#and it only runs every 30 mins on weekends but is usually late

[rinielelrandir]

And it may also translate to "it's possible to live without a car here in some or even most neighborhoods. Others will mysteriously be transit deserts and poor & desperate people will spend over 2 hours one way commuting to/from work via bus. Even in heavily connected neighborhoods you'll definitely wish it was way better instead of severely underfunded."

At least, that's my take as someone who lives in a 3 person/1 car household in Philly. The neighborhood we're in is fantastic in terms of transit, walkability, and bike ability. But we picked it on purpose for those things, because we had the means to and didn't want to drive as much. There are stilll neighborhoods that to get to from where we are take an hour and a half or more via public transit, with multiple transfers, and infrequent routes if the weekend/holiday schedule is in use. Car though will take maybe 30 minutes in heavy traffic. And SEPTA pays its drivers like shit so even in the most well-connected neighborhoods stuff is frequently cancelled bc there just aren't enough drivers.

If a city in North America has “good public transit” what that translates to is “it’s possible to live without a car here but you’ll still wish it was way better”

[opalesense]

darkest fantasy

childe & f!reader (NSFW)

3.7k words • ~30 min. read

summary: one night you decide to make one of childe’s darkest fantasies into a reality, but as the night progresses, things don’t seem to go according to plan. at least... not according to your plan.

warnings: cnc, sexual assault, blood, death, knives, outdoor sex, lil comfort at the end i promise

notes: saw fatui agent childe fanart and AWOOGA... anyway i tried putting some in game screenshots in this for that extra ~immersion~ and might do that more often in some future fics if you guys want! thanks for 200 followers and i hope you enjoy!! ; ^ ;

“I SHOULDN’T HAVE BROUGHT IT UP,” Childe’s eyebrows furrowed as he rested a hand against his forehead, clearly flustered by the way he chuckled his nervousness away. “You really get me to say the stupidest things, [Y/N].”

 “It’s not stupid at all! C’mon, lighten up a bit!” you placed a hand on his arm and inched closer to his face, sensing the warmth in his cheeks. His shy eyes connected with yours when he let out a deep sigh, thanking you for the validation without him needing to say anything. It was rare to see him this nervous.

 “We’re not going to do it, babe. You asked me to tell you a secret fantasy and that’s all it’ll ever be. A fantasy. Just something in my imagination.”

 He gave you a quick kiss on your forehead before pulling away from you and walking towards the bedroom door to call it a night, but you quickly gripped him by the wrist to pull him back which immediately grabbed his attention. Swiftly, you leaned in to mutter words into his ear that would echo in his head for the rest of the night until the next day.

 “Luckily for you, the thought of doing it gets me a little excited. So why don’t we try to make your fantasy into a reality?”

THE HARBOR’S NIGHT LIFE always flourished near the end of the week. Plenty of workers who had weekends off would fish by the docks, street performers and storytellers would entertain families passing by, and restaurants would be packed full with hungry customers craving for the delectable cuisine of Liyue. Teenage friends gathered in front of the theatre while the elderly seemed to congregate by the teahouse. Children ran across the pavement from time to time flying kites and playing with butterflies. Liyue was truly fascinating during the night, full of a liveliness that always put a sense of joy in each heart that walked through its streets.

 Yet when you walked through the streets, lacking a companion and cold from the slightly revealing dress you wore, there was a sickly mixture of giddy excitement and wrenching anxiety in your heart. You had loosely planned this night with Childe so you knew what to expect, but at the same time, you didn’t. You had no idea where he was, what exactly he was planning to do to you, or when it would all start in the first place since you had been wandering around the harbor for about an hour now. All he wanted you to do was “wear this dress and enjoy your evening,” as he said in his own words. But he simply left you with those vague instructions as well as a bag of Mora to indulge yourself with.

 Even if he didn’t show up, the highlight of your night would be the mouthwatering dinner you had by yourself along with the sight of people offering lanterns to the sky. It was a beautiful night indeed.

 Another hour of wandering and occupying yourself with activities passed and you were feeling restless. The thought of Childe made you squirm in your seat, excitement flooding your nerves as you craved to see him now more than ever.

 If Childe’s following me, I should go somewhere less crowded, you thought.

 Assuming he was watching you at this very moment, you decided to make things easier for him, leaving the storyteller’s pavilion and walking across the bridge heading towards Mt. Tianheng. Mindlessly wandering and following the dirt path, you began to veer left towards the Golden House, but the distant sight of the Millelith immediately turned you back around.

 Not there.

ON YOUR WAY BACK to the main path, you noticed a smaller, less travelled road wedged between two large rocks, the dimly lit lantern sitting up ahead enticing you to follow where it leads. You found yourself curiously walking up the hill, taking in the starry night sky and whistling trees until you turned the final corner to see a group of miners idly standing around, bantering with one nearby Millelith guard.

 They noticed your sudden presence and waved hello, to which you waved hello back. One of the miners, who leaned against a cart full of iron, was the first to fully acknowledge you. “Hey, are you lost, miss?”

 “Oh, no, not at all. I was just curiously wandering around, taking in the sights and all,” you grinned politely, glancing up at the calm night sky. “It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it boys?”

 “Taking in the sights, are you?” another miner slowly approached you, a few more starting to pay attention to you. “You know, you’re certainly a sight to take in too with that pretty little dress of yours.”

 You had completely forgotten that you looked very out of place with what you were wearing – a short traditional-like dress with a small hole exposing a small area of your chest. Your eyes quickly widened as you processed what the miner said, but before you fully realized it and came back to your senses, the men had circled around you and were getting dangerously close. You instinctively reached down to grab the blade that was usually tucked and sheathed in your belt but after grabbing nothing with the realization that of course, you were wearing a dress, genuine panic began to seep in.

 “What’s a pretty girl like you doing out late at night looking like that anyway? You’re practically begging to be touched,” a man’s voice behind you teased, grabbing your hips as he emphasized that last word. You swiftly elbowed him in the ribs to defend yourself and temporarily push him away, but the other men were quick to react as a pair of hands grabbed your arms and pinned you into place.

 You snapped your head towards the Millelith guard, expecting him to do something to help you as a protector of the harbor. But he simply stood there at his post, glancing away as soon as you met his eyes. And if Childe were watching, you were sure he would have stepped in by now. He was often the jealous type anyway. But while the men slowly pulled you under a nearby deteriorated pergola despite your thrashing then greedily groped your body, help was nowhere to be seen.

 All hope you had for a fun night was gone. Tears swelled in your eyes as you attempted to kick away the hungry hands but it was no use. Please, you silently prayed, someone help me!

 As if someone had heard your prayers, the sound of a projectile zipping past your head followed by your arms being freed from the man who was restricting you was the sound of freedom. The others looked up in horror and paused their advances as their friend dropped injured behind you. Suddenly, a dark figure leaped from the hill above and landed on the ground confidently, quickly pulling out two blades then lunging forward to the miners, catching them by surprise. You took this temporary moment of freedom to kick the hands off of you and scramble away, running back towards the path. You could hear the sounds of bodies thumping to the ground behind you coupled with loud groans of agony, and you can only imagine what your unknown savior looked like but all you could focus on was getting away as soon as possible with the limited mental strength you had.

 But much to your dismay, one of the miners still managed to grab you tightly and drag you back, and every time you wiggled away, they had a strong grip on you. Sobs of desperation escaped your throat, “Let me go! Let me go, please! Help!”

 “Leaving so soon?” a different voice growled in your ear as the man’s grip around your waist tightened. It was deep, distorted, and certainly anxiety inducing. You looked down in a flurry of panic to see black and red sleeves wrapped around your figure. This was not one of the miners.

 The man lifted you up a few inches from the ground to turn you around. You were faced with bodies littering the floor. It had only been less than ten seconds and the entire scene was drenched in blood. The sight of the freshly killed miners as well as the one guard made you tremble in fear rather than feel grateful for being saved just now.

 “I think I deserve a reward for protecting you from those filthy bastards, wouldn’t you agree?” the man inched you closer to the bodies but you closed your eyes as soon as you could recognize the open wounds from his blades. “At least a thank you would be nice.”

 “Get away from me!” you yelled and thrashed in his arms again but quickly stopped once you heard the sound of his blade being unsheathed. You opened your eyes to see a bloodied dead man at your feet as well as a knife at your throat, pressing gently at your fragile skin.

 “You’re a tough one, aren’t you? I wouldn’t be so resistant if I were you,” the man’s gravelly voice was definitely unfamiliar but his tone and inflection reminded you of...

 “Childe....” you weakly muttered under your breath, which made the man laugh in response.

 “Childe, you say? You have something to do with the boss?” he pressed his hips harder against yours, his erection subtly throbbing underneath his clothes.

 “So you’re Fatui, aren’t you?” you mustered enough courage to make your voice sound threatening enough. You let out a sarcastic laugh despite your low confidence. “You have no idea who you’re messing with. Once Childe finds out about this, your life will be over within seconds.”

 “Who are you to say something like that?” he slowly began walking the two of you over to the nearest wall, a large rock that cast an equally large shadow from the moonlight. “I’m surprised a dumb little slut like you would even know his name.”

 Your eyes squinted at the insult. “You don’t need to know who I am. All you have to know is you’ll be dead by tomorrow morning.”

 “We’ll see about that,” he suddenly used his free arm to turn you around so your back slammed against the cold rock. You finally looked up at your captor to confirm your suspicions of this predatory savior. He was certainly part of the Fatui, his red and black mask concealing his identity with yellow glowing eyes staring directly at you. His arm positioned itself directly next to your head so he could hold his blade against your neck again, threatening any potential thoughts of escaping. His other hand suddenly grabbed the open space in your dress and pulled down, ripping the fabric in half and exposing your half naked form, eliciting a loud gasp from you. Panic began to seep in. How could I walk back home practically naked? Would I even end up alive to come back home?

 Before you could use your arms to cover yourself up in an attempt at modesty, he pressed the blade to your neck that even the slightest movement would ensure spilled blood. “Don’t even think about it.”

 He looked up and down at your body, humming with satisfaction as he began to unzip his pants and free his cock. You couldn’t exactly take a good look at it with the knife restricting your range of motion, but even then, you weren’t sure you wanted to look. His free hand gripped your bare waist. “And to think that those other filthy men were about to get their hands on this... You really should thank me.”

 Another gasp escaped your throat as he slowly dug his hand under the strap of your underwear. His leather gloves snaked their way further down, inching closer and closer to your core. You could feel his grip on his blade tighten with his tensed muscles. “That was a command. Thank me.”

 “T-Thank you,” you whimpered as he pulled down the last bit of clothing you hid behind. He let out a satisfied groan at the sight of your aching cunt, which you hated to admit was dripping wet from thinking about Childe earlier in the night. Even now, you really hated to admit this situation was somehow turning you on, even though you were simultaneously disgusted and shaking in fear.

 “You’re practically soaking for me, aren’t you?” the man let out a slow chuckle as he dipped a gloved finger into your hole without warning. You gasped at the sudden penetration, careful not to arch your back into his touch with the knife still pressed at your throat. The man began relentlessly shifting his finger in and out of you and watched your face squirm with pleasure and denial at the same time. He maniacally chuckled at the way you were completely unsure of how to feel, and wanting to hear you moan louder instead of quietly pant and sigh, he inserted another finger and picked up the pace.

 “Your cunt is so tight, you know that?” he teased, “If you’re moaning like this now I can only imagine how my cock will make you feel.”

 “N-No, please,” you moaned out helplessly, “Please don’t...”

 He pulled his fingers away and quickly shoved them into your mouth while it was still open, freeing your throat from his knife and slowly trailing it down your body while he made you suck on his gloved fingers, wet from your own fluids. The cold metal found itself settling right above your hips and with no hesitation he began leaving flesh wounds, the leftover blood from the men easily being mistaken as yours at first glance.

 “I’m going to put away the knife, but you’ll be a good girl for me and stay still, won’t you? You saw what I did to those men. It would be a shame if you met the same fate just because you wanted to escape,” he sheathed the blade and pulled his fingers out of your mouth to grab your waist, forcing you to turn around. He bent down slightly to get a hold of your thighs, and in one swift move, folded your body into the likings of a full nelson, your legs hanging onto his elbows with his chest pressed against your tense back. As he reached his hands to clasp behind your neck and push your body into the intense position, the connection between this man and Childe made your eyes light up.

 This was one of his favorite positions. No way it was just coincidence.

 “So it is you, Childe,” you happily grinned as he turned the both of you to face the bloodied mess from before so he could lean against the wall. His touches seemed to get more familiar as the realization sunk in, but at the same time, you wondered if your mind was just playing tricks on you to make the best out of the current situation. You sat on the fence of either blindly believing this mysterious man was Childe or giving into the reality that this really was a stranger.

 “You’re delusional, slut. Childe has nothing to do with this, I don’t know why you keep mentioning his name,” he hissed in your ear, getting more and more irritated.

 You finally glanced down for the first time since nothing could restrict your neck anymore. To your delight, you smiled at his throbbing cock twitching as it waited at your entrance, aching to stir your insides. You giggled sweetly, finally relaxing with a deep sigh. You now knew with certainty that you were safe. Everything was under control. His control.

 “Childe, I recognize every inch of your cock like it’s second nature,” you stared at his familiar length then reached out to wrap your fingers around the tip, the muscle twitching in response. “You’ve never been this hard before... You must be so excited right now.”

 “One more word out of you about Childe and I will kill you right here. Do not test me.”

 “You wouldn’t, right? You love me too much,” you boldly declared, teasing him for staying in character. When he didn’t answer and instead shifted his cock to push his tip inside you, you let out a sharp exhale. He went in too fast, too rough. Even if you were dripping wet, the way he shoved himself inside you was merciless and tore you apart immediately.

 You tried to find the pleasure in it but as soon as he started thrusting not even a few seconds later, you worriedly whispered, “S-Slow down... Please! It hurts, Ajax-“

 “You’re going to take all of it in. Maybe that’ll teach you not to be an annoying, disobedient brat from now on,” he interrupted.

 Destroying you was an understatement of what he was truly doing to your body. He would repeatedly pull his length out before shoving it back in, rolling his hips so naturally with each thrust having clear intention to break you apart. Your cunt visibly throbbed, the excruciating pain slowly turning into ethereal pleasure from the attention it was getting from his thick shaft. He closely listened to the way your cries turns into gleeful moans, excitedly fucking you as his mind further indulged in the fantasy. After all, this entire night had been exceedingly frustrating and enticing to him and to take out all his pent up energy on you was the only thing on his lust filled mind.

 Soon enough, his thrusts began to roll in harder as he held onto you tightly, his moans becoming more intense as the only thing on his mind was how good he was feeling, fucking you in front of the kills he certainly prided himself on. Similarly, you felt your insides burn at the feeling of being manhandled and treated like a toy, or the way he began moaning your name in a low whisper as you felt his cock twitching inside you, aching for release – the first time he had ever acknowledged your name tonight.

 “[Y/N], baby – fuck!” his distorted voice cried out, “I’m... I’m gonna...!”

  “Me too...!” you felt your legs shake violently as you neared your climax, “A-Ajax!”

 He let out one final thrust, burying himself inside of you until his length plugged up your sore hole and dumped his seed deep inside you. His load came in pulses, slowly coating your insides with moans of ecstasy ringing in your ear as he rested his chin on your shoulder. Your cunt quivered as you reached your release as well, your fluids swirling with his to make one happy mix of satisfaction.

 The both of you stayed in this position, panting and trying to calm down from your highs. Childe let go of his hands behind your neck and positioned them to hold your knees without pulling out of you, allowing you to freely move your head again. Though, you didn’t want to take your eyes off of his cock buried inside of you, opting to keep your head hanging down to actively avoid looking at the bodies in front of you. Childe must have noticed this, and of course, he had to say something about it.

 “Sorry about... them. I hate... really hate when people try to mess with what’s mine,” he took a deep sigh as he slowly pulled out of you, watching his cum ooze out from your cunt to drip down to the space between his shoes. The sight could have been enough for him to push for another round, but he figured now wasn’t the time. He had the urge to explain himself.

 “I was just so mad and... though I have to admit, seeing their blood on my blade got me so excited... wait, I think I might’ve gotten a little too excited,” something seemed to have clicked in his mind when he said that, “Baby, I’m so sorry! We shouldn’t have done this, I did so many things to you, I’m so sorr-“

 “It’s okay, Childe,” you slowly turned your head to his so your faces were only an inch apart, his mask being the sole barrier that stopped you from kissing him to shut him up. “I had so much fun. Did you?”

 “Of course I did,” he slowly placed you down to stand on your feet again, which was admittedly tough since he had fucked the life out of you. He briefly held your waist to stabilize you as you wobbled back and forth, his cum now dripping down your thighs. He then lifted his hood up to reveal his fluffy red hair and took off his mask, throwing it to the ground to meet you with teary eyes.  His voice was no longer distorted by that cursed mask, and a look of genuine concern sat in his deep eyes.  “I-I’m so sorry for scaring you, [Y/N]. I could see it in your eyes the entire time and I hate to admit that it turned me on and now I feel so bad–“

  You swiftly pressed your lips to his, finally shutting him up from his rambling. He responded by eagerly returning the kiss, cupping your face in his hands and closing his eyes. For a moment, his troubles melted away once he realized you weren’t upset with him, and millions of thoughts about how much he loved you raced through his mind. But It wasn’t long before he broke the exchange, taking off his hooded garments to drape it over your cold, naked body. It was apparent he put thought into this moment, already wearing his normal clothes underneath the Fatui uniform as if he had planned to cover you up from the start. He made sure to pin it closed and fasten it tightly, ensuring that every exposed part of you was warm and covered. Once he was done, he pulled you in for a hug, holding you tightly as he stared at the bodies behind you, sighing contently.

 “I love you, [Y/N]. Thank you for accepting me for who I am and letting me have tonight. We really don’t have to do this ever again if you don’t want to.”

 “I love you too,” you smiled sweetly. “Just... next time, please don’t keep me waiting so long. The uncertainty was thrilling but I was sure I was going to die back there.”

 “I’ll keep that in mind next time. I just got caught up with the Millelith because I’m dressed like an agent, then I lost sight of you and... wait,” he pressed his forehead against yours and gently, yet eagerly whispered with a grin, “so there’s really going to be a next time?”

[ticktickblog]

Stop Being the Last-Minute Person

Everything You Need to Know about Procrastination

Understanding procrastination

Usually, we think of procrastination as a bad habit, but this might not be the case. Research by Burka and Yuen, authors of Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It Now, have found that procrastination is not a bad habit, but a psychological syndrome caused by one’s fear. In other words, procrastination is not purely a problem of time management. Instead, it concerns people's inner fears, expectations, doubts and pressures. 

There might be some people, like myself before, who’d always leave their tasks to the very last minute before the deadlines and look forward to a suddenly-bursted extraordinary performance, or a very best luck ever. Some even say the closer the DDLs are, the more productive they are.

So, is the deadline really a force to drive us forward in a positive way?

My answer is negative, although from the surface it may seem harmless to some people, and can to some extent be converted to motivator. However, deep inside, procrastination brings more harms than good for most of us.

Consequence of procrastination

1. On top of all the damages caused by procrastination: mental sufferings. Even though relaxing first brings instant joy, it’ll soon be replaced by overwhelmingly negative feelings: e.g. anxiety thinking, nagging pain, a guilt of not starting earlier, and etc. Not hard to imagine how painful it is to be trapped into this situation for a long period of time.

2. From the view regarding one’s physical health, there’s also detrimental consequence. Chasing DDLs usually means overworking at a late point. For example, burning the night oil in a row. If this continues as a habit, it will threaten one’s physical health as well.  

3. There might be consequences to other people as well, because people who procrastinate a lot may be bad at time management. For example, being late for a date because they’ve not started dressing up earlier, or being unable to submit a task on time because they’ve wasted a lot of time thinking. These could then make them easy to not be trusted by others, and people around them may also sometimes feel disappointed.  

Then, what at root drives us to procrastinate? What makes people consciously or unconsciously choose to procrastinate?

Reasons for procrastination

1. Excessive perfectionism

People who are perfectionists normally have very high standards to themselves and to the work they do. Therefore, they easily fall into the fear of not being able to reach these standards, or making mistakes on the way which will lead to undesirable results. By not getting started, the mistakes/failures will not happen, which means at this procrastinating point at least, they don’t have to worry too much. 

Also, many perfectionists may waste too much time thinking how to do instead of actually doing. They choose to wait till a perfect plan is ready. However, in fact there is neither a flawless plan nor a perfect outcome. Plus, it’s extremely hard for excessive perfectionists to be fully satisfied with what they’ve achieved no matter how good it is. 

2. The rewards are too far away. 

Studies have shown that the farther the due date is, the less binding force it may execute on us, and the easier it is for us to feel unmotivated to start. Compared to gaining rewards from a not-so-recent future, instant gratification is obviously much easier. 

This might be the very reason why many people choose to enjoy first and do later. For example, if the deadline for an assignment is 2 weeks from now, then spending 2 days watching a new series on Netflix doesn’t seem like a big deal. 

3. Fear of difficulty

Reason for this fear is we know the goal is too big and require hard work. Sometimes when we are given a big task, e.g. dissertation, we might be very likely to feel overwhelmed, not knowing where to start or how. The motivation then downgrades to 0. Similarly, when a monthly personal KPI has been given, even just thinking of it brings a lot of headache already, let alone start doing. 

4. Lack of awareness and skills of time management

Sad but true, I know:(  

For these ones, getting so used to an unstructured work/study style makes it even harder not to procrastinate. Never thinking of organizing or not knowing how, is a big hindrance to their productivity. But, it’s totally fine if you just enjoy the flow and do not worry about getting things done. However, for these who crave progression and success, then tackling procrastination and learning how to manage your time and organize things well is extremely important. Let TickTick help with that 🙌

5. Dislike of taking orders

As some of you might feel relatable, deadlines and dues are set usually by other people, either our professors or team leaders, to the tasks assigned. For those who have strong self-awareness and do not want to be tasked by others, they consciously or subconsciously resort to procrastination as a way to resist the order. Meanwhile, they try to declare some autonomy and freedom by refusing to do things at this moment and ignoring them till later.

Ways to fight against procrastination

The most painful part of procrastination is not working on the task, it is starting the work. Therefore, to beat procrastination, is actually to find out ways to get us started. 

Where to start

1. Set a realistic goal and fairly evaluate your ability

Make sure your goal is inspiring but also attainable, based on the evaluation of your ability now and its potential to grow, plus the time and effort needed in achieving your goal. 

For example, if I have three free weekends this month, then I probably establish a goal: finishing reading a book this month. Many procrastinators are too optimistic about their ability in the future and underestimate the time needed to complete the task. When deadlines approach, it’s just frightening and frustrating. 

2. Divide the goal into more achievable ones

If the goal seems too big to reach, then cut it into smaller pieces to reduce the fear of a sudden commitment. 

Going back to that book-reading example, to finish reading a book in a month, I may divide the task into reading ¼  every week, and then 10 pages each for working days and 20 pages each for unscheduled weekends. Compared to 1 book, 10 pages just sounds like a breeze. 

3. Trim the unnecessary and only keep the priorities

According to Pareto Principle, 20% of the things in life can determine 80% of the results. Therefore, when facing multiple tasks, sort them out based on urgency, importance, necessity and other indicators. Next, take the lead in dealing with high-priority things. This method can effectively help us abandon those low-value and insignificant activities, and rationally allocate limited time and energy for the maximum return.

4. Start from a small task 

Some may argue that starting from a hard task is better for time management. However, for a lagging person like myself before, starting is the most difficult part as I said. Therefore, an easy task can first “allure” me to start, and when finishing this, the rest of my day is then kept in a feeling-productive momentum.

Long-run strategies

1. Increase incentive mechanism 

The best way to do that is to bond the completion of a certain task with an instant reward. For example, if I finish writing my blog draft today, I’d be rewarded with 30 mins to play with my dog. If reading through all literature within scheduled time when writing a dissertation, I’ll treat myself with a big meal or an outing day. In this way, before each task starts, motivation will replace stress to activate your enthusiasm.

P.s. Please remember, what the reward for is always your hard work and progress, not the results.

2. Reduce the task aversion from a mental side: 

Go deeper into the given task and find/develop some parts you feel passionate about from it. If you’ve found out the joy of doing things, then a task will not be a task anymore, but a daily trivial, something like teeth-brushing. Those who work out consistently no matter how busy he/she is, are actually regarding working-out as a daily activity. This sounds a little bit like self-brainwashing, but believe me, it brings positive results in the long run.

Other possible solutions

1. Make use of visual tools 

Write the daily tasks down for enhanced execution force: Some research has found out that writing down your to-do tasks makes it easier for you to really complete it.

Check it done for enhanced encouragement: When I see the visual hints, e.g. a visual tick, like the logo of TickTick, that tells me I’ve achieved something, it is like an energy transferred into my body. Not only visually, it’s a mental encouragement I’ve got from the process.  

2. Create a co-supervising system

By inviting a friend/colleague to co-supervise each other, it may help you two to both keep on the right track. Also, in this co-supervision scheme, competitive people will hate to lose. By losing here actually means your friend finished her task while you didn’t. A positive competition vibe is formed here to probably give you a little gentle push.

Final words

Like what Mark Twain said,“The secret of getting ahead is getting started”. Although it’s not easy to completely beat procrastination, it’s still good to be less-procrastinated. Now is always better than later, stop being the last-minute person and get started now!

[lockdownuk]

Lockdown Diary Part 8

A personal account during the lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

23/03/2020 8:30pm Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, gives a live address to the nation to, effectively, put the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus strain, Covid-19.

Many of us have been self-isolating for days but this latest development within the UK in reaction to the pandemic feels very serious and very scary. I decided to keep a simple diary and where better but online.

Day 211: I stayed up till 5am last night. The last thing I watched was Ronny Chieng, a Malaysian comic in the states. It was a Netflix comedy special and bloody funny. Other than that, a quiet night, nowhere near as fucked as Friday night. As I type, I am about to finish off spicy af sausage cassserole for tea and watch a film - all quite sedate. I’ve work tomorrow, after all!

Day 212: Every time I try and watch something on Amazon Prime, it errors or doesn’t load so I have to uninstall and reinstall, which is a pain the fucking arse. Glad I don’t pay for it. I watched half of the Tom Hanks film last night, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, based on a real life children’s TV actor. It’s good but weird. I’ll finish it tonight. Jo Broom called and told me (well, reminded me of, actually) some good info, especially about insulin lasting 4 hours and the liver producing sugar for when you wake up). Day 213: I didn’t watch the rest of that Tom Hanks film last night, doing so right now. I got a call @5.30pm from Tall Tom asking to pop round which he did (social-distancing at the front door). He dropped of a canvas print he’d ordered of on eof my pictures from FB. Fucking gobsmacked! That’s how much he likes them. I am still in shock. What a brilliant thing to do! Day 214: Finished  A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood last night, I enjoyed it. Today has been standard. Half way through the third week back from furlough and, while I am still very glad to be working, I now also relish pasrt of being paid 80% for fuck all! My walks have been tentative today, I have done something to my right ankle, it feels sore but OK when walking at pace. My phone and Google Fit are playing up - I am suddenly walking 8km/h! Day 215: Phoned Dad - Rita sent an email a couple of days ago telling of a lump in his ear which he had removed and they are going to check for cancer. When I spoke with him it was usual dad - nothing to worry about. He spoke very highly of the staff at Stamford Hospital where he had it done. They took skin from his nesxk to put on his ear lobe where they performed the op.  I had pie and veg tonight. It’s a real change and I am stuffed as I type this. SB pee-ed me off at work big time late this afternoon. Diary updated! Day 216: Dan’s in court today for his drink driving escapade. I think he’s pleading not guilty - I’m not sure, neither has he been each time I have talked to him about it. It was scheduled at 4pm and he’s meant to let me know how it went. As I type, it’s just gone 9pm. Fuck knows what’s happening. I guess he’ll let me know in his own time. Meanwhile, work was OK, nothing hectic, I am on my first Friday beer, just about to eat meatballs and pasta and watch Taxi, a film written by Luc Besson. End of my 3rd week back and it’s a bit like I wasn’t furloughed for 6 months!

Day 217: I switched off that Taxi film after 30 minutes. It was bollocks. Dan got a 20 month ban (reduced to 15, if he does a course, which he says he will) and £1100 fine. At least it’s over and done with now. I got up at gone 2pm today. I have to cut this late sleeping habit out at the weekends. That being said, it’s 8.40pm, just about to dive in the shower, eat and then get on it. Clocks go back later so I’ve an extra hour to play with!

Day 218: Still managed to stay up stupidly late last night, up at before 1pm (but in real terms, that’s just before 2pm!)  Had a video chat with Fog - I was meant to go up to his yesterday to listen to the footy but, ‘cos I was up so late, I didn’t. Anyway, during our chat, we’ve decidied to go to Honolulu when it’s safe, specifically to go to McDs. It was a bizarre conversation - I can’t actually remember the details!

Day 219: The lady (I think it’s a lady) from the Oundle Chronicle emailed to say she didn’t think William (the student) has contacted me (he has but is fucking useless), so she’s found some questions for me to answer and wants me to pick my favourite 4 (hi-res) photos. I’ve written a couple of paragraphs that answer her questions and I was to pick photos that have had the most likes on FB - finding that info out, without trawling back over my posts, is easier said than done! Got the car tyres sorted today - an advisory from the MOT that Julian did last week.. I do like Oundle Tyre and Exhaust centre. Work was fine. Marke had to deal with Eileen Baxter and chatted to me about it. I had it all the week before last. She’s delightful but the least IT savvy person I have ever known in a workplace whereby a computer is integral to the role!

Day 220: I’ve been doing press-ups and toe tocuhes after each exercise for a little while now. 7 press-ups, doesn’t sound much but when I did it before and rapidly increased the numbers (up to 22), it played havoc with my shoulder which I thought was becoming frozen. So, I will icrease the amount slowly. I can just about touch my toes now. When I started, I barely got past my fucking knees! Work was standard today and I had an interesting chat with a recruiter about a job at Jagex, a computer game firm responsible for Runescape which is, apparently, a big deal. Posh playing tonight. At one point, when leading at home to Burton we were top. Now it’s 2-2 with minutes to go and we’re third with fucking Lincoln top. Day 221: I sent an email to Shirley from HR (re) asking about the salary discrepancy between mine and Mark’s. She’s going to talk to me tomorrow about it. I had a lomng chat with Barrzy tonight, always good to catch up and reminisce. I’ve just had two sausage rolls (on the cheap shelf from Co-Op, Dauphinoise dotatoes (ditto), mixed green veg and onion gravy for tea and I am fucking stuffed.

Day 222: Typing at gone 4pm on day 223! Had a meet with Shirley. No dice on the pay until it can be reviewed next year. All pay reviews are on hold. She explained that the salary offer was based on available budget rather than a pay grade or bench mark. Day 223: Typing this very late on day 224. Usual Friday. Work, beers, bed at 5am. went up Fog’s for a couple and watched Train to Busan. Day 224: I swore blind, when I woke and got up (2.24pm) I would have a day off from exercise. Stair climb and 10km walk done! Leigh from Oundle Chronicle messaged chasing my answers for the article. Last night, someone posted such great pics on the Oundle Chatter group that it makes me think twice about posting my photos. I tell everyone I just point and snap with my phone camera and, while it is the phone camera, I do so much pissing about with Google photos I feel like a con, it doesn’t sit well with me. Made lasagne for tea. Fucking lush - lardons, scothc bonnet and an Oxo cube really helped, I think. It’s 11:44pm as I type, 15 mins and I’ll deliver K’s birthday card. Not sure what I am hoping to come out of that, really. Just can’t let go! Day 225: Stupidly late one again last night. Up at 2pm. I’ve responded to Leigh at the Oundle Chronicle - why I make it so hard, I do not know, I really overthink some things.  Eye appointment tomorrow, 9.50am, which Sam, Mr. Minos’s secretary offered me when she called on friday. Sueanne was very cool about it when I checked it was OK. So, now I am fretful of what will happen! More lasering, I reckon.

Day 226: Eye clinic was not great. I need lasering in my right eye, so that will be both eyes. Mr. Hussain, the consultant that ive seen loads including today, explained that the field of vision is affected that it can mean I am not allowed to drive. In one eye it doesn’t matter, in both the DVLA will order a test and, if the field isn’t wide enough, means I won’t get a license to drive. Shit! K WhatsApp to thank me for the card plus some ‘chat’ which ended uninvitingly (i.e., end of conversation!). I just replied that I was glad she liked it (the card),

Something is up with my left thumb, it’s sore by the nail, as if it’s ingrowing, but it isn’t. Fuck knows what it is and it’s really bothering me, very painful. Pretty shit day, all in all. Day 227: Called the surgery about my thumb and Dr. leijsen called me back, asked some questions about the photo (I had to take a pic and send it in), including whether there’s any pus, and then said she’ll prescribed anti-biotics. Later today, it started to leak pus, and feel better! But, it’s still not right so I’‘l take the course. Looks like I have got an interview for the IT support job at Jagex, got a call from the recruiter today, just need confirmation. Spoke with Shirley from HR about the fact I might not be able to drive in the future. She was pretty cool about it in a kind of cross-that-bridge way and suggested I run it past Sueanne.

Day 228: Spoke with Sueanne about my impending eye lasering which is on Friday ay 3.30pm, the hospital called to let me know, she was very cool about it and even suggested I take Monday off! More importantly, she spoke of the non-driving as no factor to worry about job wise, especially as we are all WfH nowadays. I have an interview at Jagex, well, Zoom, but it is on Friday, 1pm.

Day 229: Told Mark at work about the lasering adn potential non-driving. I think it shocked him a little. I am worried about tomorrow, big time, although it’s just lasering - I’ve had it done before. I cannot wait for this time tomorrow (9.40pm). I have been trying to concentrate on preparing for the interview but it’s all too easy to get distracted. Day 230: Interview went OK. Eye appointment was horrible but bearable. The doc wants me to book in for more laser but, only so it can be reviewed and ‘topped up’ if need be. Better than a going for a check up and having to book another laser appointment thereafter. It’s near enough 9.00pm and I am going to enjoy a bear or two.

Day 231: No after affects to speak of from the eye appointment but I know lasering has occurred. It’s like I haven’t got the full set of cells recieve information from yje pupil. It’s intangible but still perceptible. Great walk today, took some cracking photos - very pleasing. More booze and draw tonight and, hopefully, up tomorrow before the 2.20pm wake up time of today. Posh beat Oxford away (1-2) in the FA Cup 1st round.

Day 232: 2pm by the time I got out of bed. I’ve got to curb this habit. Missed calls from Dad but answered one from Rita just before going for a walk when I promised to phone tomorrow. Day 233: I think SB wa surprised was at work today. I ordered two rugs (from irugs.co.uk). They are 8x5″ and were 75% off, £58 ea. One for under the table (desk) and I put one in the spare room. Hopefully keep the house a tad warmer. Getting into Barry on Sky Comedy. Barry’s a hit man. It’s darkly intriguing. I took a couple of pics of a solitary poppy today, icuding a couple of macros. They turned out OK so will post one on Wednesday (11/11).  Talking of photos, two people (one is Alison Brighty) asked for a jpeg of one of the photos I posted on Saturday so they can get it printed. 

Day 234: Spoke with dad today, let him know the situation with my eyes which, I think worries him, so I hate to do it but, also, he needs to know, just in case.

Day 235: The poppy pic I posted was very well received, over 160 likes on the Oundle chatter page and Jo Langford wants the original (why she can’t take it of FB?) to print off, which is nice. I am working on Saturday - gotta attend a meeting at 8am. FFS! SB also agreed for me to back on call, cool!

Day 236: Average sort of day. I really wish I wasn’t working on Saturday! OH, Dan messaged...first I’ve heard from him for over two weeks...he’s got two days of so he can watch all the US Masters which started today, and was good watching. So, not that average a day afterall, now that I think back on it. Day 237: Woke up at 9.14am today, yikes! Messaged with Dan a lot as he is home watching the US Masters...told him abbout my eye issues and the fact there’s a chance of losing my driving license. Also, in a silly facebook post and comments, about me not being able to drink tonight ‘cos of work tomorrow, Scottish Ricky asked if I was OK. I replied, not really, meaning that I’m pissed off I can’t get pissed. He messaged to say if I ever need to chat. Fucking great bloke. I rang him to let him know I was not being serious on FB and we chatted for 30 mins or so. Top man. still, it does remian that I am missing a beer this Friday - roll on tomorrow night!

Day 238: Work thsi morning was OK, finished at midday. Watchung golf, having abeer or two right now (just gone 8pm). Posh lost away to Crewe 0-2. Day 239: Up at 2pm after a good few drinks last night (and some silly video posting on FB of me  trying shit lager - Corrs Light - with hot sauce). Just settling down to watch Dustin Johnson win the Masters - he’s -20 with 2 to play, no one near him.

Day 240: I ordered some slippers from Amazon that arrived today. They were also returned today. I’m destined to never find a decent, non-expensive pair.

DJ did win the golf.

I watched Jojo Rabbit this evening. A first class film.

[rinielelrandir]

Answered other bc it's multiple of these.

I live in a city with a *great* public transit system generally - SEPTA is very robust. However, currently there are so many damn delays and cancelations due to not enough drivers that it can be nigh on impossible to get places on time. And on top of that some of the routes I need run only once every hour so if one is canceled I'm SOL - the alternatives end up being either a) be an hour late to my destination (which is not a viable option for things like doctor's appointments), b) take an alternate route that will significantly increase the number of transfers, or c) walk to my destination, which isn't easy seeing as I'm disabled. So I end up driving a lot of places I could theoretically reach via public transit, if the routes that were supposed to run did so.

Add in that certain SEPTA routes don't run on evenings or weekends anymore, Google maps has incorrect schedules despite being "updated" so I can't use the transit directions, and SEPTA's own "trip planner" is often useless, I frequently end up taking an uber/lyft or driving myself if I'm going somewhere I don't already know the transit routes for.

Oh, and some of the routes that I could theoretically take places are 3-4 times as long as driving due and have convoluted transfers due to just, the way routes are laid out. Like if I wanna get from the area of Philly I'm in further West I usually have to take transit east towards Center City first to connect to a different route going back to a different section of West. Which is incredibly silly to have that be the best route. There are parts of the city that are a 20-30 min drive in traffic at rush hour that will for some reason take me over an hour to get to via public transit at any time of day. If the place I'm going has parking I'll just drive myself at that point.

So i'm working on a project that involves looking at people's opinions on public transportation, and something that keeps coming up is that a lot of people like the idea of public transportation but ridership is at the same time low, so I wanna figure out what stops people from riding.

If you could reblog this for bigger sample size that would be so so appreciated

[prorevenge]

Sergeant DGAF 'Bout Your Emergency

So this started more than a decade ago, but I remember (most of) it like yesterday. It is my own story, and I tell this from my perspective. This is a long story, but I promise you will be staring at the screen, thinking “dafuq?” by midway through.

Background

Early 2000s. I was in the military, mid 20s, stationed somewhere in Europe. Rank E-4. It’s a bit different when you’re stationed overseas, and your squadron basically becomes your extended family. The Mission is always priority #1, but everyone tries to go the extra mile to make sure their people are taken care of. This was my second assignment, and my second overseas assignment.

I had just gotten married when I was on an extended leave back in the States, during my PCS (Permanent Change of Station; officially changing your assigned base) to this new location. I became an instant father overnight, now having a wife and a 3-year-old (step) daughter when I had none before. My wife became pregnant with our son about 5 months later.

My new supervisor was a Master Sergeant, who I will call Bastar(d) Sergeant [sic], or BS, for the rest of this. Bastar-Sergeant the Master Sergeant.

BS was a family man, married for a while (about ~15 years or so) and had two kids with his wife, as well as two kids of his own from a previous marriage, with his wife ALSO having two kids from a previous marriage. This is relevant because BS, being a family man with six kids ages 4 to 17, often would have stuff going on with his family and need to cut out early, miss morning briefings, and so on.

It was no big deal if we weren’t working on mission critical stuff. It’s rough when the nearest military hospital is 30-45 mins away at another military facility and you can only depend on your own immediate family and fellow military members. Just about everyone, BS especially with his larger family, had to cut in and out of work fairly frequently when we didn’t have big things going on. But hey, take care of your people, they’ll take care of the mission.

Now, BS and I got along really well at first. He and his wife were both quite the “socialites” and would constantly – damn near every weekend – have parties at their house and invite people over. It was fun at first, but it really grew tiresome. Being a new family man myself, and really just starting to figuring it all out (translated: how to keep your wife happy and not both be miserable, while still trying to be a functional adult in the military), and I just could NOT keep up with the party-every-weekend lifestyle.

BS and Mrs. BS drank a lot at those parties, too. You could tell it took a toll on their health. I guess that might be tempting with that many kids, and a 17-turning-18 daughter that had just gotten pregnant with her foreign boyfriend, but I digress…

Like I said, I just couldn’t keep up, not every weekend. I slowly fell out of favor with BS and his “Good ol’ Boys Club.” He wasn’t hostile per-se, but there were times he would just get mean, and with increasing frequency. He would call me into his office for tiny things, like thinking I had shown up to work late, when I could prove that I had been logged in on my terminal 10 minutes before start time – meaning I was at least 15-20 mins early due to walking times, putting my coat and stuff in lockers, etc. But my terminal’s clock, synched with the atomic clock, didn’t matter compared to his clock on the wall.

I was also called out for attending big medical appointments for my wife’s pregnancy, like being there when they determined my son was a boy – I was called out specifically when everyone else was doing the same thing.

The assignment was slowly turning into hell. Meanwhile, the members of the Good ol’ Boys Club would often be very late (without phoning), constantly going to appointments, and so on. There was definitely some favoritism going on. But in such a small unit, overseas, what can you do? The guy was even buddy-buddy with the First Sergeant, and they had been friends since bootcamp.

Anyway, enough background. Onward!

​

The Main Event

This is where things got crazy. My son had just been born, healthy and at a good weight, not even two weeks earlier. I came home from work after a very long day, about 13 hours on a normal 8 hour shift, due to some stuff breaking.

My wife was exhausted because she was still healing from the birth, and our son had gotten really, really cranky and irritable through the day. He was non-stop fussing and feeling slightly warmer, but not quite running a fever.

I let her go to sleep, and to give her peace, I tried to sleep in the chair downstairs with the kiddo bundled up on me. He got worse and worse through the night, and at about 0300 hrs, I noticed that his diaper smelt really strange (sorry to gross you out), with just pee. It was a sickly smell, not at all what anything from a human body should ever smell like. He seemed hot, so I went to take his temperature. He had risen to 103.5 F – VERY dangerous for an infant.

Fuck.

I immediately wake up my wife and rush him to the hospital. She stays behind at home with our daughter, since the ER is no place to keep a young kid and we didn’t know anyone that could watch her at that late of an hour.

Since it would have taken longer to wait on an ambulance out in the countryside, I sped to get him to the military hospital’s ER in about 20 mins. They immediately put him on fluids and call in the on-call pediatrician. They move him to the ICU, and after a few long hours, I get told that they believe he has a urinary tract and kidney infection, and while they had gotten his temperature down to a safer spot, we weren’t out of the woods yet.

While waiting, knowing that my regular work day was coming up, I tried calling everyone’s phone number I had, but nobody answered. At the gym probably. After leaving some voicemails, I gave up and decided to wait until people roll in at 0700 hrs. I kept trying to call the unit phone number, but no one answered until 0720. I get asked by one of the guys where I was, I let him know I’m at the hospital due to an emergency with my newborn, and he gets BS over to the phone.

​

BS: OP, where you at?

Me: I’m at the hospital. My son is in the ICU, had a fever of 104 and a serious infection. I’ve been up all night and haven’t slept.

BS: Well you should be at work. You missed PT, and you’re late.

Me: *pausing, because, WTF?* … I need to come into work? My son had to go to the ER, he’s in the ICU…

BS: I don’t want to hear it. You’ve already been late multiple times. [but not really, as I mention above] *angrily* Get your ass down here!

Me: … Uh, well I’m not in uniform. I will have to stop by my house. One parent is required to be here, so I need to see if one of my neighbors can give my wife a ride to the hospital, and our daughter has to be dropped off at school because children can’t be in the ICU.

BS: Just get here. *hangs up*

​

I was completely floored. What. The. Actual. Fuck.

At no point in my entire military career, before and since then, have I EVER heard of anyone being forced to come in to work when an immediate family member was in the hospital for an emergency. I was half confused, half outraged, and wholly beside myself.

My wife shows up, I take the car home after updating her and making plans to take care of our daughter while we rotate shifts at the hospital. I did a very quick SSS – shit, shower, shave – and drive over to the shop.

BS ignored me when I arrive, other than a sidelong disapproving look. I start my usual routine, but I am exhausted, worried sick, and pretty fucking angry all at once. Some of my coworkers heard what happen and are concerned, but BS the tyrant seems to be angry himself and no one wants to approach him.

​

Revenge, Part 1

A few hours went by, with me keeping in touch with my wife on the status of our son. I tried approaching BS a few times, but he was having none of it.

One of the other Master Sergeants in the squadron, part of a different unit, but whom I had worked with before, came by and noticed me probably looking distraught. We’ll call her Hero Sergeant, or HS. She pulls me aside to one of the quiet corners of the shop.

​

HS: OP, are you okay? You look terrible?! Is something wrong?

Me: [I tell her about my son being sick and in the ICU – I was barely able to hold my composure in at this point, I was so angry yet so worried and downtrodden about my son, and I’m fighting to keep it together through the exhaustion and lack of sleep.]

HS: WHAT?! Why the hell are you here?!

Me: I’m not sure. BS ordered me to come in when I tried to explain. He won’t talk to me.

HS: Fuck that. Hang tight.

HS then quickly walks off. Now, our unit is on the other side of the base from the main squadron: about 15 minutes later, just enough time to drive to the squadron and back, HS appears – along with our unit Captain, and the squadron’s Major (XO to our Lt. Colonel CO).

The Major storms toward the unit office section, pauses and looks right at me, and says in an obviously angry but soft voice…

Major: OP, get out of here. Your place of duty is the hospital until your son is discharged. Don’t step foot in one of these buildings until then, I don’t care how long it takes. Take care of your family. Are we clear?

Me: *as I start to scramble* Yes, sir.

Major: *yelling* BS, GET YOUR ASS IN THIS OFFICE RIGHT NOW!

​

I proceed to quickly gather my shit together, all while seeing BS head toward that same office door and he gives me a glowering look on his way in.

As I leave, there is no possible way to doubt that everyone in the area, probably the whole building, could hear BS get absolutely reamed and raked over the coals by the Major as I departed. The Major was always a quiet and fair man, I had never seen him anywhere even approaching angry, so it was absolutely terrifying to behold.

I have to admit, it felt good to know that he was getting some of what he deserved.

My son did clear up eventually and was discharged from the hospital 5 days later, healthy and no harm done, thank God!

I know this first part’s “revenge” isn’t quite revenge, but it was sweet, sweet karma to see that asshole put in his place. Still, as good as it was, it made things worse between BS and I much, much worse.

​

Fallout

Well after all that, BS hated my guts. Obviously, it would be career suicide to openly retaliate against me, so he found little ways to do so at every opportunity. That wasn’t to say I didn’t have my faults, I certainly did, and I made mistakes no doubt, but what he did was particularly underhanded.

You see, it wasn’t until he PCS’ed to his new assignment that I learned what he had done. My new Sergeant (NS) was awesome, highly relatable, and knew BS from previous deployments together - he indicated on more than a few occasions that he wasn’t exactly fond of BS.

In the meantime, I had gone to training to become a Sergeant myself and graduated at the top of my class with honors. I then went on to another deployment to the “sandbox” and came back with some major kudos from leadership there, working my butt off every day wanting to prove I was more than what BS tried to paint me as. It was after my return to home station that I learned what BS had been up to - completely behind the scenes.

Remember how even the First Sergeant was buddy-buddy with BS? Well the FS had also PCS’ed while I was deployed. Our new FS went through everyone’s Personnel Information Files (PIFs) and discovered that I had a massive - and I mean massive - stack of Letters of Counseling (basically, you got a “talking to,” and the LOC is documentation proving it) and even a Letter of Admonishment (LOA), a more serious version just under a Reprimand.

I found out from NS that when he and his boss were talking with FS, he was wondering how the hell I hadn’t been kicked out of the service with such a track record. But then he also noted how suspicious it was that every single one of the LOCs and the LOA lacked my signature - something that is required by regulations, acknowledging your reception of it (though not admitting guilt).

I had never been shown these, nor had any idea they existed. The majority of them were very minor infractions, almost none of which I had committed in any fashion. Even more strange, NS caught onto details that there were four of them dated for the same time I was in training (at a different base / different country), and one during a short deployment I had gone on earlier. It didn’t add up, and all three sergeants found it rather confusing and shady.

Thankfully, my performance once I was out of the shadow of BS was more than enough to convince all three sergeants that I was not the dirtbag that BS was trying to paint me as. I don’t know the details, but I do know that his pseudo-forgeries (he could just claim they were “incomplete” and not meant to be filed) caught up to him and he caught some flak for it. He retired not long later, and I hope that it was a black mark on his record.

​

Revenge, Part Two

So this is where it gets interesting again. Fast forward about four more years. I had gotten out of the service by then, finishing my second enlistment, and I moved back to the States to take advantage of the GI Bill.

It’s also worth mentioning that I’m an IT guy, and I’ve always got at least a dozen boxes of parts, tools, and hard drives. It’s also what I was in college for at the time.

I’m going through a stack of old ATA hard drives to see what I could salvage for a lab projects (we basically needed a bunch of “victim” machines to test against, and a few of us had old ATA motherboards hanging around). I’m checking them before I scramble/wipe the drives to make sure they’re working fine, and to make sure I’m not deleting wanted files/archives.

I’m flipping through this drive’s old files, nothing much beyond typical Windows folders, until I hit a buried directory with a bunch of images in it. I can tell they’re of the X-rated kind from thumbnails - not surprising, I’m a guy, and who didn’t have a sizeable porn stash in their single days, right?

But then I realized… these weren’t porn shots. These were homemade. It definitely wasn’t anything I had ever done. But I recognized something almost immediately - a unique lower back “tramp stamp” on the woman in the photos (faces were never shown). A tattoo I remember clearly: one of the wives of a guy in my old unit was showing it off after she had gotten it.

And the guy she’s on top of? Far, far too pasty of a skin tone to be her husband. It was then that I realized that this was one of the drives I had salvaged from a broken old PC that BS had given me for parts, back when we were still on good terms.

BS had been cheating on his wife with one of his subordinate's wife. Looking at the background of the photos, it was obvious that this was in the home of BS, too - if you remember, we had all been there many times.

Time to extract some revenge. I would like to tell you that I did some cool scene out of Mr. Computer or some crap like that, but really, simple efficiency won out here.

I knew BS, Mrs. BS, and the other couple were all on Facebook (they’d often come up as recommended friends-of-friends). I created an account that vaguely sounded like someone we could all know, and had military work history to match the assignment, in order to protect my own privacy/identity. I sent a few messages each to Mrs. BS and the husband of the tattooed wife. Once I got responses asking, basically, “Who is this?” I just pasted a number of select photos from the private photo shoot.

Mrs. BS, obviously recognizing her husband’s body and their old home in Europe, kept saying “WHAT THE FUCK?” - I said I was just the messenger, and to do with the photos what she pleased.

The husband of the tattooed wife first thought my new identity was the man in the photos and started to threaten me, until I told him to pay special attention to the background. He realized who the man in the photos was, having also been in that house countless times, and thanked me for telling him the truth. While we weren’t close, I do feel really bad for him. :(

(I didn’t feel too bad for Mrs. BS because she turned into a snob when BS got mean.)

I heard through my buddies from the unit that both couples were divorced, roughly a year later. All the old crew knew exactly who had cheated with who. I also heard that the divorce of BS and Mrs. BS was particularly bad. Nobody knows who leaked the photos, though.

​

Closing

This is the first time I have admitted to what I did, just for the sake of revenge and getting back at the bastard who did so much to personally attack me, even in a time of need, and who very nearly ruined my military career. Part of the reason I decided to get out of the service was because of him - I never wanted one person to have that much control over my life again.

I hope you enjoyed my story, sorry it was so long, but there was just so much that happened. I could add even more crap that he did, too.

​

And to Bastar-Sergeant, if you ever read this someday, I’m sure you will have realized who I am. I only have one thing to say to you: Fuck you - you deserved it.

(source) story by (/u/Celesae)

[fizzingwizard]

Just venting about work...

At my job, we are supposed to have an hour break and an hour of prep. An hour break is generous and an hour prep is woefully inadequate, so prep bleeds into break all the time. I’ve never taken an hour break. It’s usually 10 or 15 min, 30 when I can.

However, our schedule changes daily and this break/prep time is NOT consecutive. It’s 15 min off duty here, 30 min off there, etc. Which makes getting anything done during that down time really difficult - as soon as you set up, it’s time to break down. Then you have to do it again later when your next off duty block shows up.

We are also perpetually understaffed. Most schools in our company have at least 2 of my type of class divided by age level, and at least two, but usually three, teachers per class. My school? Has 1 class of combined ages (complicating things immensely!) with three teachers, one of whom works 10-7, one who is part time and works 9:30-3, and then me, who works 9-5. This means that there are times of day when I am the only teacher of my age group around, or my coworker is, so there’s no choice but to put us on the duty schedule during those times. In other words, those are popular break times for other teachers, but we have to be on duty because there’s no one else. (It also means there’s no one to share the load for school event planning so I’m a leader for every, single. event. 1 hour of prep a day during which I have to prep, grading, cleaning, organizing, lesson planning, prop making, and event planning... HOW??)

And on top of that, I have never to my memory actually had a full 2 hours prep/break time on my schedule. Never. The longest is 1 hr 45, which is close - but that’s rare. On a regular day, it’s 1.5 hrs, or 1 hour 15 min. On days when another teacher calls out sick and we can’t get a sub, or on days when we have parent meetings or after school classes, and I have to pick up the slack, I might have 1 hour.

And on top of the top of that - meetings run long, the teacher supposed to take over for your shift before you go on break is late, etc, all these things add up and... for example, yesterday I was off literally 40 min the entire day. 10 min in the morning (was supposed to be 15, meeting ran long), 15 in the afternoon (was supposed to be 30 but the teacher who made the scheduled goofed and no one was available to cover a 30 min block, so me and another teacher split it), and 15 min in the afternoon (again was supposed to be 30 but the teachers supposed to take over my duty showed up 15 min late because her class had run long).

And that’s the end of a week of days just like that - only one day this week did I have a normal off duty schedule, and three times during the week I was on duty for 2 hours non stop in the afternoon (a shift that is not coveted!)

Whether normal or crunch time, I am on my feet all day. My legs ache so much at the end of the day. I look after really young kids who need a lot of supervision, and if I so much as look away to sneeze at the wrong time, it could spell disaster. It’s really hard sometimes. I joke that right now I’m working harder at this job than at any other yet getting paid the least of any job I’ve had - but it’s not really a joke. That is the situation. In spite of that, I like this job soooo much more than my others. I am an involved teacher and have a close daily relationship with all my kids. I love that I’m the one who can calm them down. I love joking and playing with them. I love planning our activities and lessons. If you asked me even a couple years ago whether I’d ever want to teach this age long term, I’d have said no. Now, I’m finding it so fulfilling every day.

As you might imagine, I work overtime a lot. TBH, I should be doing it even more, for better quality. But I also have 1.5 hour commute that is sometimes 2 hours especially in the evening, and I tend to pass out after dinner so. I find it difficult to feel like I’m not already working really hard. But there’s always something left to do. It drives me crazy. I worried that it was just me, but my coworkers as well are feeling this way.

We were told that we were going to get a new teacher to help with the burden. They were supposed to come in September... then October... now it’s mid-Sep and we have heard absolutely nothing. They should be showing up for training if they’re going to start in October. We area all extremely skeptical. My personal take is, the company didn’t budget for hiring new teachers during the year at all... we have another teacher going on maternity leave so she needs a replacement, and our situation might be tight, but it’s not as impossible as not having a teacher at all. So that’s how things stand at the moment.

So that’s all stressful but mostly exhausting. I feel like the stress is a lot less than it was when I started the job (thank goodness) and that gives me confidence. But what I really need is to cut down on the exhaustion. I want to spend more time with my bf on the weekends but I tend to drag myself out to see him because I’m so tired. I want to go on hikes but my feet hurt every day. I’ve always been a homebody and an introvert so it’s not like I was super active before, but I definitely did more on my own volition, and most of all, I wasn’t so damn tired. (I mean, I’m also not 20 anymore x’D gotta factor that in too...)

Anyway, as bad as I feel sometimes... I also feel like I can’t complain. Because my schedule probably isn’t as bad as some others. For example, my Japanese coworkers are required to work an hour longer than me. I believe they also get paid less (paid less for more work - international teachers in Japan, this is very often the case for your Japanese coworkers! It was like that at my previous job as well. I don’t know what the reason is - they work a lot of overtime too that they don’t get paid for - they do sometimes get sizable bonuses that some say make up for the salary difference but... idk, it’s all sketchy and weird). So if I complain about my salary, it feels selfish, even though the salary I’m getting is barely sustainable for me as someone who lives alone with no dependents. And if I complain about the amount of time I work or the amount of responsibilities I have, there are people with more of both. Even if coworkers would agree with me, I feel like it’s only gonna make me look weak if I voice my complaints.

Things I love about my job - all the things I mentioned before about my students, as well as the fact that my coworkers are upbeat and team players and very helpful. We all support each other a lot. There’s no brow-beating if you have to stay home sick. It sucks - it does - because of being understaffed, but no one talks badly about you like in some other jobs I’ve had here in Japan. We don’t get sick leave, but at least people understand that sickness is a thing that happens. Generally I feel respected and like I can respect my coworkers. And I feel like everyone really cares about the kids and wants to give them a great school experience. We’re not just coasting by. It’s helped me to think a lot about the importance of work culture. I feel encouraged and inspired to do more for my students because others around me are doing the same with theirs. It’s so different from the eikaiwa where no one really gave a damn about anything. (Except the managers, about money.)

That’s why I don’t want to leave. I wish I could go into every detail because there are sooo many other things driving me up the wall every day that seem like they should never have happened or should be high on the to-fix list... but the to-fix list is extremely long. And it means something to me that, in spite of all that, I still like it here and want to stay. Like, that means something’s going very right, in spite of all the wrong.

And adulthood really is just being tired all the time, I think that’s true for all adults unless you’re just really blessed with an abundance of energy. Caffeine is popular for a reason. It is the hardest pill for me to swallow because everyone seems to expect me to have all these interesting things to say and I’m like, “I just work, eat, and sleep... "

We had a part-time worker in the spring who unfortunately quit. While she was there things were sooo much more manageable. Just one part time worker... If my job could just give us that, I would be so much happier. But it seems like asking too much. I wish I had a coworker to talk to and share opinions but I’m worried about that being seen as weak or selfish thing. You never know what they’ll say at a performance review. (Not that we get those. When you can’t afford to hire anyone new, you can’t really afford to fire over small things either.)

Bah!

[diaryofanormalkid]

Thursday, May 2nd and Friday, May 3rd were such good days

This week started off pretty rocky because I was sleeping so irregularly, it kept messing with my work schedule and also the errands I had to take care of. But then it got better!

Monday

I started off this week on Monday working a 10:30-6:30pm shift. I think I fell asleep at 5:30am and woke up at like 8:45am to get ready for work. My shift went extremely well, except for the fact that I was super sleepy.

And then at the very end it just went haywire because I needed a certain paper to count my cash till, but we didn’t have anymore so I was running around looking for it for a good 5-10 mins.

It was the end of my shift and all I wanted to do was go home! I couldn’t believe this was happening right when I wanted to go home. I thought to myself “these things only happen to me.”

Eventually I found it and was able to count, but by the time I was done counting my till, it was a little after my shift had ended meaning I missed my usual bus to get home.

So I was stuck there waiting for a while, but not for too long. And then I walked to my bus stop and went home!

Tuesday

Today I had planned to get my high school transcripts to apply for colleges. However, after the horrendous weekend I had with little to no sleep and then going into Monday’s shift sleep deprived also, I didn’t have it in me to wake up in time to do that at all.

Even when I had woken up, I was exhausted. I believe I woke up after 1pm that day. This is what I mean when I say my sleep had become so irregular, I would wake up at different times every day.

As soon as I woke up though, I meant business. I called my high school and let them know I needed a transcript, however they let me know that I was expected to come in to physically obtain it.

Figures. I can’t lie, that was a major setback for my entire thing I had going for the week because I wanted to have these transcripts sent in as soon as possible so that I could further complete my application to apply for colleges.

And then they also informed me that it would actually be too late in the day to come and get them and that the only available time I can pick up my transcript would be in the mornings.

So... I was super limited with days that I could go in to get my transcript. I knew then, this week I would only be able to pick it up on Wednesday or Friday, since Thursday I was working.

My mom was so kind offer to take me the following day, which would mean Wednesday I would be able to get it and mail it off to the website.

So by now, I told myself at least if I’m not going anymore to get my transcript today, then I should go to pick up my friends birthday gift and card today. At the LEAST.

But seeing as how exhausted I was, I fell asleep in my couch and just spent the whole day recovering from the already tiring week. In my head I reminded myself that the next couple days I really needed to pick up my slack!

Wednesday

So here came Wednesday, a new day. And there I was again, still exhausted. I still apparently hadn’t fully recovered from all the sleep deprivation. Going to bed late Tuesday night didn’t help either.

I remember telling my mom and myself that today I would wake up at 8:30am so that we could arrive at my high school by 10am to pick up my transcript.

Did I do that? No. What I did was sleep in though. It was such a rainy, gloomy day. I had no energy to get out of bed so I slept in until about 12:30pm.

My mother was upset with me because here she was willing to give me a ride to my high school when she had work later today and there I was in bed sleeping.

I also had work today, so I didn’t have much free time to mess around and waste. I needed to make sure I was ready in time to catch my bus to work.

I managed to slip out of my house just in the knick of time to catch my bus. I have to give credit to my instincts and running abilities however, because if it hadn’t been for both, I would’ve surely missed my first bus.

I made it in time for work, and the shift surprisingly went super well once again. Which I was super happy about. It was least that could be going right in my life with all the mess that was going on lately.

This shift was from 2:30-10:30 and a fun fact is that my mom and I work at the same place, just different areas. So I always wait for her when she’s on evening shift to finish her shift.

Her shift lasts until 11:30 though, which leaves me waiting for a while. Gladly, I finished all that I had to while I was there so I made the most of my time by killing it quickly with silly things.

Thursday

Now today was another day I had work. Ironically, I wasn’t supposed to work today, it was just a last minute shift that was given to me by someone who needed me to take it.

I was happy I got it, i could really use the money after the expensive previous week I had. The catch was I had to be back first thing in the morning for this shift. 8:30-4:30pm to be exact.

I didn’t have a problem with it, as I was the one who approved to take it. However, I knew I was in for quite a shift with the lack of sleep after doing my evening shift Wednesday.

I kept telling myself on Wednesday, “okay Britney, you know you have a shift in the morning so you HAVE to make sure you go STRAIGHT to sleep once you get home.”

Did I listen to myself? No! I believe I fell asleep a little after 4am that night. And I was supposed to wake up at 6:30am so that I could leave out in time to catch my bus.

So I was barely on time to catch my bus that morning, but I still made it by God’s grace. I also almost thought I lost my phone on the bus that morning but quickly found it hiding in my bag.

So glad. By that point in the morning, I had already gone through so much anxiety just thinking about being late to work and then almost losing my phone.

The lack of sleep didn’t help at all, but regardless I was actually feeling more excited than I was anxious by the time I arrived at work. Super uncharacteristic of me, but true.

One thing I will mention is that I hadn’t worked in this part of the Tim Hortons in a long time. So while I had every reason to be nervous to come back to this part, I was still excited.

I tried to prepare myself mentally by repeating in my head “you won’t be clumsy,” “you won’t spill anything,” “there’ll be no accidents,” “positive energy,” “good vibes,” “today’s gonna be a good day,” and things of that nature.

And I kid you not, it was! I anticipated I would be a little rusty, heck and I even tried to prepare myself for the worst, just in case. But it was genuinely a really smooth shift.

I actually enjoyed my time that day. And LEMME TELL YOU... I saw my short crush! So that in itself was so rewarding to get to see him on a day I wasn’t even supposed to be there.

Short crush

So I peeped when he came really quickly because he was with a few other ppl and they kinda had a presence, all of them standing in line.

The whole time while I was taking orders, I could see him in my peripheral just staring at me subtly, but not so subtly. I was nervous but calm, cool and collected all at the same time.

By the time he got to the till, I was surprisingly able to look into his eyes and greet him hi, like any customer. I asked what I could get for him and his coworkers and they all began to state their orders.

For this I made sure to write down their orders because with how flustered I was on the inside, I knew for a fact I would forget. I took my time with it too, just to ensure that I didn’t mess anyone’s orders up.

So as I was making them, his coworkers and him were going back and forth double checking that the orders they said were correct, in the meanwhile, not realizing how confusing that was for me.

Because I was standing there making their orders thinking “should I start these over or read them back to them to make sure they’re correct?” Like what do they want from me???

I ended up just zoning them out and focusing on making what I had written down because I trusted myself to write down everything properly as I heard them say it.

When I was finished with making everything, I handed them all to them and him, and they got some of the drinks mixed up with whose was whose, so I had to point out which ones was which ones.

The whole time my short crush was staring at me half adoringly, half awkwardly because he could see the confusion on my face as I wondered why they couldn’t figure it out.

So then he left and I told them all have a good day. Ahh, he’s so cute. And that wasn’t the only crush I ran into that day because I also saw my American Dragon crush/short guy... at the same time.

Short Guy

[Let’s just get this straight and lemme remind you all that short crush and short guy are two different people in my world!!! So don’t confuse the two no matter how similar they look.

Because the difference is, I do not have a crush on short guy, hence why he doesn’t have a crush in his title! They both just so happen to be short though

So basically

short crush = reciprocated feelings since I am also attracted to him but

Short guy = unrequited feelings since I am not attracted to him back]

I was going on my second break of the day when I ran into short guy. He was also on his break which is why we were both in the cafetaria.

So since I ran into him, I decided to just sit down and eat with him since it was the middle of the day and there are so many ppl in the cafeteria with hardly any seats to sit at.

After I fixed my lunch I kinda waved to him to come sit over with me. So... for the first time with him I was actually comfortable talking and eating with him.

All the other times before, I would always be so nervous to talk or eat in front of him, because I know how he feels towards me. And I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea.

Being self conscious and having low self esteem doesn’t help when you’re eating in front of someone who you know is attracted to you. But today, for some reason I was just so calm.

Anyways, we talked about a few different topics and we kinda just stayed on them for a long time. And I was actually eating too, which was progress, so I felt good about myself.

And eventually my American Dragon crush came to sit down to eat with us since there was still not very many seats.

American Dragon Crush

All throughout today I kept seeing him since he was working morning shift like me. And every time I saw him, I would say something to him. Which to me, is nice because he’s not the type of crush I am usually comfortable talking with if I initiate it.

[My relationship with American Dragon crush is a bit complicated because he’s:

Younger than me by a year and a half

Shorter than me ALSO 👀

Filipino, his mom probably hates me because she sees me alll the time but is so short with me / language barrier is hard at my work when everyone speaks Tagalog and you can’t understand what they’re saying

I am lowkey crushing, but my mom would NOT approve of me even LIKING him so looool

My mom told me the other day she agrees that she thinks he has a crush on me!!!!! So that’s confirmed, he likes me back

He literally ran away (just kidding walked away) when my mom was coming towards me to talk one time like he was scared of her or something looool ]

Anyways, when he sat down with us... my very first instinct was to feel awkward. But the settings and everything made me feel calm, and I thought to myself “as long as nobody says anything weird, this will be fine.”

I really didn’t think either of these guys would try anything or say anything weird because they’re not really like that. There was SOME tension in the air, but it quickly got eradicated.

I tried to keep conversations going between them both to fill the silences that would happen every now and then, and was pretty successful tbh. That really made me feel at ease.

The last thing I wanted was for one to feel weird just because I was talking to the other. I was just glad they both could play along with the whole thing and not put me in an uncomfortable situation.

The lunch time flew by with the both of them there and continuing talking to me and each other. My American Dragon crush asked to borrow my charger so I said I would give it to him.

When I went to get my charger, he met me halfway to take it. I jokingly warned him “protect this with your LIFE. Don’t break it. Or you will never get to use my stuff EVER again.”

He told me, that’s fine and he’s not gonna use it for long. I also told him to make sure he brings it back before he leaves since he was gonna be done his shift a little earlier than me.

He came by his shift and had my charger in hand all neatly wrapped up ready to give to me. He’s like “here you go.” And I said “were you gonna leave with it?” He was smiling and said no.

Honestly thank God, because he would’ve completely and totally lost my trust since I’ve made that mistake before with other ppl.

Anyways, back to my shift at work that day...

I really didn’t have much trouble at all with taking orders other than for when new prices came up. Every now and then I would just check with a coworker to make sure I was charging the correct prices.

And since I was closing, that meant I was counting, meaning it was gonna be a pretty easy-going end to my shift. To me, counting my till is always so peaceful to me.

Closing went super smoothly, other than some ppl coming to ask for coffee last minute. But I had a quick and smooth close! And I got changed and ready in time for when I had to sign out.

I was wearing the most cool outfit after my shift at work. And I just felt my hair went SO well with it, like I was just so upset not more ppl got to see it.

But for the ones day did see it, I definitely blessed their lives for wearing such a cute fit. And I kid you not, I was so upset that this outfit was going to waste that I just up and went to the mall!

If I couldn’t get more ppl at my work, I said I might as well go and let ppl at the mall get to see my great taste in fashion. So I waited until my bus came and was on my merry way!

Alright alright, so my bus was packed and I kid you not... some man “snuck” a whole dog onto the bus! And I was not in the slightest upset about it!

As much as I joke around in real life about how I’m allergic to dogs, I really couldn’t tell you how I excited I was that a dog was somehow on this bus directly in front of me!

It was a super well trained dog too. It was the cutest lil ugly pug and whenever he would move the slightest everybody would look at this lil dogs every move.

I tried my absolute hardest not to sneeze around the dog to give away that I was allergic but I think my watery eyes gave it away once I was sitting there long enough.

As much I was suffering, I still wanted to be as close to the dog as I was. He just made my already good day even better and I knew I would have a nice story to tell when I got home.

Anyways so eventually the dog got off, then I was at the mall in no time. My plan for the day was to get my friends gift, her card and gift bag and then get out!

Since originally I never went on tuesday, today seemed perfect to do it because it wasn’t Friday (aka the busiest day of the week for the mall) and I was done work.

But boyyy, when I tell you it was BUSY! Way busier than I expected it to be. I didn’t remember that Friday, the next day was gonna be a P.A. day, so therefore no school.

That meant all the high school students took this as an opportunity to come to the mall on a Thursday instead. It made for my time at the mall like 3x longer than I thought it would take.

The lines were super long in Sephora when I went in. And literally any other time I looked over they remained that way so I just decided I would take my time choosing my friends gift.

I TOOK FOREVER THOUGH. Like the time I took in there was the equivalent of getting stuck down a YouTube rabbit hole and not realizing how much time has gone by!

But I found the CUTEST stuff for her AND myself. But obviously the main goal was her. I intended to buy a perfume and that’s exactly what I came out with.

Not the original size I had in mind, but regardless I believe my friend will appreciate the scent and effort it took to find a perfume for her. It really does smell amazing.

And it’s good quality that I hope will last! Since the bottle size is so small, there’s no telling if it will actually last all that long, but I think it’s a matter of finding the right scent first.

At least I know now if she truly really likes the scent, I could always buy her another one with the bigger sizes. Of course they’re way more expensive, but it’s quality perfume that lasts.

These are the items along with the card that I ended up getting her. I hope she likes/appreciates them. They’re definitely more on the practical side of giit’s, but nonetheless still good gifted

As for myself, I was spending a LONG time looking at the perfumes in Sephora. I was just super fixated on finding one for myself that I would also like so that when I finally do have the money I can eventually use it to buy the bigger bottles of the perfumes that I found and liked.

I found a lot of them that were decent smells, but i’m telling you, there was only one that fell in love with completely and obsessed with and can still smell the scent of today.

And I mean LITERALLY still smell the scent of because the scent is still remaining on the paper I sprayed it on which is crazy impressive! I’m sooo in love with the perfume, it’s so good!

You wouldn’t believe it, but that scent is actually THE first perfume bottle I picked up once I got to Sephora and I kept going back to it because I couldn’t believe how good it smelled.

I am definitely making that investment when I find the money because smelling like that???? I’d be irresistible everywhere I go! Here is a picture of the perfume:

As for all the other perfumes, they were subpar in comparison to this! What an experience it put me through. And now I will never forget that scent!

So once I had got done shopping for my friends gift in Sephora, I went to eat some Chipotle because ya girl was starved! I also got Starbucks to try the dragonfruit drink!

The one with coconut milk this time because I’d already tried the original mango dragonfruit drink with water and then another time with lemonade before.

All three of them are amazing flavours and it’s my go to from Starbucks at this point. Not that I go to Starbucks often anyways. I waited super long for the line at Starbucks.

But even worse was once I left the place, the line got waaay longer right after so I felt bad for how packed today was.

Anyways, I felt soo guilty after spending all the money I did in one day. I could’ve refrained from buying all the food that I did at the mall since I had food at home good and ready to eat.

But I couldn’t resist how hungry I was in the moment either. Plus, I had been having chipotle and Starbucks cravings the whole week prior so I’m glad it’s out of my system.

My period really did me dirty financially this time. When those cravings hit... they HIT! And I just can’t resist!

Anyways so by the time I left the mall, it was getting dark and I had to wait a while for my second bus so I decided to wait inside the Tim Hortons at the bus stop.

I always feel weird waiting inside a place and not buying anything because I know some places they tell you to purchase something, so I decided for buying an iced coffee to keep with me for tomorrow morning when I wake up.

I told myself it was to help me wake up in time tomorrow morning since I knew I would be tired, but then I also bought those new Oreo pockets...

That one I didn’t have any excuse for, I just was craving to try it. It was good, but sooo not worth it. As I was buying my iced coffee, I saw my bus pull up to the intersection.

It was a mission and a half though because as soon as I got my iced coffee I had to run so quickly to the bus so that it didn’t miss me! I got super lucky because she was at a red light.

Once I got to the bus, I saw my Model crush from my former University! I see him every now and then, but if there was any night I would want to see him, it would DEF be tonight.

I was super happy once I realized it was him because I wanted him to see my in this outfit! When I walked past him, I was acting super confident.

The whole time I was on the bus I was fighting the urge to look at him the entire time. I was so desperate to look but I told myself, only when it’s not obvious. I did pretty good on that.

Eventually he got off at the stop he usually gets off and on at. And then shortly, I was home. BOY was I glad to be home. But I was even happier that I had a wonderful day!

Friday

Today was... pretty good! My intentions were to pick up my transcripts from my high school, then drop off my sisters resumé with her at a mall. However things took a spin for the better today.

So lemme just start by saying I was STILL tired today when I woke up. To be clear, I somehow still ended up going to bed at like 4am last night because... bad habits.

But anyways, remember that iced coffee I bought? Yeah, well first thing after I woke up I went straight downstairs to drink it. I was THAT tired.

But i eventually came around and found a really cute outfit to wear out today. I was definitely dragging my feet however to get dressed. But my mother sister and I left by 10:30am.

I was super hyper due to the iced coffee/adrenaline rush I was experiencing from being so tired, so you could imagine how annoying I must’ve been.

Somewhere along the way, I asked my mom if she could drop my sister and I at the theatre to watch Avengers: Endgame but surprisingly she gave us money to go and I couldn’t believe I was finally gonna be able to watch it! Just like that.

So I found out once I got to my high school that the guidance counsellors need to sign my transcripts in order to send them out to give to me. I was simply... disappointed but not surprised.

It’s always something with me. So the secretary who was there was very helpful in arranging for me to pick it up next week whenever I was ready to get it, thankfully.

And then all of sudden as we were leaving, my mom randomly offered for me to take a test drive around the parking lot of my high school. It was totally spontaneous but serious.

So I took her up on her offer. After I was done, my mother said apparently I did an amazing job on my first time “driving” and that she couldn’t believe I had done my turns so easily.

I was sooo nervous and scared but also impressed with how I did as well. I honestly don’t have any reference of how good or bad I did though, so I’ll assume she was being honest.

Anyways then we headed to the mall and quickly dropped off my sisters resumé. And my mom dropped us off at theatre. I was so happy we could watch Avengers because I jokingly made a Instagram story about going to see it by myself just yesterday.

But now it’s actually a reality and I’m so glad. The whooole struggle to get food was a mission because we went back to THE SAME MALL by bus just to get food from the food court and bus back to the movies.

Then we snuck in our food since we had no time to eat it, otherwise we were gonna be late. And my sister literally snuck in a whole cup of pop from the mall into the theatre without anybody even realizing looool.

The whole time watching the movie I was sooo nervous because I didn’t really have any solid ideas of how the movie was gonna go down aside from the very few spoilers that I saw.

It was amazing! Sad, but not THAT sad for me because I didn’t have THAT much of an attachment to these characters since I didn’t even properly watch the first two avengers.

But I feel so relieved now that I don’t have to worry about spoilers! And also, I sat ALL the way through! Even though my bladder damn near bursted by the end of the movie!

I kid you not, I got up like 2 mins before it ended because my instincts told me it was gonna end soon and I was trying to time it. And I was right because it ended like right when I was about to leave!

I was so happy it was over and then I just made a RUN for the bathroom!!! But anyways today was amazing and I’m glad my week could end off way better than it started!

I still have one more day left to work, today. But I think I can handle the new week ahead now that I’ve gotten some things taken care of this week ☺️

Thanks for reading if you read allll the way through!

[putschki1969]

Japan ~ Summer 2018 #2 🎌🚅

Quick introduction: Hello my lovlies!! As most of you might already know, I went to Japan this summer. It was a rather spontaneous decision based on the fact that both Hikaru and Wakana had announced their solo lives. At that point I was suffering from a serious case of Kalafina withdrawal so I felt like I had no choice but to go. I just needed to see them. Also, it was my 30th birthday so I thought I would treat myself. You only turn 30 once, right? On a side note, the timing finally gave me the opportunity to do something I had wanted to do for a few years now. Climb Mount Fuji. o(〃＾▽＾〃)o So yeah, that’s the backstory of my trip. I stayed in Japan from July 30 till August 14 and pretty much my entire trip was dedicated to Kalafina Pilgrimage. Let me tell you this, it was by far the best summer vacation of my life, worth each and every penny! And believe me, there were a LOT of pennies involved XD

Notes: Once again this is coming pretty late but not as late as my previous travel report so that’s a good thing. It took some time to gather my thoughts and put them all into words. This report will be a bit different from the last one since I thought it would be nice to include some travel tips here and there. I guess you could see this as some sort of travel guide/Kala-guide. Many of my followers have never been to Japan so I guess some general info would be useful to make things easier for you if you ever decide to travel to Japan.

Please note that this is Part 2 of my report. It is dedicated to my time in Toyama. Part 1 can be found HERE!

Without further ado, let’s get to it 〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

Aug 4 (Sat) ~ Toyama Trip

I decided I would dedicate that entire day to a Toyama trip. I made the mistake of not reserving a seat in advance for the shinkansen. I usually always do that but for some reason I didn’t think the train to Toyama would be that frequented. Turns out I was wrong (at least when it comes to the fast bullet train - the Kagayaki). When I got to Ueno that morning I was planning to take one of the earlier trains but it was already completely booked out. Later on I found out that Aug 4/5 was the Toyama Matsuri weekend so it's really no surprise that all the shinkansen seats had already been reserved. I ended up getting a ticket for the 10:14 Kagayaki which meant I would arrive in Toyama around noon (a little later than planned but oh well, there was nothing that could be done about it). It was my first time taking the Hokuriku Shinkansen so I splurged a little on a fancy ekiben °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° For those of you who don’t know, ekibens are bento boxes sold at train stations. You can eat them on a long shinkansen ride. There are so many different types to choose from. But I’d personally recommend the one I got. The E7 Bento Box. Like many others, the Hokuriku shinkansen has a very distinctive look so of course, it also has its very own bento box XD And boy, is it a cute box! Perfect to keep as a souvenir. And the good thing about it, there’s mostly stuff in it that I actually eat (I am a VERY picky eater!). The special Ueno Coca Cola bottle is also cute as hell btw!

The ride to Toyama takes a little over two hours I think. I arrived around noon (maybe at 12:30 or something). Shortly before I arrived I realised that I had forgotten my USB cable. I brought my charging battery but it was useless to me without a USB cable At that point I had already used my phone quite extensively and my battery was at around 60%. I was already starting to panic a little because I had all these plans for Toyama but they required me to use google maps, without google maps to rely on, I wouldn’t be able to find ANY of the places I wanted to visit. When I arrived I was greeted by a gorgeous little street festival, right outside of Toyama Station there were lots of people gathering around a handful of dance groups. It was quite pretty and spectacular. But at that point I was already scared to use my phone for anything except google maps so I didn’t take any pictures. *sobs* Such a shame. First I made my way to the Nanakosi shop that sells those pastries Hikaru mentioned in the 10th Anniversary Film. It’s located inside the Sōgawa Ferio Grand Plaza which is about a 20 min walk away from Toyama Station. Usually 20 min is nothing for me and I always try to explore new areas on foot but man, it was hell to go there. It was really hot that day and my battery was dropping faster than expected in the heat. Google maps was constantly crashing on me and it didn’t seem to work properly. I kept going the wrong way (please note that I have no sense of direction whatsoever). So yeah, I was a mess. Frantically I was trying to find a shop that sold USB cables but for some reason I had a really hard time finding one. Usually they sell those in conbinis but I couldn’t even find one of those. Plus, I was scared to venture too far away from my route since I thought I might get lost. Thank God I eventually managed to find a 100 yen shop. They have everything, including USB cables. After that I was able to relax and focus on my Hikaru pilgrimage.

So yeah, like I said, I was walking towards Ferio Grand Plaza. On my way there I passed Toyama Castle. It’s a nice little castle with a small garden but nothing to write home about. When I arrived at Grand Plaza I was greeted by yet another festival. A nice little wind ensemble was playing popular songs such as “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, it was quite epic. They were all wearing uniforms, it was some sort of commemorative event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Toyama police department band or something .

Grand Plaza is a really nice gathering place that’s protected by a glass ceiling but it’s still outdoors. It’s a wide open space and often used as venue for events like the one mentioned above. While enjoying the concert I bought myself one of those infamous Nanakosi pastries.

I got the one with custard because I am not a fan of the standard bean filling. I’ll be real with you, it wasn’t all that great (sorry, Pika-chan T_T). I think it might be more enjoyable in winter but during a hot summer day it was just too much (and that’s coming from someone who can usually eat a lot of sweet stuff). There was just too much filling. It was a struggle to finish it. Afterwards I walked around the Ferio Grand Plaza area a bit to find the Doutor Coffee shop that Hikaru had worked at in her student days. It’s very close to the Nanakosi shop so everyone should be able to find it quickly. It’s the Toyama Sōgawa shop in case any of you want to check it out ( 〒930-0083 Toyama-ken, Toyama-shi, Sōgawa, 3 Chome−5−４ アキオビル 1F).

My next stop was the Yamaha Music Center which was also mentioned in the 10th Anniversary Film. It’s only a 10-minute walk from Grand Plaza (although I took a lot longer because google maps was messing with me again or maybe I was just too stupid to follow the directions, I don’t know). At any rate, the center is a little hidden away in the backstreets of Toyama so it wasn’t exactly easy to find. Of course the heat made everything seem a lot worse XD. Here’s the address for those of you who want to go there one day => 富山音楽センター 〒930-0049 富山県富山市豊川町５-６

Then it was time to head north, to Kansui Park. You simply follow the river for about 30 minutes and then you are there, it felt really nice to walk along the riverside, the trees were providing some shade, there was a nice breeze so close to the water and you could listen to the cicadas singing. Oh boy, I underestimated how loud they could actually get. I had never heard them before because I always travel to Japan in the winter time.

Kansui Park is absolutely gorgeous! This is where Kalafina performed during the Stardust Illusion Festival. I summarised Hikaru’s blog post from that day. She talks about how that was one of the most special lives for her so of course I had to go and see where it took place. Hikaru also mentioned the infamous Kansui Park Starbucks which is known for its lovely terrace views. And really, it DID have some nice views. I took a little break there and tried to cool down with a cold drink. Afterwards I headed to Aubade Hall, the venue of Hikaru’s dreams. She has mentioned in a couple of blog posts that ever since she was little she always wanted to perform there. And Kalafina did end up performing there twice. Once back in 2015 for their fotw tour and then last year for their 9+ONE tour. It’s about 10 minutes away from Kansui park, pretty close to Toyama Station actually. Here’s the address => Aubade Hall (Toyama City Art and Culture Hall), 9-28 Ushijimacho, Toyama, Toyama Prefecture 930-0858, Japan

Then I wanted to have some dinner and I thought about going to the Izakaya that Kalafina always go to when they are in Toyama. It’s called Soratobu Usagi which pretty much means Flying Bunny XD. You can even check out their signatures at the bar. It’s quite cool. BUT I decided against it since they only have seafood and I don’t really eat seafood. So I slowly headed back to the station and ordered some gyoza (because I always crave gyoza XD) at a random restaurant. I finally got to relax after walking around in the heat (I didn’t really walk that much but it felt like I had run a marathon due to the humidity). While watching the sunset I ate my yummy giant gyoza and then I took the train back to Tokyo.

❗ Some tips ❗ 

Always bring your charging battery AND a USB cable

Conbinis and 100 yen stores have everything in case you are ever in need of a random product

Always reserve your shinkansen seat tickets in advance. It’s best to reserve them at least a day ahead if you are planning to travel during communiting hours or during the weekend.

Prepare an itinerary so you don’t waste your time going back and forth between locations. I started with the lower part of Toyama and visited all the places in that area. Then my plan was to head north where another bunch of places were located. Do your research before you travel and life will become so much easier. You can lose track of all the places you wanna visit if you don’t have an itinerary and then you might end up having regrets because you didn’t get to see everything you wanted to see. I mean, you don’t have to strictly stick to your plan but just see it as a sort of guideline.

When you are taking the shinkansen splurge on an ekiben. Yes, I know they are totally overpriced but really, they are pertty delicious most of the time and it’s just part of the shinkansen experience.

Aug 5 (Sun) ~ Lazy Shopping Day

I didn’t actually do much on that day. After all I wanted it to be a relaxing holiday and not just one exhausting trip after the other. Plus, the heat really took a toll on me so I felt like I needed some downtime. So yeah, I just did some shopping (mostly window shopping) and eating. I walked around Tokyo Station and happened across an IENA store. Guess what I found there? Yup, Hikaru’s blouse, right in front of me. In my previous post I mentioned that I originally wasn’t planning to buy it since it was just way too expensive. But after climbing Mount Fuji and after celebrating my 30th birthday I just felt like I deserved a treat. I realise I have said the same thing about my nail salon appointment but oh well, you only live once. So yup, that’s the story of how I ended up buying the blouse even though I was initially not intending to.

This was me during the entire trip.👇

The rest of the day was spent in all kinds of shopping malls in Shibuya/Shinjuku. I am actually quite proud that I didn’t buy anything else. But on this trip I really wanted to focus on Kalafina so I didn’t feel the need to spend money on random clothes or accessories. But I always enjoy just looking at stuff. We don’t have any of these malls here in Vienna (at least not in those huge dimensions) so it’s a cool experience to check everything out. To wrap up the day, I had some yummy dinner and then I headed back to the hotel to pack for my upcoming trip to Fukuoka.

[untitlednottitled]

Birthday in 2021 was slightly different from other years; as usual the cat jy tells me she has no time to plan anything but this year she lets me in on the food places and lets me decide the itinerary, more or less. Not much thought put into it honestly, i like to enjoy the day as it comes without expectations, that way i get to experience the full extent of the cat's sincerity :)

18 March

The day before my birthday was spent at SJI, firefighting and troubleshooting until 5pm before i left, fk care 🙂

Had to go jy's hse to pick up her stuff for the weekend since i forgot to bring home before. any chance to see the cat was a welcome one hehe, so quickly picked the package up and went home on train. As usual on weekdays, did a short run and workout and then prepared to nua for the night. Decided to take a break over the weekend and not study.

At around 9(?), Suddenly received a video call from the cat and wow she was outside my hse, again. Ah the annual unexpected surprise move she pulls! Haha, opened the door and there she was holding a cake box and a bouquet.

It was a pom pom flower bouquet, dam cute! First time receiving flowers, felt abit weird. Like wad am i supposed to do w it haha. But i shall keep the cute thing in my room to look at everyday ba.

The cake she got used korean ingredients like korean strawberries! She specifically searched using the criteria and even had to travel an hour to get it from a home baker in Fajar. In the end after collection, she had to risk her motion sickness and grab to my hse because the cake supposedly 'deflates' after 30 mins of non-refridgeration?

And then, she say she need to go home?!?!? She purposely travel from lakeside to bishan just to travel back!! Ughhh ask her to stay but she refuse refuse. Even my parents also nag her but ultimately we had to let her go home at around 10ish.

That said, i really was surprised by the effort she put in, thanks catzy🥰

19 March

Woke up pretty early and prepped to go Tiong Bahru for item 1 on the itinerary with the cat: Merci Marcel.

Lunch at Merci Marcel was good! Not a fan of cafe food honestly, overpriced and not worth. But i ordered the ravioli dish, which was really good! The cat ordered a big breakfast-ish dish, i'd say pretty nice too! Service was great too, overall experience was positive, dm going back.

We ate at a normal pace i guess, but we still made it to the massage place on time.

Knead/Nimble; definitely more atas feeling than Wanlin. Overall, it was a relaxing experience but we agreed that Tina/Lily spoiled market such that we thought the massage itself was not as great as expected. It was a combo deal, 75 mins massage 30 mins scrub 15 mins shower. the scrub was interesting, but xiao disgusting when they made us lie on the towel on the side that was still 'wet' from the scrub.. forgot to mention the massage for both of us was done in the same room! That's a first time for both of us. The shower after was a new experience too, at least at a public place, hur.

After massage, we had a little time to spare so we went over to my bro's place to look see abit, before we grabbed back to my place for a proper bath and nua before the dinner.

Gyu bar

Took some getting to, this place.. a little ulu even though it was in town. But nevertheless, we entered the moment the place opened for dinner 😅

We were served an 8 course 'omakase' dinner. And we were both wow-ed by the first course already. Cant say we loved every single course but definitely there were highlights. I think we both loved the 5 different meat/beef cuts the most.

At the end of the 8 courses, the staff also sneaked up on me with a free ice cream w an undying candle lol.

Overall experience was really positive, wouldn't mind coming back for another event la.

After dinner, we were both full to the brim and didnt feel up to it to grab back either, so we public transported back to my home tgt and retreated to bed early. Must say that it was a noisy night though!

20 March

Woke up early again and left house for day 2 of celebratory meals! The Tea Lounge at Regent. We were served our first dish the moment we sat down. For ~58+/pax, i'd say this meal was super worth it, at least we are our fill and didnt have much complaints at all! The cat was especially full, dk why. We actually sat there from 12pm to 230pm, really just eating and eating.

Near the end of the meal, one of the waitresses suddenly came from behind to sing a birthday song and present a complimentary cake. She sang the full song herself haha, which was unexpected but lol.

After lunch, we had alot of time to spare before dinner so we decided to go somewhere nua. Orchard lib was full, vivo lib was full so in the end we relived our YP days and sat at the wooden verandah at vivo's rooftop.

At around 6, we made the move to Ju Shin Jung for dinner w my fam. Didnt really enjoy dinner as much as i would have liked. Ventilation was dam bad and the food served wasnt that good. Doubt im coming back to this place.

Sent the cat back to Jurong after dinner but somehow i got convinced to stay over. Partly because i didnt want to leave the cat and also because the mood was so good! We both slept early because we've had 2 consecutive early days. That night was pretty quiet lol.

21 March

Woke up pretty hungry and decided to order McBreakfast! Despite the ridiculously marked up prices. Didnt really do much other than eat and watch 3 eps or Vincenzo at normal speed lol. And to get the cat to edit my photos for posting on ig hehe. Only left her house in the late afternoon

Thoroughly enjoyed my 28th birthday and once again, so thankful for my cat and my fam for spending w me every year 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[hawkeyedflame]

Hey, I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing by asking this in question but would you say it's possible to have executive dysfunction while still being able to perform well in school? I don't have trouble with assignments but I've been wanting to read a book that sits in a cupboard 5 centimeters from me ever since October and haven't been able to force myself to open it. Could this be explained by EFD or should I look into something else? Or maybe I'm just lazy lol idk

It is absolutely possible. I excelled in high school while also committing myself to cross country and indoor/outdoor track sixs days a week for five years. I graduated with 15 varsity letters, over thirty medals at district and state meets, a 4.0 GPA, special or high honors every semester, 97th+ percentile on my SATs, 4s and 5s on all six AP exams, early acceptance to University with a merit scholarship, etc etc. I could go on but you get the point: you can have executive dysfunction and be successful in school.

[This got really long so I’m putting a readmore]

You might be wondering how I managed all those achievements if I have this disorder that I say I have. That’s normal. Most people hear “ADHD” and think “hyperactive child who can’t focus in school.” While that’s sometimes true, it’s far from an all-inclusive representation. The answer to my previous academic success, I’ve realized, is that I relied very heavily on externally-imposed structureLet me walk you through one of my days in high school, and you’ll see just how much of my routine was being enforced externally.

My alarm went off every day at 6:20am, and my dad made sure I was out of bed by 6:30 before he went to work. He usually made steel cut oats and left some for me. My mom always made sure there was enough food in the house so I could make my own lunch. I let the chickens out before leaving for school.I went to school for six hours of short (50 mins) classes of 18-25 students, where my teachers knew me (and my parents) and where phones and laptops were strictly forbidden. Notes were taken on paper only and homework assignments were due the next class, and everything was graded. Agendas were given out at the beginning of each year and we were expected to use them every day. Parents would be notified if behavioral or performance issues arose.After school I went to cross country or track practice where the captains led us through warm ups and then the coach told us what sort of training we were doing that day. They often timed us and recorded our progress over the season/years.After practice I went home, where my mom was starting dinner, and I did my homework that I had to do if I didn’t want to get a 0 and have a parent-teacher conference. I ate dinner, did the dishes because that was my chore, put the chickens away, worked on more homework, and then by 9:30pm my mom would be berating me to go to bed. I didn’t have a smartphone or a computer so it wasn’t possible for me to lay in bed staring at a screen all night. On weekends I cleaned the bathrooms and vacuumed the house because that was my job. Somewhere in there I also cleaned the chicken coop and attended to their food and water.Rinse and repeat.

If you look at that routine, you’ll see only two tasks that I truly did on my own: making my lunch and putting the chickens in/out. I didn’t want to go hungry at school, so I made myself food. And I frequently forgot to let the chickens out (and put them back in, but fortunately we had a solid run that kept predators out). Everything else that appears to be self-discipline was actually motivated by desire to avoid external punishment. And that punishment was very real to me because it was always immediate and harsh.Late for school? Detention. Phone in class? Confiscated, sometimes detention. Didn’t take notes/do the homework? 0s in class, parents notified, not allowed to participate in sports, absolutely grounded. Skipping practice? Not allowed to participate in meets, possibly kicked off the team, definitely in trouble with Mom and Dad. Don’t do chores? Time to get yelled at. Don’t take care of the chickens? They might die and then I’d be in huge trouble. Stay up too late? Yelled at.Everything I did was motivated not by desire to serve my own future, but desire to avoid immediate negative consequence. And I didn’t have hobbies for myself. I liked reading but I didn’t have much time for it. I didn’t play video games, surf social media, watch TV, go to the movies, or do anything purely for enjoyment’s sake.

When I went to college, all of that structure disappeared. I didn’t do a sport because I couldn’t compete at a Division I school (partially due to joint pain). My classes were large, long, and spaced out throughout the day, with weird breaks between them. Most professors didn’t care if we had phones or laptops, and often we actually needed them for class. Homeworks were due online, sometimes two weeks from when they were assigned. Grades were posted online. No warning for poor performance, no teacher giving me a talking to, no parent-teacher conference. Nobody told me when to do homework. Nobody told me when to eat (or to go grocery shopping). Nobody made sure I went to bed or got up in the morning. Nobody kept me from playing video games or scrolling social media all day.Nothing except my own desire to succeed held me accountable for managing my time and working hard in class, and like I said, I didn’t have that desire. People with ADHD don’t have that. Motivation and self-discipline stem primarily from aversion to negative long-term consequences, even more so than from desire to obtain positive outcomes. This is because negative emotion is felt more strongly and for a longer duration than positive emotion. It keeps neurotypical people on track. But people with ADHD lack the ability to “see” the long term consequences of not doing what we need to do, when it needs to be done. That’s why we are chronic procrastinators. We favor instant gratification over delayed gratification because we fail to integrate awareness of far-off consequences into our daily actions. In other words, people with ADHD struggle to orient their behavior towards their goals because it is difficult for our brains to recognize things in the future as real.

And so, because of all that stuff under the surface, I floundered and flailed. I didn’t know how to hold myself responsible and I didn’t know how to ask for help. And I was depressed. I was so depressed. And anxious. And losing weight because I wasn’t remembering to eat. And that made my body weak, it made my hands shake and it made my brain dull and foggy. I was being treated for depression and anxiety because nobody saw the other half of my history. The part where I crumbled the moment I had to hold myself up. It was missed entirely until I stumbled across information about rejection sensitive dysphoria, which is only experienced by people with ADHD, and I realized that rejection by my parents was what drove that fear of consequence that had been motivating me all my life. When I started looking at my history through the lens of inattentive ADHD, the picture became clear. It wasn’t laziness or depression that was stopping me, it was executive dysfunction.

So my point in all this is YES, it is 100% possible and is actually quite common for people with executive dysfunction to excel in structured academic environments. It’s especially normal for people whose ADHD is dominated by inattentive symptoms over hyperactive ones. One of the major reasons why many young women are not diagnosed until their late teens/early 20s is because they’re more often inattentive, not hyperactive, and so their executive dysfunction doesn’t become apparent until they enter an environment, such as university or a job, where they are expected to hold themselves entirely accountable for their own positive outcomes.

As for you personally, I can’t diagnose you. I can say that what you described is possibly a symptom of executive dysfunction, but I don’t know enough about you or your behavioral history to say whether or not you should consider seeking a professional opinion. If you are experiencing deficiencies in your self-discipline/motivation/memory/attention that are disrupting your quality of life, and if you can identify those as patterns throughout your life history, then you may have reason to see a psychologist. If your symptoms are confined to inconsequential/nonessential things like reading a book you’ve been wanting to read, I wouldn’t worry about it too much as I’m fairly certain that’s a normal experience for most neurotypical people.

Anyways thanks for coming to my TED talk, sorry for taking fifty million years to get to the point.

[dietauthority]

The Ultimate Fat Loss Guide - 25 Simple Tips To Try Out Right Now

Life was basic back then before social networks's unrelenting image sharing, taste, commenting and dissing each other. Looking excellent has actually never been as essential as now in the days of twitter, instagram as well as facebook. There's a great deal of pressure to stay fit.

Ultimate Weight reduction Overview To Remain Fit:

The path to lasting effective weight loss is not a simple one. Adhering to a reasonable workout and also food regimen will help you to shed weight without penalizing your body. Below is a weight reduction guide including food routine with 25 straightforward ideas to try out right now.

1. Breakfast:

Start your day with a healthy morning meal. The last dish was the previous night's dinner and also the body requires some gas to kick start the day. Without sufficient food, the body as well as mind won't perform efficiently. If you're hurried as well as don't have time, bring a morning meal smoothie to go. Even if you're running late, never ever skip morning meal. Missing breakfast puts the body in hunger mode which consequently makes you eat way too much through the day.

2. Packed Lunch:

Research reveals that a residence cooked lunch is much more healthy and has less calories compared to all those fancy exec lunches. Load a healthy and nutritious lunch. If you are pushed for time in the early morning, make some standard prep work the night prior to. Wake up 10 mins early as well as make a quick sandwich in the early morning or rustle up a straightforward salad. The added time you invest in food preparation and also packaging a lunch will certainly be justified when you realize that you have not just kept an examine your weight gain however also conserved money by not consuming out.

3. Early Dinner:

An very early dinner is a sure shot means to weight reduction. Eat your last dish for the day in between 7.30 to 8 pm. You may require some additional will certainly electrical power to not connect for chocolates or a sugary reward afterwards. To avoid lure, brush your teeth quickly after supper and tell yourself that the cooking area is formally closed for the day. Attempt this for a couple of days and see the noticeable difference in your waist. We need to eat at the very least 2 hrs prior to going to sleep. Activities as well as tasks around your home like placing meals away or folding clothing or simply strolling from one space to the other doing random points helps digestive function. Eating a heavy dinner and also crashing promptly leads to bloating as well as disturbed sleep.

4. Avoid Temptation:

If you do not intend to eat specific foods, don't buy them. When you're starving, possibilities are higher that you will certainly reach out for candy and also except carrots. Avoid buying chocolates, candy, chips, crackers as well as the usual suspects. If you crave something specifically, get as well as consume it occasionally to obtain it out of your system. Do not stock up on undesirable food. A kitchen area that stocks on only healthy as well as great food is the secret to weight loss.

5. Replace Dessert:

If you have a craving for sweets and also absolutely require to eat something wonderful after a dish, a minimum of make healthier selections. Raisins as well as days make a tasty after-meal dessert. You could possibly also attempt some homemade fruit yogurt. Mix or mash a fruit in yogurt as well as freeze. Feed on when you really feel the should eat something sweet.

6. Fad Diets:

Juice diets and salad diet regimens deprive your body of crucial nutrients. As much as feasible, consume regular food. According to the food pyramid, your body needs protein along with carbs. A little bit of fat through butter and oil is also necessary. Over the previous couple of years, diet plans that assist drastic weight loss have become preferred. This type of weight reduction isn't sustainable as well as the weight will gradually sneak back and also create you much more misery and also stress. Also stay clear of packaged diet food as they trigger much more damage compared to excellent. Consuming regular food in moderation will aid sustainable weight loss.

7. Processed Food:

Packaged juices, refined soups, icy food and also canned food include salt, sugar as well as preservatives. Although some juices and soups are advertised as healthy, nothing that enters into a could or container to be consumed a lot later could be healthy. Refined food has little or no nutrients and is finest stayed clear of. Furthermore, the taste and wholesomeness of newly pressed juice as well as piping warm homemade soup could not be changed by store bought counterparts.

8. Food Journal:

If you are just one of those psychological eaters, attempt to maintain a food journal. Write everything down from that relatively innocent granola bar to that extra treat you are enjoying every evening. Seeing it on paper just aids you identify exactly what you are doing best or incorrect. It additionally helps you gauge a pattern or a trigger for emotional overeating.

9. Fresh Food:

As far as feasible eat fresh cooked food. Leftovers have no nutrition and also you are just eating empty calories by completing that bake from two days ago.

10. Green Tea:

Considered as a fat buster, green tea apart from helping digestive function also speeds up metabolic rate. It has EGCC, an advocate that sheds fat. Consuming green tea also helps one feel full as well as can be used to reduce pains of hunger between meals.

11. Alcohol:

Beer and wine have gotten a bum rap from fitness lovers however in truth any type of type of alcohol will certainly trigger weight gain. All type of alcoholic beverages are fattening. If you must drink, do it occasionally or perhaps socially.

12. Healthy Snacks:

When hunger strikes, pick snacks that are filling up. Carrots, yoghurt, fruits, and also popcorns are snacks you can chew on without feeling responsible or stacking on weight.

13. Homemade Junk Food Trap:

Do not misguide yourself that homemade cakes, cookies as well as french fries do not contain fat. A whole lot of individuals believe it is much less fattening to eat homemade fried food and also baked rewards. This could be real to a particular extent however you will certainly recognize that has a tendency to eat way too much home made rewards more than store acquired ones. Wolfing down on 5 delicious chocolate chip cookies also if your caring mommy baked them could not be excellent for your health.

14. Visit A Dietician:

If you intend to come close to fat burning a lot more holistically, you could see a dietician who will certainly personalize a diet regimen plan for you taking into factor to consider your activities, task and health and wellness. Sticking to the plan, nevertheless, is completely approximately you. A proper diet guide for weight loss will certainly help you concentrate on the essential nutrients you require. It will certainly help you consume on time and monitor the quantity of food you consume.

15. Cheat Days:

If you have an intense craving for something fried, cheesy or sugary, succumb to your body every now and then. If you maintain depriving your body of occasional deals with, not you will be crabby at all times, you might most likely consider food all the time. Delight once in a while however make it an indicate stroll back residence that day or take the stairs rather of the lift. Eat whatever your heart desires but in small amounts and also when a week. It's crucial not to go over the top. Cheat days are a fantastic means to give yourself a break. Also, if you recognize that you are eating something sinful over the weekend, you won't mind slugging it out with simple and healthy residence cooked dishes through the week.

Exercise Routine To Stay Fit:

Watching what you eat is half the battle won. The other half is complying with an exercise program. A great exercise program not just helps weight management yet has numerous various other benefits. Study shows that routine exercisers are usually those people who seem to have their life in control. Regular exercise makes your skin glow as well as enhances posture. In addition, the normal release of endorphins aids you really feel great through the day.

16. Enjoyable Exercise Routine:

Pick an exercise regular you appreciate. If you like tennis, play for half a hr prior to or after job. If swimming is your point, after that swim those calories away. If you genuinely appreciate doing weights, join a fitness center. If you discover on your own obtaining burnt out, mix it up a little. You could possibly additionally try hula hooping or a dancing class. If you enjoy your workout, you will certainly look ahead to it on a daily basis and also the chances of you avoiding your exercise are minimized.

17. Fitness For You:

Incorporate a fitness regimen that fits in your day. Merely because your close friend does pilates for an hour and a fifty percent, does not suggest it could be for you. Find out just how much time you can dedicate to work out often. If you have just 30 mins in the early morning, you might discover also the concept of obtaining ready for health club stressful. Because situation, a basic 30 min stroll or bike trip might appear doable.

18.Workout Gear:

Looking great always makes you really feel excellent. Purchase nice workout clothing to really feel good inside to inspire on your own to delight in routine exercise.

19. Have A Goal:

It could possibly be reducing weight for your birthday celebration or merely desiring to match your old jeans once again. No goal is too shallow if it helps you awaken every morning.

20. Regular Modest Workout Vs Extreme Occasional Exercise:

You beginning slimming down just after 20 mins of exercise. Whatever your kind of workout, do it consistently for 30 mins for best results. Not running for two weeks and also running 10 miles like a maniac. It certainly won't aid fat burning. Understand that regular workout for Thirty Minutes is better than sporadically working out for an hour as soon as a week.

21. Cardio And Weights:

Cardiovascular exercises, such as walking, running, swimming and cycling help you shed fat. Nonetheless, when you train with weights, you can construct muscular tissue. Do not depend on only cardio or weights as you need a mix of both to drop weight. If you are a beginner, start with cardio and after that carry on to a combination of both weightlifting and also cardio.

22. Workout Time:

Figure out a time that works ideal for you. If you begin your work day really early, attempt working out in the evening after you're back. Some job locations now have a gym in the office. You could avoid the idle note chat near the coffee maker as well as save some valuable time and also exercise in the mid-day. Some individuals like to obtain workout out of their way initial point in the morning. It has been proven that individuals who work out in the early morning have a tendency to adhere to their workout programs. Select whatever time suits you ideal. This is considered to be one of the most effective natural remedy for ascites.

23. Small Tricks:

Over an amount of time, you will realize that small tricks will help you stay with your exercise objective. Maybe a brand-new playlist or a super trendy water bottle. A brand-new tee shirt or perhaps a wristband will help you break the dullness of a routine workout.

24. Workout Buddy:

Having an exercise buddy will certainly assist you remain inspired. Some gossip on the tread mill cannot be all that bad. If you exercise with somebody, it does not seem as tedious. Attempt to work out with your partner, good friend or colleague and also see the distinction in your level of motivation.

[baek--honey]

1-50 bitch

well since u asked nicely how could i resist

1. If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time? paint/draw or the like, or knit maybe,

2. What’s your favorite piece of clothing you own/owned? MY HOT MOMS SHIRT THAT I LOST ;n; also the big grey hoodie i have & a pierce the veil shirt i borrowed from my gf that im never giving back :)

4. How often do you play sports? never

5. What fictional place would you most like to go to? The Digital World

6. What job would you be terrible at? probably anything involving extensive memorizing and maintaining information for long periods of time. so basically a lot of things…… or maybe like. working at starbucks cos i cant make coffee OR remember lots of drink recipes omg

7. If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance at winning a medal for? playing kingdom hearts 2 on easy mode. i would have a good chance at winning because all the people that are good at playing kingdom hearts are gaming elitists that think playing on easy is for losers and if you dont play on critical mode you arent a real gamer :)

8. What skill would you like to master? making an omelet OR knitting

10. What would be the most amazing adventure to go on? some out of town adventure with my girlfriend where money and time dont matter 

11. If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would you change and why? uh i’d like to be less haunted by my traumatic past maybe! or be a few inches taller that would be cool i feel like both of these are pretty self explanatory 

12. What’s your favorite drink? W A T E R or milk tea 

13. What do you consider to be your best find? my girlfriend 

14. Are you usually early or late? way too early. too mcuh time i dont know what to do with it

15. What pets did you have while growing up? hm lets see i had a couple turtles, some fish, i had a gerbil that i got from a friend, an african grey named solomon, boston terrier named Tiny, two white boxers named Floyd & Lloyd, a mix named Macy, 4 chihuhuas named Dude, Pooty, Flout & Chief, and now we have a cat named Schrödinger :~), oh and an amstaff/dalmation mix named EL

16. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with? anything and everything but never really asking for advice i guess? its more of them talking about a problem cos im easy to talk to and then me trying to help them come up to a solution if they need it

17. What takes up too much of your time? S L E E P I N G 

18. What do you wish you knew more about? cats!!!! also dogs cos i know a lot but i want to know more

19. What would be your first question after waking up from being cryogenically frozen for 100 years? why am i still alive?

21. Who’s your go-to band or artist when you can’t decide on something to listen to? seventeen or monsta x, exo’s LMR repackaged album

22. What shows are you into? the office, lost, honestly nothing thats still running on tv, i havent watched a show in forever, oh god wait does anime count cos i could write the longest list of anime i love: haikyuu, nge, digimon, noragami ,,,,,,

23. Who has impressed you most with what they’ve accomplished? Seventeen (Hangul: 세븐틴), also stylized as SEVENTEEN or SVT, is a South Korean boy group formed by Pledis Entertainment in 2015. The group consists of thirteen members divided into three sub-units, 

24. What age do you wish you could permanently be? a dog mom & i hope i can make that wish come true

25. What would be your ideal way to spend the weekend? napping on and off in bed with my girlfriend and then going to town for sushi & milk tea and then uhhhhhhhhhhh coming back home to nap some more and then go out for noodles for another date :} oh and a dog would be involved if possible because cuddling dogs is best

26. What’s something you like to do the old-fashioned way? physically writing and sending cards/letters in the mail i guess? i dont know if that really counts as doing something the old fashioned way but i definitely dont get as many cards or anything in the mail anymore. i also like to keep physical hand written to-do lists & schedules and stuff

27. What have you only recently formed an opinion on? how bad exo are at dancing  turtlenecks and scarves. they are good 

28. What’s the single best day on the calendar? october 10th my dogs birthday and also narutos birthday

29. What are you interested in that most people haven’t heard of? asmr??? 

30. What is the most annoying question that people ask you? “did u have a little lamb?” OR when my grandpa asks me anything about his iphone 

31. What could you give a 40-minute presentation on without absolutely no preparation? my dogs or seventeen. OR a half ass presentation about kingdom hearts, trying to explain it while getting around all the plot holes and not nailing down my arguments cos i dont really get it either and theres a lot i dont pay attention to but i could come up with 40 mins of info im sure

32. If you were a dictator of a small island nation, what crazy dictator stuff would you do? no waking until 10am. no crime or anything will be allowed ill figure out some way to make everything perfect so women can go out alone at night and not be afraid. no discrimination !! all the poc, lgbt, disabled, any minority  will be welcome and have safe spaces and any hate will be punished by law. also everyones allowed to have pets in their homes and no home goes without food or power. am i doing this right

33. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? travel out of your comfort zone. like physically travel somewhere and make the most of it but do it with someone cos the buddy system is important

34. What’s worth spending more on to get the best? jackets. i will pay up to 100$ for a good jacket and wear it forever cos itll be confirmed long-lasting and also most likely very comfortable!!!

35. What is something that a ton of people are obsessed with but you just don’t get the point of? i just want to point out that its not that i dont get the point of it because everyone has their likes and i have my own that other people dont i like that people are into whatever they want to be its just that i am Not into it. and that thing is yuri on ice

36. What are you most looking forward to in the next 10 years? being able to wake up every morning next to my girlfriend and out pets :~)

37. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been? corning museum of glass was super neat……. , dollywood, gatlinburg, chicago chinatown, idk i havent been to many interesting places 

38. What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to? i wana get a tattoo !!!!!!!!

39. What’s the best thing that happened to you last week? getting a job interview at barnes & noble because now i have a job there!!!

40. What piece of entertainment do you wish you could erase from your mind so that you could experience it for the first time again? diamond edge chicago

41. If all jobs had the same pay and hours, what job would you like to have? all i really want is that job where im paid to sleep 

42. How different was your life one year ago? tbh not that much different?? other than i was in school and now im not. i didnt have a job and now i do. i was a year further away from moving 

43. What’s the best way to start the day? talking to my girlfriend and also let me just say that first pee in the morning. perfect

44. What quirks do you have? what are quirks exactly i looked up examples to help me think of some but all im thinking of is…i cant have the volume on my tv or radio on an even number it has to be on an odd number??? i have to sleep with a fan on. idk dude

45. What would you rate 10/10? [MV] 몬스타엑스 (MONSTA X) _ 걸어 (ALL IN)

46. What kind of art do you enjoy most? abstract w lots of colors and shapes. geometric stuff 

47. What do you hope never changes? my ability to collect myself (unless it gets better which then i hope it does), my passion for art of any sort

48. What city would you most like to live in? anywhere except charleston and somewhere thats not extremely highly populated

49. What movie title best describes your life? Scooby Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed

50. What’s the best way a person can spend their time? sleeping or hanging out with their pet

[the-last-centurion]

Honestly not worth your time reading, just talking to myself here.

I realized I haven’t posted the conclusion of my magical date week, nor have I updated about what happened after I left for school. So imma give a run-down of that week and now.  One more reminder that these posts are purely for me to look back on; I don’t mind others reading but know that I’m tailoring this post (and all posts in this tag) for future me. Also this week was perfect so I’m writing down as many details as I can remember.

Last time I posted I had just gone on my first date to the zoo on Monday. The next morning I drove him to work cuz it was on my way to my friend’s house and his car was in the shop. On the way there, he grabbed my hand, kissed it, and out of the blue said “Last night I had my first dream in years.” I died.

The next day we went to Filoli Gardens, then got lunch by that bookstore in Palo Alto, and went back to my house to watch more movies. We watched one all the way through, then tried to watch Anastasia, but started making out and put the movie on an indefinite hold while we meandered into my bedroom. He was generous to me, but before I could return the favor we heard the door open so we quickly made ourselves decent. I walked out of my room, but right as I opened my door I heard the front door shut and lock.... sorry Dad. Then I realized I was late for babysitting so I rushed him home and ran over to pick up the kid. We never finished Anastasia. 

I didn’t see him Thursday, and Friday we went to Pier 39, got lunch at a pizza place overlooking the water, went in an infinity mirror maze, and I took him to Mitchell’s Ice Cream on the way home. That day was when we started realizing that we seemed to have a lot of luck when we were together. There was never any traffic, and on the way to Mitchell’s I was like “There is never any parking here, we’ll probably have to drive around for 30 mins looking for a spot.” Lo and behold there was a spot open literally right in front of the store. “There’s always a huge line for ice cream, we have to take a number,” I said. But alas there were only like 5 people ahead of us, so the wait was very short (and we sat on a bench and kinda like publically-oriented cuddled while we waited). Then, we got our ice cream and were waiting to pay but nobody every helped us, until a guy comes up to us and says “I think they had me pay for yours too, enjoy!” We tried to pay him back but he just said have a wonderful day and left. We ended up joking that all this luck was due to the necklace he was wearing, and he wore it every day after that. On the car ride home we talked about our romantic histories and got everything out in the open, which was really nice. Then we watched Lilo and Stitch (he kept doing his really good Stitch impersonation), and then Prince of Egypt. Between movies we walked down to the Chinese place near my house and got takeout, and made rice at home cuz we forgot rice. It was so nice just cuddling up with him and watching movies :)

Saturday it was 5 billion degrees outside, so he came over later in the day and he taught me how to play Civ. We were going to go to a drive-in movie (hence the late start to the day), but we decided it was too hot so we went to the old Stanford Theater instead and saw Casablanca. Before that we got dinner at Asian Box, and then gelato at my favorite gelato place in Palo Alto. After the movie we went back to my dad’s house and played more Civ until late in my bunk bed, and that turned into doing other things quietly so as to not wake my dad in the other room (lol). 

Sunday I got lunch with my dad first, and then picked up Koren for the drive-in movie. We stopped by my dad’s to pick up lawn chairs, then got take-out Korean BBQ in RWC before going to Safeway for snacks and finally driving down. We were running a bit late, but, keeping with our good luck, there was no traffic on the way, very little line going in, and it happened to be free movie day so the double-feature was completely free. Also, the night before that we were originally going to go to had kinda shitty movies, but this night happened to be a double-feature of Spider-Man Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy 2. We found a fantastic spot, ate our dinner in the car, and put our lawn chairs out for the movie. Again our luck held as we happened to park right in front of a car with loud external speakers, so they played the audio for us to hear so we didn’t have to use my car’s stereo. During the movie we put our lawn chairs next to each other and held hands. After the first movie, we packed up the chairs and moved my seats forward so we could sit in the back seat together. We kissed a bit and I ended up cuddling with him the whole movie, sometimes just laying on his lap and we would stare at each other instead of watching the movie. It was really nice, but a little sad knowing that the next day was our last. 

Monday I picked him up around 10:30 (the usual time for us), and this time we went to my dad’s house for a little bit, and then went to my mom’s. We played Civ for a bit, and then went into my sister’s room and slightly attempted to have sex but neither of us knew what we were doing so we ended up not. We chose that time to talk about the future, and decided to keep talking but not be official cuz long-distance. We went back out into the living room and played Civ as we waited for my mom to come back from work at 5, but then it became 7 and she still wasn’t home so we stopped thinking she was coming home anytime soon. We cuddled for awhile on the couch first, then got handsy, and then I started giving him head but we were both still kinda unsure about when my mom was coming home, and of course then we hear the door unlock so we quickly cover up, he throws my bra under a pillow, and my mom comes in probably knowing she walked in on something but with no evidence so that’s something at least haha. She needed help getting a big thing of dog food out of the car, so he went and helped her while I ran into the bathroom and put my bra back on, hoping she didn’t notice. Then we all had dinner together pretending like nothing happened hahaha. After dinner we went to my dad’s for me to pack for leaving the next day, and I drove him home. To procrastinate leaving, we drove around looking for an open McDonald’s for ice cream, and the only one we found had a ton of police out front so we ended up getting a milkshake somewhere else. We sat and ate and talked in a Target parking lot, then I finally drove him home. As we were saying goodbye, he said he has something for me and he’ll be right back and that he’s leaving his back as insurance. He came back, said some nice stuff to me, and grabbed my hand and put something inside of it. I opened my hand and it was the poop emoji I kept trying to steal when we first started flirting at camp. We kissed each other goodbye and I drove home crying (first time crying over a boy woo). 

Since then, we’ve been talking pretty much every day. We don’t have too exciting of text conversations, but we Skype every so often and play Civ against each other. It’s been getting to the point where I’m almost always the one to start the text conversations, but I’m trying to not look too much into that and just let whatever happens happen. I’m coming home for a football game at Stanford in November, and he said he’d try to visit that weekend. Idk, I know this is dumb cuz we’re so long-distance, didn’t really date for a decent amount of time, and even when I’m home he still lives 3 hours away, but hey I like talking to him so I’m just gonna keep it up. Plus having brief text conversations every day or two takes very little effort, and there’s nobody else I’d possibly date, so I don’t feel like I’m making any sacrifice. I know he likes me a lot (or at least he used to), but I’m still slightly insecure that now that we’re not with each other all the time he’s getting bored of me. Granted the only reason I have this fear is cuz he usually doesn’t text first, but I also know he has this fear too even when I constantly reassure him I like talking to him, so I’m not too worried. And whenever we do Skype or whatever he seems to like talking to me. Idk, I’m trying to put as little pressure on this as possible and be happy wherever it goes. He always says he loves how “chill” me and my family are, since his family is so not, so I think he probably still overthinks everything. Oh well, live and let live. 

[uicyoulater]

Yonsei How To Pt 18 - Commuting To/From Songdo

EDIT: BUS AND TRAIN INFO HAS CHANGED SOMEWHAT OVER TIME. THIS ADVICE AND GENERAL NUMBERS ARE STILL THE SAME, BUT COULD BE DIFFERENT (as this was written way too long ago)

For at least your freshman year, if not longer, you will live in the beautiful little city of Songdo. Songdo is great. It has restaurants, shops, good public transport, DFK, Underwood Library, and anything else you may need on a daily basis. You know what it doesn’t have? The rest of Yonsei. 

Major or school events will often happen in Sinchon. Anything historic will happen in Sinchon. Any festival will have its main activities in Sinchon. Your sunbaes will be in Sinchon. Even clubs that hold some meetings in Songdo will often hold large full-club meetings or dinners in Sinchon. Oh, and you want to go out on the weekends with friends in Seoul? The first and easiest choices are Sinchon or Hongdae for most Yonsei students. (Hongdae is also just one subway stop/walkable from Sinchon and Yonsei)

This trip could take only an hour in very low traffic, as seen by the Kakao/Daum maps estimate. (Note that I map to the sports building because 1) that’s where I’m usually going when I commute and 2) it’s about in the middle) This is a lie unless you have a car and are driving at a pretty calm time. Which you won’t ever. Traffic is the worst enemy.

I must preface this with the fact that I did one of these trips at least 2 times a week (except exam weeks) because I was in a club. (Yes there were Songdo practices, but the timing, skill level, and age/grade level were all better in Sinchon). I don’t exactly have a fav way, just some ways that I know are better at certain times or for certain things. Okay, that’s a lie. I do have a fav way. So, here are the best possible ways to get to Sinchon/Songdo and when to use them in no particular order.

1.      Free Yonsei Shuttle Bus

This bus comes and goes pretty often during the weekdays for most of the day. It is also free! BUT you “must” reserve a space on the bus through the online portal system. I say “must” because, if the bus isn’t crowded or it is an unpopular time, you can theoretically just line up and get on in after the people who have reserved seats. For popular times you can’t really do this. Also, if you do sign up, which you really should, you need to be very, very quick about signing up since some popular spots can go in about 20 min or less. Also, if you’re coming from class or a meeting or want to get coffee after a club practice and something causes you to miss the bus then there’s nothing you can do. Also, if it’s rush hour then this will slow down the bus. Overall, this is positive if you know your schedule in advance and are willing to go through hassles.

Pros: Quick (just running between campuses), Free

Cons: Reserve seating, limited spots, limited times, no weekends/late nights, rigid schedule

When to Ride: When you know your schedule in advance or are not coming/going at a busy time

Better Commute to Songdo or Sinchon: Better To Sinchon/Neutral

2.      UIC Only Shuttle

This one sounds better, right? UIC only, so less competition and easier? No. First, this bus must be reserved as well through a Google doc up to a week before in some cases. It’s not as competitive, but not all that much easier and more flexible. You also have to pay for it (with a kinda confusing system) and it runs only a few times a day. Same warning about rush hour. Granted, this system is still very young, so it will probably grow as time goes by and get a lot better if it continues well. 

Pros: Less competitive, Quick

Cons: Rigid and sparse schedule, reserve seating, very limited times, confusing, no weekends/late nights

When to Ride: Ehhhh……When you have a club or meeting at the exact right time for this or are using it to go to a UIC class in Songdo.

Better Commute to Songdo or Sinchon: Neutral (dependent on time of day)

3.      M-Bus

Oh, the dear M6724 bus. This used to be the best thing around. Before my time, the school gave out free bus vouchers to Songdo students. When I started a year ago, the route basically ran in a loop with the Songdo Yonsei campus and the front of the Sinchon Yonsei campus as its end points. It still stops both places, but it now goes as far as Seoul station in one direction and goes around the whole of Songdo at the end. Of the public transport options, this is the easiest since there are no transfers. It can also be the longest with almost 2 hours if not more during rush hour going into Seoul and twice the price of the subway. It is still great though if you give yourself enough time to take it (For 6:30 meetings on Thursdays I always try to leave at 4:30 at the latest, usually earlier. If I’m early I just get a snack. 2 hours+ is a good estimate for public transport including walking at a slow pace.) Still, if you get in line at a good place then you don’t have to worry about getting a seat in advance and your timing can be more adjustable.

Pros: Easy public transport, no reserved seating, good if you have small baggage, longer hours (than Yonsei buses), runs holidays/weekends, also picks up/drops off at other locations (like Hongdae)

Cons: Slowest method, fills up fast (especially in the evening), comes only every 15-20 min (if you’re on a time crunch)

When to Ride: When you 1) are carrying things, 2) are going to/from Hongdae in your club clothes, 3) a little bit drunk (not enough to puke, but enough that you just wanna sit and not have to pay attention), 4) didn’t get on the Yonsei shuttle and prefer the bus.

Better Commute to Songdo or Sinchon: Better to Songdo (esp. if you’re tired and going home)

4.      Subway (Not using Airport line)

The subway is probably my favorite thing about living in Korea. In my city we have two lines that just kind of make a + shape. Sad. (Busses would compete with that if I didn’t get queasy in buses.) To get to Sinchon from the Songdo Campus, you take three different lines either way you go. Using the non-airport method, you go on Incheon line 1 from Campus Town Station to Bupyeong Station, take Line 1 (Blue line) to Sindorim, and then take Line 2 (Green line, inner circle line) to Sinchon. If you take the express train on the blue line when going into Seoul, it can take as little at 1 hour and 11 minutes (not including walking). If you take the non-express train then it will take a little longer. This is the cheapest (tied with other subway route) public transport and the fastest. It is also my favorite of all. Personally, I don’t mind transfers and I don’t ever feel sick on the subway (in case motion sickness is a thing for any of you) so I love it. If it’s raining/you don’t wanna walk, buses run from the Songdo dorms to Campus Town Station and from Sinchon Station to all of the Yonsei gates. I usually leave enough time, when I use this method, to take the non-express train if need be. (If I see that I’m running early when in Bupyeong, then I get a snack there before practice. The people at Issac toast there know me too well…)

Pros: Cheap, fast, no reserved seating, chill

Cons: Must transfer 2 times, will have to stand more, no express train to Songdo (only express to Sinchon)

When to Ride: Going to Sinchon (or anywhere on Green line), you aren’t taking too much stuff, you don’t mind standing or transferring

Better Commute to Songdo or Sinchon: To Sinchon

5.      Subway (Using airport line)

Why would you use the airport line, you ask? Because it’s actually faster in some situations and runs slightly later. This route also has two transfers, but it only really feels like 1 because the first train ride is only 1 stop away. To take this in the Songdo direction, you take Line 2 (inner circle, Green line) from Sinchon to Hongik Uni (Hongdae, only 1 stop), then Hongik to Gyeyang on the Airport line, and finally Gyeyang to Campus Town on Incheon line 1. Since Gyeyang is the beginning of Incheon line 1, the trip to Campus Town is pretty long. Overall, this method is good if you want to sit down for a longer period or are a little drunk. It’s also better if you have more stuff to carry as the Airport line has a lot of room for luggage. It’s also less crowded at night than line 1 or 2.

Pros: Cheap, fairly quick, room for stuff, long periods of rest, only 1 transfer if coming from Hongdae, almost 100% guaranteed a seat on Incheon line 1

Cons: Transfers, slower than express train if going to Sinchon, having to go through Hongik station at night

When to Ride: Coming home from Sinchon later, but not too late ( the last train around 11:20pm, but aim for 11 just in case), when you’re kinda drunk but not throw-up drunk, if you have lots of stuff

Better Commute to Songdo or Sinchon: Better to Songdo

 When in doubt, leave yourself 2 hours total for the subway, 1.5 hours for Yonsei busses (in non-rush hour and if you have a seat), and 2.25-2.5 hours for Mbus when there’s some traffic. This should include walking times if you are going/coming from the middle of Yonsei campus and walk at a good pace.

Do not take any of these if you are wasted or even think you might hurl. They will not allow you on or kick you off later. There are places you can wait/hang out/sober up in both Songdo and Sinchon until the transport system starts up in the morning.

[wellnessroutines]

6 symptoms of iron deficiency that shocked me

I don't know about you, however I dislike the month of February.

A lot.

There's just something so chilly as well as dreary as well as miserable about it, as well as though I know springtime will certainly soon be upon us and also we'll lastly have the ability to put our thick coats as well as salt-soaked boots away for 6+ months, I am officially fed up.

And while I want to assume I've been doing a pretty good work of maintaining my winter months blues at bay for the last couple of months, I have actually been actually struggling for the last number of weeks. I'm worn out, I'm cranky, I have no energy when I visit the gym, my skin looks pasty and also pale, and also I'm quite conveniently distracted.

( In the time it took me to write the last ONE HUNDRED+ words, I've bought 2 skirts I don't need, viewed 3 hair tutorials on YouTube, as well as checked my Facebook feed at the very least a loads times ...)

Now, my husband would certainly assert that I'm ALWAYS in this manner, which there's no need to be alarmed with my short-tempered moods and net shopping, yet when I denied a shopping mall date with my BFF in support of a mid-day of enjoying Peppa Porker re-runs last weekend, I recognized something wasn't right.

So while my hubby was gladly enjoying poker on TELEVISION later that night (yawn ...), I grabbed my computer as well as began to do some study, as well as after undergoing THIS IRON DEFICIENCY SIGNS AND SYMPTOM LIST on The Iron Maiden, I was surprised to see the number of signs and symptoms I have.

1. FATIGUE

I constantly associate wintertime with rest, and while I still believe there's a link between the frigid temperature levels as well as my need to remain under our down quilt as long as humanly possible every early morning (thank benefits for these incredible running late hairdos!), chronic exhaustion is one of one of the most usual signs and symptoms of iron shortage. So if you're feeling more sluggish than typical, it's worth a journey to your doctor to get your iron levels checked!

2. DIFFICULTY CONCENTRATING

While I enjoy viewing YouTube tutorials and buying for garments I do not need online, I am in fact TRULY disciplined with just dealing with my computer system when my little girl is either at preschool or resting since I do not desire her childhood years memories to be of me being frequently sidetracked. But for the past few weeks, it's taking me twice as long as typical to obtain things done, and also while I understand most of us undergo periods where we're less productive than typical, I was truly shocked to find there's a link between iron shortage and also concentration.

3. IRRITABILITY/EMOTIONAL MOOD SWINGS

I always assumed my emotional outbursts were ONE HUNDRED% due to my hormones, however it turns out there is also a link in between impatience and iron deficiency, so if you need me, I'll be munching on bowl of spinach ...

4. PALE SKIN

While lack of sunlight clearly leads to a paler complexion in the winter season months, absence of iron likewise contributes, so I'm wishing that bowl of spinach will certainly likewise include a little life to my skin!

5. LOW EXERCISE TOLERANCE

I have been functioning out religiously 5+ days a week for the last 6 months approximately, and also while I continue to push myself to obtain in 30 mins of cardio most days, I have truly been having a hard time to obtain with my exercises lately, which is very unlike me. Yet reduced workout tolerance can be triggered by a lack of iron, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that my dip in motivation could be fixed.

6. CHANGES IN FINGER NAIL and also HAIR

While every one of the signs and symptoms over have been troubling me, I might quickly describe them all away by criticizing the winter, lack of sunlight, and also my hormonal agents, however when my fingernails started splitting and my hair palled and drab, I knew I had to do something since I enjoy nail gloss as well as having fun with my hair way also much!

So during the last week or two, I have actually doing a bunch of peeking about on The Iron Maiden, as well as after checking out a bunch of various short articles on the website, I not only know exactly how I can include even more iron into my diet plan, however I likewise recognize which foods to stay clear of so I could enhance my body's capacity to absorb the iron I'm consuming.

And guess what?

With a few additions (oatmeal, spinach, and also beans) as well as a few decreases ( coffee, red wine, and also cheese), I've discovered a SUBSTANTIAL change in not only my power levels, but additionally my mood.

YAHOOOOOOOO!

If you assume you might have an iron shortage, GO HERE for a list of iron deficiency symptoms in adults.

If you would like tips on iron-rich foods to add to your diet regimen, CLICK HERE.

If you're trying to find a listing of things to prevent in order to help enhance your iron absorption, CLICK HERE.

What shocked YOU most regarding the signs and symptoms of iron deficiency?

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND: If you believe you have an iron shortage, please speak with your doctor before making any type of dietary modifications and/or taking supplements.

DISCLOSURE: This post is funded. All products pointed out as well as examined on this web page are praises of FeraMAX ®. All viewpoints of the products are my own.

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