today. Here is an app for finding the next few phases of the moon. This app calculates the dates of future eclipses and even shows a graphic of what the Earth's shadow will look like over the moon. Okay it's not quite Google Earth... The beeb has a (very good) version of BASIC held in ROM. For this reason it is very easy to write your applications for the beeb. You can read about my early attempts here. I currently have applications for telling me the time and date as well as useful stopwatches countdowns and alarms (yes I use it to help me cook my dinner). I have a perpetual calendar application and a calculator. All of which get regular use. I am currently working on a dictionary program. My very useful calendar/clock app. So in summary can you use a BBC microcomputer as your main computer? No but it does make a very handy and tremendously fun second computer. If you are still awake and for some reason you liked this post then you might like to read about my other BBC micro posts or even my adventures with the Raspberry Pi. Perhaps you just want to know how many floppy disks would be needed to store all of Google Maps? Either way I hope you liked this post. Please come back soon for more geeky stuff. BBC Master BBC Micro http://ift.tt/2kN9mCy