#and 2) these artistic people are the ones you’re studying??? basing your whole research on???

[rainia]

just had SUCH a good idea for a project that explores decoloniality and gender issues in theatre. if it could happen it would be so fucking good

[eatingtherich-amenu]

Support Small Business

Want to still buy nice things and go shopping without contributing to the dragon's hoard? I’ve got good news! 

98% of businesses in Australia are considered small businesses according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. They also employ over 4.7 million people (41% of the business workforce) making it Australia's biggest employer, and contribute more than half the GDP. That makes it sounds like it’s nearly impossible not to shop at a small business doesn’t it?

Although, ofcourse, that’s not the whole picture. When we look at actual market share of small vs big businesses:

Source: https://hammerjack.com.au/youre-not-just-a-small-business/ 

That 98% of businesses have only 35% of the market share in Australia. Meaning 65% of all commerce activity done in Australia is done with just 2% of the companies.

The rational for finding local suppliers for your needs are compelling:

Community Building: for every $100 spent at a locally-owned business, $73 remains in the local economy. Compare that to the same $100 spent at a non-locally owned business, where only $43 remains in the local economy. Recent research from Civic Economics (civiceconomics.com) indicates that local eateries return nearly 79 percent of revenues to the community, compared to just over 30 percent for chain restaurants.

Local Investment—Local businesses are less susceptible to national downturns and more likely to work harder to stay open. “Local ownership means that important decisions are made by people who live in our community and feel the impact of those decisions,” 

Locally-Made Products—Local business owners often sell local products, which helps preserve the community’s distinction and creates more jobs locally, as well.

Support for Nonprofits—Local businesses support good work in our community. “Studies show that nonprofits receive 250 percent more support from small businesses than large ones,”

Discover Interesting Things and People—“One-of-a-kind shops and restaurants are part of what makes our city a great place to live,” 

Personal Connection—Getting to know the store owners is a great reason to shop local. “It’s their business, they are the decision-makers and they build a personal relationship with their customers,” 

Diverse Products—Local stores carry inventory you might not find at national chain stores. “Local business owners choose products based on what their customers want and often carry unique items from local artists and farmers,” 

Cost Effective—“Sometimes prices at local businesses are better because they don’t have the overhead that larger stores may have and they may be more willing to negotiate to meet your price needs,” 

Less “Leakage”—Local businesses tend to buy and sell with other local businesses. “With national or multi-national firms, a percentage of that profit ‘leaks’ out of the community, the state or even the nation,” 

Increased Expertise—Shopping at a local store means you can get an expert opinion about the products that you’re purchasing. “Local shop owners have to be experts in their field to compete. Use them—ask them questions and get advice about products,” 

Better Service—Local business owners do what they do because they are passionate about their products and typically take more time to get to know their customers. “They’ll often go the extra mile to help you and to ensure you’re a satisfied customer,”

Source: https://www.metrofamilymagazine.com/15-reasons-to-shop-locally/ 

So, how to make sure your dollars and support are going to building your local community and not someone's mega yacht?

Buying seasonal veggies at your area’s farmers market

Eating at independently owned restaurants instead of fast food or chain restaurants

Shopping at your local hardware store rather than a big box store

Supporting local artisans who make candles, soap, handcrafted jewellery, furniture, etc.

Buying from independent book sellers instead of online retailers

Using local craftspeople to repair or refurbish furniture or broken items you otherwise might have thrown away

Think local before you shop online

Share your support on social media and review sites

Follow and interact with your favourite local creators and businesses

Check out fb marketplace, gumtree or your local facebook community group for items

[avversiera-writes]

touch your heart [senju tobirama/you] - chapter 2

Summary: Hashirama might go down as the worst matchmaker in history, but he thinks he might be on to something. Tobirama sees through his brother's schemes and is determined not to fall for it. Or fall for you.

Word Count: about 4k

AO3 LINK TO TOUCH YOUR HEART

AOR SERIES LINK TO ‘TIL DEATH DO US PART

[<<<CHAPTER ONE]

The due dates that Tobirama gave you are more reasonable and flexible than you thought. You try to find something to complain about so you can relay it to Madara later and earn a small smile from him, but no, there is no reason to complain about it. The only thing you want to complain about are his so-called rules. Tobirama is not about leisure or lightening up, though that is not a bother to you if you are going to be honest. Planning to mess with him a little is just an attempt to wipe off that serious face of his. You want to know him based on what you see from him, not from what other people have told you.

However, you also do not want to mess things up. You are determined to work as hard as he does for this project because it is special to the village and for the children that are going to be attending the Academy. 

Also because you know you’ll get paid for it. You have been running low on money these days ever since you bought your own place. 

 Now that you are older, you wish you had the proper education to be a shinobi. You have to learn most of your skills along the way and apart from your family who had basically banished you, and even now, you are still learning as there are a lot of things that you missed. 

 Now, the children that are going to grow up here have something better for the future. They have more choices and bigger chances to become good shinobis. 

You get settled in your bed, which is literally the only furniture your place has. It is your dining table, your workplace, and also your resting place. Your weapons are littered on the floor, and your swords are leaning against the wall in one corner of the room. The books and the scrolls given to you lay open or stacked near your bed where you can reach for it. Some clean laundry you have yet to get to sit on the foot of your bed, and the space you are currently lying on is the only space your bed can make for you at the moment. 

 Quaint, but it has a lot of potential. 

Your new home, which is situated just at the edge of the village and newly built, is a home for civilians and also other shinobis who are not part of a clan, or those who rather have a place for themselves. This is a sign that the village is growing, and more and more families are becoming involved with it. 

You force yourself to go through the many materials that you need to read and study up on for the rest of the night until midnight, and you begin to write your suggestions after going through the material once again. You are good at absorbing information, but at the same time, you have trouble keeping still for a very long time. Sometimes you have the unfortunate ability to memorize the wrong things because your mind zeroes into whatever your brain wants to obsess over. 

 However, you have made it this far. You can adjust. 

You hope. 

//

You are pretty sure that Tobirama is sending you around the village in a goose chase just so that he can work on the curriculum himself. It’s obvious he did not want you near him with all those rules about preserving his boundaries. The said goose chase sounds reasonable enough–talk to the members of the clans, the ones who are the keeper of their knowledge and history and write them down. He did not even look you in the face when he sent you away, he just gave you a list of what to ask the clans residing in Konoha and a blank notebook and a scroll for you to record all of the information in. 

 This whole ordeal occupied you for the whole day and it also happens to bleed through the next day, in which you are convinced Tobirama has completed at least half the work. 

The thought does not make you happy. You want to do something, damn it. You feel like your life depends on it. 

Another day passes, and this time, Tobirama has you looking for artists, merchants, inventors and other skilled people in Konoha and recording their name and the location to find them. This part you understand well because you know that Hashirama wants to expand on other skills, but it feels so tedious and it makes the day longer. Not to mention, you do not really know anyone since you have been busy polishing your skills with Madara. Now that you think about it, you spend an awful lot of time with the man, ever since you came here. 

 Before you know it, you are breaking into a run towards the Hokage mansion. 

 Tobirama cannot be left to his own devices. You will not let him take this from you. 

You find the white-haired man seated on his usual spot, hand poised elegantly over a sheet of paper and eyes moving along the lines of a book he is reading. 

“Finished already?” Tobirama says in a very flat tone. 

 “Yeah, of course, I already know the people to put down.” Okay, that was a lie, and you know Tobirama had caught that because he glances at you briefly with narrowed eyes. 

You walk up to him and you lay out the information you gathered today. 

“Where’s your family from?” Tobirama straight up asks you without any preamble. The expression on his face does not change though you can feel that he is bothered by you. 

 You are taken aback by a beat, but you have no problem answering it. You have memorized the lines that you have to say that it begins to feel true. “They are a little far north from here, but they’re just traders, merchants, skillsmen.” 

 “Of what?” 

 “With the right amount of money, anything.” You say in an even, but casual tone. “They don’t like shinobi, so I left to make a living of my own.”

You can tell Tobirama did not like your answer. He puts his pen down and you feel him scrutinizing you. 

 "You have any friends?" He immediately follows up. 

 However, you have long mastered the skills of deflecting and only letting people know certain things about you. They always see what they want to see in you, never bothering to put two and two together that you are just painting a pretty picture for them to look at. 

 "Too many," you reply vaguely. 

 Tobirama sighs, and his eyes narrow. 

“I cannot trust you if you continue to evade me. This is integral to this village and its future, and I cannot have, no, I cannot afford to waste time or make mistakes,” Tobirama says and he meets your eyes. 

“I can promise you, I am ready to work just as much as you so let's not get personal,” you lean back and cross your arms. “And after this, I will get out of your hair forever. You wouldn’t even have to hear from me.” 

 Tobirama rolls his eyes, but you can tell he is satisfied with your answer. “Oh please, with a village this small, and me, holding an important position in the said village, you cannot guarantee that.” 

 You smirk and you pull out the chair across from him. “Touché, Lord Tobirama,” you emphasize the lord with a mocking tone. 

Tobirama grits his jaw visibly and he grabs his pen almost angrily. You are starting to think that maybe this is what Tobirama generally looks like. 

 “Get to work.” 

 “What is it this time? List the several types of drinks the people in this village make? Investigate the best type of fabric to wear for each season?” You prompt, unable to keep the grin from spreading across your lips. He just let you get away with calling him lord. 

 Adding a title to someone’s name is supposed to be a sign of respect, but the way you say it makes it sound derogatory. Like you’re cursing him. 

Tobirama looks about ready to yell, and part of you wants him to take the bait. You lean closer to gauge his reactions and you watch him immediately school his expression. It is like watching a magic show, one moment something is there, the next, it disappears. 

“Well, if you wanted me to make up more tasks for you to do, you should have just asked,” Tobirama deadpans. 

You watch him, intrigued. “Wow. Are you trying to be funny, or are you trying to insult me?” 

 “Please stop talking when I am working,” Tobirama does not sound like he is pleading. He hands you a stack of books to go through. “I want you to compile a list of necessary skills that you deem important, and I will do the same. We can discuss and vet on which skills are required to learn for each grade level right after.” 

You let out a breezy laugh, and you note how Tobirama seems to twitch at the sound. “Right, right, fine.” You pause. “Have you looked at my notes?”

“Of course I have,” Tobirama huffs and he shoots you a distasteful glare, and to you, it looks like he’s tired of talking. “I will make my own notes on where you’re lacking and then you revise it.” 

 “What do we need those for?” You ask, genuinely curious. “What else are we in charge of making?” 

“The reason I had you seek out artists, writers, bookmakers, and the like, is because we will commission them to make textbooks,” Tobirama explains. “We just need to get the information together. Meanwhile, I would also like to fill this library and another public library with other kinds of books.” 

You tap your chin. “Your brother tells me you like to invent things and all that. Are you going to include your research and your inventions in the library?” 

 Tobirama sighs, visibly withering at the statement that his brother talks behind his back, but he revives himself enough to get back to his work. “Depends on what my brother approves of.” 

You let out an involuntary chuckle. Here are the two most powerful known shinobis in the world right now, and they argue over mundane things. 

 Tobirama raises an eyebrow at you and you shake your head. 

He takes that as a sign to keep on working, so you decide to keep to yourself. 

 Surprisingly, you are starting to enjoy this. It’s not as bad as you imagined. 

//

Perhaps you spoke too soon, because here you are at the crack of dawn–no not even the crack of dawn because the surroundings are still dark blue. You yawn as you arrive, and find Tobirama waiting in the middle of the training ground in a different outfit you have not seen him in. He seems to only have one color palette; he wears a navy wrap-around jacket that has a collar in a lighter shade of blue. The sleeves are short, showing off his muscles, and all of this is tied with a light yellow-green belt around his waist. A sword is secured to his belt, and it hangs on his side ready to be drawn. A happuri guards his forehead and the sides of his face, and for some reason, this makes him look more authoritarian and older. A mesh armor peeks through the space between his collars and even in your sleepiness, you note a defined torso that you keep to yourself. 

You do not even see an ounce of sleepiness in him and you huff.  

 Tobirama merely glances at you, but every time he looks at you, it feels like he is already exasperated. 

 “Is it just us?” You try not to sound too whiny. “Also I ate breakfast, I’m not falling for whatever it is you have in mind.” 

 “And what do you think is on my mind?” 

 “I don’t know? A test of survival, starving us for days in the forest with only the surroundings as our resource?” You rest a hand on your two swords–an uchigatana and a wakizashi, both the same in appearance and made from the same metal. 

“I said not to eat too much breakfast, I did not discourage you from it.” Tobirama lets out a sarcastic sigh–something he can really pull off well. “I am not that cruel.” 

 You hear an excited gasp behind you and you turn to find Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo walking towards the two of you. 

“Tobirama-sensei!” Hiruzen calls enthusiastically, at the crack of dawn. “I hope you don’t mind, I brought my friend again!” 

You glance at Tobirama and you see his face visibly soften at the sight of his student. 

“And I didn’t know Y/N-sensei’s joining us!” Hiruzen bounds up to you and you reach up to ruffle his hair. He turns to you and points at Tobirama. “He’s a really cool sensei! Really cool!” 

Tobirama suddenly looks constipated and you laugh out loud. 

 “We’ll see, kiddo,” you tell him. “We’ll see.” 

Two more kids come, and the girl, Utatane Koharu, somehow looks pissed, which you can suddenly relate to. The boy beside her, Mitokado Homura, looks more calm and composed as he adjusts his glasses on his face. 

Tobirama nods, and then he breaks off into a light jog. Obediently, the kids follow after him and you grudgingly follow behind them. They must be used to this. 

 After a few rounds, the kids start to stretch and you do the same as well, and everything has been pretty calm. You watch as the kids do sets of push-ups, sit-ups, calisthenics and you are impressed at their stamina. They’re barely twelve, but then again, if you are training under Senju Tobirama, you can tell that you will be pushed to your limit. 

You feel a pang of envy from these kids for a moment, but you push it away. There is no reason to look back into the past and feel bitter about how things worked out. 

“So what’s next, sensei?” Hiruzen inquires. You can see how much these kids admire the man. 

 “Sparring,” Tobirama replies. “Since Danzo’s here, you guys are evenly matched. Last man standing gets to fight me.” 

 “What about Y/N-sensei?” Danzo interjects. 

 “Yeah, what about me?” You smirk, and you lighten your voice so that it sounds more childish. 

You can feel Koharu rolling her eyes. 

You narrow your eyes at him and let out a small stream of breath through your mouth. “I see.” 

 Tobirama slightly raises his chin haughtily. It suits him. He does not need to speak to dominate the atmosphere. He shrugs, and it sparks something in you. 

 “I’ll still try my best,” you smirk, but underneath your facade, you are starting to get annoyed. Which is new, because you are generally a patient person. 

Tobirama takes Hiruzen and Koharu while you take the other two to coach during their matches. You stand in between Danzo and Homura, watching their small faces study each other. 

“Don’t kill each other,” you advise, and you start their match. 

 The two go at each other, with Danzo throwing the first punch. You back off a little to make sure that you can see their stances. 

 Homura whirls around and his foot juts out, with his heel aiming towards Danzo’s head. Danzo ducks down, and kicks at Homura’s stomach the moment he regains his posture from the kick. 

Homura staggers back, and now he is on the defensive, blocking Danzo’s hits and kicks, barely dodging them as he keeps backing away. You notice the hits and misses from each boy.

 “Homura, don’t back away!” You yell out. “Get closer to him!” 

Homura does as you say, and Danzo is unable to land a hit on him, limiting his movements unless–

 Danzo jumps back to get away, and kicks Homura on the chest. 

 “Nice!” You cheer. 

 “Sensei, whose side are you on?” Homura complains and his hand comes up to rub his chest. 

You laugh. “Neither!” You glance at both of their faces. “Okay, you two, come here.” 

 Danzo and Homura face each other again. 

 “Save your movements, don’t be so generous with them,” you tell them. “Don’t punch just to punch. Again!” 

The two boys come at each other and you stand back to watch them again. This time, you do not offer any more suggestions. You glance to where Tobirama is at, and he is squatting on the ground, his eyes trained on the students’ footwork. 

 You hear him call out that Hiruzen’s feet are too far apart. 

You snap back to the two boys just in time to watch Homura flip Danzo on his back. 

You walk over and you peer at Danzo. “You okay?” 

 “Yes,” the boy wheezes out. 

“Alright, you’re done,” you chuckle and you look at Homura. “You win, then. Good job. Help him up.” 

You glance at the other group, and you see Koharu sock Hiruzen straight to his face and Tobirama jump up to his feet. Hiruzen gets to his feet, and you see a trickle of blood coming out of his nose. 

When Hiruzen gets closer, you ruffle his hair affectionately and you laugh as he grimaces. 

 “Not funny!” He whines nasally. 

 “Keep your hands up next time!” You taunt even though he may already know this. 

Tobirama puts a hand on his shoulder and steers him towards a rock so that he can sit. “Sit up and lean forward,” he tells his student. 

 The rest of the kids walk towards him to watch and poke fun at Hiruzen. 

 You stay back and cross your arms to watch them. You know that there is no place for you to be there. 

 Once Tobirama is finished attending to his student, he turns to you. “Koharu, you’re the referee.” 

You size him up, your eyes travelling from his face and down to his waist. What was one of his rules again? 

 Anticipation builds in your core, and your hand rests on the scabbard of your sword, your thumb playing at the hilt. 

“Are we including tricks today?” You inquire. 

 “If you want,” Tobirama curtly replies. 

Koharu starts the fight, and Tobirama wastes no time coming at you. 

 His first hit is heavy, and you block it with both of your forearms and brace yourself by stepping back one leg. You are quick to grab his wrist as you twist your arm and you step forward, meaning to put your leg behind his, but he breaks away from you and disturbs the momentum that you were going to use against him. 

 You are quick to back away because he comes at you without stopping. 

 He is fast, and he is heavy with his hands. You notice his open hands, ready for grappling. His stance is lower, and you know that it will be hard to knock him off balance, and the effects of kicking at his head will go to his advantage. 

You need an opening. 

 You launch yourself at him, and as he prepares himself to grab you, you drop to your knees and slide in between his legs, hitting his knee as you pass him by. He turns to your direction, and you quickly use his bent knee to step and kick towards his head. He blocks you and you see him almost grab at your ankle.

 You do not give him a chance to gather himself, and you swing again at him, this time using his shoulder to propel yourself around him and using his weight and yours, you are able to lock his head with your legs. Just as you are about to go for another twist to bring him to the ground, Tobirama counters by catching you and launching you off of him. 

 “You fight like an assassin,” Tobirama says as you roll to the ground and to your feet. 

“Are you impressed?” You grin at him, half jokingly. 

 Tobirama does not answer you, but it looks like he is about to say something worse as he charges at you. 

You step closer to him so that he does not follow through his movement, and you grab the hilt of his sword and then you strike your palm at his chest to send him back. You whirl around to brandish his sword in the air. 

 What was one of his rules? You suddenly remember.

  Do not touch my things, unless I give them to you. 

For a moment, everyone freezes. 

You study the blade in your hand. 

 “This is a very nice sword,” you muse, and you strike at the air and flip it, testing the weight. You run a finger on the blunt edge of his sword. “Well-balanced and thin, but very sharp. Excellent for accurate and fast hits...and conducting lightning.”

Tobirama’s face grows stormy. His fists tighten. 

 You twist blade with a slight twist of your wrist, and you hand it with the hilt towards him. “Sorry. I was curious.” 

Tobirama takes his sword and quickly sheathes it. You note a minuscule change in his expression, but it quickly passes and you are disappointed for not being quick enough to note it. 

“So, is this a tie?” Koharu asks, uncertain. 

“Yes,” Tobirama grits through his teeth. 

You watch Tobirama’s tense shoulders and decide to leave him alone. You probably went too far today. 

“Well, that was fun, but I have to go,” you say, even though the rest of your day is pretty much free. "I have some friends to meet." 

 Tobirama suspects that you certainly do not have any friends to meet, but he does not say anything more. He’s probably eager to make you go. There is nothing he would want more. 

“Aw!” Hiruzen cries out. His nose bleed has stopped. “Thanks for coming by, sensei!” 

You wink at the kids, and you make your exit, your hand still remembering the feel of Tobirama’s sword. It is oddly familiar, and you wonder if the craftsmanship is similar to your own blade. 

You can feel Tobirama’s stare behind you and it burns the back of your neck as if he is shooting laser beams at you, and just when you glance back to regard it, he is turning away and conversing with his students about hand seals. 

Though it was just a joke and a way to catch him by surprise, you can’t help but feel that you just stomped over the thin olive branch that he was handing out to you. 

You note to yourself to make it up to him tomorrow. 

.

.

.

[CHAPTER THREE >>>]

[dourpeep]

Some indulgent college student Albedo hc’s because I too, am an exhausted college student. There may be a part 2 later on because this is kinda long, we'll see...

I even cut out a ton because I got carried away with the experiments oifhiehf but also feel free to guess what's based off what I do as a science major

Contains: description of experiments in biology that deal with deceased animals (brief), mention of dry heaving (brief), bugs (caterpillar)

While I do like art student Albedo, I can't help but apply my past knowledge with double majoring in biology + chemistry...

Ironically, though he really would be the Exhausted College Student aesthetic

For lecture days, he comes to class with bed hair (not the pretty kind, either) and glasses perched on his nose, wearing pajama pants

Except the days where he's dressed in nice jeans and a sweater (naturally, non-synthetic fibers due to the amount of time he spends in the labs), his lab coat very neatly kept in his backpack

It's extremely likely that he's that one student that's taking 18 hours worth of classes per semester which does and doesn't work out

Exceptionally smart, he's able to handle all the class load effortlessly and does really well in all the classes he takes...

But, on the flip side, he rarely gets a full night's rest and he lives in the research section of the library and the chem lab

Well versed in lab safety because he's dropped his fair share of test tubes, burettes and (very unfortunately) reaction flasks...luckily he had an ample amount of financial aid left over to pay for the equipment without making too much of a dent

Speaking of chemistry, his absolute favorite of experiments are titration labs and conducting qualitative analysis of an unknown solution

Titrations don't require too much effort save for ensuring you're only dropping a single drop of reactant to your solution and keeping track of how many milliliters you've dropped

It's relaxing, easy, and very pleasing to watch the color of your solution change

Also swirling liquid goes brrrrrrr

Similarly, those qualitative analysis labs are just as exciting

This is usually what most college students dread over due to how time consuming it is, but there's something entirely relaxing in going through the process of determining each possible reagent

Especially once you get towards the more difficult bits

Despite this being his favorite, there's definitely a special kind of frustration that occurs when, 3/4ths through you realize you messed up early on and have to restart with a fresh batch of that unknown solution

Yeah...

Anyway, he's the student that will get through the process quickly (almost inhumanly so) and finish the whole lab in about 40 minutes including downtime waiting for the solution to heat up properly

But, as always, he's also the last to leave because he'll go around and help any of his peers if they're stuck or just need a trustworthy assistant

With biology, he appreciates the change in pace of observational study versus the hands-on application of chemistry

You know how you need to doodle out an approximate of what you're studying either as an example or diagram?

That's where his artistic side come out

He has somewhat messy handwriting, but the accompanying drawings of specimen are incredible

Detailed, concise, and labeled immaculately

You can tell that he likes identifying types of plants because his notebook is filled with outside observations of the plant life around campus

Albedo also does well with dissections

Quick to pick up on correct placements and identifying the sex characteristics if necessary, any student who's grouped with him will leave that day's lab with excellent notes and a full understanding of the specimen studied

But the smell of the preserving formaldehyde...is definitely one he had to get used to

Let's just say that for one of the larger lifeform dissections he had to periodically leave the class dry heaving and tears streaming down his cheeks

Anyway, a few big gulps of fresh, outside air later, he's back in the lab and sketching out the specimen diagram for the assignment

Another thing that he's definitely glad for is the local butterfly population

Though their lives are short, it gives him a chance to inspect the plant life all over campus for any sign of caterpillars or the very small eggs on the tops and bottoms of leaves

With the permission of the dean, he carefully gathers a few specimen and takes them home to observe the butterfly life cycle

It's interesting to him, to see how the little creatures consume so much and spend about two weeks encased in a pretty little chrysalis to emerge as a physically different organism

It's also funny to see Albedo out and about looking for the little beings because sometimes he'll be laying flat on the concrete walkway searching under leaves or halfway in a bush trying to reach a chrysalis hanging on the wall behind it

MOVING ON

Commonly, he'll have enough time between class for a nap

Albedo isn't particularly picky about his sleeping places, so he'll lay on one of the benches beneath a large tree, head on his backpack and arm draped over his eyes while he catches up on much needed sleep

He also will sleep in one of the library's many many (very comfortable) armchairs while trying to skim through a reference book of his choice

Despite his odd mannerisms, he's viewed as exceptionally attractive

He's intelligent, observant, kind, and handsome

Even with his bed head and rumpled pajamas, he has his fair share of fans

But he's also a bit dense

He's so used to helping people with class assignments and tutoring that if anyone asks him to hang out, he'll assume it's for that

Especially because it's commonplace to study at the local cafe

--that's it for headcanons for now iaehfieh

[maribatshipper]

Miraculous 39 Clues

Lillian glares with her dark eyes at the picture of the Ladybug-themed heroine. The heroine was lying on the ground with her arm twisted into an unnatural shape after a fight with one of these akumas. Lillian picks up her phone & calls a cousin of hers.

"Dan, I'm going to Paris. I need to speak to Stone." Lillian growls.

Dan asks, "Why? What's wrong with him?"

Lillian frowns, "Not what's wrong with him, what's wrong with the city he lives in. Check a site called the Ladyblog. You'll see why. I have to look out for my fellow Janus."

Lillian hangs up as she buys a ticket to Paris, running her hair through her burnt amber hair.

***

"STONE!"

Jagged Stone winces. He's always known about his heritage & everything that went on. He preferred the love he got from people when they heard his music compared to the backstabbers he called his family & their obsession with the clues.

"Lily, what are you doing here? In Paris?" Jagged asks, his pale-green eyes hidden by some glasses with 2 Eiffel towers & Paris' flag incorporated into it.

"Why didn't you tell the Cahill's about the situation in Paris? Those of us who are good could have done something to help the heroes of this city. They clearly need all the help they can get, & who better to help than an entire family of spies, inventors, artists, & jocks?" Lillian glares at the much older man.

Jagged sighs, "The Lucians have a base here & said nothing. You've seen the reports, Lillian. The heroes are just kids. I was turned into a rockin' villain. What was I supposed to do? Call the entire family over to get us all akumatised when they find out what's going on?"

Lillian glares, "No, you're supposed to warn us about Paris & about keeping emotions in check! The Lucians here are fools for not bringing this to our attention! Our branch is supposed to share information with the rest of our branch! This is something that has to be taken to the head of our family! This Hawk Moth character could be a rogue Cahill, or a Vesper! If this guy is a Vesper, our whole family needs to be warned about him! No matter how much we hate each other, we don't leave other Cahill's to deal with Vespers. What if he's like Peirce? What then, Stone?"

Jagged sighs, "You're right. I haven't been thinking clearly. So un-rock'n'roll of me. But this isn't something that can be fixed with the master serum. Cahill's can't face against the power of these jewels called Miraculous. Even with that serum. These Miraculous are more powerful than anything, & they should be kept out of our family's greedy hands."

Lillian frowns, "But we could help. We've had exper-"

Jagged whirls around, "Not with this! We've never had any experience with this! This is dangerous, Lily! No matter how genuine our talents, we can't help them against this! I know it's un-rock'n'roll, but that's what it is, Lillian!"

A knock comes from the door. Jagged breathes a few times & opens the door to see a familiar face. Jagged's face stretches into a giant grin.

"Marinette! There's my Rockin' designer! Whatcha got for me this time?" Jagged asks.

Marinette smiles, "Well, I designed you some new glasses, because the ones you have right now are starting to fall apart, since I didn't really have the best materials when I started that, but these new ones should last at least for a few years, & I have a small-scale of that poster you asked me to do, & I need to just adjust your outfit for your show tomorrow. Oh, I also have some stuff for Fang. It's all in my backpack."

Lillian walks up to Marinette & studies her, a suspicious glint in her eyes.

"Who's this, Stone?" Lillian asks, not taking her eyes off of the teen.

Jagged smiles, "Lily, this is my best designer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette, this is a relative of mine, Lillian."

Marinette smiles & holds her hand out to shake with Lillian's, only to fall when her backpack bursts from being overfilled. Lillian's eyes widen as Marinette collides with the ground. She crouches down to help Marinette pick the stuff up, only to catch her eye on an open design book. She picks up the design book. Her eyes widen at every design. Marinette panics as she sees this & grabs the design book quickly.

"I'm so sorry. I'm madly clumsy. Those are just rough sketches-"

Lillian smirks, "Rough sketches? If those are rough sketches, the finished product must be good enough to go to heaven, Dupain-Cheng."

Jagged stares at Lillian in shock. She is harsh, cold, & not one you'd expect compliments from, even if she is a Janus.

"Stone, I need to talk to you." Lillian grabs Jagged's arm & drags him away from the confused blue-eyed teenager.

"What is it?" Jagged asks, rubbing his sore arm where Lillian's nails were digging into his skin.

Lillian frowns, "She's got the skill of a Cahill with the Janus serum. Does she know anything about the Cahills?"

Jagged shakes his head, "Not a thing. Her mother is most likely a Tomas from China, even though she is small. I saw her in action when Penny was akumatised. Her father is a French baker, & she designs clothes, posters, glasses, she could design a coat for Fang if she wanted to."

Lillian holds a dark coloured hair between her fingers & smirks, "Let's see if she is a Cahill."

Jagged gapes, "How did you get that?"

Lillian laughs, "Stone, I'm a Janus who's been taught at each of our branches bases & in each art. Canada, Hollywood, Venice, any base there was, I've been there. I've done what our ancestors did. We test this. If it comes back positive, we train her in the Janus ways. If not, you don't have to worry about anything."

***

Marinette was confused when this strange teenager who was somewhat older than her dragged her favourite singer away with such authority.

"What was that, Tikki?" She whispers to her little purse attached to her hip.

The quiet being in her purse answers, "I don't know Marinette. She radiates an artists' soul, but she seems so..."

Marinette offers, "Standoffish?"

Tikki chuckles, "Yeah, but there's something more to her than that."

The two older artists come back, Jagged cowering slightly when Lillian looks towards him. Tikki stays hidden in the purse.

"Do I wanna know what that was?" Marinette asks.

Jagged laughs, "It wasn't really anything Rock'n'roll to talk about."

Lillian nods, keeping an eye on the teen.

"So, Marinette, what are your interests?" Lillian asks.

Marinette smiles, "Well, I'm really into fashion, I even design & sew my own clothes. I'm really good at video games, especially Ultimate Mecha Strike 3. Then of course there is music, I mean, I listen to Jagged's music all the time while I'm sketching out designs, his music inspires me! Unlike XY. Bleh! I even designed the costumes for Kitty Section, & I've made so many different outfits, & I'm starting my own website, but I really don't know if it's a great idea with so much stress at school, & akumas, & of course I'm class representative for my class."

Lillian smirks, "I think I'll visit your school, kid. See how well you do in a place like that."

Marinette panics, "It's really no biggie, I just have a lot on my plate."

Lillian smiles, "Either way, I'll be visiting. I gotta go to my apartment. Remember, Stone. I will be telling."

Jagged nods, confusing Marinette.

"Am I missing something here?" Marinette asks.

Lillian smiles, "Nothing to worry about, kid. See you at your school, Dupain-Cheng."

Lillian walks away with a dangerous looking smile on, which scares Marinette slightly.

Marinette suddenly asks, "Does she even know which school I go to?"

***

Lillian checks the test results of the hair she plucked from Marinette's head earlier. Lillian calls Jagged.

Jagged sighs, "Well?"

"It's a match. She's Janus alright. But she's also Lucian & Tomas. Test result says 5% Lucian, 5% Tomas, & 90% Janus." Lillian smiles.

Jagged sighs, "Check her classmates & parents too."

***

A month has passed, & Lillian gathered as much information about the Dupain-Chengs as she could. Marinette's mother, Sabine, is the Cahill with genes. The father, Tom, is a Tomas, which Lillian thought was funny. The only issue? Neither parent knew that they were part of a giant family spreading all across the world. Marinette's grandmother Gina seemed to at least know something of the Cahill name.

Lillian sighs, "I can't believe they don't know a thing about us."

She looks at her research notes on the classmates. All of them have tiny bits of Cahill DNA except Cesaire and Bourgeois. When she visited with Marinette that one day, the kids seemed sweet, but Lillian's a Janus. She can tell when someone's acting. There was one that was acting the most. Her acting was spot on, except for one small issue. She couldn't keep her stories straight.

"Well, miss Rossi, you are about to get a few dozen lawsuits delivered right to your school in the middle of your class. You shouldn't have messed with Marinette. You mess with a Janus, you mess with a powerful enemy. Now to get the kid trained like a Janus."

***

Lillian shows up to Marinette's school again & points out a flaw in one of Lila's stories. She then walks to the bathroom, where she has laid a trap for the fox.

"Hello. Lillian, right?" Lila fakely smiles.

"& you must be Splenda." Lillian smirks.

Lila asks, "What?"

Lillian explains, "Artificially Sweet. Like Splenda. Fake sugar. Drop the act, I can smell the Lucian on you!"

Lila actually seems surprised, & asks, "What's a Lucian?"

Lillian looks through Lila for any sign of deception, but she sees that Lila actually has no idea what she's talking about.

"Of course. That makes this so much easier. Keep away from Marinette, or I can guarantee all your fame will disappear."

Lila drops her Façade & smirks, "How could you possibly do that? Everyone here can't resist when they hear what they want to hear. There's nothing you can do about it anyway. You don't want to be my friend, fine, but I'll make sure no one here wants to be your friend at all. You're a little less dumb than the others, so I'll give you one chance. You're either with me, or against me. You only have until the end of class to decide, Lillian."

Lillian giggles, then full out laughs.

"Oh you poor, delusional soul! I don't want to be friends with anyone here except Marinette! & thanks for saying that. Now I have all the proof I need!" Lillian smirks.

Lila asks, "What do you mean?"

Lillian smirks, "You'll find out."

***

Months passed, & Lila's entire empire toppled once lawsuits were coming to her in public for defamation & slander, & Lila was also sued for abuse. Marinette got paparazzi swamping her, asking about how long Lila had threatened her, but Lillian kept Marinette away from the Paparazzi with practiced ease. Marinette had found out how she was related to many important people. Lillian trained her, causing Ladybug to defeat villains much quicker, & Cat Noir stopped showing, not that it bothered her. Cat Noir stopped even helping, acting childish every time Ladybug denied his feelings. Ladybug decided to pick a new hero, a new fox. The new fox made everything easier on Ladybug, & even stole Cat Noir's ring & gave it to Ladybug after his first week.

Ladybug smiles, "You ready for patrol, Corsac?"

The new Fox smiles, his red hair with white tips blowing in the wind. He was also a Janus, which is why Ladybug chose him for the fox. One needs a really good artistic mind to use the fox power.

Corsac's blue eyes widen in happiness.

(I couldn't find one with white tips. Imagine they're white.)

"Of course, Ladybug."

A/N: While reading Miraculous Salt fics, I suddenly had the thought, “What if the 39 Clues universe was part of the Miraculous Universe?” And this came to life with a prompt. I can’t remember the prompt, but I’m happy with how this came out. 

Okay... so... I ran out of really cool fox names, so I actually googled Fox species, and there was only 2 cool sounding ones. Culpeo and Corsac. Can anyone guess who Corsac is?

[tangerinegod]

Hello! I am sorry to bother you but I am a senior getting ready for college this year. I am in the US and I wanted to major in the same thing you did, do you have any possible tips for me? I still haven't even looked for colleges that would be best for animation majors so I figured if you were up to giving out any tips/saying any basic ideas if you wanted to/if you had the time to then maybe I'll have a better idea! I apologise for if I sound weird! I'm tried to word it correctly but I can't 😿

hi!! i’m totally down to share my experiences! someone else also had some questions so i’m going to put them all together in this post haha, hopefully this helps! it’ll get pretty long so apologies ahead of time but art school is a lot to think about so i wanna be as helpful as i can around it, its a lot of time and money. I’m gonna put it all under a read more cus it is really really long!

i wanna start off with the fact that I had the privilege of attending school in a financially stable environment, my parents were/are really supportive so w merit scholarship i only came out with around 20-30k in debt and i also had housing support my entire time in school. they were ok with me focusing on academics so i didn’t hold a retail job unless i was out of school like summer/winter break. Ofc though i regularly take commissions/do merch/cons to try and pay for all bills that arent rent cus i did want to be financially independent where it was possible. I also did try and work during the semester but everytime i did my body would deff start to breakdown from the fact that i didnt wanna compromise schoolwork with jobs.. so just read ahead know this experience is from a student who was able to attend focusing only on school work for most of the time!

the biggest thing is knowing art school is not required to become a professional in either freelancing or industry! there are a huuuge amount of online tools and classes these days that provide the exact same education and for cheaper too. i think it depends on what experience you prefer/can handle/want but it’s definitely possible to make art/animation art your living without higher education. the thing that college will for sure give you though is the ability to meet deadlines, work even when you dont want to, and connections with peers+teachers. i think the connections part is invaluable because you’re basically coming out with a network of people you already know and who know you! 

also its good to know if you want to attend/can handle art school! it’s a lot of time and energy and students get burned out really fast. the best piece of advice i got before going was ‘if you draw every single day, even if its for only like 5-10 minutes or a doodle for a whole year you should be fine’ consistency is super key because you’re attending school to draw, and you’ll have to create work for stuff you aren’t excited for at some point or another. burnout is extremely real and the only reason i didn’t experience it was probably because i got super into drawing naruto fanart again inbetween sophomore and junior year! it helped give me something to draw seperated from school which is the only thing i was drawing for since i had entered rip. a heads up id also consider myself a workaholic so i fit in ok with the ‘art school’ environment but it is suuper unhealthy. if you are fantastic at managing your schedule then it’s definitely possible to take care of yourself! freshman year i got 8 hours a sleep a night and only pulled all nighters for some second semester finals at the end. sophomore year + up though i ended up prioritizing hw over sleep and like for sure, definitely shortened my life span. there’s another q down below where i’ll go more into detail but ya, be careful w ur work balance!

another tip especially for animation is knowing for a fact what type of animation you’re looking to go into, and what the school is offering. I didn’t think i’d get into art school at the time so i only applied to two places + decided if i didnt get into either id attend community to get credits out of the way while building portfolio. honestly? i did not do a lot of research LOL but like i did end up having the chance to tour and stuff! just know that each school will have a very different curriculum. The main differences are schools that prioritize 3D (cg animation, cg modeling, ect) and 2D/traditional (hand drawn, ‘oldschool’, digital or traditional based) this is a huge difference so make sure you do research for it! in most cases a 2D/traditional program will also offer 3D since it’s at the forefront of the industry animation wise rn. My school taught 2D but like hand drawn on physical paper 2D, frame by frame. while it was a good experience it’s super outdated because digital tools make it way faster + easier! i’d recommend looking for a program that is digital 2D over traditional 2D. 

if after your senior year covid is still affecting campuses in the US to keep them shut down i’d recommend attending a community college to get credits and then transferring into school. one of the negatives is paying money for gened classes when ur not there for them; if you can get them out of the way sooner and cheaper there is absolutely no negative + you could graduate earlier or use the extra time for better work or to work a job! 

these are all the general tips i think i’d give on like a broad basis of attending or not to think about? let me know if u have more q’s! someone asked q’s im answering below that go more into personal experiences + work culture so heres those:

- how many hours a week do u spend studying, in class, otherwise making art? like how much of ur life does it consume?

I was basically working on art.... 24/7! since i wasnt working a job at the same time i crammed as many credits as possible into my schedule so on avg i did 18 credit semesters (around 6 classes) art classes go for 6 hours and non art go for 3, so i’d spent around 30-35 hours in class a week! hw wise it varied on the class but combined it would be around 35-50 hours a week... im guessing? on average studio classes would have 8-10 hours of hw, maybe 5 for a light week, and gened classes 5 hours w them all combined. or this was probably how things were before junior year? junior+senior year i had thesis + everything else ontop.. i’d spend around 30-40 hours on thesis a week with other classes ontop of that bc my film was super long cus im a dummy! 

- is it hard going to art school n realising that altho u were probably quite talented… so is everyone else? Like. all of a sudden. ur not special and everyone seems as good as u, you know? More generally, how do u deal with comparison?

kinda?? i think instead of the idea of like you vs others it feels more of like a competition at first to be the best. this varies hugely on school culture though; my animation year was really friendly with each other and get along extremely well, so my answer to this is v different than some others who attended different schools. i think that the idea of ‘comparison’ only lasts a portion of the first year because at some point you realize that it’s not a who’s better as much as its a ‘these are my coworkers’ type thing? like healthy competition 100% because we’re all working to improve but i think most of us learned pretty early on that viewing each other as peers going into the same workforce helped a lot. also at some point everyone develops their own style/starts to develop their artistic preferences so there isn’t a way to compare whos 'better’ anymore? i dont think there ever is tbh because style is appealing based off of an individuals preferences. If anything realizing everyone else is also amazing makes you wanna work harder ig? or thats how i felt! it’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many people who create such amazing work. 

- is there a lot of workaholic culture? all nighter culture?

100000% there can be a workaholic and all nighter culture. i know people who avoided it and thats honestly fantastic because i fall super easily into that pit. sometimes i’ll pull all nighters on a personal project just because i really want to finish it... i am definitely considered a workaholic all the way through and its not healthy rip... i’d estimate at the worst i was pulling 2-3 all nighters a week and only 4-5 hours of sleep on the nights i didn’t? that was only for one year tho, after that i was like yeah ok this is really bad for my health in the long run LOL so i tried to cut it down to one all nighter a week and around 5-6 hours of sleep the rest of the week! by senior year my decision to cram in full semesters paid off and i was able to consistently get around 7 hours of sleep a night + no all nighters minus finals since my schedule was lighter despite thesis 😭 while there is that culture i don’t think people view it as like a badge of honor or something to be proud of anymore which is good, we mostly view it as a flaw of the art school system and something that needs to be fixed!!

- are you glad u did it? how did u know it was what u wanted?

i am glad i did it! i’m definitely in a limbo right now of if it was worth both my time, money, and my parents money rip but i think with what i got out of it i definitely wouldn’t be as far skill wise or knowledge wise when it comes to the art industry. i would say it was only worth it for be because i had so much support going in though so i was able to focus so much on improving. if i had only been able to put in part of the effort and not make full use of the resources provided i would honestly have a different answer.. 

i knew it was what i wanted when i realized i really couldn’t see myself pursuing a different profession happily! despite all the bumps and stuff im fully in love with drawing still and feel honored that it’s a field that can provide a living. my second profession choice was to go into culinary school? and third option i think going was into music cus i was also a band kid hehe.  

- how do u cope with ur hobby becoming ur job? how do u deal with art going from something u do for fun to something u do on command constantly?

i think seperating work art from personal art is important! in my case im doubling naruto into being personal work so i have something to fall back onto that isn’t work related. its been a hyperfixation for 12+ years? so drawing it at this point is just like personal art imo. some people have hobbies outside of art and only draw for their job! i think after attending classes for so long the idea of hobby turning into job feels extremely natural? also i enjoy doing it so thats a huge plus! 

sorry this is SO long but i hope i answered your guys’ questions! if you have more just lmk!

[msmoonfire]

How to prep for Lammas ❂

I know witchy fellas, it’s boiling hot & sunny out there. But we gotta put it in the effort. All together. Till the end. Till Lammas.

Briefly explained, Lammas or ‎Lughnasadh opens the harvest season around August 1st and our ancestors would know the perfect timing of it by watching the rise of the star Sirius at the dawn after a long while not showing. This sabbat originated by the Celts whom used to propitiate Lugh to ensure sunny weather and a fruitful harvest. He was their god of Light, excellently proficient in all arts & protector of thieves, travelers and merchants.  Moving to the southern areas, this celebration was still existing in a more earthy practical variant: mother Earth, plants, fresh produce, seeds and grains were the actual focus. These other people couldn’t care less about Lugh. They only cared about showing gratitude to Nature as a whole, often by baking the first LOAF MASS of the season (Lammas, a bread loaf) after months of summer break - we should stop baking at home from Beltane day till Lammas day, unless we’re home-based bakers and do that for a living;)

So, as usual, in this post I’m going to give you tips & ideas to prep for august 1st. Which means these are not things you should do on the very day, but BEFORE. Don’t rush last minute darlings. We can do this. 

Let’s get readayyyy. ✽

1. Local farmers’ markets should become a routine. Ok, hands down we all need the supermarket to survive on a daily basis but you can surely minimize your shopping list, so you can go buy fresh produce at some farmers’ market. Buy organic stuff there, not at the mall. This is a good easy way to re-establish a direct contact with Earth and welcome earthy energies into your life. Plus, it’s going to be a refreshing walk every time.

2. Improve the lighting in your house/room. Besides Samhain, this is by far the best time of the year to purchase new lamps, led lights, lanterns; fix bulbs that are out, remove useless/broken curtains, buy candles, add fairy lights everywhere etc... Being a metaphor of the sunny weather, daylight and artificial lighting in general must be of primary importance in your environment. Enhance natural lighting during the day, set up a nice and diffused lowlight illumination system at night. Don’t forget your backyard ‘cause...

3. You should take good care of your garden. I don’t care how busy you are, we all have at least 5 spare minutes to trim out dead leaves from our plants. If you own a piece of land or have a rather big veg garden, please don’t forget about it. Pay special attention to your plants/trees, do a little bit of cleaning every day, pick what’s ripe, cut out dead leaves, get creative with your lawn mower, water the vases, work the ground... The goal is to have a beautiful, curated garden by august 1st. But if you don’t have a garden or similar...

3.2. Buy your fav aromatic plant & look after it. Choose herbs that you prefer adding to your meals (if you’re a diy pro or make your own soaps etc.. feel free to use that fragrant plant in your products), so that you’ll be able to use it quite often without forcing yourself. I personally do it with basil. Basil is my daily go-to, I love its smell and taste. Again, the goal is to buy a plant in July and prove to Mother Nature that you can nurture it properly until at least august 1st. Get in touch with the “green world” and upgrade your basic skills. In other words...

4. Try to excel in every project/activity you start. Remember what you read earlier? Blame Lugh for this one. Lammas day is like a test: if you want Nature to be by your side during harvest time, you must earn its trust through proving that you’re able to achieve great results - because you’re a hard worker.  July is about learning, attending classes, practicing, studying. My advice would be to not start a bunch of random projects now: be picky and commit to only one or a few. Be honest with yourself, modest with timing and consistent in everyday practice so that in august you’ll be skilled enough to unleash your best potential. This is your time to shine!

5. Do your research on baking bread. Yes, exactly. Read recipes, articles, books etc... On Lammas day you want to have fun baking your first bread loaf of the season, so you’d better be prepared. It’s a fun experience even if you’re not a pro baker, at least you can try a new hobby to fill your free morning/evening. But baking a beautifully decorated, tasty, fragrant bread loaf would take Lammas to the next level though.

If you don’t own an oven, purchase a small electric one for less than 50$. It’ll be useful to cook other foods in the future without stressing the hell out of your microwave. 

*for our celiac fellas*: grains and gluten are clearly off-limits for you. However, Lammas’ celebration involves CORN as well. Try to make your gluten-free dough with corn flour, rice flour or other ingredients that are suitable for you. Focaccia, polenta and pizza doughs are also suitable for the occasion.

6. Include apples, grapes and corn in you cosmetics or in your diet. Since these fruits are in season, why not take heed of their benefits? Simply buy things like apple shampoo, grape lip balm, apple snacks, grape masks... A BAG OF CRISPY POP CORN...These are valid examples. You have a wide range of choice, you’ve got the powahhh.

7. Grab a book and a glass of Albariño/Pinot Noir/Rosé. That’s how you pamper yourself before Lammas. A rocking chair in the garden, proper lighting for reading, a cushion, your fav book and a glass of fine wine. 

Alternatively, you can elegantly snack on grapes or sip some super refreshing apple juice from a chic crystal goblet!

8. Develop a grounding routine. For those who are new to the grounding concept, I’ll break it down real quick. We’re always moving, on the go, running, rushing, driving, working out, traveling, walking, cleaning, fidgeting, passively entertained, distracted by screens or social media etc... The practice of grounding promotes the exact opposite to reach inner balance and fulfillment. Basically, it’s very good to be swift and active, but being incapable of sitting still while quietly dealing with ourselves is a huge, major problem. Imagine rooting yourself into the soil: you can lay down or sit comfortably on the ground without a mat and really feel the Earth underneath. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, choose a meditation method that you like, visualize yourself being as static and peaceful as a tree... Or simply be. You’ll find a way to contemplate these OFFLINE moments away from photos, screens, sounds, people... This routine should take 10-20 minutes of your day. Make sure it takes place in nature, or alternatively in places where there’s actual grass, ground or nearby your (aromatic) plants so you can touch them if you need to.

9. Get creative with corn magic and corn art. Lammas has a solid tradition of corn use for various purposes. As you’re prepping for the big day, start featuring corn kernel/cobs in your magic. If you don’t practice - which is totally fine - carry a small amulet bag with corn inside with you. If you’re an artist or crafter, paint the kornel or use cobs for artwork!

10. Be out in the sunlight, sun bathe or simply breathe fresh air, get outside, enjoy all things outdoors :)

Hope this was helpful and inspirational fo you all, good luck and happy Lammas darlings.

Floods of love,  msmoonfire (IG: @msmoonfire)

[laptopfeatureblog-blog]

Buying a New Laptop - What to Know, and What to Look For

It's that time of year once again. The summertime is winding to a close which indicates a chillier climate, leaves altering their shade and colleges all over will open their doors. One thing that a lot of moms and dads (as well as trainees) are dreading is that schools are starting to need their pupils to have laptop computers to use in their classes. Anxiety not, for I have assembled a guide that will certainly make purchasing the right laptop much easier for you. And also if you're not mosting likely to the institution this fall, this guide must still assist you in your quest for a company or individual laptop on your own or a person in need this holiday season.

Why are you buying a new Laptop?

Before reading this Check Laptopfeature.com for selecting Good Laptop.

Maybe you're one of the moms and dads seeking to locate a laptop for their child to take to an institution this year, or maybe you're searching for a system that will certainly give you a new side at the office. The factor you are buying your laptop is mosting likely to identify what you're going to need out of the brand-new system. If your laptop is mosting likely to be making use of the Computer Animated Design software program, for instance, you're mosting likely to desire a much more effective CPU than if you're just utilizing it for Word Processing or Internet based research study. Are you a hardcore gamer? Do you like editing and enhancing pictures or developing video clips? Are you an artist seeking to get some better exposure? It may be best for you to take down every feasible situation you can see yourself using the laptop prior to you review the next area of the guide, to make sure you're obtaining every little thing you need out of the system.

Laptop computers are available in all shapes and sizes.

Size does issue.

This is a function that a lot of individuals neglect when buying a laptop, however, the size and physical features of the laptop are arguably among the most crucial. Where the processor, quantity of ram, and also hard disk can be updated and also replaced as required, features like the dimension of the laptop, the positioning of its numerous input/output ports as well as it's weight are all points that you're really going to be stuck to after your acquisition it. Some points to ask yourself are:

Just how large of a screen am I most likely to require?

Am I going to be carrying this laptop around a great deal?

The number of peripherals is mosting likely to be attached to the laptop?

Am I posting likely to miss not having the NUMPAD on my keyboard?

The size of the screen is going to straight affect the dimension of the laptop, so this concern is necessary. If you are acquiring this laptop to modify photos, create video clips, play games or enjoy movies and also tv then you'll likely want a large screen. Huge display laptop computers are larger, and consequently, if you're going to be going across a large campus on an everyday basis you'll need to consider that. The number of peripherals you'll be connecting to the laptop likewise assists narrow down what you'll be using it for. One of the most crucial factor to consider is the variety of USB ports you'll have, as the majority of devices and also tools link to a laptop making use of these ports. A printer that isn't wireless, an attractive tablet computer, a wired or wireless mouse as well as a USB storage space drive are all instances of gadgets that attach using USB. , if you intend on connecting your laptop up to a monitor at any provided time you'll want to think about the Output connection on the laptop as well. One of the most neglected functions of a laptop is the existence or lack of the NUMPAD on the keyboard. The NUMPAD is the 16 switch part next to your arrowhead tricks that sort of appears like a telephone. It is feasible to acquire a USB powered exterior NUMPAD for a laptop, if you're utilized to having one, it's best to have it connected to the laptop itself.

What makes a great Laptop?

If you're getting this laptop merely to utilize programs like Microsoft Office, a net web browser, and also iTunes after that you're not going to require an entire great deal of power from your system. Laptop computers on the retail market these days come geared up with Windows 7 as an operating system, and unlike their Vista counterparts, a couple of years back will come created to deal with running the operating system efficiently.

If your plan is to use more extensive programs, such as Graphic Design software application, Music editing software application, or anything else that will certainly create an intensive lot on your system you'll intend to take a more detailed take a look at your Processor. A processor that boasts vibrant performance enhancement, such as the Multithreading feature used in the Intel I collection of CPUs is an excellent choice for this. The cores of the i3-i7 CPUs are created to divide tasks up right into strings within each handling core, allowing your system to believe it has even more cores to deal with, the end outcome being that it can require a little additional power out of your system in a pinch. An additional convenient function to watch for is the size of your L2 as well as L3 cache. The larger the cache, the more your system is able to do without slowing itself to access farther memory resources, which suggests quicker response times to whatever you need to access.

If you're acquiring this system particularly for video gaming, or for High Definition multimedia or 3D modeling, you'll wish to take into consideration the Graphics Card your system will come with. Generally, a 1GB of video clip memory in the graphics card needs to be greater than powerful sufficient to deal with whatever your requirements are, but it would certainly be a good idea to check the details needs of the video game or software application you're mounting, and also make sure that the attributes you require are consisted of in the style of the card.

Ultimately, the battery life of the laptop could be crucial too. If you plan on utilizing the laptop in a lot of places where there are no power sources, you'll want a laptop with a longer than average battery life. And taking into consideration the average battery life of a laptop differs from 2-4 hrs, this can be a really crucial decision for the traveling over-achiever or social butterfly.

The Hard Drive of Laptop stores all your data.

Where to go from here?

So you've finally decided on a laptop that fits all your needs. It's the ideal size, has the NUMPAD on the side, does not weigh way too much and it's a pleasant color of charcoal gray. Since you're ready to give out on the system, it's time to think about whatever else you're going to require to work at maximum efficiency.

For software applications, take into consideration once again what you'll be doing with your laptop. If you're ever planning to take it on-line by any kind of capability (as well as that isn't, these days) after that you're going to desire a credible Antivirus program. One of the best rights currently is from a company called Kaspersky.

Another need to have for service and also college is the Microsoft Office collection. Microsoft Office comes in lots of plans, and also the one that is right for you depends upon what you need for the job. Many customers will discover the Home and also Student offering to be sufficient, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and also Excel. This permits you to return to and also produce specialist files, arrange slide show presentations, and also develop powerful spread sheets. Other preferred programs consisted of in other Office collections are Outlook, a program utilized to organize email in means most internet solutions can not, and also Access, a program that can develop Databases for arranging and also storing info on anything from sales records to your Elvis Presley antiques. Make sure when you're buying a duplicate of Microsoft Office that it has every program you require to be effective.

Graphic developers or digital photography lovers will want to obtain their hands on photo modifying software such as Adobe Photoshop. A song producer will need a program to allow them to videotape, edit, and also save songs. Gamers will certainly require to pay out for their most recent digital repair, and also Web Designers will likely wish to acquire a certificate for Macromedia Flash or Adobe Dreamweaver.

What concerning Accessories?

Currently, you have a laptop as well as software to go with it. Slipcases for keeping your system in a knapsack or briefcase, messenger bags for bring your laptop and also a couple of required accessories, and larger briefcase design bags to lug your laptop along with job materials. They come in all dimensions to suit a laptop of any dimension, so be sure the bag you're acquiring will hold the 17" widescreen you're purchased.

An additional accessory to include in your listing is a wireless computer mouse. The majority of people (myself included) do not like the touchpad that features your laptop, so by connecting in a receiver right into a USB port of your laptop you can replace that dodgy pad with a traditional computer mouse, AND you do not have to disentangle 4 feet of the cord first, either. Various other input peripherals consist of a NUMPAD if your laptop keyboard doesn't have one, or a Tablet for mapping out or signing records.

(maintain in mind that several laptops come with an electronic camera and/or mic built right into the screen). They store at the very least as much information as your laptop as well as can even back up your whole system on a setup basis. And also, they're simple to set up and can also be mobile, to take with you wherever you go.

A wireless printer is a great enhancement to any laptop purchase if you're going to be functioning as well as publishing a lot in various locations of the residence. They're no longer much more pricey than their wired counterparts, and the added variety, as well as adaptability, more than makeup for the money spent. Make sure you consider the price of the printer with the price and return of its ink cartridges. Typically the more affordable the printer, the costlier the ink to sustain it.

Your laptop will certainly come with a cordless adapter developed right into it, so all you'll need to pick up is a Wireless Router. For the price of modern technology, invest the additional $10 or so bucks as well as opt for a Wireless N system.

A lot of your accessories will attach to your laptop using a USB link.

The Router Goes Where?

It's time for you to think about the last step of buying a brand-new system ...

Any retailers worth their salt can offer you assistance in helping up establishing a new laptop. If the suggestion of configuring your house computer, new laptop, Xbox 360, and iPod Touch to a solitary network frightens you, it may conserve your hours of aggravation to pay as well as have it all specialist set up as well as set up.

One last thing to take into consideration as well as protecting your investment. I believe that utilized auto salesperson, as well as compensation based Electronic shops, have actually provided ESP's a poor rap. The Extended Service Plan really exists to shield your investment from the limited guarantee provided by the significant electronic producers.

The One Year Limited Warranty supplied from companies like HP or Dell covers the maker's flaws only. Implying that unless the problem can be traced directly to being a problem in the manufacturing of the product, HP or Dell will certainly deny you any aid or monetary compensation for the system. As well as believe me, they will do anything to persuade you that they really did not mess up. What does that mean for you? Well, without assistance from an Extended Warranty, chances are excellent that you're stuck to that laptop with the dead hard disk drive and defective screen.

The extended guarantee, however, will safeguard your Laptop versus any and all problems and also problems sustained during the life of the warranty, usually between 2-4 years. This implies that if a year and a half in the future the inexpensive hard disk drive that HP positioned in your laptop dies out, you can call the business that you acquired your service warranty from and either obtain your laptop fixed, get it replaced, or obtain your refund (less the cash invested acquiring the guarantee). And also most of the time, the price of the service warranty is less than even the cost of buying the substitute part, let alone the expense to have it replaced.

I hope this overview has actually been handy in aiding you in purchasing not only a brand-new laptop, yet every little thing that you'll require to select it. I invested a lot of time composing this from very first-hand expertise, and also any type of feedback you can offer will certainly be most appreciated. Happy searching and I'll see you on-line!

If you mean by attaching your laptop up to a screen at any provided time you'll desire to take into consideration the Output link on the laptop. It is feasible to buy a USB powered exterior NUMPAD for a laptop, if you're used to having one, it's best to have it connected to the laptop itself.

If you prepare on utilizing the laptop in a lot of locations where there are no power sources, you'll desire a laptop with a longer than ordinary battery life. Slipcases for keeping your system in a backpack or brief-case, carrier bags for lugging your laptop as well as a pair of required accessories, and also bigger briefcase style bags to lug your laptop along with work products. The majority of people (myself included) do not like the touchpad that comes with your laptop, so by plugging in a receiver into a USB port of your laptop you can change that dodgy pad with a typical computer mouse, AND you don't have to disentangle 4 feet of wire initially, either.

[eatingtherich-amenu]

Shoppe Local

Want to still buy nice things and go shopping without contributing to the dragon's hoard? I’ve got good news! 

98% of businesses in Australia are considered small businesses according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. They also employ over 4.7 million people (41% of the business workforce) making it Australia's biggest employer, and contribute more than half the GDP. That makes it sounds like it’s nearly impossible not to shop at a small business doesn’t it?

Although, ofcourse, that’s not the whole picture. When we look at actual market share of small vs big businesses:

Source: https://hammerjack.com.au/youre-not-just-a-small-business/ 

That 98% of businesses have only 35% of the market share in Australia. Meaning 65% of all commerce activity done in Australia is done with just 2% of the companies.

The rational for finding local suppliers for your needs are compelling:

Community Building: for every $100 spent at a locally-owned business, $73 remains in the local economy. Compare that to the same $100 spent at a non-locally owned business, where only $43 remains in the local economy. Recent research from Civic Economics (civiceconomics.com) indicates that local eateries return nearly 79 percent of revenues to the community, compared to just over 30 percent for chain restaurants.

Local Investment—Local businesses are less susceptible to national downturns and more likely to work harder to stay open. “Local ownership means that important decisions are made by people who live in our community and feel the impact of those decisions,” 

Locally-Made Products—Local business owners often sell local products, which helps preserve the community’s distinction and creates more jobs locally, as well.

Support for Nonprofits—Local businesses support good work in our community. “Studies show that nonprofits receive 250 percent more support from small businesses than large ones,”

Discover Interesting Things and People—“One-of-a-kind shops and restaurants are part of what makes our city a great place to live,” 

Personal Connection—Getting to know the store owners is a great reason to shop local. “It’s their business, they are the decision-makers and they build a personal relationship with their customers,” 

Diverse Products—Local stores carry inventory you might not find at national chain stores. “Local business owners choose products based on what their customers want and often carry unique items from local artists and farmers,” 

Cost Effective—“Sometimes prices at local businesses are better because they don’t have the overhead that larger stores may have and they may be more willing to negotiate to meet your price needs,” 

Less “Leakage”—Local businesses tend to buy and sell with other local businesses. “With national or multi-national firms, a percentage of that profit ‘leaks’ out of the community, the state or even the nation,” 

Increased Expertise—Shopping at a local store means you can get an expert opinion about the products that you’re purchasing. “Local shop owners have to be experts in their field to compete. Use them—ask them questions and get advice about products,” 

Better Service—Local business owners do what they do because they are passionate about their products and typically take more time to get to know their customers. “They’ll often go the extra mile to help you and to ensure you’re a satisfied customer,”

Source: https://www.metrofamilymagazine.com/15-reasons-to-shop-locally/ 

So, how to make sure your dollars and support are going to building your local community and not someone's mega yacht?

Buying seasonal veggies at your area’s farmers market

Eating at independently owned restaurants instead of fast food or chain restaurants

Shopping at your local hardware store rather than a big box store

Supporting local artisans who make candles, soap, handcrafted jewellery, furniture, etc.

Buying from independent book sellers instead of online retailers

Using local craftspeople to repair or refurbish furniture or broken items you otherwise might have thrown away

Think local before you shop online

Share your support on social media and review sites

Follow and interact with your favourite local creators and businesses

Check out fb marketplace, gumtree or your local facebook community group for items

[historyy]

The Oxbridge Applications Masterlist✨✨✨

I’ve had a ton of people both online and irl ask me for this, so here it is. I’m sorry its a month or so later than I initially promised but I’ve been pretty busy. This is basically a breakdown of the application process, some advice, and my experiences as an applicant for History and Politics to Oxford in 2018-19; because of that its pretty Oxford / humanities specific. I was lucky enough to have some great resources available at school but applying for Oxford was still daunting, so I wanted to demystify it and give some advice. Hopefully you find it helpful!

Personal Statement

How you write it: 

My main advice with the PS is to get started early, because Oxbridge is early entry so you’ll have months less time than your friends. Do a first draft of your personal statement in summer Y12. Mine was pretty much done by September and it made that early deadline much easier to reach.

Keeping a list of everything relevant you’re doing will be useful when you come to write the PS, as well as for developing your ideas for interview. My list was split into Books, Academic Papers, Extracts, Documentaries, Podcasts, Lectures / Online Lectures, Other Publications, Courses, Newspapers, and Extracurriculars. I also had a list of my particular interests related to my subject. 

It will need lots of editing, but thats what teachers, friends, and former applicants are for! I edited so many personal statements for people in my year, because they knew I was a writer and thus good at cutting words and finding shorter ways to express.

With your first draft, write big. Go way over the character count and put everything you want to in it, then cut. A few tips for cutting: 

Don’t waffle on about irrelevant anecdotes 

‘Such as’ ‘like’ ‘indeed’ ‘including’ are useful but overused 

Rearranging sentence structure can cut lots of characters and make your syntax snappier. E.g I interviewed a civil servant which showed me… versus Interviewing a civil servant showed me…  

Semicolons will save your life.

It will hurt, but kill your Oxford commas 

You don’t need to give each author / source a bio, assume the reader knows their stuff, and you don’t need to use full names / titles 

What you write in it:

With the PS, a catchy opening is vital; you need to show why you’re interested in your subject and why you’re the right choice. Mine was:

The 2015 Leaders’ Debate sparked my interest in politics and the language surrounding it, when I realised I was focussed both on what the debaters were saying and how they were saying it.

The best advice I got is to treat your PS like you’re narrating your journey with your subject. Start with why you got into your subject, show what you did following on from that sparked interest, then how you built on that action, and so forth. You might want to map this out before you start writing. An example might look like this (this isn’t mine, but assume its for HistPol):

Saw an exhibition on Renaissance artists - interested in social and political context of the art - researched Italian city states focussing in on famed patrons of the arts who were politically eminent  - read Machiavelli’s The Prince as is based on Cesare Borgia - interested in other theories of rule and governed/govt relations - read Locke and Hobbes to compare later theories and the development of these ideas - entered an essay competition about the development of the state citing Locke’s ideas on the social contract

Then you build on this journey, talking about your reading and research. Cite specific papers / books / articles you’ve read, and engage with them. Did you agree with everything they said? Or not? How do they link to other things you’ve read? For example, I wrote:

D’Ancona’s ‘Post-Truth’ with its discussion of disinformation and the collapse in trust also influenced me, though I disagreed with his assertion that the post-truth era only began five years ago (Orwell springs to mind).

Don’t just name drop books etc, actually engage with them, or you might as well not have read them.

In terms of what to include, Oxbridge don’t give a damn if you do Grade 5 piano or were the lead on your ballet show; you should focus your PS on the subject you’re applying for. When I mentioned extracurriculars it was in relation to the subject; I was editor of the school magazine, and I interviewed a senior civil servant on Brexit’s impact for it, increasing my understanding of current affairs and I gave a presentation on sexuality in the Weimar Republic at our LGBT society, exploring oft forgotten facets of history.  

I would suggest that only 10% of your PS should be about extracurriculars, and even those should be related to your subject, or linked to transferable skills.

You should end your PS with a brief concluding statement or paragraph which summarises why you want to study your subject.

Aptitude Tests 

I did the HAT so this is skewed towards that, but other tests are similar.

The aptitude tests are stressful but formulaic, so once you’ve worked out the formula and done as many practices as you can, you should be fine. You don’t need to get a high mark, only pass the benchmark to secure an interview, so it won’t be perfect. No one gets full marks; I think the benchmark for the HAT was 60% last year. 

My main advice on the tests is to go to all the sessions on them with your teachers that you can, and if your teachers don’t offer sessions ask them to hold some, or find a former applicant. Do lots of practices, starting not in timed conditions and work up doing them in time. Talk through your completed papers in detail with your teachers. If there are other applicants doing the same test, talk with them — orally write the essay together and bounce ideas off one another. 

Learn how to pull together an argument in a way which will grab the reader’s attention and show that you’re interested and engaged, and that you think outside the box and are different to the other candidates. For example in our HAT, the source was on a 16C woman’s relations with her servants, and I talked about her household as a microcosm of a class stratified and hierarchical society with moral expectations of servitude.

Basically, its an exam paper, treat it as such! 

Interview

The interview is, on the whole, more important than the PS. If you’re lucky enough to get one it means you’ve already done better than most people. I found the experience to be a mix of absolutely terrifying and weirdly enjoyable. 

I had two interviews, one for History and one for Politics, but you can be called to interview at other colleges. I know someone who had six…

The interview is basically like a tutorial will be if you get in, and there are different types (this is a bit humanities specific, sorry). You can get asked about your PS and reference, though this is rare. Extract interviews are common, for my Politics I was given an extract about citizenship. You can also get asked about your submitted work, as I was for History. 

In terms of prep, make sure you’re familiar with your submitted work and PS, as well as all the stuff you say you’ve done in your PS and your reference. You can get asked about any of it. Bring copies of these and your reading notes with you to interview so you’re familiar with them. Also look into some other key concepts of your subject, for example I looked at a lot of historiography, and in the interview talked about the concept of history as teleology and how I disagree with it. I think I was actually asked if I agreed with the Idea of Progress, having read on that a lot I felt equipped to answer it. 

Do as many practice interviews as you can. I got lucky as we had teachers who could do these, and I also did one at my sister’s school. However even if you don’t have that access, ask a friend, parent, teacher, a previous applicant, or even someone online. Even just talking about your subject helps. On the flip side of all this, don’t do so much prep your answers are stale and formulaic, you need to show you’re thinking on your feet. 

Both my interviews were only 20-25 minutes. My Politics interview was really chill, I had an hour reading time before in which I made notes on an extract and basically wrote a script for myself. The questions I was asked were actually given to me in this time so I had lots of material to work with. The man was really nice as well, and I enjoyed the experience. In contrast my History one was a disaster and I felt like I was being interrogated by the two women the whole time, though they were nice.

Don’t be scared if you screw up, in my History interview on my Tudors essay on Tudor parliamentary changes (which I’d been studying only 2 months), my interviewer was an expert on Tudor parliament, writing a book on the subject. This one question about groups of people represented strongly in parliament really threw me, and I went through three answers before I found the right one (lawyers). At another question I blanked for thirty seconds before speaking. I came out in tears and was certain I’d failed, but clearly I did okay…

General advice

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Go chat to that scary teacher who told you your essay was too journalistic and not historical enough and just because you want to be a journalist you can’t write like one in academia (personal experience? me?). Ask them for advice and just talk to them about the subject! 

Leading on to: JUST TALK ABOUT THE SUBJECT. Talking nonstop about History and Politics helped me know my interests inside out and it gave me a way to develop my speaking skills as well as my love for my subject.

Also, read. JSTOR is your bff for academic articles and Niche Stuff here, but you can find plenty of good books at libraries and shops. The A Very Short Introduction series is amazing for this, as they’re all really short and written by Oxbridge academics, I read tons of them. You can even just dip into longer books or collections of articles. 

Keep asking yourself And so? — take your ideas further. This was my History teacher’s advice for essays, but it works for PS, tests, interviews, and general critical thinking. 

For example in the HAT (I’m making up this example, it might have asked you what you could learn about social norms of a time from a source): You could say: The woman bosses her servants around but is subordinate to her husband so we can learn about gender and social roles. Or you could say: The woman commands her servants, yet remains servile to her husband, indicating the prevalence of hierarchical gender and class relations in the society of the time; her role as wife is clearly interlinked with her position as ‘head of the household’, which she is unpaid for. Viewing this through the lens of feminist theory, one can infer that an unequal sexual division of labour exists in this society, and women’s contributions to society are not appreciated, as when the husband ‘dismisses’ his wife. While her command of the servants shows she is elevated by her ‘great wealth’, her subordination to her husband suggests that a woman in this society was unable to further her position as easily as a man could. 

Don’t fret about choosing a college on the form, 1/3 of people (including me) get pooled. 

And finally, don’t set your heart on Oxbridge. They’re by no means the only good universities out there, and they’re not for everyone. If you’re not enjoying the research for the PS, or are finding the aptitude tests unbearable and the interview style uncomfortable, it might not be for you. But if you do decide to apply, good luck!✨

[sanjaysethi1]

How Numerology can help you find the perfect job for you

Your Life Path number can tell you which career will make you happiest.

Did you know that the secret to a perfect career lies in one single number? We won’t blame you for taking this with a grain of salt (or consider it wacks doodle baloney with a side of crazy sauce) but many people truly believe that the study of numbers can unlock the knowledge of your destiny.

What in the world is Numerology?

For those who have never heard about it before, it is the belief that there’s a divine, mystical relationship between numbers and the projection of life and all life events. And apparently, your Life Path number is one of the most important numbers in the whole Numerology scene.

What in the world is a Life Path number?

Let’s get ostentatious for a moment: by revealing certain qualities, characteristics and fundamental traits of who you are, this special number can predict which job is perfect for you. It’s believed that your Life Path number can tell you which path you are walking on during your life; it represents your natural abilities and character.

Amazing, right? Our team couldn’t contain our excitement either! So we’ve done the research, summarised it for you, and now you can choose a career that’ll make you happy – you’re welcome (insert winking emoticon here).

Where can you get one?

Calculating your life path number is so easy – especially if you have a calculator – that we’ve added it all the way at the bottom of the page. Congratulations to all those who were able to do basic math. Your reward: The Amazing Revelation of what your dream career should be! (Or just, you know, lots of fun).

Unnecessary Disclaimer 1: phoning the editor claiming that it’s too early for maths is not allowed.

Unnecessary Disclaimer 2: Read this at your own risk. Careers24 shall not be held liable for any life-changing decisions based on these results.

Life Path Number 1

Characteristics:

As a natural born leader, people see you as a source of motivation. You like to plan ahead and organise your own goals and have quite an inventive spirit.

Type of career:

You’ll thrive in an environment where you can function independently and autonomously. As the perfect leader, you are able to work in a team but you'll do much better on your own instead because it can be hard for you to compromise sometimes, especially if you strongly believe in your ideas when working on a particular project. You aren’t keen to always do things the way things were always done, and rather choose to blaze new trails.

You’d appreciate having a high status and being recognised by others for your achievements. People often look to you for guidance and you revel at the idea of being the authoritative figure.

Careers to pursue:

You have a good sense of direction and will no doubt excel as an Entrepreneur. Other opportunities for self-employment are as a contractor, craftsman, farmer, and freelance photographer or graphic designer.

You should also consider jobs in the military, law enforcement, as an executive, sales manager, politician, TV or radio producer.

Read More- Numerology Can Reveals Your Love Life Deepest Secrets- Know How

Life Path Number 2

Characteristics:

You’re quite fair and can easily see both sides of any situation without any bias. You need to interact with others is huge which is okay since you genuinely enjoy listening to other people’s life stories. You’re also probably the one who co-workers run to for sympathy or when a dispute needs settling.

Type of career:

Make the best of both your social and negotiation skills, as well as your diplomacy by working in a helping profession. Remember, you’re good at working in teams, bouncing ideas off others, and also incorporating their ideas, combining it and turning it into a masterpiece.

2 are also quite creative and good with calculation. With such a busy brain you’d have a hard time adjusting to a career that has a fixed routine.

Careers to pursue

You should pursue a career where you can channel your sensitivity and mediation skills. You’d be a great diplomat, lawyer, minister, politician, teacher, counsellor, caregiver, doctor or nurse. Your social skills indicate that you’ll also enjoy being a bartender, waiter, physiotherapist and even a matchmaker.

Life Path Number 3

Characteristics:

You possess a natural artistic and creative ability. People must’ve already told you that you’re good with words and have a high energy level. It’s no secret that you have great social skills and like careers where days are unexpected and somewhat unconventional – anything with a little variety.

Type of career:

You should fight for a career where you’re able to entertain others, travel and interact with diverse cultures and people. If you’re simultaneously able to express your beliefs then you’ve hit the jackpot!

Careers to pursue:

If you have musical, artistic and/or comedic talent then please do yourself a favour and choose music, TV, or theatre. Alternatively, you can do advertising or journalism. Only pursue an academic path if it's in a field where you’re able to interact with people, e.g. psychology, psychotherapy, biology, pharmaceutical and medical sciences.

Life Path Number 4

Characteristics:

You have the most amazing organizational skills. Your attention to detail is envied. And your disciplined and down-to-earth nature means you'll do in well with a repetitive schedule.

Read More- Discover solution for your zodiac thrust with Dr. Sanjay Sethi (Gold Medallist) Astro – Numerologist

Type of career:

A career that offers a predictable and steady schedule is what suits you best. You will work hard to secure a stable income.  You’re happy with receiving detailed instruction with a set routine on how to complete your tasks. You would never resign half way through a difficult or boring assignment – never.

Chances are that you’ll excel in an organisation that has a clearly defined hierarchy, with clearly defined job roles. If you’re about to go for a job interview, you should brag about your organisational ability and strong work ethic. This and the fact that you’re able to help others get organised too. You really are a very valuable asset to any company.

Careers to pursue:

You’d make the ultimate engineer, industrialist, financial planner, and efficiency expert. Your organisational skills mean you’ll thrive as a project manager, while your self-discipline makes you an excellent accountant and lab technician.

Read More- What Are The Remedies For The Evil Eye In 2020? – 5 Steps

Life Path Number 5

Characteristics:

The amazing thing about you is that your inherent persuasive skills. You’ve got a knack for communication, a love for travel. All that, coupled with your desire to live life to the fullest... yes, we know, you do get bored easily.

Type of career:

A career that allows you to explore the world and interact with people from different cultures is best for you. Capitalise on your excellent communication skills and your ability to sell by writing, teaching or doing something in marketing. Presenting ideas to the public is something you’ll do quite well too.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself in multiple careers. You’re probably already a serial job hopper, and it works for you. Try a career working with facts and logic since you enjoy it so much – perhaps dabbling in science, computers or research is just what you need.

Careers to pursue:

You can be a jack-of-all trades and master of them too! You'll excel in advertising, radio and various writing and verbal communication fields, e.g. public relations and marketing. You are not ideally suited for a 9-5 job and fair better in freelance, contract or consulting work. Many 5s are stuntmen, firefighters and construction workers as they often pursue high-risk ventures - and it's no surprise that they're natural gamblers.

Life path Number 6

Characteristics:

As a 6, you believe in harmony and unity. Your compassion and desire to be of service is a driving force in your life. You’re often attracted to teaching or healing and you have a special gift for selecting beautiful things.

Of all the numbers, you are said to be the most loving.

Read More- What is the Vedic astrology chart! Are they reliable?

Type of career:

You have an eye for beauty and have a creative flair. But it’s your compassion and your dire need to be of service to others that will define which career makes you happy. You love working with others, and you love working as a team.

You will also probably be stay devoted to one career path for a very long time.

Careers to pursue:

Use that compassion for life as a counsellor, nurse, hostess, rehab professional, paediatrician or even divorce attorney. Your eye for beauty is perfect for the fashion industry, graphic design and interior decorating. Or you can opt to spread your love by devoting your time to a charitable organisation, an NGO or social work. Even if you want to run your own organisation, you’ll be a successful business owner too.

Life Path Number 7

Characteristics:

You are a problem-solving dreamer; excellent at analysing all kinds of things and discovering deeper reasons for why the world (and everything in it) works the way it does. You have a natural healing ability which is great because you are particularly interested in listening to people’s problems.

Type of career:

That problem solving nature you have leaves you with plenty possibilities. You can follow your literary interests, complete an advanced degree, or stay involved with an academic institution. Your love of research and knowing about the world means you should pursue a career that allows you to find the answers you seek - and get paid while doing so!

Read More- Basic Numerology- Calculate Your Life Path and Destiny Numbers

Life Path Number 8

Characteristics:

8s are described as the philanthropists among the numbers. You are extremely ambitious and power, authority and business workings are appealing to you. As a bonus, you are in truth actually comfy with fame and public appearances and usually present yourself well. Secretly, you have a desire to be regarded as an expert in your field.

Type of career:

You would prefer to work for an established businesses and that’s great, because you’re perfectly suited for a life in corporate.  Choose a profession that allows you to climb that corporate ladder - you’ll no doubt work hard and deserve each and every promotion. If you play your cards right, you’ll reach that high status and powerful position in good time.

As one who shies away from risk taking activities, your colleagues will take comfort in knowing that you’ll follow the tried-and-true methods of the company. According to those you work with, you are the go-to person who knows how all things work. Please be careful and try not to sacrifice your personal life on your way up.

Careers to pursue:

Your hard work means you’ll be happy in accounts, finance, medicine, stock trading, pharmaceuticals, or surgery.

Other professions that’ll leave you satisfied: banking, law, psychiatry, investor, financier, and life coach.

Life path Number 9

Characteristics:

You’re known to have a healing nature, and probably describe yourself as artistic and creative. You have an urge to make a positive difference in society, and care deeply for the well-being of others. You are a humanitarian at heart and wish everyone nothing but success.

As a natural born volunteer, you can sometimes be self-sacrificing.

Type of career:

Opt for careers that have to do with religion or spirituality and other humanitarian professions. You’re a great leader and a great teacher - take advantage of this. Make sure you’re able to stay within industries that ensure you’re able to help others in need. Your compassion and need for social justice is your biggest motivator, so best you do something that feeds into this.

You may have noticed that you are attracted to occupations that require diplomacy with a strong sense of justice.

Careers to pursue:

Writer, painter, psychic reader, musician, volunteer, human resources, social work, immigration attorney, civil rights activist, coach, and legal researcher. Go on, do the good you're destined to do!

How to calculate your Life Path number:

Your Life Path number is the sum of the numbers in your date of birth.

Have the calculator? Good. Please proceed to write your birth date out in numbers and add the digits until you have a single digit. Keep reading if you’re unsure (or a bit slow) and need an example. Not to brag but explaining stuff is kinda our forte…

If you’re born on 15 October 1989, this is what you need to do:

Month: October is the 10th month of the year. 10 is reduced to 1 (1 + 0 = 1).

Day: The date of birth is 15. 15 is reduced to 6 (1 + 5 = 6).

Year: The year of birth is 1989. 1989 is reduced to 8 (1 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 26, then 2 + 6 = 8)

Now add the resulting single-digit numbers: 1 + 6 + 8 = 15, then 1 + 5 = 6

Your Life Path Number is 6.

Article Source: https://careeradvice.careers24.com/career-advice/job-hunting/find-your-perfect-career-with-numerology-20150821

[artdjgblog]

Innerview: Ercan Ucer / Grafik Tasarim (Turkey) October 2008 Image: Giphy Note: Take #2 of a design magazine interview.

​0​1) How do you name yourself other than being a versatile designer? In the past year and a half I’ve come to realize that I’m not really a graphic designer. It’s definitely in there and will always be because design is a poison, like any vocation or skill can be. But, I’ve always approached the way I work as an artist first, and I don’t fancy myself an artist either. I am what I am, though I can’t always be so selfish. Am I an illustrator? I guess there is a collision of the three. Add this to a love for getting my hands dirty, plus a celebration of youth and American pop-culture mixed with Eastern European and post-WWII American Design – B.C. (Before Computer) and the product is me? “Versatile” is too defining of a word for me and way too classy. I simply like to say I make things. Each day is new and I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do. ​0​2) What is the relationship between marketing and your designing process at different areas? (poster, packaging, logo…etc) A design is a marketing tool, no doubt. I haven’t really worked on a large scale setting with this, but I have in terms of marketing on a small scale for rock concerts and prospective CD buyers. Though, a designer plays eye-grabber, a designer is not really a marketer, but I guess it helps to attract attention or sell something. I had friends in college who studied marketing as well as design and they’d probably be more equipped to answering this question. It’s an area I’m not familiar with other than thinking of ways to attract people to get excited for a musical group, a sound, feeling or expression by way of putting a stamp on a poster, CD or logo design. It is a marketing tool especially when working with a client. It certainly is not only what the artist-designer can bring to the “product” (Though, I do think this can apply at a certain larger level with selling something), you’re also working for somebody and trying to sell an image or an item. In the case of a show poster, you’re selling a concert venue or the place the poster is hanging or even the music scene and the city and environment. I think this can be a tricky walk. I’ve been fortunate to have some small success with great clients and great projects to where things work out well. I guess it helps that independent music graphics kind of start out in left field to begin with, to where they are approached more like an art project than a product? Though, I don’t think that the work should not limit itself to a certain kind of audience. I think it’s great when the work speaks to anybody. There are times though where things don’t mix well, whether under the weather by design, client-wise or consumer. It’s just part of the deal. The work isn’t always going to be a homerun. Another deal is the way people interact with communication in marketing. Today I find that technology has a lot to do with people getting information for a rock concert via social networking sites, musician, ticket and concert venue sites. I don’t think that something like the poster will ever be dead, but technology can almost make a poster feel second-rate, a collector’s keep-sake and more for show than for the actual show. Logos are very interesting when it comes to marketing for bands because they are generally slapped onto many-many products. I’ve worked with a lot of music-related designs, but I’ve also made logos varying from a lawyer to an internet-computer company to a church before. So, these different applications encourage me to find new ways to talk to other audiences who come searching for something that isn’t entertainment, but I approach these designs with the same techniques and tools I use with the music graphics. I try to give something unique, and of a new take, to get a double-take. ​0​3) Can you tell us about your working environment and your different feelings or extraordinary events that inspires you? Ever since I was a child growing up on a farm, my working environment has been outside and especially in my bedroom. Working environments also extended to anyplace I had my eyes open. I certainly believe in a home base or comfort zone of operations, but a lot of my more thorough processing happens while out and about and then I bring it back home with me to make. Currently I work out of a basement in my home. I’ve constructed a work space out of wood found in the street. I call it my “club house”. I love it down there despite my continual problem with having a work space that barely has room for me to work in! I collect and store a lot of things around me and still have a lot of my childhood things around me, along with piles and piles of supplies, research and things I’ve found or see the potential in for a future use. I have a mind-set that if I can’t use it today, I can easily use it in 50 years. I’m a major fan of extraordinary events and tend to find humorous and peculiar ones to be more my taste, and more-so in retrospect of the event. I feel to be blessed with a certain quality that attracts odd circumstances, or maybe it’s all in my head? Extraordinary has its own brand of “something”, but more often I find inspiration in places, events and things that are fairly run-of-the-mill and everyday ordinary for anyone, which can give them an added cushion of “extra” for me. On my website I’ve made a list of my history, the things that have been the everyday ordinary for me, but might seem very out of ordinary to others. It all depends on perspective and where you’ve been. ​0​4) When did you discover the impulse that led you being a designer? This impulse to leave behind a paper trail of some sort on my impression has always been kicking around in me. I didn’t fully know it at the time, but I believe it started when I was young as I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t doing or making something. It’s a large part of my make-up. Much of it has to do with my farming background and watching my Dad and his Dad and others always doing or working on something whether it was building fences, planting crops or tending animals. I also owe a lot to my Grandma, for her hands-on making skills and to my parents for allowing me to grow-up fully plugged into the American pop-culture of books, toys, music, movies, video games and sports. Now, I just feed off of my former self and continue to feed for the future. It’s not work to me when it truly works and I enjoy myself. ​0​5)  Is looking at life always from a different angel, the designer’s necessarily ego? Most any area of most any job, skill, talent, business doesn’t come without some ego hurdling. The ego is amped further within the arts. Inflated achievement comes with ease when your voice gets a little loud in a “scene” or beyond. I’d like to think I’m fairly grounded, but it’s hard not to feel the eggs weight the other side when I’m told I could be sitting on a couple of golden ones. Working a day job can help matters, but it can also be a nightmare with time management. I have to just tell myself that I am a man and a man who happens to make things. Still, that can be hard. It doesn’t mean that I’m better than somebody or am a “somebody” because I’ve found a certain something within me. I just enjoy my life and feel very fortunate to even know what I want to do with it. I think one needs healthy doses of reality and a whole heap of humor to make it too. Besides, I have no answers. If you know somebody with it all figured out, have them call me! What helps me is to find comfort and ease is venturing back into my child manner. I’m much more content and find peace when I’m either looking at the world through a certain lense that I might qualify for, or just making and enjoying the act of celebration in creativity. The moment I start to think too much about it all or answer questions, that is when it can get a little dangerous in the head. I’d like to think gaining wisdom through age and maturity helps. I know that my energy and will-power have died some, and of late I’m leaning on this as a benefit. I think I say and do some dumb stuff today, though I’m positive it’s a little less than yesterday! ​0​6) Can you inform us about graphic design’ s one of the important field, package design and your sketches? / Tell me about the sketching and process of packaging. There is a certain amount of image longevity that becomes attached to packaging. I’m not experienced in much more than musical CD packaging, but I think a long life span especially applies to this in the iconic halls of pop-culture, even on small levels. Though, that’s not the reason to put into making something and/or package something but if you can add some meaty eye candy, then so be it. I love poster design because there are endless possibilities to exhaust, many ways to work reach-and-grab-of-the-moment and intuitive, and if something doesn’t work all-around, it’s throw-away and will die soon like house flies. CDs are so different, at least for me, and they can be quite intimidating and intoxicating. Sometimes another designer’s great CD package makes me not wish to do another one, and in a good way! With my own process, I do a little bit of sketching, but more-so the process and evolution of the CD package is the sketching for me. If I’m rewarded with an ample amount of time to work on a CD I usually make it happen in three different sessions, or what I call “incubation stages”. This allows me time to sit on ideas and to come back to them with fresh perspective and clear head, to play or spin off ideas and avenues. When figuring out an image or “look” for an album, I like to at least digest the music or get a track listing. With the way in which I work, I tend to feed off of my day-to-day (sometimes minute-to-minute) emotional handy work. It can be a little strange though as I can easily obsess over wondering the what-might-have-been with something like a CD package or anything. I think that a CD package for me can be extremely different given what day I’m at. I do believe my best packages have come down on me at the last minute, intuitively and usually on the lowest of budgets. And I mean cheap, major cheap. 0​7) What are the benefits of making global designs for the designer? I love a body of work, one that breathes and not only serves as a timeline for the maker, but also for views and observations on life itself. Ideas that can extend globally even, throughout time. I think that a great body of work can extend to anybody, anywhere in the world. And even if it is for some other body like a client, it is always from its original body of the creator. Anything that goes global is still connected to that first breath of singular life. Due to technology, it’s so much easier today to go “global” with designs, even if one does operate on a small scale. I think it’s great to put the work out there, to share, even if it’s not marking up or wrapping up a popular product. In today’s fast-paced world of millions and billions of images and things flashing, it really does mean a lot that my meager things have made it in some strange little way. Even, if it’s just a grin or a double-take by someone looking at a little poster on a wall or in a magazine or a global internet billboard or world-wide magazine and book distribution. Though, a part of me still likes to keep some things to myself. And I’m odd because I personally don’t like to attract attention to myself with graphics on the shirts I wear or product logos on bags and things. ​0​8) Can you explain the relationship between marketing and designing? I’m not sure if I was successful, but I tried to answer some of this in question 2. With this one I’ll try to wrap it into the way that I work, to where my designs act as marketing tools for me, as well as the product they are pushing. Until recently I’ve never had to market myself in conventional practice. For the first six years my work itself was the marketing. Everything from a poster to a package and a logo has been on the same level with causing a “Trickle Down / Word of Mouth” marketing effect. And I’ve been fortunate to keep fairly close relationships with my clients due to a small industry I work in. These clients have brought other clients. For my first two years I was living and working with several bands in a house. I didn’t have to leave and would get new work constantly. At times I’d just make things before I was even asked. Some of the best marketing can come in poster making and that is how I started to gather some attention. Posters have a short shelf life in comparison to packaging and logos, so there is always a new one to tack up. And if a poster doesn’t succeed, then it’s easy to just make another one. It’s just a poster and practice is good. After a while people start getting curious and come looking for you. ​0​9) Does any of your designs have an unforgettable story? The “Whatever Makes You Happy” CD package design I made in my basement in June of 2002 for the band Elevator Division, is one of my most memorable moments. It was a special run of 250 handmade CD packages and my idea came at the last minute. I made an image of a hand shooting off its index finger like a missile that married the themes for the album perfectly, with reflections of war and failed relationships. It was the idea of shooting off one’s options and making decisions. It was fitting for the band-music but also for the national-world climate. Each one was hand-cut from cardboard and stencil sprayed and rubber stamped. Inserts were copied, cut, folded and glued. At the last mist of red spray paint, a crack of thunder shook the massive home’s foundation and I bolted from the basement and out the front door to a down pour of rain. I leapt off the front porch and slid head first down the front lawn embankment and into the street flowing like a river current. The drug dealing squatters of the home across the street were on their front step looking at the fire in my eyes and the red paint streaming from my ears, nose and mouth. It was a high much higher than that of chemical substance. -djg

[dr-gloom]

Ssserpentine

A/N: Based on this post by @princeanxious. Dimitri elongates his s’s because the accident left him with some impaired speech that he’s been working to fix. One such method of teaching the ‘s’ sound is to draw it out; unfortunately, many folks tend to normalize this technique so any SLP/SLPA worth their salt tries not to use it if they don’t have to. Virgil’s piercing

Fandom: Sanders’ Sides

Pairing: Platonic Prinxiety, familial/brotherly Moceit, possible/hinted at Anxceit, possible/hinted at Royality

Words: 2,393

Summary: After an accident leaves Dimitri physically scarred and half blind, he decides to take back his confidence and turn his blemish into a statement. And of course his family are going to fully support him.

Tags/Warnings: swearing, blindness, mentions of pain, tattooing, sympathetic deceit

Fics Masterpost

Read it on AO3

Like what I do? Buy me a Ko-Fi or GoFundMe

Dimitri sat in his car, anxiously tapping the steering wheel and staring at the sign of the tattoo parlor he’d meticulously researched for. Out of all the places close to him, this place seemed to have the best reviews and the pricing was decent (from what he could tell). They even were one of the few places who openly stated that they could tattoo over scars, which is apparently harder to do, or something. All things considered, this was like Dimitri’s Eden. His first-pick college. His safe place.

Okay, really? He was being so weird about this. Just get out of the car already, doofus.

Dimitri takes a shaky breath and opens his door, stepping out into the parking lot. He forces himself forward, approaching the tattoo parlor with determined steps. When he’s about ten feet away he suddenly stops and turns around heading back for his car.

“Nope, can’t do thisss. Absssolutely not. Thisss wasss a horrible idea.”

He grips the door handle, staring at his reflection in the window. The mottled skin that makes up about half of the left side of his face glares back at him like a neon sign. He looks at the glass eye; the green iris and reptilian pupil had drawn his interest the moment he laid eyes on it, and Patton, sweet, loving, never-judgmental Patton had told him to go for it. “It’d be so cool!” he said. So Dimitri had done it.

It was largely the inspiration for the tattoo he wanted to get.

The one he was currently stalling on by staring at his reflection in his car window.

Dimitri groans and lets go of the door handle, turning back to the building.

“Jussst do it. Come on. Jussst…. Walk in, tell them what you want, and get it over with.”

He nods to himself and starts walking towards the door. His hand’s nearly on the door handle when he chickens out, turning around. He walks with quick, rushed steps back towards his car, his face burning. He was being an idiot.

“You know, I don’t think we have extension cords long enough to give you a tattoo outside, as fun as that would be.”

Dimitri spins around at the voice, looking over the man standing a few feet away. The man is dressed in torn black skinny jeans, black boots, and an MCR tank that leaves his tattooed arms exposed. His purple dye-dipped hair is sideswept just out of his eyes, as if he brushed it aside so he could see better. Soft brown eyes look at Dimitri with an undercurrent of understanding, a playful smirk on his viper bite-pierced lips. Dimitri’s brain stutters to a stop. “Wh-what?”

The man - more than likely one of the tattoo artists - thumbs over his shoulder at the tattoo parlor. “You gonna come inside or what?”

Dimitri gives a halting nod, shifting from foot to foot. “Oh, yeah, I jussst…”

The man shrugs. “I get it dude; first time jitters. Happens to the best of us. Come on, I’ll help you out.” He starts walking towards the door and Dimitri follows, walking quickly to catch up to him. “Name’s Virgil, I’m one of the tattoo artists.”

“Dimitri.”

Virgil nods and holds open the door for Dimitri. “So what can we do for you today, Dimitri?”

“I want a tattoo.”

Virgil snrks. “Well I figured that, dude. What are you thinking of getting?”

Dimitri walks into the parlor, looking around. There are tattoo designs pinned up to the walls, focused mainly around the work stations. Two other employees are in the parlor; one at the front desk reading, and another at his workstation tattooing a customer. Dimitri glances at Virgil. “....Sssnake ssskin. On my faccce.”

Virgil hums and nods, moving to sit on his stool. “Okay, sounds cool. A few things; one, the face is pretty sensitive, so unless your scarring - I’m assuming this will go over your scar?” At Dimitri’s nod, he continues, “So unless your scarring killed those nerves, it will hurt. Two, we won’t be tatting you up today, because I need to plan this out. I figure it gives you a little time to decide if you really want this anyways, so what’s the harm. Are you thinking something like broken skin, or just scales?”

Dimitri sits on the padded chair, glancing at the designs pinned to the wall behind Virgil. “I don’t even know what broken ssskin meansss.”

Virgil grins and pulls out a binder, opening it and flipping through it. Dimitri catches the occasional glimpse of a drawing; Virgil’s personal portfolio, he’s guessing. Virgil stops and points at a page. “This is broken skin. It’s a design I did for a client a while back.” The design was of tiger print, drawn in such a way that it looked like the paper had been broken almost like an egg shell to expose the print. Dimitri studies the art piece for a moment before he shakes his head. “I think I’ll jussst go with sssnake ssscalesss.”

Virgil nods, closing the binder and putting it back where he got it from. “Sounds good. How about we exchange numbers so I can send you design plans for you to OK. Sound good?” Dimitri nods. “Good. Logan will book you an appointment a couple weeks out so we have time to get it just right. It was nice meeting you, Dimitri.” Virgil gestures to the man reading up front and sticks his fist out. Dimitri eyes the appendage with a look that just says, “Seriously?” before tapping his own fist against Virgil’s and getting up, heading up to the front desk.

Virgil sits with his feet on the cushioned chair, his sketchbook propped up on his thighs. He taps the end of his pencil against his bottom lip as he thinks, staring at the blank page before him.

“You’ve been staring at that thing for an hour. Lose the ability to draw?”

Virgil glared across the room at his coworker. “No, asshole, I’m just thinking. Something you don’t do enough of.”

The man gives an offended gasp, placing a hand to his chest. “Excusez-moi. Rude, much?”

“You started it, Ro.”

Silence for all of thirty seconds, and then, “Seriously, what’s got you so stumped?”

Virgil sighs and lets his feet fall to the floor, tossing the sketchbook onto the padded chair. “New client wants a snakeskin face.”

Roman’s lip curls in thinly-veiled disturbance. “What, like…. His whole face?”

Virgil scoffs. “No, dumbass. He has a really big scar on the left side. Wants to cover it.” Roman hums in understanding. “I’m just kind of… Strapped for ideas right now. Everything I can think of looks too… Stupid.”

Roman props his feet up against the wall. “Well, what’s the scar look like?”

Virgil digs out his phone and pulls up the conversation with Dimitri. After they’d gotten him squared away for an appointment that was now only a week away, Virgil had asked Dimitri to text him a picture of the scar as reference. Virgil tapped the photo to enlarge it, handing the phone to Roman. Roman looked at the picture for a moment, his lips quirked to the side in thought.

“I may have an idea.”

“Dude, they look like freaking… Those gems from Zelda. This sucks.”

“Well I don’t see you coming up with any better ideas!”

“Actually, yeah, I did.”

“But are they good enough?”

“.....”

“That’s what I thought.”

Virgil’s phone going off at 2 am was not how he wanted to be woken up. Especially not on a Saturday. Wasn’t this supposed to be the one day he got to sleep in? Why did the universe hate him?

“H’llo?”

“Virgil! I figured it out! Get down here now, you have to see this!”

“Can’t you just text it to me?”

Cue the offended gasp. “Text it to you? I’m offended you’d even ask!”

Virgil groans, sitting up and grabbing his boots. “I’ll be there in ten.”

“....Huh.”

Roman fidgets with his fingers, studying Virgil’s expression for any hint of disapproval. “So?”

Virgil sets the sketchbook back on the table and pulls out his phone. “Only one way to find out.”

Roman grins as Virgil snaps a photo and sends it to Dimitri.

Dimitri sat once again in his car, staring at the tattoo parlor several yards ahead of him. He tapped on the steering wheel, the tapping of his finger matching the beating of his heart. Did he really want to do this? A tattoo was more or less permanent, and this was… Well, he definitely wouldn’t be able to blend into the crowd once he went through with this.

Patton laid his hand on top of Dimitri’s, effectively stopping his twin’s tapping. “Come on, Di, it’ll be fine! You’ll look so cool, like a… What are they called… Like a Basilisk! Well…. Half of you, anyways.” He laughs lightly.

His twin’s laugh draws a small smile out of Dimitri, and he sighs. “People are going to think I’m a freak.”

“Then I’ll beat them up!”

Dimitri laughs. “You can’t even clap me on the shoulder without worrying you hurt me.”

Patton pouts and crosses his arms. “Yeah, but you’re my twin, of course I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Dimitri doesn’t respond to that, just looking through his windshield at the tattoo parlor. “Well… Don’t want to be late for my appointment.” He steels his nerves and steps out of the car, Patton’s door shutting a moment after his. Patton moves to his side and takes his hand, and even though Dimitri can’t see him he knows his twin is giving him a reassuring smile. He takes a deep breath and starts walking with Patton towards the parlor.

Dimitri grips Patton’s hand tightly as the needle moves over his skin, trying not to squeeze his eyes shut too tightly or he’d risk crinkling his skin and messing Virgil up.

“It’s okay, Di. I gotcha. You’re okay. It’s gonna look great.”

What felt like an eternity later, Virgil set his machine down and sighed. “Alright, we’re done. Let’s talk aftercare.” He turns on his stool and grabs the supplies he’d set aside at the beginning, bandaging up Dimitri’s face. “So you don’t want to take this off for a few hours. At least two, though to be safe leave it on for three or four if you can. You’ll want to have it covered overnight to prevent the sheets sticking to you or getting stained, so you might just wanna leave it on unless it’s rubbing your skin uncomfortably or falling off already. You’re gonna wanna make sure your sheets stay clean for at least the first two weeks; this means you shouldn’t do anything in bed other than sleeping, to avoid crumbs, pencil shavings, whatever. Once you take off the bandages, you need to immediately wash your skin. We typically recommend something gentle and plain like Dial soap, definitely nothing with a fragrance or those little cleansing beads.”

Patton nods, scribbling the instructions into his notepad. Dimitri’s glad not for the first time today that he brought his twin along.

Virgil’s coworker walks over, his hands in his pockets. “So how’d it go?”

Virgil shrugged. “Pretty good. Dude didn’t even cry.”

The other man swore under his breath and handed a smirking Virgil ten dollars. Virgil turns to Dimitri. “This is Roman, he helped me design your tattoo.”

“Helped? I practically did it myself!”

“It was a 50/50 effort and you know it.”

“....Still.”

Patton jumps up, grinning at Roman. “Hi, I’m Patton! Dimitri’s twin.”

Roman grins at Patton and slings an arm over his shoulder. “Well hello, my fair prince.”

Patton giggles. Virgil groans. Dimitri rolls his eyes.

Great, just what he needs. Some guy hitting on his twin.

Thomas grins as he looks over Dimitri’s face, holding his adopted son’s jaw gently to turn his head. “It looks good! It healed well. You look so cool.”

“That’s what I said!”

Dimitri rolls his eyes. “You two are alwaysss ssso posssitive. It’sss naussseating.”

“Awwww, you love us!”

“....Shut up.”

“Di Di Di Di! Look!”

Dimitri spins his chair around to face his twin, who stands in his doorway bouncing on the balls of his feet with a large grin. Dimitri raises an eyebrow. “Yesss?”

Patton runs over to his twin, showing him his bandaged wrists. “I got tattoos! They’re on my ankles too. Roman did them for me!”

Dimitri’s eyes widen and he gently grips Patton’s arms, turning them to get a look at the bandages. “You got tattoosss? Why? What of?”

Patton grins. “They’re snake scales, just like you!”

Dimitri blinks, processing what he just heard. “Pat…”

“You’re so strong, Di, and I’m so proud of you for not letting your scar define you. I love being your twin.”

Dimitri lets go of Patton’s wrists to hug his twin around his waist, pressing his face into Patton’s stomach. Patton giggles and runs his fingers through Dimitri’s wavy hair. “Love you too.”

“Out of the way, old man.” Dimitri jokes, grinning as he lightly shoves Thomas. The soft hiss he gets in reply has his grin turning into a concerned frown. “Dad?”

Thomas waves him off, grinning. “Oh, don’t worry about it Di. I’m fine!”

“Sssomehow I don’t believe you.”

Thomas frowns, then sighs. “Alright, well… I’d wanted to wait until it was healed to show you, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag.” Dimitri is about to ask what he’s talking about when Thomas pulls his shirt up, exposing a bandage taped over the left side of his chest. Dimitri’s eyes widen.

“What happened?”

“I got a tattoo! It’s those scales, like yours and Pat’s. Right over my heart, because I love my boys.”

Dimitri flushes, staring at the bandage. After a moment, he gives Thomas a mischievous grin, poking his chest. “Actually, your heart’sss about… Right here.”

Thomas frowns. “What, really? Aw, man!”

Dimitri laughs. “It’sss fine. I like it. I bet it looksss ‘cool’.”

Dimitri sighs, pressing the phone to his ear and listening to it ring before the person on the other end picks up with a tired sounding, “yo”.

“Are you and Roman coming over for movie night? Dad wantsss to know.”

He can practically hear the grin in Virgil’s voice. “Movie night with the serpent Sanders? Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Taglist:

@hungry-red-panda @neonb-fly @chemically-imbalanced-romance @punsterterry @dead4sevenyears @metaphoricalpluto2 @tanyatoloni1334

[recalibr8]

The mEtOHd in my madness

I’d been out with my teen lads on a Friday. We got off the train and there was a young, crumpled woman sat on the platform, fat tears splashing into a puddle of sick on her trench coated lap. I offered her some tissues; I’m a mum, it come with the membership card. After a few sorries she asked “where did you stop?”. It took us a while to realise she meant, ‘where are we?’ She was out by 2 stations which on the face of it wasn’t bad. We pointed her onto the next train, gave her a mint (gold membership benefits) and my youngest shouted “take care of yourself” as we trudged up the platform. We agreed it was probably work drinks getting out of bounds and she’d be ok now she had tissues. But I kept thinking, “where did you stop?”. Where did I stop? Because I’m now AF af.

AF af. That’s alcohol free and doing pretty darn ruddy brilliant. Three months ago I upgraded my BrewDog to NannyState, went Becks Blue and am thinking in an offhand way about brewing Kombucha. I’ve teamed this up with going plasticlite, veganish and kimchi curious. So far, so middle class virtual signalling. But where did I stop?

I’ve been drinking since I was 5. I’d adorably finish up the beer in my parents’ guests glasses and well, kept going. Not in a Drew, Carrie or Liza rehab by 13 sense but I think I’ve probably had my fair share. I’m well aware that I knew, know and don’t know but suspect people who I love who have significant alcohol use problems and this is blog is in no way trying to say my needs are greater than theirs. I know a lot of highly creative endeavours and friendships were found in a gin bottle but also unforgivable abuses. And I know friends whose acts are based around the camaraderie of drinking. And I’d never tell anyone what they *should* do. But like all ex anybodies, I’m annoying about my sobriety journey right now. Bear with me.

But it’s not just me though. I see booze everywhere. For a dose related lethal toxin that’s very effective marketing. There’s a giant ad on Toots Broadway station entreating me to Go Bottomless and every other Facebook ad is for a spirit that promises to make evenings round the back of Catford Lidl magical. And many of these are aimed at women. A recent industry survey found ‘only’ 17% of women drank beer and this needed sorting out. Look out for more lady drinking adverts, they’re coming.

But I wasn’t alcoholic. Was I? Are you? You’re only an alcoholic if you have one more drink than you doctor. I’m

a doctor ... so let’s take a look.

*I’m really low on the alcoholic check list*

I’ve never drank alcohol in the morning, blacked out, been told by others I have a problem, had to apologise...

Ah, I have had to apologise once or twice. Nothing major, just ‘sorry, I was a bit wobbly/silly/rude/loud/insulting/gave you my shoes as a gift’. I once lost my credit and oyster card at the bar of a immersive theatre event though. I don’t know how I got home. I had to find the site manager the next day and he definitely had other things to do. Not long after my bag was stolen in SoHo because I was distracted. Not sure how I got home then either. Friends put me in an Uber after my MA showcase because I wasn’t walking very straight. Or being very nice. So I definitely remember getting home then.

These were all Thursdays or weekends. I’ve always been careful not to have any chance of affecting my work. But yeah, how clear headed was I for my family, myself? And much of this was stress drinking after a week of being a clever doctor. Just loosened up the joints a bit. Particularly if your slightly socially awkward. But I wasn’t a drunk, no. Maybe just a binge drinker. And that’s ok, isn’t it?

*Hangovers are just a thing*.

With only drinking at the end of the week, I was careful not to be hungover at work. But I had a Friday at home hangover where I didn’t get out of bed for the day. I claimed I’d been poisoned. I’d just had one too many Jaegerbombs. I vomited in the taxi. I’ve vomited in several taxis. That’s not a good look at any age. Hangovers are a funny meme, a cartoon of a dog in sunglasses, office banter. It’s your liver crying and your brain folding it’s arms in judgment. It’s not bad wine, it’s bad choices.

*Get kids used to drinking. Like the French. Then they won’t binge*.

My 13 year old buys old vodka bottles from charity shops. Wearing a furry hat, his comedy drunk Russian is not bad I used to have the deepest voice of my friends at 14 so it was my job to buy the booze for house parties. My mother always told me drink a pint of milk before you go out to soak up the booze. At 14. I had a few sexual assaults along the way but if I blame myself that’s victim blaming and I don’t want to be a bad feminist on top of everything. Med school in the 80’s/90’s was all over the drink. Freshers’ week was a booze insurance test. The circle line pub crawl, the Clint Eastwood Appreciation Society, the Med School pub crawl...end at Barts because Smithfield’s liscence meant you’d keep going all night.

*Booze always cheers you up*.

I’ve got to confess, my life has got a lot quieter. I’m going out much less, I leave early, I’m not champagne Charlie any more. I’m always, well, me. My dad was a depressed alcoholic, so was his dad (he ran a tobacconist and offie so that didn’t help) and his dad before him. And I have depression and PTSD. My moods are now not so high, but they are also not so low. This is very strange. I’m hoping this is a good thing. I’ve heard it is. This, this is the mEtOHd in my madness. The mood stabilisation. That’s the plan.

*Being a doctor is just one of those boozey jobs*

Fun quiz! Who do you think drinks the most? Enough to have a problem. Oooh, were good at guessing this in ED. Writers must be bad, farmers, journalists! yes, they’re always drunk, private invsestigators (?), airline pilots (like my dad, I saw what those guys put away). Ok...it’s.

Lawyers - reporting 33% with problematic drinking

Construction workers- 16.5%

Miners -17.5%

Then it’s Healthcare workers, especially doctors (oh no). A. 2012 study of American surgeons published in JAMA Surgery found 15.4 percent had an alcohol use disorder. Female surgeons (25.6 percent) were more likely than male surgeons (13.9 percent) to exhibit symptoms of alcohol addiction. Healthcare professionals in general it’s 10%

https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/common-professions/

Performing artists and writers - 11.5%

Catering/hospitality -11%

So no pilots then? I think there’s something they’re not telling us or things are much better since the 80’s. 


 A 1998 study of junior doctors in Newcastle-upon-Tyne reported that:

* 60% exceeded the recommended safe limits for alcohol consumption

* 36% of males and 20% of females used cannabis 

The Sick Doctors Trust says “Since our working lives are spent helping others, it is easy to push aside our own problems, in addition to which, denial is quite common in medical staff. This is not deliberate, but a part of the whole illness of addiction. That addiction is a chronic illness which therefore requires treatment as for any other condition, is now well-established but there is still a tendency to feel that it is a sign of weakness, and that maybe things aren't 'that bad'.’

That some individuals are more prone to developing addiction is generally agreed. There is no single determining factor, but usually a combination of biological, psychosocial and environmental factors - a mixture of nature and nurture. There is now much evidence implicating dysfunction in the Dopamine transmitter system & it’s involvement in craving. There is also evidence to suggest that the effect alcohol has on an individual’s brain is genetically determined. A family history is present in many alcoholics- those having direct family affected being more at risk...

*Its a family affair*

I went to Adult Children of Alcoholics once. It wasn’t for me but what they said made total sense. I take responsibility for everyone, I’m primed for betrayal and disaster and I totally thrive in emotional drama. My dad wasn’t a nice drunk. He made my mum drink when pregnant ‘to keep him company’. She in turn gave babies a tot of brandy to keep them quiet as a stewardess and I can’t imagine my permanently shouting parents wouldn’t have liked us to be quiet babies too. So I’ve got pre and postnatal form. But I don’t have to fix them now. Particularly dad. It’s quite hard to fix dead people.

https://adultchildren.org/

*Booze: the solution AND cause of all of life’s difficulties*

Sick Doctors again “ Alcohol is the commonest substance of abuse in all doctors. Drinking will surprisingly continue despite negative consequences such as job difficulties, relationship breakdowns, financial problems, loss of driving licence; the alcoholic is driven by an irrational compulsion to continue, and frequently results in despair to the point of suicide. Fortunately, the depression associated with active alcoholism often abates when sober.”

http://sick-doctors-trust.co.uk/page/addiction

*I’m not an alcoholic*

and you probably aren’t either. But you might have problematic drinking. I did a survey as part of an UCLH research project. You can too. I lied a bit on it and still came out drinking more than 97% of women my age. Now an icon opens up on my phone every day to that says ‘DRINK LESS’. I stopped leaving my phone on meetings tables.

Drink Less. by Robert West

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/drink-less/id1020579244

If you are thinking about getting help for problematic drinking or any other addictions including workaholism or have any burnout symptoms for more than 3 weeks, you can of course get staff support and occupational health. But/And there is the amazing NHS Practitioner Health Programme where doctors with any addictions are supported https://php.nhs.uk/ DocHealth is another equally good programme https://www.dochealth.org.uk/. I used the latter when it was MedNet.

So, do I feel amazing? Had I got amazing skin, lost weight, feel energised and hopeful. Urg, not really. I feel a bit scared actually. I’ve lost my social crutch and I’ve stopped going out. I’m worried I’m boring and people will think I’m weird. But....I can get up earlier to walk the dog, I’m moderately less tired and although I’m not skipping down the road happy, the depressive moment I had in spring could have been a lot worse. I think that’s actually amazing. And that’s why I’m doing this. I want to face the world honestly and openly. I want to enjoy my kids before they leave home which is frighteningly soon and weirdly, I want to know my liver replaced itself in a year so I’m literally a new person (don’t google Theseus’ Boat Paradox, life is complicated enough). Oddly compelling, that. So where did I stop? I stopped here. In a weird waiting room in my head. But with the promise of a new adventure through the next door.

But don’t stop doing you, babes. Keep telling me your booze bantz. They are hilarious. Any story that starts or ends with Baileys is only going one way. This clearly isn’t a lecture. Most people can do moderation. And do could I, mostly. And it’s the mostly that’s not good enough. Not for me. Not any more.

Online support - https://www.facebook.com/groups/joinclubsoda/?ref=share

Samaritans- https://www.samaritans.org/

BMA wellbeing including 24 hour support - https://www.bma.org.uk/advice/work-life-support/your-wellbeing

Tea and Empathy for doctors’ online support - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1215686978446877/?ref=share

Al Anon for children of alcoholics https://adultchildren.org/

https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/

Dedicated to my husband who gave up the wine w*nker 6 years ago without any of this mid life crisis fuss. But I gave up meat and caffeine first so I still win.

[gihu]

Hello ! I’ve been wanting to start drawing but to really learn. Do you have any tips ? How did you start drawing? I love your art !! 💕

Hello friend!! So sorry for the delay, I’ve been p busy and also was a little shook that anyone would ask ME for art advice??? bc tbh i’m hardly at that level yet LOL but also maybe it’s a good thing you asked me bc BOY have I struggled and BOY am i struggling now!!  putting this under a cut bc i tend to ramble

So one thing I won’t say is “JuST pRActICE” which is what a lot of tumblr artists say and that irks me even though it’s true and valid advice it’s just…not that helpful. At least for me. Another thing I won’t say is “I popped out of the womb with a pencil in hand!!” because I can’t relate. Being from a pretty conservative Asian family/country kinda suppressed what desire to pursue art, even as a hobby, in me as a kid. I started learning how to draw in sophomore year in high school because I got REALLY fucking obsessed with One Piece LMAO. I lived and breathed OP, I was watching dozens of eps a day at one point. That one tumblr post that was like “the best way to get better at drawing is to become obsessed with something and draw it a million times”? Probably the most solid advice I’ve come across. Anyway, that obsession led me to wanting to create fanart for the first time (that was my starting point for wanting to become an artist, which eventually led me into stop motion, thanks One Piece)! I did start attempting to draw the characters right away, but I also started watching a bunch of youtube videos and using figure drawing sites to practice anatomy. I’d recommend starting off with learning anatomy! Learn the proportions of the face and body, it’ll help a TON. but you’ll have to learn how to enjoy the process of studying bc there’s so much studying to be done if you want to learn how to draw. Other tips (that helped me personally): 

-don’t aim to finish a drawing 100%. By that I mean skip rendering the details, it’ll slow down your improvement. try to aim for 60 or 70%. also, some may disagree with me on this but try to avoid using color at all when you’re starting out! you may get overwhelmed and it’s fact that drawing and knowledge of values are far more important. i’ve heard a professor compare color to icing on a cake: it makes the cake pretty but why would that matter at all if the cake base tastes like crap??

- don’t doodle mindlessly. a tip i hear often is to doodle lots and lots but…i don’t think it helped me improve at all. you need reference, something to compare your drawings to so you can throughly analyze how to improve them. nearly every single artist i know, including myself, uses reference for their drawings. it’s ok to doodle to jot down ideas and stuff, just not for learning. 

 - draw from life as much as possible!! it’s more helpful than drawing from photos or art because translating from 3d to 2d really trains your brain by forcing it to analyze more. also, photos tend to be distorted and alter reality. copying/referencing art can be helpful but only if they’re master paintings (sargent, monet, etc.) IMO. please don’t copy from tumblr artists, even for practice LOL. try to avoid their tutorials as well if you’re a beginner you probably won’t be aware of the mistakes they make, and unwittingly incorporate them into your drawing habits. there’s tons of art book PDFs out there, they’re your best bet! 

- carry a sketchbook around and just draw as much as possible. use your free time to draw from life. make it a habit. the more you draw the more you’ll add to your muscle memory and visual dictionary

- find out what interests you about the world, and incorporate those interests into your art! is it the way clothing falls across the body or the way light casts shadows? do you have a particular interest for teeth or hands?? i think hands are quite amazing 

- idk if i’ll be able to explain this clearly but whether you’re drawing comics or making “aesthetic” work, CONCEPT will always be more important than how your art looks! by concept i mean idea, message, etc. The clarity of your message is also important! it needs to be readable

- don’t blame your tools for your lack of skill. when i was starting out i wasted so much time researching and accumulating a bunch of art supplies that i didn’t even use, thinking that better tools would increase the quality of my art. the only tools i needed turned out to be pencils, pens, some watercolors and later, a basic tablet. award-winning films have been made with iPhones alone.

- lastly…JUST DO IT. technical skills are important but what’s even more important is your passion and desire to create. what’s holding you back? fear of being judged? that’s dumb! the best art-related quote i’ve heard is by andy warhol:

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

isn’t that beautiful? this changed my whole outlook on making art! i mean, you won’t ever be able to make art that appeals to everyone but you sure can make art that some people will like! there’s an audience for everything! so don’t be needlessly burdened by what you think others think of your art and make art for you and you only. one thing that i did that i deeply deeply regret is quitting drawing for 2 years up until this past summer, and that’s only because i didn’t think i’d ever be good enough at drawing. so i just gave up. it makes me so sad because even if i drew for just 10min a day i could’ve improved so much in those years! please don’t do what i did

- some helpful websites/youtube channels: schoolism (the best and most affordable online art class i’ve come across, $35 a month but they have legit instructors from disney, pixar etc.) Line-of-action (for figure drawing) croquis cafe (more figure drawing bc you can never do enough) sycra (youtuber who makes tutorials, one of the few that trust completely. i especially like his video on iterative drawing) 

man that was long! but there’s so much to talk about still! btw it’s admirable that you want to learn a new skill! i believe that if you truly want something to be better at something, you will, 100%. if you ever have more questions, feel free to shoot me a message, my inbox/DMs are always open, even if i might take a while to get to it :)

[viktorbezic]

Double Dribbble: Losing Out To Homogenous Design

I’m not deliberately trying to single out dribbble here. Dribbble is typically used as the poster child and a culprit for homogenous design. Not gonna lie. I wanted to use the title Double Dribbble, while also highlighting what happens when we all use the same sources of online inspiration. IE. The sea of sameness effect. After the demise of FFFFound where I’d uncover all sorts of new visuals, there were no platforms that provided serendipitous discovery until Are.na came along. But getting offline, going through old books, traveling, making trips to galleries, looking at things from different disciplines helps. If your only source of inspiration are the most popular Dribbble shots, or the top UI Pinterest boards, algorithmically served, of course, it’s very likely you’ll come up with something that looks just like the sum total of what you’ve consumed. Ideas come from different recombinations of existing ideas and knowledge. This is true of all creative disciplines. The more unique the combination, the higher the chance of leading to a significant breakthrough (1).

There are many culprits from an over-reliance on data, a focus on utilitarianism, the re-use of the same frameworks, and designing templates without a feel for the content. Why am I writing about this? Hasn’t this piece been done before? Sure it has. But every now again I get bored to tears by digital and UI design and go on the hunt for folks who are pushing the boundary. It’s also a good exercise to re-ignite my own interest in a design discipline that I’ve been involved some, way shape or form over the past decade. I share a similar sentiment to Marc Kremers, “Too many sites are just exercises in good, generically appealing taste. Anyone can do that. It’s super boring.” (2)

I’ve reflected on how we got here not only to push myself but to also highlight some of the pieces I go back to and re-read. Disclaimer: I’ve been guilty of going the templated approach on side projects I’ve launched. I also use a bought template on Tumblr. I’m in the process of rolling my own. So I’m part of the problem as well.

How we got here.

Clean, workable, well-designed interfaces are the baseline. When you get to this point, you’re not finished. There’s still more to be done. I’ve re-read Yaaron Schoen’s piece “In Defense of Homogenous Design” and do agree with some of Schoen’s points. There are some learned behaviors and existing digital design paradigms. Examples include, pull to refresh, swipe to dismiss, underlined hyperlinks, etc. The argument as Schoen presents them go something like this: “This is great. We’re teaching people how to use digital products and if your digital product looks similar, all good. Jackets look the same, we know where the pockets are.” It makes sense, but my gut feeling is this line of thinking can stop us from really evolving a design (3). I know some restraint needs to be exercised so care needs to be taken as you select the right opportunities to level up on. There needs to be some expressive elements and a human touch. If all we did were the basics we wouldn’t need designers. All we would need are the UI frameworks to paint by numbers with.

We can’t always stick to existing paradigms.

There are instances when we can’t always stick to existing paradigms. One example was highlighted in a designer news thread by Renee P. that goes something like this: a decade ago people hadn’t heard of “pull to refresh” or “swipe to dismiss.” These new paradigms had to be invented (4). But with every new platform, the paradigms will need to be created or advance as the technology evolves. When I was working at a large holding company owned digital agency, I remember a VR commerce project we made for the high-end retailer. We’d demo it to our clients and teach them an entirely new paradigm for VR navigation (5). Staring at a diamond for a certain amount of time to advance the experience. Once folks learned it, it became second nature. I’m not big on VR but thought it was a good example from first-hand experience. There’s a host of new technologies we are still defining interfaces for. Some that have no UIs at all as with conversational interfaces and multiple dimensions when it comes to AR and mixed reality, etc. In the context of new platforms, screen-based interfaces may need to be recontextualized as people learn new behaviors and paradigms.

The other reason to break an existing paradigm is to infuse some sort of character into the product and put a unique spin on it. The question goes something like this, back to Schoen’s Jacket Principle, what if I don’t want to wear the same jacket as someone else, or design one like someone else? If I had a to design one, I might put extra pockets someplace else. Maybe there’s an act of discovery there. It’s about a point of view and bringing something unique to the table. As Alan Kay stated, “Point of View is worth 80 IQ points”. Which leads me to my next point.

An over-reliance on utilitarianism creates forgettable products.

Brett Bergeron, Creative Director at the digital product design studio This Also, presents an argument in his piece on “Good Enough Design” that we no longer have major constraints that bind us to just focusing on utilitarianism. And by not injecting personality into a digital product you fail to keep people’s attention. “More than ever, we are at a place in technology where interfaces can be utilitarian and emotionally expressive at the same time.” Bergeron uses This Also’s Google Dots case study as one of the examples. Injecting the search giant’s digital ecosystem with personality with the use of playful animations. Through an expressive logomark people understood when Google was doing something magical for them. He goes on to note that by not going beyond functional design a lot of products fall into the usable but forgettable category. A reason needs to be given to keep a product installed and opened again. As Bergeron notes, It’s worthwhile infusing the product with character so it’s differentiated. As a result, it protects the initial investment in building it (6).

Solely relying on web metrics discounts the team’s intuition and experience.

It’s been shown time an and again that a lot of digital metrics are bullshit. Especially with the increasing levels of bot traffic and fraudulent media buys. If you don’t have a core community of people using your product and you are heavily relying on media buys you may have a harder time trusting your metrics. Numerous studies are out with numbers showcasing billions of lost ad dollars to bots and click farms. The former CEO of Reddit came out confirming how bad the problem has become. Even Facebook isn’t able to identify genuine numbers.

You can’t do without metrics. We need them but it’s a single data point that needs to be paired with feedback from your community, user tests, research and any information to help set the appropriate context. Unfortunately, too many times I’ve seen clients afraid to make calls or provide their own point of view and instead fall back on metrics as a cover your ass tactic. “The numbers said so.” Also, let’s hypothetically say web metrics were accurate and bots didn’t exist. To use them exclusively to design anything results in sterile outcomes.

When folks do A/B or multivariate tests it’s typically done as a best effort approach. We question the design more than we do the science behind the testing and the reliability of the tests. It’s the combination of data (from multiple sources) and intuition together. Not taking the design team’s years of intuition and experience in coming up with a solution is a miss. Lastly, metrics are used to optimize for the local maximum. To make incremental improvements to an existing design. They can’t tell you whether or not you need a whole new design altogether.

Doing what you know will work.

There are many reasons why we fall into this trap. The independent digital designer and author Paul Jarvis attributes it to being victims of our own success. “Sometimes successful work can lead to less innovation, and then the real making stops. You become more like a factory production line than a meaningful creator.” We fall back on what works because it’s comfortable. Not only that, but we’d like to re-use as much work from the last time to get to the finish line faster. Do that enough you stunt your skills and growth, and start to lose touch. Boredom slowly sets in. This doesn’t mean we can’t leverage design patterns. It’s about determining how best to apply them (7).

Lack of diversity in thinking and experiences.

The digital artist and game designer, Morgane Santos not only points out that we are making more or less the same thing, but there’s also a cultural element here at play as well. IE. “The Designer Daves” of the world. Male, black wardrobe, 5-panel cap. The lack of people diversity in the digital design world produces one point of view. Diversity matters in producing work that’s different. Numerous studies show this. As Santos notes, “So, this whole designing with empathy thing? It literally cannot happen if all designers have the same background, the same look, the same style.” (8)

Marc Kremers echoed a similar sentiment and also related it back to the culture of being a designer, “I think designers naturally just want to fit in, have a nice, cute life, do nice, cute things. Work hard, be nice to people. Read Kinfolk. Raw denim. Beards. Flat Whites. Nice fonts, nice illustrations, nice design. Go with the flow. Just good, tasteful things, experiences, and activities. And before you know it, your life is an Instagram feed, literally indistinguishable to any other designer’s nice Instagram feed. You melted into the digital soup. I don’t know if this rant makes any sense, but I guess my awareness or fear of this singularity is just naturally percolating in my work. I’m a nice guy though.” (9)

This is an excellent reminder to collaborate with folks who aren’t exactly like you or at least to reach out for feedback and perspectives from more diverse groups. It takes effort. It’s way too easy to talk to folks that are just like you.

Disregarding Content

Another issue is not taking a holistic view of what we are designing for. Especially when it comes to content. I’ve listened to an Executive Creative Director once tell a team, “We’re great at making beautiful boxes without anything to put in them.” Very organized and thoughtful experience design without any regard for a greater concept, narrative or developing a paradigm that the best suits the content. Travis Gertz in ”Design Machines: How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse”, highlights the perils of not taking content and it’s unique needs to into consideration.

Gertz compares digital design to editorial design and highlights the emotive qualities editorial design historically has. The divergence between the disciplines is in the following areas: How systems are designed, How content is treated, and how we collaborate. In digital design, we nerd out on our CSS responsive grid frameworks, design systems and obsess over style guides and pattern libraries. The goal is typically to design for maximum template efficiency and component reuse. Unfortunately, this is where things end. In editorial design, the philosophy was slightly different. Editorial design systems are made for variation, not prescription.

Gertz also elaborates on how content is treated in the process. It’s not about content first or content last. It’s about the content’s connection to the design. In editorial design its standard practice for content creators and editors to work hand in hand while designing the system. Content development doesn’t come at a later stage to be plugged in once the design is done. It’s just as important as design and engineering. When digital products are built in an assembly line fashion and the boxes are built before the content exists we’ve missed an opportunity.

With the added complexity in digital design over editorial design, other design disciplines were created. User experience design was needed so that the flow of a site, application or product worked. As Gertz alludes to, this is another step in the assembly line where content isn’t carefully considered as there’s not enough collaboration between the creative disciplines. In digital design, a heavy emphasis is placed on dividing up roles by the stages of a project to gain efficiencies from each of the design disciplines. Unfortunately, this created more silos. As compared to editorial design. Where editorial designers knew the design stack from a system-level and how it laddered up to the expression of each piece of content.

Gertz boils down the problem to poor collaboration and a disregard for content. I know this type of tighter collaboration would be harder to scale, but a more editorial lens on things would help guide teams on what should be produced. There’s no need to create a component library of 30 components as a “just in case measure” if the current content only needs 5 of them (10).

Have a concept.

This is critical in other design disciplines. In digital design sometimes we can get away with not having a concept because if the thing works, no matter how basic or boring, you can check the box and tell everyone it works. Or you can fool yourself and everyone else with the cop-out that it’s an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). I remember being part of a large scale multi-brand platform redesign team. We had our very intelligent, engineering-minded UX team present the designs by nerding out on how flexible the components were and how great they looked across breakpoints. The clients were bored but did wind up asking some great questions, “How will our X product look in this thing?” and “What about X visuals that were unique to the brand? Will we have those?” Shame on me, shame on us. Making a site responsive or adding parallax scrolling isn’t a concept. A concept should give the team a guidepost when it comes to selecting grids, type, illustration and interaction paradigms. Developing a concept requires research and mining for an insight to ensure you’re in fact solving the right problem.

References

1. Batey, Mark. “How to Have Breakthrough Ideas.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 20 July 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/working-creativity/201707/how-have-breakthrough-ideas.

2. “Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London.” Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London, Represent UK, digitaldesign.represent.uk.com/index.php/marc-kremers.

3. Schoen, Yaron. “In Defense of Homogeneous Design — Yaron Schoen — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 16 Mar. 2016, medium.com/@yarcom/in-defense-of-homogeneous-design-b27f79f4bb87.

4. Schiff, Eli. “In Defense of Homogeneous Design — Designer News.” Open Sans and Baskerville (Libre… — If You Had to Choose 1 Font Pair to Use for the Rest of Your Life –, Developer News, 21 Mar. 2016, www.designernews.co/stories/65889-in-defense-of-homogeneous-design.

5. Publicis Sapient North America. “‘The Apartment — Virtual Reality Retail Experience’ for Retail and E-Commerce (by Publicis Sapient North America).” The Best and Largest Global Advertising Agency Directory & Creative Library — AdForum, Adforum, www.adforum.com/agency/6644039/creative-work/34520718/the-apartment-virtual-reality-retail-experience/sapientnitro-retail-and-e-commerce.

6. Bergeron, Brett. “Good Enough Design — Brett Bergeron — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 20 Sept. 2016, medium.com/this-also/good-enough-design-29ab5132f3a3.

7. “Everything I Know.” Everything I Know, by Paul Jarvis, Paul Jarvis, 2013, p. 102.

8. Santos, Morgane. “The Unbearable Homogeneity of Design — Morgane Santos — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 10 Mar. 2016, medium.com/@morgane/the-unbearable-homogeneity-of-design-fe1a44d48f3d.

9. “Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London.” Exploring Digital Design | Marc Kremers, London, Represent UK, digitaldesign.represent.uk.com/index.php/marc-kremers.

10. Gertz, Travis. “Design Machines.” Louder Than Ten, 18 Sept. 2018, louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines.