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tigerkirby215 · 4 years ago

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5e Oleander, the Dark Unicorn build (Them’s Fightin’ Herds)

(Artwork by Mane 6)

My brain completely didn’t register that it was spooky month, even though ironically I made a build for literal Satan last week. Where do you go after making the pure embodiment of evil? …Unicorns are scary, right? I mean they’re certainly scarier than a scarecrow.

GOALS

My magic may be dark, but it will bring light to the world - It seems all you need to do to get phenomenal cosmic power is read a cursed book. We’ll need teleportation, chapter traps, and Eldritch Shadow Blasts.

Or dark; either one - Oli’s got friends on the other side... of the page. FHTNG, I summon thee!

I don't have the time or crayons to teach you how to fight! - You’re still a fighting game character so you’ve still got to be able to throw a punch. Or stab with a horn in your case.

RACE

If you want to be a unicorn the closest you’ll get is Centuar, but even if you ignore the stats Centaur isn’t that great for you. Almost all the abilities are based on keeping in melee range, and you’re mostly played as a zoner.

With that in mind you’re only half under the influence of darkness, so how about a Drow Half-Elf for all the fun of being a Drow without the penalties and lore connotations of being a female Drow? (Feel free to play a full Drow if you wish just realize that you’re getting Sunlight Sensitivity which is seriously obnoxious.) Your Charisma increases by 2 and you can increase another two abilities by 1: Dexterity and Constitution will let you dodge some hits and tank what few hits do connect. You have Darkvision up to 60 feet and your Fey Ancestry gives you advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

As a Drow Half-Elf you can pick up Drow Magic for a bit of extra spark in your shadow sparks which I’ll go over at the appropriate levels. And you get Common, Elvish, and one additional language of your choice so grab Deep Speech to talk with Fred. (Note: Depending on your DM Fred may not speak Deep Speech.)

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re as nimble as a horse, because you are a horse. (That, and I want this ability score to be even.)

14; CHARISMA - You are the prettiest unicorn with a mane as white as... well it was white.

13; CONSTITUTION - When in the business of fighting cows, ice deer, and sheep with armies of puppies you’ve gotta be able to take a hit.

12; INTELLIGENCE - Read enough books and you’re bound to get some smarts, even if that book is alive and is teaching you how to manipulate darkness.

10; WISDOM - Oli is a smart cookie. Not smart enough to realize that reading the demon book would make your coat black, but still pretty smart.

8; STRENGTH - I’d argue that a head horn is a finesse weapon, and simply put we need everything else more.

BACKGROUND

To find a forbidden shadow book you’ve gotta know your way around a library, and as a Sage you know exactly that. You get proficiency in Arcana and History along with two languages of your choice (to maximize Demonology take Infernal and Abyssal, though you may want to talk to your extended family with Sylvan or Celestial.)

Your Researcher feature will always let you know where to find a book that you may need. It may not be easy to find (if it’s back home with your old friends they probably won’t welcome you in) but you’ll know where to go to grab it.

(Artwork by Linvidia on DeviantArt)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - WARLOCK 1

Hey it’s the funny class I use too much! Jokes aside you literally get your magic from an otherworldly being so what else would you be? Regardless Warlocks get proficiency in two skills from the Warlock list: Investigation will help you search for the key and Intimidation will let you scare away anyone who’ll try to stop you.

Unlike most classes Warlocks choose their subclass at level 1, and there’s certainly a lot to pick from. But without any Shadow patron who is there to choose? Well the Archfey patron can recreate a lot of Fred’s powers. Notably Fey Presence will let Fred give your foes a jump! As an action you can cause each creature near you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your Warlock save DC: the creatures that fail their saving throws are either charmed or frightened by you until the end of your next turn. Consider the charm being you and your natural unicorn beauty. Regardless you can use this action once per short or long rest.

And of course as a Warlock you get access to Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list and hey look it’s Eldritch Blast: for the shadow spark in you. To rip out some pages take Create Bonfire to lay down some Chapter Traps. Now would also be a good time to mention that thanks to Drow Magic you also get access to the Dancing Lights cantrip, in case you’re in a dark cave and your Darkvision isn’t enough.

You can also learn two first level spells: Arms of Hadar will let you stick a tentacle out of your book to give yourself space to back away from your enemies. To make it easier to get past an opponent’s block Faerie Fire from the Archfey list will light up an opponent’s weak spot to give you and your allies advantage. It helps to know the hitboxes.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get access to Eldritch Invocations and oh hello there Agonizing Blast! How did you get here? Jokes aside for your other invocation grab Armor of Shadows to keep it light and still be up for a fight!

You can also learn another spell: Sleep is also from the Archfey list and as the name implies it’ll put your enemies to sleep! No one likes late night fights, especially with net lag.

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks can choose their Pact Boon and since your best friend lives in a book you’ve gotta take Pact of the Tome. As a Tome Warlock you get the Unicornomicon Book of Shadows, in which you can inscribe three cantrips from any class’ spell list. Guidance is never a bad thing to have so I’d start with that; get Fred to help you with your research, as he’s literally a living book! Thaumaturgy will let you channel some shadow magic to do spooky stuff like make candles flicker or create ominous whispers. And to channel some of your unicorn magic take Druidcraft to shape nature somewhat.

You can also now learn second level spells: for some short range teleportation take Misty Step to vanish in a puff of darkness. And remember that Faerie Fire spell? Thanks to Drow Magic you can cast it once per long rest without using a spell slot.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Charisma to be the prettiest unicorn of darkness.

You can also learn another spell along with another cantrip! For your cantrip take Prestidigitation to complete the trifecta of minor magic mastery. As for leveled spells Mirror Image will let you up your dodging game, putting you in four places at once to make it much harder for your enemy to hit you!

(Artwork by Angelzillah on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation and hopefully you didn’t expect Fred to do nothing but whisper sweet nothings to you, right? With Book of Ancient Secrets you can spend some time reading to cast a variety of spells! When you take this invocation you learn two 1st level spells with the Ritual tag like Detect Magic and Identify to help you find the key or anything else of importance. You can now cast those spells as Ritual spells, as well as any Warlock spells you may learn with the Ritual tag. You can also inscribe new Ritual spells into Fred your Book of Shadows at a cost of 50 gp and 2 hours per level of the spell.

And speaking of spells you can learn third level spells at this level such as Fear, which causes fear in your enemies. Funny how that works. Additionally thanks to Drow Magic you can cast the Darkness spell once per Long Rest, to turn off the lights and let Fred out to play. Sadly you don’t have Fred yet, and it should be mentioned that most people can’t see through the dark.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Archfey Warlocks get some more potent teleportation with Misty Escape. When you take damage you can use your reaction to turn invisible and teleport up to 60 feet. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn unless you attack or cast a spell. You can only use this super teleport once per short or long rest, but it should be enough for some mix-ups right?

Speaking of mix-ups you can put your opponents in a dizzy state with Hypnotic Pattern. Just remember that hitting them will break them out of it.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks can learn 4th level spells like Dimension Door for some cross-map teleports.

You can also grab another Eldritch Invocation! Trickster’s Escape will let you tech out of grabs. Is Freedom of Movement overly situational? Yes! Are there better invocations to choose? Yes! Are they in character? No! But anything can be in character if you want it to be!

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement so cap off your Charisma to be a master of shadows.

You can also learn another spell and I think it’s about time: Dark spirits, twist the trees, foul the lake, and curse this land! FHTNG I SUMMON THEE! Summon Aberrant Spirit is an Unearthed Arcana spell likely to be in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything that lets you summon a tentacle monster from beyond! Fred can take the form of a Beholderkin, Slaadi, or Star Spawn.

Star Spawn is probably the closest to Fred, attacking a creature’s mind with his attacks and also having an aura that drains at their sanity. The Slaadi is a good tank that can also counter cheese strats by denying healing. And the Beholderkin? Well it can fly and shoot at range. Fred’s a demon of many forms, and he’s also fun at parties!

(Artwork by probablyfakeblonde on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 9

Now that we’ve got our book smarts it’s time to improve our combat smarts. If you’re going to fight predators you need to have the best combat training possible, which is why we’ll be going into the class that is the most well-known for expertise in combat...

BARD 1

The Bard class, master of close-ranged combat with expertise in every skill required to keep you in a fight. Jokes aside first level Bards get proficiency with a skill of their choice (Perception would further help with spotting danger or potential keyholders) and a musical instrument. (Pan Flutes seem in character for a forest child.) Bards also get Bardic Inspiration at first level, letting you pull out an assist to give allies a d6 to attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws.

But most notably Bards get more Spellcasting! You get two cantrips from the Bard list: to weaponize salt take Vicious Mockery, for BM so bad your opponent messes up. Psychological warfare! And since you don’t have hands of your own as a unicorn (you do as a half-elf though) grab Mage Hand to use your magic to grab things with your horn.

You can also learn 4 spells from the Bard list: for some dark powers manipulating your foes take Dissonant Whispers. For some dark powers helping you take Unseen Servant. To recover more easily from air combos take Feather Fall. And for some push-blocking take Thunderwave for more push and less block.

LEVEL 10 - BARD 2

Second level Bards get Jack of All Trades, letting you add half your proficiency bonus to any skill you aren’t already proficient in. Dark magic works in strange and mysterious ways... and Fred’s a long book. You also get Song of Rest to let your allies heal an extra d6 during short rests, which is nice because you’re going to be short resting a lot as a Warlock. I mean, you’re level 10 so a d6 of healing probably isn’t going to help much but...

You can also learn another spell like Bane, giving your opponents some input lag to open them up for attacks.

LEVEL 11 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills of their choice: Arcana will make you the master of the arcane, and Intimidation... you have a literal demon as your best friend.

But more importantly you can choose your Bard college and to actually gain some combat proficiency go into the College of Valor. Along with proficiency in medium armor, martial weapons, and shields (Oli doesn’t wear armor but Medium Armor might be nice. The only weapon you’ll really be using is a rapier but if your DM allows it there’s no reason not to equip a shield?) you also further your assists with Combat Inspiration, allowing your inspiration die to be added to damage rolls and AC; basically the only two things you couldn’t add it to before.

And you can learn second level spells such as Locate Object, because these silly ungulates keep losing their keys!

LEVEL 12 - BARD 4

4th level Bards get an Ability Score Improvement and Dexterity will make you tougher to hit while also increasing the potency of your horn stabs.

You can also learn another spell along with another cantrip! A lot of people say Friends is a bad cantrip because it makes the person you’re talking to hate you after using it but here’s the thing: Friends works on Intimidation checks too. Who cares if they hate you when they fear you? But a spell that people don’t say is bad is Lesser Restoration, which will help you break out of stun lock.

LEVEL 13 - BARD 5

5th level Bards see their Bardic Inspiration increase to a d8 which is great because they also get Font of Inspiration, allowing their Bardic Inspiration to come back on a short rest. Told you you’d be doing a lot of short rests!

You can also learn third level spells like Sending to challenge your friends to a duel, as long as they’re on the same plane of existence. TFH isn’t on the Epic Games Store; thank god.

LEVEL 14 - BARD 6

6th level Valor Bards get an Extra Attack, letting them attack twice with the attack action; it’s really that simple. Well you do also get another spell, and I have no doubt that Oleander’s used to speaking in Tongues... Oh and you get Contercharm which is godawful poop-garbage, letting you spend your action to give your allies advantage against Charms and Fears. Maybe this is why TFH is a 1v1 game; no need to use Countercharm?

(Artwork by SinniePony on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 9

5th level spell time! For a massive single target Shadow Blast grab Negative Energy Flood! Look, just because we’ve never seen Oleander turn someone into a zombie...

You can also grab another invocation and while we’ve never seen Oleander fly Ascendant Step is an insane utility that I’m sure Oli would’ve learnt to reach the high book shelves.

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fey Warlocks have Beguiling Defenses for immunity against charms, and if someone attempts you charm you you can spend your reaction to instead charm them! You can also learn another cantrip like Minor Illusion to manipulate the shadows around you.

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get a 6th level Mystic Arcanum, which is a 6th level spell that uses a 6th level slot that comes back after a long rest. There are a lot of nice options at 6th level but if Fred is getting grabby he might send them to a Mental Prison. If they succeed against the spell they take a bunch of psychic damage but if they fail they are surrounded by an illusion which only they can see which has “hideous maws filled with dripping teeth” as one of the available options. Basically Fred sends them to a hellscape and they can either sit there in horror or try to break out, taking 10d10 psychic damage in the process.

You can also learn another regular Warlock spell from the regular Warlock spell list: Dream will let you reach your foes even in their dreams (duh) and let Fred give them a spook to stop them from sleeping! Or you can use it for some otherworldly messaging. Maybe use it to call a smug reindeer a pompous princess?

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 12

12th level means an Ability Score Improvement: time to cap off that Dexterity modifier to be quick on your feet and sharp with your horn!

Additionally you get your last Eldritch Invocation at this level: there are a lot of options but none that really feel in-character, so pick whatever you want.

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 13

13th level Warlocks get their 7th level Mystic Arcanum: while there are a lot of good options Crown of Stars will let you charge up some powerful shadow blasts, creating 7 stars that float around you and shed light. You can shoot one out as a bonus action to do 4d12 Radiant damage. While you have a star floating above you it also creates light, which might be useful.

And you additionally get another regular Warlock spell: since it’s my build take Synaptic Static, because I like this spell. Have Fred assault your foes minds to make them easier to read!

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 14

As a 14th level Archfey you can finally pull your foes into Fred’s realm! Dark Delirium gives you a new not-quite-spell: Take an action to choose a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you. It must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, it is charmed or frightened by you for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken, though the effect ends early if the creature takes any damage.

Until this illusion ends, the creature thinks it is lost in a misty realm, the appearance of which you choose. The creature can see and hear only itself, you, and the illusion. You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this again, but your time in the pixel lobby to do as you please. Maybe just teabag to taunt them with a unicorn shuffle.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

So naïve trying to beat me - Maxed out Charisma means the best spells you can get. Maxed out Dexterity with Mage Armor means 18 AC (up to 20 if your DM lets you slap a shield on!) And a +2 CON mod means your health isn’t bad either!

Fine, but let's make it quick - A lot of your better features come back on short rests. Both Bardic Inspiration and your 5th level Pact slots are easily refreshable, allowing you to always be ready for a fight.

I have trained years for this; you will not dissuade me - Despite coming from a game without assists you are a master of helping your friends. Jack of All Trades in all skills, Bardic Inspiration for all rolls, plenty of utility spells (including an ungodly amount of cantrips and Book of Ancient Secrets to handle any ritual spells) and plenty of languages to top it off.

CONS

I am no weakling! - Big investment in AC... not so much in saving throws. Your Intelligence, Constitution, and notably Strength all have very low saving throws.

Itty-bitty living space - Low Constitution saves mean a frequent drop of concentration. And speaking of concentration you’ve got a lot of them but can only have one up at a time. Can’t have Fred around if you want to float too.

Need... more... power... - Truthfully there’s a lot I didn’t take from Warlock. I didn’t take any of the better spells from Archfey like Blink, Greater Invisibility, or Dominate Person. You could’ve gotten level 15 Eldritch Invocations like Witch Sight and Shroud of Shadows, but I wanted Extra Attack. Truthfully if you know your campaign will be going to level 20 then Warlock 15 / Bard 5 might be a better build, and nothing is forcing you to take the spell I did.

But you’re used to being underestimated. When it comes to matters of life-and-death any advantage is necessary. So go all out with your friend on the other side! Fight with spell and horn sword to prove that all magic can save the world. Well, perhaps not salt magic...

(Animation by Szafir87 on DeviantArt. Original artwork by OgaraOrCynder on DeviantArt.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd warlock #yup more warlocks xd #dnd bard #tfh #Them's Fightin' Herds #Them's Fightin' Herds Oleander #Oleander #unicorn #tfh unicorn #tfh Oleander #ungulate #demon

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missmentelle · 6 years ago

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Tips for following and managing deadlines in college and as an adult? I didn’t realize adulthood requires so much paperwork

Adulthood does require a lot of paperwork (as does my specific job), and I have also sometimes struggled to keep up with it at times! I have ADHD that I manage without medication, and that has required me to come up with a lot of creative strategies for managing deadlines and responsibilities. If you’re struggling, I recommend:

Use the technology that’s available. There are a lot of apps and programs out there to help you keep track of things, and many of them are free. Ideally, look for apps that you can sync across multiple devices. I personally relied on Google Calendar to get me through graduate school - you can enter deadlines and tasks, and set up reminders for yourself to jog your memory. It also gives you a visual look at your schedule, so you can see where you have space to slot extra tasks into your day. In addition to Google Calendar, I recommend checking out Any.Do, Habitica, Bear, EverNote, and 24Me. You can also use the built-in reminder app on your phone, and if remembering to jot things down is a struggle for you, iPhone users can verbally tell Siri to set a reminder for them - I use this function of Siri several times per day. There is no shame in being dependent on technology to manage your life; there are great programs out there, and it’s okay to use the tools that are available. It doesn’t matter which app you choose, or how many apps you choose - it’s about finding a system that works for you.

Try bullet journalling or using an organizer. If technology just doesn’t work for you, you can also try using pen-and-paper methods to keep your life on track. You can find pre-made organizers and agendas at any bookstore, complete with calendars, to-do lists and daily agendas. If you want more control over format, you can also look into starting a bullet journal. It may take a while to set up your bullet journal and get the hang of using it, but when you’re done, you have a fully customized organizational system that can help you track whatever needs tracking in your life. I personally use a bullet journal, and I find it immensely helpful.

Invest in a filing cabinet. Shoving important documents into random drawers and cupboards is an excellent way to not be able to find those documents when you need them. Invest in a small filing cabinet, and take an afternoon to sort and label your important papers. All your essential ID documents, school paperwork, financial paperwork, etc, should be properly sorted and labelled so that you know exactly what documents are where. The time that you spend creating and setting up this system will save you a lot of panicked hours digging through random piles of paperwork you shoved into a drawer in the future.

Automate whatever tasks you can. If your bill payments can be automated, do it. If you have products that you regularly use, set up an automatic order of them on Amazon. If you’re going on vacation and don’t want to waste hours emailing everyone to let them know, set up an automatic reply that lets people know when you’ll be back. If it can be automated, automate it. The best way to keep track of deadlines is to minimize the number of deadlines you need to keep track of. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and stress.

Write everything down. The easiest way to miss a deadline is to forget to write it down. Never assume that you are going to remember something just because you promised yourself you would. If you have something you need to remember, jot it down, enter it into whatever organizational tool you are using, and make sure you set a reminder. Seeing all your tasks written out can help you figure out which deadlines are coming up first, and plan your time accordingly.

Do chores on a schedule. Trying to wing your deadlines and household chores is a really awesome way to find yourself frantically doing laundry at 2 in the morning because you have a big presentation in the morning and you’re totally out of clean clothes. Figure out a regular weekly schedule for your chores, and enter them into your calendar. Not only will this help you visualize how much time your chores take up every week, but doing chores regularly saves you a lot of time and energy - it’s much better to spend 10 minutes per week wiping down the shower stall, rather than spending 3 hours trying sandblast a month’s worth of soap scum off the tub.

Break large projects down into small, manageable chunks. Let’s say you have a huge term paper due three months from now at the end of the semester. Your grades and sanity both depend on you not waiting until the last minute to write that paper. But when you think about how much work needs to be done to write that paper - thinking of a topic, researching, outlining, writing, proofreading, citing, formatting, etc - it’s easy to get completely overwhelmed, and procrastinate working on the paper until the 11th hour. Instead of having an all-out, last-minute panic, start by breaking large projects down into tasks that don’t seem so daunting. If you need to write a 20-page paper with at least 10 cited sources, start by giving yourself 2 weeks to find 5 good sources to cite. Then in the next two weeks, find 5 more sources to cite. Then in the two weeks after that, write the outline. You get the picture. When tasks are broken down, it becomes a lot less overwhelming to do them, and you make much better progress.

Learn to prioritize. There are two things you need to think about when you’re trying to prioritize a task - how urgent it is, and how important it is. An urgent task is one that has to be done soon; an important task is one that has a very important outcome for you. All the tasks in your life fall somewhere on the urgent-important spectrum. If tax deadline is in three days and you haven’t filed yet, filing your taxes is both urgent and important. Taking the garbage out when the can is full is urgent, but not important - nothing in your life will go terribly wrong if you don’t do it. If you want to be a writer someday, working on your writing is important, but not urgent - there’s no deadline, but your life will be hugely negatively impacted if you don’t do it. In general, when you’re prioritizing, tasks should be done in the following order: important + urgent > urgent but not important > important but not urgent > neither important nor urgent. Sometimes, prioritizing means letting things slide if they aren’t worth the time and effort to do them. When you’re a student, this often means taking a hard look at how important something is. If you have a pop quiz tomorrow that’s worth 2% of your grade, and a midterm in two days worth 25% that you are completely unprepared for, your best bet is to take a quick skim of your pop quiz notes and spend the bulk of your time studying for the midterm, even if it means getting a mediocre grade on the quiz.

Overestimate how much time you’ll need to complete a project. How much time do you think it’s going to take you to finish that homework assignment that’s due next week? Think about all the contingencies - assume that you get stuck a couple times and have to scour the internet for answers, or call up your friend who took the class last semester. Maybe you estimate that the assignment should take 4 hours total to complete. Perfect - now schedule yourself 6-8 hours to actually get it done. People tend to dramatically overestimate their own efficiency, and underestimate the time it takes them to actually finish important tasks. If you don’t want to be scrambling all the time, the best thing you can do is intentionally overestimate how much time you need.

Do a regular “life audit”. Every 1-2 weeks, block out some time to sit down and take stock of everything that’s going on in your life. How did the previous week go? Did you get everything done that you needed to? Is there anything you need to catch up on? What are the things that are coming up in your life? What needs to get done this week? Are you making progress toward your goals? How’s the household chore situation? What do you need to prioritize for the week ahead? Is there anything that you’re wasting too much time on? Are there any papers or files that you need to put away in your filing cabinet before they get lost? Checking in with yourself regularly gives you a chance to catch small issues before they can snowball into enormous problems.

Staying on top of deadlines is a skill, and it’s easy to mess up every now and then. We all do it. The key is to keep trying, and to keep striving for improvement.

Best of luck to you!

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adamwatchesmovies · 5 years ago

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The Best of 2019

What a year. By the time 2019 ended, I had seen over 130 new movies. It's actually probably closer to 150 but I lost count. There are a few titles I missed, such as The Dead Don’t Die, The Fanatic and Honeyland so obviously, this is not an all-encompassing, definitive list of 2019’s best, but it should give you a good idea of which films you need to check out if you haven’t already.

I usually like to save the #10 spot on my list for a movie that’s just for me. Normally, this would mean a giant monster movie, an off-beat creation nobody else saw, a comic book movie that spoke to my particular tastes or maybe a Canadian movie I know didn’t get the opportunity to shine like it should’ve. This year, that’s not happening. Trimming my list down to 10 was hard enough. I certainly wasn’t going to sacrifice one more to make it just 9. Let's dig in.

10. The Farewell

It’s been weeks since The Farewell and I’m still thinking about it. If I was put in the same position as Billi, I'm not sure what I'd do? Is it better to tell someone that's dying that their days are numbered, or should you spare them from that burden? Is it really them you’d be sparing, or is keeping the secret for your own selfish needs? Writer/director Lulu Wang asks serious questions about culture I had never contemplated before. There’s a lot for you here and even more if your family comes from mixed backgrounds.

9. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I heard some complaints about Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) not being the main character of this film by Marielle Heller, from writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. It was the right choice. The plot has a cyical reporter meet Rogers and through their relatively brief interaction, learn what we knew going in. It delivers a moving character arc without having to stain its subject with flaws we didn't want to see. The quasi-meta presentation is what elevates it into top-10 status. That extra touch means it does a lot more than simply re-iterate what we saw in the 2018 documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?.

8. Knives Out

Knives Out is one of the most entertaining films all year. There are no profound moments of meditation, no earth-shattering realizations about yourself, just a mystery to be solved. All the suspects are so intriguing they could be the stars of their own movies. Put together in the same house as a dead body and you’ve got no idea who did it. Its screenplay is excellent. The twists are juicy. Everything ads up in a satisfying manner. Rian Johnson is already working on a sequel. I can’t wait.

7. Apollo 11

There are few holdovers from the list I made halfway through the year, which either says something about the strength of the second half of 2019, or the weakness of the first. Either way, you’ve got to see Apollo 11. It’s the closest thing to going back in time and being there when man landed on the moon. The tension and anticipation are overwhelming. Knowing what happened doesn't matter. The way the footage is assembled is nothing short of incredible. Why this documentary wasn't present at the Academy Awards is beyond me.

6. Uncut Gems

Adam Sandler should’ve been nominated for an Oscar. He wasn’t. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts it's because of his association with all of those brain-dead Happy Madison Production comedies. His history with cinema shouldn't matter. The movie is what matters. The fact is, this was the perfect role for him. It isn’t even that Sandler’s doing something different, it’s that he’s being used to his full potential. If you weren’t glued to the screen, eager to see what’s coming next, this movie would have you jumping out of the window screaming - anything to escape the anxiety the Safdie Brothers serve up with devilish grins.

5. The Lighthouse

Next on my list is The Lighthouse. Right away, the aspect ratio and black-and-white cinematography lets you know you’re in for something different. You have no idea. What I love so much about this film is the way it handles madness. At the end of the day, I’m not sure if I could tell you if Robert Pattinson’s character was crazy, if Willem Dafoe’s character was the nutty one, or if they both were. It shows you just enough to make you doubt your own sanity. It’s also unexpectedly funny, which makes it feel oddly genuine. In one scene, Robert Pattinson's Ephraim Winslow gets a hold of the lighthouse's logs. In it, his boss, Thomas (Willem Dafoe) recommends Ephraim be disciplined for masturbating excessively. Considering Thomas has been cavorting with some kind of tentacle creature up in the lighthouse (at least that's what I think I saw, I'm not so sure anymore), all you can do is laugh. What kind of loony bin is this turning into? One I'm looking forward to revisiting.

4. 1917

Shot in a way that makes it all look like one take, 1917 is a technical marvel. It hooks itself up to your circular system and steadily replaces your blood with pure, undistilled stress. As you're about to flatline, it stops and gives you a breather. A shot of a meadow untouched by the ravages of war; a reminder of what the soldiers are fighting for and of how utterly devastating armed combat is on humanity as a whole. Gorgeous cinematography, powerful emotions, magnificent production values.

3. Joker

Along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters (a movie they basically made for me), this was my most anticipated movie of the year. To get ready, I watched Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, two Scorsese films Joker director Todd Phillips drew a lot of inspiration from. For some reason, it seems as though many critics took offense to the similarities. Sometimes I understand differing opinions from mine. This time, I don’t. It’s a great film that warns of the dangers of letting people like Arthur Fleck (brilliantly performed by Joaquin Phoenix) fall through the cracks. Left unchecked, he discovers that by doing terrible things, he becomes a “better” version of himself. It’s not a drama. It’s a horror movie that spins the familiar Batman archenemy in a new direction but also stays true to the character. There are several scenes in this movie that are going to be permanently imprinted in my brain. Those stairs. Need I say more?

Runner-ups

Avengers: Endgame

Even if every single Marvel movie going forward is awful, this caps off the whopping 22-chapter saga epically. A couple of aspects bugged me enough that it could only manage to make the runner-up list but it's a terrific film.

Booksmart

The funniest comedy of the year. I think back to Amy and Molly using their hairs as masks and still can't manage to hold back a few chuckles months later.

Toy Story 4

This one was hard to cut. The only flaw I could find was that it isn’t on the same level as 3… even though they’re both 5-star movies.

Midsommar

I’ve heard the extended cut is even better than the original. I wish I’d had the chance to see it in theatres.

Jojo Rabbit

Audacious and heartfelt. I loved those scenes of Scarlett Johanson being a mom. Her agent might've dropped the ball getting her cast in Ghost in the Shell but she sure knew how to pick great work in 2019.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino brings us back to a time when Roman Polanski was simply a good director instead of a convicted rapist, movie stars were untouchable, and the death of someone’s wife under mysterious circumstances was nothing to raise eyebrows about. It’s not a movie that screams “here and now”. If anything, it’s regressive. That said, I cannot deny the experience I had watching it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kinda thing and I doubt even Tarantino could pull it off again. I wonder how many people went in knowing what happened to Sharon Tate like I did.

Marriage story

It’s nothing but raw emotion and powerhouse performances in this drama about two people you love going through a divorce. I always make it my goal to watch movies all the way through without any interruptions. Several times throughout, I was tempted to hit "Pause" so I could catch my breath.

Internet lists are everywhere. You know why, don’t you? They suck you in and when you get down to it, most don’t require all that much effort to put together. Except when I make them, apparently. These bi-annual lists always turn out to be difficult to put together. 2019's proved particularly arduous. I’m fairly sure that my #3 movie belongs there. Out of all the movies on this list, it’s probably the one I’m going to go back to most often. The other two? I’d say that technically, one may be better than the other but I think the other one is “more important” so that gives it the edge. What I’m trying to say is, they’re all winners and on a different day, I might even swap them around.

2. Little Women

I have only seen three of the seven silver screen adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s novel and I don’t expect any of the others to top this one. The secret ingredient to this one's success is Greta Gerwig. Writing and directing, she does so much more than merely translate the classic to movie form. She re-arranges the story to give the events a greater punch than they would if they were shown chronologically and puts a little more emphasis on a couple of key moments (that tear-jerking Christmas, for example) to crank up the emotion. She also makes it more modern without having to change anything about the setting or characters. Admittedly, the back-and-forth between the past and present is a little jarring at first - makes you wonder what Greta Gerwig could’ve done had she been given the de-aging budget Martin Scorsese was given - but that’s where the performances and costumes come in. It takes mere moments before you get what the movie is doing. I’ve said it already but it made me cry.

1. Parasite

To make this list, I didn’t go through all of my past reviews and check which ones were rated what. I thought back to which movies gave me the most vivid memories, which ones gave me the biggest reactions. I’m still not sure how I feel about the final final moment but there’s so much about Parasite that I admire. This would be a great one to watch with others just to see their reactions to the reveal about the bookcase.

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connectcommunications · 4 years ago

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5 top tips when working from home or remotely

For some, working remotely or working from home seemed like a dream too good to ever come true. No more early starts to miss the rush hour, no more hitting the snooze button 2 or 3 times too many and then actually being caught in the rush hour. No more sitting next to the unwashed new guy who still after 2 months hadn’t worked out where your personal space started and ended.

Then the pandemic struck and a huge swathe of the population suddenly found themselves battling with Zoom calls and dodgy internet connections whilst their kids demolished the broadband playing Fortnite instead of home-schooling. The dream of remote working was suddenly real but with it came the realisation that sometimes, being around people in an office, having a routine, having somewhere away from the house is actually quite nice.

Could our telephone answering service help whilst you’re working remotely?

Here at Connect we have a team of virtual receptionists currently working remotely from home where they can and a smaller team that are based in the office. The few staff that we do still have in the office are mainly operational to help ensure that our telephone answering service remains operating at the professional levels our clients expect and rely on, especially our medical and other key worker clients.

We recognise that many businesses may be struggling with their inbound telephone calls whilst working away from the office and so we continue to offer a free trial of up to 30 days of our service.

5 top tips to follow when working from home or remotely

I’ve worked remotely for Connect Call Answering for the last 10 years or so and, I’ll be honest, I’ve never really given much thought until recent events about the guide and tips I’m about to bestow on you below. Having scoured the internet to compile the tips that follow I can safely say I seriously need to take a spoonful or 2 of my own advice!

Workspace

Routine

Boundaries

Communicate more

Switch off

1. Workspace

Don’t work from the kitchen table

OK, first and foremost this is one area where I did learn early on that you really do need a good, tidy workspace to get things done, for the sake of your own sanity and also wellbeing. Just as it is in the office, it’s important that you are not only comfortable but also sitting correctly. Find a desk and chair that allow you to keep your posture straight, don’t be sat on your sofa or bed slouched over a laptop.

Get a room

It really is far easier to stay focussed on work if you have a dedicated desk and or room for you to work from. This, however, may simply not be available for many, we don’t all have an extra room in the house just waiting to be commandeered.

I’m lucky, we had a small dining room that was never used (does anyone actually eat in a dining room these days?) and so that has become my office but my wife had to make space as there was no question of us sharing a room! She took my son’s room, much to his dismay, during the day which meant he had to be up and out by 8:30am. Not ideal but it means she has somewhere where she can shut the door and know that she won’t be disturbed when she’s on an important telephone call- OK, that’s a lie: Somewhere where she won’t be disturbed most of the time.

Think about what’s behind you

This doesn’t really concern me as I don’t do a lot of video conferencing but my wife does and so it’s important to keep the background acceptable. It doesn’t need to be spotless, everyone knows the situation we are all in, but there shouldn’t be piles of dirty clothes or a poster of your son’s favourite WWE wrestler in the background (it’s Roman Reigns by the way).

2. Routine

Have a wash

Get up, get showered, get dressed and have some breakfast. I’m bad for this, mainly as I start at 5am and move around the house like a stealth Ninja trying to avoid waking anyone up, but rolling out of bed and straight onto your computer is not advisable. It’s important to have a routine in the morning as similar as you would do if you were going into the office.

Try to wake up at the same time as you would normally, does that mean you have a spare hour or so to kill as you’re not needing to commute? Great, prepare your lunch now, do some exercise or take some extra time with the kids but don’t waste the gift of that extra time by lazing about in bed!

Schedule your work day

What sort of a morning person are you: productive, lethargic, happy or grumpy? Try and schedule your tasks to suit the times of your day when it suits you best. Save more demanding or thoughtful tasks for when your brain works best, if that’s first thing in the morning for you then great for others it might be later in the day once they’ve managed to settle all the mundane tasks in their inbox. If your main job is answering telephone calls, as our virtual receptionists do, then make sure you have got out of bed early enough to wake up properly and make that extra cup of coffee!

Take a break

This is a common theme and I’ll repeat it later but don’t sacrifice your breaks and lunches just because you are working from home. Stick to your scheduled lunch and get away from your desk, let co-workers know you’re away for lunch if they are likely to try and contact you. If restrictions allow, get out for a walk or go down to the shops. Would you sit at your desk for lunch in the office? Hopefully not but if you did remember this for when you do go back into the office- don’t!

3. Boundaries

Know you place

Or rather make sure everyone knows you place, time and space. Make a point of telling the kids (if they’ll listen) when you’re working and that you really can’t be disturbed unless of course it’s an emergency. Don’t just close the door, actually get a “Do Not Disturb” sign and stick it to your door.

Give me peace

Personally I work best when I have complete peace and quiet but others find having some background music can help them to concentrate. I did try playing music to try and drown out any noise the kids were making but that failed as the kids hear my music and think that it’s fair game to come and disturb me. “But you were playing music, must be playtime”, no – I’m playing music to remove you from my thoughts! Genuinely I invested in earmuffs so that, along with the closed door and “Do Not Disturb” sign, I have some hope of silence.

4. Communicate more

Out of sight, out of mind

It’s easy to feel forgotten when working remotely and so it’s important to keep up the communication with co-workers and your managers. From both a mental well-being aspect for you but also to show your work that you’re not sitting with your feet up all day watching daytime TV. Make a point of detailing your daily/weekly goals or projects and then on a daily or weekly basis record this, either by email, internal CRM or at least through conversation with your peers.

Office chat

We are all social animals, if one thing the past year has taught us is that the need for human interaction shouldn’t be taken for granted. Being in the office allows you to chat, catch up on the latest gossip and that’s important for our mental health. Try to make time to chat with co-workers (you might even now realise they could be classed as your friends, well some at least might be) either on the phone, video conferencing or even a Whatsapp group chat.

It’s important to feel part of the team so don’t feel bad that a telephone call that could have taken 5 minutes takes an additional 3 or 4 because you were catching up on a personal level.

5. Switch off

Walk away from the desk!

Far too easily the line between whether we are “at work” or not can blur when working remotely. Just as it is important to stick to scheduled breaks, it’s equally important to switch off when you are finished for the day or week and also to make sure work colleagues know and respect your working hours. Get away from your desk at breaks, lunch and the end of the working day.

Be harsh

If you find that you are still receiving telephone calls or emails that expect an immediate response outside of your working hours – ignore them, better still, simply switch off your computer. I found, to my detriment, that by giving the impression you are always available, always keen to help that co-workers just assume that means you are contactable 24/7 no matter how small the enquiry.

A few years ago I was on my annual holiday with the family in Turkey, I’d forgotten to take the divert off my phone and so I found myself taking calls by the poolside from the office trying to pick my brains about a problem they were having 2,000 miles away. It was my own fault as, up until then, I really was always available, even when I wasn’t scheduled to be working and that was all because I was working from home and didn’t ever really switch off.

When will things return to normal?

Hopefully the restrictions that we are all living under won’t last too much longer, however I don’t expect things will ever return to how they were before. There has been a fundamental shift in how a lot of us work and for some that means the prospect that remote working may become the new norm with time in the office reduced to a handful of days a month or perhaps less.

So with the prospect of more remote working becoming the long-term norm remember to continue to communicate with colleagues as if you were in the office, get up and get dressed as if you were in the office and start, finish and physically leave work as if you were in the office.

Page Last Updated: January 13th, 2021

from Telephone Answering Service | UK Phone Call Professionals https://www.connect-communications.co.uk/blog/5-top-tips-when-working-from-home-or-remotely/ via https://www.connect-communications.co.uk

#Telephone Answering Service | UK Phone Call Professionals

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sarcasticshutter · 4 years ago

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Man, a lot happens in a year: Number 2020

Started these yearly reviews back when I was in high school lol, and def haven’t done it every year (or if I did they’re not all on tumblr. Who knows, cause I feel like I’ve done more than I’ve found here) but I’d like to reflect on 2020 because wow. It obviously feels to everyone like a lost year where all you did was sit around at home and mourn all the normal things and the plans and the big life goals that have been fully stopped in their tracks thanks to a little (ongoing) global pandemic.

Hello to future me, hope things are well. Shit sure is strange and tenuous at the moment lol. But it’ll all get unstuck again and the world will start turning soon enough. You know that. Anyway from where I’m sitting right now, it’s kind of hard to remember anything that’s happened this year. It feels like I’ve blinked and a year has been omitted from my life, aside from the first three months of 2020 where I was still very much out and rolling on my life-momentum and doing exciting things. So I just want to convince myself that things *have* happened this year, and actually they haven’t been so bad, and to reflect on life going on despite the odd flavor permeating everything this year. I’m glad that’s all I have to complain about because I guess feeling stuck isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. I digress. Here’s the highlights I’ve meandered through this year with my eyes closed apparently lol. Please enjoy them with me as I remember them again:

Travelled to Belize, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti, the Cayman Islands, St Thomas (and probably more) Caribbean islands on the final months of my ship contract

Got to live through the distinctly odd and certainly once in a lifetime experience of being stranded on a cruise ship as the world shut all of its borders in March to reduce transmission of a global pandemic. Feels surreal to think about all the stuff I was seeing as it happened and how that’s probably a very small percentage of people on this planet who were...forgive me...in that boat at that moment in our collective history. So eerie, but with the calm of knowing you don’t know how bad it actually is out there. The self awareness that this is bigger than you can comprehend yet. Eye of the storm type feeling

St Patricks day party on that cruise ship when the rest of the world had ground to a halt and we all were stranded out there isolating as one sealed off covid pod of crewmembers, because if one of us on the ship had it we were all gonna have it. So no use distancing among us at that point. We had no guests left on board and had a huge end of the world party on the pool deck with full use of the guest pools and bars lol

Came home and life slowed waaaay down in march/april. Hiked with mom and dad, saw a lot more of the cats, had a wholly uneventful zoom birthday in early April for my 26th. A weird birthday for what felt like a strange age for me. 26 just fit weird as a number, I’m much more switched on for 27 for some reason. This one coming up feels more right somehow

Spent time in the pool, and doing a lot of yoga which has carried me through this whole year as a constant mellower of things for me mentally. A repeated exercise in re-grounding

Visited Alex in Flagstaff! Got to see meteor crater and spent a cute weekend in a little air bnb with my family, and did some aspen-y hiking as well

Bought my first car with my own money outright, that I’d been saving for the whole time I was in NYC. Been learning to be comfortable driving since I’ve never felt that way in my life lol, but I do think I’m less stressed behind the wheel now than I’ve ever been. Has been so nice to finally be combing through that anxiety. Finally was ready for it I guess

Started a (very long distance) relationship with a friend from the ship. He’s been a huge relief as far as someone to lean on through this year and a great sounding board for frustrations/lifeline to some feeling of sanity a good number of times. Shit is weird but taking this step still feels right, so we’ll see where tf this relationship is going haha

Moved to Tucson with a bff from college. A gigantic help for my sanity as far as getting a feeling of self reliance back and feeling like I have my own space. Soso grateful to be able to be sharing her home with her

Got a part time job so I could not feel so helplessly tied to the clusterfuck that has been unemployment insurance this year. Still have a lot to sort out with that... Glad to be earning my own cash, and glad that the weird little ragtag group of coworkers I’ve found myself with are actually a group of good hearts

Pumpkin carving and a night hike up in Phoenix with my family for Halloween. And made sure I dropped off my early voting ballot to see that fucker out of office lol

Sweet god, Biden’s horrendously way too close presidential win. Can you imagine the other outcome... This is maybe the biggest relief of 2020 that he didn’t scrape out a second term

Outdoor attempt at a covid safe thanksgiving with my parents and my grandparents on my moms side in Phoenix

Finally had the balls to schedule a scary doctors appointment I’d been using covid to avoid going to. Got back the clean health news I had been anxious I wouldn’t receive. A huge weight off my chest that had been sitting there in the back of my thoughts since last year

Outdoor attempt at a covid safe christmas at my dads’ parents’ house in Sun City, and some cinnamon rolls and peanut butter ball making with my parents. Drove through a huge neighborhood of christmas lights and did a small mom and dad christmas gift opening on christmas eve night

Virtual new years game nights with SASH and the Joneses. Didn’t see a single firework or leave the house (heard em though) and felt surrounded by my closest friends safely even without seeing them in person

None of this stuff is all that flashy and a lot of the normal holidays or events, or even everyday things, were so much more low key and quiet this year. But it was still nice to at least have found a way to celebrate in a stripped down, sort of back to basics way. Glad to have been able to see my family so much more this year. Glad to have had countless meaningful text conversations with my friends who have had the same issues as me as far as having our entire industry unable to function for the last 9 months with no end in sight. The candidness of speaking about the difficulties everyone has had this year, but specifically sharing that weight of the arts being particularly suffocated, and having all of our young career momentums snuffed out for no reason of our own, has been soothing to commiserate about. It’s been a mentally taxing year in the hardest to describe way. But I’m glad that as hard as it is to find kind words for this year, at least it’s just boring and stuck and frustrated that are the things I’m feeling. Because I’ve managed not to lose anyone close to me, or have anyone dealing with any serious illnesses at the moment.

(I believe) I’ve worked through all of the absolute bullshit I had on my plate in 2019. This year has been easier for me than last, as nuts as that sounds with every thing going on in 2020. I’m out of a suffocating relationship that had become very wrong for me. Left the city that was killing me to remain stuck in. Had the courage to take this cruise job that I’d been curious about since graduation. Got to travel the world and meet amazing people I otherwise would have never known. Met a new guy I’ve felt so much more effortlessly in sync with than I ever did in the last relationship. And that’s in an LDR lol, I can’t believe how comfortable that’s been given the ludicrous circumstances of seeing a guy from a different continent, 8 time zones away, during a global pandemic where our borders are shut to foreign visitors and we still at this moment don’t know when they’ll reopen.

This year I’m just coasting in a house with my friend. Going to work at an easy job that covers my bills. Having the health and freedom to drive *my* car two hours to see my family way more often than I’ve seen them in the past four years. I’m feeling a lot more appreciative of my relationship with my brother, my parents, my grandparents. I’m feeling better about maybe returning to live where I’m from instead of seeing it with a chip on my shoulder. So in a lot of ways 2020 has been less of an emotional mindfuck for me than 2019 was. Or it’s at least been the landing pad to detangle everything from 2019. I’ve been learning that maybe gathering a bit closer to a support system isn’t a weakness, but a comfort instead.

So this isn’t the tour de force bucket list I’ve grown accustomed to watching myself tackle in each year since undergrad. It’s a retracting of arms, and a regrouping to center. Being forced into looking inward at small details I hadn’t been interested in seeing lately. May be nice just to collect my feet underneath me again and take in all this chaotic crash course learning I’ve been doing the last few years before stepping back out of the plane. Time will tell if 2021 is another time of building and reflection, or a time to start taking a few shaky steps back out into whatever comes next.

What a year.

#tales of interest #2020 recap

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koreankokaine · 7 years ago

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Flights part 4

Word~1,736

We got back to the hotel El completely flipped on me.

"Amira Greene Keller, explain." We got to the room, went to our bedroom inside and shut the door. She turned on music loud enough but not disturbing and I started to explain.

"So you know my best friend from New York? Twix?"

"Yeah?"

"Wellllll..."

"What?"

"It'svernonfromseventeen." I said super fast

"What?" her face looked very confused

"It'svernonfromseventeen." I said a bit slower

"Amira?!" she warned

"It's Vernon from Seventeen."

"WHAT?!?"

"We've been friends since I was adopted. His family lived right down the road from us. Our mothers are friends."

"Omo, Kate has friends." She said seriously then we busted out laughing. My mother is very...childish.

"Yes, she does."

"Wow, anyway continue."

"When I was 2 and he was 5 he moved. He's brother figure to me more than my own brother. I was too young to communicate by speaking coherent words and write so he took it upon himself to write the best he could and would draw pictures dedicated to me. My mother would send his family pictures and vice versa. All my life we've been in some form of contact. When I was old enough, 6, his family brought me to Korea."

"So you've been to Korea????"

"Yea,"

"Bruh,"

"I know I'm sorry."

"Go on,"

"I was 12 and he was 16, he started training. I was there when he was accepted into Pledis. It was the best day in both of our lives. Hansol is a very hard worker. The other guys are too, don't get me wrong but being a foreigner and half Korean, he struggles with other things most don't deal with."

"So are you friends with the group?"

"Yes, ma'am I am. That's why I don't let you on my LINE because I talk to everyone on there. Hansol was the first "idol" I met."

"Who else do you know?"

"Well....."

"Jisoo, Amira."

"Three months for ten years amounts to a lot of time and people."

"You spend the whole summer there?!?"

"Yes and no. I would go during the school year. My parents and his have an arrangement with each other and the school. I live there with Hansol's family and several times I've stayed at another groups’ dorms."

"What groups"

"Got7 and Exo."

"For real?"

"Yeah, Mark is also my best friend."

"How many best friends do you have?"

"The ones that are as good as you are Mark, Hansol, Changkyun, Suho, and HaNee aka Honey J."

"Honey J like Jay park's backup dancer?"

"I literally ran into her at a cafe."

"Bro," she was low key jungshook we sat in silence, "Sooo question?"

"Yea?"

"Are you May?" I nodded

"You're May?" she said a bit too loud

"Shhhhh," I said hitting her lightly

"Wow, and I call myself your best friend." I laughed. "Why are you anonymous?

"What do you mean "why?"

"You're May, THE best friend of Monsta X and several others. Fans don't know what you look like or your name but the hear your voice. You're a ghost."

"Oh Yeah, we all agreed for the sake of my sanity to keep things under wrap. Yes, they still talk about me and show hosts and people bring it up but they know how to go about it."

"Gave me a rough idea of how many groups you personally hang out with?"

"I know MX, Exo, Got7, Seventeen, and several AOMG guys. Sadly, I have not had the please to meet BTS, Ikon, and others on our list."

"This is the most important question I’ve ever asked in our 8 years."

"Yes?"

"Have you met Jay Park?"

I started laughing, "Yes I have. He is annoying as hell. I love him but this man will not stop being a pain in my ass."

"How did you met all of them?"

"You know about Hansol and Honey. I met Mark while visiting California that one year when you guys went to Florida. We both went to the skate park and connected. I met Suho last year when I was shopping in Japan and EXO was there having a concert. He was in a store and I asked him a question about some clothing. We got to talking and invited me to the concert."

"So you have been to an Exo concert. Did you meet any of the other guys? It's so surprising. You are not a very outgoing or social person." she said with sarcasm and a smile. 8 years of friendship and she knows everything about me except this part of my life. I smiled

"Yes, I met the others. Actually, I'm better friends with Chanyeol than Suho."

"How did you meet Monsta X? No offense that's who I am mainly focused on now because you just allowed me to meet them."

"Hansol and I were visiting Seoul on his day off and had just gotten some street food. There was music playing and I started singing and Vernon started rapping to it and this guy heard us. It was the CEO of Starship. He came over and asked if we were signed with anybody. Hansol said yes but I said I wasn't and that I wasn't looking to be signed. He said he didn't care but that he wanted to add me to a team of private contractors. I agreed but me being 12 he told me to meet him at a location with Hansol and come see what he was working on. We went later that day and it was No Mercy live recording. There was nobody there. We sat in the back. Hyolyn and Soyou were chilling in the judge seating area. Hyolyn was so goddamn beautiful. When I met her, oh my God, she was, no, IS a goddess. The show started and the contestants performed a lot of good songs. You've seen No Mercy, so you know everything. I know this is going to be cheesy but one of the contestants really held my attention. We made eye contact. I was kinda magical."

"Was it who I think it was?" El asked knowingly

"Yes, it was Hoseok." I smiled "So there I was, 12 years old in the midst of future idols, at a live show of a company who produced one of the biggest girl groups and staring at my first crush."

"Awwww Lucky,"

"LOL, no, that was the day my life became hell. Those boys are the most irritating men I've ever met." I chuckled

"Really?" she questioned

"Oh yeah, they're the reason I can't go to one of the best restaurants in Seoul."

"Oh my Jisoo, tell me later."

"Yeah, that's a whole other story," I said recalling that event

"LOL,"

"Anyway, they finished their performances and the guy came up to us. He introduced himself to us. I was starstruck like you were tonight but I got over it pretty quick. This was when I wasn't fluent in Korean so I had Hansol translate. Hoseok asked where we were from and said that I looked a little too young to be there. The judges were still in the room conversing. Some of the other guys came over to see what Hoseok was up too. He went into a protective mode when Gun Hee asked why we were here and who we were. Hansol told them what we were there for. the guys had a few hours till the had to go so we got to know them."

"I wish I was in your head right now. That must have been cool," she said trying to imagine

"It was."

"What happened next?"

We told them how we were invited and they were like 'you need to sing a song for us' and I was not having it. I told Hansol to translate 'I'm only here to watch the show. Hoseok asked me to sing for them. and me being me agreed instantly. I looked at Hansol for approval and he agreed. I got onstage and I picked Give It To Me by Sistar. It was the first song I knew how to sing fully in Korean. I ended and everyone in hearing range was shocked. I got a standing ovation and the producers try to get me to sign with Starship which I kindly declined. I want to be independent. Soyou and Hyolyn were impressed and praised me for doing their song. I talked for a while with the other guys and they gave me their contact info so I could contact them next time I was in Korea. I talk to Mx, Gun Hee, and Yoon Ho the most. Outside the setting of work, they are very genuine and nice people. Since MX and Seventeen have known me since I was younger they are more like brothers to me. The women of Sistar are like my older sisters and too often they act like mothers."

"Wow, that's cool."

"Yes, it is, I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I can't go around saying Hi my name is Amira. I'm also called May. I am friends with Kpop idols. What's your name?"

"I understand, I'm a little mad that you waited this long to share."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I'm glad you told me finally though." we hugged my phone dinged with a notification. Wonho texted me goodnight I replied to him. El saw me, "So another big question," she began.

"I have a feeling what it is." I was worried

"So are you and Wonho dating?"

I laughed, "No, we are not.”

“He really likes you. You can see in the way he looks at you. Amira, he's in love with you.”

“Ellie, he's 24 years old and I'm 16. He's 8 years old older than me. His fans would kill me. I can see read the headlines now, ‘Monsta X’s Wonho dating ordinary fan.’ ‘Update, Wonho’s mystery girl is their friend May.’ Oh yeah, Yep that would get me killed and my family would be pestered. If my real identity came out that would be very bad.”

“Why don't you have LDR with him and see him when you visit or at concerts?”

“My age would be frowned upon and he doesn't like me like that. It's never going to happen. Trust me.”

“You know it's true, he likes you.”

I ignored her, turning off the lights and going to bed.

#monstax #monsta x fanfic #shownu monsta x #wonho fanfic #wonho monsta x #hyungwon monsta x #kihyun monsta x #jooheon monsta x #minhyuk monsta x #i.m monsta x #au monstax #beautiful in the US

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harris-rahmat-blog · 7 years ago

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2017 : Roller Coaster Rides

“…. Why is today already December ? “

Well, I know you guys probably think the same way as pathetic as I am, maybe not that “ pathetic “ but just a confusion covered with worries. Aside the from excited feelings of having a long holiday, let’s take a second to recap this year and evaluate our goals this year — I can make sure, that every beginning of the year, some of you may write down everything that you want to achieve— because me too!

I promised at myself, a lot.. there are tons of things i want to achieved in this year, some of them are ticked out of the notes & some of them still hanging there waiting to be accomplished. The very first thing that i wrote back then is actually to lose weight which is not happening at all this year, I’m still weighed the same as last year, but i believe that i am getting taller right now haha. The second thing is to write everyday or at least as much as i can, yes this thing are ticked off from the list even though my latest entry on the diary is dated on November second. I skipped a lot of days because of my crazy schedules, i can’t write in a chaos state of mind. the third one is buy Less, buy better, & less fast fashion, it sounds kind of hard and cliché, who could resist good clothes with ‘cheap’ prices? but as i learn more deeper about behind the industry of fast fashion, their ethics, how they stole a lot of designs from designers or even a ‘small’ artist. I choose more clothes from local brands or any other ethical fashion label. Less clothes and less options surely saves your time. And my very last thing in the list which is the fourth is to grow and expand my passion, this last list is the highlight of my year, i actually writing this just for a sake of my own hobby, because later in the future i really wanted to pursue my passion to be my career, and money is not really my top list but God has different plans for me. Three months later after i wrote this ‘goal’, my very first big job is coming, then followed by the second and the rest.

For the first one, lets talk about self-care and self-love,

I don’t find this thing really important for me until i got my very first huge mental breakdown and heartbreaks. well, that sounds not so though you must be thinking, because i thought the same way too. This thing is seriously drained out my energy, days are seems so gloomy, out of motivations, and so exhausted because my mind and also my soul drowned under the mental-breakdown blanket. Each day i tried to puzzled my broken pieces of motivation, there is sometimes where your dreams that usually keeps you going didn’t help at all at this kind of state, until i realized that ‘ it’s surely okay to have a down moments, but i don’t want this problem to eat me alive ’. So i tried to focused on myself more than usual, I sorted out the things that made me down and things that made me going up. the very first thing i sorted is to ‘ dump that toxic friend out of your life ‘ this is the hardest (period), i’m that kind of persons that loves to have acquaintance with a lot of people, from there we can be partner or even close friends—but sometimes, some of them wants to know you just because they want to take advantage out of you, so do throw that one haha. next is ‘ do the things that comforts you, not only makes you happy ‘, it seems like there a thin line between those in terms of doing something, ‘comforts’ in here isn’t all about that ‘comfort zone’ but more like choosing things that makes peace with your inner self. in terms of jobs, lately i’m more selective than before, the bigger the amount of paycheck of course makes me happy, but i also have to keep in track with my sanity. If i think i couldn’t handle it, then i won’t accept it. and the last point in the list is to ‘ listen to your body more ‘, if i’m hungry then eat, if i’m tired then sleep or take some rest. as easy as that but hard to practice.

and then move on to ‘grow and expand my passion’ sections, and also how crazy & hectic to balanced your goals with the school tasks + grades.

Let's be honest, it’s so damn hard to manage the time between school works and job works, but time-management is the major key to nailed this. I’m currently freelancing as photographer and sometimes also as an illustrator & graphic designer. I’m still a ‘work-in-progress’ kind of person, I do everything that i love and eager to learn new things. Every month, there must be one to three jobs that i got averagely. Even though it’s not all a ‘big’ job, but that is totally fine, because what i enjoyed the most from the job that i got is the ‘thinking’ and ‘creative development’ process. The more I got the job it means i have a lot of space to practice — at the end, practice makes perfect!.

I studied at school from 6.30 AM to 3.00 PM ( school time in Indonesia is kinda insane ), followed by going course from 4 PM to & 7 PM, i did all of those things from Monday to Thursday, Friday are for hang-out, rest day, or meeting day with school clubs + stuffs. I do all of my works ( plus my homeworks ) starting from 8 to 11 PM, and lastly weekend are a battling day between rest day, shootings + meetings, and doing school stuffs. So that is how my days in a week goes by.

As you could see (or read), my schedules are pretty packed up, lack of sleep, and indeed for a hibernating, but those aren’t a blocking for me to dream more and work more. Sometimes i do feel tired and yes i do complain a lot too about how hard my life is, because we are all human at the end, but what makes me moving forward each day & pushed myself out of my limits is my ‘dream’, I am aware of my big dreams, and those couldn’t be reached without an effort. Slowly but sure, i will accomplished what i am writing down.

Starting this year, I built this new tumblr website with a little more sleek looks that the previous and also building my portfolio website both in wixsite & Instagram. I started to write and read more too, developing my sense & characteristics in photography and designing. Your efforts won’t back-stabbing the results.

Experience

In the very last day of June till July, I’m be able to step my feet out of this country and stayed in Australia for twelve days. The full journey is on here.

In October, i also got a chance to attend my very first fashion week ! ( another list from the goals ticked off ), I attend Jakarta Fashion Week 2018 for two days and it is surely awesome, a one of a kind experience, actually there’s still a long list of fashion week that i want to attend ( of course! ), but at least i already witnessed my eyes for being seen what an actual runaway looks like, because i usually watch it from youtube.

Support

Main thing other than plans and dreams are a strong support system, i thanked my family and my close friends for being the best people whenever i needed ( or maybe when we need each other to lean on ), I really cherish each and every of you.

* notes : I'm currently working on my book and RTW ( ready to wear ) line !

This year has been good to me yet still so far from perfection, there are a lot of flaws that should be fixed and improved next year. the hardest part of this year is to make peace with my own self, because when my mind are a constant battle ground between my expectation and reality— but all things going to be better soon. here are some of the things that i want to achieve on 2018, the list is written in proper paper unlike the 2017 wishlist that has been crumpled haha. Let's rock 2018!

#hrfthoughts hrfwishlists

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journeysintowebcomics · 8 years ago

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Worm Liveblog #8

UPDATE 8: It’s Officially the First Day with her New Friends

Last time Taylor had officially turned into a member of the Undersiders. She may still plan to betray them by giving information to heroes, but for now she’s okay with staying with them. So let’s continue! Today we start the third arc of this story – Agitation – so let’s get going!

Alright, the first thing here is a descriptin of more of Taylor’s routine. She had realized that she’d need stamina to be a hero, and after three hand half months she had managed to make quite some progress on that. Not that she’s going to reduce her current efforts in any way, just because she’s doing well it doesn’t mean she’s going to stop. “I didn’t aim to just jog, though. I steadily increased my pace with every block I ran as I headed towards the water. By the fifth block, I was running.” Hm, seems like a decent way to exercise and build stamina. It’s always nice when things like these are rooted into reality, instead of expecting any random person to have excellent stamina once they start their hero careers. In general, Worm has proven to be fairly down-to-earth about many things. It’s something I’m grateful for.

Today, her exercise takes her to the Boardwalk, where he encounters Brian. ““Hey, you’re right on time,” Brian said.” Oh, so it was a planned encounter, and with only Brian. It doesn’t sound like anyone else is supposed to come. Taylor ponders about Brian’s clothing and receives breakfast, surprised they can afford things like Worm-Starbucks. Then again, this is a team of villains that receive cash by the truckload thanks to their work. Maybe part of Taylor’s character arc in the near future is getting used to the thought of having a lot of money within reach, seeing if it affects her morality, all that! Right now she’s reluctant to indulge in that money: “I wasn’t willing to spend the money, knowing where it came from, so it was just sitting in the cubbyhole I kept my costume in, nagging at me” Will that change in the future, I wonder?

Looks like Dad didn’t notice the stitches. Alright then. But yeah, it isn’t like Taylor was going to wave her injure in front of Dad’s nose, either way.

Brian apologizes for Rachel’s actions and delivers some very valuable exposition about Rachel’s life, which fits what Taylor read in the wiki. ““She’s kind of a special case,” Brian said, “I think that growing up the way she did kind of messed her up. No family, too old and, uh, not really attractive enough to be a good candidate for adoption. I feel bad saying that, but that’s the way those things work, you know?” He glanced over his shoulder at me.” You know what people say, human behavior is a combination of natural personality plus their environment. Rachel was dealt a very bad hand during all her life, it’s no surprise she’s, hm, antisocial.

I don’t think she’s the type of person that’d allow a lot of people get into her life, and who despises changes. After all, if things are going okay, why to change it. she may think. Taylor’s arrival to the time is a big change, not only the amount of money she’d receive will be less than before, she’ll also have to deal with a stranger getting into the very core of her life: the team. I can’t say I blame her for lashing out. I don’t like her actions, but it’s something I’m not surprised about. I don’t sympathize with them, but I kind of understand the motivation behind them.

The reason Brian is telling Taylor all this is as a way to ask Taylor to stay on the team, I’d say. ““But if you can at least tolerate her, you should see we’ve got a pretty good thing going with the team.”” He’s not mistaken about that, Taylor is going to be a good addition to the team. Things should go more or less well as long as there’s no more in-fighting. When will Taylor meet the big boss, anyways?

“I spotted a crab scuttling across the beach almost directly below us. I reached out with my power and stopped it in its tracks.” Poppycock, crabs aren’t insects, yet she manages to control it. Thankfully for my sanity, this isn’t Mr. Wildbow having a grossly mistaken definition of ‘insect’. ““I used to think I could control anything with an exoskeleton or shell. But I can control earthworms too, among other things, and they don’t have shells. I think all it takes is that they have to have very simple brains.”” Neat! Impractical and kind of useless, if you think about it, but neat! It’ll take a strategic mind to be able to use earthworms, snails and other similar stuff. Crabs are too slow to be of much use, I’d say, but who knows...Taylor already proved to have decent organizational and strategic skills, maybe she’ll be able to think of something at some point.

Turns out the teenage misfit supervillain team don’t do everyday things like ‘school’ and ‘studying’. Who’d have guessed! Well that’s not entirely true. Brian takes courses online, and Lisa, well, her power pretty much gives her a quick way to succeed at academics, that’s for sure.

Taylor receives a key for the hideout and is told she’s welcome to be there anytime, plus she can do anything she wants. The reason why Brian was here is because he agreed to meet Taylor during her morning runs, you know, to talk and keep her updated about recent developments. Also Taylor likes Brian the best. Lisa is alright, but “just being around her made me feel like I had the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.”. Anyone would feel like that, given her power, but Taylor’s potential betrayal plans are another reason to not spend a lot of time with Lisa.

Say, I wonder if Brian’s darkness powers can hinder Lisa’s power...hm...

Now that the friendly meeting with Brian is over, Taylor returns back home to get ready for another tortuous day at school, featuring bullies sans lice and other petty mishaps people less patient than Taylor would have inflicted on them already. It doesn’t help that recent events have made Taylor’s grades slip, what with not going to class and also not delivering her homework – even though none of that is completely her fault. Could it be possible for her to stop going to school, without her father knowing it? If things start getting tougher I wouldn’t be surprised it that happens! And if Dad finds out, there’s some potential conflict! I’m not wishing it to happen to Taylor, but it’d be interesting to watch.

The situation is bad, but not as bad as it was before. “The worst days had been back in my first year at high school, when the wounds of Emma’s betrayal were still fresh and I wasn’t yet experienced enough to anticipate the variety of things they could come up with. Back then, it had been terrifying, because I hadn’t yet known what to expect, didn’t know where, when or if they would draw the line.” It doesn’t seem like they’re drawing the line at any point. The way Taylor copes with going to school is by focusing on the little times where she can enjoy herself, as well as giving herself rare treats once it’s all over. And now there’s one incentive more: spending time with the team! “Or, I thought, maybe I could just look forward to hanging out with Lisa, Alec and Brian.”

Hmmmm... “I wasn’t forgetting what they were, but I rationalized that I had no reason to feel bad about spending time with them when we were – for all intents and purposes – just a group of teenagers hanging out. Besides, it was for a good cause, if it meant they relaxed around me and maybe revealed secrets. Right?” You know, I’m not sure how Taylor will rationalize this all once she starts losing her will to tattle on them. Worm is a very long story; I doubt she’ll spend all of it with the same mindset of someday betraying them all. Will she start feeling ‘one with the team’, like a villain?

The day’s plans include going to class and also talk with the art teacher so try not to get a big fat zero in her midterm project, but all this is derailed when Sophia...uh, give me a momet to copy paste what she did: “As a group of students entered the room, I saw Sophia looking at me. She made an exaggerated pouting expression, drawing one fingertip in a line from the corner of her eye down her cheek like a mock tear. One of the other girls noticed and chuckled, leaned closer to Sophia as Sophia whispered something in her ear, then they both laughed.” And that’s enough for Taylor to turn around and get out of school, for the third day in a row. Sigh.

Okay, Taylor, I know it’s tough, and you’re very unhappy at school, but...somehow that this was enough for Taylor to scrap her plans and just leave school again doesn’t mesh well with me. I know she’s berating herself for doing it, too, but still...that was a tad too thin-skinned. I fully sympathize with her plight, and I know she’s more than capable to defend herself, but that kind of makes this bother me more. She can defend herself, but at the first sign of antagonism from the bullies she folded and just walked outside. I know she felt humiliated and all, but still...this can’t keep going like this. At some point she’s going to have to do something other than just retreating. It’s a much better choice than, say, sending a colony of wasps towards anyone, but it can’t be possible running away at the very first sign of mockery is the best solution.

And that’s the end of the first part of this arc. It was...an okay start. Nothing to write home about, but it wasn’t bad. Just average. So to the next part.

Taylor’s destination was the loft, of course. Along the way, she imparts exposition regarding the social state of the Boardwalk. There’s a lot of trouble hiding in plain sight, people from gangs, people who keep order through the use of force...but it’s all peaceful so the tourists relaxed and gave a lot of revenue to the merchants and the city. Hm, alright, I see! So the Boardwalk is more or less a safe area in the town, that’s what it sounds like. Good to know. Also explains that Brian took the time to dress like he did earlier.

Taylor barely has time to think how she should get into the factory when Brian opens the door. Turns out Lisa’s powers warned Taylor was coming. Huh. How’re you going to counter that, Taylor? She’s going to see your betrayal coming before you even take a step towards the heroes’ place. Taylor goes inside, being received warmly. Alec and Brian were sparring. This could be a chance to see those two in action! Who knows, maybe learn a thing or two about physical moves. Taylor seems to agree, choosing to watch them spar.

Alec isn’t taking it seriously. In fact, he doesn’t seem like a physical fighter at all. Wonder what’s his role in the team and during their jobs, then? Brian sounds like he actually knows what he’s doing, but Alec’s interest is very low. He’s complaining when Brian tries to teach him stances.

““Well fuck this then,” Alec said, “If you’re going to go easy on me and still kick my ass, I don’t see the point.”

“You should learn how to fight,” Brian said.

“I’ll do like I have been and bring my taser,” was Alec’s response, “one poke and they’re out cold. Better than any punch.””

Aha, I see! So that’s how he deals with the foes! Using the taser, I see. He’s going to be doomed if he’s against someone who isn’t affected by the taser. Taylor is a lot more receptive than Alec, seeing the chance to maybe learn a thing or two through Brian’s knowledge.

““Make two fists. No, don’t wrap your fingers over your thumbs. You’ll do more damage to your hands than you will to the person you’re hitting, if you do that. That’s better.” I’m pleased to see that such fists are imparted. Doing it like Taylor was doing it risked breaking their thumbs. Really, if I didn’t know this team has a boss, I’d have thought Brian was the leader.

Say, I notice that, for a wound that was keeping Taylor awake at times, it’s conveniently unmentioned during this fighting learning. I’d have thought that punching and moving her arm a lot would cause quite some pain, but there’s nothing.

Brian doesn’t stay on one topic for long, he changes topics to try to encourage Taylor to improve, and also to help her. Balance, stance, it all is touched at least once. Taylor is by no means a good fighter yet, but she’s showing willingness to fight, and that’s great.

“From there, we changed topics to the mental side of things, both for me and my opponent.

“So I throw a punch like I’m aiming to put my fist through them?” I confirmed.

“Right,” Brian said, “Instead of just trying to make contact with the point where your hand meets their body.””

Hm...I have to ponder if this is a real mental technique. Mr. Wildbow already showed signs of doing some good research, after all.

Taylor wonders how Brian is so good at teaching, asking if he’s formally trained in anything. Good question, that’d explain all this.

“Ehhh,” he hedged, “Some. My dad was a boxer when he was in the service, and he taught me some when I was little. I moved on to other stuff on my own – Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Krav Maga – but nothing really held my interest. I only took a few weeks or a month of classes for each. I know enough and keep in shape, which is enough to hold my own against anyone who isn’t a black belt in whatever, which is the important thing, I think. Keeping up with the more serious martial artists is a full time job, and you’re still going to run into people who are better than you, so I don’t see the point in stressing too much over it.”

Huh. Interesting philosophy. I’m not sure if Brian has enough skills to fight against some of the big heroes around, but what he knows should be enough for people like underlings, police officers, and common criminals. Someone like Lung may not be as affected as them, but perhaps a good strike or two may be useful? It all depends on the foe, really.

Taylor is quickly taught about weak points to attack. There are actually more than I had considered. On the head hit anything that’s squishy or potentially fragile – the temples aren’t as strong as the rest of the skull, I think? – and underneath the neck attack the joints and obvious places like the groin. Simple enough!

Since Taylor doesn’t have much upper body strength – and trying to improve on that regard was a major hassle – she says she’s considering a weapon. Hmmm...a small dagger, perhaps? Something like a stinger she can grab with ease! Yeah, bug theme! Brian doesn’t mind Taylor having a handy weapon, but she’s going to tell the boss. Lisa is talking to him right now. The problem here is...

““So who is this boss of ours?”

Brian and Alec exchanged a look. When they didn’t immediately say anything, I wondered if I’d pushed it too far. Had I been too nosy?

“Figured you’d ask,” Brian said, “Thing is, we don’t know.”

“What?” I asked, “We have an anonymous sponsor?””

Hohoh! Now this is fun! This is the kind of mysteries I love: the mysterious sponsor! In this type of enigmas there’s a lot of space for shocking reveals. Wow, it could be anyone! I’m guessing this sponsor of them is somebody who hasn’t been shown or mentioned yet anywhere, but fiction dictates their name will be at least mentioned at some point. Hmmmm...the jobs they send the Undersiders to do may be a valuable clue to deduce a couple things, I’ll make sure to pay special attention to them once they arrive. Wouldn’t be a surprise if it’s a hero, though. Now that’s the kind of surprise one would expect here, but it’s so fun and can create so much manipulation and misdirection even if it’s a hero I’d be very happy.

““Lisa knows, I think,” Brian grumbled, “But she says that when she joined the Undersiders, she made a deal that she was going to keep quiet on the subject. I’m not sure if that means she knows who he is or if it’s just to keep her mouth shut if her power tells her.””

And that’s even more interesting. If Lisa knows right now –not confirmed, but play along with me for now ---- who is the benefactor and doesn’t tell anyone, there are...three possibilities, I think: one is that the benefactor has influence on her, which I find a bit unlikely. Trying to blackmail someone who can find information? Two is that Lisa is an accomplice of him, if this is all a long-term trap or something. Maaaaaaaaybe that could be it, but right now I don’t think so. Then again, I don’t know Lisa that well yet. And third is that she has no problem with who the benefactor is. If it was someone they had to watch out for, she’d tell the rest, but she hasn’t said a thing. Even if the benefactor is, say, Armsmaster, what does it affect them? So what if Armsmaster feels like sending a bunch of teens to perform crimes? It’s not like anyone in the Undersiders would be against that.

I guess it’s possible she simply doesn’t know yet, but yeah. Speaking of the benefactor, he finished the conversation with Lisa, and it’s playtime. As if Lisa had been waiting nearby right for this moment, when Taylor asks what kind of jobs they do, Lisa comes in and announces the next plot point:

“Lisa’s voice just behind me startled me, “This. Pull up your socks, boys and girl, because we’re robbing a bank.””

Awesome. Brian, you’re up. This is pretty much a job where you’re going to contribute in significantly, Mr. Darkness Generator.

So, given that now there’s going to be a bank heist soon, I think I should stop for now and leave this for next time. Cool, action time!

Next update: next time

#worm #worm liveblog #liveblog #book liveblog #story liveblog

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ladystylestores · 5 years ago

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Edtech is surging, and parents have some notes – TechCrunch

Unlike most sectors, edtech has been booming over the last few months. Flashcards startup Quizlet is now a unicorn, digital textbook company Top Hat is finding unprecedented surges in usage and student success business Edsights raised nearly $2 million from high-profile investors, all from inbound interest. Investors are so confident that homeschooling might become a trend that they just invested $3.7 million in Primer, which creates a “full-stack infrastructure” to help parents get started.

But as tired parents juggle work, family and sanity all day, nearly every day, they say edtech is not a remedy for all education gaps right now.

Parents across all income groups are struggling with homeschooling.

“Our mental health is like whack-a-mole,” said Lisa Walker, the vice president of brand and corporate marketing at Fuze. Walker, who lives in Boston but has relocated to Vermont for the pandemic, has two kids, ages 10 and 13. “One person is having a good day. One person is having a bad day, and we’re just going throughout the family to see who needs help.”

Socioeconomically disadvantaged families have it even worse because resources are strapped and parents often have to work multiple jobs to afford food to put on the table.

One major issue for parents is balancing a decrease in live learning with an uptick in “do it at your own pace” learning.

Walker says she is frustrated by the limited amount of live interaction that her 10-year-old has with teachers and classmates each day. Once the one hour of live learning is done, the rest of the school day looks like him sitting in front of a computer. Think pre-recorded videos, followed up by an online quiz, capped with doing homework on a Google doc.

Asynchronous learning is complicated because, while it is not interactive, it is more inclusive of all socioeconomic backgrounds, Walker said. If all learning material is pre-recorded, households that have more kids than computers are less stressed to make the 8 a.m. science class, and can fit in lessons by taking turns.

“Even though I know there’s a lot of video fatigue out there, I would love there to be more live learning,” Walker said. “Tech is both part of the problem and part of the solution.”

TraLiza King, a single mother living in Atlanta who works full time as a senior tax manager for PWC, points out the downside of live video instruction when it comes to working with younger children.

One challenge is overseeing her four-year-old’s Zoom calls. King needs to be available to help her daughter, Zoe, use the platform, which isn’t intuitive for kids at that age. She helps Zoe log on and off and mute when appropriate so instruction can go on interrupted, ironically enough.

Her 18-year-old college freshman could supervise the four-year-old’s learning, but King doesn’t want her older daughter to feel responsible for teaching. It leaves King to play the role of Zoom tech support, and teacher, in addition to mom and full-time employee.

“This has been a double-edged sword; there’s beauty in it that I get to see what my girls are learning and be a part of their everyday,” she said. “But I am not a preschool teacher.”

Some parents are finding success in pretending it is business as normal. The moment that Roger Roman, the founder of Los Angeles-based Rythm Labs, and his wife saw that there was a shutdown, they scrambled to create a schedule for the children. Breakfast at 6 a.m., physical education right after, and then workbook time and homework time. If their five-year-old checks all the boxes, he can “earn” 30 minutes of screen time.

The Roman family’s schedule for their child.

Technology definitely helps. Roman says he relies on a few apps like Khan Academy Kids and Leapfrog to give him some time to take work calls or meetings. But he says those have been more like supplements instead of replacements. In fact, he says one big solution he found is a bit more low-tech.

“Printers have been a godsend,” he said

The kids being at home has also given the Roman family an opportunity to address the racial violence and police brutality in our country. The existing school curriculums around history have been scrutinized for lacking a comprehensive and accurate account of slavery and Black leaders. Now, with parents at home, those disparities are even more clear. Depending on the household, the gaps around education on slavery can either inspire a difficult conversation on inequality in the country, or leave the talk tabled for schools to reopen.

Roman says he doesn’t remember a time where he wasn’t aware of racism and injustice, and assumes the same will be true for his sons.

“The murders of Ahmaud, Breonna, and George have forced my wife and me to be brutally honest with my five-year-old about this country’s long, dark history of white supremacy and racial oppression,” he said. “We didn’t expect to have these discussions so soon with him, but he’s had a lot of questions about the images he’s been seeing, and we’ve confronted them head-on.”

Roman used books to help illustrate racism to his sons. Edtech platforms have largely been silent on how they’re addressing anti-racism in their platforms, but Quizlet says it is “pulling together programming that can make a real impact.”

What’s next for remote learning?

In light of the struggles parents and educators alike are seeing with the current set of online learning tools and their inability to inspire young learners, new edtech startups are thinking about how the future of remote learning might look.

Zak Ringelstein, the co-founder of Zigazoo, is launching a platform he describes as a “TikTok for kids.” The app is for children from preschool to middle school, and invites users to post short-form videos in response to project-based prompts. Exercises could look like science experiments — like building a baking soda volcano or recreating the solar system from household items — and the app is controlled by parents.

The first users are Ringlestein’s kids. He says they became disengaged with learning when it was just blind staring at screens, leading him to conclude that interaction is key. Down the road, Zigazoo plans to forge partnerships with entertainment companies to have characters act as “brand ambassadors” and feature in the short-form video content. Think “Sesame Street” characters starting a TikTok trend to help kids learn what photosynthesis is all about.

A preview of Zigazoo, a “TikTok for kids” and its video-based prompts“As an educator, I’ve been surprised at how little content exists for parents that is not just entertaining but is actually educational,” he said.

Lingumi is a platform that teaches toddlers critical skills, like learning English. The company began because preschool classes are packed with so many students that teachers can’t give one on one feedback during the “sponge-like years.” Lingumi uses another startup, SoapBox, and its voice tech to listen and understand children, assess how they are pronouncing words and judge fluency.

“Edtech products were designed to work in the classroom and a teacher was supposed to be in the mix somewhere,” said Dr. Patricia Scanlon, the CEO of SoapBox. “Now, the teacher can’t be with the kids individually and this is a technology that gives updates on children’s progress.”

Another app, Make Music Count, was started by Marcus Blackwell to help students use a digital keyboard to solve math equations. It serves 50,000 students in more than 200 schools, and recently landed a partnership with Cartoon Network and Motown records to use content as lessons for followers. If you log onto the app, you are presented with a math problem that, once solved, tells you which key to play. Once you solve all the math problems in the set, the keys you played line up to play popular songs from artists like Ariana Grande and Rihanna.

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The app is using a well-known strategy called gamification to engage its younger users. Gamification of learning has long been effective in engaging and contextualizing studies for students, especially younger ones. Add a sense of accomplishment, like a song or a final product, and kids get the positive feedback they’re looking for. The strategy is found in the underpinnings of some of the most successful education companies we see today, from Quizlet to Duolingo.

But in Make Music Count’s case, it’s forgoing gamification’s usual trappings, like points, badges and other in-app rewards to instead deliver something far more fun than virtual items: music that kids enjoy and often seek out on their own.

Gamification, much like technology more broadly, is not all-encompassing of the deeply personal and hands-on aspects of school. Yet that is what parents need right now. We’re left with a reminder that technology can only help so much in a remote-only world, and that education has always been more than just comprehension and test-taking.

The missing piece to edtech: School isn’t just learning, it’s childcare

At the end of the day, if the future of work is remote, parents will need more support with childcare assistants. Some startups trying to help that include Cleo, a parenting benefits startup that recently partnered with on-demand childcare service UrbanSitter.

“As working moms desperate for a solution to the crisis facing parents today, we were focused on developing a solution that didn’t just work for our members and enterprise clients, but also one that we’d use ourselves. After experimenting and trying everything from virtual care to scheduling shifts to looking for new caregivers ourselves, we realized the only solution that would work for families would require a new model of childcare designed for the unique issues COVID-19 has created,” Cleo CEO Sarahjane Sacchetti told TechCrunch in May.

Sara Mauskopf, the co-founder of childcare marketplace Winnie, said that tech companies trying to help remote learning need to remember that “it’s not just the education aspect that has to be solved for.”

“School is a form of childcare,” she said.

“The thing that irks me is that I see these tweets all the time that ‘more people are going to homeschool than ever before,” Mauskopf said. “But no one is going to feed my toddler mac and cheese or change their diaper.”

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newsbiteswithjennysok · 5 years ago

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Dec 9, 2019

1. Rising hip-hop talent Juice Wrld was set to attend his own 21st birthday party the day he died after suffering an apparent seizure, according to a report. The rapper, whose legal name was Jarad Anthony Higgins, had turned 21 days earlier and planned to celebrate Sunday night with a fete in his hometown, Chicago, news station WFLD reported. The “All Girls Are the Same” rapper arrived on a private jet early Sunday to the city’s Midway International Airport, where he experienced a medical emergency, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told The Post. Shortly after landing, he was seen “basically convulsing” in a private jet terminal and rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Police launched an investigation into his death, but there were no obvious signs of foul play, authorities said.The up-and-coming star — who was named Top New Artist at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards — first made waves in the music scene with his 2018 hit “Lucid Dreams.”

After his flight landed, the artist apparently swallowed a bunch of Percocet pills in what may have been a bid to hide them from authorities, sources told TMZ.

The rapper died after having an apparent seizure early Sunday at a private terminal of Midway International Airport, police said. He was brought to the Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead around 3:15 a.m.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office said Monday that his autopsy is complete, but declined to rule on a cause of death, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Officials said they’re waiting on the results of additional tests, including for “cardiac pathology, neuropathology, toxicology and histology.”

2. The father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart has revealed how he prayed he was not gay and struggled to accept his sexuality amid the collapse of his 34-year marriage. Ed Smart made the stunning announcement that he is gay and would be divorcing his wife Lois and leaving the Mormon Church in August. Three months later, the 64-year-old shared intimate details about his internal battle to come to terms with his sexuality in an emotional interview with CBS This Morning's Gayle King aired Monday. Ed described how he consulted with therapists and church leaders in hopes of concluding that he wasn't actually gay, because 'I didn't want to believe I was'. 'How do you cure being gay? There is no cure. And for all of those out there that are struggling in the same spot, there is no cure,' he told King. 'This is absolutely not a "choice". And I wish my wife knew that. I wish that more than anything.'

3. Cardi B gets real about monogamy in her new cover interview with Vogue, published on December 9. The “Press” rapper, 27 — who is one of four powerful moms to cover the magazine’s January 2020 issue — poses with her 17-month-old daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus in red on the new cover.

The mother of one doesn’t hold back in her candid interview, in which she discusses how motherhood has changed her; a new album; the scrutiny of ever-escalating fame and how social media effects her; and, the most hot button topic of all, her marriage to Migos rapper, Offset. Cardi goes into great detail about how she and the Atlanta rapper, 27, overcame his infidelity last year. The pair, who secretly tied the knot in September 2017, split in December 2018 after Offset cheated on Cardi. However, they eventually reunited earlier this year.

“When me and my husband got into our issues — you know, he cheated and everything — and I decided to stay with him and work together with him, a lot of people were so mad at me; a lot of women felt disappointed in me,” Cardi admitted, explaining, “But it’s real-life shit. If you love somebody and you stop being with them, and you’re depressed and social media is telling you not to talk to that person because he cheated, you’re not really happy on the inside until you have the conversation. Then, if you get back with them, it’s like, how could you? You let all of us down.”

At the end of the day “everybody has issues,” Cardi said, noting, “I believe in forgiveness. I prayed on it.” — Something both she and Offset did together. “We had priests come to us. And we just came to an understanding like, bro, it’s really us against the world. He has my back for everything, I have his back for everything, so when you cheat, you’re betraying the person that has your back the most. Why would you do that? We have come to a clear understanding,” Cardi explained. “For me, monogamy is the only way. I’ll beat your ass if you cheat on me.”

Vogue briefly spoke with Offset, who gushed over his “outspoken” wife. “It’s not an easy thing. We both have our own households. But you grow,” he said of his marriage. “We’re way better now with communication. She’s balancing a lot. She feels like she can’t be absent a lot, and our jobs are crazy. But I think motherhood got her more focused. I always tell her, don’t follow the comments. But she’s been outspoken on things since before she was making music — she’s not ever putting on, she’s not ever being cool,” Offset said, concluding with, “At the end of the day, she’s still going to rap about the same shit, which is what it’s like being a woman.”

4. The Bachelorette alums Ashley Hebert, 34, and JP Rosenbaum, 44, announced on Instagram that he is suffering from a rare autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome. “JP was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome yesterday,” Ashley posted on her Instagram Stories on Sunday, December 8. “He is in treatment and doing well. It may be a long road to full recovery, but we are so grateful to everyone that has helped us get to a speedy diagnosis and treatment.”

Guillain-Barré, according to the Mayo Clinic,”is a rare disorder in which your body’s immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. The exact cause of Guillain-Barré syndrome is unknown. But it is often preceded by an infectious illness such as a respiratory infection or the stomach flu.”

JP, who won wife Ashley’s heart on season 7 of The Bachelorette, spoke out to his Instagram fans in a series of videos, as well. Sitting in his hospital bed, he called the diagnosis “very surreal and humbling and crazy, rare. Things you do every day, like picking up this phone, or buttoning buttons, tying shoelaces, putting on deodorant, just can’t do it. Picking up my kids, can’t do it. Wiping your ass, maybe TMI, but might have Ashley assist on the next one. Can’t really believe it.”

He added that he’ll probably have to be in the hospital for a few more days, but he and Ashley are remaining optimistic about his prognosis. “I know there’s lot of physical therapy in my future,” he said. While there is no cure for Guillain-Barré syndrome at this time, there are treatments that can ease the symptoms of the disorder, and reduce its duration, according to the Mayo Clinic. The organization notes that “most people recover from Guillain-Barré syndrome, though some may experience lingering effects from it, such as weakness, numbness or fatigue.”

5. Chrissy Teigen has spoken out about her crippling battle with anxiety and how being famous has exasperated the mental health condition. Taking to Twitter to do a Q and A on Sunday, the American model, 34, said her medicine was the key to keeping her sanity. When asked if she has changed for the better since becoming a celebrity, Chrissy replied: 'Very good question. I don't know, honestly. I still see things from every perspective. But I’m also highly anxious and perceptive so it’s kind of hell for my own mind.

In another Q and A, Chrissy continued: 'I was always so nervous. I never knew what I was going to do next. I still don't really know. But it's okay. Don't just survive. Live!'.

The television personality also spoke about how fame has made it hard for her to tackle everyday tasks such as getting public transport of going to the supermarket.

Chrissy previously spoke about her anxiety with Glamour last year, she said: 'I used to be on anti-anxiety medication because I was confused. I didn’t know where I was going in life.

ll I knew when I was younger, or when I was 18, was that I wanted kids and a husband.'

Over the last few years, Chrissy has cultivated an impressive following on social media, with 12million fans.

Her tweets morphed from partying and hangover cures to fertility issues, motherhood, breastfeeding, and postpartum depression.

She explained: 'I thought postpartum was, you have the baby and you’re sad. It was like, no. It sneaks up on a lot of people'.

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hissyreviews · 5 years ago

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October Reads

October is the month of spooks. So it makes sense that this is the month of the spooky books. This will be the same format as last month. There will be the book’s synopsis, my quick thoughts (though no one can say that they are intelligent), then my arbitrary ranking of the book. Under the read more!

Horns by Joe Hill

Merrin Williams is dead, slaughtered under inexplicable circumstances, leaving her beloved boyfriend Ignatius Perrish as the only suspect. On the first anniversary of Merrin’s muder, Ig spends the night drunk and doin awful things. When he wakes the next morning he has a thunderous hangover. . . and horns growing from his temples. Ig possesses a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look - a macabre gift he intends to use to find the monster who killed his one true love. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. Now it’s time for revenge. . . It’s time the devil had his due.

Thoughts: Alright, let’s discuss how great this book is. I truly believe that Joe Hill is one of the eminent horror writers of our time. I think he is just as good as Stephen King, although I like him more. There is less meandering in writing, it is tight and the story is devilishly good. I really like how it goes about the powers that Ig gains. It makes logical sense. But I truly hate Ig’s name. It’s fucking stupid. Ignatius bitch, his brother’s name is Terry! His parents were punishing him.

Rating: 8/10 would recommend

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri is is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and plans are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. As the police begin to investigate, the town golden boy parades a series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter - but is he really a killer.

Thoughts: This book really makes me think about the movie. I knew that Flynn had written the screenplay for the movie but she puts everything into it. I have never said this before but if you have watched the movie you wouldn’t need to read this book. If you read this book, then you know every move in the movie. There are more diary entries, more inner monologues, but you know what pick one or the other or both. You’ll know the whole story no matter which you pick.

Rating: 9/10 would definitely recommend either movie or book

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously ufriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a haunting; Theodora, his light hearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeist; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a chilling encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers - and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

Thoughts: This novel is the quintessential haunted house novel. I really believe that it is the heavy hitter in the genre. I loved the characterizations in here and the setting was foreboding. Hill House echoes in the mind. You can feel it emanating from the pages as you read. If you like ghost stories you need to read this classic.

Rating: 9/10 buy it for your bookshelf

Beastly by Alex Flinn

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature with fangs, claws, and hair springing from every pore. I am a walking monster. You think I’m talkign fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. And I’ll stay this way forever - unless I can break the spell. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, the perfect girl, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly

Thoughts: Yawn. I wanted something to lighten up my October and this was only an hour and a half read. I think it would be more interesting if I had read it when I was the target demographic. There are some cute things: the chat room for cursed individuals. Great idea! How Kyle looked? Cool deal. The fact that he still needs to find someone to love and stuff. Meh.

Rating: 3/10 get it for a kid who likes fairy tales. They’ll probably enjoy it.

Room by Emma Donoghue

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the world. It’s where he was born, it’s where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, Ma shuts his safely in the wardrobe, where Jack is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it’s the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven- foot space. But Jack’s curiosity is building alongside Ma’s own desperation - and she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating - a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.

Thoughts: This is a very rough book to read. It is told from Jack’s perspective. And it really shows you how the a child doesn’t see anything wrong with being confined to a small space. The book is divided in such a way as to feel like two different stories. Them in the room and their lives post-Room. Neither are easy. The novel was written in 2010 a year after Jaycee Dugard was rescued from her abductors with her two daughters fathered by the man. Six years later Rosalynn McGinnis was rescued after being held captive for twenty years with her nine children fathered by her abductor. Room is fictional but the cases that inspired it, the cases that are still being solved that are almost beat by beat identical to the story are very real.

Rating: 6/10 didn’t truly enjoy because it is a rough read. Very very rough. Will make you think about the women who have suffered this travesty.

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past ten years, this thritysomething has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him. In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with his fellow young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor. But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They reemerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: true love. And when he finds it in a darkened room in a Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend - he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice. . .

Thoughts: Dude, this is just as creepy as You and it pops off much quicker. Like damn Joe pop a chill pill. Leave the peeps alone you crazy stalker. If you liked You you will like this book. It is a solid sequel. I just gotta say that ending?! What the hell Kepnes!?! Can a gal get a satisfying conclusion to the story where she’s been begging for the cops to arrest our lovely protagonist the entire time. Damn girl!

Rating: 8/10 would recommend. Very creepy.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset - life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

Thoughts: Bitch what can I say? It was October. I wanted to read some kitschy shit. Mmkay?

Rating: 5/10 Fun but not serious in any way, shape, or form.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams may have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . .

Thoughts: This is like Harry Potter if they went to an after high school secondary education. Hello wizard college. Speaking of, why isn’t there a wizard college or university in Harry Potter? I mean no one tell JK she’ll fuck it up but really? I’m just saying. Very fun, moves quickly. Also goes over how just because you get what you want doesn’t mean you’ll be happy. Like dude can control magic and he’s still not happy. Some people just need some anti-depressants man.

Rating: 9/10 would definitely recommend

Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum

At the close of the nineteenth century, as Darwin’s theory of evolution gave birth to a golden age of rationalism, a small group of scientists launched a determined investigation into “unexplainable” incidences of clairvoyance and ghostly visitations. Led by William James, the renowned philosopher and professor of psychiatry at Harvard, they staked their reputations, their careers, even their sanity on one of the most extraordinary psychological quests ever undertaken: to empirically prove the existence of ghosts, spirits, and psychic phenomena. What they pursued -- and what they found -- raises questions as fascinating today as they were then.

Thoughts: This is in the same vein as Mary Roach’s Spook. It is a historical search into some of the first scientific expeditions into the afterlife. And you know what? That’s what science is about. Looking into a subject to gain empirical evidence that could revolutionize the world? What actual scientist would not jump at the chance? Man, I read it and was just like, wow, scientist can be really fucking stupid. Just perform some experiments champ. Stop being a stubborn close-minded bitch. You know those people who are like “we just cease to exist when we die” and those who are like “you have a soul and you have to follow my religion or you will burn in hell when you die” both are close-minded twat waffles.

Thoughts: 8/10 would recommend to a scientist so they can see how fucking rude their fields were to those attempting to use science to explain the metaphysical world.

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

Will Graham has a fearful gift - a taletn for the pursuit of human monsters. He has caught two mass murderers in his FBI career. Now he must hunt again. A ritual murderer has struck twice, killing entire families in two South-eastern cities. Graham must find him before the moon is full again or another family will die. Graham’s keen empathy permits him - sometimes forces him - to see the crimes from some haunting points of view. This ability and his forensic skills make him the prime threat to the murderer. The killer, Francis Dolarhyde, is a terrible accident of nature, shaped by his early life into a monster. He’s trying to work things out, though. So far his efforts have cost ten lives. He intends to do something about that. In a chilling race against time, Graham searches desperately after Dolarhyde, always conscious that he and the killer are, at some fundamental level, alike. And in one terrifying respect he is right. Like him, the murderer is a ruthless hunter, already beginning his search for Will Graham.

Thoughts: First, the synopsis gives the entire story away. And to be honest I enjoyed this book however, I love my girl Clarice so much more. Would it be different if I had read this first? Maybe. Dolarhyde has sections in this book that are my favorite parts. They are messed up but the glimpses into that mind are fascinating. An enjoyable read.

Rating: 8/10 would recommend you read before Silence of the Lambs cause you will like that one more but this one deserves a read

#books #literature #review #hissy reviews #end of the month #joe hill #gillian flynn #caroline kepnes #thomas harris #bookblr

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bradbishop409 · 6 years ago

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Time Management

Juggling Work

We all may have said it, or at least thought it at one time or another: I wish there were more hours in a day. Between working between 8 to 10 hours a day (sometimes more depending on your occupation) and keeping up with any other obligations, sometimes it can feel like there is just not enough time in the day. I mean, there are 24 hours, but we must sleep some time, right?

But aside from outside obligations, maybe you are a person who is looking to have multiple streams of income. Most of the success stories we read about or come across online in articles tend to discuss how they have multiple streams of income or the “Side hustle”. But we only see them after a significant amount of work is put in. After a website has been created and is now just making passive income. After the book has been published so they just had to determine what they wanted to do next.

So how do you learn how to manage your full-time job, your home life, and your ability to make a lucrative income with a side gig?

Prioritize.

As with anything in life, priorities are key. They are important in helping you determine what will be the best avenue to take and what will yield the highest return. Having your priorities in order ensure you won’t make a decision that will jeopardize your livelihood and well-being in pursuit of something that does not yield that high of a return. For instance, if you are starting a new blog, you wouldn’t want to spend so much time being consumed with your blog that you neglect your family or even begin to neglect the current job you have that is providing income in the meantime.

Set Goals.

Finding your niche when trying to find a lucrative side hustle can be difficult. It doesn’t usually hurt to try new things. You do, however, want to set goals for yourself. Give yourself a time frame on when you are looking to see return on investment (ROI). These goals, along with your priorities, can help you determine if what you are trying is or is not worth your time.

These things can help in not only ensuring you don’t waste your time, but also that you can determine how much time you should be spending on work efforts. Work is a great thing as it brings in finances that can help your day-to-day and month-to-month expenses. It is also important to know when it’s time to stop working, and the equally important, when is the most appropriate time to work or take a break.

Online Courses

I have heard the question asked several times. No matter if it is a student fresh out of high school, or an older individual looking to further their education. Are online courses for me?

I have finished a degree online. I enjoyed the convenience of online courses, and how I was able to finish my degree at my own pace, sort of. If you are looking in to furthering your education, and are considering online courses, there are several things to consider. All these things will help to determine if online courses are the best option for you.

Price.

Depending on what courses you are looking to take online and where, price can vary. Obviously if you are looking to complete a full degree plan the tuition would cost more than if you were to just obtain a certificate. But even in that case, it is still wise to determine what school and program provides the most value for the best price.

Time Management.

On top of whatever obligations, you may currently have, such as work or family, you must determine if you have good enough time management skills to allot time for these courses if you were to be enrolled in them. Without having an advisor in the room with you for a specified amount of time, it may be more difficult for you to determine when the best time to complete assignments is.

Discipline.

Time management goes hand in hand with having self-discipline. If you aren’t going to be disciplined enough to complete assignments and turn in work on time, doing courses online may not be the best option for you. If, however, you believe that you would have no problem in taking the time to essentially teach yourself the material, it’s a more convenient alternative.

Class Length.

Online programs can vary as far as their course length. For instance, the classes I take are only 8 weeks, while a friend of mine only has 6-week classes. Even some courses in my program are offered for a full semester, about 16 weeks. This is something you want to consider when looking at online programs, especially once you look at the price, your time management, and your self-discipline skills. If you won’t be able to handle a large workload in a short amount of time you may need longer courses. Whatever would allow you to be the most successful.

Online courses aren’t for everyone, but for those that take them they can be extremely convenient and appealing. It’s up to you to determine if they best suit your needs.

Maintaining the House

Whether you are a stay at home parent or have a full-time job. Whether you are married or single. Whether you are male or female. No matter what category or demographic you may fall in to, maintaining your home is something that you are responsible for. There has been a common misconception that a woman is responsible for maintaining the household. The reality is, anyone who is in the home should contribute to the maintenance of that home.

So, what does it mean to maintain something like a house?

This could mean different things to different people, but for the purposes of this post maintaining the house is referencing the upkeep of the home as well as the financial aspects on what it takes to maintain a home.

Of course, if I were to ask, most people would say a clean house is important. Now we all know that most houses also don’t stay clean all day every day. Clean is also relative to individual people’s preferences. Clean to one person may be organized clutter (like some room sin my house), while to others it may be completely spotless, everything in its respective place. No matter what your preference is for clean, it is still your responsibility to contribute to that cleanliness in the house.

The great thing is, the way individuals contribute may also be completely different as well. Some may choose to pay a professional cleaner once or twice a month, while others may choose to pick a day out of the week and clean it themselves.

Maintaining could also be the actual maintenance of the home. For instance, ensuring light bulbs and air filters are changed, making any repairs, etc. Again, this is something that you may or may not have to do on your own depending on what type of home you live in, as well as if you rent or own.

Another major contributing factor to the maintaining of a home is of course, finances. No matter how clean your house is or how often your air filters are changes, if the mortgage isn’t paid or the utilities are disconnected, it won’t matter one bit. Maintaining your house also means managing your finances to effectively maintain the home. No matter how you chose to manage your money, or even how you chose to maintain the financial integrity of the home it’s just important that it is done.

Dealing with Family

It’s safe to say we can all agree that we love our families. If you have kids, then yours are the best kids out there. Our parents did the best they could with what they had, and we turned out great, some of us anyway. But what do we do when our family is getting on our last nerve?

Often, I speak with people who have the most issues with dealing with family members as it pertains to their in-laws. In-laws tend to get a bad reputation for being mean and any other adjective you might have heard someone use to describe them.

So, let’s say you just so happen to have one of those in-laws. Or even if you have some distant cousins, nieces, or some other family members that just are hard to deal with. How do you manage? How do you handle it if they can’t be easily ignored? What about family holidays?

Dealing with family can be stressful enough, even without those individuals who seem to be a pain. There are a few things you can do to help yourself deal with them to make your life a little less stressful!

Know your relatives.

In most things in life, you can fix your own problems and deal with things just in the way you think about them. We can sometimes get ourselves in trouble by having different expectations for people who have proven themselves to us time and time again. It’s important to know your relatives and set your expectations as such. Having your mind pre-prepared with the expectation of who your family is and what they do allows you to handle them a little better when you must encounter them. Why? Because your expectations aren’t so high.

Love them from a distance.

Not all family members are created equal. Some of them you must know when to keep at arm’s length. Just because you are in the same vicinity, or at the same family event doesn’t mean that you are absolutely obligated to spend a significant amount of your time with them. Instead, find a way to be polite and cordial, without making yourself miserable.

Put your foot down.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a position where we are miserable, and we don’t have to be. Dealing with family can often be as simple as putting your foot down when you refuse to be treated a certain way, talked to a certain way, or even taken advantage of. Don’t allow yourself to be walked over to “keep the peace”, sometimes things need to be said. Action needs to be taken. Your sanity is important.

No matter what degree you find yourself needing to “deal” with family members, it is important to know that there is always something you can do to ensure you are not in a position of stress and discord for a long period of time.

Social Life

Social media has become all the craze today. While social media can be a great and effective tool, is it putting a damper on our actual social lives? You know, the ones we have in real life, not just virtually. But even today, how much of a real social life do we really need with all the resources available via internet?

For some of us, our social lives are our livelihood. We depend on that social life to general clients for our business. We may even depend on that social life to give us an excuse to put our home and family obligations on hold for a few hours.

No matter what the reason may be, having a social life, even if it’s a small one, can be extremely beneficial. When we think about a social life, or minds may go straight to night’s out and cocktail parties. This, however, doesn’t have to be the case.

Your social life is essentially the friends you hang around, the events you attend, basically whatever life you live in a more social setting. Typically, this life is separate from your work and home life, though they may overlap from time to time. As I mentioned, this is where you typically are with friends, relaxing, and having a good time. So, the question is, do you need a social life?

I’d say yes! You may not have to have the most extravagant social life possible, but those few faithful friends who get out with you from time to time can be all you need. Your social life shouldn’t be something that consumes most of your time, unless you are social influencers. Instead, it should be something that affords you the opportunity to put your obligations and responsibilities on hold for a moment. Make an opportunity to stop and enjoy yourself.

Your social life also may have different sections. For instance, you may have your own friends that you spend time with alone. If you are married, you may also have other married friends that you spend time with together as couples with. Then there is also the friends and events you may have or participate in if you have children. All these areas can be a part of your social life.

Whether you are a party animal or are more life me and prefer to just head to a restaurant for conversation from time to time, your social life is important. It’s what gives you the opportunity to get away or express yourself in ways you might not be able to in your normal business or home setting.

As mentioned earlier, this social life may also come in handy when it comes to your business. Depending on your occupation, the connections you make in your social life can be very beneficial for your personal and professional development.

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gesteckt1 · 6 years ago

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Linux Kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman who helped develop the original driver described what went wrong in a post on his Google+ profile:Who would have thought that just randomly poking memory of a laptop would brick it. Long ago Samsung told me that it was just fine to be doing this, and that there would not be any problems (I based the samsung-laptop driver on code that Samsung themselves gave me.)It may take several weeks for the changes to work into the distribution trees of the affected OSes so it's recommended that users should always use the UEFI firmware's Compatibility Support Module (CSM), which emulates a BIOS mode, when booting on affected laptops.It's believed the fault may be linked to the Samsung's UEFI firmware and its interaction with the kernel's Samsung laptop driver and efivars module. The module's source is here. Linux users accidentally bricked their new Samsung laptops by booting their favourite open-source OS on the shiny computers.A kernel driver crashes on Sammy machines when users start up from an Ubuntu 12 USB key - although other distributions may be at risk - giving them the dreaded black screen of no activity whatsoever. After the operating system froze, users held down the power button to force the laptops to power off.

In some unfortunate cases, when the computers are switched on again the firmware - stored in a chip soldered to the computer's circuit board - refuses to start the laptop, effectively ruining the product.Outraged Penguinistas reported the cock-up on the Ubuntu bug tracker, naming various models of the South Korean giant's laptops, including the 300E5C, NP700Z5C, NP700Z7C and 530U3C series. One bloke complained he had destroyed two motherboards investigating the fault.It is understood the "critical" bug is linked to the Samsung hardware driver* and the machine's Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) - but it is unconnected to the controversial UEFI Secure Boot mechanism used to run Microsoft's Windows 8 and other cryptographically signed operating systems."Yeesh. I hate UEFI - this should clearly be impossible with correctly written firmware," one bug reporter wrote.Another said: "If something does not work for you the way it should, your motherboard may be permanently damaged and your laptop may get bricked. For this reason, this bug should have been flagged nuclear rather than critical."

Senior Ubuntu developer Steve Langasek confirmed that the distro's maker Canonical spoke to Samsung's engineers, but the electronics giant did not set a date for rolling out a fix. Langasek said in December that Sammy feared the bug is triggered by a kernel driver that also causes issues on Samsung systems when booted in EFI mode. It doesn't appear to matter whether Secure Boot is enabled or disabled.Langasek advised users to install Ubuntu from the latest live image that forces machines to boot using the old-fashioned PC BIOS interface rather than UEFI. This process involves using the Compatibility Support Module in Linux and the machine firmware.Intel developer Matt Fleming is also working on the bug and has posted two different fixes, including just disabling the driver when booting from UEFI. Almost 17,000 votes were cast by Reg readers when we asked you all to name the best - and the worst - tech products of 2012.We asked you to tell us which kit you though most warranted a Reg Hardware Award from shortlists in a variety of categories: laptop, tablet, e-reader, home entertainment device and smartphone, but we also asked you to pick your favourite technology retailer, media service provider and mobile service provider.

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We know you like your games, so we asked you to choose the best game of 2012 and to select the classic title you think most worthy of a place in our Antique Codeshow Hall of Fame.Finally, giving you the rein, we asked you to name the best technology product of 2012 - and the choose the worst, to receive our decidedly uncoveted Rusty Dodo Award.How did the voting go? In most cases, the winner in each category was clear, garnering two or three times as many votes as its nearest rival. There were exceptions: in the Media Service Provider of the Year vote, Netflix was ahead of Freeview HD by a relatively small margin, not much between the top three e-readers, but only a handful of points separated the major Mobile Service Providers. Likewise, Half-Life scored almost as many votes as Lemmings in the Antique Code Show Hall of Fame voting, but the small blue suicide squads just clinched the award. Maybe next year, Half-life fans?And now for Product of the Year. We got some interesting, possibly sanity questioning suggestions, most notably "the Olympics opening ceremony", though there is a certain logic to it. Less so "fish fingers" and "Jaffa Cakes" - both tasty items but not what we were really after. El Reg's Editor was particularly tickled by the suggestion "Lewis Page Bullshit Generator v2" - as was the girlfriend of the (chap?) who voted for "my partner's rampant rabbit".

There were lots of votes for various Apple items and an assortment of Samsung-branded kit appeared on the list, but after totting up the numbers and adding in extra ones for folk who mis-spelled the names, we can announced that the Reg Hardware Product of the Year 2012 is the:The votes for the Rusty Dodo Award comprised pretty much the same products that appeared in the Product of the Year list - though we notice the latter did not include Windows 8, which did make the list of products you think are a bit duff. Again, pretty much every recent Samsung tech toy garnered at least one vote, but again by totting up all the suggestions and variations on a theme, the Rusty Dodo Award 2012 goes to:Feature An unheard-of decline in PC sales figures since launch, a grumbling press and a user base that struggles without a touchscreen: Windows 8 is easy to take a swipe at. Yet BT announced in November last year it was deploying 5,900 Win 8 Panasonic Toughbooks for its "last mile" Openreach division – the engineers who walk the line from telephone exchange up to customer’s premises.

Kevin Norton, BT Openreach director of transformation oversaw this procurement – “one of the biggest investments we’ve made to date” – and gave us the inside story on the various options, trials and tests it went through. With many of its field devices needing to run legacy apps, just how were the BT engineers getting on with Redmond’s touchy tech?“It has been a big adjustment for them. The vast majority of the people put on to these machines have actually moved from Windows XP direct to Windows 8. It’s been quite a fundamental shift for them in terms of the OS they’re using,” says NortonNo doubt all users of Windows 8 would identify with that and many have found it painful, but the Panasonic Toughbook CF-C1 is a convertible laptop that can be used as a traditional clamshell laptop or have its touchscreen reconfigured to function as a tablet. For most, the touchscreen option is essential to navigate Windows 8 and the Openreach engineers get the best of both worlds. Even so, Norton remarks that most still use the device in clamshell mode, “because there’s an adjustment period until they get used to a new way of working and operating it in a slate form”.

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Apparently, many take advantage of the stylus for tablet work which has other uses too for signature capture – a new capability these Toughbooks allow.When monitoring the rollout, Openreach noticed an impact on results and compensating factors too. As Norton explains:“It’s fair to say we see a slight dip in their productivity output in the first month after they’ve got the machine whilst they get used to the new form factor and the OS. But we soon see that recaptured through the improved performance of the device versus what they had before, and some of the new capabilities.”Indeed, new capabilities are part of the driving force behind the adoption of touchscreen technology at Openreach. This BT division has made a sizeable investment in iPhones – around 3,600 now and another 3,000 due by April – and has seen how well the convenience of this platform works in the field: from photographing and reporting damage on-site to swift processing of parking fines. Moreover, frames engineers would previously work off a laptop in the exchange to follow jumpering details – going to and fro from laptop to frame - now they just carry an iPhone.“So we’ve built a very well laid-out app that details their frame’s jumpering tasks – a neatly formatted note with all the routing details that they need to carry out,” Norton enthuses.

“We’ve seen some really good productivity gains and although the screen is small on the iPhone, when we target it at the right part of the business process, it has been shown to deliver a benefit for us - and some of those capabilities we’re also porting onto the new laptops.”Software development has been a significant aspect of the Toughbook deployment as it has provided the opportunity to remove Windows XP from the Openreach estate, along with the worst performing and oldest laptops. One of the reasons Windows XP had remained active in the field was to support the TaskForce field client, a legacy application (with its roots dating back to the 1990s) that plays an essential role in job management. Unsurprisingly Norton’s team had to make some changes to run it on Windows 8 – an ongoing process of refinement TaskForce needs with each OS uplift.“This deployment has allowed us to slim down the number of versions of TaskForce that we maintain. So now we’re down to a Vista version and one that works on Win 8 within Openreach. Which is great for us, we’ve managed to remove the XP client from the business – good for support and ongoing costs.”

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seewattsididthere · 7 years ago

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5 Necessary Lessons My First Year as an Entrepreneur Taught Me. Things every new business owner should do and learn from.

The part where I give you a brief backstory so that the rest of the article makes sense

April 24th, 2017, I officially launched a company: ROX Jewelry. I had money saved up, a dream, and a burning desire to make a difference. I had all the drive, passion, and hope in the world. Today, I sit here knowing that I had imagined a thousand different ways my first year would have gone, and none of them came remotely close to the reality which unfolded.

My goal in writing this is to share some key knowledge that I've gained, which has been immensely important in my success over the past year. The hope is that by writing this, you won’t have to learn the lessons the same way I had to. This article originally started with 25 topics, however, for the sake of brevity, I have selected the 5 ideas which I believe are the most useful, and universally applicable across industries. These 5 ideas could easily compose of 5 separate blog posts, but again, for the sake of brevity, I have parsed them down to their most relevant and useful components.

1. What’s in a name? Quite a bit, actually.

You’re picking your name. You have one that comes into your head. Now what?

Put the name (if not a common word, etc.) into google translate, make sure it’s not offensive to any group of people (aka limiting your market) Side note: I’d additionally advise that you urban dictionary it.

Actually say the name out loud to a friend. Make sure that it doesn’t sound like another brand or word(s)

See if the domain name is available (without some crazy stipulation that you have to give them a percentage of profit– yes, people do that).

If there is another company that has the domain name you want, I’d urge not to choose that name. For example, I chose www.roxjewelryshop.com, I wanted roxjewelry.com, I couldn’t get it since it was another store’s name. I didn’t start getting to the top of landing pages on search engines for 8 months, and had to work my butt off to build brand recognition.

See if the name is available on ALL of the social media platforms that you want to be on (instagram, pinterest, tumblr, twitter, facebook, etc.)

Check trademarks for that name

Check to see if the name of that company is available (LLC, inc, etc.)

If you’ve done all that, then you’re good to go.

2. Today, One Month, Three Months, Six Months, One Year

To do lists will likely end up becoming your new best friend… And you probably have a lot of great ideas. I felt that way too, but, it took me six months to realize I should have probably been thinking six months in advance to execute some of them. Hindsight is 20/20.

I’ll concede; organizing to-do lists may sound redundant, but stick with me here. You’re going to have great ideas that come up and you may want to act on them asap. I strongly suggest that before taking decisive action, you take a second to pause and see what the effect of shifting gears may have on your current goals. Next, assess the time this new idea will need. If the idea will be in line with your current goals, and you decide is a good use of your time, then act.

We’ve recognized the importance of setting goals, but how does one organize the tasks you need to do to achieve them?

After much trial and error, I suggest organizing your action items into lists based on Daily tasks, One Month Goals, Three Month Goals, Six Month Goals, and Yearly Goals. Keep them readily available on a google drive (or something equally as accessible) as separate documents so that when you have a new idea or inspiration on how to achieve a goal, you have an easy-to-find place where you can immediately write it down.

Setting up your daily to-do list

My daily to do list is split up in personal to-do’s (laundry, pay bills, etc) and business to-do’s. For the business ones, I look first at monthly goals, and add action items that will get me closer to them, then I do the same for the bigger lists. Keeping your daily tasks working towards big goals is immeasurably important.

NOTE: Try to keep you personal to-do list to have 20–40% of the items on your daily to-do list. It sounds like a lot, but this is how you get to have a life too (which is important for your health, living conditions, and sanity.) For example, every day on my personal to-do list I put read one chapter of a self-help book. Which leads us to our next point…

3. Mindset over Matter.

I had a professor in college that would yell at the top of his lungs “WAKE UP, THIS IS IMPORTANT!” right before he was about to cover something that would be a test question. In your first year of business, you will run into any number of ways that life will try to test you. Trust me–life can get reeeeal creative with this.

In the spirit of that professor, I’m going to tell you:

WAKE UP, THIS IS IMPORTANT!

Your mindset is arguably the most important thing to overcoming these obstacles and being successful. You will need to be resilient. Determined. Unwavering in your commitment to make this dream a reality.

I love these words by Winston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

If you’re new to the world of self help and business literature, wondering how the heck you’re supposed to build up a mindset of steel, then you’ve stumbled upon the right place. The secret to doing this is actually super simple: Put the good stuff in. Every. Single. Day.

What’s the good stuff? That’s different for everyone, but it boils down to doing (at absoluteminimum) one thing each day that gets you really excited about your business and the life you’re creating.

Don’t know where to start?Download the free printable for this article on my blog. I’ve listed examples of possible things you can do. Scan the list, write down/circle/highlight the ones that speak to you, and do them. ACTUALLY DO THEM. You can thank me later.

Remember that to do list? Add it there. No excuses.

Think you don’t have enough time? Then keep reading.

Continue reading for a free printable of ways to get yourself excited about the business and life you're creating every day!

4. Time, and having enough of it.

As an entrepreneur, you’ll find that the easiest excuse is usually something about not having enough time in the day to do everything. It comes out as “I’m only one person how am I supposed to run a business, work out, and make time for self help…” yada yada yada…

For those of you who love to blame time, I have a story for you.

I fell trap to blaming time my first year. Then my lung collapsed. When that happened, I was the sole person operating my business. Pretty big blow, right? But, the business still ran. How? Well, that (finally) made me realize that it was not absolutely necessary that I was the only one doing everything. In fact, in many cases there was literally “an app for that,” (which I was conveniently ‘too busy’ to ever look for until then). I literally couldn’t do everything, and that’s when alternative ways of doing what I was doing became clear as day.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to wait for s*** to hit the fan.

Here’s an exercise that you can use to “make” a ton of time.

Look at your to do lists.

Figure out what takes you a lot of time to do.

Figure out if that’s a valuable use of time.

Cut the unnecessary items.

Cut the things that don’t align with your goals (personal and business).

Find people who would love to do the things you don’t.

Stay open to, and keep looking for, new ideas to increase effectiveness.

If you need to hire someone, hire someone.

If you need to replace video games with reading before bed, sell the console.

If you need to wake up earlier and avoid traffic, stop hitting the snooze button.

Figure out how to make it work. Cut out the crap. Give up the excuses. Set the intention. Follow through.

I’m going to have the audacity to put into words something you won’t want to accept:If you “don’t have enough time” for something, then at least a small part of you (perhaps even a large part) doesn’t want to do it.

5. Say goodbye to your comfort zone.

It no longer exists. It cannot coexist with growth. Remove the idea from your internal filing cabinet. Risk is one of the many costs of doing business. It’s not always easy, it’s not comfortable, but once you make pushing out of your comfort zone a habit, the rewards are enormous.

Get ready for your to do list to be changed, get ready become a master at ‘crisis’ management, get ready for life to throw you a curveball. Get ready to kick some serious ass.

We are the only people capable of preventing our own growth.

Sincerely, Taylor

#business #self help #entrepreneurship #lessons

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