#and I literally can’t even update my phone because I’m that low on storage

[existentialcrisis-24-7]

Idk how other countries do it but in Ireland when you take a bus or train you can use what’s called a Leap Card, you put money on it and it pays for the transport and also does it at a slightly discounted price.

People have been using it for years and usually you can just go top up at your local corner store or petrol station and be on your way, which was great! But now they’re changing it so that you can no longer do it from stores, you can only do it from the app or you’re local post office. And I am furious.

Not only because limiting it to such means that I can’t top up at all without having to divert my route or download an app I do not have space for, but also for people who live nowhere near a post office and now have to download an app just to be able to pay for bus fares and for old people who can’t navigate apps easily or people that use flip phones that literally cannot get the app.

And also you shouldn’t need to download a stupid app that does like 2 things when you can pop into the store literally right beside the bus stop and top up there.

[saintlier]

My current main gacha rotation is as follows: fgo, bandori, priconne, and proseka. Though more heavily priconne bc it’s basically the sole autobattler i play, and proseka bc im just now leveling up and min-maxing. Who knows how it will continue to evolve

Now, to pour some out for our fallen: [longpost i.e. me yelling at a wall about nothing in particular, for my own posterity]

(these are all games i’ve played for a considerable amount of time, or at least enough to know that it’s not for me)

love live sif: super retired from this one, not only is the ui relatively aged but i’m done with this game’s gacha system. Plus im not super passionate about the new generations past sunshine. i really loved and have a lot of fond memories of playing it, and at least i finished u’s story ig

pocket camp: yo i am all but retired here. as nice and sweet of a game it is to look at and keep on my radar, their monetization model and delegating most of the best items to spur you to buy a lot of in-game currency is not to my taste, and it took me like three years of almost consistent play to come to this conclusion. The amount of free currency you earn is not nearly enough to viably pull/buy for things you want. At least it has a low storage requirement and is around if i just want to run around for a bit

feh: i forget when i truly dropped off but i think it was because i got tired of running stages to get my characters to a good level and fell behind in the story. the gameplay loop just didn’t do it for me

dragalia lost: i’d really cite this as The One that i really was excited for, especially bc it was releasing at a time when i was already pretty familiar with gacha. again i didn’t click with the gameplay, the auto battle wasn’t a viable method for me starting out especially with f2p ok units, and i’d be damned if i said that the game would not give me a 5* rare no matter how much i begged. i never did get one naturally before i came back briefly for a 5* guaranteed, and that’s when i knew i’d been cursed lol

granblue fantasy: i really wanted to like this one since the character designs are great and varied, and the collabs are super nice, but i think the gameplay again was just not doing it for me. i dropped off the story but keep it on my phone because why tf not, it’s literally a browser game. i do remember i played gbf while staying in akiba and my internet speeds were lightning fast compared to when i play in america, so that was cool. i still go in to pull during free pulls (if i remember my login info)

genshin: man o man. again the character designs are the best part but this game has the double whammy of not having a super satisfying game loop and having a story that’s all over the place. i mostly got pissed that free gacha currency was sparse and progressing through the game was near impossible if you save currency like i do, unless you whaled for the proper units. i might still return if it releases on switch given how much i’ve begged for it, but honestly i’d be ok if i didn’t. also cmon, the storage requirement was HUGE and every update requires you to have double its requirement or smth... man

dreamy vocal: this one’s a weird one but i’m pretty sure i played enough of it to know that it’s like every weird a*s tencent game you’ve ever seen and it gives me pain, miku or no miku. i’m just eternally grateful we were given proseka by the lovely geniuses at craft egg instead

mario kart tour: man what da hell. how is this actually not as satisfying as console MK. i can’t even form a well-rounded opinion on it, it just strikes me as weird

bsd tales of the lost: no particular reason here. the story was the same as the anime so it kept reminding me that i hadn’t finished the anime i guess lol. the gameplay was engaging enough but i grew tired of it at some point or hit a wall when my progression started really getting held back by my units or just level requirements. rolled some pretty nice units tho

magia record: i feel really awful about the fate of the EN server but similarly the gameplay just felt so weird. like fate but not? and now especially since the EN server died and the main reason i’d want to play is to read the story... this is pretty much a dead end :( i can appreciate from afar i suppose

revue starlight: wrowww also thought this might be The One because i really liked the starlight anime. but i was honestly a little disillusioned once it was established strictly as a battler game than one with some rhythm elements? mayb i wasn’t versed enough in autobattlers at the time but again the gameplay failed to capture my attention, and it seemed to be exploiting the openendedness of the anime’s ending to just retcon the stage girls’ suffering idk lmao help

There’s probably way more games i’ve played and have just relegated to the back of my mind. Regardless

Stuff I briefly touched, and could come back to if i suddenly had a change of heart, but for the most part i’ll pass

pokemon master S*X: pokemon gacha shouldve been a slam dunk for me but the combat system that was not as reminiscent of the base franchise as i’d hoped was enough to turn me off :( tis a shame, i definitely liked the concept of key characters returning as summonable

touken ranbu: ahhhhhhh man again this’ll prbly remain a game that i look upon from afar, even after begging for it for literally years. i played for a few hours and couldn’t get the hang of the gameplay loop even with guides. the browser version will hopefully stick around in case i want to pick it up again

imas: ok this is also starting to age rapidly but it’s cute and a huge franchise. i’m not sure if that’s for better or worse. i’m sure the story isn’t too deep and am definitely not a fan of their manager character (?) being a lawless horny self insert (at least in the fan material lol)/the characters fawning all over them, but the live graphics and costumes were nice.

argonavis: had relatively high hopes for this one but again it ended up getting handled by a different studio than craft egg, and i wasn’t super impressed by the gameplay. no EN version was enough for me to at least hold off for the time being, i’d be more than willing to come back for nayuta

i7: i’ve actually tried the jp version and the gameplay was alright. knowing myself i was only there to adore gaku but the menu ui was both aged and confusing, and the main reason i’d need an english version is for the story, so i ended up dropping :( i’d easily return if an EN version came out

sifas: mannnn why does this take up SO much storage. i’ve again fallen off of caring too much about the new generations of love live, but i really tried to get on board with this game. even understanding that this was more of a unit leveler, i still couldn’t get the hang of it or understand the seemingly complex leveling system. which is a shame because they have some great riko cards :C

nier reincarnation: i wasn’t going to go down with this ship but definitely wanted to give it a try. some of the pain points were the dark ui (true to the aesthetic, not a bad point per se but just enough to turn me off) and its nature as an autobattler, but autobattles were kind of tedious? somehow? and the story and especially the voice acting was good but not enough to sell me. also i just feel bad for en on the rushed release schedule to try to catch up

d4dj: dang it i also wanted to like this one a lot especially as another bushi franchise but, i can’t help it, the character designs are kind of offputting TT_TT what’s more the dj mechanic of the gameplay is kind of fun but somehow more frustrating and a tad gimmicky in the face of missed input. ... also u tellin me these catholic school girls are all dj’s? wh-

Stuff i want to at least try dammit

uma musume: man wtf is this game even about. why does it take up just as much storage as priconne, cygames. why must i suffer. i just wanna know what’s going on with these horse girls or w/e (chara designs are undeniably p nice. world flipper [cmon lets go haruhi collab] will hopefully tide me over?)

pripara/prichan: i also don’t know wtf this game is about but i see it mentioned pretty often with other cutesy idol games. i wanna know

twisted wonderland: euhghuaghga pls give me actually good EN joseimuke. pls. i need it

assault lily: i have hopes that because it’s a bushi franchise we may see it soon. it’s hard to get info on the gameplay but i’d like to give it a brief shot

[beingatoaster]

I honestly don’t want to replace my phone, it’s a good, sturdy little device that has served me well for six years now :( but it really is getting old:

the battery life is... nonexistent. I went to get my shot today, had it charged at 94%, used the GPS to navigate (20 minutes each way), was on Twitter for about half an hour while waiting for my shot, checked Discord and email a couple times, and had the screen off the rest of the time. About two hours total, and I got home at 24%

the charging port is so broken that it will only charge off what’s supposed to be my portable/emergency charger (no matter what, a wall-plugged charger won’t do it), if I get the cord in EXACTLY the right position and then step away and don’t touch the phone at all, and under those conditions it charges... about 20% an hour when turned off, less when on

if it gets below about 30% battery and I try to open more than one program at a time, or a high-resource program like Pokemon Go, the whole phone crashes into a restart cycle where it turns itself off, gets to the restart screen, turns itself off again, etc. etc. etc., until I open it up and remove the battery to stop it

storage is so small (compared to current phone standards) and so choked that I literally cannot update either the firmware or any of my programs (I have stripped out as many programs as I can, and am down to what I consider the “essentials”) no matter how much I try to transfer stuff to the SC card

This is an S5, so it has a removable battery that could in theory be replaced and solve some of these issues, but no new batteries have been made for 4-5 years, and all that’s available at this point is refurbished ones. I’ve bought three refurbished ones and all have been worse off than my current one (which was harvested from my dad’s old S5 when the one this phone came with cracked down one side), and failed whenever I tried to bring up the camera. I do have my dad’s S5 and have considered switching to it, which would solve the charging port problem, but then the battery issue recurs.

And my mom wants to take a roadtrip in June to visit my sister in Texas, at which point this situation will be COMPLETELY untenable, since “in a rocking car” is not an environment in which my phone will charge even on the portable brick, and if I have to use it for GPS at any point, well, there goes my phone for the entire rest of the day. :( So... since my teeth are not going to be quite as expensive as I thought, the rest of what I was budgeting for that is getting redirected to a new phone some time this month.

I’m just SAD about it because. I love my phone. So much. I’ve had it so long, and I’m so completely used to it, and everything about it suits me perfectly. And I was lucky enough to get a very high-quality one for its generation (they’d just come out with some new generation of the Samsungs when I went to get it, and they gave me a huge discount because they were clearly getting rid of old stock), and don’t have the budget for that now, so that’s going to be a bit disappointing. (I’m also a little afraid that they’re going to say my incredibly cheap low-data plan can’t be kept when upgrading, and I want to say then I’ll just walk out and keep mine after all, but... that’s not a forever solution.)

[notyourmotherscopingmechanisms]

Water Bottles, Getting Rid of Stuff, and Social Media Goodbyes.

Hi, all.

This is it! Welcome to the first post on this experimental foray into talking about my brain, intentionally, and with a purpose in mind.

The post that led you here (from facebook, instagram, or twitter, if I got my shit together) mentioned that this post would be about the first few things I’ve done since the New Year to try and wrangle my life back into some sense of order, so I’m just gonna jump right into that. 

1) I bought a planner.

A real, actual physical paper, honest-to-god planner. 

This in and of itself is not much of a shock. I’ve bought a lot of planners in my lifetime, always excited to finally be one of those women—capable, powerful, every moment of their day accounted for in perfect handwriting—and reader, I am absolutely garbage at using them. 

So I bought another one. Makes sense, right?

I’ll tell you why: I think I finally figured out why I’m bad at using them. 

Every planner I’ve bought in the past has been one or both of these things: a month/week/day view, or an electronic planner (for my iPad.) These...did not work. The use cycle would usually go something like this: Overjoyed with my new beautiful book, I would spend an hour or two dutifully filling out the “month” views with absolutely everything I knew about at the time, and then I’d manage to use it for about a week before I realized I’d been forgetting to write in the “week” portion of the planner. This immediately triggers the guilt—I failed, I wasted part of such a nice book, what was the point, why did I even start....you get the idea. Of course, this is all ridiculous. The book never changed...but now it makes me sad to look at, and angry at myself every time I remember it. I can’t stand to use it anymore, because every time I pick it up, it’s a reminder that, according to me, I suck. So I put it away, and vow to never again buy a planner, or to do better next time. (I wouldn't.) 

Then, I read a post a few months ago that my dad sent me (I’ll have to look up the link later and edit this post to add it) that boiled down to something along the lines of “stop trying to do your tasks the way “normal” people do their tasks.” If you have a hard time getting your laundry sorted out because the hamper’s hard to get to, take the lid off the hamper. If making a sandwich is too much work, just eat the parts, no sandwich required. Shit like that. I sat with myself for a few weeks and said to myself, brain, how can I remove obstacles that don’t even seem like obstacles in order to make things less hard?

And then I learned the secret. 

Did you know they make planners that are ONLY a month view?

There’s another secret to this process, by the way—but it applies to a lot more than just planners. Through a bit of soul searching (and by a bit, I mean a lot of grumbling about what a materialistic, vain, optics-centered magpie I am at heart) I figured out that I’m at least 80% more likely to successfully use something if it’s pretty. If I love the way it looks, I am excited to be around it. I am delighted to use it. I am sad when it isn’t nearby. So, the month-view-only planner I bought is also covered in small flowers and made from beautiful low-tooth paper that feels good to write on. I also downloaded many, many, many beautiful habit trackers, goal planning pages, and other freebies from bloomplanners.com (they made my work calendar.) Highly recommend. 

2) I bought a water bottle.

I am probably the most dehydrated person you know personally at basically all times. I’ve literally gone to the ER with medical issues that, while genuine, were all exacerbated by massive dehydration. It’s not just that I hate the taste of water (even though I do) but also that I just...straight up do not remember to drink. Ever. And when I do remember to drink, I never remember how much I’ve had, what’s left to go, any of that crap. 

“But they make apps to remind you!” 

“You can log every time you drink!”

YES, CORRECT, but also may I remind you of the above “remove obstacles from my brain” epiphany from three paragraphs ago: if there’s more than two steps (realistically, more than ONE step) to getting from “I drank water” to “I drank this much water, and now have this much left to go to not die” 

I won’t do it. 

So, I bought myself one of these bad boys. #notanad 

The Hidrate Spark is a “smart” bottle that connects to my iPhone and my AppleWatch. Its connected app will remind me through the watch, as well as via pretty glowing lights on the bottle itself, numerous times a day that I need to drink. When I drink out of the bottle, a sensor will record how much I drank, and immediately log that info into my Health App on my phone. The app automatically uses the humidity and temperature at your location, your weight, your height, and real-time activity data from your watch or phone to update how much your water goal is in realtime. 

Notice how nowhere in that description in there is there anything I have to do to track my intake and hit my goal besides fill out my info in the app once, fill up the bottle, and drink out of it? Yeah, me too.

I’ve avoided buying this bottle for over a year, because it’s a $60 water bottle, and I have twenty water bottles already, and it’s “techie” and “unnecessary” and “silly” and “excessive” and all those other things people say about smart tech, but goddamnit, and ER bill costs more than $60 and I’ve been there four fucking times for this problem. I talked to my fitness director (I work for a YMCA, so, health and fitness woo) a couple friends, and my doctor about it, and everyone agreed it was a good decision, so I did it. I can’t say if it’ll work or not yet because I don’t HAVE it yet, but I promise to keep everyone apprised. 

Also, it’s pretty. 

3) I deleted an ass ton of people off my social media. 

I’ve never cared much about my numbers when it comes to social media, I’m not in it for those, but I have the same problem with my friends lists as I do with my real life: I add without thought and then people I never talk to, never see, never will see, and don’t have an effect on my life...take up space. I’m very happy for all of them, and I hope they have wonderful lives, but I don't need all of them front and center at all times. Plus, after the year I had last year, a lot of people needed to be let go from my life for my sanity and theirs. 

So, on January 2nd, I deleted 160 people from my Facebook friends list, and blocked 7. I thought it would stress me out more—I’m not about the numbers, but I always worry someone will take offense, or be upset. But once I did it, I felt literally, physically, lighter. It hasn’t had any measurable impact yet besides that initial weight-is-lifted feeling, but I know it’s a step in the right direction for my eventual journey towards weaning off a lot of social media platforms. (Did you know facebook is the actual face of evil in the internet age, and we’re all trapped beyond belief?)

4) I cleaned, or cleaned out, everything (and I mean everything) in my house.

This is the biggie! This is it! The goodwill pile is literally taking up every inch of available space in my car! 

(This is also one of those “Ooh, it’s embarrassing, I can’t talk about it” moments I mentioned in the original post. Whelp, here I am, talking about it! Cower in fear! Hide in your homes! Real Talk is coming!)

The Marie Kondo bug that bit all of us last year got me in tandem with a few months of violent living situation upheaval. As a result, I tried to go through my belongings with every moving day I went through, and use those hell experiences as motivation to just. Get. Rid. Of. My. Shit. I’d already started on this task a few years ago, but it’s difficult to describe how much....stuff I’d managed to collect in 18-19 years. It doesn’t take much past the first time you and one friend, or just you, have to move everything you own in a single day to go “oh my god I am never doing that again.” But, I know I’ll have to move again, and even if I didn’t...my stuff was stressing me out. The obvious solution was, and is, “have less stuff.” 

I go through my wardrobe once a month now and try to get rid of at least three things. If you’ve known me since high school or just after, you might remember the absolutely astonishing size of my wardrobe. I mean, truly ridiculous. I achieved my goal early last summer of “all my clothing must fit inside a single closet” and began extending that to the rest of my life with a general rule of replacing the thought “I need more storage” with the thought “I need less stuff.” Obviously, there are some things that really do need better or different storage, and I’m recognizing that, but I can’t actually describe how much better I feel with...literally probably 70% less stuff than I used to own. 

This is an ongoing process in every part of my life, and with the habits I’ve learned and the very particular anxieties that I have (I can’t get rid of this, I might need it one day/that person was so nice to give it to me/someone might get angry if I goodwill it) continuing towards a minimalist outlook will be a path I am on for literally the rest of my life. But it’s a good path—a worthy one—and I’m so absurdly relieved that I’m finally walking on it, regardless of how many stumbles, stops, and starts there might be. 

The bonus part of having less stuff is that it’s suddenly way easier to clean your house; which is what I spent all of Saturday and part of Sunday (today) doing. My combined to-do lists* numbered around 72 items, all-told, and I accomplished almost all of them—everything from sweeping/mopping/vaccuming to moving all the appliances in my kitchen out of their spots and cleaning the sides of them. All the laundry got did. All the shelves got dusted. The tub got scrubbed. The fridge got cleared out. My closet got organized. Even my bed got a facelift in the form of a new duvet cover and some swanky king size pillows. We. Cleaned. Everything. 

And damn does it feel good to have a clean space. It’s so. Much. Easier.  To keep tidied up when I’m annoyed at myself for ruining the room with clutter, or setting something down and not putting it away.* When you have less stuff, everything suddenly has a place...and when it all starts out in that place, it’s way easier to put it back and keep that momentum going.

*/**There is a flip side of this feeling, which is my anxiety this summer beginning to express itself as certain tendencies towards OCD behaviors, but I won’t go into that here. It’ll come up soon enough, but it will need to be another post about that topic specifically and what I did/am doing to work through it. Another post will be about my “listing” and how it works/doesn’t work for me, because these are tandem issues.

I’m sure there’s more than these, but I’m going to stop here.

Mostly because one of my other goals for 2020 is to do better at setting, and sticking to, a routine. (Hey, another post!) That routine involves me being in bed by 11:30PM every day, and awake by 9:30...and it’s 10:44. So for now, goodnight, and I hope this didn’t bore anyone to absolute tears. Even if it did...that’s okay, because this is as much for me as it is for anyone else. 

See ya!

[glamrus-puta]

Help I Start School Tomorrow: A Check List

Do you need some sweet ass advice from somebody who’s spent no less than 18 years struggling through the muck of academia? Of course you do! Here’s a handy-ass dandy-ass guide to wtf should be going on in your pre-school prep!

Let’s get started~

1) What should I do with my day before I go back to the hell hole that is school?

I’m glad you asked! Do things that make the start of the semester feel like a fun and luxurious adventure awaits you! Especially for college and university people, the start of the semester loses pizzazz with age (and time).

Hype yourself up with some simple self care, these things don’t have to be expensive or cost anything at all if you can utilize what’s lying around in your kitchen, bathroom, neighbour’s house or wherever.

Wash your damn hair! Shower and take all the time you need, shave if you want to while you’re in there. The goal is to feel fresh and a lil less greasy the next morning.

Are you a lazy ass that doesn’t have time to moisturize? Me too! Get some Nivea in-shower lotion if you can, and before you towel dry douse yourself with baby oil gel (or literally just some olive oil or coconut oil- whatever you got lying around). Show yourself some love!!

Now is a great time to style your hair for tomorrow and protect it with a low pony or a night cap, btw

Do a face mask! Do a hair mask! Do a foot mask! Do whatever tf kind of mask you got handy! Use foods from your kitchen, or try Freeman masks they’re around 4$ each. Dollar store prices, department store quality.

Take an hour to fix your nails, toe nails, wax the stache or do any body maintenance you usually do. Pretend you’re going to a sick ass party and you’re grooming your meat vessel to perfection.

Lay out your sick outfit for tomorrow- pro tip: you want to be comfy and functional on buses/trains/on foot or however you commute. Think hard about the kind of weather you’ll be up against, and the general state of the terrain on your commute. Put your outfit on a hanger so it’s ready for tomorrow, even if you can’t do this every night during the school year it’ll get you in the right mental state to have your first day

Prep your meds! A big part of feeling good is taking our medications on time to reap their maximum benefits. Put them out on your kitchen counter if you think you’ll forget, go through your medicine cabinet: is there anything you need to remember to take with you to have during the day? Set alarms on your phone if (like me) you’ve got pills to take at different times of day- label them something that you’ll understand. (I use the names of the doctors that prescribed them so I know which pills are physical health and which are mental health).

Pack your lunch for tomorrow. Fruits and veggies bitch none of this “I’ll buy it when I get there” nonesense. Remember to stay hydrated! Bring some kind of receptacle to hold water/tea/coffee whatever. This is a solid habit to have year round, but remember the first couple school days can frazzle you pretty good and it’s good to have snacks on hand.

CLEAN YOUR GODDAMN ROOM. You’re gonna be shooketh in a bad way if you wake up on the first day of classes with a messy bathroom and shit strewn all over your sleeping space. Take all the time you need to put things lovingly away, if you’re feeling ambitious update your calendar and spray a little room spray or light a scented candle. Ooh la la

Do something fun. Do something distracting. Go out with a friend, read a book, take a couple hours of ‘me time’. You’ll be ready to die for it during the semester.

Feeling nervous? Call literally anybody you can stand to talk to for more than five minutes. Talk about dogs, talk about boats, ask them to guess how many jelly beans you’re holding right this second (sike b the answer is 0)- take a couple steps away from the whole school thing.

2) What the hell do I put in my backpack??

So this is where I fly into an unGodly rage. I’m so tired of seeing Instagram posts telling people their make up, perfume and breath mints are the most important of their school arsenal. What’s gonna save you when you bleed through your pants at school cause Aunt Flo decides to come chill on campus? Your perfume? Unlikely.

Here’s the real tea on what you should have in your bag, based on years of oopses, dire situations, and general mishap management.

A pencil case. Preferably full of writing implements. I can’t believe I have to tell people this but like......I do.....y’all childish

MEDICAL BAG: A small pouch is all you need! Tuck this away in your bag’s inside pocket, or in your purse, it could save not only your life but somebody else’s too. Get your prescriptions you need throughout the day like inhalers, anti anxiety meds, lactose intolerance pills, Imodium, symethicone etc.

Pack some ginger gravol (or regular drowsy gravol) for motion sickness or for when the flu season hits

Benadryl pills (and your epipen if you have one!) this is one of those things you should always have lying around at home and in your car

Alcohol swabs and band aids of your choice. Most pharmacies will sell 100 swabs for around 3$, look in dollar stores for discreet 1st aids packs and band aids. Stash them in your little pouch, it might not be you who falls down a flight of stairs and needs to bandage up their elbow- but at least you can help. (Based on a true story!!!!)

Panty liners/ tampons/ pads- this is another one of those things that others may benefit from

Get yourself a mini deodorant (3$ at Walmart) and wrap your hair ties around it. Double trouble, double storage capacity!

Tylenol/Advil, hunt around for little plastic pill holders like Pill Pals, they’re not usually more than 2 or 3 bucks and they hold A TON of pills

Vagina Bonus Round: do you take birth control? Have a tube of Canesten/Monistat/Vagisil or whatever for when the yeast season is upon us

Remember to carry your hospital card and/or medical insurance card on you at all times

Pharmacies will give face wipes individually wrapped for free. Usually brands like Cetaphil will dump them off as testers for customers- ask your local pharmacy cashier for stuff like mini hand creams, spf lip balms and face wipes. We’re happy to give them to you and you’ll get some real use out of them!

ASS WIPES. GET SOME. You can wipe down your bag with them, wipe down tables with them, flush them, and do all kinds of damage control. Trust.

Emergency money- the medical bag is a great place to hide emergency money (think bus fare, or 5$ for emergency food) because people are unlikely to rob what looks like a 1st aid kit

3. Friends come and go but portable chargers are forever- you can find cheap key chain ones at dollar stores. If you’re going to spring for one that lasts a few days on one charge I suggest the OKZU from Amazon. It’s HELLA SLIM and I can hold a charge for about 3 days before it reaches even 75% battery capacity. (It’s also the most budget friendly I’ve found to date about 14$ after shipping).

4. Remember make up, gum, little travel items and perfume can have a place in your bag but I would suggest transferring as much as you can into smaller and smaller containers. A whole bottle of perfume is a lot to carry around, imagine a water bottle bouncing around your bag- that’s the kind of space you’re using up. Be mindful of just how many books/ copy books/ textbooks you’ll be toting around and if it gets to be too much- get an actual tote!

5. A little clip on hand sanitizer never hurt anybody...also Kleenex I promise you’ll use it. (And if you don’t I’ll be there to borrow it lmao) ALLERGY SEASON BONUS ROUND: a small bottle of off brand artificial tears are great to stow in your glasses case for all those shitty October mornings where your eyes refuse to act like eyes and not the Sahara Desert 🐫 off brand artificial tears run for between 2-4$ at most Walmarts!

3) I’ve used my last 24 hours to get my shit together- but I have a horrible impending sense of doom! What should I do?

Ah anozzer day in bikini bottom, which means another day of crippling anxiety for 25% of adult Canadian students! (Wow that’s a lot of students!) Boy do I know how tough it is to be thrown back into the pressure cooker of life that we call school. Here are some tips from me to you that I hope help a little bit:

I believe in you! It’s not a tip, but I want you to know that I do. If you’re feeling unsure/ silly/ out of your element/ etc think about me wandering around just as confused as you are! And have a good laugh at my expense! Shoot me a DM, scroll around my nonesense blog- wow check me out I’m a real living person and I made this post for you- because why? I care about your well being! Sometimes it just helps to know that there’s somebody out there thinking about you and wishing for your safe return home at the end of the day~ for the start of your semester I’ll be that person. *smooch*

Arrive early! My therapist once told me that rolling out of bed five minutes before I have to be somewhere limits my chances of having a calm and meaningful experience where I’m going. I hate to admit it but she makes a good point. Wake up early and do something nice for you: have breakfast, just sit on your balcony and breathe some fresh air, pet your cat and gaze upon their stupid face. Take the time.

Arrive early BONUS TIP: get to where you’re going an hour early and just wander! Window shop, roam the building, learn where the fire exit is, sit outside on a bench and watch the students come in and out. The longer you chill at school the homier it’ll feel, and the more you feel at home somewhere the more you feel at ease. Strike up random convos with strangers if you’re feeling brave, or text an understanding friend to meet you there and roam alongside you.

Plan your day! Get an agenda if it’s in your means, or just scribble on some scrap paper. Make your grocery list, write your tasks of the day, your goals of the day, or even just a positive affirmation. Sometimes even when I know exactly what I’m doing that day, or have something trivial to do (like laundry) I’ll write down “do laundry” to feel like I have a clear path to follow.

Embrace your local accessibility Center and school councellor. Don’t live in fear of the resources your school provides. It seems scary/embarrassing/weird to have to have special accommodations to deal with your anxiety or depression but GIRL once you’re all set with the appropriate tools there’s truely nothing that can stop you. This was my experience anyway, but I strongly urge everybody I meet to take advantage of school services and wring them for all they’ve got. They’re there for you boo!

HOT TIP: feeling dizzy and overwhelmed on the bus? Look at the wall or something that isn’t moving. DONT LOOK OUT THE WINDOWS AS THIS MAKES DIZZINESS WORSE. Breathe in 2 beats and out 3 beats- this cuts your fight or flight. If you’re going to drink take small sips out of a straw or without moving your head. My GP gave me this advice and it’s saved my whole ass quite a few times.

Download free apps that are anti anxiety in the form of fun games. I’ve had positive results with Viridii (where you grow a little succulent garden) Tap Tap Fish (basically you’re a sentient coral that decorates the sea floor) and Polytap (you basically count the vertices of spinning polygons). A cursory google search will reveal more fun games for emergency anxiety relief! I also like to go on YouTube and search for positive affirmation anxiety videos, or storm/white noise/ ocean anti anxiety sounds the night before to get me in the right headspace to sleep!

So this has been your lightning round/ crash course for what to do the 24 hours before school! I hope you feel a little more prepared to take on the start of the semester!

A dios hoes!!

[malafight]

Still no power, still with family. We’re going a little stir-crazy lmao. Most of the city is flooded out now — I can’t even reach my own house from where I am. Literally every route into and out of the county is flooded right now.

My cousin got a chance to check on my house, and for now it seems like there’s no external damage, but they can’t get in to check the inside because the only side not blocked by a deep-ass ditch is flooded halfway up the yard. I know without a doubt that the attic leaked like a motherfucker, and for once I’m so fucking glad my anxiety had me overprepare: almost everything I own is in either storage containers or trash bags, so even if it leaks so bad the ceiling colllapses, most of my stuff is gonna be okay.

I checked with my boss and The Dick Ranch seems okay save for the overhang lights and the sign outside, so as soon as we get power back, I’m probably going back to work. Thank fuck; I can’t handle the stress of having a fucked up house AND not being able to make any money. I can’t afford to be out of work this fuckin long.

The whole county is on a boil alert wrt water. Thankfully, we’ve got plenty of bleach here to make water drinkable if we run out. But we’ve got like?? More than ten packs of bottled water and two full tubs, plus the gallon and extra pack I have stored in my car. It’s still not a lot for eight people and five dogs, but hopefully we’ll be okay for a bit.

We’ve also got a generator that’s been keeping the fridge/freezer cold intermittently and giving everyone a chance to charge their phones. We’ve got plenty of food since everyone brought some with them, and even with the water pressure super low we’re able to flush the toilets and take cold showers as needed. It’s hot as balls most of the time but at least with the wind we can open windows and the breeze helps some. I’m in a dress rn but I’m mostly pissed at the three fuckin cismen here who get to run around with their shirts off while I get fussed at for stretching and showing an inch of belly when my shirt rises up :\ so now I’m in a dress and if anyone complains about me not sitting ladylike I’m gonna fuckin flash em

Gotta admit tho, sundresses are cute as fuck and it’s nice to have air down there lmao

We’ve apparently got the Cajun Navy in town rescuing people as needed, and a helicopter out there doing the same. I’ve seen pictures of some places in the city where the water is over waist-deep, with cars almost completely covered, and I am just... so fuckin thankful that my current situation is just uncomfortable and not life-threatening. I’m one of the lucky ones.

As far as I can tell, the county government is telling the evacuees to stay put, because there is LITERALLY no way back into the county. At least two of the high schools have been utterly wrecked; one of them has a video of it raining in the gym that apparently went viral. New Bern is under like nine feet of water, and Morehead City (yes that is a real name and yes you can giggle) is wrecked as well.

This area isn’t set up to deal with this much water. There are parts of the city that flood during regular rain storms.

I can only imagine what would have happened if Florence hadn’t dropped to a 2 before she hit us. Granted, one of the biggest causes of the flooding is just how fuckin slow she’s going, so maybe that wouldn’t have been as bad if she wasn’t sitting on top of us dumping water for three days.

Grateful that we haven’t lost cell service yet, at least. The service we have is shitty, but it’s still up.

I’ll keep ya’ll updated as much as I can. I might start up some quick and cheap traditional sketch commissions just to get a little bit of income in, considering how much money I’m going to be bleeding to get everything fixed after this.

I’d do some cheap writing commissions, but I’m trying to conserve my laptop battery as long as I can in case I really need it. I have power packs for my phone so I’m around on discord, but I can only charge my laptop when the generator is going or in my car, which is a bit of a walk from where I am right now.

(It isn’t dangerous to go out in it now; it’s just gross and rainy and I don’t want to go ankles-deep in nasty water because it just makes my arch supports wet and means I’m hobbling around without them for hours until they dry off again rip)

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

New York - Wave Pt. 7

*Peter Parker x Reader

*Summary: Reader goes to New York City with Peter to start over.

*Warnings: Swearing probably

*A/N: Oh hey look at who finally decided to update this. And tbh this is the most active I’ve been since the 12 Days of Loki.

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five || Part Six || Part Seven || Part Eight || Part Nine

While waiting for takeoff, you took the time to say your goodbyes to your friends and what family you had in the city. You’d even said goodbye to the few officers you’d become relatively close with. Jameson, the officer there when you were arrested, was glad to find out you were alive, giving you his number and telling you to call if you needed any help at all. By the time you were headed to meet with Peter, it was nearing sunset. You were glad for that: you’d become just another nameless face on the dark streets.

The quinjet Tony had sent Peter in was at a somewhat abandoned airfield a little ways from the business district. You saw Peter waiting for you, his bag slung over his shoulder as his eyes scanned the field. When he finally saw you, he broke into a wide grin, waving you over. “(y/n)!” He called out, his enthusiasm palpable.

“Pete, my dude!” You laughed as you walked up to him. “What, Happy didn’t get sent with you?”

“Not this time, Mr. Stark sent me with an automated quinjet,” Peter replied.

“Sick,” you told him. “Looks like Tony’s finally seeing you as a big kid.”

“Shut up,” Peter laughed. You just smiled, and the two of you walked towards the quinjet. Soon enough the quinjet had entered the airspace and you were on your way to New York. You and Peter had settled into a comfortable silence, but with how Peter was, you knew it wouldn’t last long. Sure enough, almost twenty minutes after the quinjet had leveled out, Peter started talking. “So what happened to you? You’ve been missing forever, I thought you stopped being Wave.”

“Well, technically I kinda did,” you said. “I was unregistered, became a fugitive, got caught, and then escaped. Have you heard any news about anyone else?”

“Hold up, you’re a fugitive?” Peter asked, his voice going up an octave.

“Yeah, I thought that was kinda obvious with that whole new bill,” you told him. “I refused to register my identity and hero identity, so they went against everything to find out who I was anyways. Pieces of shit didn’t even wait until after I helped bring down a weapons deal, they took me when I was unconscious from some injury.”

“What happened to you?” Peter asked again, the severity of the situation actually hitting him.

“They took me to some hospital in the middle of the desert, where they were keeping all sorts of powered heroes, like you and me. They were drugging us so we wouldn’t be able to use our powers, but I know how to take out IVs so I was never drugged for long. I caused a ton of trouble in the hospital, and they moved me out to house arrest,” you explained. It was definitely different telling someone who could go through the same thing. “I escaped, got lost, ended up in Mexico, and now I’m back.”

“Holy crap,” Peter breathed. “So why are you headed out to New York?”

“I figured that maybe Natasha, Clint, and Kate could help me out,” you told him with a shrug. “Now it’s my turn for some questions. Have you heard anything about the others?”

“Natasha and Clint pretty much disappeared, but they’re trained to do that so I wouldn’t worry,” Peter told you. “Steve and Sam went missing, and now Bucky’s on the run again. Oh, Scott also went into hiding. Mr. Stark and the others are registered.”

“It sounds like Civil War all over again. So, how about you?” You asked.

“I’m not registered. Mr. Stark got me out of it cuz I’m still a minor,” Peter told you.

“That’s bullshit, they were still trying to force me to register,” you said. “It’s all because I’m with Steve and them, and we opposed the Hero Registry the first time around. They even managed to get Steve, I found him when I was in the hospital. He was supposed to escape after I got transferred.”

“Maybe he’s just waiting, you know Steve’s all about that perfect timing,” Peter tried to comfort you. He had moved to the seat right beside you, and from his body language he was conflicted about what to do. You saw him briefly consider going for a hug, so you decided to make the decision for him and hugged him. As soon as you pulled away, you saw his face flushed a bright red. “W-what was that for?”

“What? I can’t hug a friend?” You asked. When Peter didn’t respond, you decided to give him an actual answer. “Just thanks for letting me tag along to New York. I know I didn’t tell you that I was a fugitive until after we took off, but still, thanks for being on my side.”

“Of course,” Peter said. “We gotta stick together, right?”

“Yeah,” you agreed, nodding. “Oh, hey! You remember Nova?”

“Yeah, I trained with him a while ago. Oh crap, did he?” Peter trailed off. You nodded again, knowing what he was trying to say.

“He was cool, we were transferred to house arrest together and he helped me escape. He’s honestly probably the only thing that kept me sane while we were there,” you told him. “I’m gonna expose the government for what it is and help get him back to New York.”

“No matter how much he got on my nerves, he was still a good guy,” Peter said, voice nearly a whisper. You could tell that this entire thing was finally hitting him: the government was getting rid of the heroes that didn’t register, and some of those heroes were the ones that he knew the best. “So that’s what you’re gonna be doing in New York?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna lay low for a while and then expose the government through the news networks and maybe some of those comedy news shows too,” you told him. You didn’t hesitate at all, knowing Peter wouldn’t go and tell on you. At this point, he was basically your accomplice. “I dunno, I might do some hero stuff while I’m out there. I heard Daredevil and them are still running around, they seem like they’d be cool to work with.”

“That’s good, I’m glad you’re gonna be doing something more,” Peter told you. “The thing is, the quinjet goes back to the Avengers Compound in upstate New York, not the City. How are we gonna get you back without anyone knowing?”

“The official Avengers disguise,” you told him, opening your backpack and pulling out exactly what you needed. “A baseball cap, hoodie, and sunglasses.” With that, you pulled on the cap and sunglasses, shooting Peter a silly look from underneath them, making Peter laugh.

“Do we all really use that same disguise?” Peter asked, still laughing.

“Uh, yeah. It’s kinda ridiculous how well it works, though,” you replied, smiling. “How do you think I made it from San Diego to LA without getting caught?”

“Really? How far is that?” Peter asked.

“Right, you’re used to New York type of travel. Let’s just say it’s pretty far,” you told him as you pulled off your ‘disguise’. You could tell Peter wanted to know more of your story just by the way he had started fidgeting. Apparently he hadn’t changed much since he first joined, Steve told you that he’d always been very excitable and kind of dorky. “Alright, you want all the details?” Peter nodded, so you started from the beginning.

It only took a few hours to get to New York, definitely quicker than it would’ve taken you any other way. You and Peter didn’t start to panic until the quinjet landed, realizing that people would probably be waiting for Peter. You hid in one of the storage compartments, your phone on silent. Peter promised to text you once everyone was away from the quinjet so you could make your escape, and luckily it didn’t take long for that text to arrive. You snuck out of the quinjet, finding yourself in a hangar.

From there, you were able to sneak into the actual building. You’d never been to the Compound - only the Tower when that was still a thing - so it was a bit of a maze. You found your way into what looked like a communications room. After logging into one of the computers, you started trying to find the quickest way to the City. Walking was definitely out, it didn’t seem like there were any busses nearby that went that far, and finally you decided that you weren’t beyond stealing a car to head out. That was, until Peter texted you that they were sending him back to New York in a self-driving car. “Wow, that’s ridiculously convenient,” you muttered, shaking your head slightly. You pulled up a map of the place, quickly finding the place Peter told you to meet him at.

“(Y/n)!” Peter called out as soon as he saw you. You laughed as you saw his eyes widen comically when he realized what he just did, waving him off to let him know it was fine. As soon as you were in normal talking distance, you spoke.

“You know, they sure do trust you a lot more now,” you told him with a cheeky smile. “Alright, so we know Avengers cars are tracked, but are they bugged?”

“Nope, sometimes people talk about confidential stuff,” Peter assured you. “You’re good to ride in it. If anyone finds out, you’ll be hidden away in New York by the time they realize you were even here.”

“Who knew Mr. Goody-goody would be such a willing accomplice?” You teased, going to open the car door. Peter followed soon after, and the car ride back to New York City was relatively quick compared to the cross-country flight. Peter helped you to get relatively acquainted with New York, understanding the public transport system, the differences between the boroughs, things of that nature. While you were from a big city, New York and LA were each a universe of their own, and you knew that you needed to learn at least some things about New York if you were going to effectively hide. You already had a plan to play the new-girl card, but you needed to seem like you hadn’t just literally gotten to the city.

Soon enough, you arrived in Queens. After checking in with Aunt May, Peter showed you how to actually use the NYC public transport system to get to Manhattan. “Do you actually have a plan?” Peter asked as the two of you got off of the train.

“Kind of?” You responded. “I just gotta get a burner really quick and then I’m like at least 12% sure I’ll be able to find who I need to.”

“Well, there’s a Walgreens if you wanna go in and buy one,” Peter offered, pointing at the store up ahead. “And that doesn’t exactly sound like a plan.”

“Trust me, 12% is better than no plan at all,” you told him, already starting to walk off. You turned over your shoulder, calling back to Peter. “I’ll call you once I figure things out. Thanks Peter.”

“You know where to find me,” Peter replied before turning and walking away. You assumed he would head back to the station and get back to Queens, so you quickly went back on your path to the Walgreens, doing a quick mental check to see if you actually had enough cash available for a burner phone. Despite the unfamiliar city, you were finally beginning to feel some semblance of control once again.

Tag List: @potterjamesharry, @sharenaloveyoux

[heytheredevlopr-blog]

10+ Best Reasons to Get Excited for Samsung Galaxy Fold 2

Samsung's second galaxy fold is now literally on the horizon and is looking so good that it might just be a day one switch from me here at the top six reasons why still as 2 things that have ME pretty upset the initial.

Galaxy fold what I've been using for a month now is a book a fern that folds out horizontally to make one large tablet displays the fold too is looking like it's gonna be a clamshell a fern that starts smaller and falls out vertically to make a normal-sized phone and that's a really good thing it'll mean a device that's way less large however additional significantly one that solves the ratio drawback see with the book type issue if you've 2 halves that area unit quite tall folding them outwards is gonna result is basically a square and a square is just not good for 90% of content movies games and most phone apps are designed to work on rectangular displays with a clamshell tho' as we have seen with the new Motorola Razr you'll be able to have a tiny low square screen on the front and that is fine as a result of the main screen on the within are tall a touch taller than we're wont to however that is much better than being too wide robot Authority. Recently did a poll on individuals's favorite folding and therefore the Motorola RAZR got regarding doubly as several votes because the Galaxy fold people just like the clamshell style of the razor and even off that group of people who picked the Galaxy to fold some of them only did so just because it's a better SPECT phone if you think about it the Galaxy fold too should have the best of both worlds the clamshell design of the razor and quite possibly even better specs than the original fold also this is a refined purpose however i feel the clamshell are some things that encompasses a higher likelihood of initiating sales-wise as a result of individuals area unit or deeds subconsciously aware of the concept 15 years ago nobody would have even questioned what the purpose of a flip phone was it was accepted and so if Samsung can come in with the flip phone reinvented i feel it's a neater sell then welcome to the book for reading then we have got one UI to Samsung's really named however fantastically redesigned little bit of code which is gonna help all of their phones but in particular this foldable you've got standard all-round improvements like less intrusive notifications and even smarter dock mode that works across more applications and simply typically additional customization however a giant focus here has been reaching ability if we have a tendency to area unit about to see this super tall show on the within of the next fold this update could not have come back at a more robust time.

It'll all of these UI components your fingers really want to act with nearer to the lowest to cut back the quantity of reaching you wish to try to you would possibly already know this galaxy fold uses a plastic show in spite of everything once glass gets super skinny it loses a great deal of its structural strength and simply typically as a cloth glass is not very bent friendly but it looks like.

Samsung has found how a neighborhood glass provider referred to as dawn sees I feel has opposed idli developed thereforelution|an answer} that's ultra-slim sturdy and versatile so this might be BIC one of the primaries criticisms of the first fold is its display it scratches easily and it's got this massive crease going down the middle now I never personally thought it had been a deal-breaker I got accustomed the crease pretty quickly however whenever I share this phone to some other person

it's one among the primary things they suggests in order that reasonably speaks for itself anyway this glass answer may solve each scratching and creasing issues promptly a lot of those reports i have been reading square measure inform towards the show size on fault to being six-point seven inches that is nice in my expertise with current phone thickness and edge size this can be concerning as huge as you'll be able to go whereas still being usable however I may see why this can be not a profit to everybody you may argue that there's one thing special concerning having the ability to hold around a seven-plus in. show therein smaller kind issue it's going to in all probability even be a hole-punch screen, not a full uninterrupted panel and this can avoid wasting thickness versus having to use a motorized pop-up for the front camera however speaking of cameras the particular camera Hardware on these Samsung flagships it hasn't had a significant push since the galaxy s7 one thing has reasonably favored style enhancements over camera upgrades that is getting ready to amendment in 2020 consistent with code found within the Samsung camera app they are already performing on a firm which will shoot not simply 8k video the 108 megapixel photos and this might line up dead with past leaks but also the fact that Samsung has actually launched a 108 megapixel sensor it's already a very real thing assuming then that the next the fold will still be positioned as a high-end device as a decent likelihood it's about to take pleasure in this - conjointly if you simply count the number of cameras on the initial fold you get 6 for 6 cameras and at any one time you're only ever using a maximum of three you've got one selfie camera for when you're using the front screen - selfie cameras for once you are victimization the most screen and 3 cameras at the rear it's simply a small amount inefficient they've effectively engineered constant camera system twice just so you can take selfies in both folded and unfolded positions which increase cost and thickness if they can find a way on this new fold to have just one camera. The system that you can use to take selfies while the phone is folded and then rear photos well unfolded that would be game-changing it would mean they could pour their entire resource pool into only one set of cameras rather than scattering their resources over 3 sets which you'll be able to take not simply mind-blowing rear shots however also selfies with constant quality and speaking of quality.

I'm extremely attempting to up the sport on YouTube thus if you may subscribe that will be wonderful currently it's wanting just like the second Galaxy fold isn't reaching to be a traditional successor and in fact instead of going up in price something is supposedly coming down if I had to guess I'd say around $1500 compared to 2,000 for this one there have been a full range of reports concerning this recently however the one factor I did notice that backs it up is that the proven fact that the code name of the second fold was leaked as being SMF 700 which if true suggests it would fit below the existing SMF 900 fold because this is such a new category of devices Samsung may be still figuring out where the fold fits in its lineup I can say one thing for sure at $2,000 there is no way the original fold was shipping at high volume numbers and so considering the incredible amount of R&D that would have gone into making this thing there's a good chance at the company's current foldable ventures of running at a loss, of course, it alone takes one hit product to turn all that around and The Fault too could very well be the one and what makes me especially hopeful is that Samsung has been in this situation before their original Galaxy S was seen by many people is just a cheap iPhone different however the Galaxy s2 that came next cemented its place as a real rival Samsung's initial incurvate phone the Galaxy spherical was an entire flop however it sealed the means for his or her future incurvate endeavors that while not universally wanted are a giant hit the corporate has quite developed a name for bouncing back okay two things i'm disturbed concerning and i am not talking concerning things sort of a lack of a earpiece jack or lack of water the resistance i believe these things are pretty major first of all as I mentioned very likely Samsung will make the fall to a cheaper phone but it still needs to have the absolute best specifications it's got to have the most recent chipset it's got to possess lots of RAM we tend to already expect these items from traditional flagships so what i am expression that this versatile kind issue can't come at the cost of performance now the the reason I am particularly worried about this is because Motorola thinks that it can they've discharged a firm that appears heaps like what Samsung has planned however they've opted for a few underwhelming hardware it's flower 710 chip 128 gigabytes of non expandable storage any 5-megapixel selfie camera the second thing is battery there's going to be a massive the trade-off here because I have no doubt that if this thing does eventually come out the manner, one thing goes to promote it one amongst the most commerce points goes to be that you simply will fold it up and it will be pocket-sized and so supported this and also the proven fact that Samsung incorporates a little bit of a name for giving merely enough battery there is a probability they will do constant here and give it merely enough battery so at the purpose of shopping for it once it's latest it's going to last a full day then again six months of serious use down one line you'll probably be reaching for the charger at 6 p.m. whilst I welcome a cheaper phone I think the for two needs to be in everything phone with pro users in mind, not a sleek-looking mid-range phone with a cool foldable gimmick function over form to put another way I would also add to this as a third minor concern that there is a the rumor that Samsung's also gonna put an S Pen inside of this thing and I don't think this is a particularly smart move the way I look at it is this you could see some customers as a Venn the diagram you've got people who want an S Pen in one circle and people who want a foldable in another circle and already both of these circles are fairly small these are niche ones but if something makes one flexible phone and this also is an S Pen focus device then they're catering primarily for just this tiny the overlap here for everyone else you're just getting a smaller battery a little bit extra cost and yet another thing that's going to drain your battery so that's the next fold it'll probably be announced March to April next year but I'll have more info before then so if you could subscribe that would be amazing I hope to examine a firm that is a lot of refined quicker and a lot of sturdy thus perhaps this point we can't even would like an avid video simply to inform you the way to take care of it thanks for reading and I'll catch you in the next one!

Via - https://www.maunohanan.co.in

Heytheredevlopr

[stupidpianist]

16 october 2018

08:00: Turned off alarm, “forced self” not to go back to sleep immediately by thinking, “if you win this battle, you’ll start the day off with a victory, not a defeat,” realizing the latter part of this sentence was redundant, but unable to stop myself from thinking it anyways.

Apologizing to all my “liveblog fans” for the low quality liveblog yesterday, was still feeling very under the weather for almost the entire day. After the last update, I lay down in bed, thinking I was just going to “rest my body a little,” and then, like, literally a second after I lay down, I fell into the deepest nap, which lasted just under four whole hours. I guess my body was a lot more exhausted than I thought?? Regardless, the day felt distinctly “over” after that nap, so I looked at things on the internet (music reviews, YouTube, you know, “the usual”) until around midnight, showered, fell asleep again at one am. Feeling good about that, that I got so much sleep yesterday, like, so much.

Might explain why I woke feeling refreshingly “refreshed” for the first morning in a long time. Still coughing A LOT, but definitely feel a bit less sick than yesterday.

08:10: Turned off alarm for second time after lying in bed with eyes closed, sometimes alternating to eyes open, staring blankly at ceiling. Turned to my side and checked phone, which I keep charging on the nightstand to the right of my bed (the right if you’re lying down on it, not facing it). Briefly checked Facebook, Instagram, skimmed news headlines, checked weather.

08:12: On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to make an 8:30 class in “McMed,” the medical building situated near the base of one of the ways to get up Mount Royal, so it’s a bit of a trek, and it’s a good twenty-plus minute walk from my apartment. I’ve found that if I power walk, I can get there in around seventeen minutes, depending on how long my strides are. So I need to “hustle,” gotta “hustle my butt to class,” gotta “push my butt up that hill.” Glad the weather is feeling like autumn, but the temperature is, characteristic for Montreal, “dropping rapidly” already… I fear it won’t be “sweater weather” for much longer...

Stood from bed, then, in an “extremely efficient manner,” I feel, in fluid, unstopping motion, put on brown corduroy pants, black short-sleeve t-shirt, flannel over shirt, “bunny sweater” over flannel, filled water kettle with water, set it to boil, went into the bathroom to “assess the situation” of how I looked, splashed water on face and hair, brushed teeth, placed yerba mate bag in mug, poured hot water in mug, put on boots, then sipped from almost-too-hot mate while taking a selfie of me sipping from it to put on Instagram story. Thought, “nice, nice, good job,” while stepping out apartment, knowing I would make it to class on time, and that I was atypically feeling ungroggy, though also a bit dim and unmotivated, though also unstressed, probably a result of the emotional stunting effects I always feel when I have a cold.

08:34: “Made it” with a minute to spare. Sitting in the furthest back row of the large lecture hall. Hey, between you and me, this is actually the first lecture in this psych stats class that I’m going to sit “all the way through.” I know what you’re thinking, please don’t think it, because I already am. I’m such a terrible student, I know, and I’m wasting so much money. The professor for this class is so efficient, and also so empathetic; she took a break partway through the lecture to ask us humorous questions from an old survey given to Americans, like, twenty years ago, including things like: “do you put on your socks and shoes in the order sock-shoe-sock-shoe, or sock-sock-shoe-shoe,” and “do you twirl your spaghetti when you eat it, or do you cut it into pieces?” I laughed “heartily” when nobody raised their hand for sock-shoe-sock-shoe. That order does seem hellish, to a significant degree, to me, at least, though the actual survey of Americans two decades ago said that around a third put their feet-things on in the order sock-shoe-sock-shoe. What the hell.

Got first assignment back and laughed again when the TA who graded it didn’t give me points for the question which I knew I answered inefficiently, though I wrote next to my answer, “I know this is, like, the least efficient way of solving this, but I am so tired please cut me some slack.” Worth the loss of points, in my opinion. At least it gives the graders something to laugh about through the endless hours of mindless marking? In my English midterm last semester, I just rewrote all the questions I didn’t know the answer to, to things that I could actually answer, like, I’d change “Name three German Romantic poets who influenced…” by crossing out “German” and writing in “English,” then writing the answer to the new question I created.

Found myself “pleasantly enjoying” this lecture, but still finding “complete lack of enthusiasm” in knowing I’d have to finally force myself back into the practice rooms to “tickle the ivories” after not touching them for three days as a result of debilitating cold. Picturing Sylvester Stallone saying “this… is not gonna be fun” in his usual gruff delivery, then grimacing slightly, and standing up from previously seated position.

09:49: Thinking, “onto the practice rooms,” while walking to practice rooms. Weather feels “brisk,” like a Subaru commercial. Thoughts while walking: -Going to start referring to eating/drinking as “taking things to the face” -Would people really not wear ripped underwear? re: another survey question asked in class -Maybe I need to “get caffeinated” before practicing, need to update liveblog anyways -Dude vaping Juul-like device, remembering that Juuls are now officially shipping in Canada, except Quebec -Cannabis is going legal in one day here, seems so surreal

Making decision to stop at Tim Hortons on the way to “take a large coffee to the face.”

10:04: Holy crap the line at Tims is almost “out the door,” there’s no way I’m gonna wait for a coffee, heading to Java U instead.

10:10: Mission successful. Large light roast coffee in hand, chosen over dark because of its higher caffeine content. Chose maple milk to put in for the first time ever, feeling “cheery” and “full of grins.” Gonna drink it while updating liveblog in music library, then practice.

10:46: Hey, what’s up, I’m just finishing up today’s first liveblog update!! Now I’m going to post it!! Then I’m going to walk to the practice rooms and practice for a few hours!! Today is going well, I hope your day is going well too! Wow!! I’m thinking the word “wow” a lot today! Wow!!! Here’s some more Kero Kero Bonito lyrics to brighten up your day if it’s going bad, or make it even brighter if it’s going well!! I love you! 

I got so much time today I got hopes and dreams and plans all yet to be made So look out the way 'Cos I'm coming through now I got something to do And I'll try As I might To keep up with the light 'Til I'm into bed for the night

I got so much more to say I got books and tapes and canvas bearing the weight But they're not arranged 'Cos it takes too long and I'm still moving on But I don't Even know Where I should be trying to go So I guess I'll follow my nose

And I can't help but think about If the sun ever stays down Will I notice or will I Just be sitting around Ticking a list off Rueing what I said wrong But dawn still greets my windowpanes And as long as I shall Wake up in the morning I got plans

I got so much time today I got so much time today I got so much time today I got so much time

13:40: Okay, so, a good almost-three-hour session. My hands felt like mush for the first hour-and-a-half, which was expected, but after going through the Beethoven and part of the Alkan, they felt strangely not as bad as I thought they would. Feel like I was “hyper-focused” for the first ⅔ of the session, and then only “sort-of focused” for the final third, but it was overall really nice.

Feeling skeptical at how smoothly today is going… Where’s the catch? What’s going on? Something bad is brewing on the horizon, isn’t it… Oh heavens look, it’s me thinking pessimistically again, I’m really not a pessimistic person, why do I keep doing this. Have to “reel in” this sort of behaviour. Today is going well and I’m putting in effort towards having a productive day, and sometimes that effort aligns with chance events that cumulate to a smooth, sometimes even “good” day, that’s all, right?

Gonna “call it” on this session, feeling energy/focus storage for piano “depleted.” Feeling semi-proud of myself for making it to nearly three hours without feeling “depleted” earlier, usually my sessions are most productive capped at two hours, and then if I try to continue I end up wasting more time than I actually use practicing. Might return to the practice room again today before going home, I really should be doing at the very least four hours, but maybe I’ll keep today at three hours, just because starting up again after a few days of not practicing and immediately jumping back to four-plus hours might be a little hard on the tendons/joints?? Is that just me making excuses for myself? I’ll see how I feel after my next class, I guess.

Walking to McLennan now to study a bit, see ya soon.

13:54: At workstation in Cybertheque. Weird “phasing” effect going on in my head right now, like, sounds are slightly off-balance? Not that they’re louder in one ear than the other, like, sounds sound dizzy to me, right now, if that makes any sense… I’m not describing this well…

Stomach in a bit of pain, a result of having coffee on an empty stomach and not eating anything yet today. Maybe I’ll get something cheap before class starts at 17h. Yeah, I think that would be the best option… Don’t think I’ll “last” til the end of class if I don’t. Do I go get food now, and then try and study?? That seems like a waste of time going back-and-forth so much, maybe I’ll try to “tough it out.” Yeah, okay, that seems the best option, gonna start studying now, wish me luck.

14:27: Oh no, oh no, seems impossible to “scrounge up” the motivation needed to study effectively, I’m just reading more on Ghost right now, this is bad, this is bad, don’t do this to yourself. Maybe this can be counted as the “study break” between practicing and studying?? Maybe I just won’t be able to get any studying done during this little chunk of time? I’m fine with that, I’m fine with that, I think… Still have time after class ends at 17:30 to study, can always study at home, “in the comfort” of my “tiny abode.” Shoot shoot shoot why didn’t I bring Knausgaard with me, now I don’t even have any reading material. Oh! Oh! I can read Megan’s Liveblog from my phone!! Yes yes okay, perhaps I’ll just “nip on out” for some food, then, and then head directly to class? That might work…

[eddiejpoplar]

First Drive: 2019 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali

Greetings, sir, welcome to your friendly neighborhood GMC dealership! Why of course, I’d love to show you the new 2019 GMC Sierra. It’s new from the ground up, and we’re very proud of it. It’s right over here, please follow me.

How can you tell it’s the 2019 Sierra? Well, uh, the proportions are different, and the new one has these curvy bits on the grille, and—um, wait, you know what? I believe this is a 2018 Sierra after all. My apologies, the 2019 model is right over here.

You’re bound to spend more time looking at your new Sierra from the inside anyway, right? So let’s check out the cab. Hop in. Don’t you love the smell of new leather? What do you think of this fabulous new interior? Stunning, isn’t it? Er… what’s changed? Well, uh, as you can see, this one has push-button ignition! Yes, I know other trucks have had it for years, but it’s new to the Sierra! And this bezel here around the air conditioner, that’s a bit different… well, yes, it was a much nicer silver plastic in the old truck.

Did I mention the storage cubbies built into the rear seatbacks? Slick, huh? Why yes, the infotainment system does have a new interface. How astute of you to notice! I know it looks simpler, but it’s less cluttered. Small? I wouldn’t call the screen small, exactly… well, yes, unless you’re comparing it to the one in the new Ram 1500.

Austere? Now, sir, I don’t know if I’d describe the interior of the new Sierra that way. It’s functional, sir. Besides, this is only the SLT model. Now, if you were sitting in the top-of-the-line Sierra Denali… oh, gosh, you know what, I do believe this is the Denali. You can tell by the genuine textured wood trim. Right there, on the door, that piece just ahead of the armrest.

Say, have you seen this new rear view mirror, which is actually a monitor for a rear-view camera? You won’t find that on a Ram 1500. And how about this full-color head-up display? What? You can get that in a $25,000 Mazda? Well, maybe so, but not in the Ram!

Yes, of course we can take a test drive, but first I must show you the new Sierra’s cargo box. There’s some amazing new stuff back here, starting with this MultiPro tailgate. It has six different positions! And did I mention that the Sierra’s 5-foot, 8-inch box has more volume than Ford or Ram’s 6-foot, 6-inch box? Yes, sir! And it’s made of good old solid steel, and soon you’ll be able to get a carbon-fiber box. Toughest in the industry, you know.

So, yes, let’s take it for a spin. Go on, make yourself comfortable. Power seat adjustments are in the usual place. Power-adjustable pedals? Those have been dropped, I’m afraid. But honestly how often did you use them? Oh, every time your wife drove the truck?

Anyway, this Sierra Denali has the 420 horsepower 6.2-liter V-8. It’s been extensively reworked and features a new cylinder deactivation system that allows the engine to run using anywhere from two to eight cylinders depending on how you’re driving it. Direct injection and continuously variable valve timing as well. Plus we’ve got a new 10-speed automatic, which means even better fuel economy! Well, yes, it’s still a cam-in-block engine, but we’re damn proud of that. Great for low-end torque, and if it’s good enough for the Corvette, it’s good enough for the Sierra!

Yes, you can still get the 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8, which has similar updates, and the 285 hp 4.3-liter V-6. And we’re even going to have a 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder! A four-banger in a full-size truck, did you ever think you’d see the day? We’re really excited about the new diesel, a 3.0-liter straight six, though we haven’t heard much from the factory about that one. But never mind all that—open up the throttle and listen to that big 6.2 wail! There’s no replacement for displacement, right? Can you imagine how this baby will tow your boat in the hills?

Actually, I’m glad I brought up towing, because there’s a lot to know. Put her on cruise control and I’ll explain. See, we have this new—oh my, brake, brake, BRAKE!!! Sorry to yell, sir, we were just coming up on that Camry so fast… No, this Sierra doesn’t have adaptive cruise control. None of them do. Yes, I know you can get adaptive cruise in a Honda Civic… yes, I know that icon on the HUD looks like adaptive cruise, but it’s really for the collision avoidance system. Say, did you notice how crisp the head-up display is?

Why don’t we exit the highway and I’ll tell you about our new ProGrade Trailering System. It has several different camera views, including an exclusive hitch guideline to help you line up your hitch with the trailer… oh, the F-150 has that? And the Nissan Titan? Huh. It also includes a built in trailer light test feature, which you start from the center screen or the GMC app on your smart phone… oh, the Titan has that too—and right on the key fob? Well, that certainly sounds more convenient… er, I mean more confusing!

Er, no, GMC doesn’t have anything like that Ford system that steers the trailer when you back up. Really? The Ram 1500’s blind-spot monitoring system automatically senses the length of the trailer? Wow. No, we don’t have that either. But look, we have a trailer hookup checklist right on the screen! Well, no, it doesn’t sense anything from the trailer; you just sort of press the little check marks…

Never mind that, how about the way this baby handles? Yes, I suppose it does drive a lot like the old Sierra. But that’s what we were going for, a traditional truck ride. You’re right, the magnetic ride suspension is gone, but they’ve replaced it with new adaptive dampers that let you adjust the ride quality. I know, the whole purpose of the magne-ride shocks was that you didn’t need to adjust them… yes, what the reviews said about them providing a great ride with no handling compromise was true, but… anyway, just twist that little knob over there, the unmarked one to the left of the steering wheel. See, you can adjust it between Tour and Sport, and—er, no, turn the other way, that’s snow mode. No, that’s tow/haul mode… yes, I know it’s a little confusing that you can’t see what mode you’re in before you change it, but what is life without a few surprises, right?

What? You can’t feel the difference between Tour and Sport? Well, after a few months of ownership of this fine truck, I’m sure you will! Here’s the dealership, just turn into that first driveway. Park here and let’s go back to my office.

Pricing? Oh, you’re looking at around 50 grand for a 4×4 SLT Crew Cab, and that Denali we drove lists for just over $68,000. Of course, I can make you a better—sir, are you okay? Jeez, you’d better sit down. Marcy, get this guy a glass of water. I don’t know what happened, one second he was walking right beside me, we’re chatting away about pricing, and all of a sudden he looks like he’s going to faint…

Ah, good, sir, your color is coming back. So, any questions?

Well, of course the 2019 GMC Sierra is all-new! All new from the ground up!

Yes, I suppose it is a lot like the old truck in some ways, but… Well, of course Denali is a luxury brand, but… Well, yes, I suppose a luxury vehicle should have those features, but… Yes, I suppose the interior could be a bit more upscale, but… Yes, we are asking an awful lot of money, but… but sir, what about that MultiPro tailgate? Nothing else like it in the industry!

2019 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali 4WD Crew Cab Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $59,495/$68,095 (base/as tested) ENGINE 6.2L OHV 16-valve V-8/420 hp @ 5,600 rpm, 460 lb-ft @ 4,100 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, 4WD pickup truck EPA MILEAGE 15/20 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 231.7 x 81.2 x 75.5 in WHEELBASE 147.4 in WEIGHT 5,443 lb 0-60 MPH N/A TOP SPEED N/A

IFTTT

[ramblingsbyrhi]

some spoilt brat type wall of words

What I’m about to write isn’t going to be pleasant or enjoyable or uplifting in any way, shape or form, so consider yourself fairly warned before you complain about my whinging as the ability to stop reading is entirely yours.

This stems from the troubles I’m having with my iphone.. hear me out, a web has begun. I’ve had iphones since I was 17, I’ve been through a few of them. I’ve never had major problems though until recently when my camera started malfunctioning for absolutely no apparent reason. At first it was only through apps and then the actual camera itself started shaking and wobbling, so any time I wish to take a photo I have to use the front camera. Which I understand is absolutely the biggest first world problem, but still, I paid over a thousand dollars for a product that I expect to work for a very long time, not for a couple of years then “HEY! We’re releasing unnecessary new products.. oh, whats that? Your phone broke? Well, my! How convenient!”.

Then the classic YOU ARE LOW ON STORAGE annoying as all fuck message started appearing contiiiinually no matter how many things I went through and got rid of (funny how it used to hold over 1000 photos and now it struggles at 5.. just saying is all). I thought, okay, I’ll try the update, that might fix a few bugs, right? Wrong. Try as I might, the iOS update WOULD. NOT. INSTALL. for various reasons, including but not limited to: lack of storage, no internet connection (the wifi was full, hmm), ERROR *insert some number that I googled how to fix, to no avail*, and pretty much no reason at all, just “failed.” Thanks Apple, I really appreciate those hours of my life you wasted. No, really, I probably wouldn’t have done anything productive with them anyway and the anger inspires me.

Everyone’s saying things to me like “Ohhh my god rhi, why don’t you just get the new phone when it comes out?!”. Yeah, that’s all well and good for the average Joe Blow who doesn’t mind the monthly hundred dollar bill. And you know what? That was me not all that long ago. In fact, earlier this year I did try to update my phone and plan however had a MAAASSSSSIVEEE battle with optus who a. sent me the wrong phone b. could not help me in getting the right phone c. agreed to cancel it and nevermind the upgrade because I was over it by then and they said they’d send me a satchel to return the phone in d. never sent me the satchel e. instead sent me a fifteen hundred dollar bill f. finally understood why I didn’t deserve the bill and sent me a satchel g. sent me more ridiculous bills h. sent some debt collecting company after me i. FINALLY helped me get to the bottom of why the fuck I was being sent the bill j. FIIINNALLY agreed to me paying thirty dollars and the account’d be settled k. didn’t bother clearing things up with the debt collectors who wouldn’t leave me alone no matter how many times I explained to them that I literally owed no money as it was Optus’ wrongdoing (I was given various instructions as to clearing my dads [oh yeah, to make matters worse optus refused to put the phone into my name but were more than happy to have me open up a new plan under it] name by several employees of this company, none of which worked).  BIG BREATH. So in the end I was glad because instead of paying almost a hundred per month to have a flash new phone, I kept my (what WAS) in-perfect-condition existing phone, and saved money by only paying for the calls and data etc. per month.  So now my response to the upgrading suggestion is why? Why should I have to pay more money because of something I already paid a lot of money for that isn’t working, when it should be in order? Why would I pay thousands of dollars for something, only to have to pay thousands more to replace it when it should last, being worth a thousand dollars and all? What the fuck? CONSUMERISM IS INCREDIBLE!

So you can imagine my feelings towards Apple and Optus right now. Which got me thinking about how reliant we are on these absolute piece of shit companies who cannot get it together despite how large they are and how many people have come to depend on them. DEPEND. It’s true, it really can’t be denied. We have come to RELY on always having phones and internet with us, one hundred percent of the time. I toyed with the idea of not having a mobile, because fuck it and fuck them taking all my money for me to still lose. Plus, 10 years ago I got by fine without having one so why can’t I now? And that’s the thing. I’m honestly starting to feel like as a society who have been spoilt with technology, we have become so dependent on it and every single thing we could need being accessible, that it would be weird and at least difficult to live without. Imagine my boss when I tell her I don’t have a mobile anymore, and she’d have to call me in on my home phone (which yes, we do have, but I know many people now do not. WHAT?? HOW?! because on the internet they are RELIANT!). I can’t imagine she’d be very pleased if I were out doing groceries or at the gym or, I don’t know, just enjoying my day off, and she needed me to come in ASAP but I was not at home to answer her phone call. But that’s how things worked not all that long ago, people lived that way and dealt with it. And imagine if I had no/no access to social media. How would I make friends or remain in contact with people, or start “talking” to a guy? That’s how it goes now, isn’t it? You meet or hear of someone you take an interest in, and straight to facebook or Instagram you go, and the rest is history. We joke about it, but it’s true! Is there another way people get to know each other now? Do people even text anymore now that everyone’s all over messenger?? TEN YEARS AGO PEOPLE!!! Life honestly changed in the blink of a fucking eye. A generation ago people kept in contact without all this shit, and they managed to marry and have babies and maintain lifelong friendships! CRAZY. I honestly feel like if the internet and social media were stripped away we’d be beside ourselves (especially those who go t rid of their home phones ;) ).

It’s all too easy and far too accessible. You really can find out too much about someone so quickly now, I imagine privacy and its definition will soon work itself into language of history alongside all that Shakespeare mumble that I regretfully do not understand. And I thoroughly believe that not only is our reliance on the ease and accessibility overall negative, but as is the impact it has upon everyone’s mentality and relationships. Or, what relationships have become with the bittersweet evolution of the www. Which would be what? What are they? What do young, and even older people want these days in regards to a relationship? Let me rattle off a few ideas, great suggestion you! The term “facebook official” is no longer a joke, it’s become a serious indicator about everyone’s status, which, is now apparently the business of everyone they know and a few randoms they’ve accepted in their friend requests along the way. Once two people’s relationship is officially recognised on the FB, I think they’re supposed to chuck up a few pics (ones with kisses on cheeks and selfies in adventurous looking locations, so people know they’re blossoming) and tag each other in emotional statuses, and memes of course. That way everyone can monitor that they’re still happily in love and evolving as a couple. Instagram pics a must as well, and a little mention of each other or at least the inclusion of each other’s initials in the little bio are also a standard requirement I believe. And that way, once the pics stop being uploaded or are deleted, along with the initials and the “SHARE WITH: PUBLIC” relationship status, everyone can know that things didn’t quite work out and they’ve dived back in with the other fish and considered a potential catch until they decide to have a bite of the next one, and the process repeats.

And repeats. And repeats. Or, doesn’t repeat. Because all of that really IS a huge commitment. Like, not only is keeping up appearances online an awful big exercise, but so is the stuff from the olden days that unfortunately we’re still supposed to do a little bit of, like spend genuine time with your SO, surprise them with gifts and flowers, introduce them to your family, begin your futures together, not jack off over other people’s instagrams, commit. Oh, my apologies, how silly of me to suggest that nan and pop jacked off over other people’s instagrams! Hahaha. No, back then these factors never came into play, because they didn’t exist. And by no means am I saying that pop never had a look up another girls ankle length skirt as she paraded up the staircase with a boy from out of town at the local dance, hell, he probably did that several times. PER DANCE. Or flirted with the bar lady at the pub after work, before he came home to nan’s incredible cooking and kept home. But he didn’t get the barmaid’s name, he didn’t look her up on facebook later and sneakily chat with her on MESSENGER while nan did the washing up god bless her. He went home and they became your grandparents because they committed to each other, despite nan checking out the milkman’s bum as he trekked back up the driveway of a morning, or pop watching the perky young woman next door whose bedroom window was positioned in his viewing favour.

They didn’t have the ease of access that we have not only taken for granted, but have let shape us in shitty ways. I truly feel like, and disagree if you want but I know it exists, we’ve become so used to accessing unlimited amounts of people, that we’re always wanting more. If Beyonce is going to get cheated on, who won’t? Is cheating nowadays even the same as it was twenty years ago? Ten years? Is flirting and or exchanging nudes over snapchat cheating? Because nothing physical happened, right? People these days ask for “nudes” (and I can say this with experience) before hardly getting the name of the nude-ee, and I can only imagine the number of requests sent to various people, and the variety they’ve seen, or unfortunately kept. With accessibility comes a massive lack of respect, and it has to go without saying that the concept of respect, and where it is given and deserved, has changed dramatically since pop first kissed nan’s hand at the dance. A “nude” back then would’ve had to have been strategically photographed, developed, enveloped, stamped, sent, waited for, received, and then cherished and kept under the bed, whereas now one could’ve requested and received ten different ones in the time it took me to write this fucking sentence, and even sent two on to his or her equally tasteless mates.

Not to mention the fact that he or she asked ten different people for them would go unquestioned. What is this “talking” that people do anyway? Any time someone has suggested that they and I did “talk” or are “talking” I shudder so hard Christchurch would prepare to rebuild. I think commitment is completely different to what it once was, what with tinder and the like and phones with locks on them and snapchats that disappear, no one has to be loyal to any one person if they don’t want to, and why would they? Why commit to one cake when you could taste a few on the regular, then replace them with the right swipe of your index finger when you feel like it? “Talking” doesn’t refer to anything serious, I don’t think. It’s like when you could probably get it on with someone but you aren’t letting people know about it because you’re “talking” (fucking, I presume) to a couple of other people as well, but you aren’t doing anything wrong or disrespecting anyone really because you aren’t dating you’re only TALKINNNGGG. Have I got it? Can someone confirm, or correct me? I’m so dying to know. And there are that many gorgeous humans in the world, no one can blame you for wanting to window shop and even go try on some things whilst doing so. There’s always going to be a prettier dress, or a comfier hoodie, or a new colour of vans. You can’t just buy the first or fifteenth you see, just in case. Missing out would be THE WORST. And you don’t owe it to any of them to discuss the predecessors or… (what’s the word for predecessors but happening at the same time? anyone? no word? funny that) if you are only talking and you’ve made it clear that that’s all you want. No commitments or relationships here, no sir-eee! And then suddenly your 30th birthday is coming up and you kind of feel like maybe you should have built a life with someone by now but you were too busy gaining notches in your belt and you still aren’t sure which dress you want the most so maybe you’ll give it until 35 before you make a massive decision and settle down and stop unknowingly spreading chlamydia. Maybe. There are far too many babes on Instagram to get through but hopefully another five years will get you close.

I do apologise for the tangent and apparent change in tone, but like I said earlier a web really formed in my mind at the shit performance of my phone. I suppose what I’m kind of but super not really getting at (or trying to, at least), is as great as technology is, I do think it’s really fucked up (a better term cannot be accessed at this time, not unlike the iOS update, strange). The idea of growing up around the time that my dad did, or even before, constantly lingers in the back of my mind. And yes, believe me I realise how pathetic that is coming from me as a type this contradictory slab of words; please understand that I’m grateful for the ease in which I can type up my thoughts as they occur, then share them and quite possibly connect with someone anywhere in the world who can relate at the mere click of a button and copy of a link (poor old pop might think I’m talking about imitating a chain). But I do sometimes feel like a lot of us have missed out on developing respect for each other and relationships of our own in ways that we’ll never even come close to within our society. We don’t put up THAT much of a fight at the fact that companies suck us in and take us for all we’ve got because they KNOW we can’t live without them and the latest and slimmest ever phone in existence. And I can only imagine living like this will only intensify and worsen as we advance in technology and the speed in which we can slide into people’s “dm”s. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s all in my head, but I decided a long time ago to stop holding my breath if even Beyonce had to.

[netmaddy-blog]

Microsoft Surface pro and Macbook Pro

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/microsoft-surface-pro-and-macbook-pro/

Microsoft Surface pro and Macbook Pro

Imperfect, Heavy, Light, Powerful, and Excellent.

Just shy of one year ago, I transitioned from a Macbook Pro and iPad combo to a Microsoft Surface Pro 128GB. In light of this week’s announcement of Surface Pro 3 and my acquisition of a Surface Pro 2, I think it’s time to reflect on what that experience was like. Like most folks, I was a little skeptical about the idea of combining a laptop and tablet into a single unit. Would it be too heavy? Would the performance be too low? Would the battery life be awful? And what about the new Windows 8 OS that’s been the subject of so much teeth-gnashing? I’ll try to answer all these questions and more as succinctly as possible. Hit the jump and let’s get into the question: what’s it like to live with Microsoft’s vision for computing in the future?

1. The Operating System, starring Windows 8/8.1:

Windows 8.1 Update 1 had a good head start with Windows 8, as I started using it during the first publicly available betas about 9 months before launch, dual booting on my Macbook Pro. That experience gave me plenty of time to figure out how to navigate the OS well before launch, so I didn’t have the struggle that a lot of people did. Of course, it probably helps that I just naturally enjoy exploring and discovering new things. The early Windows 8 experience did have its struggles, though. I’d become accustomed to the iPad and even to my Windows Phone 7 device, both of which had lots of apps available in their stores. Windows 8’s store was notoriously barren by comparison, and that led to some early frustration when trying to use Surface Pro as just a tablet. Too many apps and features were missing to make for a satisfying experience.

Nevertheless, the device’s ability to handle legacy Windows desktop apps with aplomb kept me satisfied enough to continue, and the app store dilemma became less important by the day. If there’s one thing Windows really needs to fix, though, is its way of presenting the desktop. The desktop is still wrapped in the trappings of an archaic system whose time has passed, and it’s time for Microsoft to update it to a more modern presentation that has fonts big enough to read on high DPI screens and large enough to operate with a finger.

With 8.1 and the new 8.1 Spring Update (really? We couldn’t just call it 8.2?), virtually all my complaints about Windows 8 evaporated. While some dislike the new aesthetic, I’ve personally found myself loving the flat colors, active tiles and removal of extraneous effects. My sincere hope is that as Windows evolves it gets even flatter and the metro aesthetic becomes more pervasive.

Suggestion: Use a Microsoft account, and use OneDrive! I can’t stress these enough. If you’re using Windows 8–and on a Surface Pro, you will be–you shouldn’t create an old-fashioned local account. Doing so cuts you off from some of Windows 8’s best features. Among these is the ability to have almost your entire PC configuration, right down to tile sizes, locations and apps installed, backed up to your OneDrive account in the event you either need to restore your PC or you sign into a different Windows 8.1 PC. Best, though, is that with OneDrive you get 7GB storage for free, which, while not enough to cover, say, your music and photos collection, is probably plenty to ensure your critical documents are all safely backed up within moments of you making any change. It’s easy to learn to save to your OneDrive folder, and once you’ve become accustomed to having that safety net you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

2. The Hardware: Build Quality, Heft, and Capability.

Surface Pro Docking Station

I used to lug around a 2010 Macbook Pro 13.3″, which weighed 4.5 pounds, and an iPad 1, which weighed 1.5 pounds for a total of 6 pounds. So when I say that the 2.5 pound total of the Surface Pro and Type Cover was a big weight off my back, I’m really not kidding. The sacrifice was that I had a smaller screen, but the gain was a far more powerful processor and far superior screen resolution and pixel density. The build quality is exceptional: there is literally zero flex to this device, its magnesium shell is hard and sturdy enough to withstand probably more abuse than you should feel comfortable making your PC go through. As a tablet, it’s half a pound heavier than that original iPad was, but as a laptop it has a huge advantage over anything Apple offers. But you probably wonder what I use my Surface Pro for?

Workload

I’ve spent most of the past year as a film school student at UCLA, which means that a lot of my workload involves editing and transcoding video, compositing after effects compositions, transferring footage across different media and so on. I use Adobe Premiere for most of these tasks, and my Surface Pro has handled them all with grace. I’ve had no problems editing and rendering 1080p video in real-time. And as you’d expect from a Windows machine with a full size USB port, working with external hard drives and optical drives is a breeze. Suffice to say, I also do the basics including working in Microsoft Office, writing in Final Draft, checking email, browsing the web, yada yada. Overall, I’ve had no complaints save one: early on, my first Surface Pro had some serious problems with the Marvell Avastar wifi chip and had to be exchanged, a problem that’s not entirely uncommon with this device. More on that later.

Webcams

Let’s be honest: the webcams on this device suck. They’re flat-out terrible, and there’s no getting around that fact. They’re fine for basic Skype video calls, but that’s pretty much it. If you really need to record video, use something else. Anything else.

Stylus

I frequently take notes in OneNote MX (that’s the metro version), especially lately. Like most students, I have tended over the past few years to type my notes, but recent studies show that students who take notes by hand tend to do better on tests. Well, I’m all for evidence based research, so I took this to heart, but I’m also lazy, which means I don’t want to type things after I’ve written them down. Enter Surface Pro’s stylus and voila: I can hand write my notes and have them in a digital format all at the same time. Hell yes. I find that the stylus, despite its cheap plastic feel, works well as a digital inking device. Some complain about the lack of a dock for the stylus, but honestly, I’ve no issues with that. I’ve been using it for a year and have yet to lose the thing.

Art Related Work

Last note on usability: my fiancée, artist Kelley Frisby, got her Surface Pro on launch day precisely because of the integrated Wacom digitizer with 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. From the outset the usage here was contentious because Surface Pro shipped without a pressure sensitive driver that Photoshop could understand. However, once that driver materialized, she took to using the stylus all the time. And when we learned about Manga Studio Pro from artist Jonathan Case’s website, things really went off the hook as she found it to be far superior to photoshop for creating hand drawn illustrations. That she can have her Surface Pro on her lap with pressure sensitivity while she draws, and her keyboard handy for using keyboard shortcuts, is a huge benefit that other tablets simply don’t offer. Truly, if you’re an artist who draws and paints digitally, Surface Pro is the device for you. Nothing else combines so many hardware capabilities and broad software availability.

3. Battery Life

Surface Pro Kickstand

This is the one serious issue that has dogged the Surface Pro since its original launch, despite the fact that it was never as bad as people claimed or the fact that Surface Pro 2 completely mitigated the issue (and by all reports, Surface Pro 3 does even better). Early claims were that Surface Pro got about 3.5 hours of battery life. And under certain circumstances, that’s true: watching 1080p videos with the brightness up while downloading stuff in the background will, like any other device, eat battery life much more than average usage will. But that’s only part of the test, isn’t it? Under normal usage, which I’ll define as web, email and word processing, Surface Pro 1 will get 5 hours battery life right out of the box. With some mild tweaks to the power profile, which I’ve detailed in one of our most popular posts, it’s entirely possible to get 6-7 hours of battery life. My best time was just over 8 hours total, but with a caveat: I was working with the wifi turned off, writing in Word, in a low light situation where I could comfortably turn down the screen brightness to minimum. Most people I know get in the range of 5-6 hours.

Why I Switched

Let’s be as clear as possible here: the Surface Pro is not a flawless device, but then, neither is anything else. My chief complaints are that the desktop in Windows 8.x needs a Modern UI revamp, and I wish the screen were a little bigger. I hope to upgrade to a Surface Pro 3 at some point in the future for that very reason, though my suspicion is that the artist community, such as my own wonderful Kelley Frisby, will hesitate to upgrade as a result of the new device’s possibly inferior N-Trig digitizer.

So that leaves the big question: why did I switch? That’s a complicated question. First, I was never sold on Mac OSX, but when Apple’s Bootcamp 5 update removed my ability to install Windows 8 as a dual-boot OS choice, claiming it wasn’t compatible with the computer I’d been using for 2.5 years (and at that, running Windows 8 on for 9 months), the final straw broke. This was the third time Apple’d created problems for my devices, following the iOS 5 update that slowed my iPad to a crawl and the iOS 4 update that made my iPhone 3G all but unusable.

The prospect of having a tablet and laptop all in a single device was also very appealing to me. Yes, there are compromises: it’s a little heavier than a tablet and a little smaller than a typical laptop, but the overall effect is a net positive, and I’m happy to say that my year with Surface Pro has me convinced: Microsoft’s vision of a world where tablets are just slim, light, touch-friendly PC’s is the right one. That we now see even desktop all-in-ones becoming large tablets (seriously, have you seen the Dell Venue Pro 18″ tablets? Crazy!) and touch slowly but surely spreading even to budget level laptops, is a good sign the convergence Microsoft predicted when it announced the original Surface Pro is really happening.

Problems I had & Solutions Microsoft offered

Surface by Microsoft

I mentioned the problem my original Surface Pro had with its wifi chip awhile ago, but there’s more to that story. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago my Surface Pro once again began having problems with the wifi chip, and no update, driver replacement, or even a system reset helped. Eventually the device started blue screening repeatedly, so I took it in to see what Microsoft could do for me. To my complete surprise, they handed me a brand new Surface Pro 2 and even let me pay the difference to upgrade it to the 256GB/8GB model, which I eagerly did. The new device is basically all the great stuff about Surface Pro 1, distilled into a purer form. Same weight, size and shape, slightly better screen (though I honestly can’t tell the difference, for what it’s worth), and the Type Cover 2 is a fantastic little keyboard that does its job with aplomb. I’m very happy indeed, and more than glad I bought the extended warranty.

Value Proposition

I’ve seen a lot of folks argue that the Surface Pro series is too expensive, and I can understand why. $999 before you even add the keyboard seems like a pretty tough pill to swallow, especially for a tablet when you live in a world of $499 iPads and $199 Kindle Fires. But I think it’s worth remembering what you get when you buy into the Surface Pro system:

1. You get an ultrabook that can run just about any legacy Windows app you can throw at it. It has excellent RAM options (4-8GB) and storage options (64-512GB), a full-sized USB port and both wired and wireless external monitor support (the latter via Miracast). In Apple land, this costs you $900 minimum.

2. You get a tablet that can do anything an iPad or Android tablet can do, plus more, with the only drawback being sheer numbers of apps. Even that is changing as the Windows Store approaches 200,000 and will soon merge with the Windows Phone store to boot. And because it’s Windows, you also get the perk of individual user accounts right out of the box. In Apple land, this is another $400+

3. A digital drawing/inking solution. Whether you just take notes or you do fine art, the Surface Pro has you covered. You don’t get this in Apple land at all. You instead buy a USB tablet that does not have a screen for $100+, or you buy a Cintiq to connect to your Macbook for $1,000.

Long story short: at first glance, yes, it looks like Surface Pro/2 is expensive, but you get a tremendous amount of value for your money.

Last Words

Would I recommend the Surface Pro or Pro 2? Absolutely, especially if you’re an artist or someone who’s just sick and tired of lugging around multiple devices. We live in a world where our computing hardware is not just powerful, but can do its job with surprisingly little energy or heat. There’s just no reason to carry two devices in your bag in addition to the smartphone in your pocket. If I could have a wish granted, it’d be for Microsoft to add an extra USB 3.0 port, thunderbolt, and move from an mSATA to a PCIe SSD. Mind you, it doesn’t exactly need those items, but the hardware nerd in me would be really happy to have them.

As for Surface Pro 3, well, I’d love to review it, and more importantly I’d love to put it in the hands of our classically trained illustrator so she can put it through its paces and render a verdict on its usefulness as an artist’s digital tablet, but so far haven’t had any luck getting time with the new device. But hey, if Microsoft would like to let us borrow one, we could probably work something out!

Oh, almost forgot: do buy Microsoft’s extended warranty for Surface Pro, no matter what version you buy. It’ll really pay off if anything ever goes wacky with your device, and it even offers accidental damage protection, which is usually pretty expensive if it’s offered at all.