#and possibly for a decent amount of time depending on how soon they hook up

[heylittleriotact]

Really into the idea of Astarion being so taken with Tav/Durge before the Act 2 confession scene, but not knowing how to express it outside of sex because that’s all he knows, and for once in his life something that was synonymous with humiliation and entrapment and violence feels so strangely different in a good way, but he wants to try to figure out how else to express it, he just doesn’t know where to start, plus he feels v guilty about the whole manipulative seduction thing and isn’t sure he even deserves to.

[marvel-ousnesss]

The pirate and the witch (part four)

Pairing: Harry Hook x daughter of narissa!reader

Summary: Y/N, an orphan vk who was taken to auradon at a young age, returns to her old home by request of the crown prince. However, things tend to go south at the Isle of the Lost.

Warning: Mild cursing, use of alcohol, sword fighting (no super detailed descriptions)

Word count: 4460(ish)

A:/N: happy Christmas Eve eve!!!  Finally done with part four and turns out I ended up writing a plot that flows slower than intended (oops). I’m sorry for the wait but I’ve been sort of busy with holiday-related procrastination. Also…. I’m working on a request and a Bucky royal au which I’ll be posting soon. As always, lots and lots of love and thanks for reading ❤️ Pls tell me what you think.

(BTW… there’s a flashback at the end, it’s in italics.)

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE DISNEY DESCENDANTS CHARACTERS, THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN CHARACTERS NOR THE SANDERSON SISTERS. All credit goes to the creators, writers, and producers. Same with the HP charms, credit goes to J.K Rowling (for now, just present in the first parts).

part one        part two      part three      mobile masterlist

— Oi, lass, lass,— a familiar intone is heard when I open the window.

To my surprise, I spot Harry behind a trash container, with my cloak resting on his right shoulder.

When he sees my head peeking out of the second floor window, he pipes, — if you wanted to see me again, you should’ve just asked.

— Who says I wanted to see you, that was a hint for Gil to find.

He snickers at my words,— ya gaunnie come get yer manky cloak, or do I have to go up there?

—Shit, — I breathe — Just a second!

I close the window and look at Jay, who quirks a brow but doesn’t move from his spot on my desk. He began to explore my sketchbook app a few minutes ago, and seems to be completely immersed in it. Nevertheless, he puts the device down and chuckles, — This is you’re place, you know. Say the word and I’ll be out.

His words take me by surprise. Even if he’s been here for a few hours, I still can’t get completely used to the idea of such dangerous people, who are feared to death back home, being as decent and friendly as they have been during my stay here.

So, after a brief goodbye, he leaves and, after all of my Auradon-related stuff, I open the window once again.

— You already came all the way here, what’s a few steps up.

He’s about to make his way up the fire escape but, after a few steps toward it, he crosses his arms and says, — Yer right, I came to yer place, don’t I deserve a prize?

He’s such a flirt. After debating it with myself for a second, I make up my mind.

— Come here and get it, — I wink.

Without a second thought, he runs up the stairs outside the building and reaches my window in no time. What I’m I doing? No one was supposed to find out about this place, yet I’ve brought two vks here in just a day. I try to keep my cool as the pirate walks toward me, stopping about a foot away.

He smirks, —So, doll, ‘bout me prize.

I feel the heat in my cheeks when he takes a small step closer, placing a hand on the side of my waist.

—oh, right… that,——

Think fast, think fast….

I smile at him sweetly and kiss his right cheek, retrieving my cloak from his shoulder. — your welcome, — I smirk.

He laughs at my antics, — yer kidding? Don’t ya say that’s it! Glaickit of ya to think I’ll leave with just that.

—Who says you have to leave?— I utter the words while stepping back in order to sit on my bed.

His brows jump up and his ocean blue eyes shine with mischief and surprise. — What’d you suggest, doll.

— Staying here for a while but, now that I think of it, wouldn’t it be more fun to go out? The docks, maybe?

— Nah, depends on what you want to do. — his words keep coming out laced with an air of innuendo.

Not wanting to give up yet, I decide to play coy. — You know, the usual; take a walk, grab a bite, ‘keep the heid’, don’t you have to do rounds?

This time, it is a mix of mischief and excitement that floods him. — Yer right, can’t wait to see the faces of those wingnut vampires when ya scare the shit outta them!

— yeah… I’m thrilled.

Why did I suggest this, of all possible things to do? The question seems to be trapped in my mind. Ever since we left the apartment, Harry began to show a new side of himself, one that I had only seen in the papers I read beforehand.

He invited me to do his rounds with him, on the way to the docks and, needless to say, my magic resulted completely useless when it came to achieving the level of fear that Harry had in mind.

— Not so badass now? bastard, — he hisses, with a smirk on his face as his hook grabs some guy by the jacket. — whatcha gonna do?

The guy limits himself to whimper and let out some sort of cry. Given that the pirate has already grabbed everything that caught his eye, together with the designated amount of golden coins, the business there is dimmed as finished and we finally  begin walking to Ursula’s.

—So what ya think, see yourself doing this with me and the crew?— he asks.

—Not really, not one for all of the intimidating.

— Ain’t so sure ‘bout that, lassie. You’ve done pretty well for what I’ve seen. — it is kind of weird to hear such words coming from him; even more so when sincerity is all across his handsome features.

I snicker, — yeah, right; I can’t even get a fly to run away.

His chin lifts up and his chest comes forward subtly, — I’d help you with that, if you decided to join us. In fact, — he wiggles his brows with a smirk, — I’d train you.

— As tempting as that sounds, I’ll have to decline, Hook. Got better things to do:

I shouldn’t even think twice about declining but something about exploring my vk side a bit further than I’ve been able to doesn’t sound completely crazy. Maybe is the way he looks at me, or should I say through me, with his ocean eyes; or the way in which those same eyes shine when he’s about to wreak havoc? Don’t really know, and not sure if I really want to.

Guess I’ll just have to solve this problem in the way I do it best, ignoring my questions until they go away.

I begin to run and chant, — Race you to the docks!

….

Panting, I stop in front of Ursula’s and get inside. The place is packed with members of Uma’s crew, some of which seem to recognize me. They acknowledge me without hostility, still thankful for what I did for them the night of the party.

—Look, Uma, Y/N’s here! Bet she’s looking for Harry, — Beams Gil, the blond and tall guy who first broke the ice with me the night I met the crew.

Uma smirks and approaches me, — Look, witchy, not sure if you got the memo but one night stands are supposed to be just that, and last one night, nothing more.

— Thanks for the heads up, cap, but I’m actually here to grab a pint. — I sit down on a barstool.

— in that case, — she turns away, visibly relaxing, — Bonnie! A beer for bibbity bobbity bullshit over here!

When Uma is behind the bar again, Harry, who had been inside and contemplating the scene, approaches me.

— Sorry ‘bout that, Uma just knows me too well,— he ventures. — Ain’t good for the business to have every lady in the isle claiming to see me, now is it?

His cockiness is amusing as it is annoying. — Oh, of course — I ponder.— that would be completely tragic.

He chuckles at me and steals a sip from my still full beer. Honestly, I don’t even like beer that much; just ordered it to play the part. Go

— Yer different, though, — he claims, but I don’t believe a word.

— Do tell, why is that?

— You’re not as annoying. Actually, I kinda like having you ‘round, — he flirts.

— So you, Mr. use-‘em-‘n-dump-‘em, are claiming I’m special? — I gasp mockingly, — what an honor.

We both laugh a bit, share another sip of beer, and he continues.

He shrugs, — Yer also fast. Not enough, but fast; even if you were playing dirty.

—Oh, gods, aren’t you one to talk about that! — I accuse,— and, given the case that I did play dirty, how did I do it?

— Lookie here — he gesticulates, motioning himself. — Racing a hungover pirate ain’t fair, besides, I had too much clothes on.

I chuckle, part of me wishing I could wipe that smirk off his face. — You’re just a bad loser, I’m pretty sure you’re always hungover; and, as for your clothes, not sure how that’s related to me kicking your ass.

— How low do ya think of me, doll, ya think I’m a bad loser? — he fakes a gasp. — and, as for my clothes, —his tone is mocking, — can’t you just enjoy me charm and help me solve the problem? But, in case you wanted a serious answer for your question, nakedness makes me more aerodynamic.

— wouldn’t you like that, Captain cockiness.— my brow quirks up. — And seriously, aerodynamic? Yeah, right.

— Not as much as ya would, my little witch.

I scoff as my eyes drift over to the window. The day is warm despite the lack of sun, so I suggest, — I think I’m gonna go for a walk. Come with me?

…….

The sound of the waves crashing against the docks is one that I’ve loved my whole life, back home, my dad and I go for boat rides often. However, here there’s a bunch of noise that accompanies the punches of water against wood and stones. The market is busy as we walk, but most of the catches turn out to be dead fish and trash that arrives from Auradon.

— I still don’t believe you, you know? It’s impossible for you to fit the grip of your hook inside your mouth; besides, how can I believe you if your too chickened up to prove it,— my arms cross expectantly.

Since we got out of Ursula’s, Harry’s been telling me a bunch of stories of his and Gil’s drunken deeds, and I may have also revealed a few of mine and Chad’s own disventures. For the last five minutes, he’s been trying to convince me that he’s capable of putting the whole base of his hook inside his mouth, but refuses to show me.

— Lass, ya’ll have to take me word for it. I’m still a few bottles of scotch away from doing that again.

—pff,— I playfully shove him sideways. — Yeah, right.

He places the tip of his hook on his chin, pretending to think, — you know, shouldn’t have spilled so much, now ya have lots of dirt on me.

—What am i gonna use it for? You know what, never mind. — I proclaim, — You, Harry James Hook, just made the worst mistake of your life. Now I’ll overthrow you and Uma, and take over the lost revenge. Buahahaha!

He laughs at me and counters, — seriously lass, some of these things, I’ve never told anyone before.

—relax Hook, you can trust me, — I smile, with the sincerity I can muster.

— Oh, okay then.

After the short moment of vulnerability, we fall into a void of uncomfortable silence. We continue to walk along the brick street next to the sea, and my hands seem to find a permanent place inside the pockets of my jacket. Harry softly whistles a melody with his eyes locked down, but looks up and smiles as we reach a familiar ship.

His frame stiffs for a moment as he inquires — You sure I can trust ya?

I hesitate, — Yes, of course.

— Then come on, you’re meeting someone. — he grins.

The ship seems to be isolated from the rest, yet it is full of crew members that work and bounce from one side of the deck to the other.

When we enter their sight, they stop to stare at us and pull out their swords.

One of them speaks with a threatening and raspy voice, — Not outsiders in the Black Pearl, Hook.  

— Relax, Y/N ain’t gonna start beef, Barbossa. — Harry assures, — where’s Jack at?

— Sure hope she does cause some trouble, we could always use some tasty ladies here in this humble ship. — the malice in his expression makes me shiver, not to mention the wicked grin coming from the monkey on his shoulder, so I move slightly behind Harry.

At this point, it’s evident that the younger pirate’s patience is becoming thinner. — She’s not here for that, now where’s Jack?

Barbossa’s pounding laugh comes laced with his response, — His chambers, drinking. Good luck getting him outta there.

So, shielding me from the Wolfish looks sent by some crew members, Harry drags me to what I assume is the entrance of the captain’s quarters.

He knocks three times and a groan is heard on the other side, right before the breaking of a bottle and an incoherent train of curse words.

The door opens to reveal a tanned middle aged man sporting wild dreadlocks and a bored expression. However, his facade changes as soon as he registers that Harry was the one who dared interrupt him.

—Powder Monkey! What brings you to this old man’s ship?— his arm flies over Harry’s shoulder and he drags him inside.

I follow closely behind. My eyes scan the wooden floor and walls, the scattered pieces of green glass that I’m sure recently fell down, and a table full of unopened bottles, surrounded by five stools.

— Just thought I’d come ‘n greet, so you pack of salty dogs wouldn’t forget ‘bout me.

— Nah, wouldn’t forget ‘bout my favorite boot cleaner, — he smiles, showcasing a few golden teeth, — now would I?  

Harry’s only response is to laugh as he opens a bottle of rum, — Also, wanted you to meet a, uhh, an acquaintance. Jack, Y/N; Y/N, this is Jack.

Acquaintance, seriously?

He turns my way, smirking and stretching out a dusty hand, — Well, let me say, m’lady, any friend of Jimbo here is a friend of mine. —After we shake hands, he sits down on the table, grabbing yet one more bottle, — Now tell me, what stupidity have you done to cross ways with this wonky piece of sea garbage?

I’m about to start, but Harry interjects, — She can’t tell you nothing without a dram.

— Only got rum, Hookey, who do ya think yer talking to, Turner?— he scoffs.

— Rum it is, then.

Awkwardly, I state, — Actually, I’m good as it is, gentlemen.

— You don’t drink? — This time, Sparrow breaks into laughter,— got a princess in your hands, Harry. But m’lady, — he turns toward me,— we all drink here, ‘s the code.

I chuckle, — Fine, but just a few drinks.

…

Thank god I have my boots on, I think to myself as I look at the floor. A fit of giggles scale my lips, followed by an almost unperceivable hiccup. It’s been a few hours since we arrived at the Pearl, and we’ve been drinking nonstop. At the beginning, it was only Jack and the two of us, but then Gil ended up here, together with maestre Gibbs.

I told them how I met Harry, but that’s the only truth that I’ve spilled. After all, knowing where I’m from would be enough motivation for these men to make me walk the plank and straight into the kraken’s nest. From then on, I’ve been mostly listening.

— So, then I was like ‘proceed,’ but they noticed I wasn’t white so the one with the fancy wig went all ‘it’s Jack Sparrow, it’s Jack sparrow!’ and I was like ‘nub-uh, I’m justice Smith.’ — Jack speaks  between laughs, with exaggerated esticulations, as he takes another sip of some cheap wine; the rum ran out like an hour ago.

— You saved my ass that day, Jack, I remember it like it happened this very morning, — Gibbs patted his friend’s shoulder.

Gil chimes in, — like that time you saved us from the Huns, we wouldn’t have lasted two seconds without you and Anamaria.

— I haven’t heard that one yet, — I voice, utterly curious.

— Well, — Jack announces, then yawns. — you’ll have to hear it another time, Y/N/N. I've got some business, you know? Gotta sleep for a few years now.

Being the ship’s captain, and the two young pirates’ mentor, no one’s hesitant to comply. We get up and say goodbye, then make our way outside.

All three of us are still fairly drunk, so I decide to take this chance to see if I can get them to open up.

— I still haven’t heard the story of you guys and the Huns.

— ‘S a long one, lass. — states Harry, placing an arm around my shoulder, to which I respond by loosely grabbing his wrist with my right hand, as to keep his arms from moving.

— Well, we’ve got time! — I yowel.

— You’re gonna love it, Y/N. — As we walk, Gil begins to explain, taking a sip of the bottle we grabbed from the Pearl.— We were like seven when that happened?

----

Harry and Gil walked silently, as they kept an eye on Shan Yu’s men. It was Harry’s first official mission as part of his father’s crew, or it was gonna be, and he had called Gil and Uma for help and support. Sadly, the young sea witch had been grounded that very morning, so she couldn’t be there with the two boys. To say that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing was a complete understatement. They were clueless.

So, they did what seemed rational at the moment: follow the enemies and wait for the perfect moment to attack. Or… at least that’s what Gil had heard his father say when he talked about hunting.

—Shh!! — scolded Harry, — you’re gonna make them see us, Gil!

The blond boy muttered a quick ‘sorry,’ and continued walking, this time avoiding collisions.

— Harry, they’re getting into a warehouse, we should wait out here. — Gil intoned, chocolate eyes shining with fear.

Harry immediately countered and, on the contrary to his friend’s, his blue orbs were  flooded with pride and determination. —No, this is my chance to prove father that I can be a real pirate. If we make it, he will train me.

----

We continue walking through the very same road that we took earlier today (yesterday, as midnight passed a few hours ago). Harry’s arm remains placed around me and mine has now found its way around his middle.

As he speaks, I feel the soft vibrations of Harry’s voice and the alcohol that pleasantly poisoned his breath; — so, we decided to ambush the Huns right there.

— We decided? You manipulated me into going, — Gil points out, giggling.

Harry sighs and grumbles, — Anyway, the point is we went inside and here we are; so, continue talking Gil. Before sunrise, if you can.

----

The two boys literally crossed a door that had no way back. They hid behind a few boxes of what they supposed were ingredients for Dim Sum, and carefully watched as the Hun soldiers opened a chest full of gold that they had stolen from the Jolly Roger.

— There it is, — Harry whispered in awe.

— It’s a lot of gold, — Gil quavered.

Back then, they were convinced that no one was aware of their presence, but a certain pirate lord who had his eyes on the very same prize had seen them from the start.

— Isn’t that Hook’s boy? — asked Anamaria.

—Yup.

She continued to press on the topic, — shouldn’t we take him? He’d be useful against his father; we could get some money out of him.

—Nope.

— And why the hell not, Jack?

The captain sighed, as he adjusted his position on the ceiling bar, — Jim doesn’t pose a threat at the moment and nothing he has seems to be worth it these days, the boy’s useless.

The Huns continued to speak in hushed tones, reason why none of the intruding parties were able to register what was happening.

The kids didn’t even have time to move when they felt the cold metal of swords against the back of their necks. With their hands raised in defeat, they stood up and faced Shan Yu’s soldiers.

—Your father didn’t even have the balls to come here himself?

— Maybe we could send him your fingers? Or maybe even your left hand? That way you’d get matching hooks.

The grown men spoke as they advanced on the two boys, making them head toward the wall of the building. When they had them cornered, both Huns raised their swords and both boys shielded their heads with their arms; but no harm came their way.

Instead, they saw the Huns fighting two other people, whom Harry recognized as members of the enemy pirate crew, the tripulation of the Black Pearl.

— So that’s why you went after the kids —chortled the man. — Your technique is worse than your fashion sense, and that’s saying something.

Both boys giggled at his words.

The man’s combat was sparkled with humor and witty comments, while the woman fought silently and with a stern expression, only groaning every few hits. Both of them had impeccable technique, and they seemed to be dancing in perfect coordination.

After what had seemed to be hours, the Huns ended up dead.

— I can’t believe I agreed to come with you in the first place, — hissed the woman, cleaning her left boot with the end of her puffy white sleeve.

— Come one, don’t tell me it wasn’t fun!

She ignored her companion and approached the boys, who had been contemplating their interaction.

— Hey, — she smiled, — I’m Ana, and that idiot over there is captain Jack Sparrow.

Harry stepped forward, — I’m quartermaster Harry Hook, and this is my friend Gil.

—Quartermaster? Harry, your father doesn’t even let you near the crew.

Harry glared at his friend and decided to explain to the two strangers, — well, I’m not exactly a quartermaster… yet! — he assured. — but I’m gonna be one, when my dad decides to train me.

It was the man’s turn to speak, and his voice came tinted with venom. — You mean Jim sent you here without training? Not even I would do that.

— My dad doesn’t think I have what it takes to be a pirate. I was gonna bring him his treasure back and show him I do have it, but I guess you’re gonna take it, right?

‘Not the puppy eyes, not those; anything but the puppy eyes!’ Jack pleaded to himself, but he ended up looking at the boy and giving in.

He groaned, and then spoke up. — We’ll all go back to the Pearl. There, well split the gold and maybe you’ll learn a thing or two.

— Uma’s gonna love this, — grinned the boys in unison.

----

We arrived at the end of the road, so the three of us sat on the edge of the dock, feet dangling over the water.

— So, that’s basically it. — concludes Gil. — Jack taught us everything we know about being pirates. Then, he helped us get the Lost Revenge.

I take a drink, — And, you’re all still pretty close to him. That’s really cool.

Harry chuckles, — well, we kind of owe him everything we are.

I lift my head, which was resting on his shoulder, and glance at him. — That’s not true; he may have trained you, but I’m sure you all have become your own selves.

— Don’ be stupid, lass, he did it because it meant a future a alliance and an advantage, not because he has a teaching vocation.

I sigh, looking for adequate words to phrase what I want to say, — Then you guys owe him what you know about piracy, nothing more.

None of the two pirates said anything.

You know, — Gil sighed, — he’s been there for us more than our own parents. He even saved us from Hook’s crew once, when we were thirteen.

—Still, he did it because we’d signify power for him and not because he cared about us. — Harry takes a long swing of liquor.

I sigh, — Still, I think that, even if he didn’t care at the beginning, he’s fond of you guys now.

Harry’s about to object, but he thinks for a moment and mumbles, — he’s been around for quite a while, even for me sisters.

—I’m just pretty glad that we found him, — Gil hummed, — since I began training with him, my father has been going on about how proud he is that I’m big and strong, and how he hopes that I’ll get myself a nice lady.

— Funny, — Harry says with a tint of grief, — my dad stopped talking to me when the moment I stepped on the Pearl.

Once again, we fall into silence. I fall backwards and look at the cloudy sky, Gil and Harry soon follow and, once again, I find a spot right under the first mate’s arm.

— I’m kind of sleepy, guys.— Gil voices my thoughts, we should head back to the Revenge.

Without complaining, the three of us stand up and walk back to the ship. Instead of heading to their quarters, Harry and Gil lead me to a few hammocks that are placed on deck for those on night guard.

Harry takes off his boots and coat, sitting on one, —‘m sure Uma won’t mind if we use these for tonight.

—Yeah, no big deal, — Yawns Gil.

— Kay.

I’m already beginning to sober up, so sleep is beginning to hit me. Without a second thought, I lay down and wrap myself in my cloak. I drift off to sleep, and my head clears.

It only lasts a few hours, though. I wake up with nausea and my head pounding. Sitting up, decision which immediately regret, I look around for Harry and Gil but turns out I’m alone. I get up and rub my eyes, walking towards Frollo’s creperie, which is a few blocks away from Ursula’s.

I arrive and bark my order, like I’ve seen people do it around here. Then, with a huff, I sit down and quickly glance at my watch.

9:30 am… shit!

Tags: @criticizing-blogger​  @aspitefullittlebeing​  @treestarrrrrrrr​

[autisticmob]

HELLO everyone i am now ten days out from my tiddy surgery so i think while everything is still fresh-ish in my mind I should get a rough timeline of how things went for me, just so anyone having similar stuff done in the future can have it as reference?? 

so under the cut is how shit went down, warning we are gonna be tmi about it for Max Information Dissemination, i will be talking about IV placement, Needles, Bleeding, Bruising, Bathroom Stuff In General, etc. so like. Be Warned.

OKAY SO what did i have done and how did i get it:

- i got a bilateral breast reduction with a “T,” “keyhole,” or “anchor-shaped” incision. this procedure, unlike double-incision top surgery, does not detach your nipples at all, but it DOES leave a decent hunk of breast tissue behind to avoid the nip graft. this connecting tissue keeps your nip attached and supplied with enough blood to survive. that means with this one, theres basically a limit to how much they can take off, and it depends on how big you are to start off with. 

- i went with the T-incisions because as a NB person, I wanted to sidestep the “gender-confirming surgery” route with my insurance. technically, I believe it would have been covered if i had gone through the process of talking to a therapist and getting a note that the surgery WOULD help confirm my gender, but i suspect it would have taken much longer, and I was afraid that my doctor and community resources would not have ended up approving me FOR the surgery since I don’t exactly fit the typical trans narrative. and luckily for me i had Massive, Spine-Bending G Cup Tiddies to contend with. so every doc that took a look at me said “yeah, you need those taken care of for medical reasons.” so i thought hey, let’s see how far this will get me!

- i talked to my primary care doc about my back pain and mentioned i’d like to look into a breast reduction, and she referred me to a local surgeon who could do the procedure. at the time i was still entertaining the idea of double-incision, but as it turned out, this surgeon just didnt do that. but i knew for certain my insurance would cover him, his results were good, and he was local, so i said yes to the T-incisions, which he said would likely get me down from a G to at least a C. it wasnt my ideal scenario admittedly, but frankly the back pain was getting to be too much, and i needed it to be addressed sooner rather than later.

- i had a consultation with the surgeon in early december, and they took pictures and measurements to send to my insurance so they could confirm the tits WERE in fact Too Bomb To Live. Doc said that it varies between insurance companies, but most will have a minimum amount of tissue that needs to be taken off, in grams, from each breast. he was like, “your insurance needs at least 1000g total removed, which’ll leave you on the small side, is that cool?” and i was like “My Man, take AS MUCH as you possibly can, im sick of these” and he was like “cool, makes my job easy then.” 

- it took my insurance like 1.5 to 2 months to get back to me, but late january the surgery place called me and we set a date for february 5th, 2020!!

PRE-OP:

- before i went into surgery, the hospital made me go over my medical history with them over the phone, informed me of all the risks, and gave me a special scrub kit to shower with at home for the last 2 days before the surgery

- fun fact this soap will make your whole bathroom and body smell strongly and exactly like a hospital and it is gross as hell if you hate hospital smell

- i also had to go to my primary care doc to get the OK that i was healthy enough to go under general anesthesia, and also get some blood tests and a urinalysis done. i fucked up the urinalysis tho (which is a whole other story) so i had to redo that the morning of the surgery when i got to the hospital anyway. 

- when i scheduled my surgery they also gave me a list of things i had to NOT DO before i went in. this included stuff like avoiding herbal medications and non-prescription supplements and not drinking any alcohol for like 2 weeks prior to surgery, and not eating anything after midnight the night before surgery.

- then it was SURGERY DAY!!!

- i went in with uhhh a LOT of anxiety about what everything would entail, ngl. i knew i had to do it because staring down the barrel of life with tiddies forever was way scarier than surgery, but yknow whenever you go under general anesthesia they legally do have to let you know that you could die and thats just a lot to consider, PLUS the whole thing involves just, really mangling your torso so like. its a lot! its okay to be scared!

- both my parents went with me for moral support which i appreciated a lot, but i didnt actually see them much since they had to spend a lot of it in the waiting room.

- when i went back with the doc they had me Wash The Tiddy Off with some antiseptic and change into a gown. i got some grippy socks out of the deal which is probably not a universal experience, but this hospital did it so shoutout to them for the socks i guess

- then they asked me all my medical history stuff again and checked me for any like, rashes or open sores or anything. i had some Tit Zits but they did not seem to be worried about that.

- then the surgeon came in and drew lines on me for the incisions. bro when i saw how high up my nips were gonna be i was losing my damn mind. this is one of the really exciting parts, because you finally get to really visualize what your end size is gonna be!! 

- once he was satisfied with how everything looked, they started really Prepping Me For Surgery.

- they hooked me up to a blood pressure cuff, a heart monitor, and some compression leg thingies that would inflate and deflate intermittently around my calves to help me not get blood clots. this felt weird but tbh also like kind of a nice massage

- then the iv placement. bro im not lying when i tell you this is the worst part. the nurse numbed me with some lidocaine before placing the needle and let me tell you that shit HURTED. lidocaine Stings and Burns when it hits and this was arguably the most painful part. but the good news about that is it means nothing else after that is all that bad. and i got THREE lidocaine shots because these two nurses could NOT find my blood anywhere. they finally called in their ringer (an EMT named kirk, s/o to kirk) who got that sucker in my arm with NO numbing and NO pain in like, 2 fucking seconds. i pray you all have a kirk. kirk knows where your fucking blood is and hes not gonna fuck around getting to it because he JUST wrestled a drunk dude into an ambulance like an hour ago and compared to that this is nothing. kirk had sleeveless scrubs. im obsessed. anyway.

- then they put a plastic, inflatable, heated blanket over me? it was between two regular blankets so it wasnt as uncomfortable as you might imagine, but it was strange. warm tho so that was nice.

- THEN they wheeled my bed down to surgery. i was having so much anxiety at this point it was like... dreamlike. getting wheeled into the OR was just surreal. i was like, no thoughts head empty, just taking everything in.

- once i got there the surgical team was very cool about keeping me calm tho. they were playing their like, pump-up music and one of the guys was like “hey fyi about halfway thru the surgery we will be turning the lights off and having a rave, just in the interest of full disclosure. promise not to leave any glowsticks in there tho” and i was like what no i would LOVE glowstick tiddies

- i had to kinda roll from my bed onto the operating table, which was significantly harder and smaller. that kinda made things feel real, so i got a little more anxious at that point.

- to help me calm down they had me breathe in some straightup oxygen thru a mask while they hooked my iv to the fluids and such, and the guy was like “WHOA you got some lungs on you dude” and i was like yeah thanks im recovering from hyperventilating

- then they let the anesthesia into the iv, letting me know the whole time what was happening, talking to me until i was just OUT, which was not a lot of conversation time because i was out in like 5 seconds or less. they didnt make me count down or anything, but i promise you it was nigh instantaneous.

POST OP

- it really was instantaneous. i know everyone says that but it really is the truth, it feels like the whole thing takes seconds. like one moment youre laying there in the OR feeling the drugs Hit, and the next youre waking up in the little wake-up room feelin kinda groggy with a nurse talking to you, and youre still druggy so youre just rambling to her about how fucked your voice sounds right now and as soon as shes contented that youre basically lucid they start wheeling you to your room where youll ACTUALLY stay while you recover.

- THE THING I WAS THE LEAST PREPARED FOR WAS MY THROAT

- your throat will Hurt afterwards, but even more than that, you will be producing So Much Mucus. my surgery took about 2 hours and during that time, all my muscles were paralyzed by the anesthesia, including my lungs, so i was on a breathing tube. my throat, understandably, hated this, and started producing Gallons Of Fucking Mucus to protect itself. it then continued to do this for the next two days or so. the nurses were encouraging me to breathe deep and cough Hard to combat this, and avoid getting pneumonia, so i did. but THAT hurt the tiddies. it was really a vicious cycle. but its necessary because god if i had to have pneumonia on top of all the other recovery shit?? god. 0/10 wouldnt recommend. so it might hurt but dont worry your tiddies wont bust open or anything.

- i spent basically the rest of the day still hooked up to all the machines i listed earlier, PLUS a thing that would beep at me if my heart rate went too high, which it did a lot because i have anxiety, but luckily the nurses didnt seem too concerned. it really kept my breathing on track though because if i didnt breathe deep enough my heart would shoot up super fast and it’d beep and god that was just annoying and im pretty sure that was The Point. you kinda have to get used to breathing again, and the beeping trained me.

- they gave me like a bunch of crackers and a huge mug of water to work on at my leisure. i actually had lunch pretty quick after waking up? i know a lot of people have nausea issues from anesthesia but i didnt experience any of that. i DID move like a fucking sloth while i was eating tho. the pain meds and general grogginess of recovery slowed my whole body down sooooo much. my mom was actually like “are you okay??? like neurologically??????” and i was, totally, i was just. on slo-mo.

- anyway i didnt have to get catheterized for this procedure thankfully but they DID make me measure my pee every time i went to the bathroom. like i had to pee in a little bucket attached to the toilet and the nurse had to come check it every time and i felt really weird about that. so idk just be prepared for that i guess lmao

- also idk if it was the pain meds or the anesthesia itself but post-op, i couldnt shit for like a week. the constipation is real so get u some fucking laxatives asap when you get home, this is not a joke lmao

- they also had me put on a belt every time i got up so the nurse could hold onto me in case i decided to fucking biff it. they got me up a couple times throughout the day/night to walk up and down the hallway outside and get my body used to being upright again

- oh speaking of i never got to lie down completely flat, they had my bed locked at like a 30 degree angle minimum to help with... something. im not quite sure what, but im not gonna question it

- when i got up the next morning they had a couple nurses come in and help me un-bandage so i could shower and finally look at what the tiddies looked like for the first time!! and it was exciting but i didnt cry like i expected lmao i think i was too drained and too distracted by the bleeding

- the bleeding wasnt too bad actually, just little beads kinda coming out of parts of the incisions between the stitches. but once i got in the shower obviously stuff started getting diluted in the water and it looked like a lot more than there actually was, so dont be alarmed by that! 

- SHOWERING: its a little complicated. youre not supposed to soak the incisions, and youre not supposed to apply direct water pressure or actually touch them at this point. so what i had to do was get a washcloth wet and soapy (with antibacterial soap, i think it was hand soap honestly. hand soap’s what ive been using at home so........) and then just kinda. squeeze it at your collarbone and let it drip down over everything kinda minimally. its kind of a process but it works fine. washing your hair and like, tbh literally everything else is gonna be hard. reaching over your head is hard and scary at this point. i will admit my hair care Suffered the first week. 

- then i got bandaged back up and they got me back into my own clothes and ready to go home! they also put a bra on me over the bandages in my new size. i was only there for about 24 hours total, since i didnt really have any complications. 

- on the ride home i had to make sure the cross-chest part of the seat belt was NOT touching me. if whoevers driving you hits a pothole, your soul WILL exit your body tits-first for a moment. im sorry if you live somewhere like here in nebraska where the roads are garbage but its not gonna be fun.

ONCE YOU’RE HOME!!

- i live at home with my mom and sister and if you live alone, id try to have a friend basically move in for the first week. you will need Help with things. basic things. you’ll mostly want to sleep because of the pain meds but those made me pretty dizzy so it was cool having my mom around in case i like. fell on the way to the bathroom and died or anything like that.

- changing bandages is really kind of a 2-person affair too, and youll have to do it at least once a day post-shower, so keep that in mind. 

- the bleeding is like, not that bad after that first day honestly. i never had to change the bandages more than just the once per day. 

- basically from here the procedure is just to take it easy, get up every few hours and walk around a little to keep the blood clots at bay, and enjoy yr new silhouette basically

- worst thing about recovery honestly? im a stomach/side sleeper, and i cant manage anything other than laying flat on my back with my arms at my sides right now, and thats just like.... idk i really cant sleep like that. its not comfy. ive had to set up kind of a pillow fort around me to keep me from rolling over in my sleep bc im afraid i might hurt myself accidentally like that, but idk how well-founded that fear is.

- i will say as someone who did have back problems before this, the difference is IMMEDIATE. i literally had better posture like Day 1. im still a little hunched over because the stitches create a bit of tension in your chest, but like literally it was instantaneous. god. once i got healed to a point that i could like, kinda relax and not be so fucking tense all the time? back pain has basically just been GONE. 

- other fun things to notice: i had some pretty significant stretch marks before, and now they are running in a completely different direction. i crossed my arms over my chest the other day and they actually touched my torso for the first time in like, well over a decade. if i close my eyes and try to grab my tiddy from muscle memory, i stop like a full 3 inches from where my tit actually starts now. the size i am now, just like, freeballing it? this is how i looked when i wore a binder before. if i wore a binder now i imagine id be completely flat, and honestly if i layer up at this point you cant really tell that i have anything more than the average chubby dude’s moobs, which as a kinda chubby person is totally fine. 

its a trip relearning what i look like and what im supposed to feel like but its just. such a fucking improvement over where i was. absolutely no regrets, regardless of how hard recovery has felt at times. anyway i hope this information is at least interesting and maybe helpful to anybody considering anything similar!!

[drabbledragon]

Dependence

So I’ve recently been getting into the LinkedUniverse AU by @jojo56830  (a fantastic author btw) and I wanted to try my hand at writing again. It’s been years since I’ve last written for fun but this AU has honestly been a blessing and I would love to contribute to the fandom.

Summary: Hyrule knows that Wild doesn’t exactly trust them just yet, but maybe a simple enemy can change that.

Warnings: minor violence, nothing too major.

With a steadying breath, Wild released the arrow from his bow and pierced the fish to the rocks below. The Hyrule Bass struggled for a few useless seconds before it fell limp in the river’s tide like a ragdoll. Satisfied with his work, Wild unclipped his Sheikah Slate, tapped the screen a few times, and pointed towards the general area of the fish. He observed in indifference as an ice block emerged from the middle of the river, carrying the freshly - caught fish with it. In one swift motion, Wild hopped from his current ice block to the next, picking up the fish and his arrow, and returning to shore.

“That magic sure comes in handy, huh? Way more useful than my way.” Hyrule grinned as he motioned to his fishing rod. Wild answered with nothing but a curt nod before adding his catch to the pile and returning to the banks of the river. Without sparing a second, Wild was back on his makeshift ice platform, readying his bow and arrow for the next catch. Hyrule’s grin started to falter.

Wild really was a loner.

The two of them had been fishing for the past three hours and so far, Hyrule would say they caught around 20 fish; and by ‘they’, he means that he caught two fish while Wild caught the rest. He watched time and time again as Wild returned to the shore with some kind of fish in hand only to retreat back to his spot without so much as a word. If Hyrule was lucky, they might make eye contact for a brief second or two before Wild would look away. He couldn’t blame him though; waking up alone and confused only to be thrown into battle without warning does make you a little self - reliant.

Hyrule sighed and refocused his attention to his fishing rod, watching as little droplets dribbled down the line. He really couldn’t imagine being in a situation like Wild’s. Before Hyrule and the others had convinced him to join their group, Wild was alone for the most part. He spent most of his time hunting and gathering, according to Twilight, and with Bokoblins at every turn, it seemed like Wild never got a chance to relax or get a decent amount of sleep. Even when Wild had decided to accompany them, he was still constantly stressed and wary of the others, always giving anyone a harsh glare whenever they got too close. However, most of the other Links knew that there was no venom behind his actions; he was simply just scared of letting his guard down and facing the consequences that came with it.

So the rest of group made an effort to spend as much time with Wild as possible. Even if Wild chose to do something as mundane as picking herbs or scaling a cliffside, there would always be another hero to accompany him and make small talk. Time would usually comment about the geography of this Hyrule and ask questions regarding the various places they travelled, Wind would always talk about the ocean for hours on end and the countless adventures he had, and even Legend would make small remarks on the different people he saw. Although Wild’s responses varied from acknowledging grunts to small tidbits of information, everyone could see how he was opening up little by little, relaxing at their presence and losing that hostile air around him. Hyrule couldn’t help but feel proud at their progress, even if it was moving at a snail’s pace.

An abrupt jerk on the fishing line snapped Hyrule out of his thoughts and he immediately put all his attention to the task at hand. With sharp pulls here and there, Hyrule observed as the line tightened and slackened at his command, determined to keep the fish on the hook. He smirked as he saw Wild center his attention onto him, apprehensively watching.

With one final tug, Hyrule yanked his line and pulled his catch out of the water, staring as it wreathed helplessly in the air. By the looks of it, Hyrule had managed to catch the largest fish out of the both of them and beamed triumphantly at the thought. But his smile immediately dropped once he realized what he actually caught: an Octorok. His breath caught in his throat as years worth of memories flooded his mind. Large bodies of water surrounding him, Octoroks and River Zoras attacking him left and right, the countless bruises and scars that would litter his body after every ambush. He didn’t even get to fully hear Wild’s gasp of surprise before a large boulder hit him square in the face and sent him tumbling backwards. For a few seconds, the world tilted around Hyrule precariously and he struggled to get air back into his lungs. He could hazily hear Wild let out a mumbled curse before turning his bow towards the Octorok in retaliation, a fierce snarl on his face. However, that move proved to be Wild’s demise as another Octorok from not too far away launched its own attack.

The scene played out before Hyrule as if it was in slow motion. The boulder sent from the newest Octorok didn’t even catch Wild’s attention and soon hit him directly on the back of the head. His bow fell from his limp grasp and the ice block underneath him shattered into a million tiny particles, leaving Wild to fall unconsciously into the river without a trace.

The severity of the situation suddenly dawned on Hyrule. With whatever strength he could muster, he unsteadily pulled himself to his feet, just barely missing another Octorok attack. He cringed as he felt something wet trail down his forehead but he paid it no mind. Without a second thought, he was stumbling down the banks of the river, trying to track down his friend before it was too late.

There was no other sound to him other than the rushing of blood in his own ears. He knew he was screaming something - maybe Wild’s name or for help or something - but his own panicked mind only allowed him to focus on one thing at a time. Wild’s in danger, he kept repeating to himself, Wild’s in danger and I don’t know where he is! Even the threat of Octoroks or other enemies didn’t seem to bother him anymore since he staggered along the banks of the river without hesitation. The only thing he could focus on was to find Wild as soon as he could. He absolutely refused to return to the others without him.

His steps began to waver as the river widened the further he went. There was more water and, consequently, more obstacles, more threats, more enemies. For all he knew, another Octorok could be lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to attack him. He could cover more ground and keep himself safe with a raft - his muddled mind helpfully supplied - if he had enough time, he could construct a raft and find Wild in minutes! Except he didn’t have minutes or even seconds. Every second Wild spent underwater was another second closer to losing his life. He couldn’t let that happen. He was the Hero of Hyrule for crying out loud!

Stumbling to a stop, Hyrule caught a glimpse of a yellow ponytail and the ends of a black cloak floating atop the water. Even though the sight was drifting a few meters away, Hyrule could already see the shadow of a body underneath the murky depth of the river blindly travelling with the current. There was absolutely no doubt that that was Wild. Without a second thought, Hyrule jumped into the water, letting the cold sharpen his mind.

Now by no means was he an amazing swimmer like Wind but sailing a raft for all those years definitely made him decent. His head broke through the surface of the water and he gasped at the air as it filled his lungs. His panic started to spike once more as he felt the rapids of the river already carrying him away but he couldn’t lose focus now that Wild’s still form was in his line of vision. With some struggle, he threw his left arm ahead of him and pulled back, almost going into hysterics as it brought him closer to Wild by just a few centimeters. Then he repeated with his right arm, then his left again, then his right.

Within a minute, Hyrule was able to firmly grasp the front of Wild’s tunic and cover the rest of the distance. He thanked Hylia for whatever strength she had granted him to get him this far and begged her to get him the rest of the way. Strengthening his grasp in one hand and flinging his other forward, Hyrule kicked furiously to the shore, letting the current do some of the work. Once he felt the grains of sand touch his hand, he flung Wild to the shore and heard his body hit the ground with a muted thud. He took a few seconds for himself as he let his head rest against the shore, taking in harsh breaths in order to get his bearings. The ground below him never felt softer.

But before he had half a mind to relax, he was already staggering towards Wild.

“Wild!” He called out, falling to his hands and knees next to the unconscious form. After that whole ordeal, Wild never once struggled in Hyrule’s grasp or made any kind of sound of distress and honestly, it scared him. He was so use to a skittish Wild that observed everything with a calculating gaze and would shuffle to the side if he felt uncomfortable at any given time but now, he was as lively as a sack of flour. Hyrule couldn’t shake the unnerving feeling that he might have just rescued a corpse rather than a living Hylian. He stared unmovingly at the still figure, counting the agonizing seconds that Wild went without taking a breath.

Eight seconds...nine seconds...ten seconds...and then a sputtering cough.

Hyrule startled at the sound, but then instantly sagged in relief. He watched the other roll to his side and curl in on himself, expelling water from his lungs while simultaneously trying to bring air back in. Wild made an awful hacking sound at each passing second but it sounded like music to Hyrule’s ears. He leaned back on his arms, listening to the harsh sound while trying to catch his own breath. They’re here, they’re alive, they’re safe.

“...’Rule?”

Even though the voice was nothing more than a broken whisper, Hyrule snapped his attention to the boy in front of him. He couldn’t help but give a soft smile in response.

“Hi Wild, glad to see you’re okay.”

A few seconds of harsh coughs occupied the air before Wild spoke again.

“...M’sorry.”

Hyrule perked up at the apology, a look of confusion on his face. “What for?”

“The Octorok...shoulda seen it…”

“Well you technically did. It was just another one that caught you off guard.” Hyrule corrected. He watched quietly as Wild slowly sat up, pulling his hood over his head and turning away.

“...I should have protected you…”

Hyrule was taken aback. ‘Protected you’? The phrase didn’t make complete sense to him but he didn’t want Wild to blame himself.

“Hey, it’s really -”

“I should have protected you and the food and Mipha and Revali and Zelda and -” Wild cut himself off with a choked sob.

The other was at a loss for words. ‘Mipha and Revali’? Obviously he knows who Zelda is but who are the others? Did he maybe misname some of the other Links? Or are they people he’s never met before? For all the group can tell, Wild didn’t have any close friends to speak of. He spent his time alone, doing everything himself unless one of the other Links tagged along. Hyrule himself has personally never seen Wild with anyone else so that must mean his friends could live very far away or they might be…

Hyrule swallowed thickly. Could this be the reason why Wild was so afraid to get close to them? Had the other Links mistaken his hostility for fear?

“Listen,” Hyrule began softly. “ This isn’t your fault. Both of us never saw those Octoroks coming so it’s not like we could plan ahead; you did the best you could in the situation you were in and what matters is that we both made it out alive. I mean, we practically made it out unscathed.” A small huff of laughter as Hyrule could feel a bruise start to form on his head. “ It looks like you’re surviving alright out here, way better than when I started out. I mean, I was getting chased down by Stalfos and Wizzrobes every second. And I’m sure all the others had some kind of experience around those lines so we’re use to the danger by now. We don’t mind risking our lives for each other, even if it means we get hurt along the way, and now that you’re part of our group, you can count on us to have your back.” He shifted his gaze to the small hooded form next to him. “ I know you’ve been alone for most of your life but trust me, it’s much easier to rely on others when the going gets tough. Yeah, it’s going to take some getting use to but we just want you to know that you have others to count on. When things go south, you can depend on us to help you out, no matter what the problem is. You’re not alone anymore, Wild.”

Another stretch of silence and with each passing second, Hyrule’s resolve started to dissipate. Maybe he said too much? Sky was usually better at comforting people -

“Thank you, Hyrule.”

The Hero of Hyrule glanced up to see Wild peeking out from under his hood. His eyes were red and puffy and there were tear tracks along his cheeks but none of that seemed to matter as the small smile stood out the most. Hyrule couldn’t help but smile in return.

“Of course.” Hyrule stood up and began to stretch. “ We should probably return to Time and the others. They’re probably really hungry by now.”

Wild frowned at the statement, remembering the pile of fish they most likely lost at this point but before he could say anything, Hyrule was quick to respond with “ I think I could go for something with herbs today. Is it too late to change tonight’s menu?”

Wild gave a small shake of his head before leading the way, already thinking of the ingredients he would need.

[rahimaldemir]

Dying Light 2 - Q&A

In the official Dying Light discord one of the representatives, Uncy, from Techland held a q&a session during E3 2019 and I took the time to copy everything down. There were a lot of questions asked, but I only copied down the ones that were answered.

Uncy said they were going to post a FAQ with all of these questions and I’ll make sure to link it when they do. As of right now, I don’t think it has been released.

A lot of people were typing during the session and unfortunately a lot of questions got repeated. There is also a decent amount of typos in these questions, but it felt important to keep the Q&A session in an honest a form as possible, so I have not corrected any typos or omitted any duplicate questions.

I did add a “Q” and “A” to the beginning of every question and answer for clarity. Uncy used emojis sometimes in their answers, but I did not copy those over if they weren’t text emojis.

I have put my own notes in [italicized brackets].

WARNING: There are huge spoilers for The Following in these questions, they are marked to make them easier to avoid, but please be wary.

@tafferfield I know you got a pretty wicked master list of DL2 stuff, so if any of this helps you feel free to grab it and add it.

Putting under a read more because this is long:

Q: Are all current zombies considered volatiles? A: Not really, there are still regular zombies and volatiles

Q: Zombies only exit the night? A: now that's a hard one, zombies can stay outside for some time during the day but they get weak IN THE SUN

Q: How much diffrent endings are there? A: About endings - more than one, don't want to spoil it

Q: Battle royale mode? A: no BR mode

Q: Are you able to clear the city of zombies? A: Basically human learned how to deal with infection, so the more humans the less zombies

Q: how does Aiden stop from turning? does he use antizin or something else A: antizine is finished but human discovered that strong UV light weakens the infection, that's why you have the biomarker

Q: Is Aiden a foreigner to the land like Crane? A: Aiden doesn't even know Crane exists Q: I meant is Aiden from around there or did he come from somewhere else A: he's not from the city, he's an outsider

Q: What are future plans for multiplayer? A: multiplayer wise - we have some stuff coming apart from co-op, but I can't really share multiplayer details now

Q: Will there be a fallout kind of karma system? A: karma system? nope but your choices and actions will affect how people see you

Q: How long will one playthrough of the game be? A: hard to tell, but i know that dl2 will be a game for a long time

Q: Will dying light 2 feature the same great ragdoll physics as the first. A: upgraded ones

Q: Will the game be translated into Brazilian Portuguese as the first? A: more languages will come, cant really tell for now

Q: Can we expect to see actual time sensitive activities within the game? (IE: Do this now or forever lose the chance) A: Yes, but its more like choice wise, like do one thing and u will never be able to do another

Q: Will you play Dying Light 2 with me on release ;d? A: why not

Q: Will Aiden be customizable (e.g. hair, individual clothing pieces,etc) A: yup there will be customization

Q: Is there a weapon combo system? A: what do you mean by that? Q: Like a combo like last game you could spam attack and hold it for a more powerful attack, I'm asking if you can combo attacks like 2 quick attacks and then a charged attack or stuff like that [This question never actually got fully answered]

Q: Did anything replace the grappling hook. Did it change in anyway? A: there's a grappling hook - and some more options to travel cause the city is huge {you will be able to upgrade them}

[SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING]

Q:if the vial ending from the following is canon (if the following is canon) is crane a Volatile?

A: in some way - both are canon. It's up to the player to choose it Q: will Crane make an appearance or not. If you cant answer then atleast say which ending is canon A: not really

[END SPOILERS]

Q: Will the game launch with any DLC's? A: i dont think it will launch with dlc's but post release support is planned

Q: The last trailer showed working vehicles, will we be able to use some? A: Yes

Q: How many different kinds weapons are there (number) A: too many to mention, we're still adding more weapons

Q: is it sticking with the old crafting system or are y'all switching it up A: crafting system is upgraded a little

Q: are in dying light 2 developer tools having the chance to make custom movements and animations? A: I don't really have info about dev tools right now

Q: Are firearms coming back ? A: No guns, no firearms - but there will be distance weapons like crossbows

Q: do we gain strength or anything when nighs fall? since we are infected A: during the night you need to use UV lights to stop the infection, you wont get stronger

Q: is the choices you make permanant (one save only) or can you save and go back? A: you can save and go back on some difficulties

Q: Czy będzie drzewko umiejetnosci tak jak w 1 ? A: tak

Q: Is the max number in a party still going to be 4 or will more team members be able to join in co-op multiplayer, if there is any. A: 4 player coop

Q: is there a system where our beard can grow out and cut it same with hair like rdr2 asked a few times chat just to fast lol A: hmm, i don't think so

Q: Can you turn into a zombie if you dont pay enough attention to your wristband? A: that's still under discussion, i don't think you will be able to play as a zombier tho

Q: When the game releases, are you able to link your old account from DL1 to get rewards? A: we wont forget about dl1 owners

Q: will you be able to upgrade/modify tools like grappling hook and the UV flashlight? A: yes, tools will be upgradeables

Q: are we going to have trading cards to craft badges on steam with dying light 2? A: Yup

Q: Will the UI be changed completely, both in-game, etc? A: there will be some changes for sure, i dont know how hard tho

Q: How many skill trees are there, and are they any more complex? A: you can upgrade a lot of stuff now

Q: Are ranged weapons going to be as powerful as they were in DL1 or is it a bit more balanced A: there are no guns, so its balanced

Q: I wonder if we will see some more gameplay (apart from the trailer) from E3? A: something will come this month

Q: what are the main factions in dying light 2? A: Peacekeepers and scavengers - those are two main factions, but there are more

Q: Who is the girl in the trailer? A: that's actually one of our employees but for now all I can say that she's singing in one of the bars in the city

Q: Has the infection gone worldwide A: yup

[SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING]

Q: What happened to kyle crane? Will he have anything to do with the game

A: he ded

[END SPOILERS]

Q: will there be an enhanced edition or any other editions or just the normal one? A:there will be different editions - more details coming soon

Q: Will some weapons from Dying Light 2 (before release) be added in Dying Light? A: watch the trailer closely

Q: Are you taking in any alpha testers any time soon? If so I would like to be the first volunteer. A: there are no tests planned for now

Q: Referencing the Trailer, will we have the ability to choose our siding, survivor or what seem to be the "law"? A: its all up to you and your decisions!

Q: during the first game the side quests were some of the most amazing in the whole game, my question is, will those little side quests be present in the second game as well and will they also impact the game A: Yeah! side quests will be there and there wont be just easy fetch quests, but rather a small stories on their own

Q:There's a post. On twitter(?) That mentions something like "as Aiden you can do things no one elese can" Does that mean there will be benefits in having your infected level reach a certain level? A: Aiden is simply well prepared to live in The City - that's all I can tell right now

Q: Will there be new skill trees or the same ones? A: would be weird to put in the same skill trees

Q: can you upgrade parts of the town? and is roger smith coming back for Voice acting A: depends what do you mean, if you help certain people by your actions or choices, they will start to build stuff like bridges, farms etc which will help you, they will also get rid of the zombies from buildings etc

Q: Is it possible, that BTZ will be in Dying Light 2? A: possible but not confirmed

Q: can we get the song from the trailer? its sick A: I think i got the name somewhere, ill add it to faq [Couldn’t find Uncy’s link, but I was able to find two of the three soundtracks featured in trailers on youtube: Help I’m Alive and Crimson Blaze & Battlefields]

Q: Please dont add lootboxes A: Cmon

Q: Why can't we pre-order A: cause we don't have all the editions ready yet

Q: got 2 questions: - Will we have a season pass for a limited time just like in Dying Light so we can get the DLCs for free? - can us console players please get a fov slider A: 1.There will be a season pass 2. I'll let the devs know about fov slider

Q: Will there be a new type of villain like Rais? A: nothing is white or black in The City

Q: Will it be the same loot system or a loot system at all? A: what do you mean by loot system? like those crates etc? Q: I'm referring to weapons and stuff like that. A: then I don't really know, afaik it got changed a little

Q: Can we expect to see a different climbing mechanic, same with the grapple? A: parkour system is upgraded a lot, grapple is coming back ofc

Q: 1. are there gonna be volatiles in dl2? and are the zombies in dl2 more faster, brutal and better in movement to chase u down? A: There are new and old zombies, can't tell more atm

Q:Will some of the old zombie mutations be returning? A: yup

Q: Distance weapons are mentioned, does that mean a weapon smith we can get distanve weapon blueprints from? A: you can created your own weapons

Q: Are there other zombie types than the ones mentioned in the interviews? If so can we know a bit about them? A: there will be more, no info now tho

Q: On the topic of Grapple, is it expected to behave the same as DL1, or will it have a different mechanic, such as a swing? A: grapple is different now and you can upgrade it

Q: an we drop kick zombies and humans from sky scrapers? A: Yup

Q: Will the grappling hook operate the same as in DL1? I think it was overpowered and needed bigger cool down, it took away from parkour element a lot for me. A: as I said later, it's reworked a little - not OP now

Q: Is Brecken alive in Dying Light 2? Or is he maybe related to protagonist? A: no one from DL1 comes back

Q: Does no ranged mean guns or are we also losing the bow/crossbow A: never said no ranged, i said no firearms, ranged weapons will be there

Q: Will the gore be overhauled or different in Dying Light 2? A: it will be upgraded, there are also new finishers coming in

Q: Will quarantine zones come back? A: dark zones will be in the buiuldiings

Q: what happen to the cure A: gone

Q: will there be more weapon upgrades than in the first DL? A: a lot more

Q: can we put miniguns on vehicles or weaponize them like the buggy from The Following? A: I don't think so - nothing for now at least

Q:What happend to the GRE? A: They were there when the infection started - they are the ones that gave away the biomarkers - no sight of them in the city now

Q: If there's a co-op mode, what is the max amount of players in 1 lobby? A: 4 players max

Q: Will there be more end game content then dl1? A: yup, first of all you will have to finish the game multiple times to experience the game fully, end game will also be improved

Q: What do you think will be there an epic crossover mission when we meet kyle but he's turned A: I don't think he will come back

Q: Infected animals? A: animals will be there, you can hunt them, dunno about infected ones tho

Q: Are there children in DL2? If so, can we kill them? A: Brutal

Q: Referencing the ease of combat in DL1, can we expect to see actual struggle when going against enemies? Will we have the feeling of should I fight or run? A: Ups [???] depends on the difficulty for sure, some of the fights will be hard, for example - you fight some guys near to the building and then zombies hear it and come out for few minutes, and you have XvXvX fight to go trough

Q: Kiedy pre order? A: Niedługo

Q: are the voliatile hive quests coming back? A: you will be cleaning some mess for sure, I don't know if those particular quests will go back

Q: Alright. I asked if we'll get skin to customize our weapons as in we keep them forever as blueprints and we can apply them to any weapon? A: customization will be upgraded, that's for sure, I believe we will actually share more details about it in the future

Q: Will there be brutal finishers after stun, like in old Dying Light version where Kyle pulls out smth from the chest? A: yup, we're still adding more and more finishers

Q: Are safezones upgradable in any way? A: you can't upgrade them as in "click a button and its happening" it changes when you do something for the city or you act in some way

Q: is there gonna be a volatile chase mission in the sewer like dl1? "extraction" with more running action? A: that's a really gameplay-detailed question, I don't think i have answer for it now

Q: Will there be weapons rarities? A: some weapons will be stronger than other - don't know about how will we deal with rarities

Q: can we do farming? A: i think that other people are meant for farming, not Aiden

Q: Is dl2 going to have the same docket system like dl1 if not please explain A: dockets are cool, would be good to have them back

Q: Will zombies give a fight for your life feel, or will it be light DL1 where they are primarily just nuisances? A: try going to dark zone during the day, you wont get out of there alive

Q: do we have a different type of vehicles or just one like dl the following we only had the buggy + we are going to have horses and motorbikes or no ? A: there will be some vehicles - more about that coming soon

Q: is there going to be any refrences from dl1??? A: yup, there will be differences [I’m assuming the question was misread]

Q: you said that there wont be any firearms in DL2, but can you maybe tell what's going on in here, as a game dev? It confuses me quite a lot [pic of peacekeeper with what looks like a gun] A: concept arts are not 1:1 gameplay

Q: Is there gonna be something that can make you even stronger if you maxed out all skill trees? (Like the Legend in DL1.) A: that's a really late-game stuff, i believe something like that will come

Q: will the hostile factions attack you if you go into certain areas (i.e if you take a safe zone for a scavenger will the peackeepers attack you in an office building A: yup

Q: how much is pre order and when will it go live A: we are still taking care of different editions and prices

Q: Are the weapons going to become more modern as you level up ? A: nope, weapons are really "hand made" but they all look cool

Q: Will there be any stational turrets, which you can craft/use in some safezones to clear hordes? A: people are dealing with the infected, turrets are too modern

Q: we can pre-order the game soon ? i mean like next month maybe or after a while ? A: yup, preorders will go live when we will figure out the versions etc

Q: Will multiplayer/coop loot be instance based, or client base? (DL1 uses a client base, as each player gets their own drops/items from chests/zombies) Instance based would be there's only 1 item for all players, first to grab gets. A: We still need to figure that out, I believe we will check which one is better

Q: any cool easter eggs coming? A: a lot of them

Q: Will there be any missions that require 4 players, and can more people join you for the final boss? A: 4 people is max

Q: will there be any more presentations or info about DL2 at e3? A: there will be more + new s this month

Q: Will there be boss fights and if there is at the last story mission do we have to be alone? A: don't ask about last mission when the game is not out

Q: we can play with animals like far cry ? i mean like u send animals to attack zombies or something like that, and will there be infected animals too or no ? A: you will be able to hunt animals for resources, i dont think you will be able to tame them

Q: what your prediction about the pc spec? A: i think you will be fine if you can run modern games, We go for FPS over resolution and we aim for 60 at ps4 and xone, its not confirmed tho

Q: so is there going to be some sick loot if we have dl1 and bad blood?? A: there will be something for DL owners

Q: Are there gonna be hunger and thirst bars, and food and drinks you can loot around the world or get from faction cities and safe zones? A: that's still under discussion, its not confirmed

Q: Will we see random wildlife throughout our explorations? (Not those of zombies.) A: yup and you can hunt them

Q: Will we be able to use the dying light companion app in Dying Light 2 A: probably yes

Q: so is there infected animals or no ? A: I dont think so, it's not really confirmed, so we will see

Q: Can we get a confirmation that the dev tools will be available eventually considering it massively increase the longevity of the game and wasnt a total fuckup of a decision like bad blood was? A: about dev tools - im still waiting for confirmation

Q: sorry for the torture but will there be a PVP gamemode or any special gamemode for DL2? A: we will have multiplayer based discussion, for now there are no details to tell about mp

Q: will DL2 get better mod support ? Something like Fallout 4 so we can add more stuff to the game A: i hope so

Q: asking again, will there be seasons? like winter and summer with weather changes? A: I don't think so

Q: Do i have to side with 1 faction completely? Do certain factions control certain safe zones or are safe zones neutral territory? A: nope, you don't have to side with 1 faction

Q: limitation (character inventory)? Like we can no longer have unlimited or 99x items in stacks - including crafting materials. A: I think there wont be limits to crafting materials, like 99x, i need to confirm that with devs tho

Q: Will there be walking zombie hordes, which will try to destroy safe zone's gates? And will it be like event? (is it really possible)? A: people's safe zones are protected with UV lights, zombies wont cross them

Q: Can I sleep in Dying Light 2 to skip night? A: the whole day-night cycle is changed in DL2, more details coming soon

Q1: will there be xray like in the old game A: what x ray Q2: Survivor sense, he meant I think Q3: the critical blue hit, when u hit a zombie, thats what he means A: oh, survivor sense is coming back

Q: Will duplications be patched frequently? As in DL1 there are still many that can occur. A: well i hope there wont be any dupe glitches

Q: Around how long would it take to playthrough the game once? A: quests etc are still coming so i cant really tell how long it will be right now

Q: Btw every pre-order got a bonus content so ofc dl2 got bonus content so when i buy the game after the release i can get this content even if i buy higher edition or its for pre-orders only ? A: i dont think we will have any preorder exclusives, time will tell tho

Q: How many quests Will there be? A: a lot

Q: how many or which of the zombie types from the first game will we see again in DL2? A: everyone from DL1 is coming back (zombie wise) wise some cool additions and upgrades

Q: How many factions are confirmed so far or at least under disussion? A: 2 main ones are confirmed, and there will be more side ones

Q: will there be any sort of vehicles we can drive in DL2? A: yup there will be vehicles

Q: Will there be shields and (fast?) counterattacks after blocking? A: ripostes will be there, im not sure about the shields but u can block without it

Q: The map takes place in a City, is this city based on a real life counterpart? A: it's a fictional city based on european cities

Q: what happened to the firearms i mean why they are removed from the game ? A: they are very rare commodity 15 years after diseaster

Q: can we drive vehicles? A: yes

Q: When does the Q&A end? A: in around 10 minutes

Q: I don't know if this was asked. But Will we be able to explore more then the city? A: the city alone is 4 times bigger than the first DL, there is a lot to explore, dunno about going outside tho

Q: Will there be some type of pvp in the game? A: more info about multiplayer modes will come very soon

Q: Who is the voice actor for aiden A: dunno to be honest xD not the kyle voice actors and that what matters [This has been released. Aiden’s voice actor is Jonah Scott.]

Q: So there is firearms in the game but they are very rare and hard to find ? i mean u can still find them but its hard right ? A: i mean that they are so rare that you wont find one, but as i said, there are still ranged weapons, and some you can craft on your own

Q: Will it be a new Be The Zomby ? Or Human player invading other world like DS3 ? A: as i said, no details for multiplayer this time, sorry! :x

Q: Will the implemented day/night cycle have any special amendments? (Can we expect to see random encounters/anomalies on random nights/days?) A: would be cool, ill ask devs

Q: In the trailer we saw bracelet and how "charges go down". What will happen if it goes down and will we have "antizin"? Can we buy or trade it? A: there is no antizine, strong UV lights weakens the infection, its still under discussion what will happen when it will go to 0, most possible outcome is simply dying and having to restart the game

Q: Hold up. "No guns" or "very rare guns"? I saw both those answers from Uncy A: its pretty much the same, like, they're all pretty much gone

Q: what about invasions? Be the zombie A: no multiplayer details now

Q: Is the game 4 times bigger then just the slums? Or the WHOLE game A: the whole game without the following

Q: Will there be more interactions within the game? (IE: Fishing, skinning the animals we hunt, cooking, etc) A: yup, there will be a lot to do in the city

Q: Will DL2 be on next gen xbox as it just got announced? A: right now we plan ps4 xone and pc release

Q: Will it be possible to take (offline) single-player saved games online, and if so, what proactive measures will Techland take to prevent game-save mods from disrupting the online multiplayer experience? A: as i said, multiplayer details will come in the future, those things are still under discussion

Q: Can we go and roam outside the city? A: Aiden wants to stay in the city

Q: my final question what is the virus called is it still called the harran virus A: well it's not in harran only anymore

Q: Is there some way to calculate just how many final outcomes you can get out of the game? Like in Detroit Become Human for example A: not really, not right now at least

Q: will screamers have more of a purpose then obstacle you have to get around A: they will be different this time

Q: Legend levels made the first game really easy so are they in dl2 or no ? and if they are there so is it balanced now or it will still make the game so easy ? A: legends levels are still under discussion as well

Q: Still another question about that charges... Will there be some visual and sensitive effects (like in Dying Light where the screens goes green and we dont have stamina)? A: yup, i think so at least

Q: Will there be more detailed animations for each thing we do? (If we activate our flashlight, Aiden would reach to his shoulder to turn it on) A: some things are speed up of course to not be annoying, but there will be more animations, like imagine having to reach the uv light for a 10000 time when volatile is at your face

Q: Will this channel remain so we can review all the previously stated questions? A: it will be closed but it will remain (i need to make QA out of it)

Q: Will it be possible to take (offline) single-player saved games online, and if so, what proactive measures will Techland take to prevent game-save mods from disrupting the online multiplayer experience? A: i responded to that with - no multiplayer details for now, I really don't have any info about it

Q: Can we ride horses ? A: nope

Q: Is korek in dl2? A: i dont think so

Q: anything to mention about Night hunters? A: night runners you mean? actually Aiden is the only man capable of reviving hte nightrunners caste

Q: wingsuit? A: maybe this will be one of the things we will be talking about - i mean, new traversal options

Q: Will we have the ability to pursue affections of NPC? Such as a friend meter, or even a lover? A: you will be able to interact with every single npc in the game - how? you will see

Q: Any building destruction in ds2? Like walls collapsing when you use explosives, would be cool A: just the last one - yes environment is destructible in some cases

[bagelpyjama19]

Practical Strategies to Pick a Cellphone for your Students at Home

My son is going to be a couple of years old, and his most popular plaything is definitely my own iPhone X. I stash it all over the place: in back of fluffy teddy bears, among reference books, inside furniture. He locates it every time and runs up to all of us, holding it in his little fist and moans when I say no, he just crumples onto the ground and weeps. It could be worse, I believe. Last month, was his turn to tuck away the mobile phone. Right until pretty recently, the recommendation was that couples avoid showing children under two displays of any kind, including TV, iPads, or smartphones. In 2015, it somewhat eased the guidelines. My husband and I violated this guideline a long time ago. I don't keep in mind whenever we first cradled an Apple iPhone before his eyes, but during the last couple of months, we've viewed in horror as my child is rolling out a full-blown dependence on phones, a long time before he's even old enough to own one. During the last decade, very much continues to be written about the fantastic display time debate: how often should our children come in contact with screens, with what age? As lately as Oct 2017, a paper published an attribute that decorated a dark eyesight of children and screens, using a estimate from a Facebook professional assistant saying that only bad stuff lurks in our devices. Soon after researching the story, we went into total panic mode and implemented a rule inside our house where no one is allowed to give our kid a smart phone. For the time being, this has kept the devil away. However, I know there will come a period when I will give in towards the inevitable and buy my son his first phone. The potential already makes me stressed. Relating to a 2014 survey, 73 percent of children between the age range of 12 and 18 possess their own phone, while a 2017 study indicates that nearly 44 percent of kids get their own personal cell phone plan between the ages of 10 and 13. In connected households people with a lot more than 3 devices, kids obtain first tablet when they are 5 years old, and their first phone at the age of 6. These days, many couples with children are putting technology in youngsters' hands when they can hold them. However when it involves what kinds of cell phones parents should purchase their kids, the market offers hardly any options: There is no iPhone equivalent for kids, and there never has been. Generally, kids are stuck with their parents' hand-me-down smartphones, as well as the responsability is definitely on the parent to install the required parental adjustments. Therefore, why has not the industry effectively made a telephone for children? And if it do, what would such a device actually appear to be?

Although couples with children are often shamed for utilizing screens to entertain their teens or supervise them by default, many individuals will agree that presenting their a kid a cellphone can be part and parcel to be a accountable parent in 2019. Ultimately, a good mobile phone for teens ought to be simply because strong as is possible, probably it would possess a way to text if there is a school emergency or various other type of unforeseen emergency, or not allow them to turn away their navigation or delete texts. Others claim that such a tool should be public social media-free. No picture and no internet may be the factor we held hearing from adults. Without a video camera or connection, teenagers cannot take selfies or engage with social media, two activities parents are eager to control. Even though tablets have already been systematically publicized to little children, efforts to build up smart phones for little children have almost universally failed. We've seen a whole lot of cell phones for children over the years and they are all junk. In 2014, one teenagers' tech business unveiled the Kurio Google android mobile phone, that was made to operate and appearance just like a grown-up mobile phone, but with safety product features and usage limitations to hide all situations. While fairly bland-looking, the phone had almost everything an eager parent would've wanted: it blocked 415 million websites, allowed parents to remotely view text messages and call logs, and provided period limits in apps long before Apple introduced similar features. It actually included a customizable in case of emergency form, featuring the child's allergy information and blood type. And in 2017, VTech, a toy firm, presented the KidiBuzz, a mobile phone for children between the age groups of 5 and 11 which allows children to receive and send texts, photographs, and voice communications. The kids phone was a wonderful flop and it had been discontinued the same year it had been introduced. The unit was expensive to produce, but since it was not branded, it could not really be offered at an effective price, it had been not really Samsung or Apple, and this group the cell phone was targeted at, pre-tweens/tweens, is very brand and look-self-conscious. In the mean time, the KidiBuzz provides 34 % one-star reviews in Amazon, with a single commenter observing that it generally does not even make a decent paperweight. this hyperlink Part of the concern with child-focused smart phones is features: several products occupy an amorphous gray space among a toy and device. The KidiBuzz, for instance, gives features like video games and apps, but doesn't even allow users place telephone calls. Parents looking for wise cellphones for kids on Amazon may also run into dozens upon a large number of nonfunctional play phone items, products that look like phones but are actually toys that come equipped with various ringtones and blinking lights. Another added challenge is that products marketed as kid-friendly, have an integral expiration day. There's not a lot of activity taking place in the child-specific space, because it simply doesn't scale well. You're discussing a very little segment from it: kids age range 4 to 10 or 7 to 11, etc. And it's likely even smaller sized than that, because at a particular age I don't believe children want the special cellphone. They want the same device you're using. By and large, the truth is how the devices people wish to use are the devices from the big producers. So why build some thing that is purpose-built and an individual model of these devices when you could basically take any maker's style and use a parental settings app to help control this? However, there's real stress about giving developing children access to products that are absolutely nothing in short supply of addictive to grown adults. And even more research has surfaced linking excessive display time to, among other things, sadness, reduced sleep, and speech postpone in babies. All that has pushed a handful of entrepreneurs to produce alternate solutions for kids. The main concern with giving children cell phones, is that, for lack of an improved term, it's such a sexy, glossy device, you want to download games, open the web. Which is almost inherent to the telephone. Personally i think it also myself in my own mobile phone. It's a very effective issue. The first version of the Light Phone was designed to be used as little as possible: it might place telephone calls, and fundamentally nothing else. The impending Light Mobile phone 2 will also let users text. It's one of a small number of entries in the minimalist, or dumb telephone movement, which was spurred by a growing concern about cellphone addiction. While not designed for children, the Light Telephone has gotten significant amounts of attention from couples with children. Adults struggle with this dilemma: they want a phone therefore their child can contact them within an emergency, but Snapchat actually scares all of them. The Jitterbug, which features a larger display screen and larger type, is one more dumb cellphone routinely cited as a good option for young kids - though it was developed for seniors. The Jitterbug can make telephone calls and receive and send texts; at less than $50 for the turn smart phone version, it is also substantially cheaper than the Light Telephone 2, which has not shipped out yet but happens to be priced at $290. Some producers are bypassing phones altogether by entering the wearables market. GizmoWatch, for instance, enables couples to monitor their kids' precise location and provides alerts when they venture outside a particular radius; in addition, it lets young adults textual content and make calls to up to 10 people on the preprogrammed contact list, enabling parents to stay in touch with their kids while curbing their display screen time. Without technically a wearable (though you may hook it to clothes with a carabiner-like item), the Relay, a similar to walkie-talkie gadget, is an additional entry in the kids' technology space. The device presents itself as a middle surface for much less tech-savvy parents who are concerned about display screen time, but don't need to navigate the complicated globe of parental control apps. There's no way to watch an undesirable YouTube video or seek out something inappropriate using the mobile phone, because there is no display screen. But devices just like the Relay as well as the GizmoWatch also appear to be exactly what they may be: items for children. And that may be a issue. Almost always there is some chance with wearables, yet I am just a little reluctant to state they're gonna be a big vendor. The marketplace demand in comparison to alternative options is in a way that the impact tends to be fairly limited. I could get my kid a kid smartwatch, which they may or may not wear, or I could give them a phone. Smart watches, are not going to substitute cell phones for teenagers. Kids want even more. They are bombarded with messages to remain interconnected frequently. This is actually the world children are growing up in. Without better alternatives, couples with children are mainly trapped passing off their worn out iPhones or Androids or buying a vintage cellphone, which still costs you hundreds of dollars. There's only a certain comfort and ease there because that's what dad and mom have always utilized. Handing down our previous phones is normally low-cost as well as the parental controls work fairly well. Children aren't some particular animal that want special tools when it comes to cell phones. They are little humans, and I prefer to respect them when it comes to tech. And instead of creating new products, producers have begun developing product features to create their adult-focused products more youth-friendly. Apple's new iOS 12 parental settings include a Screen Time feature, which allows you to create period limits for particular applications and track how much time they're shelling out for their cell phones. Google has released Google Family members Link, a free app that allows couples with children to monitor their kids' screen time as well while remotely secure their gadgets if they are spending a lot of time using them. All these program work-arounds aren't perfect - kids are reportedly hacking Apple's Screen Time simply by changing enough time setting on their device, but they're a recognition that children of a certain age want to own a similar thing everybody else has. And if everybody else comes with an iPhone or an Android, many won't settle for anything less. However eventually the stress parents feel around what types of devices to buy their kids and when may also be a way of projecting anxieties about our own complicated relationships with mobile phones. The answer may not be discovering the right device for our children, but wrangling our very own impulses, especially because a few analysts say that adults who are exceedingly sidetracked by their devices are creating behavioral issues within their teenagers. Little Children will do what you carry out, not what you inform them to do. You have to model good digital habits. In fact, a 2017 research found that although 79 percent of parents thought these were modeling good screen behaviors for their kids, these were spending an average of nine hours each day with their displays, a lot more time than their teens were. When I pointed out that I was spending far more period scrolling through my e-mail and Twitter than I had been playing on the floor with my kid, I noticed that the challenge wasn't with displays warping his delicate mind. It had been that I'd already allowed my mobile phone to bend mine. So nowadays, we try not to use our phones at all in front of our son. This is a habit that can be easily shaped for later years and really depends upon the parents to maintain our little children from smartphones until these people grasp responsibility.

[skystuccosystems]

How Do I Maintain My Exterior Stucco? (Resource Guide)

There is a lot of questions about stucco maintenance and a lot of these are pretty legitimate but isn't stucco supposed to be virtually maintenance-free? Stucco is more of a maintenance-free finish it does require a little attention every now and then, just like everything! ​The maintenance is very minimal though, providing that you have sound stucco walls that were applied correctly. It is pretty easy to maintain though and you might be surprised at just how easy it is to maintain.

​Washing Your Stucco Walls:

​Stucco walls can be washed and should be washed two to three times a year in order to maintain the finish coat's ability to shine awnd function the way it should. You can do this one of two different ways: using a garden hose or a pressure washer. Using A Garden Hose: ​You can use a simple garden hose and wash down the exterior of your stucco but be aware that this will only remove a small amount of the dirt and debris that gets collected on your stucco walls over time. Using a garden hose works best on smooth to semi-smooth textures and will provide a decent cleanse, removing the debris that is loose on the surface. If you want to ​get a much better result from using your garden hose then use a medium stiffness brush to get the majority of the dirt removed. This is a lot more labor intense but will have very different results for your efforts as well. ​Helpful Tip: ​Whenever wetting down stucco walls, manufacturers will recommend starting at the bottom and working your way up for the first initial "wetting down the wall". This prevents any staining from occurring that could potentially happen by starting at the top, especially with traditional stucco finishes that tend to absorb water. ​Some brushes have a threaded hole on them somewhere where you can attach an extension wand to make the job easier by extending your reach. ​If you look on Amazon, you will find many deck scrub brushes that work well for this and are wide as well, cutting the required time it takes to get the job done down quite a bit.

Using A ​Pressure Washer: ​A pressure washer is the preferred way to clean your stucco because it is much faster, less labor intense and does a better job than a garden hose would. If you want to clean your stucco then you will ​need a pressure washer that is capable of around 1500 psi MINIMUM. Always use caution when using a pressure washer and wear appropriate safety gear to prevent injury (eye protection, hearing protection, etc.) Remember that a minimum recommendation will get the job done but a pressure washer that has 2,800 psi will also do the job, a little faster and a little better because of the added psi. So I recommend a unit around 1,500 - 2,800 psi. You will want to use a 40 degree nozzle when cleaning the stucco and always be mindful of the distance your nozzle is from the wall and watch the stucco for any damage that may occur from pressure washing. A good distance to maintain is 12" - 24" from the nozzle to the wall for cleaning using a 40 degree tip. Feel free to experiment with the distance and if you want to try a more concentrated nozzle (25 degrees) then be sure you have the nozzle further away to avoid damaging the stucco finish. ​Helpful Tip: ​The closer your nozzle is to the wall, the better the cleaning power but you will ​be cleaning less surface area at once. ​When your nozzle is farther away from the wall you will get more surface area cleaned at one time but it will not be as aggressive at cleaning the wall.

​​Using Cleaning Agents On Your Stucco:

You can also use specific cleaners to help remove tougher stains like dirt, mildew, mold and other problematic materials that can cause staining on your walls.  There are many different cleaners out there to choose from but I will keep the list short to avoid confusion and keep the process as simple as possible. Plain Dish Soap And Warm Water: ​You can use warm water and a good quality dish soap to do a general cleaning of mild dust and debris on your stucco walls and  using a good soap (I like Dawn) will give you more cleaning power than just water alone. ​Bleach And Water Solution: ​Bleach can be a great cleaner to use on mold and mildew stains on your stucco walls but be wary of nearby plants, trees or anything else that might be at risk from using bleach. You can add 1 part bleach to 10 - 20 parts water for a more general type of cleaning on the walls or you can strengthen the mix to 1 part bleach and 5 -10 parts water for tougher stains and "spot treatments". ​Helpful Tip: ​Always test a small area of your stucco before using bleach in an inconspicuous area of your house or building to see how it reacts and if it harms the color in any way. Stucco Cleaners From Stucco Manufacturers: ​There are a few manufactures that have stucco cleaners available and these usually come in the form of a spray bottle that you hook a garden hose up to, making it easy to use and pretty effective too. ​The image on the right shows a stucco cleaner from the stucco manufacturer Omega and as you can see, the smaller bottle gets hooked up to a garden hose and you directly spray it onto the wall. The larger container (gallon) is used to refill the smaller jug (32 oz.) ​which is good for approximately 1,000 sq. feet of wall.

omega-products.com TSP Solution: ​TSP is a great chemical that is used for many cleaning tasks, especially when prepping walls for paint and it can work great for cleaning stucco as well. A good recipe for using TSP is 1 - 2 cups of TSP to 1 gallon of water. If the water is warm, it will work better and help to break down the dirt and debris a little better too. Be sure to pre-soak the wall first, from the bottom, working your way up the wall. ​Helpful Tip: ​Start further away from the wall when pressure washing and move closer to get an ideal distance and maintain the distance that works best.

​Maintaining Your Stucco Color:

​Stucco color can fade over time and sometimes it can even become stained or discolored in extreme cases. There are a few different things you can do to prevent these things from happening and things you can do to remedy staining issues, blotchy coloring, faded coloring, etc. as well. ​Preserving Your Stucco Color: Regular cleaning is key to maintaining your color over the years​ and it helps to eliminate the accumulation of dirt that builds up and can eventually stain (especially lighter colors) the stucco. ​Landscaping is very important to have around your home or some type of barrier between the bare dirt and your stucco wall. Water that hits the ground and splashes up can ruin the bottom edge of the stucco very quickly and will likely stain the wall within a matter of weeks and sometimes even days. ​If your stucco is painted then you will have to schedule to have the house repainted every 3 - 7 years (on average) and keep avoid letting it go too long. If you have a traditional stucco finish that is unpainted then you may want to consider having it fog coated to restore the luster of the original stucco color and to make it look like new again.

​Stucco Cracks Are Part Of Maintenance...

​Stucco is going to crack, it is just the nature of the material but you can fix most of these with a little bit of patience and know-how. Most of the smaller cracks can be fixed using a little caulking and is something most people can do themselves. Many of the cracks that form are hairline cracks and I have a more in-depth tutorial on how to fix hairline cracks in stucco that shows you how to go about the process.

​Applying Caulking Where It's Needed:

​Applying caulking at specific locations where the stucco meets woo or another material is part of maintenance on your home and I think it should fall under stucco maintenance. Anytime the stucco meets another material, you will have to apply a bead of caulk because the two different materials expand and contract at different rates, which can cause a gap or crack to form. Caulking will bridge this gap and flex with any type of movement preventing issues from potentially happening. These areas should be inspected annually and you should reapply any caulking when necessary (usually 3 - 5 years on average). An acrylic caulking will blend in best (if done properly) but a silicone or polyurethane caulking will work better and last longer but is difficult to work with.

​Stucco Maintenance Cost:

​There are minor things that should be done and a lot of them are very low cost and sometimes even free, depending on what you have on hand in and around your home. On walls that are in very good condition, you may only need warm water, dish soap and a scrub brush, which most people have at their disposal and if not, it would only cost you $20 or less, in most cases. Other items include caulking and cleaning agents which are very inexpensive too so in general, stucco maintenance is very inexpensive if you tackle it yourself. The only way you may run into more costly tasks regarding maintenance is if you have neglected your home for a while making a larger amount of work, if you have repair work that needs to be done as well or you hire someone to do the work for you which isn't that bad considering the value of your home and what you are getting for the money.

​Traditional Finishes VS Acrylic Finishes:

​Coming Soon! No, its here already!

​Common Problems That Can Arise:

​In the process of cleaning your stucco walls, there can be a couple of problems that can arise so I wanted to briefly touch on these so you know what to expect and what to look out for. Finish Chipping Off: Sometimes when you are in the process of cleaning your stucco, the finish can come off in some spots. You can't always prevent this and it is more of an aesthetic problem (in most cases). This is more likely to happen when pressure washing. Fixing this can be done but you will need to know what type of finish material you have on your home (traditional or acrylic) and what type of texture. You will also have to get a custom color match with the correct finish material or paint if you want it to blend in as close as possible. ​Stucco Color Is Faded Or Discolored: ​When your color becomes faded or discolored it is easy to remedy but more work that you might think (in some cases). You can apply a fog coat to tradition stucco finishes (unpainted) or paint to get rid of the discoloration or fading (after cleaning the area well) but color matching is hard and "spot coloring" areas will still be noticeable. In order to get the entire wall to look consistent, it is recommended that you color the entire wall (from corner to corner). A lot of work, especially if you have a larger wall that the color issues are on. ​Stucco Has Larger Cracks: ​Larger cracks (larger than 1/8" wide) will require a bit more attention and sometimes can be a sign of a more serious problem (1/4" and larger). These are better left to have someone come out and look at what's going on to give you an idea of what to expect. More often then not, stucco contractors will come out to give free estimates and if you find one that is willing to discuss the problem with you, giving a little insight on what might be causing the issue and how serious it is. ​Staining Along Bottom Of Walls: ​Staining along the bottom of your walls is usually caused by rain falling and hitting the dirt on the ground and splashing up onto the wall.  You can prevent this by having a barrier of rock, mulch, straw or some other type of material that covers the soil. This is the best way to prevent this from happening in the future. ​If the staining has already occurred then you will need to put in a pretty decent amount of effort to remove or fade the staining, especially if it has been accumulating over a few months. A pressure washer is recommended for these types of tough stains and a 25 degree nozzle at a distance of 8 - 12 inches is going to be my starting point. Go as close as you can to the wall without removing any of the finish but use caution and go slow.

​Some Other Helpful Tips On Cleaning Stucco:

​Work on one wall at a time from corner to corner in order to get the best possible results. This will ensure that you get every wall as clean as possible and will help prevent the walls from drying too quickly, which could be counter-productive. ​If you have a large house, you can break it up into sections to make the process less labor intense. Try to break the process up into two - four days if you need to, working one side of the hose at a time. ​Remember to pre-soak any stucco walls before doing any cleaning. This will help to reduce any staining that can occur if you are cleaning surrounding areas that run down the wall. ​Different textures will hold different amounts of dirt and the rougher the texture, the more dirt you will have built up on your walls. More frequent cleaning will be required to maintain a clean looking exterior if you have a rougher texture. ​Traditional stucco finishes will soak up water (even dirty water) and will be more prone to staining and discoloration when compared to an acrylic type of texture. Read the full article

[sere22world]

How To Pick Cardboard Packing Boxes For the Merchandise?

Item packaging is also an extremely profitable and indemand venture. Every firm has to package their services and products. The requirement for packaging is rising in an alarming pace with the gain in the creation of products. To satisfy up with the rising production, many packaging organizations have arisen. But some packaging organizations have the ability to earn the maximum out of these partnership compared to others. These firms really utilize supreme quality cardboard packaging boxes. In the event you would like to enroll the desired victory in newspaper box packaging, then you have to find and choose superior boxes for packaging your own commodity.

Recommendations to purchase Superior cardboard packaging boxes

Choosing top-class packaging boxes involves just two entities - finding reputed manufacturers and picking boxes fitting your requirements. The first part handles finding reliable providers. But several packaging organizations do not bother much if you're trying to find paper box packing providers. The majority of these devote into the very first seller they run into. Sadly, the vast majority of them wind off using poor-quality packaging materials. Just a small amount of rush quickly drifted right to a nightmarish adventure. Uncovering reliable manufacturers warrants a few time and ascertained efforts. Following is a helpful guide which should assist you in finding credible providers of cardboard packaging boxes.

Search references

References prove to become much better and more convenient option when trying to find providers. To start out with, inquire business professionals on your contacts and touch. People who have the particulars of reputed vendors may possibly help . Since people on your small business network and partners are trusted, you're able to depend in their tips when coming up with a set of newspaper box packing vendors.

Assess neighborhood directories

Most providers of cardboard packaging boxes promote their services and products in yellow pages and directories that are local. Scan the listings at such places. Within no timeyou might come across several reputed providers for the packaging requirements.

Scan commerce journals

Monthly magazines and trade journals will also be worth your attention and time. Many organizations in the newspaper box industry promote their items from journals and magazines. Read a few favorite magazines; you might land a handful reliable brands.

Assess on the Web resources

If it boils right down to finding any such thing, the significant web has become the most crucial source. Clients in addition to companies navigate on the web programs. Therefore, you are in a far improved position to come across reputed brands for the packaging necessaries.

Surf the Web with relevant keyphrases by the computer or phone. Within a few minutes, you might think of a major collection of sellers that are popular. But be cautious of scams online. Some scam artists attempt to fool innocent organizations in their snare. These scammers maintain they're a trustworthy supplier of cardboard packaging boxes. But they truly are a middleman. They accept orders from organizations and outsource those requests to some others.

By bridging the gap between both providers and buyers, then they require a major reduction in the procedure. You might wind up throwing a great deal of money in the event that you fall prey to some scam artists. Thus, be cautious when working with online sources. Employ your intellect and also other parameters whenever selecting packaging box providers.

Guidelines to select cardboard packaging boxes

Now you have compiled a checklist, then you might choose to decide on an perfect supplier to get paper boxes. Nevertheless, your work isn't over. You've seen reputed vendors, however, the option of the superior packaging materials stays. You can not place a major order to your seller from the list on a haphazard basis. It is vital to assess a number of different parameters to be certain you get the ideal choice. In the event you are not able to try this, you are going to get poor-quality packaging accessories. Following is a practical checklist which may be convenient.

Assess reviews and evaluations

To start with, you ought to trim off your seller's list. The greater the amount of vendors in account, the longer the full time and difficulty about buying those items will probably be. As a smart businessman, then you'd really like to avoid such a landscape in any price.

Thus, refine your list by simply assessing the standing of vendors. Scan verified review programs and proceed through all of reviews attentively. Discover what the others say regarding brands on your own list. On the grounds of user opinions, cut down your search into some vendors which are highly commended for offering top-class cardboard packaging boxes.

Define your needs

After having your last list, your pursuit for the ideal choice begins. Grab a paper and pencil, and list your entire own requirements. Ideally, you ought to discover which type of boxes that you want and at what quantity. Most of all, you have to organize your financial plan. Many individuals store impulsively and wind up getting a pricey thing. To prevent such mistakes, devise your financial plan. In addition to keeping you complete, an projected budget will allow you to optimize your investment and purchase superior supplies.

Dimensions

Paper box packaging will come in several sizes and shapes. Whether you require small boxes or mega animations, you can find all accessories to fit your requirements. The occurrence of a broad range may make you joyful when researching services and products. But, it essentially causes your pick difficult. To dispose with problems, work out the measurements of cardboard packaging boxes that you require. Having dimensions ahead prevents embarrassments while still shopping and can help to decide on the ideal boxes.

Durability

Those things packaged with boxes might possibly be utilized in an afternoon or after a period lag . You can not make sure whenever a specific box is going to soon be opened. But, you have to be certain that the package protects the merchandise under most conditions. This really is the point where the durability of these packaging boxes has playwith.

Look closely at the product quality of substances utilized for making boxes. The greater the fabric grade, the more lasting the packaging fittings will probably be. If the packaging is solid, your packaging is likely to soon be in good demand regardless of the financial circumstance. Besides, you will receive repeat requests and customers even during recessions.

Ecofriendly

Today, the entire world is becoming increasingly more conscious of the ecosystem. Efforts are designed to utilize non-toxic things. Even organizations establish their responsibility toward a fresh planet inside their goods. A reputed and sensible firm utilizes ecofriendly substances in fabricating cardboard packaging boxes.

At precisely the exact same time, you are going to find providers which are only interested to make money. They don't really disturb perhaps the substances they use may lead to any problems for the ecosystem and surroundings. They all bother is their adulthood. Thus, learn whether the newspaper box packaging provided by special manufacturers adheres to eco friendly standards or perhaps not. If so, you can go farther in the offer. If no, you need to better concentrate on different brands.

Safety

Many cardboard boxes are user friendly. Every one of the worker must do is mount or open the box, then fill it with all the merchandise, then close it. But, certain boxes include nails and hooks. Even though worker will assess the boxes if filling these items, you might choose to make sure the boxes do not have sharp borders. While packaging items , there tend odds of injuries because of sharp borders.

You also need to see that the packaging accessories on your account are free of harmful chemicals. Some manufacturers utilize cheap-quality adhesives or other glues that pose health dangers. Thus, note that this essential thing and check the boxes to get health safety.

Warranty

Acquiring paper box packing in large amounts frees overly much money in an continuing basis. Even though you can make arrangements to the mandatory capital, you ought to pay for your investment against potential losses. It's very likely that the packaging accessories that you bought are of high quality. Perhapsthe substances utilised at the manufacturing process insufficient durability.

As a smart business man, you must pay for your self against such sudden losses. This really is the point where the warranty of these boxes is useful. A dependable supplier will offer a solid warranty on the equipment. On average, guarantees allow you to seek refunds and replacements for sub standard quality as well as other troubles. Thus, give attention to brands offering some guarantees in the boxes.

Support

Most sellers shut the bargain when the merchandise comes. They follow up their clientele. You might choose to remain clear of such a supplier. Rather, start looking for brands offering after-sales support. Additionally, check how fast they react to some questions and how decent settlements they give.

Wellknown brands consistently followup their clientele. Any grievances are covered punctually. Furthermore, they render top-class aid in assorted types. This enables you to access quick methods to issues associated with cardboard packaging boxes.

Price

No firm could really like to fork out too far about buying packaging supplies. To the other hand, many organizations are enthusiastic about buying cheap paper box packing. As soon as it's fine to decrease your cost, undermining quality for price may be a significant mistake. You need to base your purchase decision on a number of different parameters. Ideally, you might desire to perform comparison shopping to select the best bid. Gauge the purchase price, quality, warranty, and durability of all boxes you would like to purchase. After creating a comprehensive appraisal, choose boxes which are cheap, durable, safe, and includes a solid warranty.

Choosing cardboard packaging boxes is really a significant decision that simplifies your time and effort and genuine efforts. But, you might facilitate your own task by exercising homework. Simply stick to the aforementioned guide if purchasing paper box packing. Check trusted producers and check packing boxes in accord with the aforementioned points. Within no time, you are prepared to choosing high quality boxes which may simply take your packaging venture to some other level.

[janetchavezcom]

Surf Fishing | Tips & Tricks for Landing Massive Fish

Very few angling experiences rival that of a surf beach for exhilaration and pure enjoyment, the noise of the waves pounding the beach coupled with the vast horizon filled with ocean, it’s easy to feel awed by the sheer power of the sea. But, what’s happening under the water and where are the fish feeding? Surf fishing has spawned something of a cult following and a booming market has grown up around this popularity, with a huge range of specialist tackle and rods produced. There are many species of fish to be found on a surf beach and these will vary from location to location. The tactics employed to snare these fish will be similar in nature as most species tend to be found inside the surf line are generally closer to shore than you might expect.

Surf fishing isn’t one for the angler that prefers to be static. Surf is always on the move as the tides and conditions change, it’s taking advantage of this changing nature that will determine whether or not you’re successful or not. Some of the most popular surf beaches have seemingly featureless landscapes, sporting on sand and waves. On some days the surf won’t be present, leaving a vast expanse of glassy ocean. But when the water comes alive and the winds begin to stir, the seabed is disturbed and it’s this that gives many species of opportunistic feeders the chance to have their fill.

The clarity of the water in many surf beaches is hugely influenced by the silt, sediment, and sand on the seabed and what’s feeding into the water from the surrounding shorelines. This will also dictate what species you’re likely to encounter.

It’s important to understand that not all surf will contain fish. The wind and tide will influences how the food and therefore the fish are distributed along the shoreline. Any food brought up by the surf won’t necessarily be pushed towards the shoreline, instead, it’ll often travel along the shoreline and accumulate in hot spots created by natural occurring gullies and holes. It’s these spots that the fish will tend to gather.

Experienced surf anglers will tend to read the surf and adjust their tactics accordingly. In many surf beaches around the world, brown water created during heavy surf is the preferred target for anglers. It’s important to consider your fishing spot, the ideal location is not always where you parked your car. Many surf anglers suggest it is possible to read the surf and, in many parts of the world, brown water in heavy surf is targeted. In the UK it is important to give your choice of fishing spot some thought – the best fishing is not always in front of your parked car.

Surf Fishing for Beginners

Beginners looking to take up surf fishing are often surprised by the huge variety of fish that can be caught just a few feet from the shoreline. Nearly every saltwater species, with the exclusion of deep sea game, such as marlin, can be caught from the shoreline.

Surf fishing is not difficult to learn, a small amount of knowledge and the right gear is enough to get you started. Tactics may change depending on the weather, type of shoreline, tides and the species of fish you’d like to catch, but the basics remain the same.

Tackle to Get Started

You can, of course, the head of to the beach with a six-foot rod, some hooks, a weight and some bait, and you may have some limited success, but chances are it’ll end up being an exercise in frustration and lost tackle.

Many experienced surf fisherman will turn up on the beach with a variety of rods, plenty of tackle and a range of baits as well as more than a few tools. Taken to the extreme, some will take enough gear to equip half a dozen fishermen.

However, as someone that’s just starting out, you don’t need all of this. Get yourself a decent 12 – 15 foot long with large line guides and pair it with a large saltwater spinning reel  and some 25-pound test line. Something along the lines of this would work well.

Armed with just this equipment, you should be able to make a cast that exceeds 100 yards. An experienced angler can make a cast that is more than 200 yards.

If you have the means to do so, you can employ a smaller rod to make casts that land closer to shore, allowing you to cover a bigger range of ground.

There are a ton of rigs you can employ as a surf fisherman which are largely dependent on the conditions and the fish species targeted. I would go as far as to say that there is probably a distinct rig designed for every sort of saltwater species. As a beginner, you don’t need to worry too much about this. Employing a basic two hook leader coupled with a four-ounce sinker and some Khale hooks should cover 90% of the conditions and species you’re likely to encounter.

Small tip, invest in a sand spike as soon as you can. They are inexpensive PVC pipes that are sharpened at one end, the sharpened end is driven into the sand and will allow you to rest your rod inside. These will obviously keep your rod and reel out of the sand and water, but they are a must have for when you land a fish, acting as another pair of hands while you deal with the messy end.

You’ll also need a bucket, knife, needle-nose pliers, a cooler for storing your bait and a hook remover. If you want to get serious about the bobby then it’s well worth investing in a dedicated tackle box and possibly even a cart for lugging your gear down the beach.

Bait and Lures

As a beginner is best to keep things simple and sticking to the most popular baits such as mullet, shrimp or squid. Shrimp is great as it’ll attract almost every species that you’re likely to encounter, the downside is it’s easily sucked off a hook. Mullet and squid are better at staying on the hook, the downside is that some species ignore them. Combining both shrimp and squid is a great option.

When it comes to lures, keep things simple. A silver or gold spoon can probably catch just about anything, but it’s well worth asking a local tackle shop about what works in the area you intend to fish.

Guide to Seasons and Conditions

The two golden rules of fishing for saltwater species is that fish are nearly always on the move and you might be surprised by what you catch. Just like land animals, fish are influenced by the seasons, temperatures, weather and additionally the tide. It’s these factors that will influence what fish will likely be hanging around your favorite fishing spot.

Many species are actually migratory and will move north or south as the waters warm and cool, depending on which side of the equator you’re living on. Some species will move toward the shore as the tide begins to come in, while others wait until the sun begins to set. Other species will base their movements on the temperature of the water, preferring to keep the surrounding water within an optimal range, which means moving into shallower or deeper water to meet those needs.

An incoming tide will more than likely bring in more fish compared with an outgoing tide, additionally, dusk and dawn are likely to be far more fruitful compared to fishing at midday. Moreover, early summer, late spring and the fall months are going to provide a greater opportunity to land a larger variety of fish. This is primarily due to migratory patterns bringing fish closer to shore.

Reading the surf conditions is a skill that is finely tuned over time, but there are a few general tips that can make your life easier. Try to cast between the waves, along the side of sandbars, within rip currents or in areas where there’s a large drop-off.

Keep an eye out for bird activity or fish rising. If fish are in a feeding frenzy, then you’ll likely see them breaking the surface of the water. Diving birds such as seagulls and pelicans can give a good indication of plenty baitfish in an area, if there are baitfish, there will be larger predatory fish as well. Lastly, look out for other people fishing. If there are a bunch of surf fisherman in one area, chances are they are there for a reason. Don’t feel shy about getting in on the action.

Casting, Hooking and Reeling in

I’m assuming that you already know how to cast, in which case you should have no problems surf casting. For surf casting, you may wish to concentrate on accuracy and distance and don’t worry too much about learning a new casting technique. If you’re brand new to fishing then check out the video below for a few pointers.

When you’re using bait, make sure you wait for the weight to hit the sea floor before flipping the bail. Once you’ve tightened the line, wait a few minutes to make sure that everything is set and secure. I would recommend holding onto your rod as a beginner as this will allow you to get a good feel for what a bite feels like. Just remember, fish make take a few nibbles before they actually commit to taking the whole bait.

Once you know what a fish strike feels like, you can start to use the rod holder, just make sure you keep an eye on the rod tip that could signal a nibble.

As soon as you set a hook, let them take the line for a bit. This will allow you to get an idea of how big the fish is and you can then adjust the drag accordingly to avoid line breakage.

When you hook a fish, let him fight a bit before reeling it in. Get a sense for how big he is and determine if you need to adjust the drag to ensure that it does not break your line.

Learn from other anglers in your area. A local tackle shop can contain a wealth of information, and many of them are more than happy to give you some pointers. Check to see if there are any local fishing clubs and maybe team up with a more experienced buddy. You don’t have to go with someone every time, but learning from someone else at least initially can make your life much easier.

Surf Fishing Tips

If you’re looking to take your fishing game to the next level, then these surf fishing tips are a sure fire way to maximize your chances of success.

It’s frequently tempting when you’re fishing a beach to try and cast as far as you can on your first cast, and then just hope that you’ll have success. It’s not always the best tactic. How much more efficient and effective would you be if you knew what the seabed looked like, where the fish are likely to be hanging out, and what time of day they’re going to be feeding?

In our tips section, we aim to give you all the information you need in order to answer these questions and much more besides.

Carry out a Low Tide Survey

Our number one tip is to take a stroll along the surf beach while the tide is out, ideally during a spring tide. During your walk think about the exposed landscape you’re seeing and take a mental or actual note of where the hollows, banks, and gullies are. If you look out over the water, can you see anything protruding from the water that’s been exposed by the low tide? Does the seabed change the further out you go, stones, pebbles, rocks, sand or mud? Can you see any signs of life, mussels, worms, cockles? Are there any significant patches of seaweed or rock formations? Are there any objects that will likely rob you of your tackle but could attract fish?

If you want to take this a step further, cast out a line with only a weight attached from the low water mark. As you begin to reel it in you should be able to feel how the seabed changes. Sand feels very different from rocks or pebbles. Take photographs to reference later on with easily identifiable landmarks within the photo frame so you can later identify where things are at high tide.

All of this is valuable data which you can later use to place your bait where you think the fish will be. Remember, interesting underwater terrain tends to invite more fish compared to smooth sand.

Understand the Surf

Bear in mind that the seabed is an ever-changing landscape. Storms, tides, currents, and waves can quickly change the underwater landscape, moving sandbanks and weed beds around in a matter of hours. At high tide, it’s not always easy to pinpoint exactly where something was at low tide, especially when one piece of the sea can look quite similar to another.

At first look, one section of surf might look identical to any other… but is it really the same? If you take the time to really examine the surf, you might notice swirls as the waves move around and over a rock, you might see the tips of seaweed poking up.

Shallow sand backs will normally have short breaking waves, while smoother flatter water might indicate the presence of deep water. If you couple this visual up to date information with the evidence you gathered during your previous survey, you should have a good idea as to what’s going on under the waves and where you should place your bait.

Keep an Eye on the Weather

You might prefer to fish when there is a strong offshore wind, as it makes it much easier to cast. However, offshore winds also tend to calm the waves, especially when atmospheric pressure is high, smaller waves and calmer seas produce clearer waters.

If the water is clearer, fish will tend to stick to deeper water further offshore during the hours of daylight, only venturing close to shore once the sun has set.

Conversely, days in which the wind is blowing onshore with low atmospheric conditions can produce monstrous waves and rough seas. In turn, this will stir up the ocean floor, resulting in more food being available and you’re far more likely to see results when surf fishing during the day.

Timing is Everything

Timing is incredibly important when it comes to surf fishing. On nearly every surf beach in the world, the two hours leading up to high tide and the two hours following a high tide will see the most action. This is doubly true for spring tides. However, during the period of high water, when the tide isn’t really coming in or going out, you’ll often find that bites are rare.

For example, if high tide takes places at 12 noon, then you’ll probably find that between 11:30 and 12:30 there won’t be much action. But within the two hours leading up to 11:30 and the two hours after 12:30, you’re in with a much better chance of catching some serious fish.

Nearly every fish species is more active when the light levels are low, which makes dawn and dusk especially good times to cast your rod. Combining a high tide that takes place at dawn or dusk is the optimal solution and will maximize your chances of success.

Fish nearly always feed better in low light conditions, making dawn and dusk particularly prolific times.

Understand the Tide Tables

We’ve covered how you can use tides and times to your advantage when surf fishing, but you’ll also need to know how to read a tides table and when high tides fall into the Goldilocks zone of dawn or dusk.

Your first step should be to mark on the table when a high tide takes place roughly at dawn or dusk. Next circle the days when a spring tide is going to take place.

A spring tide takes place when the moon, earth, and sun are in a line, this means the moon and the suns gravity are amplified which means higher tides. They normally take place one or two days after a full moon or new moon. When one of these spring tides takes place at dawn or dusk, your chances of catching something while surf fishing is greatly increased.

Tie a Great Rig

The perfect surf fishing rig must have three qualities:

Be streamlined in order to allow for long casts

Present the bait naturally on the sea floor

Firmly hold the bait without distracting fish with hooks yet still allow for the hook to be set in the fish’s mouth.

Creating streamlined or aerodynamic rigs are easily accomplished with a paternoster rig or one if it’s variants. It’s essentially a lead weight with one or more hooks attached on short lines. Any of the popular shore rigs will meet this goal, for example, wishbone rigs, pulley rigs or flapper rigs.

Learning to tie one out of a book can be tricky, but there is an easier way. Simply buy a professionally made one in the style you like and copy it. It’s worthwhile investing in some fluorocarbon line for use in your rigs, it may cost a little bit more than standard line, but you’re only using it for rigs so it should last you a long time. When fluorocarbon is immersed in water it becomes practically invisible, which could make the difference between a catch or failure.

Avoid Crack-Offs when you Cast

Anyone that’s been surf fishing before has probably experienced a crack-off at least one. In order to prevent this from happening, a shock leader should be used, these dramatically reduce the chances of a crack-off from happening. Crack-offs aren’t just about avoiding the loss of gear, they can be dangerous for other beach users or yourself.

Shock leaders must be used when surfcasting – without one, a crack-off is far more likely. Of course, crack-offs don’t just represent a needless loss of fishing gear, they are also highly dangerous for any other beach user.

As a general rule of thumb, if your lead weight is 4oz, then a 40lb shock leader should be used, 6oz weight should use a 60lb leader etc. The shock leader should be 10 times the lead weight, but rather ounces, it should be changed to pounds, 4oz = 40 lbs.

You should use monofilament line for the shock leader, but avoid using normal monofilament. General purpose mono which you use for your main line is very stretchy be design, which makes it less than ideal for a shock leader. This is because as you cast, the energy imparted by your rod action will be translated into line stretch, which will rob your cast off power and distance.

You can buy a mono line that has been specifically designed for use in shock leaders, it’s less stretchy and abrasion resistant, which ensures all the power of your cast goes into propelling your rig towards the horizon.

There are a wealth of knots available for affixing the main line to the shock leader, but unless you have a strong preference otherwise, I would suggest using the Albright Knot. The issue with any knot is that they can get caught up in the rod guides or tangled in the coils of the line. As the weight rating of the shock leader increases, the larger the resultant knot will be, which increases the chance of the problem occurring.

In order to avoid this issue, you can use a tapered shock leader. For example, if your shock leader is 13 meters in total length, use a 9 meter mono of 65lbs which tapers down to 16lb over the last 4 meters. The advantage of this is that the knot used to connect the shock leader to the main line is much smaller and will have a much smaller chance of being snagged.

Protect your Thumb

If you’re not using a spinning reel but rather a baitcast reel, you’ll have experienced the annoying tendency for the spool to slip under your thumb when you’re casting, especially once everything becomes a bit wet. There’s an easy way to prevent this, cut a finger off a rubber glove and put it on your thumb for some extra grip.

Not only will this give you increased grip, it’ll also give you a level of protection from the leader knot as it zips through.

Don’t Cast To Far

We all enjoy seeing how far we can cast our rig, it’s fun to see this improve over time as your technique improves. It’s not necessarily a bad thing either, but it’s also not often necessary. To be a great surf caster you need to possess three things:

Great quality gear

Highly accurate and repeatable technique

A strong arm. Providing you have the above already, being stronger and being able to cast further than someone with equal gear and ability will work in your favor.

Just because you can cast further than you can see every single time, doesn’t necessarily mean you should be doing it on every cast. Putting the rig exactly where you think the fish will be is far more important and will likely result in much better surf fishing success.

Fish Rough Ground Without Losing Your Gear

Rough ground provides the food and shelter that the fish we’re looking to catch thrive on, from crabs and shellfish to seaweed and rocks. Given the amount of life that these areas support, it’s not something we can easily ignore. However, rough ground can cost a lot in terms of lost tackle, but there are a few surf fishing tips that can minimize any loss experienced.

Most of the time it’s the lead weight that gets caught on something as we’re reeling in a fish. Pulley rigs have been specifically designed to prevent this from happening by using the weight of the fish to pull the weight into a position where it’s less likely to snag on something. Additionally, the following five tips can go a long way in preventing lost gear:

Use a length of light line to attach your weight to the rig. If the weight snags on something the lighter line will break allowing you to retrieve the rest of the rig.

Use a planning lead weight. These are lead weights that have been designed with rough ground in mind, their design means they lift up off the seabed as they are reeled in.

Use old spark plugs in place of a lead weight. They don’t cost anything so you won’t mind if you lose one.

Use a reel with a fast retrieve in order to clear the rig of the seafloor quickly.

Use a stiffer rod so that you can clear your gear from the seafloor quickly. Softer rods will result in more lost equipment.

Surf Fishing Rigs

When it comes to sending some bait soring over the waves, it’s just as important to consider the rig you’re using to present your bait as it is to decide on which bait to use. There are a ton of rigs available, but we think you should be using one of two options for the majority of your surf fishing, depending on the bait, location and the time of the year.

Fish-Finder Rig

One of the best and easiest rigs to put together is the fish-finder rig. This rig is essentially a leader with a hook and a barrel swivel attached to the main line with what’s called a fish-finder weight slide. We find that this rig is very well suited to presenting a range of bait sizes, and are suitable for almost every fish species, from bass to shark. You’ll obviously need to adjust the hook size and type as well as the leader length to match the fish species you’re targeting. Just bear in mind that a longer leader will lead to increased wind resistance and therefore a reduced casting distance.

However, a longer leader can result in the bait being allowed to flow and move with the movement off the water, which is often far more natural looking and appealing for the fish. A little bit of trial and error can go a long way in identifying the happy balance between leader lengths and casting distance.

High/Low Rig

This rig is great if you want to offer a couple of bait options at the same time. Where the fish-finder rig has the weight above the hook, the high/low rig has the hooks spaced above the weight. The biggest advantage offered by a high/low rig is the opportunity to offer two types of bait at the same time, however, the fixed weight means it’s not possible to feed line to an interested fish. If you’re using a fish-finder rig you can allow fish to take the line out without it feeling the weight, which in turn means you have a longer opportunity for the fish to digest and set the hook. Whereas a high/low rig is statically attached to the weight, meaning you’ll need to be quicker setting a hook or risk the fish dropping the bait due to the unnatural feel of the weight. As such, high/low rigs are best suited to softer bait types such as worms or clams.

Whole Mullet Rig

These rigs are great for targeting aggressive big fish found in the surf. The beauty of the rig is that it keeps the bait off the bottom of the seafloor by using a Styrofoam float, which makes it easier for fish to locate it and keeps it out of reach of crabs.

The post Surf Fishing | Tips & Tricks for Landing Massive Fish appeared first on Crow Survival.

source https://www.crowsurvival.com/surf-fishing/ source https://crowsurvival.blogspot.com/2018/08/surf-fishing-tips-tricks-for-landing.html

[healthytalkzone-blog]

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[sstilinskihale-blog]

Girls Beyond the Wasteland, Another anime written by a visual novel writer

Oh yeah goody. Another Anime authored by a Visual Novel author. Or to are more accurate, it's adapted with a Visual Novel written by the Visual Novel writer (aware in the redundancy, thank you). And we know how much I want Visual Novel Anime, what with the cliched characters, disproportionate dialogue, blatant fanservice it does not necessarily further the story in any respect, and overall bland solutions to serious subject issue. Oh, and what is this? It's another Anime about several people making some sort of Visual Novel? Let people guess, it's visiting be completely self-aware approximately its cliches, complete nothing interesting using said awareness, employ a imbalanced gender percentage of females to help males, and have virtually no actual stakes or motivation for any character to get the Visual Novel beyond "I might like to do it". Boy, So i am loving this phenomena.

Well you'll be please to learn that not just did Girls Beyond the Wasteland confirm me completely correct, but it's a really step down with Welcome to the NHK - the only real good Anime approximately making Visual Novels together with NEETs and such - that this actually caused people physical pain. Wish to make the people short on cash and require squalor as motivation/contrast on their goal of which makes big with computer animated porn? You've got a few decently-off high higher education students who will not have parents and wish to make Visual Novels as they can. Want to get the characters explore substantial social issues as a result of their slice-of-life connections? You've got girls moping precisely how hot they are generally for Blandy McBlanderson even though noting how similar it can be to their Visual Novels. Wish to see an really experienced studio sport fishing tackle your serious material to make sure that even when that animation is poor, at least it's going to be expressive? You've gained Project No. 9 using a dump on ones eyeballs. If all that that suits you... get out of here today.

Girls Beyond the Wasteland, or Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu review, since it's called with Japan, is an Anime influenced by a Visual Novel by way of the godly writer themself, Romeo Tanaka. Yes, that will Romeo - Jinrui : Rewrite - Cross Channel : Tanaka. A guy whose prose is related to as subtle for a Jackass stunt together with whose humor is related to as funny for a G-rated Rodney Dangerfield. I'm truly fan personally, even so again I do not get the appeal with Visual Novel writing in any respect, and that's among the list of least weird reasons for having what they like inside East.

Seiji Kishi's version of his Light Novel series, Humanity Has Declined aka Jinrui whatever, is remembered by people among the best surprises lately. Christ knows how come. It was fucking BAD! Set in any where everyone behaves to everything which includes a deadpan expression (which wasn't funny in the event the Avengers did the idea either), the satire amounted to only a bunch with ripoff scenarios from better post-apocalyptic products and then a bunch of Anime in-jokes that will made me wish to vomit out that window. It depended a significant amount of on its principle and setting and the wonderful freaky fairies without the need of actually making items happen, taking way too long so that the punchline and causing me to drop off watching it. Which is types of a miracle since I stayed awake the complete time watching Girls Beyond the Wasteland along with being a million circumstances worse than people dancing fairies may well ever be. Although I've arrived at say, pausing the movie and pacing in the room for five minutes to consider what you're doing with all your life isn't exactly a much better alternative. Especially as soon as you do it 3 x during one occurrence.

Seriously, the only way Girls Beyond the Wasteland might have been worse is in the event the cast from Little Busters was voicing that they whilst scratching chalkboards at the time of recording. Not only is there the same not enough stakes that Saekano comes with, the main dynamics literally asks the most crucial female why she wants to brew a Visual Novel in the main episode and she flat out replies that she can't simply tell him, but he'll practice it anyways. What types of person would possibly consider make fish an acceptable hook? And then there's the reality that if you don't tell me it was originally by Tanaka, I wouldn't have made the web link at all. As boring when I find his pretentious discussion is, at least it shows off when it shows up. This show nevertheless? I could generate the dialogue that arrived in the subs and everything I've written may be so awful I never meant it was public. Not quite possibly on fanfiction. world-wide-web.

Then there's a lot of these usual "spending ones first few assaults introducing the characters and installing the premise without the need of making some plot happen inside process" that always comes equipped with Visual Novel Anime, except whilst these types of show discover the drama kicking in in the halfway point, Girls Beyond the Wasteland waits 90 years fucking episodes for any characters to quite possibly push towards having the Visual Novel done before its due, and there's nevertheless nothing else to look closely at other than that will boring plot issue around then. One episode generally is just the principal character in their room struggling to obtain some writing executed and procrastinating the complete way through whilst girls put on house maid outfits to encourage him for enjoy two minutes in advance of they leave. I apologize, but who thought this can be exciting to watch in any respect? And whilst that show does make an attempt to throw a bit of personal drama inside mix, quite honestly it makes Comprehensive House look butch. Girls Beyond the Wasteland just doesn't make several personal struggles the characters examine dramatic enough, always involving bit of insecurities amounting to your modern equivalent with "that Shuffle occurrence where Sia's successful panties couldn't allow her in the woman's date with Rin" which were solved by the final of the episode as a result of an inspiring special message.

It doesn't have even the decency to help ramp things up appropriately due to the final act. Right after they finally tell people what the Visual Novel is usually for around that closing act, it's so universal and involves some sort of character who possessed no importance until such time as said reveal i couldn't bother spoiling it even though I wanted to help. And what comes after after, let by itself before, barely has any relevance to your reason in the beginning. It's just useful to cause some play that immediately obtains resolved in enjoy five minutes together with nothing changes story-wise in addition to the characters getting take care of that they've already gotten several episodes ago. We don't even find a fucking payoff to your Visual Novel's creation. It gets submitted within a competition that is usually immediately skipped despite enough buildup to the idea, and the email address particulars are brushed off which includes a few lines of dialogue and then a half-assed attempt with deciding what the future will likely be like. Throw in certain terrible title recommendations, and you may well tell the creators are merely stuck in that will terrible era with Anime where Visual Novel changes were getting churned available left and correct.

Not only is this an undesirable show. Not only is usually this another case of how bad Visual Novel Anime are generally. This is among the list of worst Anime May possibly ever seen inside my life. Yes, more painful than Myself; One self and Plastic Memory, this is Da Capo amounts of bad. I really can't believe precisely how empty and unfunny the following show is. The direction and energy place in this adaptation is among the most most lifeless items I've ever witnessed, and the story can be so fundamentally flawed that this resembles a bit of kid crying inside corner as he lets several 80s thugs kick him to your ground. Ignoring the reality that it has no aspirations to remain anything but an additional generic "follow your dreams and you should succeed" Anime, the characters have zero reason to enjoy the dreams they complete, they never undergo any problems when it comes to their goals besides mild inconveniences, and the humor comprises nothing higher as compared to leaving a video camera on and viewing actors shoot the shit concise that it essentially defines how to never do comedy. I bet you whatever if you were to look at a random sitcom with CBS, it is a million times even more entertaining than the following pile of tripe! Fuck. Everything. Approximately. This. Anime. Span.

[topicprinter]

Note: This is Day 4 of a 10 Day series on building N-ter, a place where you can manage your job applications online, from idea to launch. You can find the previous posts here:Day 0 - Let's Build an Online Startup in 10 DaysDay 1 - Creating a Value Proposition for Our IdeaDay 2 - Refining the Business Model and Naming the BabyDay 3 - Designing the Product Using a Method from the Lean Startup Today it's all about getting our website up and running! We are covering the following topics:Looking into the costs of establishing our digital productBuying the domain, setting up the hosting and installing WordPressSetting up a coming soon page on our new website  The Costs of Getting Our Website OnlineAfter some of the previous posts I was asked to show a way on how you can start such an online product if you’re on a tight budget, for example if you’re a student. I think that there is nothing different you need to do, other than what we are doing here.Let’s have a look on what we need to make N-ter happen. We need four main ingredients for it:A domain – 20 $ / yearA hosting provider to host our website – 5-10 $ / month (depending on the host)A WordPress installation – FREEBasic coding skills – FREE This means that, as long as you’re willing to put in the effort, you can start an online product for way under a 100 $ for the first year. I would argue that anyone who lives in a developed country and is over the age of 18 can come up with this kind of money within a reasonable timeframe.A word of warning though: Depending on the country you’re living in, there might be laws or regulations that force you to establish a company if your intention is to make money with the website. I cannot discuss this issue here, as I am not a professional in that topic and I cannot cover this for all the countries you guys live in. Please talk to someone who knows what they are talking about, preferably a lawyer.Pro tip: If the regulations in your country are too tight or establishing a company is expensive, there is quite a new alternative. The Estonian government is offering an e-residency, with the help of which you can establish a company in Estonia, without ever physically setting foot on Estonian soil. (And who really cares where your company is registered anyway?) I haven’t tried this myself yet, but I know people who did, and it seems to work fine. There seem to be more than 20.000 e-residents with 3000+ companies already and they are showing all statistics on a public dashboard. Again, I have not tried this out and therefore cannot vouch for this. Everything you do is at your own risk. Please consult a professional and make sure that you’re not overstepping any legal boundaries. But if anyone around here has experience with this e-residency, I would love to hear about it!That being said, let’s get back to the topic and dive into each of the four components I mentioned at the start: The DomainWhen I came up with the idea for the name, I checked the domain availability straight away on GoDaddy. And what I saw is this. Whoops. Not exactly the kind of money we have available.Here’s what to do: If your desired domain name is not available or too expensive, try other domain endings. Popular startup choices nowadays are alternative domains like ".co", ".io" or ".ly". Alternatively, try varying your name or add something to it. A possibility is something like “[NAME]app.com”. There are cases where even those adjustments do not work, for instance if you choose a very common or popular word. In that case you either play around with other words to add or reconsider your name choice.My choice was simple: The domain n-ter.co was available for 16.99$. No second thoughts. Domain bought. As a rule of thumb, try not to spend more than 20$ on a domain name, it’s rarely worth it. Unless you really want it of course, but that’s your decision to make. The HostingUnless you want configure and hook up a server to the internet yourself, you’ll need someone to host your website online. There is an abundance of global and local hosting providers. I’ve tried some of them before, but I stuck with SiteGround since I started using them. I haven’t had any notable issues with them and the websites I host with them have 100% uptime until now. Any questions or minor issues I had were all resolved by the first contact person on their customer service team, usually within a couple of minutes via live chat. Plus, they’re optimized for WordPress hosting. The costs? As of today, it’s 5 $ / month for their startup plan.There are more good hosting providers out there, so choose one you like, sign up with them and you’re ready to go. If you’re intending to use WordPress, make sure your provider offers easy (usually “1-click”) WordPress installation. From here on, I will be assuming that we are using GoDaddy as the domain provider and SiteGround as the hosting provider to keep things simple. If you’re going with other providers, certain things might work differently. If the place where you bought the domain and your hosting provider are not the same (like in our case), what you need to do is to log in with your domain provider and point the name servers of your domain to your hosting provider. It usually doesn’t take longer than 5 minutes. Every decent hosting provider should have a tutorial on how to do this. Before You Do Anything, Secure Your Website with SSL / HTTPSOne of the things I learned from previous projects is: Enable SSL encryption on your website as soon as possible. Once your website grows, shifting from http to https can be a difficult task. Why? For example, every single link and every single image on your website that are still in “http” format need to be replaced, before your website is actually secure. Trust me, do it right at the start. In the SiteGround cPanel, there is a “Let’s Encrypt” application. You can install the required certificate there for free and even enforce all incoming traffic to use the “https” protocol. Done in 2 minutes – and the data users transmit to the website is secure now. It took Stackoverflow four years to go through this transition. Installing WordPressSo, we’ve bought the domain on GoDaddy, established our hosting account on SiteGround and linked the two. From now on we don’t really need to login to GoDaddy anymore, everything can be done via our SiteGround account. Once logged in, there should be a button taking you to the cPanel. What SiteGround does is they host our website files on a computer (the server) that they have somewhere in their data centers. cPanel is the configuration tool that lets you access and interact with this server. You can modify your website files, view and edit databases and do various other things. In the cPanel, you can find a WordPress Autoinstaller. Simply click on it and follow the instructions to install WordPress on your server. Once that’s done, open a new browser tab and open your website. You should now be able to see some generic text. Congratulations, your website is online! Why Are We Using WordPress Anyway?WordPress started out as a platform for bloggers, but as it is evolving, more and more functionalities become available. Their CEO Matt Mullenweg said that the vision of WordPress is to transform into an operating system for the web. And if we can believe their figures, they’re quite successful at it already. According to their numbers, they’re already powering 25% of websites on the internet. The main reason for using WordPress from my perspective is: It is a platform where many functionalities you need for a website are already prebuilt. Either by Automattic (the developer of WordPress) themselves, or by the numerous plugins that other people developed. So instead of coding functionalities like log-in or security features yourself, you can just install plugins that take care of those things for you. We’re going to dive into which plugins we are going to use in tomorrow’s post.The downside of this is, that if you have a need for very customized features or designs, it can be quite hard implementing them to your exact specifications. That’s why for more advanced endeavours I would recommend custom development. But as we want to validate an idea quickly and cheaply, we’ll accept the downside of not getting some things 100% the way we want them to be. WordPress is very well documented, so if you want to learn more or need a first steps guide, you can find everything on on Getting Started with WordPress. On "Basic Coding Skills"It’s possible in almost all cases to create a basic website in WordPress without touching a single line of code. But I am anticipating that there will be a small amount of functionality for N-ter, where we will have to write a few lines of code to make it happen. I will try to keep this as minimal as possible. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times before, I am not a coder. But in the past, I got frustrated that I wasn’t able to build and test simple applications myself. And hiring a good programmer is very expensive. So, I decided to do something about it and learn how to code. (I must add I have experience with HTML, SQL and Python back from when I was in school. But that was a while ago and I was still quite a bit away from being able to build web applications.)So here’s what I did: I signed up at Codeacademy.com and took the following free courses: HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. Why exactly those four languages? In simplified terms:HTML is the basis for every website and creates the building blocks that you see on it (text, boxes, buttons, images etc.)CSS is responsible for the styling of the website (colours, backgrounds, spacing etc.)Javascript enables basic website functionality such as animations or showing/hiding elements All three are so-called “front-end” languages, meaning they are executed on your computer. You can even see the code of every website and play around with it (just right-click on any webpage and click on “view page source”).With PHP, more sophisticated functionality can be programmed than with the three languages I mentioned before PHP is a “back-end” language and is executed on the web server (that’s why you can’t see it in the page source). There are other popular (and arguably better) back-end programming languages like Python or Ruby. But the reason I chose PHP is that WordPress is entirely built on this language. So to get into WordPress code, you have to understand PHP.What I mean when I am speaking of “basic coding skills”: Of course, you can do the courses on CodeAcademy or similar platforms. After that it’s highly likely that you will be able to understand and adjust existing code and also create functionality yourself. But you have to keep in mind that this will not make you a good and efficient programmer. Here is a critical view on why that is the case. We are only aiming to acquire the skills that are necessary to build our MVP and validate our idea. Once this is done and we are optimistic we can scale the idea and make money with it, the actual development work should be handed over to professionals who can write good code. Setting up the Coming Soon Page & Collecting User EmailsHow to Install Plugins in WordPress:To set up the coming soon page that users will see while we are working on the website, we need to install our first plugin. In the SiteGround account area, click on “Go to Admin panel” next to your domain name. This will take you directly to the WordPress Admin panel, where you can build and edit your site. Click on “Plugins” -> “Add New” and search for the plugin you want to install.For the coming soon page, I am using the plugin “EZP Coming Soon Page”. After installing and activating, there is a new item on the left-hand side that says “Coming Soon”. Go there, configure your page, set the status on “On” in the settings and it’s done! Just open your webpage in another browser than the one you’re currently using (This is important, because you are logged into the admin panel in your browser. So you won’t see the coming soon page.) and check the results! Here is our result on n-ter.co. Here’s what the website looks like right now (behind the coming soon page).The cool thing about this plugin is that we can also collect e-mail addresses on our coming soon page. People who signed up appear under the “Subscribers” menu item. (Note: this mailing list is NOT the same as the one for this 10 day post series) Setting up Website AnalyticsOne last thing to do for today is to enable Google Analytics on our website to see how many people are visiting.Go to analytics.google.com and create an account.Follow the instructions to set up your account.Insert the tracking-script you receive from Google in the “Analytics code” field in the Coming-Soon-plugin settings.Visitor data should start showing up in your Google Analytics account soon. Day 4 SummaryIf you are following along, today do the following:Choose and purchase a domain for your ideaPurchase hosting on SiteGround or a hosting provider of your choice and point the nameservers of your domain to itSecure your website by installing and enabling an encryption certificateInstall WordPressSet up a Coming Soon page for your websiteCreate and link a Google Analytics account That’s it for Day 4! Tomorrow we will:Select and configure a theme for our WordPress appearanceInstall all required WordPress PluginsCreate the first webpages and page elements Meanwhile, feel free to sign up for the email-newsletter and I’ll let you know when the new posts go online! Edit: Formatting, Added Links, Removed small part

[ealyx]

Trove Promo Codes

{However these factors also provide Trove Generator to distinguish as well from almost every other greatly multi-person tool by examining getting all zones Other players make considerably better work with the constraints, while, mostly by ever increasing. |{On my limited Chocolate Barbarian, but yet, the accustomed dance of jumping and performing a whirlwind infiltration to be lumbar region health related bored stiff me well before I'd even reached quality 8. 50 Per cent of time, I didn't keep in mind chitchat home window actually being there, while you may be part of all 5 groups, working with them is frequently just a given situation of looking forward to an individual to declare receptive invites in chitchat. I remember whenever i could actually see a huge episode of Louie prior to getting to the whole process of busting hinders, which only agreed to be a month prior. Trove Generator does its safer to pack these gaps as well as other products, such as questing assorted programs, wishing to produce a dungeon definitely worth addition holding throughout, or perhaps just collecting cosmetics from manager kills, however for me, it can not furnish the type of MMO craving that transmits me from the desktop to sneak up many more play subsequently after most people else is in bed. Is Trove Generator the type of MMOG that Permit me to expend area of each day in? No. I jogged throughout the map for all small amount of hours establishing what you should and mining something which appeared significant which was inside of my route. Certainly I'd check out time frame with respect to suggest that crafting is definitely a slight section of the tool and complex has gone along with that. |careful Sound of experience? No, far away from all…what awarded you that feeling? Trove Generator is extremely having a faux 8-little bit check the fact that they obtain wonderfully. The faux 8-little bit check can cause some mild to severe headaches for individuals and unfortunately that is not actually a specific thing could determine before signing in and give the game a go. Unfortunately, there would possibly can be had a location exactly where players issue why they even so play. Apparently you will discover gadgets you actually are only competent to receive from actually being a member of guilds so it's beneficial to keep in mind likeminded players. Trove Generator is cost-free to enjoy and cost unquestionably just about every minute placed in it. “Hundreds of lots of people are taking part in it, so there ought to be a specific thing significant with this. Beneath the mayhem could be the spectacular cuboid scenery of Minecraft, some spun into new |Most people dim and misty mountain peak shirts, the skeletal C418 soundtrack which seems to be a sluggish-movements existential dilemma, the brutality coming from the night-time-time beast invasions well before you are almost everything like all set for them… Minecraft has, through the vanilla flavor shape, atmosphere showing due to If Minecraft is showing us using a bottomless pack of timeless Lego bricks, Trove Generator comes with a likewise almost endless bathtub of minifig lower limbs and caps and rayguns and dragon wings. To this day, even while I touch upon how cynical and hollow it's, a specific thing from the rear of my skull itches: “go lumbar region, get a considerably better tool, dash a new dungeon, search for a much faster install.” Personal-loathing quits me, yet when I was not a increased men who considers themselves on top of may be despite the fact he performs bots for all bloody existing, I probably would return. It really, has, definitely. It is a game headline for children, and it is a game headline manufactured to eke moolah from children (or at very best their parents). focused from the The bots business is certainly a derivative one particular, so something which interests game enthusiasts may be definitely worth needing to end up paying give attention to just because inevitably it’ll affect bots you like. After that you will tell me jammed critters, legos, little puppies and SNES bots are compatible with “manchildren”. 2) Implies that are targeted completely at girls and boys |Trove Generator is unmistakably 2. Trove Generator, Or possibly a reasonable account. Premiums Consumer Badge I have got ever seen the true way of life. Could be I’m just receiving good old. T’would are actually healthy to own established another dash in your strong tool prior to the monstrously unappreciative pushes of 20 or so-1st century capitalism disbanded this after large your home for better. difficult to “Those dim and misty mountain peak shirts, the skeletal C418 soundtrack which seems to be a sluggish-movements existential crisis” Superbly published that you would look forward to. Farmville is definitely for the kids? I'm 33 and i'm receiving a thrilling time making use of the tool. “hate speech” Rofl, this individual. That is not implying it isn’t amusement. guide, only if |There's in a literal sense minimal amount of else that they'll often be other than thoughts. I am just chatting about they jogged that tool in to the surface and mistreated the crap from persons players that awarded them moolah. Trove Generator worlds will likely primarily be populated when they’re generated, you can definitely you simply place within very long a sufficient quantity of they clear out and you also really have that less noisy, Minecraft type understanding. Go for world, search for tower, wipe out manager, loot and perform repeatedly. about it's free of charge. Maybe you have according to 30 and also that involves you need to give. Spend coming from the items you explained was right, but yet, you have been pretty much which means that you just even though it had been a crappy tool for everybody but girls and boys. Also, displaying some elementary familiarity with syntax could make your needs a heck of our much more amazing. “I’m sorry, you can definitely you simply position “420” in the profile term, you drop good compared to other regular people foolish.” I’m sorry, you can definitely you simply position “hobo” in the profile term, next to nothing you explained could very well be supplied absolutely serious concentration just because all destitute folks are scum. reveal Incredibly, you are enirely wrong. Such as time placed in high school or at your workplace. |Consider it similar to a free of charge tool. more comfortable with it. categorization And minecraft is definitely a blatant ripoff of Infiniminer. 1st-man standpoint and redid the graphics to be certain they happen to be a lot more blockish. reviewer, end in referred to as a specific thing Minecraft… WTF have you been 5?! Its referred to as VOXELIZED!!! you dumb amount of garbage… Then expressing it's a game for kids… THE FUCK!? You're probably genuinely an example of persons folks that considers pokemon and yugioh can also be “only for kids” just because its that much for you personally. Could be, but simply just possibly, whenever, employ your brain and research your options when you type out a hate dialog that is definitely not prudent -.- Judgment: it is not necessarily that you just do not play Trove Generator, you simply cannot. you’ve hardly ever Can it really subject that “Metal Eliminating Wand 1” isn't actually referred to as an assault rifle but yet a submachine pistol? It's completely lacking the point. Are you currently definitely not informed about just what the terminology ‘review’ involves? Generally about the remarks of an individual working like it’s the finish in the world this game is accessible. I’m blessed i fit into with two groups with essential regular people :) TIL Trove Generator is publicized towards… Adolescents? Also, these assholes within your remarks. Almost certainly Rock, Report, Wizard? Nevertheless I definitely I am just conscious of there's a large section of the RPS’s listeners that really likes DOTA-wants, and thus i don’t look forward to that to |Probably. Now i'm a customer, but that is since i have play a great deal and also that i appreciate maintaining bots I like :) Unfortunately, you have not resolved the main reason for Meer’s document - Trove Generator is a mixture of Minecraft Diablo 2. Was not it? For… A lot of time? Yay, snobbery! If possibly you will find a website which completely catered around my preferences - that are relatively the correct preferences, anyone who does not share them a specific thing a specific thing cess-pit - as a result getting various which i hardly ever requirement to simply click a specific thing about a specific thing I actually not pretty much like. I believe the problem is that Voyage Capitalist is truly a fairly ‘good’ idle tool, whilst Trove Generator is truly a fairly horrible MMO/Minecraftbut. personally Trove Generator comes with a likewise almost endless bathtub of minifig lower limbs and caps and rayguns and dragon wings. They’ll get totally hooked on F2P mechanics and soon your dollars is likely to be purged out completely by shitty new iphone 4 bots. |Both the girls and boys have realized this idea, nevertheless it seems there are lots of folks that don’t. Is area the group noun for commentards? > What does Trion do That is clear-cut, they burnt ArcheAge decrease for brief terminology gain. will likely just as well However I actually do absolutely love taking part in. Why? Mainly because: 1. Appreciate it, Jeanolos My substantial destination in direction of the tool was should you performed, you'd amusement. Then in April the game went downhill, because it hasnt have already been built with a decent improve and thus i dropped the game in June. disagree making use of the Just saying farmville is comparable to minecraft is dependant on as genuine as expressing Omg is extremely similar Counter-top strike go simply because they have similar technique kinds. Why is truly a picture of my association world receiving preferred on this site? Nobody described for me of our, I did so not exactly are in agreement this. You still improve your groups world Now, there's one particular considerable, glaring defect with Trove Generator’s build function you ought to play for all very long time to get to some cozy measure of complex capacity. |a good At gatherings, Trove Generator just about usually take pleasure in the grind for loot and it will absolutely affect two dietary regimen its solutions. Burrow an entire cornestone out, or explosive unit it, prior to realize groundwork ( the unbreakable level in the world). This activities by reducing exactly where pinata intruders can spawn, so just about every 10-quarter-hour one particular pinata adversary will spawn per person present, approximately 8. Training Black night-time Should you really look for basic fact, proper rights, plus a well chiseled jaw, unsheathe your sword similar to a stalwart Black night-time. much faster, and Busy Scorched Rendering - Tosses a Dragon Idol that has to certainly be reach 4 Indirect Blaze Travelling Manage efficiently by lava and never having to be seriously hurt (a lot of). Trion Worlds’ voxel MMO journey tool Trove Generator penetrates Wide open Beta as we speak for Ps 4 and Xbox A person. The potential loss of story does nothing to affect the game total, nevertheless, if just the developers will often have added in a There's besides that a |{Around the chief tool you may produce a your home towards the limited expand of country referred to as a foundation. But factors significantly get more complicated although you relocate to the larger worlds. There may be not much it's possible to say about Shovel Black night-time that has not recently been explained. {}around the world absolutely love the game and it is two expansions, Trouble of Shadows and Specter of Torment, then when an build up of our 3 within a single download throughout the Turn was reported, i had been somewhat enthralled. Your limited Shovel good friend will travel throughout, greedily attempting to get If you wish to find out, we highly recommend you explore our testimonials for any first Shovel Black night-time , as well as the new timed-special Turn Specter of Torment. Trove Generator is right now my own popular MMO. the The game also functionality crafting, dogs and cats, brackets, vessels, offshore fishing, mag riders and you can even built your very own houseOrfoundation where you can rest, create and visit your favorite realms. I even so think it is okay suited for players that focus on Trove Generator for your newbie. The game is 99.9Per cent free of charge and there's simply just no reason you should not learn to take part in the activity at this point. Redesign With this damn online video. A great time was acquired by all, used by excessive cursing.

[subconsitrep]

“By Hook or by Crook”, out of sync and surely shook

It is fairly early in April, in this 2017 new year.  2017 is to be the year of change as so I had believed it to be and still do.  There has been much change, that is for certain.  Whether my life or others, have surely brought about a lot of change and there are plenty of things in the spotlight.  In essence of this quarterly review of the year so far, let me elaborate on what has come to pass:

1. “By Hook or by Crook”

Our internal company motto, so to speak.  I have now officially been an employee of Classic Honda for a little over 3 months now.  It was surely not what I expected, and far from what I had hoped.  By Hook or by Crook, our motto, to explain: Whether a grand way to close a deal, or to close by clever deception, must you always be closing.  The inherently set standard of our business.  In essence, I must become a slimeball to make the money I need; to put the food on my plate.  This has been one very difficult standard to digest, one I am willfully refusing to become.  I work in the most competitive dealership for Honda in all of Canada, as we are the #1 in volume deals.  We sell the most cars, we make the most money, and we have the most number of salesman on the floor at any given time, out-beat practically any dealership that I have ever heard of, ever.  I have seldom been trained, having just gone over these measly web-based courses and expected to be thrown to the jungle to fend for myself amongst 20 other salesman.  Competing for business, I also work in a satisfactory demographic when it comes to finances, and most people find a car purchase a very costly and unpractical thing to do in these people’s lives.  It has been a challenge, no doubt.  I have sought to complete these challenges and rise against the odds, and I have done nominally in this regard.  What is holding me back is this “crook” aspect.  I hate being affiliated with being a crook.  I am disappointed that most people assume me to be a slime-ball just looking to take as mch money out of one’s pockets.  I despise being disregarded and disrespected day in and day out by people who come in and shit on me and my job.  To describe it, imagine 90% of my clientele coming in and asking for the absolute best deal, because they woke up today and decided they wanted to casually shop.  They ask me to pull my pants right down to see the brown ring around my asshole, ask me to gape and spread my cheeks as wide as I can, as so to understand that they are getting everything and seeing everything they possibly can, and having worked hard with then and spent a considerable amount of time with them, they thank me for my time, tell me a lie of some sort, any excuse they possibly can, with a later commitment and then disappear off the face of this earth, never to be heard of again.  In essence, it feels like this, every day.  95% of my appointments are a no call no show.  Each time I become more frustrated with the level of incompetence had by my clients.  I am even further appalled by the incompetence by some of my colleagues, and how the company is actually run.  Everyone who is of anyone in this business is a crook, and I refuse to assume this role.  I can absolutely agree that it is this reason that I have failed to do very well at this job, and why I seem to hate it so.  I do not wish to lie constantly, to earn a living.  I also do not wish to be disrespected and shunned because people wish to avoid me, avoid making business, avoid making commitments.  I do not wish to be affiliated with the likings of these people.  I have temporarily enjoyed the freedoms of this job, the ability to brand myself and work as my own unit.  However being unproductive and coming to work each day to feel unsuccessful at choosing an effective job to earn my right to my pay and my place in society, and not in the least enjoying what it is that I do, depresses me.  I didn’t even mention that the pay has been poor as I have not been actively selling all the time to meet a decent standard of living... and as such continue to receive a top up from the company which is expected to be owed back when I finally sell.. which means that the longer I stay here, the more I am becoming indebted to this as a whole.  If I am not a crook, then I must be shook.  This is very true.  I am very shook.  I have worried about my position in life and I have surely prayed for guidance and support.  With much of the other changing events happening, this probably weighs on me the most considering this is the only angle of income I am receiving, and there are many changes that will soon require resources for me to build myself out of, if I am to escape this. This in turn brings me to the next change.

2. Family ‘matters’

This has been an ongoing thing as per usual, but recent developments (though normally have not been of a concern) have become suggestive enough to become impactful in my life and lifestyle, and more or less can change the course of my life in other matters.  For the last year my immediate family has been concerning as we have never been stable.  My mother since the mutual separation has gone on a mission to reclaim her throne and seek what is to be rightfully hers, that is to say anything and everything that she feels that she was repressed of and robbed during her “failed” marriage with my dad. As such, she has made poor, and now poorer decisions financially which has led others into this suckhole of money as she further plunders deeper and deeper in turmoil.  My mother having agreed to leave once again to the Philippines, despite her late mortgage payments, insurance payments, car payments, and lord knows whatever else was late, recently came back and is now suffering the consequences of these poorly executed decisions.  My mother has since lost her car having it repossessed in the middle of the night, now has to rely on my grandmother  car to get to and from work.  A favour that may likely not exist in the soon future, leaving my mother no other choice but to bike to work during a midnight shift, to which I am lacking faith in her ability to survive this ordeal.  She depends on the kindness of others and especially my father to survive.  Her reality worsens and I am unsure how much she is able to build out of what she has dug herself into.  I speculate that worst case scenario, she may finally take my father to the cleaners, if she is unable to meet her financial responsibilities.  It still is unlikely, but could still happen as she still is struggling to make due.  My Father has chosen to sell our house before the end of the year, giving me until then to find a place on my own.  He has overviewed his circumstances and come to realize that he needs to downsize significantly in order to ensure his own survival for when he is to retire.  He has figured he must live on his own, sell this house, clear himself and my mother out of debt and have some small inheritance to be split between my sister and I and then call it a day.  As I am not much of a crook, a safety net of income is surely required and right now where I stand with this job does not seem likely I will able to afford any lifestyle to live on my own, if I have to pay back my own workplace for the money they lent me the paycheque before, for example.  My Father also refuses to have much of a social life outside of his video games which makes it very difficult to maintain any sort of relationship with him.  I find we butt heads often, especially when it comes to my girlfriend and I.  She is often over every possible day I have off, to spend time with me on the weekends.  My Dad has constantly made issue of her being over too much, even though we are completely out of sight, and out of mind, and even if we are to prepare meals and clean around the house.  My sister is struggling to maintain a stable atmosphere for herself and though she has every right intention to find herself away from distraction and forward to direction and a path she can be happy with, has found every possible essence of chaos that loves to chase her around and it is holding her back. I do my best to offer some insight and to help guide her, but she continues to live out her distractions most of the time and not learn as fast as she may like.  She is strong minded and free to do what she wishes, but she does not heed advice well.  I suppose we are both suckers for chaos.  Though I have not been around a lot, I suppose I have just been thinking a lot of just that.  (forgive me)

3. Unsyncronized...

I suppose all in all, a lot of things lately have had me out of sync.  I have taken a huge step and dedicated half of my wall space in my room to white boards and clip boards to organize all my thoughts, concerns and mind-mapping all in one core place, so I can at least track myself and understand who I am as a person and where I belong.  I have come to the realization that I have been settling, for nearly everything in my life.  With the exception of some friends and relationships, I have settled and become okay with a lot of the elements that make up my current reality.  Anything that I have had a real passion for, had not worked out and I had given up on it.  Perhaps to return to it again sooner or later, but no work was put into it otherwise.  Settling alternatives had took its place, and I suppose the habit stuck.  I have been at the drawing boards most nights to mind map, and understand what is me, and what I should be actively chasing to identify things that I should be doing; to invigorate passions and become closer to myself again.  I have been trying to just jump at any opportunity that has come my way whether or not I have a passion for it and the results yield a settling outcome.  I have thought of going back to school, and I have had a lot of support suggesting that I do just that.  However though I think that I will like the program, it is not something that I currently love and therefore I cannot fully justify making a decision in that direction until I can be happy that I can find something worth while in it for me.  I went to the lengths of taking a tour and talking with the program coordinator at one school, but nothing has stuck with me yet.  I also have been given a potential job opportunity at a new company, a headhunting firm downtown Toronto, which I think that I would be a great fit to their company, and with their values and how they are organized and structured, I think I would really enjoy my time there, and make good money and rise the ranks exceptionally fast.  I did say the same thing about Honda, and I was wrong.  I can’t see me being wrong twice in a row, but the energy surely has been super positive and I love what they stand for.  I suppose thats a better start than any.  I have done a test and also have done one interview with them.  I have yet to see what is to become of it.  There is no passion there surely, but there could be, and I could potentially love what I do, as it is in the city with a very super corporate vibe to which I think I fit very well with. For my sake, considering finances, the type of job, their values, and everything for the most part... I will get it (with my greatest intentions to assist me here).  I need it.  It would be my salvation for the next few years.  Ironic that I would be brought in as a specialist headhunter, and I can’t even figure where I want to be with my life just yet... I might even learn a thing or few...

4. For the ‘love of money’

In earlier years, I told myself: “I will find greater joy in doing what I love to do, over making more money in something I do not love to do”.  I think I have suddenly allowed a lot of that to become misguided, and have been living in fear of not having any money at all.  My family situation worries me, as does my own well being.  Though I have always been able to MacGuyver many things and get away with paying less, not buying much for myself, nor treating myself a lot.... I suppose.... no, I know recently that I have allowed the assumptions of what may become the future, control my outlook of how I am to perceive things in the present.  Instead of seeking out passions, giving my gifts to this world, doing what I do best, and enjoying taking action of my life, I have instead gotten distracted and scared of the reality of not being able to acquire money, or ‘resources’ as I now like to apparently refer to it.  I in my most absolute highest regard, do not wish to lack the money to have a comfortable life.  I do not wish to live like my parents did and I do not want to not be able to look after those closest to me, my family and friends, and the agenda of which I wish to live out before I leave this place.  Much of my actions have been sought to build this Empire which has been nothing more but the pursuit to attain maximum resources.  Though I think this is vital, I think I may have missed something, and that is surely the passions and the love of things, giving my gifts to this world... Yeah, I completely missed that.  If I was to go over a good chunk of my former blogs.. the amount of times I likely used Empire, and not paid any attention to passions or love, or giving gifts.  Shit.  I hope that within a short amount of time, I am to figure out a way where I can surely enjoy how I make and grow this empire, all the while living out these passions and giving my gifts.  

I’ve surely recognized that throughout writing this blog for this reflection that I have again focused on a lot of negative things.  It seems to be the forefront of what makes my headlines in my mind.  I tend to speak outwardly indifferent to these notions, however in my own reflections I am quick to see this is not the case.  I need to immediately find and do things that I love to counteract any negative impressions I have in my mind so I can regain balance, and a new footing, and hopefully then may I be able to be inspired and invigorated enough to discover other possibilities that I have not come across just yet.  I am surely blessed to say that I have been very fortunate to have a lot of support from my lover, and other friends out there who have remained with me though it may sometimes be inherently difficult to occupy time to a friend always seemingly in need of a favour.  That being said, I also want to be thankful and grateful for these things, and others too.  The lovely lady Alana who had inspired me to consider education and gave me her old car, in hopes for me to get working and hopefully drive again. Mel, my customer who though has not bought from me yet has offered to teach me an invaluable skill of book design to which I may network further, and grow into a possibility of writing a book and designing it myself completely.  To address again, I am grateful for my woman who has never spoken harshly against me despite my tendencies for tough love, who has supported me and loved me tenderly of which I had always sought for many many years.. I can be at peace in her company and only hope I can be good to her, by being good to myself and supplementing her with a favourable lifestyle of mine that can be rewarding both financially and for the soul.  I am thankful for my friends who have stayed by my side and continue to enjoy my company, wisdom and fellowship.  I am thankful for my good health and well being.  I am thankful for my intelligence, wisdom and gift of communication, and I wish I can extend it to many others.  I am thankful for my life, my food and my home that I am able to live in with no worry.  I am thankful for my God and my support seen by signs and other omens, and I continually ask for your support and guidance, wisdom and direction.  I wish to be used to the best of my purpose and my ability.  

Though a time of a bit of frustration, chaos and disappointment, I must remember to stay thankful for what I do have in my life.  I need to make this a habit.  

Until next time...

[bloodrcots]

continued from this @brcezy

well, he’s taken aback. the war’s not over yet though in fact it’s only just the beginning. he’s given into the desire to eat, to stuff his face & fill his stomach. one might think it’d leave the boy delighted to stop the nagging gurgling coming from his stomach. if anything, it leaves the boy more & more uncomfortable. no doubt he’ll continue to eat, possibly finishing the entire funnel cake on his own. no doubt he’ll be dealing with an internal turmoil throughout the rest of the night. the fight won’t end there, oh no, it’ll follow him home for sure in fact, it’ll be the hardest when he’s left alone. shame hits. he doesn’t hide. he can empty himself once again, back to that comforting empty feeling. he focuses in on the dimpled-cheeked boy beside him, mainly attempting to use the boy as a distraction. it can only be prayed that jihyun doesn’t notice the war on his mind. sugar-coated fingers go diving for another piece without really even thinking. absent mindedly, he’s tossing another piece in his mouth. he doesn’t even look. he’s robotic as he eats, eyes remaining glued on jihyun. nothing else can act as a distraction. the carnival music is at a distance so far that noah can’t hear it. there’s no one else around for noah to watch. ( not that noah would want to look at anyone else. ) jihyun’s far more interesting, far more beautiful than the average attendant at this carnival.

he’s an angel; noah’s convinced of this. 

as the boy beside him chews, dimples imprint into his cheeks. noah’s endeared. there’s an urge to reach out & prod once again. noah keeps his distance for the time being. an elbow rests against the wooden table while he admires the sight that is his date. he works as a decent distraction. thoughts of his own mental dilemma are put on the back burner, still present in his mind but not on the fore front. ‘you are.’ this will turn into an argument if noah doesn’t kill it now. ( a playful little argument but still an argument. ) an honest smile dances across a tanned face, plump lips pulling upwards. had noah not have any self restraint, he’d push himself into the boy’s lap. it’s too early for that type of affection though. he doesn’t want to scare his date away! the chance of a boy like jihyun coming back around is pretty rare. noah can’t chase him away. good boys don’t go for porn stars –– not usually anyway. jihyun’s a rarity in this moment. tongue darts out of his mouth, lightly swiping over sugar covered lips. ❛ mmm... ❜ it’s the taste that has him nearly moaning in delight. tempted once again, he grabs another piece of the sweet treat that’s rested on the table before him.

onto the topic that is jihyun’s room mate. noah listens with interest. the person, the boy that is the topic of conversation, is apparently an important person. if noah had to jump to conclusions here, he’d say they were pretty decent friends. ❛ he’s like me? ❜ heavy-lidded doe eyes begin to blink, trying to imagine a shorter, brown haired version of himself. worry instantly plagues him, wondering if there’s ever been any intimate with the other boy. there’s a chance noah might be a bit paranoid or even a tad bit too protective. noah tries not to show it, face remaining neutral. ❛ so he’s an asshole then? ❜ that’s the conclusion he reaches through a choked chuckle. mainly, he’s teasing though he wonders if there’s some truth to it. even if it is the upmost truth, he doesn’t expect jihyun’s kind self to admit such a thing. he’s just too nice. 

again, he’s an angel.

sugar-coated finger tips are cleansed against a napkin before he’s clinging onto the stuffed animal in his lap. he almost looks child-like in the moment. he feels for the boy before him whom obviously misses his home. ❛ must suck too. you’ve got a long road ahead of you when it comes to school. ❜ all the details of being a doctor are blurred for noah. he just knows it requires a lot of studying & a hell of a lot of time. a massive brain is also required. in the moment, he can’t believe that he’s picked up such a well-rounded boy. there’s a pause right then. ❛ what made you decide to go to school far away from your parents anyway? ❜   he’s heard other’s reasons before, mainly the desire to want to grow up, explore the world on their own is brought up. there’s also the idea of getting away from parents, a chance to misbehave –– something tells noah that’s not the case for jihyun. ❛ it depends really. ❜ he bites down onto his lower lip in mid-thought, recipes going through his mind as he attempts to single one out. ❛ it’d depend what you’re in the mood for. i do gotta say though, i have always wanted to try to cook some actual korean food. ❜ laughter ends up spilling out. ❛ i haven’t really done it though –– looking up recipes online just seems phony, you know? doesn’t feel authentic. ❜ it’s not like he has any recipes passed down from generation to generation. ( scratch that. he does –– it’s just southern cooking! )

he’s never had such potential for an innocent, genuine relationship. excuse him for being uncertain of how to handle it. the thought has him swooning. it’s funny really, waiting for intimacy should kill a man. here noah is, entirely excited for this. he’s so excited that he’s actually beaming with crinkled up eyes & teeth dazzling. a hand reaches out, jihyun’s hand obviously, & grabs at him. it’s a tender touch, one he’s not used to unless it’s faked under the bright lights on set. genuine. everything is genuine with the all-american ( ... korean? ) boy next door. ❛ you’re so fucking cute. ❜ he’s amazed, so amazed that he’s in disbelief. the boy shakes his head all while he smiles. ❛ i don’t just mean like, physical appearance either –– you’re cute in actions too? like honestly, fuck you. i’m jealous. ❜ jealous because jihyun seems so pure, so good & filled with such love & adoration. noah might melt right here on this bench.

eyes light up as soon as baby-sitting is mentioned & he actually lets out a coo as soon as an infant is mentioned. ❛ a BABY? how old was it? ❜ now, he’s thinking about his date caring for a little baby & feels as though he might fall in love right then & there. babies: his ultimate weakness. a rain cloud of sadness hangs over his head as there’s a DESIRE to baby sit again. unfortunately, he knows it’s not possible given his profession –– except for the female actresses he’s met who have children! he always offers to baby sit for them! ( usually, he doesn’t even care about being paid. ) ❛ well, if you ever really do need a job, i could give you the hook up. ❜ he nudges the other boy teasingly before winking. he’s kidding, of course he’s kidding. before jihyun gets TOO afraid by such a remark. ❛ i’m joking, i swear! ❜ if jihyun expressed interest, noah would shut him down right then & there. with how shy the muscular boy is, he doesn’t see a future career in pornography for them. that’s just noah’s judgment here. the rain cloud over his head continues to pour all of it’s rain onto them as the topic progresses. the mere thought of a hospital has goosebumps forming on his skin. it’s even more eerie to think of a children’s hospital. eerie simply because of how sad the idea is. ❛ it’s really sweet that you do it. what age of kid is your favorite? babies have always been my favorite –– not like super little babies. ideally like one year olds, they’re my favorite. ❜ but he loves all kids. he finds that’s a correction he needs to add on so he does. ❛ i like all kids though. ❜ with that, he’s digging back into the funnel cake. it’s a big bite this time, mouth stretching wide to get the entire piece in his mouth. 

he chews, eyes divert away from jihyun as the topic of mothers is brought up. ❛ mhm. ❜ he mumbles as he chews & chews. eventually the piece of funnel cake is swallowed down. eyes round out not looking at jihyun once his confession is processed. he pretends to be careless, like it means nothing to him at all. the boy shrugs. ❛ eh. ❜ teeth grit together before finally settling back on his caring date who looks like a fish out of water. jihyun’s expression pulls on his heart & he feels bad. ❛ it happens. i mean, it sucks obviously. ❜ it’s difficult to even speak of. most of the time, he refuses to even bring it up but there’s a strong tug to be honest. ❛ i mean, i miss home a lot & i miss my parents but it wasn’t a good environment for me. besides, i wouldn’t be out here if it didn’t happen. ❜ he’d still probably be in mississippi, in college & not appearing naked on camera to pay the bills. his toe is lack luster, lacking it’s usual fire & boom. it should be expected with this topic though. lips firmly press against one, jutting out as eyes fall south once again.

luckily for noah, the topic changes onto something more heart-warming. eyes close as he tries to imagine a young jihyun in his football uniform. the very idea of jihyun being popular isn’t surprising to say the least. ❛ eh. i wasn’t that cute, i don’t think i was cute anyway. ❜ a pause as an idea enters his mind right then. it’s as if a little explanation mark appears above his head. ❛ maybe one day you’ll earn the privilege of seeing pictures of me in high school? then you can be the judge of it then. ❜ though knowing his date, jihyun would probably coo no matter what. the thought almost has noah rolling his eyes. he manages to hold it in. they drift onto noah’s beginnings, his adoption being brought up. ❛ you didn’t catch on? ❜ there’s surprise caking his voice. he ends up letting out the tiniest chuckle. ❛ i mean, i thought it was kinda obvious. hope’s not exactly a korean name. ❜ not that he’s aware of any way. more questions are sent his way. noah cringes the tiniest amount. ❛ no. i only speak english like, obviously when i was first adopted i could speak it. ❜ the small amount that an average three year old could speak anyway. ❛ my mom used to say for a while, like.. when i had nightmares i would end up yelling ‘eomma’! for her to come & get me but yeah, i don’t speak any korean at all. i don’t remember korea much either. ❜ scratch that, he doesn’t remember korea at all. ❛ i do know my korean name though! like the one i was given. ❜ that’s basically it though. 

once again, he picks apart another bite of funnel cake. he’s careless as it’s raised up to his lips, generously coating them in sugar. luckily for him, jihyun has felt the need to clear them off with his hands. he stays still, lips remaining parted until his date pulls away. ❛ thanks. ❜ he disagrees with the statement that’s being offered. again though, he’s not getting in an argument on his first dare with the boy. eyes squint up as he inspects jihyun. mainly the large ears that jut out. he reaches out, mouth filled with funnel cake. eventually he downs it while fingers inspect cartilage. ❛ you’d look really cute with a cartilage one, like on the side of your ear. ❜ gently he pinches at the skin. it’s not enough to hurt. he emits a small hum. ❛ you know, if you ever want to get it pierced, we could go together. i’ve been thinking about getting my nose ring back in or maybe my belly button one. ❜ both are piercings he’s had prior but taken out for various reasons. the nose ring’s just cute & the belly button ring? it suits him. ❛ what do you think about me with a nose ring & a belly button ring? i also used to have my nipples pierced but i took those out. ❜

[beingmad2017-blog]

Switching From Windows PC to Mac

New Post has been published on https://beingmad.org/switching-from-pc-to-mac/

Switching From Windows PC to Mac

You needn’t worry, however. Apple has listened to its customers and addressed their concerns. Switching from a PC to a Mac is not a leap in the dark; it’s a smooth transition to a responsive and powerful computer.

The basics

A Mac is simple to use because Apple has designed its applications to work in a similar way from windows pc. Once you become familiar with the Mac OS X operating system, everything falls into place.

Moving your files

Perhaps the most crucial aspect of changing to any new computer is the migration of your files from one to the other. These files might include documents, music, and photos, but it doesn’t really matter what they are: your Mac will automatically recognize almost all of them.

You have a number of ways to transfer your files. You can

copy everything on your PC to a USB or FireWire hard drive, connect the hard drive to the Mac, and download

use your local network to transfer the files

burn the files to a CD or DVD on the PC, place this in your Mac and download

send the files to your Mac via your email account

When you’ve organized everything on Mac’s hard drive, you can install Windows (see below) and use your files as you would on your PC. If you don’t want to load Windows, you’ll need Mac versions of the appropriate software such as Microsoft Office (see below).

Windows

Having decided to make the move from PC to Mac, you may feel more comfortable if you still have Windows to hand. Fortunately, you’re able to load Windows XP Home Edition or Professional (with at least Service Pack 2), or any version of Windows Vista, using Boot Camp. This is a piece of software that comes as standard with every new Mac. (Please note that you cannot load any Windows software other than those given here.)

Once Windows is on your Mac, use it as though you’re operating a PC. If you want the flexibility of having Windows and Mac OS X available at the same time without restarting the computer, install either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion.

Windows networks

If you’re part of a Windows network in an office or at home and everyone else is using a PC, you can still switch to a Mac without upsetting anything. With a Mac, there’s nothing to prevent you sharing files across the network, surfing the Internet, or sending and receiving email.

Microsoft Office

If you want to continue using Microsoft Office 2008, simply install the Mac version. It has all the features of the Windows equivalent including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can also work on Office documents that originated on a PC, and transfer your Mac-created Office work to a PC.

PC devices

You don’t have to buy new peripherals when you change from a PC to a Mac. Your Mac has pre-loaded drivers for hundreds of devices, which means that it recognizes the vast majority of peripherals such as printers, hard drives, joysticks, and cameras. Just install your device using the USB, FireWire, Bluetooth or audio connections and you’re up and running. If you’d rather, you can also continue to use your PC keyboard and mouse with your Mac.

Email

You can use your existing email service and email address on your Mac without any problem at all. Put your email account details into Mac’s Mail application and that’s it: you’ve successfully switched over. You can also access any web-based email with your Mac’s Safari web browser.

You may, of course, have a stock of email folders that go back for some time. Switching from a PC to a Mac is a good opportunity to do some email housekeeping, but this doesn’t mean you have to lose any of your archived messages. Instead, if you have a fairly small amount of email, you can forward it to your Mac. If you have a larger quantity of mail on your PC and have a number of accounts, you can transfer everything by using your ISP (Internet service provider) and IMAP (Internet message access protocol).

Instant messaging

If you’re used to instant messaging on your PC, you’ll be delighted with your Mac. It has a built-in feature called iChat for text messaging and video calls.

Wi-Fi

Macs are wireless and compatible with most routers. The available wireless networks in your area automatically register on your screen. You needn’t lose any of the wireless features of your PC, and by choosing a Mac you may, in fact, discover you’ve upgraded your Wi-Fi capability.

Web browsers

Your Mac has the fastest web browser around: Safari. If you prefer, you can use Mac versions of other browsers, but the speed and easy-to-use features of Safari will soon have you hooked.

Software and games

You won’t lose out on a choice of software and games when you switch to a Mac. Virtually everything has a Mac version, plus you’ll benefit from specific Mac items such as iWorks.

Security

When you switch to a Mac, you’ll want to know your data is secure. The good news is that Macs have built-in security with regular free updates. Apple also constructs each Mac with its own hardware and software. The result is a computer that resists viruses and spyware far better than the average PC.

Reliability

Macs are consistently reliable. They run extremely well and don’t suffer from the problems so often associated with PCs – frozen screens and system crashes. As a result, you’ll have fewer problems caused by delays and lost data.

Retina display refers to a display wherein the individual pixels cannot be discerned by the naked eye. This value differs from product to product, with smaller displays (iPhone) having higher values (326 ppi) and larger displays (MacBooks) having lower values (220 ppi). This is due to the viewing distance, that differs in these products.

Macintosh machines have been gaining ground steadily, thanks in part to their more secure platform, and the good looks they come with. Of course, PCs are no slouch either when it comes to good looks, but one just can’t compete with Apple in the looks department.

Hardware

The model under the microscope is the high-end 15″ model, which contains a 2.2ghz Sandy Bride quad-core i7 processor, 4gb ram and a 6750m from AMD. That’s a big upgrade from the previous generation. I’ve also opted for the high-res screen, which is a given in my (mac!)book. *pun intended*

Apart from the high-end 15″ Macbook pro, Apple also offers two 13″ models and a single 17″ machine. Across the board, each model enjoys a faster processor, faster ram, and thunderbolt.

The latter is very interesting and a first for any laptop on the market! I’m actually not going into too much detail about it but basically, it’s Intel’s answer to USB. The connection is capable of transferring video, audio, and data, all simultaneously at very high speeds. That means that a DVD movie will transfer to external storage in about 6 seconds once supported hardware comes out.

When deciding between models realize that the 13″ models all share an Intel HD 3000 graphics as a sole provider. This is a source of frustration for gamers out there because the chip is pretty weak for modern games. The smaller models also use the gaps between the keys as speaker holes and lack a subwoofer; expect a slightly more tin sound.

The 17″ model has a 1920×1200 display and similar specs to the 15″ Macbook pro. This is both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that you’ll have slightly more screen real estate but gaming on the native resolution will definitely struggle.

Body

As noted Apple has retained its famous unibody design for this generation of Macbooks. I don’t consider this a bad thing. Built from a single piece of aluminum, this laptop is very scratch resistant and clean looking. My previous Macbook Pro (same design) definitely withstood the test of time. (not a single scratch!)

In my view, this is the best-looking laptop apart from the Macbook Air. Its design is very symmetrical. Everything is exactly where you’d expect it to be. Like how the speaker holes match the vertical space used by the keyboard keys. The width of the hinge also perfectly matches the horizontal keyboard space. Using a combination of black and silver, Apple managed to create something very aesthetically pleasing. However, I’d have loved to see some Macbook Air elements take over. The battery indicator for one seems unnecessary to me and the DVD super drive is bound to disappear. Guess we can expect those changes in a redesign later on.

Still, the Macbook Pro 2011 is the sturdiest and best-looking laptops out there, a real winner!

Display

The 15″ model comes standard with a resolution of 1440×900. This can be upgraded to 1680×1050, something everyone should do. Apple uses a high-end TN display, so still no IPS unfortunately.

The viewing angles are decent. It’s possible to read a text and distinguish details at any angle. However, inevitably, the screen washes out from the sides, especially grays become yellowish; notice the app store panel lines. I also noticed that the screen has a weak-spot for lower and upper angles. Even at a small degree colors started to fade. This is why we want IPS panels, they’re just noticeably better at this. Still, the MacBook Pro has one of the better screens out there. Colors really pop and the pixel density feels just right. People looking for ultra-realistic color reproductions will have to look at production screens, what else is new?

For the first time ever Apple managed to jam an HD facetime camera into the glossy display. This is a logical step in the evolution of video calling between Apple devices. To test this I called my laptop using the iPhone 4 and configured the facetime app.

Calling is easy and direct. Simply click a phone number or e-mail in your contacts and the system will attempt to set up a facetime call. This process can sometimes take a little longer depending on the network, but after the initial process, it’s usually a smooth ride. The image is crisp and pleasing, but without being overwhelming. The image is still soft, and comparable to Logitech solutions at best. Still for such a small camera that’s a solid achievement.

Benchmarks

Now it’s time to put the internals to the test. This is Apple’s fastest notebook offering so my expectations were sky high. The first thing I wanted to have a look at is the battery. Apple advertises 7 hours of battery for every Macbook Pro model it offers. That’s down from 8-10 hours for the previous generation. Most of this is probably due to the faster processor and a new way of testing that supposedly better represents real world results.

I fully charged the laptop and left the settings at default. The brightness sensor was turned on for more realistic results. During the test, I used everyday apps like Microsoft words and Safari. To mix things up some light 3D work was thrown into the mix.

Application test

The time it takes to launch an app is essential for a proper user experience. The Air does really well at this so I used it as the benchmark. The Macbook Pro comes with a new generation of 750gb 5400rpm drives. The extra data density and latest Seagate technologies should give it the edge over previous Pro models. But how close can it get to its SSD speedy thinner sister?