#because word has decided to move and rename all my files and make them hard to save correctly

[eskawrites]

word randomly deciding to fuck with my files and screw up the saving process is going to give me a fucking heart attack

[descendantofthesparrow]

Daughter of the Honorable Thief - Harry Hook x Hood!reader - part 15 - Lying bitches and Group chats

=

Harry raised his brow as Aaron glared at him from the other side of the room, the other teen had been more aggressive at Harry ever since he returned from the Sherwood forest fair.

Harry sighed, ignoring the glare and going back to his notes for algebra.

“Hello~” a voice purred suddenly from beside him, Harry mentally frowned and slowly looked up, his shoulders dropping and a glare settling.

Lila had decided it was a good idea to sit next to him and try to flirt. She fluttered her eyes and trailed her fingertips across the table counter, licking her lips flirtatiously “I haven’t seen you around before? I would know if such a handsome guy like you had been around”

Harry let out a dark chuckle, the green-eyed girl faltering for a moment, eyes widening as Harry gave a sharp grin and a harsh glare. “too bad I know who yeh are huh? Lie-la~”

Lila suddenly stood, tears starting to pour from her eyes “I knew it! Erza and (y/n) lied to you! They-they abused-“ Harry let out a snarl, standing suddenly, making Lila squeak as Harry towered over her. She hadn't expected for harry to be as imposing as he was.

“cut the crap yeh cunt, I know what yeh did ta Erza and I'm not interested in yer lies, besides I'm an isle kid, I know how ta lie like its breathing, yeh think I cant tell when someone's lying ta me? Go try it on some other poor soul yeh bitch”

Lila's jaw dropped, never before had she been talked to like that, “you-how boorish-“ Lila squeaked as Harry reached for his waist, and in a flash, the curve of his hook was inches from her nose.

“yeh might wa’nna get a move on lassie” Harry chuckled darkly “I don’t have a care fer people like yeh” Lila stared at him with fear-ridden eyes before she turned and bolted out of the study hall.

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes, packing up his work and books and heading out of study hall, glaring back at Aaron as the other teen continued to glare at him.

Harry stopped as he saw Aaron's eyes flash purple, but harry shook it off, taking out his phone and texting the group chat.

-

Mr.Cookie -I officially hate Lila >:(

It was a moment before Erza replied first.

Marriedtocake -u officially met her huh? Yeah shes a bitch,  luckily she hasn’t spotted me yet

Marriedtocake -…somehow

Harry snorted, remembering the small explanation Erza had given him and the others about Lila's abuse.

If he had anything to do about it, Lila would be running for the hills away from Auradon.

Wait, why was his name-

Mr.Cookie - WHY IS MY NAME MR COOKIE?!

Gillyboi - Hook sounds like Cookie, and Erza said Hookie that one time so, Cookie~

Mr.Cookie - that makes no fkin sense

Hawkeye - deal with it mr.cookie, ur not getting out of it until we find a more funny nickname for u

Mr.Cookie - why is (y/n)’s name cool?!

Hawkeye - because im cool

Seagoddess - Cookie stfu im in class rn

Mr.cookie - FKIN UMA U TOO, AHHHHHHH

Mr.Cookie has been muted by Seagoddess

Marriedtocake - HA

Harry pouted as his messages wouldn't go through, he looked up, grinning as me made eye contact with (y/n) who glared at him

Hawkeye - u idiots he-fukoasjdfsodhg

Hawkeye - UMA HOW FUCKING DARE U

Seagoddess - heh

Gillyboi - Cookie stole (y/n)s phoooone

Seagoddess - we know gil

Piratequeen has entered the chat

Piratequeen - wtf is happening I leave for two minutes and you all descend into chaos

Hawkeye - MAKE UMA UNMUTE HARRY

Piratequeen - Harry get off (y/n)s phone

Hawkeye - NOT UNTIL UMA UNMUTES ME

Piratequeen - at least stop the caps lock

Hawkeye - NEVER

Seagoddess unmuted Mr.Cookie

Mr.Cookie renamed Mr.Cookie to Harryisabitchboi

Hawkeye - HEY

Harryisabitchboi - GET THE FUCK OFF MY PHONE THEN

Gillyboi - (y/n) stole harrys phone

Seagoddess - thank you gil, but harry give (y/n) her phone back

Hawkeye - NO THEN YOULL MUTE ME AGAIN

Harryisabitchboi - GIVE ME MY PHONE BACK U FUCK

Hawkeye - MAKE ME

Gillyboi -ooooh those some fighting words

Hawkeye sent a photo

 Piratequeen - harry she will beat your ass don’t tempt her

Harryisabitchboi - TOO FUCKING LATE

Hawkeye - WAIT IM SORYISGHHHHHHHHH

Gillyboi - annnnnd (y/n)s chasing harry around the campus

Seagoddess - I can see them from class

Piratequeen - just let them fight it out

Marriedtocake - XDXDXD found em, (y/n) is on Harry's back smacking him

Seagoddess - HA

Uma looked out her class window, smirking as she watched (y/n) wrap her legs around Harry's waist and smack at his head, Erza a few feet behind them and cackling, holding up her phone to record the spectacle.

“idiots” Uma chuckled, turning back to the teacher and continuing to take notes.

She heard a low audible groan from the class as the classroom door opened and someone stepped in. she looked up, freezing as Lila stepped into the room, a soft smile on her face.

Ooooh, Uma could see a fake bitch from a thousand miles away.

And that was a fake bitch.

Seagoddess - guess who just stepped into my class

Marriedtocake - u fucking serious? First, she bugs harry now shes in ur class? Christ

Marriedtocake - she better leave u alone or im throwing hands fuck my trauma

Harryisabitchboi - erza no

Marriedtocake - ERZA YES I WILL KICK ASS FOR MY GIRLFRIEND.

Uma sputtered, a blush rising across her face, Ezra just called her her girlfriend…..and it sounded nice.

Fuuck

Hawkeye - erza please leave it, Uma please tell me there's not an empty seat next to you

Seagoddess - nope, the only seat is near the back.

Uma looked up as Lila turned to the teacher and touched her ears “oh Mr. Crawford, I have tinnitus and it's hard for me to hear if maybe someone can switch seats with me?”

The teacher just gave her a look “Ms. Lila, we have your full file including your pathological lying, please go sit down before you make a fool of yourself” Lila turned pale and she looked down at the floor as she speed-walked to her seat, her ears turning dark as the class snickered at her failed to try at the teacher.

Uma smirked, glancing back down at her phone.

Seagoddess - teach knows about her shit, sent her to the only empty seat after she tried saying she had tinnitus

Marriedtocake - HAHAHA!!!!

Marriedtocake - MY YEARS OF BITCHING TO THE SCHOOL COUNCIL HAS PAID OFF

Marriedtocake - EVERYONE KNOWS SHES FULL OF SHIT

Hawkeye - we must celebrate! meet at Tiana's café after school!

Several people are typing….

Mr.Cookie - Yes ma’am

Gillyboi - aye sir!

Seagoddess - alright then

Piratequeen - k

Marriedtocake - look at harry being all polite~ after hood kicked ur ass~

Mr.Cookie - shuuuut the fuck up

Uma chucked again and pocketed her phone, tuning back into the teachers droning about the history of pixie hollow.

=

“to the bitches downfall~!” Erza cheered, holding up her frappuccino in the air, the rest of the group cheered with her, raising their drinks.

“and to not failing our tests next week” Uma snorted, Harry and Erza groaning at that.

“don’ remind meh” Harry huffed, sipping at his mocha.

“How bout a study night tomorrow?” you suggested, bitting into your sandwich “gods knew we all need a set time for studying or else it'll never get done”

“true that” Erza chuckled, leaning back in her chair, the front legs lifting off the floor.

“Erza?” Erza’s eyes widened and she slowly turned around, her shoulders dropping as she made eye contact with Lila. “you, you’re still he-?”

“I'm still here? Yes Lila, I'm not as weak as you thought I was” Erza snapped, standing up and cutting off Lila by a few inches “now what do you want?”

“well I” Lila stuttered, eyes running up and down Erza’s body “I was wondering if you wanted to talk?”

“she” Uma interrupted her, standing from the table and walking over to Erza, tossing her arm around her waist “is going to be spending time with her girl, no time for you sweetheart” Uma purred, knowing Erza’s cheeks were now pink.

“you?” Lilas lip curled in disgust “why would she with someone….like you?”

Uma let out a dangerous chuckle, Harry's insane laughter popping in. Lila's eyes went wide as she finally noticed the rest of you, including the bright, eyed harry and Harriet staring at her, sharp smirks on their faces “yeh never wan’ ta anger a sea witch lassie, they aren’t ta be trifled with”

Lila's eyes snapped back to Uma, taking a step back from the glowering sea witch. “you-you're the daughter-“

“daughter of Ursula~” Uma purred, giving Lila a low bow “ now, leave” Uma's necklace gave a low glowing pulse, sending Lila out the door and down the road, away from the group of friends. “good riddance” Uma huffed, tugging Erza back into a chair and leaning on her shoulder.

“she's a right off bitch” you muttered, holding your hand up to Uma for a high five “nicely done by the way Uma” Uma smirked and smacked her hand into yours.

“back to the original topic” Harriet sighed, setting down her iced coffee “study night? Where?”

“my room” you perked up, finishing off your caramel frappe and setting it on our leg “it’s the biggest and I have a lot of snacks already in my room”

“Alright, hoods room it is tomorrow night! Then after that video game!” Erza cheered, the rest of the group cheering with her.

“sounds good” Uma hummed.

“so for now, let's go to the arcade cuz im bored” you suggested, raising your brow at the others, Gil and Harry's eyes glinting with excitement at your suggestion.

“that ALSO sounds good” Uma chuckled, standing from her seat and nodding her head out to the road “lets go”

“yeet!” Erza cried, hopping from her seat and running out the door, the rest of you following after her.

-end of part 15-

permtaglist

@queer-cosette​ @sephiralorange​

@lunanight2012​ @daughter-of-the-stars11​

@musicarose​ @random-thoughts-003​

@rintheemolion​ @verboetoperee​

@remembered-license​

taglist for dotht

@redryderdesigns​

[ktfromjerseyblog]

How to deal with a Sims 4 Game Patch when playing with Mods and CC

OPTIONS FOR GAME PATCH:

1.) Manual Update, day of (or soon after) patch release

2.) Delay update

3.) Vanilla play

OPTION #1 (MANUAL UPDATE)

If you are doing a manual update immediately when it is available, first thing to do is BACK-UP your Mods, Saves and Tray folders.

INSTRUCTIONS ON BACKING UP MODS/CC, SAVE FILES, AND TRAY (skip if you’re familiar):

Go to your Game folder, click and drag your Mods folder to your desktop. Then right-click somewhere blank on your desktop and create a New Folder (rename it STANDBY). Open this STANDBY folder and right-click in the blank space, click New Folder (name this one Mods). You are going to repeat the process until you have three folders inside your STANDBY folder. They should be titled Mods, Saves, and Tray.

Open your Mods folder (on your desktop) and the STANDBY folder at the same time (side by side). Select all of the files in your Mods folder (CTRL+A or Command+A), then right click on them and select COPY. Then click into your STANDBY folder, go to Mods, right-click the blank space, and select PASTE. Now you will have your original Mods folder on your desktop to test and use, and you will also have this STANDBY folder as a duplicate back up.

Next you will go to your Game Folder, select Tray, select all items (CTRL+A), right-click, select COPY. Then you will paste all these folders into the STANDBY>Tray folder. Then do the exact same thing with your Saves folder. Now you will have everything finally backed up. I recommend moving this STANDBY folder to an external hard drive (or flashdrive).

AFTER YOU UPDATED WITH GAME PATCH: please test once WITHOUT your Mods folder. Remove the entire Physical Mods folder from your Game Folder, place on desktop. This assists in a Folder Refresh. Let the game make a new Mods folder, with a new Resource.cfg inside, and rebuild from there. Don’t forget that you may need to turn on your Game Settings to enable script mods and custom content. This is in your Game Menu, under Other Settings. Considering “IF” the new free-floating objects feature “doesn’t” break CC. It should be safe to put your CC right back into the newly created Mods folder. At this point, you should still have your mods on your desktop. This is the point where you need to begin researching if your mods are working. To do this, you can check the comments below for mod updates. We implore you to follow creators on their social media for confirmation of working/broken mod reports. Most Script Mods WILL BREAK. Your best bet is keeping all of your mods on your desktop and only introducing them after

a.) mod has been confirmed working

b.) mod has been replaced with updated version.

OPTION #2 (DELAY UPDATE)

To delay an update, you must have pre-emptively turned OFF your Game Auto-Updates in advance. Next you will need to ensure your Origin Client is OFFLINE. This will mean that you can keep all your mods and cc in your game folder and continue to play unchanged. People do this in the meantime while they’re waiting for Creators to update their mods. This is the option for people who can’t bare to play without CC and Mods

OPTION #3 (VANILLA PLAY)

This option is for people who are too excited to wait any longer for the patch update and new expansion, and would rather wait for all the Creators to finish their testing and patches. So in order to do this, you will need to remove your Mods folder from your Game Folder, and place it on your desktop. Or you can disable mods and custom content in your Game Settings, under Other Settings. I still recommend backing up your saves and tray files.

FOLDER REFRESH

https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/805240/game-folder-refresh-may-fix-some-issues

or

https://youtu.be/bQC_IQHA3o4

GAME REFUSES TO START

If your game is not starting or prompts an error, remove all off your mods/cc, then restart. If it starts up just fine, then it is due to an error in your mods. If it does not start up, then you may have a corrupted save file due to a broken mod. Please be sure your game folder is saved in the appropriate path:

PC users should look something like this (minus the kmeha..thats just my comp name)

C:\Users\kmeha\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4

If youre game is continuing to give you start-up issues, please feel free to post about it. But include the following:

PC/Mac user?

Legacy Edition?

Folder Refresh conducted?

Restart without mods conducted?

Did you re-enable custom content and script mods?

Include picture of error message.

For confusion on files in your game, please review this link:

https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2014/09/user-files-explained/

EDIT 1 (ADDITION):

For those of you saying "my mods never break when i update the game". Mods can and most likely will break after an update. The word "broken" does not necessarily mean your game is going to completely stop working. So i'm going to make up an example to help you better understand. Let's say that Sacrificial's Life Tragedies Mod was labeled as "Broken". But when you play with it in game, you see no issues, and you receive no LastExceptionErrors. So you may think, "well thats not right, my mod is fine." when in reality its not. So some mods are massive and have loads of animations, objects, and content in general. If one tiny thing from it is corrupted in the code due to a patch update, it is considered “Broken”. So in Sacrificial's Life Tragedies Mod, you have five serial killers that you have the option of using. Lets say the game patch update breaks The Killer Nanny in that mod. But you never play with her ever. This could mean that you would never know that the mod is broken because you havent received any error notifications due to you not utilizing that portion of the code. This still means the mod is "broken" though. Broken can just mean that there is a small (or large) portion of the coding that is not compatible with how the game coding has changed due to the update. TLDR: a small feature can break and you would never know it if you never use it. it still means the mod is broken.

EDIT 2 (ADDITION):

For those of you looking for methods to read your lastException files, the following are your options:

1. Deaderpool Discord

2. Better Exceptions

3. Last Exceptions reader

DEADERPOOL DISCORD: For the deaderpool discord, you will have to create an account on discord. its super easy. i absolutely love discord. if you dont know what it is, its basically like a massive chat room platform, particularly popular amongst gamers. If you decide to create a discord account, you'll have to download the software. its totally safe! i use it all the time. a lot of gamers use it as a platform to talk to their friends over voice chat when playing a game that doesnt provide a feature like that. if you decide to join discord, here is the link for the Deaderpool Discord (ran by the creator of MCCC): https://discord.gg/mccc

if you go on there, they have a text channel called "error support". its super easy to use, all you have to do is click on that channel, and then click and drag your LE file into the channel box. it will upload it to the server. theres nothing in your file that will get you hacked or anything. tens of thousands of files have been uploaded to this. its literally just a text document saying where the error is in your mod coding. From there, someone from the Support Team will respond with a solution. Its really great because they can help you to understand reading the code.

BETTER EXCEPTIONS MOD: This is a mod that you download from Twisted Mexi:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/better-major-26712505

This mod will provide a new file to generate in your game called the Better Exceptions Report. When you get one, it will tell you what it suspects is causing an issue in your game. This is one of the most user-friendly options for new modders. When you see the identifed "issue" in the report, you'll have just to exit out of game and delete the issue (broken cc/mod). Before you re-start your game, just remember to delete the BetterExceptionsReport file from your game folder. Otherwise it will not be able to update it with a new one if a new error arises.

LAST EXCEPTIONS READER: this is just a website where you can do the same thing as the deaderpool discord. just drag and drop your file, and a robot reads it to identify the issue. The only problem with this is you cant talk to the robot and explain your situation (like you can in discord).

https://lastexception.com

[regrettablewritings]

Arthur Curry x Shy!Reader HC

A/N: Uhh... Heehee...Hi. I’m not gonna pussyfoot, this thing is way overdue. But for anyone who vaguely remembers, I had an anniversary fanfic raffle thingy back in January and ... yeah this is the result. Many, much, and eternal kudos to @this-red-in-my-ledger for their infinite patience with me and my perfectionist brain, tendency to overthink, weird motivation schedules, and school and work schedule, etc. Words cannot express how flustered I am at how late this is. I hope its length proves to be able to compensate at least 5% of what you’d hoped for. ...Though if it’s too long (and it most definitely is), please regard me as a fool who never learns. Once again, thank you so much for your patience, you are an absolute doll!!!

Despite being a man mostly shrouded in mystery, Arthur Curry was not exactly what some may refer to as “demure.” Aloof, maybe. Cynical, definitely. Reluctant to interact with others without an arguable consequence, most assured. But absolutely none of this is out of shyness. In fact, it’d probably an actual fact to claim that Arthur had nary a shy molecule in his entire being.

A man of his size and appearance could never afford the characteristic of being shy, not ever. But a man of his background had insecurities to spare. Specifically, those stemming from a sense that he didn’t quite belong with either world he had been linked to the moment his human father managed to conceive a child with an Atlantean queen.

Making matters worse is the unspoken sense of duty he has towards either realm, with assuring that both remain as safe as possible from both one another and outsiders sticking their noses where they ought not to.

This lack of belonging gave way to a rebellious attitude, one that led the man to apparently decide that if he wasn’t going to be provided an allegiance to begin with, as most people do, then he wouldn’t accept any unless he gave them the okay. It was just better this way: To push away than to pull or be pulled in. It was very liberating, having that sort of control over his own circumstances . . . Or so Arthur professed.

Nevertheless, Arthur took advantage of the devil-may-care reputation (or perhaps lack thereof, given his inability to stick to one place for too long). He owned that sense of disconnect and renamed it freedom. And he would own that freedom: He would take what he wanted within reason, party up if the circumstances were right, and leave with the tide.

. . . And then there was you.

You were also on the more closed off side, but for very different reasons. You didn’t have the same insecurities brought on by a lack of fitting in as Arthur had: You were just flat out shy.

However, you were nothing if not also dutiful and hard-working. That was what made you ideal in the eyes of one Lucius Fox, whose trust in you was enough for him to recommend you to Bruce Wayne’s services as his more publicized assistant. Though, in your own self-deprecating words, you were more like a glorified babysitter of sorts: When Alfred couldn’t accompany Bruce for certain travels, you came in handy to assure that there was always some form of backup.

(“He would attempt to survive off a diet of alcohol and perhaps occasionally a steak if he could,” Alfred scoffed once. “Maybe chased with only two hours’ worth of sleep, perhaps.”)

With Bruce’s newfound interest in finding the metahumans featured in Lex’s files, your presence was needed now more than ever

You admittedly had your hesitancies and were more than allowed to voice them but at this point, you knew it was mostly hopeless: You hadn’t been with Bruce for too, too long, but you had at least known him long enough to know that once his mind was made, it would take the combined force of a Kryptonian and Amazonian to actually move it.

And so here you were, out in an isolated village in Iceland, the wind slapping your face sore while your ass pained from riding on a pony across the rugged terrain. Your loyalty knew some bounds; unfortunately, these weren’t quite the bounds that would send your loyalties running. (Plus, the job paid well.)

It was this follow-you-to-the-ends-of-my-loyalty mindset that made you follow Bruce down, down, down into what you surmised might have served as the village’s gathering hall. All eyes were on you and Bruce, of course, as the two of you were outsiders in a hamlet that couldn’t have had a population expanding beyond perhaps seventy – and that was you being generous.

You were really hoping that some of that generosity would be extended to you, though: Their eyes bore into you with mixtures of curiosity and suspicion. You didn’t blame them for it, but it certainly did nothing for you dislike of having so much attention casted upon you.

You felt almost ashamed as you stuck to Bruce as a duckling does to whatever they’ve imprinted upon. You only let up once a decent enough crowd had gathered, and Bruce attempted to speak with the denizens about the metahuman he’d come to potentially acquire the assistance of.

And that was how you first laid eyes on Arthur Curry. Not that you had much of a choice: He was taller than even Bruce for one thing. And if that weren’t enough, his naturally-tanned skin and glorious dark-and-sandy locks surely stood out against the small sea of pale faces topped with mostly blond hair.

It also didn’t hurt the situation (or your eyes) that that this man was certainly quite attractive even at a distance. Ruggedly handsome, but not in the same way some might consider your employer.

This man had a look about him that said he could easily swig Jack in one hand and swing fists in the other without breaking a sweat. (However, if his body was anything like you imagined it must be beneath that clumpy sweater and dingy coat, you wouldn’t have minded seeing a little perspiration on him.)

These features proved to be key in your determining that this striking man differed from the rest.

Unfortunately, so could your boss. This, along with his smart mouth, let to the long-haired beauty of a man promptly grabbing your boss by the collar and slamming him into a wall, an aura of primal aggression radiating from him all the way to the back of the room where you stood.

 In short, your first introduction to Arthur Curry was far less than ideal. You were downright intimidated by this man more than you already were by default of your own timid nature. When the two men left the hall to discuss the matter, you made sure to keep your distance. You knew Bruce could more than take care of himself alone, but you couldn’t trust this new guy for jack shit after that scuffle.

“That your assistant?” Arthur questioned, glancing back at you. Your distance did nothing to hide your tensing at his sudden regard. Bruce sighed, exasperation coating the visible puff of air. “…Yes,” he responded gruffly. Arthur nodded with approval. “Nice…” he murmured before looking back at Bruce. “She single?” Bruce’s eyes narrowed with exasperation as they rolled in their sockets. He wasn’t sure which annoyed him more: That Arthur was clearly trying to remain off topic, or that he was doing so by using you (and with such a lackadaisical manner, no less). “Can we please focus on the matter?”

Yes, but to less than ideal results.

You stood there, gobsmacked as you watched the tan man begin to strip down. At first, your thoughts encircled around the insanity of it all: You were in the ice-blistering realm of Scandinavia during a particularly freezing bout, this lunatic was about to catch a death of cold!

As you were beginning to question further Bruce’s credibility for attempting to recruit such an idiot, however, Arthur removed his shirt – and your tune was peeled away along with it.

With the way you felt your cheeks burning, you no longer noticed the biting cold. His body was far more than what you’d initially imagined it to be. But perhaps more startling than his finely-cut physique were his eyes: Like the ghosts of sunken ships, illuminated by the sheer will to survive. You’d never seen anything like them, and you highly doubt you ever would again.

They flickered in your direction once more, for a split second, before returning to Bruce. “You’re out of your mind, Bruce Wayne,” Arthur ridiculed, and his sights went back to you. You felt your heart leap ever so slightly as you watched him aim a nod at your person. He then flipped back into the water before torpedoing elsewhere, away for your boss’s ludicrous proposal.

That would’ve been the last you’d have seen of Arthur Curry, had it not been for Steppenwolf’s less than pleasant surprise visit to Atlantis.

The next time you saw Arthur, he wasn’t nearly as undressed as the last time you’d seen him. You experienced a very short-lived flicker of disappointment, overthrown by the concern with the reason as to why he’d even taken up the previously rejected offer of joining the team.

Also . . . Whatever he was wearing did look quite impressive on him. Almost draconian, yet doubtlessly born in the sea. Much like the man himself.

And, once again, Arthur was quite aware of your stares at him whenever you entered the area. When you came to the Batcave to serve Bruce and “his new friends” drinks or to bring down any equipment as requested by Alfred, you would always somehow manage to spar Arthur a glance.

Unfortunately, not much was exchanged beyond a simple “thank you” or “excuse me.” Even on Arthur’s end, he could barely get a flirtation in before he’d be ushered elsewhere or snapped at about losing focus by your employer. And you? Expecting your coyness to be put aside for one second just to speak to somebody of his stature was an order taller than the man himself. (Plus there was the whole “he’s only here because Steppenwolf got the Mother Boxes and was preparing to bring about the Earth’s reckoning” but, you know, what can you do?)

Which was a shame: From what you were able to conclude from what few and often distant interactions you’d had or were able to observe, Arthur wasn’t as bad of a guy as he’d made himself out to be back in Iceland.

Back in the village, he was cold and gruff, exuding an air that said he was constantly ready to knock somebody’s teeth in over the smallest slight no matter how unintentional. But here? More laidback, still somewhat intimidating, but in the same way as a fellow who hung out at the local tattoo parlor and made small talk with the artists and customers but otherwise caused no real trouble.

Plus, his wiseass comments toward Bruce even managed to crack a smile out of you – something which he made note of and couldn’t help but muster pride from.

All things considered, the pleasant relief that he wasn’t as bad as you’d thought managed to relax the nerves you’d accumulated since you first laid eyes on him. It almost made you forget that you were on the verge of the end of the world. Almost.

Things were being received surprisingly well on Arthur’s end, also.

While you admittedly weren’t the type he usually found himself drawn to (which must be noted was essentially closer to a female version of himself), your more introverted nature still had its charms.

For what it was worth, he initially read your timid nature as one of a “stone-cold bitch” in the most respectful sense: The image of the aloof, perpetually unimpressed career woman who took no shit from her male coworkers (or, in this case, employers), and who always had an acerbic comment waiting to drip off her tongue if pushed beyond a limit she had personally set. Basically, his expectation of you in your “natural habitat” had been formulated through what he’d seen on TV or in movies.

Regardless of whether you truly did have anything to snap with, however, this proved to not be case exactly.

He quickly noticed that your quiet, withdrawn attitude wasn’t one of disinterest as he assumed anyone working for the likes of Bruce Wayne would be in possession of. In fact, on the contrary, you seemed quite interested in the matters at hand. He could see it in the little things: The ways you might lean in somewhat whenever Bruce brought up a diagram or whenever Victor brought forward new information; the occasion where you would tap Bruce’s shoulder, prompting him to lean towards you so that you might show him whatever it was you had pulled up on a tablet that might service the cause; that glimmer in your eyes that Arthur had managed to catch sight of during the very, very few moments he was just close enough and you simultaneously dared to look up at him.

The first time he’d seen it, he thought it might have been a fluke or the trick of lighting. Maybe he’d mistaken it for a desperation to leave, call the rest of the night off, and spend what may be your last night of existence binging Netflix and pizza at home.

But the second time he’d caught it, Arthur knew what he saw: Dedication, a yearning to be a part of this to a bigger extent than what you already were. But on that note . . .

He did also capture some nerves in your glances: Ones that, in spite of your eagerness to help, also seemed to want you to hide behind a one-way mirror and pitch in without the possibility of sounding clueless or out of line. In short: You weren’t this stone-cold bitch who would, without hesitation, necessarily break a man’s balls beneath her heels – you were just a bashful ball of nerves, and not in the nervy sense of being emboldened enough to look him dead in the eyes!

Not at all the type he usually found himself looking at. In fact, it was the brash, almost bullyish part of him that was beginning to coax him into teasing you a little bit, maybe riling you up.

And yet . . . He liked for someone of such an introverted manner, you seemed to have a lot more going on than what he’d initially thought. Almost like an oyster, if he could be pardoned for the clumsy comparison.

After witnessing the smiles you would occasionally share with Diana, the ever-present, underlying flame of determination that flickered as you helped to prepare the team for what was to come . . . Arthur Curry couldn’t help but wonder what more there was to you. What lay deep in your depths, beneath the seemingly one-note surface?

Plus, let’s be real: he had totally been checking out your ass every chance he got. The weather-proof gear he’d seen you in back in Iceland did absolutely no justice to your figure. He was quite pleased with what lay beneath all those goose down wears.

As you watched the team depart for Russia, you couldn’t help but feel your stomach drop into a low, dirty pit. There was no guarantee that anything would work into anyone’s favor, but you forced yourself to keep a calm countenance as you followed Alfred back into the labs. There was no use in worrying; all you could do was hope for the best. In the meantime, it would do some good to help monitor Bruce’s mechanisms.

Still, you found yourself considering the weight in your stomach, that sickening twist that twanged almost nauseatingly when you regarded what its source was: The regret of not having actually spoken more extensively with Arthur.

You found it weird that you were feeling so much over someone you’d barely met. Sure, the version of him that had been here not even a full hour earlier was a complete upgrade from the one you’d met less than a week ago. But still, it seemed odd of you to put that much weight in not having talked with the nearly complete stranger.

“Well,” a voice in your head thought, “isn’t that more reason to have gotten to know him better?”

You blinked at the intrusive thought.

You were unable to stop your thought process from forming its next declaration: “If they survive this, I’m going to overcome this shyness and actually freaking attempt to talk more with Arthur Curry.”

Meanwhile, on the Flying Fox, Arthur Curry was glowering: Diana had left that stupid lasso laying all will-nilly, and he’d been its unfortunate victim. At this point, he’d made an ass of himself by light-way insulting all the males onboard, flirting with its one member of the fairer sex, and then going back to Bruce to say, “ – and you know what? I don’t wanna die! I’m young, there’s shit that I wanna do – like Bruce’s hot assistant.” Bruce’s eyes hardened, befuddled at the crudeness. And yet, he couldn’t stop himself. “Don’t gimme that look, I know you’ve seen her. Look, man, if I survive this, I’m asking her out, sorry that you missed your shot but – ”

By the time he’d realized the extent of what he’d said, the damage had been done. He scowled as he tossed the Amazon the Lasso of Hestia and threatened Barry to keep his silence of the series of revelations before storming off, face burning. He trusted the other three members to hold some semblance of maturity on the matter and never bring any aspects of it back up.

He’d put too much faith into the one who was the most mature of them all.

“I look forward to you keeping your promise,” Diana smiled, almost tauntingly.

Arthur Curry sat onboard the flying transport. Against all odds, they had won, and now they were en route to Gotham, where he’d left his more comfortable clothes, where a nice, hot shower was, where a place to crash (courtesy of Bruce’s hotel connections) was, and where –

His pale eyes widened in spite of their owner’s exhaustion. Shit. Shit.

Gotham was also where you were: single, shy, giving off no hints as to whether you were ready to mingle, much less with the likes of him.

Your heart was beating so fast, you thought you were about to vomit it up. Sure, you’d told yourself you were going to attempt to talk with Arthur if he got back. But if you were being honest, you were sort of hoping it’d be after a buffer of time where he would be recuperating from the battle and you would be prepping yourself to actually speak with the rugged man. That, and you were really thrown off by the fact that not ten minutes after he’d gotten off the Flying Fox, he had marched straight up to you. He hadn’t even changed out of his war gear, arguably adding to his threatening appearance.

And yet, everything he said and the manner with which he said them seemed to work against his daunting form.

“I uh…I honestly didn’t think this would wind up happening. To be honest,” he coughed, hand scratching at the back of his wavy locks. He was even less like the man you’d met in Scandinavia than before.

“Uh . . . Listen.” He steadied his eyes on you, causing you to tense somewhat visibly. “I know we haven’t . . .” he lazily gestured his hand in a rolling motion “—talked. Formally, I mean. But I kinda made a promise sorta thing and . . . Okay, look, I think you’re really hot in a sorta sexy secretary kinda way but also I think it’s kinda cute that you always wanna help and all and sorry for being fresh but you’ve also got this real sweet caboose on ya and I just – ”

He froze. You weren’t sure if it was because you possibly had a rejecting expression (really, all you knew about your face right now was that it was blazing with blush and that your eyes were wider than usual), or if he’d considered the possibility that he’d gone too far with the blunt statement about your ass. However, as he glanced down and grimaced, you found your answer: There, wrapped around his lower thigh just enough for impact, was a shining lasso, the rest of which trailed away from the two of you. Its end was found, wrapped around the hands of one grinning Diana.

Well shit.

After forcing himself to calm down from the huffiness left from removing the lasso, Arthur cut to the chase: “So anyway, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to get a drink with me? Or something?” At that last bit, you could’ve sworn you could make out a very specific type of infliction. It was a very familiar one to you because it had been the same kind that plagued you your entire life: One of shyness.

Arthur noticed it as well and inwardly cringed. His alpha male persona? Ruined by the slip of a tone.

But for you? It was just what you needed to feel encouraged to look into those strange eyes of his and actually respond.

“Well…,” you began, if not a bit quiet and trembly (after all, you weren’t completely removed of your nerves), “I’m not sure if a bar is exactly the greatest first place to get to know one another.” You quickly added ad you watched his shoulders begin t slump, “Buuuuttt…maybe I could have a certain somebody pull a few strings; get us a nice place to ourselves?”

Two things then happened that pleased either party: Your eyes replicated that twinkle of interest that had him intrigued before; and he smiled a genuine smile. It was a very nice one, if you said so yourself.

Nobody honestly expected the relationship to go entirely too well, save for Diana. Arthur is brash and gung-ho and while the team now knows he’s capable of a softer side, his demands that they never bring it up again honestly make them hesitant to trust in his ability to show that part of himself to you.

Your shyness, coupled with your sensitivity, mean that he’s going to have to at least try and tone it down a bit; you’re at a 4 or 5 at best! – and he’s at an 11 when you need him closer to maybe a 7.

Bruce, against his initial intentions, sort of goes into Papa Wolf mode where he lightly threatens to mess Arthur up if he puts you out of your comfort zone

What can we say? Bruce has some paternal traits kicking around in him.

Still, he prepares himself for the worst when the day finally comes. To his surprise, however you don’t call him in hysterics, ranting about what a jackass his unrulier teammate is. You don’t call off the next day due to a rage-drinking-induced hangover, or even from one caused by you feeling pressured to keep taking shots.

Instead, you arrive at work practically glowing.

To everyone’s surprise, Arthur isn’t too bad of a boyfriend for you.

Okay, he’s actually just flat out not a bad boyfriend period.

His intense demeanor makes it so that nobody dares mess with you when you go for walks downtown; his sense of humor surprisingly tickles you, and he finds yours to be appealing in its own right. He knows you struggle with speaking to others, even if you need help, so he has no problem with stepping in and making sure that you get what you need and that nobody takes advantage of your demure mannerisms.

Plus, to everyone’s surprise (including his own), he likes talking with you. That interest in your unintentional enigma never went away: he wants to crack you open, see what pearls of intrigue lay within you that you don’t generally bring to surface for everyone. He feels honored to be the one with the most potential to see all of it.

(Though, to be brutally honest, he’s still going to tease you about certain aspects of yours. Maybe lightheartedly, but nevertheless with frequent vengeance. Calling him Fishcakes tends to get him to back off for a little bit, though.)

Unfortunately, due to his commitments (as a hero, as a ruler, etc), he can’t always be there. But he tries his damndest to make it up to you whenever he’s back in town.

Dates between the two of you are kinda compromised.

Arthur isn’t used to having a long-term relationship, so dates with actual meaning are a bit wobbly for him. Honestly, given his history, a “date” usually meant going to a bar, him and the girl he’s with getting hammered, and getting frisky.

Maybe they’d try it again another time, but nothing serious ever came of it because it was made from nothing serious.

Bars – at least the dives he’s used to – aren’t necessarily your scene, though. So he has to get a little creative.

He’s learned to swallow his insults aimed at museums and bookstores because if it means seeing you smile, then it ain’t all that bad, is it?

You’re still gonna buy him, like, three cheeseburgers after this, though, make no mistake.

Besides, picnics in the park have their pros: For one, it gives him an excuse to put his head in your lap and demand you scratch his scalp for a bit while he takes it easy,

The two of you don’t really go to the aquarium, though; it makes him feel a little anxious to see all these aquatic creatures contained.

Plus, he’s heard what some of them are thinking and it’s generally not good

He enjoys taking you to places with “good water.” As in “nowhere near the shithole that is Gotham or the arguably polished turd that is Metropolis.”

If you’re up to it, he’ll happily create a pocket of air for the two of you and speed the both of you to clearer ocean waters. (Don’t worry, he’ll hold you nice and tight, nothing to worry about.)

If this man can get a date with you at a beach, he’s one happy fellow. He’s totally in his element and is in the perfect environment where he can show off not only his body, but his abilities.

Even if you just want to keep it simple and build sandcastles or collect seashells, he’s going to find ways of showing off: He’ll manipulate the tide a smidge to keep it from coming in and ruining your hard work, or he’ll request his aquatic friends to make scooch some pretty shells or any available sea glass close enough to the shoreline that the tide will do the rest.

You may roll your eyes at this, but you do eventually thank him for it after every time. After all, you now possess a mighty fine bowl full of gorgeous shells and soft, rounded pieces of green glass because of his efforts.

He enjoys trying to find ways to get you to open up a bit more.

It’s not that he finds your shyness annoying or necessarily a hindrance, far from it: he enjoys that your modesty sort of creates a series of slides for him to try and pull back, creating layers upon layers of new things to learn and love about you.

But, as mentioned before, he can’t always be there: He doesn’t like the idea of you becoming too reliant on his boisterous behavior and getting taken advantage of during one of the instances where he isn’t present.

“M’kay, so you’re at a bar – ” “Lies, slander, libel, misinterpretation of character – ” “Fine,” he says through gritted teeth. “You’re at the ice cream parlor – shut it, you had your chance – and some, I dunno, punk who frequents the sodie fountain comes up to you and starts causing you trouble. What do we do?” “Tell him to please leave me be, I’m trying to enjoy my sundae.” “Mhm, or?” “If he’s persistent, call management.” “Good, and what else?” “Well, jeez, Arthur, do you want me to break a milkshake glass on the counter and use it as a shiv!?” “Noooooo: You could always say, ‘Piss off or else my big, scary boyfriend’s gonna come and shove a piranha down your dick.’” “What the – I’m not saying that!” “Not now, you’re not, but by the end of our training, you’ll be saying all kinds of tough guy and gal things!”

It’s . . . a work in progress.

He loves it when you blush. Even if you have dark skin, he’s picked up on cues that hint that your face is on fire.

He’s more observant than he lets in on, but trust me: he knows how to read you after getting to know you. He can see that way you smile or that certain way your eyes may flicker or whatever may have you and instantly know that roses are blooming in your cheeks.

“Aaaawww, is Babygirl feelin’ sheepish?” “Shut up, you big fool.”

Now, when it comes to the more . . . physical side of the relationship, he struggles with taking it slow

Not to knock on you, but Arthur’s rather used to women throwing themselves at him. Hell, he’s had at least two women wrap their legs around his waist in the same evening he’d taken them out on their first (and often only) date.

It’s because he’s used to, well, bolder types of women.

Honestly, he struggles for a good while: He’s not going to force you to do anything you don’t feel comfortable with, not ever, but he’d be lying if he said it was easy to not think about smashing his lips against yours and pinning you to a wall (preferably around Bruce’s place) and mark you up with hickies and possibly other, more personal things.

However, this change of pacing in a relationship, coupled with the fact that this is his first long-term one, does the man good: It teaches him more patience and consideration.

He even begins to enjoy the softer, sweeter things that he’d previously scoffed at as being “too vanilla”, such as kisses to the forehead or hand-holding.

Still, he does get strong makeout hankerings. (If you appease him, he’s more than grateful every time.)

That being said, if and/or when you do start to feel a bit braver about venturing further into the realm of intimacy, you still may possess some insecurities.

You’re no fool – you know what sort of man you have on your hands. You don’t need to look to the sides or behind you when the two of you walk somewhere to know that he’s being checked out by at least three people. He’s practically a demigod species-wise, and still remarkably attractive from the viewpoint of him being a normal human.

Even though you try not to, you can’t help but let some worries slip through the cracks: Maybe you’re just an appetizer to hold him over until he lands his sights on a more “fulfilling” meal; maybe you’re too plain for him (you know that that’s what goes through the minds of many gawkers); maybe you should show more skin . . .

But worry not: Cliché as it may sound, Arthur very much likes you the way you are. If you’re comfortable with you, then he’s comfortable with you. In fact, it makes him admire you even harder because it shows you’ve managed to do something he still struggles with: Being comfortable with his own self.

He finds it very sexy when you think you look nice in an outfit or when you take even the tiniest step out of your comfort zone to try a new look or accessory, and will honestly struggle all the more with keeping his hands or lips to himself.

But once you give him the okay, he’s all over that: Hands squeezing that ass he loves so much, kisses below the neck, utterances of flirtations ranging from PG to downright dirty.

If you gather up the guts to move even further or just flat out hit a homerun, it becomes a guidebook in itself.

Protip: One of the sexiest things you can do? Simply where one of his shirts, which is oversized on you thanks to his massive height. It doesn’t have to be wet, but it sure isn’t a problem in his eyes.

Cuddles. The boy is a slut for cuddles no matter what he tells you. Arthur may not necessarily be touch-starved, but he’s definitely bankrupt on accumulated touches of affection. His loner attitude always made it difficult for him to receive that sort of thing, especially since nobody he went out with was ever in the picture for too long. So when it hits him that in this relationship, such a thing is not only possible but welcome, he can’t help but feel a well of excitement brewing within him.

You in his lap, you by his side, you with your head on his chest, traditional spooning, you with your head on his lap or vice-versa, him lying down with you on his back, him sitting on the floor between your legs or the opposite, his loves it all!

The problem is, he won’t even admit this to you. But he tries to be sneaky about getting what he wants.

“What’s the matter?” “Hm? Nothing.” “Really? You look sad; you need me to cuddle you?” “What? I mean, it’d be nice but I’m not really –” He sighs, as if exasperated, “Can’t be helped; c’mere.” You aren’t given much time to object as you find yourself being collected into his warm, muscular embrace.

Sometimes, however . . . he slips up. And by that, I mean he’ll “happen” to slip into bed or onto the couch next to you in a way that presents himself as the little spoon.

Actually, of all the ways he likes to cuddle, jetpacking may be his favorite. Unfortunately, unless you think enough about it, you’d probably not notice it until later in the relationship due to how rarely he lets it happen. But it makes perfect sense otherwise: He’s so used to everybody having expectations for him. He’s so used to feeling obligated to do all these things for worlds he doesn’t necessarily feel the strongest connection with. Going off of that, there was the life-long sense of not being completely bound to either existence, creating insecurities galore.

Sure, he’s started to take the steps in the right direction but it’s still very hard, especially since those steps are accompanied with the extra weight of him now being a member of something bigger: An appointed rule of Atlantis, a balance-keeper between the land and the sea, a member of an actual team . . .

You don’t need to be told that it’s frustrating. You truly do commend him for taking it as well as he is.

But obviously, it takes its toll on the guy more often than he’d let his teammates in on, so it often times falls on you to help him cope.

Interestingly, this honestly seems to be the most he lets you do. Or rather, the most that even needs to be done at all.

But the fact of the matter is, you’ve come to love this position as well.

Because it allows you to feel like the brave and strong one in the relationship, just like how you suspect Arthur must feel much of the time. The way Arthur constantly wants you to feel, not so that he doesn’t have to try as hard at being a boyfriend to a person so different from him, but because he wants the best for you and doesn’t want the world to hurt you or make you feel out of place for who you are. Of course, he doesn’t want you to change, but he does want you to recognize the inner-strength you have, the inner-strength he sometimes worries you forget about amidst your worries and own frustrations.

But for the meantime, this will do: With your big, brash aquatic boyfriend allowing himself to feel delicate, and your usually quiet and shy self, feeling brave and protective.

It surprisingly works, this weird little world the two of you have created together. You both find that you fit into it together quite perfectly.

[blogmother793]

Onenote 101

Onenote 101 Download

Microsoft Onenote 2016 Tutorial Pdf

Onenote 1015

Onenote Tutorial For Beginners

Microsoft Onenote Training

OneNote is a useful but underutilized app that comes with Microsoft Office. It enables you to create and share digital notebooks that contain text, audio, video, and other multimedia, taking your note-taking to another level. Discover the ins and outs of this wonderful app by reading on.

Organize your digital notebook

OneNote 101 A virtual notebook, with incredible search capabilities, that synchronizes across all your devices and between multiple users in real time. A universal platform, it works on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Online. Everything is stored as a separate element so markups can be removed, files or images can be saved or moved. OneNote (formerly called “OneNote 2016”), the free desktop app which runs on all supported versions of Microsoft Windows and which is part of Office 2019 and Microsoft 365. OneNote for Windows 10, the OneNote app which is pre-installed on all editions of Windows 10, and which can also be downloaded for free in the Microsoft Store. Keyboard Shortcuts. Writing a life story examples. Let’s begin the guide with some handy, time-saving keyboard shortcuts.

While both Microsoft Word and OneNote let you create text-heavy documents, they store and display saved information differently. Laurie lee memoir crossword clue. Word displays one document at a time, but OneNote shows you all your documents at once.

When you open OneNote for the first time, it shows you a default Notebook called “My Notebook.” If you want to create another notebook, click on the < beside the name of your current Notebook, then choose +Notebook at the bottom of your screen.

To use the default notebook, you can immediately customize it. The easiest way to do this is to separate the Notebook into sub-categories called Sections, similar to what dividers do in a physical notebook. For example, you can organize your client notes by dedicating a specific Section for them. Sections are shown as color-coded tabs along the top of the screen, next to the name of your Notebook. Add one by clicking on +Section at the bottom left of your screen.

After you’ve created Sections, it’s time to add individual pages to them. For example, under the Section Client A, you can add pages pertaining to Client Contact, Project Status, and Billing Information. To begin adding pages under a Section, simply click +Page. Rename your Notebook, Section, or Page by right-clicking the bar with its name and choosing the rename option.

Onenote 101 Download

Start experimenting

Microsoft Onenote 2016 Tutorial Pdf

There’s no hard-and-fast rule to enjoy OneNote, because each person’s note-taking habits are unique. The only way to find out if OneNote works for you is to try out all the features, and decide which works for you. Here are some things you can try to get a feel of the OneNote experience. However, keep in mind that these only work in OneNote for Windows 10. If you’re using an older version, you need to upgrade to the latest version to enjoy these benefits:

Add tags to your notes so you can search for them efficiently

Instantly turn your drawings into shapes or text using the Ink to Shape and Ink to Text functions, respectively

Solve equations by using the Ink Math Assistant, an in-app function that will help you graph or solve math problems

Use “Immersive Reader” to read texts out loud

Write on a web page in Microsoft Edge and save your annotations to OneNote

Onenote 1015

Share your OneNote

Onenote Tutorial For Beginners

So you’ve created a detailed plan for an upcoming event complete with visual pegs and handwritten instructions, and you want to share that with your team. That’s easy as pie with OneNote. Just go to the upper right corner of your ribbon, click on the Share button, and type in the email addresses of the people to whom you wish to send your notes. You can also set the sharing permissions to either “can view” or “can edit,” giving you more control of your data.

Microsoft Onenote Training

OneNote has innumerable tricks up its sleeve, and it can take months for you to master all of them. Call us today, and we’ll make sure you’ll get the hang of OneNote in no time.

[theliterateape]

Sixty Is Hard to Accept

by David Fink

Every time I turn an age ending in a zero, I write an essay about lessons of the decade. I wrote one at 30 and, unfortunately, I didn’t save a copy.  I wrote another at 40 and I don’t have a copy of that one either.  I do have the one I wrote at 50.  In brief, 20s was about making tons of mistakes and trying to figure out who I am. 30s was picking a direction and eliminating things that don’t work for me.  40s was about changing directions and trying to avoid becoming bitter.  This is really simplifying those pieces, but you can read a version of the essay I wrote at 50 at https://www.literateape.com/blog/contributor/avoiding-being-defined-by-the-aging-process.

Sixty.  It’s hard for me to accept. When I was a kid, 60 sounded so old.  Sixty meant grandparents, retirement, nearing the end of life.  But what do kids know? In reality, I believe that I haven’t yet peaked. On the other hand, life is not a continuous upward journey nor a plummet. Every decade has benefits and challenges.  Hopefully, one of the achievements of aging is acquiring more clarity and understanding of life.  After some thought, here are a few things I learned about life in my 50s.

My first big realization is the value of joy.  I used to think pleasure was not something you should seek. It might even be a sin. It is temporary and unsustainable and superficial. I have always felt moments of happiness but I would let them pass by and move on. Maybe I didn’t fully appreciate it. In my 50s, I tried to bask in those moments of pleasure as there is value in recognizing joy and naming what brought it.  If you can identify a few things that incite joy, you are more likely to live fully in the moment when they happen and maybe recreate the feeling when you need to be uplifted.  Friends have told me big and small things that bring them joy: spending time with friends and family, having sexual experiences, driving on a newly surfaced road, peeing when you really need to pee, wearing a new article of clothing, experiencing a great performance or piece of art, immersing yourself in literature that really speaks to you, checking off the final item on a “to do” list, and laughing spontaneously.  Some smells that bring me joy are the ocean, coffee, or freshly baked brownies-- an endless number of things can bring each of us elation.  Some personal examples: sharing food with someone I love (romantic or, more commonly, platonic,) having a new experience, traveling, feeling sun on my face during an unseasonably warm fall or winter day, playing with my dog, and singing (especially with others.) Creating something of which I’m proud as part of a team (The Acorn Theater and Outspoken are two of my favorites,) writing an essay or a story that I think is good, and a sincere compliment, even if I deflect it, makes me happy.  

Try to notice and remember these moments in your life. There are so many negative things that happen all the time, so be mindful not to let them obscure the good things.

Another way to feel better is to master self-care through creating boundaries and limits with certain people.  I began to learn about emotionally protecting myself as a teen when some of my angst-filled hormone-riddled friends would talk to me about their sorrow.  I began learning to listen and empathize but not to get sucked into their drama (I was also angst-filled and hormone-riddled.) Most of the drama was about parental ignorance or adolescent crushes. I’m glad I’m far away from those teen-age mood swings. However, through them, I started to learn about creating boundaries, but I still had a long way to go.  

It wasn’t until my 50s that I had to force myself to avoid relationships with extremely toxic people because they caused me pain. I often joke that I had a feeling once, didn’t like it, and never had one again. But that is not true.  I have a lot of feelings.  I often mask them using sarcasm or humor. Sometimes I will express them through words alone saying that something is funny as opposed to laughing.  I rarely cry, though my eyes tear easily. 

Men in particular avoid acknowledging having feelings. In our culture, men often mask their emotion because feelings are considered feminine or weak. Even though I know this, when I work on a personal story, I often need to be coached into including my emotions. It is unusual for me to communicate my feelings to others but when I do, it is sincere and open. It is also a clear indication that I trust you and I’m willing to be vulnerable around you.

I have empathy for others. I’ve lost a parent and many friends and relatives, ended relationships, been bullied, and survived trauma. This empathy has allowed me to be manipulated into trying to fulfil the needs and wants of others. During my teenage years, no one was trying to harm me.  In my 50s, I have known people who have shown gaslighting, addiction, narcissism, and sociopathology who did things that could actually damage me.  My relationships with these people were already established and our lives were enmeshed before I saw this behavior so cutting them off often was not an option. I cannot forgive malignant behavior. Sometimes people will deliberately try to deceive me and if I suspect what they say is untrue, I’ll file it away in my memory until I can confirm that it was a lie.  Once that happens, the liar has forever lost my trust. My relationship with such a person will be significantly limited and will only have interactions that do not require trust.  

Compartmentalization is a hard lesson and I have a lot of battle scars, but in the end, my travails gave me strength.  I continue to learn healthy ways to interact with predatory damaged people-lessons I will continue to learn and use as long as I live.  I pay attention to behavior as well as words and when I am confident a person is deceitful or conniving, I get to decide how close that person can get to me emotionally.  

Many non-toxic people in my life come to me with distress. Sometimes I absorb and then release their pain. I am learning to recognize that I cannot cure all that ails others, and when necessary, to separate emotionally from their issues.  It is often a struggle to do this but worth the effort.  One of the challenges is separating with firmness and kindness, instead of anger. I put this into practice when I ended my twenty two year long relationship. However, if I think you are a true friend and ally, I will do almost anything for you. I will speak with honesty and vulnerability.  I am far from perfect and will continue to recognize and work on improving myself without wasting energy on problems I can’t fix.  

The last thing I want to talk about are thoughts concerning G-d.  I have spent a lot of time pondering this.  For me, G-d is an energy that connects us.  I have experienced so many coincidences that I stopped believing there is such a thing as a coincidence. Things that happen yet don’t make scientific sense I renamed G-d.  

Medically, my mother should not have lived past the age of 30.  Yet, she is living a full life at 84. She got to see me turn 60. Living to see a child reach this milestone is a rarity in my family. 

I introduced two friends of mine who are mothers and within a short time, in front of me, they discovered they share the same sperm donor, so their kids are half siblings. 

 I believe there is actually no such thing as a stranger.  Only people who haven’t figured out how they’re connected.  G-d is what connects our planet.  I once met someone in Europe who asked if I knew a Wendy in the United States.  As it turned out, I did know that specific Wendy.   

Now, does G-d care what I believe? G-d doesn’t care. What really matters to G-d is how a person behaves.  And if this is not true and you behave graciously in fear of judgement, well, that’s ok.  The results are positive.  

Speaking of G-d, I was raised Jewish and there are parts of the Jewish culture that I think are particularly helpful.  One is that it teaches you not only how to mourn, but also for how long and how to stop mourning.  Deep mourning lasts for a month except for the loss of a parent which lasts about 11 months. I like the idea I learned from my culture to not only mourn a loss but to honor the deceased.  I think of my father and other loved ones who are no longer with us and try to honor their memories by thinking of them, talking about them, lighting a candle in their honor, or making a donation to a charity with them in mind.  

My other favorite part of Judaism is the concept and value of “tikkun olam,” which means it is everyone’s obligation to repair the world.  We live in a broken place and we must all try to and heal and fix it.  

The idea of G-d, at the very least, no matter what your religion, should let you know there are more important things than just you.  It should give you hope when there is no other hope. Finally, it should get you to behave in a manner that is good for society.  

One of my nightly prayers is to recognize my gifts and use them to make the world a better place.  I hope to give more than I take in my limited time on this planet.  Thinking about it nightly helps me to make better choices. I try to treat people with kindness while remaining firm in protecting my emotional self.  I live in the moment and embrace and appreciate feelings of joy and pleasure. I try to find pleasure when it will benefit my spirit. And I try to act like I’m part of a community by contributing and nurturing while also accepting nurturing when offered.  Now, let’s see what I learn and how I can continue to grow in my 60s.

[adamgdooley]

Gamification, Augmented Reality, IoT of ERP is shipping business models

ERP evolution to Shipping business Models using Gamification ,Augumented Reality ,IoT and cloud evolution is Shapping Future of ERP and Technology challenges behind

Business is Changing So is ERP. Digital Transformation then rapid change which using digital dwarfs other Business Models quickly.

Few years back When Harward Organisation behaviour professor Henry Mintzberg wrote a Book Managers Not MBA needed and founded institute of practising managers. As he found increasing disconnect between what is taught and practised.

Today most Research based Learning and curriculum made really specialized to next league is there is not research input into Management thinking hence ERP thinking ERP hence Business Model thinking the business becomes irrelevant.

ERP are moving to next class rather shipping modules or submodules it about shipping your business model with agile technology. Agile I mean is business Agility to adopt to new business models and technology landscape.

Today’s business is all about changing business Model fast So ERP driving This using better pervasiveness into machine to ERP intelligence using IoT and visualisation using Augumented Relality and Data science shows future of your strategy vs my strategy into A Game. A game like two golf player in parallel visualizing using augumented reality and similulation whose business Strategy is better over Golf game.

Increasing as business getting more complex the in every segment new business model will emerge fast. The longitivity of business model is also shrinking. Earlier if you had a business model you could run whole business on that model for let say 50 yrs now it’s may be 4 yrs… So Bussiness models need to change fast to survive. How is ERP Helping us in this Exercise we have seen in last paragraph.

Also I have Explained in Last parts using Technology Shift , business Model shift enabled in ERP.

At the layer ERP is internally yet another BPM+ functionality where business flow is captured. BPM now Eats IoT messages and queues them for ingestion in cloud where then data science runs over them To create models for decision making it change which is deriving strategic insights using Mathematical models.

Not only that But business models are also changing which are reflective of sometime Mathematical models. We know Algorithmic trading transformed Finance. This That trading getting pervasive into other industry now.

Are Algorithmic business Models using this mathematical conotations is new buzzword. We have algorithm driven CRM systems having recommendations systems rather than shop floor assistant.

New Age Enterprise Software in cloud.

Interesting to see how salesforce.com is growing from CRM into other verticals. Already cornering many CRM vendors like Siebel, SAP CRM, and Oracle Peoplesoft CRM.Same way Workday is growing fast in HR solutions.Are there ERP based on cloud threat to traditional vendors.Now industry is segmented into two types of ERP : Tradition ERP Vs Cloud based ERP.

Let’s look why Traditional ERP are facing the brunt:

Let see evolution : ERP evolved from desktop based systems to client server system in 90’s to web based systems then So SAP R3 like three tier product (database server-application server- webserver –client).We had lots of security challenges then also. Next went to n-tier where we had choice of n number of application server layers. Then today we are faced with 2 question Cloud enablement and mobility.(of course these are not the only challenge there are others too).

Biggest impact ERP made to life of Executives is Time to market. Now see today if Any cloud ERP provider has to do mobile enablement it just few steps while for traditional ERP giving form to future cloud based browser is big problem.SAP had to acquire company like Sybase still integration is not complete.

The big vendors are vulnerable because they require big expensive upgrades. Workday doesn’t go into startups — it’s selling to big companies that have HR and financial software in place. But companies have to update this software periodically, and the traditional vendors like Oracle and SAP make it hard and expensive to upgrade. That’s when startups like Workday jump in.

Oracle will survive the cloud transition, but will have to acquire some companies. He thinks NetSuite, which is already majority-owned by Larry Ellison, is a logical candidate.

SAP is toast. “I think SAP doesn’t really have a play.”.ABAP language on which ERP is based is old based on COBOL syntaxes has evolved into Object Orientation with lot of effort.Sonetweaver came in to enable java to work for ABAP.But Oracle the biggest competitor acquired Sun hence Java. So, now SAP wanted to remove  all dependency from Java.See simple thing like JSP /ASP like technology which is very old came into java just 2 yrs back with BSP in ABAP.Otherwise in SAP Netweaver used to the work through JSP(Netweaver is J2EE server only).Now how many years it will take to remove dependency.SAP acquired Sybase to provide mobility solution but still SAP mobility has long way to tread.Then where is cloud. I agree Enterprise software lifecycle being longer company does not suddenly decide to replace in Peoplesoft HRMS with another package.Atleast 1 year in implementation and second year in stabilisation.

Don’t underestimate Microsoft but competition is hotting up like iWork from apple. He thinks the company really gets the cloud, and that Windows 8 will easily become the second-biggest category of tablets — simply because they will run Office, while the iPad never will. “If I could get Office on a tablet, I’d throw my laptop away.” He also thinks that Microsoft’s army of .NET developers will move to Azure, the company’s cloud platform.iPad is also warming up with iWork office suite on mobile. Micorsoft is moving fast on Axcepta coming up with CRM, Financial, SCM modules. collaboration with sharepoint,oulook,messenger integration,integrated SQL server based MSBI and reporting.Available everything on cloud Azure.WCF, WWF fighting with workflow software.

Google will make a bigger enterprise play eventually. Google more focused on consumer and advertising play facing facebook. Enterpriseis Google’s “secret weapon” and noted that he sees a lot of companies considering a switch to Gmail at the same time as they switch to Workday.

Workday: Former Peoplesoft CEO made Cloud HR AneelBhusri,Dave reading up challenge for major vendors

com

Future of Flex &Flash : Gamification of ERP enterprise software, Augmented Reality on mobile apps, ipTV

Adobe modern introduction , history of innovations, trends of future:

Adobe outdoing competition for many years now has system in place for bringing future technologies like IPTV(http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/tag/iptv), mobile/tablet OS interfaces, photo editors like Photoshop, Word editors like Acrobat reader  with compressed storage .Adobe has company which have been working ahead of time many years in many technology are like Acrobat reader, Photoshop with image processing algorithm implementations for naive users ,for online picture editor for image enhancements using image processing algorithms(http://pixlr.com/editor/), Flex for AJAX/RIA. Flash presented good threat to Microsoft as instead of writing to OS people can write to Flash same reason why Steve Jobs took stand against Flash. Adobe hence started to silent revolution of RIA.

Photoshop, Illustrator, and the other design products in its Creative Suite make up more than 50% of Adobe’s revenue and have created a lot of loyalists. Adobe presence in unified communication with its connect platform for online meetings which competes with Microsoft live meeting and communication server (renamed Lync). People most often create documents using Word processing software but once those documents need to be stored in a fixed format for printing and official forms, they’re almost always converted to Adobe’s PDF format.Micorsoft XPS never stood competition against PDF format.

Adobe Flex is a popular framework for building Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). The Flex framework is used to create SWF files that run inside the Adobe Flash Player

Today when we will see higher adoption of IP TV in future Adobe is well positioned to take on. Earlier Adobe flex write once and run on any browser (need not worry browser dependency) to today write once run on any device (Android, IPhone, or any tablet OS).

Technology Landscape:

Technology is continuously evolving. Never people thought before AJAX came in that all system will web based. As in earlier system Client server system web client wait for completion for each request till then browser hangs. With coming of AJAX Asynchronous request does not need to wait for reply from Server for completion of request. Today what we See from Website to ERP like SAP PeopleSoft ,oracle apps ,to Business intelligence systems virtually every UI is Web Based. AJAX increased adoption of Web across different platform devices and interfaces. Across all this technologies the best choice of UI ends at flex.

Demand and salary to AJAX programmer crossed Java programmers. Main component of AJAX was java script. But problem came later no support for JavaScript. In meanwhile Adobe was company very much into multimedia software like Flash, Photoshop. Needed to adopt to new Web paradigm. So necessity is mother of invention. Abode had flash player which was heavy when used with websites. So it came with AJAX product first time Flex which is blend of Flash’s graphics + AJAX( Evolution 1997 Flash player–>2000 Action Script 1.0–> see diagram) . issues with JavaScript like not clean coding, no support form vendor ,intuitive controls for new fast AJAX web systems were solved.Rich Internet Application evolved RIA evolved with Adobe Flex.

Flex came with editor where user can code using Actionscript created with mix of JavaScript concept into Flash scripts. Action scripts we can code complex AJAX interface to be played on Flash player get support from Adobe while for javascript no support available. ActionScript program that has been optimized to death by an AOT compiler can, almost trivially, beat a JavaScript program that is optimized on the fly by the JIT compiler. The only way out would be to let the JIT compiler work till death, but that is not an option.

JavaScript programs are untyped, (relatively) small programs that are shipped/loaded as source code, and then compiled and run on the fly. In contrast, ActionScript programs are typed, (relatively) large programs that are compiled to byte code, shipped/loaded as byte code, and then run on the fly.

Flex came with more intuitive UI which never existed before like slider control, control for embedding video tag which later on HTML 5 could bring in 5 yrs later. So adobe was working 5 yrs ahead of time.

Still today concepts like onscroll pagination and caching did not exit. some 5 yrs back for every website server side code .NET or Java or PHP or SAP or PeopleSoft  but web client code was on Flex. Beautiful intuitive UI controls from sliders, Maps, dynamic grids, for OLAP olap grids, dynamic grouping and sorting it could handle huge data seamlessly the JavaScript latency issues also minimized. These features are now stand replicated with Microsoft sliverlight,ExtJs and other Java script libraries.

Competition to Flex :

Technology wise competition to Flex include Curl, OpenLaszlo, Ajax, Mozilla way back in 2002 introduced XUL  ,from Sun Microsystem  JavaFX,  Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Silverlight and HTML5. Examine the trend graph over period of time. HTML5 popularity has dwarfed competition as it is open source and work across platform.

Figure 2: source: trends.google.com showing search trends Flex competitors or related technology.

– Flex had moved to new battled field Devices. Is new java of devices write once and run on any device android, iPhone blackberry or any tablet OS.

– Enterprise class programming Model: Use of constructs like strong typing, inheritance, and interfaces to program more efficiently. Extensive mobile and traditional components help speed development. Flex applications can access device capabilities such as GPS, accelerometer, camera, and local database.

– End to End tooling for development: Build Flex applications more easily using Adobe® Flash® Builder® software, an enterprise-class Eclipse™ based IDE. Productivity features include on-device debugging and mobile simulators for testing across screen sizes and resolutions.

– Server Integration: Integrate with all major back ends including Java™, Spring, Hibernate, PHP, Ruby, .NET, Adobe ColdFusion®, and SAP using industry standards such as REST, SOAP, JSON, JMS, and AMF, PeopleSoft.

– AJAX design patterns: On Object oriented programming on Action scripts design pattern are readily available.

Even software claims today integration with flex for choice of UI whether its ERP like PeopleSoft or SAP, Oracle Apps, or Business intelligence system like SAP Business objects Excelsious, IBM Cognos flex interfaces. Each day new Members join group each day product realize it needs to provide interface to flex joins flex group.I remember on Cognos 8.0 did not had features like geographic reporting interfaces, intuitive grids with dynamic sorting and grouping ,maps etc which only after integration with flex were possible for BI . had no choice but to integrate Flex. I recommend everyone at least one download tour de flex and see the dynamic UI.I am sure you will start loving it. From YouTube to Google finance or yahoo finance everywhere you can see innovation of Flex controls.

Figure 2: source Finance.google.com (showing comparison of Adobe,Microsoft and Dow Jones index.

On contrary HTML5 is not threat but opportunity for Adobe Flex :

But Adobe has the most to gain if they become the major player in the HTML5 field by providing tools, framework and making the web standards evolve. And they are in a good position to get there.Adobe has already two great tools for HTML5, Muse and Edge.

HTML5 fight with Flex is on : Adobe online games are beating HTML5 with over 1000 games written compared with few hundred on HTML5. HTML5is already almost universally supported in mobile browsers and Adobe realized that Flash would never get that ubiquity across browsers. HTML is supported by 40% of web Browsers while Flash 99%.Feature supported are browser dependent with no 3D support while flash has plugin. Security: Flash is miles ahead: In order to hack HTML5 Right click view source while in flash you need to get swf file which is loaded through wrapper parent then hacker needs to go through 2 layers of encryption and obfuscation.Majority flash book games are flash. With Flex 4.5 SDK build and deploy applications for Google Android, Apple iOS and BlackBerry Tablet OS platforms  leverage one tool, one framework and one codebase to deliver apps across leading mobile platforms, not to mention web and desktop as well

But then reality is still HTML5 has more issues with Andriod and iOS while Flex has few.

Flex is HTML 5 + more:à Flex is no.1 choice for enterprise  complex, high-fidelity enterprise applications such as business dashboards, line of business tools, real-time trading applications and desktop replacement applications, and see leading companies in healthcare, financial services, communications and other industries standardizing on it.HTML5 has not matured yet. Flex is a choice for following reason:

SDK and Compiler open sourced MPL license, HTML 5 open standard WHATWG license , Adobe + on Flex new 3d – graphics,(transformation scene, camera, lighting, change pixel data ,effects)

Real-time connection(HTML5 has websocket vs Flex has flash.net.socket) ,Drag and Drop (drag and drop across application, cross document, clipboard) with API’s flash.desktop.clipboard,Events.NativeDragevents,Flash.desktop.TransferableData Vs HTML5 DataTransfer and DragEvent.

Adobe provide better file system (in HTML5 input type upload storage api vs Flex has File, FileStream, Filemode) (read/write capabilities), Offline Access Adobe air provides Resource(Windows application Vs Application cache) State(air.Event.NETWORK_CHANGE_URLMonitor vs navigator online,)

Data (flash.data.SQLConnection vs HTML5 has Database,SQLTransaction,SQLResultSet,LocalStorage.

New HTML 5 products which also use Action scripts as base new HTML5 products, Adobe Muse™ and Adobe Edge preview.

Cloud: Adobe’s creative tablet applications+, such as Photoshop Touch, into everyday work – seamlessly synchronizing and storing files in the cloud for sharing and access on any device

Adobe Typekit launched in Oct 2011 , the Web-based font library that pioneered the use of real fonts on websites, delivering more than 700 typefaces from leading foundries.

Adobe Edge, a ground-breaking HTML5 development tool; and Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition, the technology behind the delivery of digital magazines on iPad.

Adobe new Open source strategy: As Flex moves into a community-driven open source project, Adobe will make initial technical contributions and will also continue to provide a team of full-time Flex SDK engineers to contribute to the Apache project.

Adobe is currently in the process of contributing the core Flex SDK (including advanced data visualization components), automation libraries, AIR SDK binaries, documentation, and specifications to the Apache Flex Project.Also contribute yet-to-be-released Spark components including ViewStack, Accordion, DateField, DataChooser, and an enhanced DataGrid.Other future contribution to project include Falcon JS new compiler for action script,Mustella a functional testing framework, BlazeDS code is already available at adobe.com/go/blazeds_source under the GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 3.

BlazeDS provides Java based server-side remoting and web messaging technology allowing Flex clients to exchange typed binary data with the server and receive notification from other clients and servers. The messaging service also allows Flex applications to exchange messages with other non Flex, JMS-enabled applications.

Flex Sparks components and the recent addition of the new mobile components provide a great and mature framework basis for a real open source effort

Next generation Experiments on Flex.

Gamification of Enterprise Software like ERP,BI,BPM etc : Enterprise gamification to date has really been about marketing and customer engagement. By gamification it introduces unrealized concepts of social collaboration and create the ad hoc collaboration,engagement metaphor help companies realize these lofty social/collaborative goals. people are more engaged, more able to understand and support the outcomes that matter to the enterprise, and they are being recognized and rewarded for these actions. Adobe with Flash based online games and enterprise grade Flex development platform is greatly positioned for that.

Augumented Reality:

Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer science that involves combining the physical world and an interactive, three-dimensional virtual world. For a complete project with Flash on AR visit http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/augmented_reality.html

Video game industry is major employer of AR.Its not the end of game we have business intelligence system employing Augmented Reality (http://youtu.be/mTflf_PqUYs)

. AR for ipad,android,ERP like SAP, Business Process management is getting lot of traction for all this Flex and Flash is greatly positioned. On SAP TV watch augmented reality(http://youtu.be/C4b2Npnbhz0).

Go to Source

The post Gamification, Augmented Reality, IoT of ERP is shipping business models appeared first on Statii News.

from Statii News http://news.statii.co.uk/gamification-augmented-reality-iot-of-erp-is-shipping-business-models/ from Statii News https://statiicouk.tumblr.com/post/167514284857

[swrx-rant]

User eXperience - Windows Explorer

Microsoft, does it feel like I'm picking on you? Get the fuck over it, its nothing you don't deserve a hundred million times over. (once for each user you have pissed off with your shitty interface)

DRAG & DROP - onDragEnter over an EXE file... TURN THIS FUCKING SHIT OFF. DON'T DO A FUCKING THING UNLESS I FUCKING DROP IT THERE!!! DO NOT FREEZE OR LAG MY COMPUTER OR FORCE THE MOUSE TO STICK OVER THE FUCKING EXE INCREASING THE CHANCE OF AN ACCIDENTAL FUCKING DROP DUE TO SIGNAL LOSS/LOW BATTERY/A CHEAP-ASS WIRELESS MOUSE THAT RANDOMLY RELEASES AND RECLICKS MISFIRING EVENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TOOLTIPS - 99% of the FUCKING TIME WE DO NOT WANT THESE FUCKING THINGS POPPED IN OUR FACE. THEY TEND TO COVER IMPORTANT INFORMATION LIKE FUCKING THE FILENAMES BELOW THE CURRENT ITEM TO PROVIDE US WITH REDUNDANT SHIT ALREADY VISIBLE ON THE SCREEN. They are useful 1% of the time and the UI should reflect that by USING A MODIFIER KEY TO SUMMON THEM!!! In other words, DON'T SHOW ME FUCKING TOOLTIPS UNLESS I'M HOLDING DOWN THE MOTHERFUCKING ALT KEY, ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!! That goes for Blizzard UI/WoW too. :/

STUPIDFETCH/PREFETCH - this is when your dog brings you the stick before you throw it. While you're driving. On the freeway. In the snow and ice. At night. With one headlight out. And no sleep for 36 hours. And your heater doesn't work. And the passenger window is broken.... I DON'T FUCKING WANT THE STICK RIGHT NOW, I WANT TRACTION ON THE FUCKING ROAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What DIPSHIT at Microsoft (sounds like they need those little blue pills) thought it was a good idea to WASTE ALL OF THE RAM ALL OF THE TIME? Seriously, some dumbass came up with a whitepaper that said unused resources were wasted. No, unused resources are RESERVED/PROTECTED/THERE-WHEN-NEEDED. OVERUSED RESOURCES ARE WASTED! AND SO WAS THE FUCKWAD THAT WROTE THE PAPER! Why should I slow my system, put unnecessary wear, and generally fuck up my user experience by having the computer load shit I am not currently using??? It doesn't fucking matter what I did last Tuesday, I expect 90% of system resources to be available TO THE ACTUAL PROGRAM/PROJECT I AM RUNNING!!! And the remaining 10% to keep the fucking system stable/responding.

How hard is it to just do what the fuck you are told and not try (badly) to guess what I might want next??? Saving 0.3 seconds on application load isn't worth taking 2-3x LONGER to fucking render!!! ALLOCATE MEMORY TO MY ACTUAL TASK, FUCK WHAT YOU THINK! Why doesn't the system give the RAM to Photoshop/GIMP/DAZ/Poser/Blender/Z-Brush/Maya/LightWave/3D Max/Carrara/Vue/Cinema4D/Bryce/or-whatever-the-fuck-high-system-requirement-program-I-am-USING!!!?? Hasn't anyone else noticed this? RAM says 0% free, 70% Available, 70% cached... and the program you are USING is CHOKING while it waits for the system to give it the fucking RAM it Requested/COMMITTED???? I'm watching the PAGE-FAULTS pile up while the system reports, "EVERYTHING'S FINE, NOT TO WORRY... WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY SOLITAIRE NOW¿ I'M GONNA LOAD THAT FOR YOU..." Is it illegal to fucking shoot a computer? Give it time, it will be.

I have watched this fucktarded process try to stuff 40GB of WoW data into 4GB of RAM. Windows, you have no fucking clue what bits the game needs, why don’t you WAIT FOR IT TO DECIDE/REQUEST!

SEARCH - HOW FUCKING HARD IS IT TO WRITE A USEFUL GODDAMNED SEARCH? (Don't ask Google, they sure as fuck don't know, no wonder I want to *bing* you jackasses upside the head) When I search for "desktop.ini" (to delete the useless fuckers), I do not want "desktop-utilities.ini", "desktop-widgets, incororated magical wanker with bluetooth file-syncing.ini", or anything the fuck else besides D E S K T O P . I N I -- why the fuck do I have to tell you "name:=" just to get expected behavior??? I didn't search for "desktop*.ini"! Users are smart enough to know how a fucking wildcard character works, too bad the OS isn't smart enough to know how a STRING LITERAL does! If you want to support more flexible searches, then why don't you limpdicks implement REGULAR EXPRESSION support on searches???????????? Then, if I wanted to search for "desktop.*\.ini" I would fucking tell you, otherwise assume I mean "desktop\.ini". The search worked better in Windows98 than it has in any version since... and it wasn't great back then either, it just hadn't become a total fuckup yet... that was before it started using crack. Can we just get the fucking thing to stop guessing and start fucking looking??

NETWORKING - on the subject of JUST FUCKING LOOK, perhaps we could get the network TO ACTUALLY FUCKING TRY TO CONNECT BEFORE IT SAYS IT COULDN'T??? Do you like being called limpdicks? You must, you did call yourselves "micro-soft". Do you think we're too stupid to notice the difference between the system trying to connect to a shared computer/network folder and it INSTANTLY bitching it can't? The only Denial of Service happening here is from you not letting me connect to my fucking internal network, you douchebags.

DEFRAG - what the fuck were you losers thinking??? First you replace the visual feedback of moving cluster blocks and replace it with a shitty progress bar (dropping from a 2D visual matrix to a single dimension), then you remove the feedback ENTIRELY... not even a generic progress bar or percentage or estimated completion time. Instead you fucktards just give us a message that says "please wait" with no indication that you are doing a fucking thing (even taskmanager can't see it half the fucking time). Then you take a goddamned nap for the next 36 hours, making no discernible progress. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT AND WHY THE FUCK IS IT EVEN TURNED ON? What shitbag thought the answer was "always running defrag in the background"??? That isn't a solution, its a fucking problem, a goddamned big one you numbshits! This had to come from the same dumbass that believes unused RAM is wasted, now we get the idea that if your HDD is GRINDING ALL THE TIME, it too is somehow wasted. FUCK. THAT. GUY. (please, somebody just shoot him between the eyes with a military grade paintball gun... and if you miss the *between* part, well, that's okay too) [yeah, yeah, "violence is never called for"... clearly you didn't read the script, cause the dramatic tension in this scene needs to break... its right there below line 7, it clearly says "and violence ensues"]

TILES - yes, let's make an interface that takes up extra space and doesn't provide anything useful... oh, and let's make it the FUCKING DEFAULT. And no matter how many times the user tells us they don't want this piece of shit view, we'll keep reverting to it, especially when they open a network folder or external device.

Seriously dipfucks, this could have been a useful, CUSTOMIZABLE view where the USER could decide what details they wanted to see, and HOW BIG THE TUMBNAIL/PREVIEW is, and what META-INFORMATION such as URLs could be attached and how they would be shown.

But instead they made a shitty, small preview/thumbnail, and piled on useless details that cannot be configured, leaving out USEFUL information wherever possible. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CUSTOM FUCKING WIDGET, LET THE DAMNED USER DECIDE WHAT THEY WANT, DON'T FORCE IT ON THEM. NO MEANS NO.

SETTINGS/CONTROL PANEL - WHY?! WHY DO YOU FUCKERS HAVE TO RENAME AND MOVE SETTINGS WITH EVERY FUCKING VERSION OF THE OS????? It was painful enough to find how to customize this shitty operating system the first time, now, like fucking walmart, I have to learn an entirely new store layout every fucking time I visit instead of finding the product/service/setting I'm looking for. KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF! AND QUIT FUCKING HIDING SETTINGS TOO... things that could be configured in older versions of windows are now FUCKING HARDCODED LIKE THE FUCKTARDS AT APPLE DO! I don't wan't a single-button mouse or interface, morons, I WANT FULL FUCKING CONTROL OF EVERY SINGLE (reasonably distinct) ASPECT, THAT CAN BE *SAFELY* CONFIGURED. I don't like fucktarded "basic" settings that have only 1 or 2 options, I DEMAND FULL CONTROL OF THE FUCKING COMPUTER AND OPERATING SYSTEM I PAID FOR! If I don't like a how shitty UI/UX feature is implemented, I ought to be able to change it! I'm not asking to modify core stability and security, just the ability to use your product without wanting to kill myself. (or you... mostly you)

JUMP LISTS: PINNED ITEMS - why can't you fucking remember what was PINNED!? Especially for web-browsers! When I pin 10 websites, I EXPECT THEM TO BE THERE A WEEK FROM NOW, A MONTH FROM NOW, A DECADE FROM NOW!!! Instead, they disappear after just a couple of days because you keep OVERWRITING PINNED ITEMS with "new" items. TREAT THE FUCKING PINNED AS READ ONLY, WHO GIVES A FUCK ABOUT OTHER VISITED SITES, WHY SHOULD THEY TAKE PRECEDENCE!? Only the USER should be allowed to REMOVE PINS!!!!!!!! Its time you "microsoft dogs" learn what *STAY* means! But enough talk, HAVE AT YOU!

[ktfromjerseyblog]

Eco Lifestyle Game Patch Update

OPTIONS FOR GAME PATCH: 1.)  Manual Update, day of (or soon after) patch release 2.)  Delay update 3.)  Vanilla play

Option #1 (manual update) If you are doing a manual update immediately when it is available, first thing to do is BACK-UP your Mods, Saves and Tray folders.

INSTRUCTIONS ON BACKING UP MODS/CC, SAVE FILES, AND TRAY (skip if you’re familiar): Go to your Game folder, click and drag your Mods folder to your desktop. Then right-click somewhere blank on your desktop and create a New Folder (rename it STANDBY). Open this STANDBY folder and right-click in the blank space, click New Folder (name this one Mods). You are going to repeat the process until you have three folders inside your STANDBY folder. They should be titled Mods, Saves, and Tray. Open your Mods folder (on your desktop) and the STANDBY folder at the same time (side by side). Select all of the files in your Mods folder (CTRL+A or Command+A), then right click on them and select COPY. Then click into your STANDBY folder, go to Mods, right-click the blank space, and select PASTE. Now you will have your original Mods folder on your desktop to test and use, and you will also have this STANDBY folder as a duplicate back up. Next you will go to your Game Folder, select Tray, select all items (CTRL+A), right-click, select COPY. Then you will paste all these folders into the STANDBY>Tray folder. Then do the exact same thing with your Saves folder. Now you will have everything finally backed up. I recommend moving this STANDBY folder to an external hard drive (or flashdrive).

AFTER YOU UPDATED WITH GAME PATCH: please test once WITHOUT your Mods folder. Remove the entire Physical Mods folder from your Game Folder, place on desktop. This assists in a Folder Refresh. Let the game make a new Mods folder, with a new Resource.cfg inside, and rebuild from there. Don’t forget that you may need to turn on your Game Settings to enable script mods and custom content. This is in your Game Menu, under Other Settings. Considering “IF” the new free-floating objects feature “doesn’t” break CC. It should be safe to put your CC right back into the newly created Mods folder. At this point, you should still have your mods on your desktop. This is the point where you need to begin researching if your mods are working. To do this, you can check the comments below for mod updates. We implore you to follow creators on their social media for confirmation of working/broken mod reports. Most Script Mods WILL BREAK.  Your best bet is keeping all of your mods on your desktop and only introducing them after

a.) mod has been confirmed working

b.) mod has been replaced with updated version.

Option #2 (delay update) To delay an update, you must have pre-emptively turned OFF your Game Auto-Updates in advance. Next you will need to ensure your Origin Client is OFFLINE. This will mean that you can keep all your mods and cc in your game folder and continue to play unchanged. People do this in the meantime while they’re waiting for Creators to update their mods. This is the option for people who can’t bare to play without CC and Mods.

Option #3 (vanilla play) This option is for people who are too excited to wait any longer for the patch update and new expansion, and would rather wait for all the Creators to finish their testing and patches. So in order to do this, you will need to remove your Mods folder from your Game Folder, and place it on your desktop. Or you can disable mods and custom content in your Game Settings, under Other Settings. I still recommend backing up your saves and tray files.

FOLDER REFRESH

https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/805240/game-folder-refresh-may-fix-some-issues

GAME REFUSES TO START

If your game is not starting or prompts an error, remove all off your mods/cc, then restart. If it starts up just fine, then it is due to an error in your mods. If it does not start up, then you may have a corrupted save file due to a broken mod. Please be sure your game folder is saved in the appropriate path: PC users should look something like this (minus the kmeha..thats just my comp name) C:\Users\kmeha\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 If youre game is continuing to give you start-up issues, please feel free to post about it. But include the following: PC/Mac user? Legacy Edition? Folder Refresh conducted? Restart without mods conducted? Include picture of error message.

”MY MODS NEVER BREAK”: For those of you saying "my mods never break when i update the game". Mods can and most likely will break after an update. The word "broken" does not necessarily mean your game is going to completely stop working. So i'm going to make up an example to help you better understand. Let's say that Sacrificial's Life Tragedies Mod was labeled as "Broken". But when you play with it in game, you see no issues, and you receive no LastExceptionErrors. So you may think, "well thats not right, my mod is fine." when in reality its not. So some mods are massive and have loads of animations, objects, and content in general. If one tiny thing from it is corrupted in the code due to a patch update, it is considered “Broken”. So in Sacrificial's Life Tragedies Mod, you have five serial killers that you have the option of using. Lets say the game patch update breaks The Killer Nanny in that mod. But you never play with her ever. This could mean that you would never know that the mod is broken because you havent received any error notifications due to you not utilizing that portion of the code. This still means the mod is "broken" though. Broken can just mean that there is a small (or large) portion of the coding that is not compatible with how the game coding has changed due to the update. TLDR: a small feature can break and you would never know it if you never use it. it still means the mod is broken.

LAST EXCEPTION FILES For those of you looking for methods to read your lastException files, the following are your options:

1. Deaderpool Discord 2. Better Exceptions 3. Last Exceptions reader

DEADERPOOL DISCORD: For the deaderpool discord, you will have to create an account on discord. its super easy. i absolutely love discord. if you dont know what it is, its basically like a massive chat room platform, particularly popular amongst gamers. If you decide to create a discord account, you'll have to download the software. its totally safe! i use it all the time. a lot of gamers use it as a platform to talk to their friends over voice chat when playing a game that doesnt provide a feature like that. if you decide to join discord, here is the link for the Deaderpool Discord (ran by the creator of MCCC): https://discord.gg/mccc

if you go on there, they have a text channel called "lastexception_support". its super easy to use, all you have to do is click on that channel, and then click and drag your LE file into the channel box. it will upload it to the server. theres nothing in your file that will get you hacked or anything. tens of thousands of files have been uploaded to this. its literally just a text document saying where the error is in your mod coding. From there, someone from the Support Team will respond with a solution. Its really great because they can help you to understand reading the code.

BETTER EXCEPTIONS MOD: This is a mod that you download from Twisted Mexi. https://www.patreon.com/posts/better-major-26712505 This mod will provide a new file to generate in your game called the Better Exceptions Report. When you get one, it will tell you what it suspects is causing an issue in your game. This is one of the most user-friendly options for new modders. When you see the identifed "issue" in the report, you'll have just to exit out of game and delete the issue (broken cc/mod). Before you re-start your game, just remember to delete the BetterExceptionsReport file from your game folder. Otherwise it will not be able to update it with a new one if a new error arises.

LAST EXCEPTIONS READER: this is just a website where you can do the same thing as the deaderpool discord. just drag and drop your file, and a robot reads it to identify the issue. The only problem with this is you cant talk to the robot and explain your situation (like you can in discord).

https://lastexception.com