#but like to me snapchat is not actually a real alternative/app where you can have full conversations and get to know each other

[cafecitowriter]

Ugh, I dislike dating apps as well. I don't understand why someone would speak to you, then just stop replying. I understand maybe if the conversation wasn't the best, but like, if it's good then why not keep it going

I got back on the apps after my very close friend (who's been in a relationship for 4 years) convinced me that I should at least try. It's honestly not as bad as it was the last time I did it when Tinder seemed to be the main option everyone was using and I've also really been able to tailor my profile to do a lot of weeding out, so overall it's been pretty great in terms of who I'm matching with in the first place.

My main issue is 100% the ghosting. Like if the conversation is dead and you know it's not going anywhere then that's fine, you know? But if we're actively talking to each other and then you start to answer less frequently to the point where I don't hear from you for days at a time and you come back with "oh hey I'm just not good at these apps, add me on snapchat"? It's just kind of disheartening. You don't need to respond to me within an hour all the time and sometimes I have a hard time responding on the apps but if you're only offering snapchat as another alternative of communication, that doesn't do you any favours with me.

[metalbvcky]

*Shows up late to the Stucky/Marvel fandom Post-EG with Starbucks and dozens of fics that I’ve read in hand* So you guys like fanfiction?

Yeah so, because of quarantine I’ve been consuming a ton of fic. I’ve probably read over 1.5 million words in just a couple months. So why not share what I’ve been reading! Note that some of these are older (popular) fics so veteran Stucky peeps will probably know of them since I not too recently delved into the realm that is Stucky fanfic. :)  

Down below are over a dozen fics with different tropes, Canon/AU’s, and what not. Please do heed the tags on some of these. For the curious: My AO3 bookmarks. 

Also shoutout to @stuckylibrary, the mods over there are doing the lords work. 

Key:  ♥ = My fave, S = Smut, DS = Dom/Sub 

Heroes are Easy, People are Hard ♥ by Halbereth, Lorien - Words: 152,284 | CW Fix It, Slight Canon Divergence, Recovery, Slow Burn

Shuri and Wanda cleared Bucky's triggers shortly after Killmonger's attempted coup, and he and Steve went on the run. But it turns out there's more to "fixing Bucky's head" than "getting Hydra out of it." When a group of rogue scientists manage to neutralize the serum and make Steve very sick--pre-serum "this is bad" kind of sick--and they're cut off from contact with Wakanda, Bucky knows only one person with resources to help. He calls Tony and surrenders on the condition that Tony tries to help Steve.

From there, it's basically three variously messed-up guys’ trajectories from "This Is Fine", "Reasonably Speaking I Know It’s Fine", "I Will Be Fine With It" to actually being fine, guest-starring a far-better-adjusted teenage boy who climbs walls, a 1957 Ford Thunderbird, two women with a keen sense of the absurd, and Bruce, the Zen master of “it’s fine that it’s not fine.” Add in the fact that Bucky's been secretly in love with Steve since the thirties and things only get harder. Learning to be a person is the hardest thing Bucky Barnes will ever have to do--but he's got company along the way.

Reap The Whirlwind by Cristinuke - Words: 18,221 | Canon Universe, Post CW, Domestic 

Bucky finds a cat. Or rather, a cat finds him.

Your Favorite Ghost by augustbird - Words: 21,013 |  Canon Divergence, Post TWS

It's harder than Steve ever expected to bring Bucky home.

Despite the threatening sky and shuddering earth (they remained) ♥ by praximeter (Zimario) - Words: 71,532 | Canon Divergence TWS, Body Modifications 

“They really didn’t want the mask to come off.” Hill thumbed through the scans, and pulled out a film that she then handed over to Sam, face mostly expressionless but for the flat line of her pursed lips.

Sam accepted the film and held it up to the light, angling so both he and Steve could see it, squinting at the outline of the Winter Soldier’s skull, and the blips of unnatural white that showed up, God, in his brain, not to mention about half his teeth, plus the mask, with its thin protrusions—

“Those are pins,” Steve realized. He looked over at Hill. “The mask—it’s nailed to his face.”

Hill’s face was as unmoved as ever. “Like I said. They really didn’t want it coming off.”

This city bleeds its aching heart ♥ by Renne - Words: 34,537 | Canon Universe, Fake/Pretend Relationship 

The one where Steve and Bucky pose as a happily married couple while on a mission for SHIELD, to catch an international arms dealer hiding in a suburban neighbourhood.

The Best Way to Wake ♥ by LeeHan - Words: 42,293 | Post TFA, Canon Divergence TWS, Recovery 

James Buchanan Barnes lay in a glass pod in the middle of the table, frozen since he fell. Steve’s hands were on the glass before he realized he’d moved. “Wait, Captain!” “Get him out,” Steve whispered, his hands searching for a clasp, a keypad, something. “Captain, we need to keep him in stasis—“ “I said get him out!”

Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail ♥ series by owlet - Words: 264,438 | Canon Divergence (sort of) 

The mission resets abruptly, from objective: kill to objective: protect

Undersell, overcommit by silentwalrus - Words: 10,222 | Canon Universe 

Steve goes so hard for Bucky that he becomes a licensed, practicing massage therapist.

Sparked Up Like a Book of Matches by Sena - Words: 26,734 | Post-TWS, Canon Universe 

Steve lives in Stark Tower and doesn't have much to do when he's not going after Hydra strongholds. He attends charity events to make Pepper happy. He goes hiking with Sam. He hangs out with Clint in Bed-Stuy and watches Dog Cops. Sometimes Tony gives him super alcohol in a sippy cup. Sometimes he sees Bucky out of the corner of his eye and wonders if it's real or if he's starting to lose his mind.

Alternately, the one with terrible jokes, a foot chase through the Lower East Side, and a tiny little robot named Shitcan.

Sugar Sweet ♥ from the Red Velvet series by ColorCoated - Words: 173,400 | Modern/Sugar Daddy AU, Age Difference, Slow Burn

"What's your name?" It wasn't even a line. He was just pretty and Bucky wanted a name to go with that face. With that strong jawline. With those deep blue eyes. A little smirk, "Steve."

Awww, Steve. He looked like a Steve. Bucky pursed his lips in a way he hoped was attractive, "You should buy me a drink."

College Student Bucky finds himself immediately attracted to Steve. He knows that Steve's a bit older than him, and that Steve himself is put off by the age difference. . . But that doesn't stop Bucky from wanting to climb him like a tree.

Steve and Bucky Go Away for the Weekend (and cook a lot) ♥ by E_Greer -  Words: 30,126 | Canon Universe, Domestic 

In which Steve coaxes Bucky out of the Tower for a birthday weekend away and sweet, fluffy domesticity ensues. Phlintasha helps keep Bucky calm, Steve has Opinions about how you set the table, stories are told, greenhouses are toured, baths are had, books are read, tears are shed, stars are gazed upon, and everyone makes Bucky feel loved. Includes Friday night dinner, Saturday morning breakfast, Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner, and Sunday brunch.

Dona Nobis Pacem by thegraytigress - Words: 65,214 | Canon Universe, Recovery 

"This job... We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes it doesn't mean everybody, but if we can't find a way to live with that... Next time maybe nobody gets saved."

An incident on the battlefield exposes how much Steve's falling apart under the crushing weight of leading the Avengers after Sokovia. Now Bucky's adopting a new mission: save Steve before he destroys himself completely, even if it means the end of Captain America.

Give 'Em Hope ♥ by L1av - Words: 130,022 | Modern/Hospital AU, UA/Age Difference 

Dr. Steve Rogers likes to think that if his patients have hope- their chances of survival will increase. Bucky Barnes has a 20% chance of survival and a desperate yearning to experience life. Against Steve's better judgment, he develops a relationship with his patient. It's illegal. It's wrong. But it's giving Bucky the hope to keep going, so Steve's going to keep giving it, because he wants Bucky to survive. He needs him to.

You belong (to me) by hermionesmydawg - Words: 29,759 | S, DS, Canon Compliant, Post CW

"Hold on." Bucky lifted a finger and backed out of the doorway, returning a moment later with his cell phone. He snapped a photo of Steve, typed a few words, and then returned to his apple. "What the hell were you doing at a sex club last night?"

"Not having sex, if that's what you're wondering." An alert sounded from Steve's nightstand - a new Snapchat message. He rolled his eyes and unlocked his phone. Sam was always sending stupid Snapchats and frankly, Steve couldn't figure that goddamn app out and cursed whoever created that piece of shit.

The chat wasn't from Sam this time, however. It was a picture of himself, not looking guilty at all, with the caption "when your buddy catches you looking at p*rn."

Circling Back from the It’s Not Linear series by chaya - Words: 59,642 (Series Total: 136,782) | Canon Divergence

Steve looks for Bucky, Bucky finds Steve, Steve tries desperately to put Bucky back together. Bucky tries desperately to let him.

Continuing Education by 743ish, romanticalgirl - Words: 14,443 | S, Canon Universe/College, Shrunkyclunks 

Steve is invited to be a guest lecturer on the WWII unit for Bucky's college course. Bucky's more than happy to glean any extra knowledge (in more than just history) from Steve, and Steve's happy to eductate him. But then Bucky has to decide if he can handle the fact that Steve throws himself into danger, and if the sex is worth it. Or if it's not just sex anymore.

Salt & Sugar by GoldBlooded, stfustucky - Words: 19,598 | Modern/Restaurant AU

Steve Rogers is a bigshot celebrity chef in New York City, and Bucky Barnes is a classically trained pastry chef in Moscow.

When billionaire and mutual friend Natasha Romanoff calls on them to collaborate for her Memorial Day Benefit Gala, they both brace themselves to spend the week working with some jerk they're bound to hate. Except... Steve makes a burger that could bring Bucky to tears, and Bucky makes tartlets so beautiful Steve's sure they qualify as art. Maybe, just maybe, together they could make this a night to remember.

@/sgtbarnes1917 and @/cptrogers1918 by BayleyWinchester - Words: 114,203 | Canon Universe, Social Media Fic 

Bucky Barnes broke Twitter with one photo

Proprietary Information ♥ from the Additional Information series by notlucy - Words: 85,141 (Series Total: 165,871) | Modern AU, Age difference, Slow Burn

Okay, so Bucky Barnes has a crush on Steve Rogers. The guy's gorgeous, talented and, oh yeah, the Chief Design Officer of the biggest tech company in the world. In other words: he's so far out of Bucky's league that he might as well be in a different stratosphere.

Deep in the Woods (Where My Heart Has Been Waiting) by SilverMyfanwy - Words: 15,353 | Pioneer-AU, Shrinkyclinks 

Steve Rogers gets lost in the woods in a snowstorm. Bucky Barnes takes him in. Pioneer-era AU ish with Shrinkyclinks, evil chickens and a cabin in the woods.

A Bucky Odyssey by inediblesushi, thorstbench - Words: 9,952 | Shrinkyclinks,  Cap!Bucky, Nurse!Steve  

Bucky Barnes, Captain America, has a plan to make Steve Rogers, SHIELD nurse, fall in love with him. Confiding in the Internet might not be the best idea, though. So when the bad pick up lines do not work and Steve looks determined to staying single, he decides to be more himself and less what he thinks he should be.

At first I wanted to wait to post this until I finished a few more fics from my ever growing read-later list but what the heck, now or never! I’ll probably end up making a part 2 reclist by the amount of fic I’m reading these days. 

Happy reading and stay safe out there fellow Stucky trash members!!

[deepdonutkid]

Peaky Blinders- modern Headcanons

First things first… these head canons are actually not real head canons in the common sense. A fellow writer friend and I work on story about the Shelby Family living in the 21. Century. The Story is called ‘We know this to be true’, but it’s unpublished, as this is a thing between said friend and me, but because we are both Peaky Blinders fans we talk a lot about the series and the characters. Due to this, we had lot ideas about how the family will act and behave in the modern times. Well, it would make no sense to upload the story itself, because it’s written like a roleplay and not like a fanfiction. So I’ll just list this kinda head canons and upload them, because my friend and I noticed that there is a lack of vanilla and non-sexual head canons. But I should mention… this is the first thing I write in English. It’s not my native language, which makes it a little difficult. I always feared not writing in German, my native language, because I didn’t thought my English was good enough for this, even though I never had problems with speaking English or getting good grades. This is still a little challenge for me, so I’ll start with something easy… like just general thoughts about the characters in the modern setting, so I don’t have to explain them later.

General assumptions

Freddie and Ada married, but he didn’t die… Of course… in the 21. Century, he would get sick and die due to that. (Well, we talked about that before Covid-19… so maybe that still be a thing, but just for now, we’ll stick with modern medicine or agree, that Freddie and Ada would be in self-quarantine together)  

Freddie wouldn’t be a unionist, as this position is not, what it used to be. Instead we thought that he’ll be a left hacktivist, fighting with Computer, Programs and Codes against the establishment and big transnational companies. And Ada would probably join him, because in the series she does the same. (After Freddie died in the first episode of season 2, she still was a communist for a period of time, so this is likely.)

They are still very left and anti-fascist. I would even say they are vegan, as people nowadays don’t rely on eating meat any more.

They already had Carl and they’re getting two daughters, Rosa- after Rosa Luxemburg- and Clara- after Clara Zetkin

-.-.-.-

Arthur has an expansive hobby… repairing old-timers.

He is not very good with mobile devices or IT itself, but he tries.

The three brothers, Danny, Jimmy Jesus, and probably also Freddie all went to war, but of course not the First World War, but somewhere in the middle-east.

-.-.-.-

After the deployment Tommy was wrecked. The medical after care for soldiers didn’t help him at all, but now he has medication for PTSD. He refused to take them on a regular basis instead he works his ass of. So somethings are still the same! But that’s the reasons the Shelby LLC actually had success and they are kinda rich now.

He still has a thing for horses and riding, but he works too much to actually do it. But he owns a few horses and stuff like that. And he is still a heavy smoker. After his second child he finally decides to quit, but it doesn’t last long.

He would still name his first son, Charlie, but not because of the stupid Chaplin thing with Grace. Tommy had a sentimental moment, where he decided to name his son after his uncle, who was more like a father to him than his father.

-.-.-.-.-

The Shelby LLC has an office in London and John runs it. He also works a lot for the family, but lives in London now. His apartment is pretty nice and hella expensive. It’s a penthouse suite with a beautiful view of the city, but he lives alone. Yeah, we thought the getting married at such a young age and having lots of children thing was a little out of date, but he’ll get married someday and then he’ll have just as much kids as canon. It’s unthinkable that John doesn’t get to be a father, but same goes with the other brothers.

Like all the Shelbys he is tattooed, but he hast a full sleeve. John only trusts one tattoo artist in Birmingham. And he’s also interested in music, post-punk, alternative, punk and rock, but he wouldn’t even dance, if you force him to. He literally can’t dance! And he hates techno so much; he thinks it’s just strange noises.  BUT… he has a huge vinyl and record collection! He stole the first CDs as a child, because he didn’t had the money.

-.-.-.-

Finn goes to a private school and is quite popular. He also has every common app. Snapchat, Insta, TikTok… like everything you can think of. Due to his style he has become an influencer.

One time he filmed how Michael dyed Adas hair pink. She wanted to do something crazy and he likes to record everything for his fans.

-.-.-.-.-

Michael found Polly, after he was 18. Then he searched for his mother. She was so happy, when he came back to her.

After his law school, he wants to work the Shelby LLC. Polly is against that, but the discussion is still on the table. Tommy supports that though, because they may need a lawyer.

-.-.-.-

This was it for now. Stay tuned! Every now and then I’ll update this and make head canons about any kind of topic. I already planned social media usage, music, food, clothes, hobbies, drug usage and others.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #387

“today i woke up, & i hate myself”

What common problem have you never experienced? The loss of a close family member (that doesn't include pets). Alternatively, what's an uncommon problem you have experienced? Homelessness. Do you know anyone who opposes marriage equality? I sure do. What was the last thing you got really emotional about? Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty premiering. What's the longest amount of time you've been ill for? I don't really know. I don't get sick a lot at all. Who is your closest male friend? Girt. Do you know anyone who hunts for meat? Sadly. I say "sadly" because it's not like they need it. Have you ever lived with a boyfriend/girlfriend? Yes, although I wasn't a technical resident. I was there all the time, though. What do you wash dishes with? Sponge, scrub brush, rag, something else? A sponge. Is there anything you prefer to do the old-fashioned way? There's probably something, but I can't think of anything. Do you put your glasses and mugs right side up or upside down on the cabinet shelf? Upside-down. What was the worst part of your childhood? My parents fighting. Have you ever seen a high school relationship last long-term? (like 10+yrs) Yeah. Do you know any cancer survivors? Quite a few. Leftover pizza for breakfast... yay or nay? Good shit, man. Do you personally know anyone who's a psychopath or sociopath? I don't think so. What is your most used kitchen appliance? Lately, it's been the apple slicer. I've been on a real apple slices + peanut butter kick lately. What is something that you would personally like to be remembered for? For being a caring person towards all living things. Have you ever been diagnosed as clinically depressed before? Yes. Do you like bowling? Yeah, it's fun. Do you own binoculars or nonoculars? What do you use them for? No. Do you ever wish you had a telescope on the roof or attic to stargaze? Yeah, that'd be cool. Have you ever had to deal with someone close to you going off to war? No, thankfully. Who do you feel you have the most in common with? Sara, easily. Who in your life causes you the most stress or negative feelings? My damn self lmao. Have you ever had a teacher that also taught your parents? No. My parents didn't grow up in NC. What’s one thing that people definitely CAN’T count on you for? To remember like... anything. What about something they definitely can count on you for? Someone to listen to encourage them. What’s one food that you want to try but haven’t yet? I've always thought macaroons look good. Do you have anything planned for the summer? No. Do you walk fast or slow? Slow. Would you consider yourself an adrenaline junkie? No. What is a common slang word from where you live? Plural "you" does not exist. It's "y'all," lol. What’s the scariest thing you’ve accidentally found on the internet? *shrug* Probably something as a kid, going on those sketchy websites with loads of games and stuff. Thinking of every Halloween costume you’ve had, which one was the most creative? I don't think I've had any creative costumes for Halloween. What’s one random city you want to visit? It's not exactly "random" as it's a popular location, but anyway, I would love to visit Venice. What subjects do you or did you get the worst grades in? Math. When was the last time you ate cake and what type of cake was it? That's a good question, actually. Maybe my niece's birthday in February? I don't remember what kind of cake it was. Do you have photos to go with all of the contacts in your phone? No; I don't have any. Do you like snowy winter days or do you prefer rainy days? SNOWY! Name 3 things you find most beautiful in nature: Mountains, large waterfalls, and desert dunes in the wind. If you could ask one person one questions and get a completely honest answer who would it be and what would you ask? Jason. I'd ask if he thought I was emotionally abusive. What is your favorite winter activity? Building snowmen. Who is the greatest singer who is no longer living? Freddie Mercury. What is your idea of heaven? I don't know, really... I have to ask myself IS there a heaven in eternity? Living forever just... doesn't appeal to me. "Living" is an odd word to use there, but hopefully you get it. Existing on and on and on and on seems like it'd just be a drag, but at the same time I do like the thought of feeling relentlessly happy and peaceful with my loved ones. I guess that would be my definition of it, if it does exist. What’s one of the scariest things you’ve ever done? ODed. Have you ever watched the Superbowl all the way through? Just once, on my 16th birthday because I was at Jason's place and all of his family was watching it. I had absolutely zero interest, but we wanted to hang with the family. If you had to move to another country, where would you move? Canada. Do you watch American Horror Story? I haven't in years. It was Jason's and my first "show," and the first season was excellent. I lost interest in the second one, honestly. I'd be up for watching other seasons, though. How many relationships have you been in this year? None. What's your favorite cereal? Probably Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That's also the only cereal where I can happily drink the milk afterwards. Twitter or Facebook? Facebook. Do you like to paint your nails? No. What's the coolest place you've ever been to? Disney World, probably. Have you ever punched anyone? No. What's something you wish you knew how to do? Cook. :/ I really need to make an effort to learn. It'd be great to not rely on a microwave for the rest of my life. What's a celebrity that everyone likes but you don't? *shrug* What food do you eat the most? Probably bread in some form or another. That really needs to stop. Green or purple grapes? Either one, but they have to be firm. I cannooooooot with soft grapes. Have you ever cried over a text? Yeah. What's the background of your phone of? My lock screen is this pretty, simplistic periwinkle color with "work on you for you" written on it. It's one I plan on keeping for probably a long time because I connect to it so deeply with my stupid damn head frequently demanding I have to improve "for Jason" to prove him wrong. Which is a very unhealthy mindset to have, I know. My home screen is a cute lil Mark edit someone made with a very similar pale blue background, so my phone is just currently an #aesthetic. Do you have a Snapchat? No. What's your favorite sports team? (if you like sports)? I don't like sports, but I'm biased towards the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team because of my dad. Last thing you ate? I had Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast. Do you take a lot of selfies? Definitely not. I just hate how I look so much; it takes way too much effort for me to get an "acceptable" one. Do you prefer strawberries or cherries? Strawberries. I hate cherries. How many hours of sleep did you get last night? Maybe like, three. -_- Our A/C is still out, and it was like, 87 in the house last night. It was impossible to sleep. Do you listen to music daily? Not EVERY day, but usually. Biggest insecurity? My weight. Do you play video games? Not as much as I used to. I'd probably play way more if I actually had a PS4 + the games I'm DYING to have. Do you consider yourself lazy? "Yes, but a lot of it is also health related for my lack of energy and motivation." <<<< This for me as well. What recently made you laugh? I was watching a bit of The Nanny with Mom yesterday. We love that show. Do you like gummy bears? Yep. What was the last song you listened to? I'm randomly hooked on "My Nocturnal Serenade" by YOHIO. Like, I've known the song for a long time, but NOW I'm bingeing it???? Describe your mom with one word. Selfless. What's the biggest turn-off? Probably being misogynistic. But being a cocky ass is definitely high up there, too. What fish scares you the most? Mfkng whale sharks terrify me. How do you feel about snails? They're cuties!!! What's your favorite app? Pokemon GO. Would you rather time travel into the past or future? The future, to see what's coming. I feel like you could come back with some pretty valuable information. What is the saddest song you've ever heard? I think "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade has to come on top. What insect do you hate the most? I was reminded that stag beetles exist last night, and omfg those. Well, "hate" is the wrong word, really, I'm just terrified of them. Would you ever have a wild animal as a pet if possible? I 110% want to rescue an opossum, emphasis on "rescue." I'm not plucking one from the wild or anything like that. I would be in HEAVEN raising one of those angels. Are there any decorations that makes you happy? (lights, candles, plants..) I love those beds decorated with fairy lights, and just Christmas lights in general. Halloween and Christmas decor tend to give me sparks of happiness when I see 'em. Does race matter to you when it comes to dating? Not at all for me. When was the last time you painted something? Not since I was still in school and took a Painting course. When was the last time you really felt alive, and what were you doing? I have NO idea. What is one question you would like an answer to? Why the worst things tend to happen to good people. Name one favorite thing to do with kids while babysitting. I don't babysit, but if I was to be in charge of a kid, I'd love to teach them to play video games from my childhood. Playing Pokemon with my niece and nephew is always a blast, ahhhh. Name one flavor you like. Strawberry is pretty consistent. Name one thing you are hoping for. Venus' new terrarium soon... big sigh. I can't for the life of me find one that's a reasonable price and also adequately sized. I'm willing to put the rest of my cash into it, but Mom is helping, so I can't just buy the first one I see. Then I'd need more substrate, I seriously want a temperature gun and hygrometer, a cool hide, sticks and stuff for cover... It's going to be expensive, but I want Venus to have a truly proper environment she can thrive in. Write the name of one of your imaginary friends from when you were younger. Oddly enough, I can't remember the imaginary wolf that was my "friend." I say "oddly" because his whole idea was important to me as a weird-ass kid. Name one girl's name that starts with a "J" that you like. "Justine." Name one boy's name that starts with a "J" that you like. Maybe "Jaxson." Have you ever been kissed? Yeah. Have you ever feared that you would be killed? It's never been like, a fear I actively worry about. I just acknowledge it's always a possibility for anyone. What is the last great opportunity you missed? This was quite a while ago by now, but I'd say by dropping out of school, I really let photography opportunities slip since I became the newspaper photographer...

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/aquarius-full-moon-august-3rd-2020-challenge-becomes-opportunity/

Aquarius Full Moon, August 3rd 2020 ~ Challenge Becomes Opportunity

Aquarius Full Moon, August 3rd 2020 ~ Challenge Becomes Opportunity

By L’Aura Pleiadian

Here we go again with a profound frequency OPPORTUNITY for those prepared to be in their HEART in all moments. That is, the lower self is dissolved into the higher Heart. Which lives as only being present MOMENT to moment. ANYTHING not moment to moment is the lower self.  This FULL MOON on Monday August 3rd, 2020 ( A Holiday in Canada) is at 12:58pm ADT and is profound in its frequency.

Those not in their heart will experience potentially GREATER revealing of what is inside of their consciousness as a filter they function through and which potentially may lead to greater self awareness and heart awakening.  Those in their heart may still experience a challenge or many challenges, and the key will be, allowing the old patterns to dissolve and TO LET GO of ATTACHMENTS TO outcome. Which is the main way ego or the lower self, functions through.

The HIGHER self only knows now. REMEMBER that list? Great to keep checking that daily; that is, if you actually truly do want to change. Applying all that you are capable of, to only living through NOW and the heart. This is your ascension process. YOU are the ONE that has to let go, not me for you.

Now back to this intense Full Moon frequency on August 3rd, 2020; this Aquarius Full Moon is SQUARE Uranus. The sun opposite moon (full moon) may be potentially challenging for those who have not mastered the emotional body.

With this Full Moon Square Uranus and opposite Saturn, we have potentially an increase in frustration, with a sense of change taking place that may feel unsettling to the mind. OF course living through your heart resolves all uncomfortable feelings, AS Love, purifies and release all, in the MOMENT.

Restrictions, tests may be on the table for the ego to deal with and to let go of.

Fear may arise in a huge way, again the heart ONLY dissolves it all.

ALLOW THE challenge to become the opportunity through YOU. Nothing happens to YOU it only happens through YOU.

This Is WHY all of this is coming up at this frequency space of Earth time, transformation to the DIVINE GOD SELF.

So that it will be released and or, for your next existence, to master form.

Through all of these intense MOMENTS and frequency experiences we activate your Higher SELF through this!

In the love, in the moment, that is all there is. And when you only live for your next breath in each moment, then and only then, you have mastered form. In love, NOW.

  To Follow me on Twitter:

http://www.twitter.comLAuraPleiadian  

copyright L’Aura Pleiadian ~ The New Divine Humanity 2012-2020.

******

All of Creation Is watching Earth and witnessing its Ascension Process. They are ready, ready for this Planet to be Declared a Light Only Zone. All of Humanity are called upon now to Step Up in fulfillment of their Divine Soul Contract.

The dark has been cleared, fully defeated and New Earth, Nova Terra, is ready to begin. This requires each Being to fully clear the remaining density within their bodies, to awaken to full remembrance of their Galactic Truth, their Soul Essence, their Divine Blueprint.

This is not a Drill, in Real Time, Present Moment of Now Mother of All Creation is on the Planet and she is Our Divine Director, Our Eternal Mother. She hired you for this role and She is here to guide you.

Mother has the entire Galactic Federation of Light and all the Angels with Her in all moments. She also has Her guide/ambassador Robin Williams and Master St. Germain by Her side. There is no session like this available on the planet, or in all of Creation.

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[winterromanov]

look at where we’ve been (through time) - bechloe fic

based on a prompt from @isthemusictoblame who wanted a bechloe first date (round about). i really hope u like it xx

“Is it possible to actually, like, shit yourself from nerves?”

Beca scrutinises her reflection in the bedroom mirror for about the millionth time in the last hour, checking and double checking that she’s put enough concealer on that giant fucking zit that’s magically appeared overnight, quelle surprise. Maybe she should burst it. Would bursting it make it better or worse?

“Yeah,” Amy replies from across the room, flicking another page in her copy of Extreme Fishing. Beca stares back at her in the mirror, horrified. “Wait—did I say yes? I meant no. I definitely meant no. That’s happened to nobody, ever.”

Beca doesn’t exactly feel reassured. “Jesus Christ. What if I shit myself?”

“Wear extra absorbent underwear.”

“Amy, I’m going on a date. I’m wearing my sexiest underwear.”

“By sexiest underwear, do you mean your boxer shorts with the little dog faces on them? Because I’ve rummaged through your stuff enough times by now to know that they’re literally the only kind you own, you turnip.”

Okay, so that’s another thing she needs to add to her list of inappropriate things Fat Amy does to Beca’s shit when she’s not paying attention. Beca opens her mouth, but no words seem to come out. This happens a lot around Amy. She’s actually run out of reactions. Her jaw swings open and closed like a door on a loose hinge, until Amy finally looks up from her weird magazine.

“What?” Amy shrugs, “If you do want actual sexy underwear, ask Stacie. She gave me some great catalogs. The stuff is really cheap and barely worn. Honestly. The elasticity in this thong I got was pretty—“

“Please be quiet,” Beca interjects quickly, deciding to terminate that line of enquiry immediately, because the elasticity of Amy’s dodgy thongs is not something she wants to hear about right now. Suddenly self-conscious, Beca looks under the waistband of her tights, wondering what underwear she’s actually thrown on. “And for your information, my pants actually have cat faces on them today, so…”

“Oh, even worse,” Amy says dramatically, faceplanting her bedspread. “Nobody likes cats, Beca.”

Beca sticks her tongue out to Amy in her reflection. “Nobody likes you.”

“That right? I’m sure if you talked to Philippe, aged twenty-four, from Illinois, because that dude really liked those photos I sent him—“

“Can you actually speak like, one sentence without grossing me out?” Beca says exasperatedly. She tugs at where her shirt tucks into her skirt, wondering if it looks better in or out, or whether it fucking matters at all what she’s wearing. She’s never cared all that much before. “Anyway—who the fuck from Illinois has a name like Philippe?”

“I think he had a fetish for French stuff,” Amy says, like that’s totally normal, “He kept trying to get me to do weird things with garlic and this one time he sent me this video of him eating a snail. Like, a wild, free-range snail he’d found in the street.”

“That’s insane!”

“I know, right?” Amy seems to agree, “I was like, dude, but some seasoning on it at least!”

There’s silence, because Beca’s lost enough of her sanity already, and she’d ideally like to keep some of it intact for the rest of the evening. She decides to leave the shirt loose and wanders back over to her side of the room, reaching out for her phone. At the top of her notifications tray there’s a snapchat from Chloe. With a half-smile, Beca swipes it open.

It’s a picture of Chloe. Specifically, Chloe’s newly-shaved legs in a pair of the sexiest, patent-leather stilettos she’s ever seen, and Beca almost has a gay heart attack right there and then. The caption reads just for you!!! with alternating heart and fire emojis—god, she’s so fucking whipped, and it’s just the first date. God knows what she’s going to be like when she actually sees Chloe in person.

“You’ve got that face on.”

Beca’s cheeks flush bright pink as she quickly shuts off her phone and throws it on the nightstand. She pats her hair, trying to make it look like everything’s totally normal and not like she almost had an orgasm looking at a freaking photograph. “What are you talking about?”

“That face I always pull whenever Philippe sends me a pic of his huge French dick. Sort of like…” Amy opens her mouth wide, her eyes inflating twice their normal size, a hand pressed on her heart for effect. “You’ve got that face on. Has ginger sent you a tit-pic?”

“What?” Beca squeaks, “No!”

“Oh my god, has she sent you a cli—“

Beca throws a pillow at Amy to silence her, who takes the shot like a champ, collapsing onto her bed a la being-shot-by-a-flying-burrito style. “Dude. If you say one more word, I’m hacking into your email and cancelling your Extreme Fishing subscription.”

“Feel free,” Amy shrugs. She rolls up her copy and expertly aims it into the trash, where it sits amongst tampon wrappers and unfinished classwork. “I was ripped off. That magazine has nothing in it about how to fool stupid old men into thinking you’re a part-time Victoria’s Secret model and trauma surgeon online and loads about how to entice carp using natural bait. What the fuck?”

Beca nervously pads back over to the mirror, where the aforementioned zit is currently throbbing painfully and looks way redder than it did a few minutes ago. She groans loudly. “Oh my god. I look a mess. This is the first date I’ve had in months in and my whole body is totally not co-operating.”

Amy sighs, finally moving her ass from her bed and walking up to behind where Beca stands. “For the record, I don’t think you have to worry about what you look like whatsoever.”

“Really?”

“I mean, yeah, that zit on your chin is about the size of Pluto,” she supplies unhelpfully, “But Chloe doesn’t care about that shit. She only cares about seeing you—she’s mushy like that. You could rock up in a garbage bag and she’d be like wow, that bitch is hot, I wanna bang her right now.”

Beca smiles a little. Sure, Amy’s not the most eloquent of speakers when it comes to relationships and emotions and all that, but it does make her feel a bit better about the whole thing. She does have stupid underwear on and a huge spot and a ladder in her tights but Chloe has seen her at four am, vomiting over the toilet after slamming too much tequila. She’s seen her sobbing into a milkshake in the middle of the day after breaking up with Jesse. She’s seen her during finals week when she didn’t wash her hair for a whole seven days. That girl has seen her at rock bottom, yet still wants to take her messy, uncoordinated ass on a date.

“But, Beca,” Amy suddenly says in a real solemn tone, tearing her away from her thoughts, “You have to let me pop that zit.”

Beca darts away from Amy’s vicinity like that superhero from one of those stupid comicbook films Jesse loved—you know, the one with the silver hair that runs really fucking fast, but she can’t remember the name because her head is full of way more important stuff than superheroes—and throws her hand up, grabbing a hockey stick (that belongs to neither her or Amy) and using it as a makeshift cattle prod as Amy follows her around the room like a serial killer.

“You,” Beca swipes at her with the hockey stick, “Are not going anywhere near my face.”

“Come on, Beca, I’ve watched so many YouTube videos on it, I can pop them like a pro—“

“I’m leaving in literally ten minutes. I’m not letting you and your huge monster hands anywhere near my tiny face.”

“What will hurt more—me popping that zit right now for no payment, or Chloe’s look of horror when she sees the start of a mountain range emerging across your chin?”

“You just said she wouldn’t care!”

“Let’s face it, you’d have to be blind not to care about a zit that size and Chloe happened to mention to me the other day that she has perfect twenty-twenty vision. On her driving test she read a sign from a whole mile away, unbelievable, right?”

“Amy, that’s bullshit, you—no! NO! GET AWAY FROM MY FACE! HOLY SHIT, AMY!”

-x-

The whole date thing actually was unintentional. As in Beca didn’t start the day thinking she’d end it securing a date with Chloe Beale. Even though that wasn’t, like, something she thought about pretty much all the time or anything.

They’re sat on the balcony that juts out of Chloe’s attic room, their legs dangling into the abyss, watching as the hazy orange sky blurs into black. Chloe’s just been on her eighth unsuccessful Tinder date of the new year and Beca wonders why she keeps going back to that fucking app, especially when there’s so many people she encounters in her day-to-day that are actually kind-of nice and not ugly or creepy that would be desperate to date her and treat her like she deserves. Because she does. Deserve better. Much better than weird thirty-year-old cashiers with BO and a penchant for rushed sex in uncomfortable places.

“And then he got his dick out,” Chloe says dramatically, complete with hand gesture to make sure Beca completely understands, “Like, right there, in the middle of the restaurant?”

Beca snorts, taking a sip of beer. She passes the bottle to Chloe, who takes a generous swig, wiping her top lip. “Men are weird.”

“They are,” Chloe agrees, nodding sagely, “They totally are. Maybe I should swear off them. Go on a man detox or something.”

“Not a bad idea,” Beca says, like her motives aren’t totally selfish, “It’s kind of what I’ve done. After, you know, Jesse. I just swore off everything.”

Chloe sighs softly. Her arm reaches out and wraps round Beca’s shoulder and she finds herself melting into her, warm and soft jarring with the cold night air. “Still hurting about that, huh?”

“Not really. It’s just—I don’t think I’ve ever been on a good date, and that really put me off? I don’t know what’s wrong with me half the time. Because Jess—he was really nice and considerate and actually liked me, but every time we went out there was this voice going we could just do all this at home.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Chloe states plainly, resolutely. She takes another drink. “What floated his boat sank yours. You were stranded at the harbor while he sailed off. You’re the captain of your own ship, Becs. And maybe you didn’t have room for another sailor.”

Beca murmurs a laugh at the excessive nautical metaphors, but Chloe’s always like this when she’s a bit drunk, verbal diarrhoea all over the place. It’s adorable. “But I do want another sailor on my, uh, boat?”

(It’s really too bad that Chloe’s looking over the balcony and down onto the lawn, because then she would’ve seen the conviction Beca looks at her with, like she’s the only person in the whole wide world that Beca would even dream of being with right now and any time ever. They’re surrounded by stars and Beca’s fucking looking at her like she’s the brightest of them all, and Beca can’t believe what a sap she’s becoming.)

“Maybe you just need a good date,” Chloe says, “And I’m, like, the queen of dating.”

Beca suddenly sits up, narrowing her eyes a little. “Is this you asking me out?”

Chloe shrugs, trying to hide her smile and failing catastrophically, because maybe this is the point she’s always wanted to reach too. “Sure. And it’ll be the best date in the world, I can assure you.”

Beca laughs, a delirious and slightly drunken giggle in the back of her throat. She clamps a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I just can’t believe that this is happening.”

Chloe grins, leaning across and pressing a sloppy kiss to Beca’s cheek. Warmth explodes in Beca’s chest and she fights the urge to kiss her back, while she’s in this happy drunken bubble, because she’ll so regret it a few hours later when the buzz has worn off and she’s lying in bed, mapping the cracks in the ceiling.

“You’re my favourite captain,” Chloe says, her words slightly slurred, “You’d be such a bad-ass pirate. I can totally imagine you with a hat and a parrot and those big puffy pants all pirates wear.”

“You’re my favourite captain too,” Beca murmurs, “Because, like, there can be more than one captain.”

(The conversation has kind of lost its way, but it’s nice, and Beca would’ve stayed out there all night drinking beer with Chloe Beale if it didn’t start freaking raining seconds later. Fucking bitch weather always out to kill her vibe. And she totally does not scream that at the sky or anything.)

-x-

Chloe picks her up at seven thirty. Which is weird, considering they live in the same house.

“You didn’t need to ring the bell,” Beca says incredulously, Chloe stood on the doorstep. She’s wearing an off-the-shoulder floral dress that cuts just above her knees, a denim jacket and the same shoes from the photograph she sent earlier. She’s a fucking goddess. “You literally live here. You have keys.”

“I know, but the thought of someone picking me up for a date always gets me really excited, you know?” Chloe says, “I mean the surprise is kind of spoiled because you already know which car I drive, but I do have a brand new playlist I created on Spotify in preparation, and that kind of thing gets you way more excited than cars do.”

Admittedly, Beca is curious, and the effort is really touching so she lets the initial weirdness slide. “As long as there isn’t any Taylor Swift, I’m totally yours, dude.”

Chloe lifts her head. “I can’t promise that. She does have some non-breakup songs that completely fit the occasion. You look beautiful, by the way.”

The compliment is so honest and pure that it knocks some of the air out of Beca’s lungs, because Chloe just called her beautiful, and it’s the first time in a long time that she’s heard that from someone who actually means it (and who she wants to mean it). Chloe just called her beautiful on their doorstep in the most normal day in March, with a giant red splodge on her chin where Amy admittedly popped her zit successfully, and Beca wonders if she might end up remembering this day for the rest of her goddamn life.

“You look great too,” Beca says, which is an understatement, but whatever. “Now, where are you taking me?”

It turns out Chloe has booked a table at a really posh restaurant in the city, which makes Beca feel a little uncomfortable because she’s the kind of girl who is happier with takeaway pizza and sweatpants, but she trusts Chloe and her instincts. They end up at the top of a really tall building surrounded by glass and from their table they can see across the whole of Atlanta, beautiful and illuminated by artificial light. Before she sits Beca presses a hand against the window, waving at the world below.

“You like it?” Chloe asks, standing next to her. Their reflections blur, merging into one another, like for a moment they’re the same person. “Someone I used to work with recommended it to me. Told me it was like you were on top of the world.”

Beca grins; she’s on top of the world, but it’s not all because of the view.

-x-

Surprisingly, Beca doesn’t actually hate the date. For brief, dark seconds she imagines Jesse is the one sat in the chair opposite and her stomach turns, tangled with nerves, scared she’s going to do the wrong thing or say something stupid or embarrass herself in front of her boyfriend. But she blinks and there’s Chloe, grinning and talking madly, and she’s not anxious at all.

(Fuck you, Amy. Shitting has been avoided, absorbent underwear aside.)

They do cute couple-y things like hold hands across the table and share dessert and make other diners uncomfortable. It doesn’t bother her. It’s not new knowledge to her that some people are yet to be dragged into the twenty-first century. She lets Chloe chat the evening away, because listening to Chloe talk is like her favourite song over and over and over again.

When the waiter drops the extortionate bill Beca doesn’t want the night to end. Luckily, Chloe has no plans to.

“Do you wanna see something awesome?” she says, lips curled into a mischievous smile, and Beca would be a grade A idiot to say no to something like that.

“Oh, absolutely.”

-x-

Apparently Chloe knows the security guard who watches over the Atlanta Aquarium. All she does is flutter her eyelashes at the guy stood at the front desk while she’s outside and the doors creak open, letting the two of them in. She grabs Beca’s hand and pulls her through corridors of eerie, dark tanks, illuminated by pale blue lights. She finally stops at a tank that takes over a whole back wall, fish of all shapes and sizes and colours drifting together right in front of them. It’s completely silent, other than the whirr of filters, bubbles rising to the surface.

“For the record,” Beca says, quiet and breathless, “This is the kind of shit that only ever happens in John Green novels.”

“I love John Green novels,” Chloe replies, and when Beca turns, she’s somehow fished a whole bottle of rose wine from somewhere in her jacket. Beca just shakes her head out of disbelief. “Want to get drunk in an aquarium with me?”

Beca untwists the cap, taking the first drink. “As if you even had to ask that question.”

They sit down on the floor a few meters away from the glass and pass the bottle between them, toes of their shoes touching the tank. Beca watches as a fish doused in bronze swims out in front of them, face touching the glass. She lazily points out in front of them. “That one looks like you.”

Chloe snorts. “What, because it’s red?”

“Yeah. It’s red. Like you.”

“In that case,” Chloe leans out, clumsy fingertip landing where a near-microscopic fish internally lit up by a flash of electric blue sits unmoving. “That one looks like you.”

“Well, it’s a good job I’m no longer sensitive about height jokes. You lose.”

Chloe brings the bottle to her lips, taking a sip before speaking. “You know… I meant what I said earlier.”

Beca brushes a strand of her hair away from her face. “About what?”

“That you look beautiful,” Chloe answers matter-of-factly. Beca’s heart stops. “I just think—like, sometimes you need telling. That you are. Beautiful, I mean. I don’t think you believe it.”

Beca half-remembers some line Jesse used on her in freshman year, something about being halfway to his standard of beautiful, and how it didn’t really bother her at the time but after the breakup it kind of gnawed at her, like she was the person she is now because of him and what she thought he wanted. But Chloe… she’s never expected her to be anything, to look like anything. She just wants her to be Beca, whether that’s with the earspike or not, and maybe it took her too long to realise that. Jesse was nice, sure. But there was always this extra layer of expectation with him. Like—she wasn’t quite perfect, to him, and he was trying his hardest to make her that way.

She doesn’t want to be the perfect girlfriend. She likes being messy and nervous and a bit out of control, sometimes. And Chloe gets that. Chloe has always got that.

Beca takes a long drink, refusing to meet Chloe’s eye. She watches the fish, a beautiful, messy rainbow of colours and movement, and how that’s a bit like the Bella’s, this crazy group of crazy girls that somehow all work. “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about—what would’ve happened to me, if you’d never violated me in the showers that day. Like where would I be right now, without the Bella’s? And without… well, you.”

Chloe shrugs nonchalantly, but Beca feels her shoulders tighten. “I don’t know, Becs. I don’t tend to dwell on what ifs. I like the here and now.”

Beca smiles into the bottle. “Yeah, I mean, the here and now is pretty good.”

“Yeah?” Chloe smiles back. Her feet reach out, her toes tapping against Beca’s. “I think it’s pretty good too.”

-x-

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Go for it, dude.”

“I was… really nervous about tonight. Like, really nervous.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. Totally skitzing it. I rang up Aubrey in a total panic. Luckily she knocked some sense into me. You know what she’s like.”

“…What did Aubrey say? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“She said get a grip Chloe, this is Beca Mitchell we’re talking about, she might think she’s God’s gift but she’s really not that special.”

“Geez. She doesn’t live and let die, does she?”

“No, no, but—she also said that out of everyone, she’d never seen anyone make me so happy, so you mustn’t be all bad. Mostly, but not all.”

“…I make you happy?”

“Of course you do, weirdo. Before you rolled into my life there was, like, a huge Beca-shaped hole in it. Only I didn’t realise it was Beca-shaped at the time, but if I had that would’ve been a really weird coincidence, right?”

“Huh. Yeah. Right.”

-x-

(It’s weird, because there’s always been a hole in Beca’s life too, and it’s the kind of hole that’s made her feel completely and utterly empty for so many years, and when Jesse didn’t fill it she thought there was something seriously wrong with her. But then Chloe—she slipped in so effortlessly Beca didn’t even realise, and it knocks her for six, because an actual person has made her feel actually complete for once in her turbulent life and it happened so naturally that it passed her by, passed her perfectly, and everything is suddenly right.)

-x-

They finish the night where it all started. On Chloe’s balcony.

The wine is long gone but Beca knows where Jessica hides her secret stash (in the gap behind the fridge, FYI, she’s really not that stupid, Jess) so she brings back two full bottles, drops one in Chloe’s lap. She has no idea where the rest of the girls are but there’s music, bassy and loud, coming from the Treble’s House—a party she’s missing out on, perhaps, not that she cares.

“I think I’ve realised something,” Beca says, plonking herself down next to Chloe, their knees touching. Chloe lifts her head up as if to say oh? “Yeah. I don’t think I actually hate dating.”

“Oh!” Chloe squeals excitedly, “Have I officially converted you?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Beca says, killing Chloe’s high with a grin when she looks like a wounded puppy, “No, it was great, I loved it. But—I’m thinking, maybe it wasn’t the dating I hated? Maybe it was the… company, I wasn’t happy with.”

Chloe grins quietly, staring down at her knees, where Beca’s hand rests on her own. Her fingers reach across, cover them, and Beca clings on like a lifeline. “What about now?”

“This company,” Beca says, raising their intertwined hands, studying them carefully like she’s working them out. She nods resolutely. “I think this company is kind of alright.”

It would be just wrong for Chloe not to lean across and kiss her.

-x-

“By the way, that picture you sent me was, like, smoking hot.”

“Oh, you liked it?”

“Chlo, Amy thought I was looking at porn, that’s how much I liked it.”

“Well… there’s plenty more where that came from.”

“There better be. You know I’m only dating you for sexy photos, right?”

“Yeah. Totally. I knew that was a given the minute I asked you out.”

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. It would be a bit embarrassing if we weren’t.”

“Good.”

“Awesome.”

“Cool.”

“…Should we kiss again?”

“That sounds like a great plan.”

“Awesome.”

[bladeghost]

tagged by @skylar102 (it’s been a while and I hope you’re doing well ^_^) sorry was this a tad late lol

1. have you ever been in love? 
Ya.

2. who is your favourite artist? 
Breaking Benjamin
3. what is your favourite music genre? 
Rock/Alternative/Metal 
4. have you ever had a penpal? 
In elementary school at some point. 
5. are you single or in a relationship?  
Single. 
6. what colour are your eyes? 
They change with what I where, but somewhere between blue and hazel. 
7. what is your favourite word? 
Defenestration (def. The act of throwing someone out a window.)
8. do you play any instruments?

Guitar and piano. (Also singing if that counts)
9. what is your favourite colour? 
Blue and silver
10. do you have any nicknames?

I’ve used Bladeghost for years for games and discord and what not, so “Blade” has been a name a lot of friends have or still call me that. And a few rock stereotype names, (like Tom Petty, VanHalen, Metallica, etc) because of my hair and being a musician lol. 
11. what is your favourite flower? 

Any that don’t murder my sinuses, but also Orchids they’re a really cool. 
12. what qualities do you find attractive in a person? 
Showing passion towards things they find important. Being funny/dorky/aloof. Being trustworthy. 
13. do you have any pets? 

A dog named Tootsie that makes up 99% of my snapchats that aren’t food. She’s the goofiest little dog ever and I love her. 
14. have you ever travelled outside of your home country? 
Ya, only one place so far which was Aruba. But I really wanna go to more places, I’d really like to go to Europe someday. 
15. what language(s) do you speak? 
English and some broken German, enough to ask some basic questions.
16. who was your first crush?

Oof, I’m gonna answer from during Highschool because I can’t even remember that type of thing from before. And it was my friend Cynthia. 
17. do you wear glasses? 
Yup, haven’t met a person with worse eyes then me to date! Rip. Though I am having surgery in a month that is going to fix my eyes so I will hopefully be able to see perfectly afterwards. 
18. what is your favourite pastry? 
Cinnamon Rolls or Brownies 
19. do you prefer swimming in a pool or in the ocean? 
Pool. 
20. bright, dark, or pastel colours? 
Dark colors. I’ll wear black till they make something darker. 
21. what is your favourite social media app? 
Is Youtube considered social media? Because I spend like 20+ hours a week listening or watching youtube… If not then Tumblr.
22. what is your sexuality?

Straight
23. do you have any siblings?

Ya, I have one brother that’s 10 months younger then me. (born in the same year)
24. what is your favourite scent? 
New leather or plastic. Its just like a pleasant smell. 
25. where do you want to travel to? 
Europe, especially England and Ireland. Also Germany. 
26. what is your favourite film? 
Lord of the Rings (the extended versions) because me and my brother will sit and watch all 3 over the course of 10 hours in one sitting. 
27. who do people say you look like?

Rockstar/Viking/Thor Some variation of someone with long hair lol. 
28. who is your best friend? 
Andrew
29. what is your dream job? 
Honestly I don’t just have one job, I love creating things, whether its cosplay, props, metal working, wood working, music and/or recording, editing and directing videos. All of it I just love and my dream would be to be able to be in a position professionally to be able to do any and all when the inspiration strikes. It may seem a tad unrealistic, but as long as I am creating all the time then I will be happy. 
30. do you know how to drive? 
Yes.
31. who is/was your favourite teacher? 

My percussion director from my highschool. He was and is an amazing teacher who just embodies the passion he has for music, preforming, and teaching. My respect for him has only grown after all the years I have worked with him since highschool. 
32. are you a feminist? 
Yes!
33. what is your zodiac sign? 
Capricorn
34. do you enjoy reading? 
I do, though I haven’t had a ton of time for it for a while, and I don’t always have the patience to sit and read. But! I have recently gotten into audio books so I’ve been starting to get through quite a few books once again.
35. do you have any hidden talents? 
Hidden, not really. A few I don’t show a whole lot, like singing. Or like a weird one is I can drink a whole bottle of water in 6-8secs lol 
36. have you ever dyed your hair? 
Yes! I have dyed it silver, with the roots being black. It’s currently faded to a kinda white with a hint of blonde and my nature blonde has been growing in, which has actually been fading into everything decently. 
37. what is your favourite thing in your bedroom? 
A wood box full of Zelda trinkets/emblems, that were a gift from one of best friends. 
38. what is your biggest fear? 
Not accomplishing anything. 
39. can you whistle?

Yes
40. do you make your bed every day? 
Nahhhhhh…
41. do you have any tattoos and/or piercings? 
No, though I am interested in getting a few tattoos at some point. 
42. have you ever been on a roller coaster? 

Yep.
43. surfing or skateboarding? 
I have done neither, surfing I think would be more interesting to me. But I’m gonna say skiing because I am actually very good at that! (FIGHT ME)
44. are you a dog or a cat person?

Cats are great, but I am definitely more of a dog person. Though I would love to have both when I have my own place.

45. what is your favourite animal? 
Dragons. (Wait real? Shit. Ummm… puppies)
46. do you have a skincare routine? 
Not really, just shower every day lol.
47. what time do you typically go to bed at and what time do you wake up at? 

I don’t. What is sleep? Usually, sometime between 2-4 am for going to bed. And waking up between 10-11am.
48. what is your favourite memory? 

Sappy shit with a friend x//x

49. how tall are you? 
6’3”
50. what is the best gift you’ve ever received? 
Idk… I don’t think I can pick one and I’m really thankful to have enough great people in my life that I can say that. 
51. do you have a garden?
No.
52. do you like bugs? 
Not really but I tolerate them and respect them, unless they’re in my room. 
53. what is your natural hair colour? 

Blonde
54. what is your favourite food and drink?

Cheeseburger or chicken tenders with honey mustard. It’s a tie because I will get both most of the time rofl. And Cherry vanilla coke. 
55. do you want kids?

I am fairly in the middle on this, definitely not right now. 
56. what is/was your favourite class?

BAAAAAAAAAAAND
57. what colour shirt are you wearing?

Black
58. if you could time travel, what year would you go to and why? 
Ummm. When ever our next technological revolution for our planet it. 1 because forward presents less probs then back and 2 because there would be some amazing stuff if we made it long!

59. what is your skin colour?
Pale af. 
60. hugs or kisses? 
Hugs
61. have you ever drunk alcohol? 

Yes
62. have you ever done drugs?

No
63. netflix or youtube?
Youtube!

I’d like to tag: @wearywithoutsleep @arachno-va if you are up for it! Np if not 😁

[dramataste9]

Exceptional Suggestions to Pick a Cell Phone for your Teens at Home

Having young kids and utilizing a cellphone before them is not smart, and oftentimes not encouraged. Little Children desire all sorts of things that's in the hands, and your cellphone is the right mix of enjoyment and simplicity. Hiding your smart phone is just a futile solution. Maybe it's worse, I believe. A month ago, was his chance to disguise your smart phone. Right until pretty recently, the recommendation was that parents avoid showing children under 2 screens of any sort, including TV, tablets, or mobile phones. In 2016, it somewhat eased the guidelines. We broke this guideline a long time ago. I do not remember whenever we first hold an iPhone before his face, but over the last couple of months, we've viewed in horror as my son has developed a full-blown dependence on phones, long before he's also old enough to own one. During the last decade, much continues to be written about the fantastic display time debate: how often should our children be exposed to screens, and at what age? As recently as October 2016, a newspaper published an attribute that coated a dark vision of children and screens, using a estimate from a Facebook executive assistant stating that only bad things lurks inside our devices. Immediately after reading the story, we went into total panic mode and instituted a rule in our house where no-one is permitted to give our new son a cellphone. For the moment, this has kept the devil at bay. Still, I understand there should come a period when I'll yield to the inevitable and purchase my son his first phone. The possibility currently makes me stressed.

Regarding to a 2016 record, 72 percent of children between the age range of 13 and 16 have their own phone, while a 2018 survey indicates that nearly 44 percent of kids get their own personal cell phone plan between the age range of 11 and 12. In linked houses those that have more than 3 gadgets, kids obtain first tablet if they are 5.5 years old, and their first phone at the age of 6. These days, many adults are having technology in children's hands when they can keep them. But when it comes to what kinds of cell phones parents should actually buy their kids, the market offers very few options: There is no iPhone equal for kids, and there by no means has been. Generally, children are stuck with their parents' hand-me-down smartphones, as well as the responsability is definitely on the parent to install the necessary parental controls. Therefore, why hasn't the industry successfully made a mobile phone for kids? And if it did, what would such a device actually appear to be? While couples are often shamed for utilizing monitors to entertain their little children or supervise them by proxy, many people will concur that presenting their a kid a cell phone can be part and parcel to be a accountable parent in 2019. Ideally, a good smartphone for young adults should be mainly because strong as you can, maybe it would possess a way to text when there is a school emergency or some other kind of emergency, or not really allow them to carefully turn off their GPS or erase text messages. Others claim that such a tool should be sociable social media-free. No image no internet may be the matter we kept hearing from parents. With out a video camera or connectivity, teenagers cannot take selfies or build relationships social media, two actions parents are eager to control. Whilst tablets have already been properly promoted to little children, efforts to build up smart phones for kids have nearly universally failed. We have seen a lot of cell phones for kids over time and they are all junk. In 2014, one kids' tech company released the Kurio Google android phone, that was made to operate and appearance just like a grown-up cellphone, but with safety product features and usage limits to hide all scenarios. While fairly bland-looking, the telephone had all the things an anxious parent would've wished for: it blocked 450 million websites, allowed couples with children to remotely view texts and contact logs, and provided period limits on apps a long time before Apple introduced similar features. It even included a customizable in case of emergency form, featuring the child's allergic reaction information and blood type. Later in 2018, VTech, a plaything business, presented the KidiBuzz, a phone for kids between the age range of 5 and 9 that allows children to receive and send texts, photos, and voice messages. The kids cellphone was a marvelous flop and it had been forgotten the same year it had been unveiled. The unit was expensive to produce, but as it was not top quality, it could not really be sold at a proper price, it had been not Apple or Samsung, and this group the smart phone was aimed at, pre-tweens/tweens, is very brand and look-conscious. On the other hand, the KidiBuzz provides 35 percent one-star testimonials about Amazon, with one commenter observing that it generally does not even make a strong paperweight. Area of the issue with child-focused smartphones is efficiency: several devices occupy an amorphous grey space among a gadget and device. The KidiBuzz, for instance, presents features like video games and apps, but doesn't actually allow users place telephone calls. Adults searching for sensible mobile phones for children on Amazon may also come across dozens upon dozens of nonfunctional play phone items, gadgets that appear to be cell phones but are in fact toys which come equipped with various ringtones and flashing lights. An extra added problem is that items marketed as kid-friendly, have a built-in expiration time. There's very little activity happening in the child-specific space, since it just doesn't level well. You're talking about a very small segment of it: kids ages 4 to 10 or 9 to 12, etc. And it's really actually even smaller sized than that, mainly because at a certain age I don't believe children want the particular mobile phone. They need the same device you're utilizing. https://www.networkworld.com/article/2172154/iphone-6-rumor-rollup-for-the-week-ending-nov--22.html By and large, the truth is which the devices people want to use will be the devices coming from the big manufacturers. Why build some thing that is intent-built and a single model of these devices when you could basically consider any vendor's design and work with a parental controls app to greatly help control that? However, there's real anxiousness around giving developing children access to products that are nothing in short supply of addictive to grown adults. And more research has emerged linking excessive display time to, among other activities, depression, reduced rest, and speech hold off in infants. All that has pushed a small number of entrepreneurs to generate substitute solutions for children. The primary issue with providing young kids smart phones, is that, for lack of a better term, it's such an attractive, glossy device, you want to download games, open the web. That's almost inherent to the phone. I feel it actually myself in my phone. It is an extremely powerful issue. The first iteration from the Light Phone was meant to be used as little as possible: it might place cell phone calls, and mainly nothing else. The coming Light Mobile phone 2 may also allow users text. It's among a handful of entries in the smart, or dumb phone movement, which was spurred by a growing concern about smartphone reliance. Although not intended for children, the Light Telephone has gotten significant amounts of attention from couples. Couples have a problem with this problem: they need a smart phone so their child can contact them within an emergency, but Snapchat really scares them. The Jitterbug, which includes a large screen and good sized type, is one more dumb cellphone repeatedly cited as a good choice for young kids - even though it was developed for elderly people. additional hints The Jitterbug can place telephone calls and receive and send texts; at less than $50 for the turn mobile phone version, it's also substantially cheaper than the Light Phone 2, which includes not delivered out however but happens to be priced at $290. Some producers are bypassing cell phones altogether by entering the wearables marketplace. GizmoWatch, for instance, enables adults to monitor their kids' location and provides alerts if they enterprise outside a specific radius; it also lets young kids text and make phone calls to up to 10 friends on the preprogrammed get in touch with list, allowing parents to stay in touch using their children while curbing their display time. Without technically a wearable (if you can hook it to clothing having a carabiner-like item), the Relay, an identical to walkie-talkie gadget, is an additional access in the children' technology space. The device presents itself like a middle surface for less tech-savvy parents who are worried about display screen time, but don't want to navigate the complicated world of parental control apps. There's no way to view a bad YouTube video or seek out something unacceptable using the cell phone, because there's no display. Though devices just like the Relay and the GizmoWatch also appear to be exactly what these are: products for kids. And that may be a problem. Almost always there is some potential with wearables, but I'm a little hesitant to state they're gonna be considered a big seller. The marketplace demand in comparison to alternative options is such that the influence tends to be fairly limited. I could get my child a child smartwatch, that they may or might not use, or I could give them a phone. Wise watches, are not going to substitute cell phones for children. Children want even more. They are inundated with messaging to remain interconnected constantly. This is actually the world kids are developing up in. With out better alternatives, couples with children are generally stuck passing off their worn out Androids or iPhones or buying an old mobile phone, that still costs hundreds of dollars. There is just a certain comfort and ease there because that's what dad and mom have always utilized. Handing down our previous smart phones is normally low-cost as well as the parental handles work fairly well. Children aren't some unique animal that require special tools with regards to smartphones. These are little humans, and I prefer to respect them with regards to tech. And rather than creating new products, producers have started developing features to create their adult-focused items more teen-friendly. Apple's new operating system parental configurations include a Screen Time feature, that allows you to set period limits for particular applications and monitor how much period they're spending on their cellphones. Google has unveiled Google Family members Link, a free of charge app which allows couples with children to monitor their kids' screen time as well as wirelessly secure their products if they're spending too much time using them. These application work-arounds aren't ideal - kids are apparently hacking Apple's Screen Time by just changing the time setting on their device, but they're a recognition that children of a particular age want to own the same thing everyone else has. And if everybody else has an iPhone or an Google android, many will not accept anything less. Yet eventually the stress parents experience around what sorts of devices to buy their young kids so when may also be a way of projecting worries about our very own complicated relationships with cell phones. The solution may possibly not be finding the right device for our kids, but wrangling our very own impulses, especially because a handful of analysts say that parents who are overly distracted by their gadgets are establishing behavioral issues within their teenagers. Young Adults will do what you carry out, not what you tell them to do. You must model great digital habits. In fact, a 2016 research found that although 80 percent of couples with children thought they were modeling great screen behaviors for his or her kids, they were spending an average of nine hours each day with their screens, a lot more time than their children were. When I noticed that I was spending far more period scrolling through my e-mail and Twitter than I used to be playing on to the floor with my child, I realized that the challenge was not with displays bending his fragile mind. It was that I'd currently allowed my mobile phone to bend mine. So these days, we try not to use our cell phones at all before our son. That is a habit that can be easily designed for later years and really depends on the parents to maintain our young children away from cellphones until these people understand responsibility.

[trilliath]

Do you happen to have any recommendations for better phones? Your iPhone rant makes me think you might be familiar with alternatives that don't drive you up the wall, and I'm in the market for a new phone :P

I’m mayyyyyyybe not the best choice for an opinion given where I’ve actually been living in the smartphone universe. Also they gave me an iphone 6 for work so it’s already behind the curve and irritating. And I hate apple. Did I mention that? I. Hate. Apple.

I have such massive, fundamental issues with apple’s entire product line and business model. I still don’t trust google much either but at least they’re more or less transparent about their creepery. Sortof.

Here’s the funny thing - I’ve always been a microsoft smartphone user till just this month when my family switched carriers and we had to finally make the switch to android. I mourn the loss of the windows phone. Despite consistently having a better hardware product and OS than similarly-priced competitors, the Microsoft phone is more or less getting phased out. (My last phone was a gorgeous lumia 950. It’s a few years old now but it was fast and high res enough that in comparison new phones don’t even seem like they’ve advanced much in the interim... and it still looks new - tough no case required, you could literally run it over and it would be fine - but companies like apple consider device reliability a bug not a feature because then you don’t have to buy a new one every five seconds) Between apple’s years of aggressive advertising and market segmentation and fashion/status symbol positioning putting the cost of their devices well above their actual value (and google’s less overt but still concerted efforts in a similar fashion) and the cultlike efforts of ABM-brainwashed programmers to deliberately throttle and disable or just flatout refuse to generate apps for MS (which… if you have already built the app in any decent fashion it’s not like that’s hard to do - in many cases because they didn’t want to go through the “hassle” of having basic fucking security in their programming that MS requires - it would amaze me that people still believe apple products are less prone to viruses except the apple psych manipulation game is strong), the microsoft phone is basically dead and I had to move on. So. Woo. I can use snapchat now. Great. (I miss my goddamned livetiles so muchhhhh). Can you tell that I’m bitter? Really? I’m so surprised.

Ok but anyway, I have a Samsung Galaxy S8 now and it’s very nice and shiny, and has all the apps a girl could want.(The downside is that instagram has ads now, which, that’s new and tedious. So many ads everywhere on all the apps. But that’s just because they couldn’t be bothered to program them in to the windows phone versions of the apps lmao.) Also the ability to actually change a lot of settings at nuanced levels (unlike apple which likes to assume you don’t know what you want and they know best).

It took me a little getting used to the UI and there are just a few things I really miss, but so far I think the S8 is really very good. I have no real complaints about it, especially since I’ve got my microsoft launcher going so it integrates with all my files and my one-drive and one-note (where I do all my writing, which makes good integration with microsoft a very key feature of smartphones for me).

So tl;dr - I can’t give you much by way of varied comparisons but the Samsung Galaxy S8 is pretty rad

[bagelpyjama19]

Practical Strategies to Pick a Cellphone for your Students at Home

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

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

[danisnotonjackfics]

Swipe Right-Kristen

“Dan, mate, it’s been three months since you and Phil broke up. It’s time to get back on the horse and move on.” Andrew said, clapping Dan on the back supportively, before brushing past him to rip open the drawn shades to let the bright sunlight fill the previously dark bedroom.

Andrew had been one of Dan’s only real friends from back home in Reading, where he was currently back residing for the time being. After him and his ex boyfriend, Phil, broke up, Dan couldn’t bring himself to jump straight into apartment searching, and instead decided to make an extremely overdue visit to his parent’s house after moving out of the shared flat. The visit ended up becoming more of a semi permanent deal, with Dan claiming to just to be making up retroactively for all the holidays and family gathering he’d missed out on over the last few years.

His teenage bedroom was oddly comforting as he spent most days and nights huddled up in there, alternating between sulking and jerking off. His mother, bless her, had finally gotten to the point of personally calling up her son’s old best mate, in hopes he’d be able to get him out of this funk.

“Yeah, because three months seems like a completely ridiculous amount of time to take to get over a relationship that lasted for three years.” Dan bit back sarcastically, attempting to pull the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, trying to shield the harsh daylight from coming into contact with his pale skin. Andrew only huffed back in annoyance and yanked the hood back down, then placed both hands down on either of his friend’s shoulders.

“Look, I know it seems like the end of the world that your relationship ended, but I promise you it’s not.” Andrew said sincerely. “We’re still young, and you’re a great dude. And there’s tons of equally great people out there that you’ve yet to meet. We need to get you out of this house and back out into the world, and see if we can round some of ‘em up for ya.”

Dan looked up, unconvinced. Andrew groaned again.

“Well you at least need to get laid or something. You’ve been acting like a fucking twat.”

“Well excuse me for-”

“The amount of dick and pussy that’s available for you, it’s ridiculous. Fucking bisexuality, man. Got the best of both worlds. Let’s see what we can do.” Andrew trailed off, grabbing Dan’s iPhone from off the nightstand that was next to the bed.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Making you a tinder. Everyone has one these days, and it’s the easiest way to find someone, whether it’s just for a hookup or your mopey ass decides to actually finally get back out there again.” Andrew shrugged, and Dan was too tired from the amount of human interaction in one day to protest. Instead, he just flopped back down onto his bed and allowed his friend to do what he wanted.

.

.

.

.

It was another two weeks before Dan decided to reopen the Tinder app, sans Andrew’s supervision. He really wasn’t planning on using the app, his heart still too tender to be getting involved with another person so soon, but the notification claiming he had ‘New Matches Waiting for Him!’ finally got the best of him, and he let his curiosity overcome him.

Tapping on the app icon, he was greeted with a new stack of people to swipe right or left on, the message page in the corner alerted him that he had eight matches, and six messages. He hadn’t swiped right on that many people on the first and only time he’d used the app, which was the same day Andrew helped him make his profile. He was just really picky, especially lately.

Five of the matches were guys, three were girls.

None of the messages really caught his attention, they were all just different variations of ‘hey’, some followed by an emoji or two.

Dan huffed, swiping his way back to the home menu of the app, taking a bite out the spoonful of cereal that he had been having for breakfast. Even though it was three in the afternoon.

Whatever. Breakfast is a relative term.

He swiped left on about thirty profiles, ranging from blonde haired dude-bros that held red solo cups in their hands, to skinny girls with ombre hair, their face distorted by that dog snapchat filter. It’s not that these people were unattractive, but Dan could tell just from their display picture that none of them were right for him.

That was, until, a super hot guy, sporting a pair of raybans and burnt sienna colored button down over a white t shirt popped up, with the words “Super-like” appearing under his photo in bright turquoise letters.

Dan clicked on the photo inquisitively, searching for more about this guy via his profile.

Jackson, aged 23, twelve miles away.

On closer inspection, the guy, Jackson, has probably one of the most dazzling set of perfectly straight white teeth he’d ever seen, which were formed into a dorky yet cute smile. His brunette hair was on the lengthier side, enough to be able to form a man bun atop his head, with a good portion of it still falling around the sides of his face and a little down his neck. The picture seemed to be taken of him while at a nice, aesthetically pleasing outdoor cafe, one which Dan had an inkling that he recognized, but didn’t dwell on.

Dan swiped through the rest of his photos, one of him in a forest green shirt, crouching down with a larger camera in his hands, face to the viewfinder, one of him on a beach with a baseball cap and a dog in the background, and the last one was a candid of him drinking black coffee, sporting a red flannel shirt and looking absolutely….wow.

Dan shifted a bit in his chair, his not-so-morning wood causing him a sudden bit of discomfort and he flicked back and forth through the couple of pictures of this guy.

But looks weren’t everything, and Dan wasn’t exactly looking for a quick fuck; much to Andrew’s encouragement.

He scrolled down a bit on the profile.

“Hi, I’m Jack. I love food, my dog, and my camera. I occasionally talk to all three when I’m alone.”

The bio actually managed to make Dan chuckle aloud, before glancing around the family room to make sure there was no one around to witness him smiling like a dope at his phone screen. After the coast was clear, no family members in sight, he glanced back down at the app, before quickly swiping right.

After about twenty five more minutes of mindlessly left swiping, Dan ended up with no more matches, and was about to toss his phone aside onto the couch when it let out a quick ding. He scrambled to grab the phone before it could bounce off the sofa cushion, onto the floor away from him.

He had a message from Jack.

Dan chewed his bottom lip as his long fingers nervously unlocked his phone, opening up the Tinder app once again, clicking on the message bubble.

I’m going to Whole Foods, want me to pick you up anything?

.

.

.

.

Dan probably changed about twelve times before he left for his date with Jack. They were going to meet at nine o’clock, at a cafe turned bar called Cafe Grumpy in London. They had been messaging back and forth via the Tinder app for a couple days before exchanging phone numbers and planning to meet up. It had been a little over a week and a half since Jack first messaged him, and over the span of time they had talked about quite a lot, both of them replying immediately when they had free time(which Jack seemed to have a lot less of than Dan). They were really hitting it off through text, with the conversation only dying when one of them began to fall asleep, but it would always be picked up the next morning. Hell, there was even a bit of flirting going on. At least, Dan was pretty sure he was flirting with him…

Dan walked up to the familiar figure that was standing outside the Cafe casually puffing on a cigarette, at about 9:02 pm. Usually Dan wasn’t into people, guys or girls that smoked, but something about Jack made it seem almost...kinda sexy?

Jack was sporting a plain white vneck with an undone denim button up over it, paired with skinny black trousers that has a couple small rips placed in them, and brown suede-looking boots. His long hair was partially tied up into a man bun like it was in his Tinder picture, and fuck, did he look good. Dan hoped his mostly black ensemble; black leather jacket, skinny jeans, sneakers and dark grey tshirt, would hold up to how good his date looked.

“Dan?” Jack asked as Dan cautiously approached him, a smile pulling at his lips as he stubbed out his cigarette butt into the provided ashtray before meeting Dan on the sidewalk in front of the cafe/bar.

“Jack?” Dan nervously smiled back. Oh fuck, do they hug? Shake hands? What does one do when they first meet a tinder match in person. Fuck, uhhhh…

Dan decided to go for the handshake, preferring to not get awkwardly shut down in case he went it for a hug that wasn’t mutually wanted. He stuck his hand out towards Jack, but was surprised when Jack grabbed it, the coldness of the metal of the few rings that decorated his fingers juxtapose to the heat of his own hand, and brought it up towards his lips, placing a soft kiss on his knuckles.

“It’s great to meet you.” He smiled, pulling Dan’s hand back from his mouth but still holding it up by his face. His green eyes(which were fucking magnificent in only the low lighting of the street lights, nevermind how they probably looked in the sunlight, Dan noted) not to subtly gave Dan a once over, causing the corner of his mouth to quip up into a slight half smirk. “You look...really good.”

Although they were doing Jack’s green eyes a disservice, Dan was suddenly grateful for the low lighting of the street lights, as they helped to hide the blush that crept up his neck and flushed his cheeks pink.

“Thanks, you too.”

“Wanna head inside, grab a drink or two?” Jack suggested, nodding his head in the direction of the door, still yet to have released Dan’s hand. Dan nodded back, and followed behind Jack as they entered the bar.

The place wasn’t too crowded, and they found seats at the bar rather quickly.

“What d’ya want to drink, I’ll start a tab.” Jack asked, leaning in a bit to be heard over the music that was playing and the low rumbling of chatter.

“I’ll have a shot of vodka...and you.” Dan deadpanned, but only lasted about a couple seconds before he got too nervous that he’d already made things awkward. “I’m just kidding! By the way….I’m sorry, I saw it on a show or something once, thought I’d be funny, I didn’t mean to make it weird, fuck, uh”

Jack interrupted his rambling by placing a hand on Dan’s thigh and letting out a belly laugh, and it was honest to God one of the most beautiful things Dan’s ever seen. The way his top now of teeth became completely exposed as he opened his mouth and threw his head back, showing off his neck. His laugh was this combination of kinda dumb but super cute and charming.

Something told him, this night was gonna be alright.

.

.

.

.

An hour or two and a couple rounds of drinks later, the two guys both had slight buzzes going. Neither of them were full on drunk, but just at the point of feeling warm and good. Not wanting to get too intoxicated and make complete fools of themselves, they mutually agreed to pay the tab and head out.

“I live not too far from here” Jack started, lighting up a cigarette as they stepped out of the bar into the slightly chilly night air. “And it’s only around eleven, if you wanna come back to my place and hang out for a little?”

“Sure, I’d like that.”

Jack smiled around his cigarette, pulling it out of his mouth with one hand, blowing out a puff of smoke into the air, and grabbing Dan’s hand again with the other.

“Cool, let’s go.”

Jack’s flat was only about a ten minute walk from the bar, during which they made light, buzzed conversation and Jack discarded the butt of the cigarette in an ashpost outside his building. He lived in a pretty bougie looking building, if Dan did say so himself, and they rode the elevator up to his apartment on the eleventh floor(stealing flirty glances at each other the whole way, he might add.)

As soon as Jack unlocked the door, he grabbed Dan’s arm and yanked him inside, pushing him up against the door and pressing their lips together. Dan couldn’t help but moan into Jack’s mouth, in slight shock and awe that the hot guy actually was attracted enough to him to go on a date, nevermind initiate a makeout session. Jack’s lips were soft against Dan’s slightly chapped from the cold ones, and he could taste a faint, but not unpleasant mixture of mint, Malboro, and malt liquor. He brought his hands up to cup the short man’s face as he felt hands grasp onto his hips, and let out another soft moan into Jack’s mouth.

He’d gone a pretty long time without intimate human contact like this, so sue him.

When he felt Jack’s ringed fingers drop down slightly, on the verge on grasping his ass, Dan forced himself to pull back.

“Wait, Jack, wait a second” he managed to get out in a shaky voice. Jack’s gorgeous eyes bored into his own dark brown ones, and he gulped before continuing. “Is this just gonna be a one night stand thing, and then we’re never gonna talk ever again? Because I really like you, and, and I just got out of a pretty serious relationship not too long ago, and you’re the first person I’ve been with since him, and I’m not looking for just a quick random fuck, but I’ll understand if that’s what you want, I’d just rather you tell me so that I can avoid getting hurt, and I just really think we connected and”

“Dan, Dan, stop rambling” Jack interrupted him, pressing his pointer finger to his lips to halt them, chuckling slightly. “I really like you too.”

“You do?”

“Fuck yeah, man. You’re funny, smart, hot as hell…” He trailed off, glancing down his body, before snapping his head back up to meet Dan’s eyes again. “Sorry. But seriously. This doesn’t have to be a one time thing, if you don’t want. I know I definitely don’t want it to be a one time thing. We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to either. The alcohol was just getting to me a little and was getting me a lil’ wound up.”

And with that, Jack backed off Dan, away from the door and walking into where his kitchen was, opening up the refrigerator and peering in

“Want something to drink? I have water, juice, lemonade...don’t really have soda or anything, because I’m a bit of a health freak, but I have”

He was cut off by Dan this time, who followed him into the kitchen and spun him around, closing the fridge door behind them, taking his turn to pin Jack against it.

“Now, I didn’t say I didn’t want to do anything,” Dan smirked now, gaining a big boost of confidence after Jack’s admission. Using his height to his advantage, he peered slightly downwards at Jack, licking his lips before he continued speaking. “I just wanted to make sure that wasn’t gonna be all that we did.”

Now it was Dan’s turn to slot their lips together, eliciting a moan out of Jack that was sexy as all hell. Dan’s large hands reached down and cupped Jack’s ass, as Jack reached up and tanged his fingers into brown curly locks. Their bodies pressed firmly together, rubbing their denim covered bulges against one another, causing Jack to nibble on Dan’s lower lip a bit.

“Mmm, fuck, where’s your bedroom?” Dan groaned into Jack’s ear before planting a hot kiss right by it. Jack smirked and gave him a light push on the chest, so that he could lead them out of the kitchen and down the hall.

The two men stumbled into the bedroom, hands wandering all over clothed bodies, and lips doing the same.

Jack’s lips found their way to Dan’s neck once they were laid back on the bed, Jack swinging his leg over the taller man’s body so that his knees we’re on either side of his waist, straddling him. He left wet kisses down Dan’s neck and his hands worked to rid him of his jacket and tshirt. Once Dan’s top was discarded onto the floor, neck kissed turned into chest kisses, which turned into stomach and then hip kisses, causing Dan’s breath to hitch in his throat. Jack teasingly trailed his way back up Dan’s body, running blunt fingernails up and down his sides.

“Shirt. Off.” Dan managed to grunt out, fingers grabbing at the hem of Jack’s shirt, urging him to rid of them as well. Jack was quick to comply, and tossed them along with Dan’s onto the bedroom floor.

Dan took the opportunity to flip them over, so that he was instead the one on top, hover over the younger man and pressing their bare chests together as he teasingly returned the favor of peppering Jack’s neck and chest with sloppy tongue kisses.

When he reached Jack’s waist(which of course was graced with a deep V line, leading to his crotch, obviously, Dan thought), he made quick work of Jack’s belt, and began shimmying Jack’s jeans off, adding them to the ever growing pile. The bulge in Jack’s pants was prominent, and Dan smirked as he placed his lips over the fabric and pressed a hot, open-mouth kiss to it.

“Fuck, Dan,” Jack groaned above him, bringing his fist up to his mouth so he could bite down on his knuckles.

Jack was about to find out something that they had not yet discussed over text, nor earlier at the bar.

And that was that Dan Howell was an absolute cockslut.

Jack’s breathy moans, and muffled groans did nothing but spur Dan on, as he grasped the top of Jack’s pants, which were already were sporting a wet patch of precome and saliva on the front anyway, and yanked them swiftly down and off. Dan nearly drooled at the sight of Jack’s thick, girthy cock, which was hard and practically dripping for him. He wasted no time engulfing it in his hot mouth, eliciting another throaty groan from the man under him, and he hummed in satisfaction.

“Dan, fuck, your mouth feels incredible” Jack breathed out, removing his hand from his mouth down to Dan’s hair, grabbing a fistful. He roughly pushed and pulled up and down, fucking into Dan’s mouth, tilted his head down to watch as the sticky rivulets of saliva connected Dan’s lips to his cock. “Fuckin’ hell, my turn”

Jack sat up, pulling Dan down to lay back on the bed so they could switch positions. He quickly grabbed a bottle of lube and a condom from his bedside drawer before assuming the position, pulling Dan’s belt, skinny jeans, and boxers off in what seemed like one fluid motion.

“You good to top?” He asked the curly haired man, before flipping open the cap of the bottle and coating his fingers to prep himself.

“Fuck yeah” was all Dan could manage, in cock aching to be sucked, his eyes mesmerized by the sight of Jack beginning to fuck himself with his middle finger.

“Good” he replied with a smirk, before running his tongue along Dan’s length, then sucking him down. The feeling was so intense, he had to try so hard to keep his eyes from squeezing shut and his head from falling back in pleasure, because he wanted to badly to enjoy the show that was being put on for him. Jack continued pumping one finger in and out of himself, trying to keep in time with his head bobs as he worked himself open. After a minute, he added a second finger, only momentary faltering in his rhythm along Dan’s cock when he brushed against his prostate, humming out a long, muffled but loud moan sending vibrations throughout Dan’s whole body.

God, Jack’s mouth felt fucking amazing, and lord knows when the last time Dan got a fucking blowjob was, nevermind one this good. He could feel a warmth in his stomach, the coil in his gut threatening to spring if Jack didn’t pull off soon.

“Okay, okay, lemme finish prepping you, or else I’m gonna blow and this whole thing is gonna end way too early.” He begged, gently grabbing Jack’s jaw and cueing him off.

“Mmm, I’m all good, baby,” Jack practically purred, gathering some of the saliva off his chin and using it to slick up his own cock with a couple quick pumps. “Ready for you, how do you want me?”

How the hell did he get so lucky to actually be fucking one of the hottest guys probably on the entire planet, Dan thought to himself. A couple weeks ago he was sitting around feeling sorry for himself, and now look at him.

“On your back,” he growled, “Wanna watch your prettyboy face while you take my cock”

Jack shuffled his way up the bed, laying back against the pillows as he watched Dan with lust-filled eyes rip open the foil of the condom wrapper and roll it on. Dan grabbed the lube and squirted a couple more drops on for good measure, stroking himself to rub in all over.

“Lemme feel how well you opened up for me,” He breathed, taking two long, coated fingers and rubbing firmly around the pink ring of muscles, before pushing them inside of Jack, immediately causing him to moan. “Mmmm, good boy.”

Jack nodded quickly, gnawing on his bottom lip and reaching up to grab Dan’s face with both hands and pull him down into a sloppy kiss.

“C’mon, fuck me, Dan.” he mumbled against swollen pink lips, going in for another kiss but his jaw going slack when Dan pushed into him, slowly but surely filling him up completely, until hips were flushed with hips. “Ohhh, fuck”

“Good?” Dan asked after a second or two, trying his best to keep his composure but holy shit Jack is so hot and tight, even after all the prep, and jesus he feels so good.

Jack nodded, wrapping a muscular arm around the back of Dan’s neck, pulling him close, non verbally telling him to “go”.

Dan kept as steady as of a pace as he could, rocking back and forth into Jack, rotating his hips in order to hit as deep as he can with each thrust. Each thrust met with a moan and groan from both men, the pleasure almost overwhelming for the both of them.

Dan angled his hips so he’s hitting Jack’s prostate with each thrust, and the friction caused by their bodies rubbing against either side of his cock has him babbling unintelligently, like he’s repeating a mantra of “fuck me, fuck me, fuck me” against Dan’s lips.

Dan’s thrust began to stutter and falter, but he tried to regain control and stave off his pending orgasm.

“You feel incredible,” he breathed, “I don’t--I don’t know how much longer I can last.” He admitted, still trying to keep his thrusts deep, hard, and perfectly angled at that one spot. The bedroom suddenly felt like a sauna, and he was sweating bullets, gasping for air as his orgasm approached quickly.

“It’s okay baby, I’m close too,” Jack assured him, running a hand through his hair. “Fucking come for me, come for me”

The words of praise sent him over the edge; his toes curled, his fists wrapped into Jack’s bedsheets, and he thrusts became sloppy and he came with a loud groan, emptying into the condom. He was spent, but still managed a handful more thrusts, and fisted Jack’s cock until he came as well, splattering hot white rivulets in between their stomachs. Dan rolled off him, and the two lay panting, in post coital bliss for a minute or two, before Dan forced himself to get up.

“Bathroom?”

“Down the hall, second door on the right.”

Dan disappeared out of the bedroom and made his way into the bathroom, disposing of the condom and grabbing a wet cloth from shower, returning quickly to clean the two of them up. He tossed the cloth onto the top of the Mt. Everest of garments before realizing that maybe he should start dressing so that he can leave. Sure, Jack said it wasn’t gonna be a one time fuck, but he never said Dan could stay the night either.

“So...should I...go?” Dan mumbled, sitting up in preparation to begin collecting his things.

“The only place you’re going right now is to my kitchen to get us some water, because I’m spent.” Jack said with certainty. “I have boxers and tshirts in the second drawer over there, if you want...although I’m not sure they’ll fit you, giraffe.” He chuckled, rolling over onto his side, nuzzling his head into the pillow.

Dan felt a blush rise on his cheeks, which was ridiculous seeing as he just fucked this guy, yet now he was blushing because he called a nickname? He stumbled over to the dresser in the dark, slipped on a pair of clean, albeit snug, boxers, and padded his way back down the hall into the kitchen. He grabbed two water bottles out of the fridge, but by the time he returned to the bedroom, no more than thirty seconds later, Jack had already fallen asleep and was snoring softly. Dan chuckled quietly, shaking his head, and placed both bottles down on the nightstand before crawling into bed next to Jack.

Should he spoon him? Was that too much, too soon? Dan questioned, laying on his back, unable to shut his brain off, until Jack rolled over in his sleep, and nuzzled into Dan’s chest.

And in that moment, he had never been more content.

[thekuroiookami]

Hey just saw your asks are open and I'm so happy excited they are!!! I have so much I'd like to request, but for now can I just get either headcannons or small drabbles of Akashi and his s/o using snapchat??? Like does he use snapchat often, keeps streaks with his s/o, post on his story?? I would have asked if you could do all of the GoM but I wasn't sure what your character limit was! Anyways, so happy you're taking asks and I'll be back in the future for many more ^^

Hello yzzy! Thanks for the ask. I have to say I’ve never used Snapchat, so if I didn’t get the spirit of it right, forgive me. And I’ve included the GoM cos why not.

Akashi

·        At first he had no interest in the app, becausehe was busy, and didn’t really have a use for it. The only reason he knew itexisted was because you once got excited over a snap someone sent and fell intohis lap laughing.

·        That changed when he went on a trip and had tostay apart from you for a few days. You installed the app on his phone insecret, and then one day he woke up to a video of you telling him to wake up. Helikes the little glimpses into your day, and it doesn’t hurt that he canmessage you as well.

·        Since he’s rather obliging, it doesn’t take muchwork on your part to get him to send snaps back. When he does though, it’s likegetting ordinary photos – there’s rarely any text or stickers. Though you’renot complaining, because he looked delicious in that suit.

·        He once sent you a video when you were down. Itwas like he was psychic. He just smiled gently and said “You’re perfect to me.That’s all that counts.” You cursed Snapchat for not letting you keep theseprecious moments forever.

·        That said, he still doesn’t use it often, thoughhe does find it entertaining to watch the GoM’s antics on the group messages. Overall,he likes being an observer more than a participant. He doesn’t bother to updatea story or keep up streaks unless he’s apart from you. In that case, he’ll senda steady stream of dryly humorous yet comforting texts, with occasional snapsof things that catch his eye.

Aomine

·        Would not know about any app ever if it weren’tfor you and Momoi. Like, phones are just for calling people, right?

·        That said, he quickly catches onto the more risquébenefits of Snapchat when you coerce him into using it. You regretted it almostimmediately. He sauntered off, and when he came back you were blushing like aposy because his shirtless selfie was just so sinful. Aomine was only going toscare you off his back, but he finds this more entertaining. Now you have tolive with him pestering you for similar snaps of you.

·        On a softer note, he likes it when you postphotos of your dates together on your story. He’s pretty possessive, and thisis a good way to declare you off limits. He makes sure to keep an arm aroundyou somehow from now on. It also makes him happy to see you happy with him.

·        Streaks are pretty difficult to achieve withAomine because he tends to ignore all messages when he’s playing basketball.Even worse, he has a habit of replying to all your texts at the most inconvenienttimes. You know from his wicked grin that he does it on purpose.  

·        Will shamelessly screenshot anything of yours helikes. When you ask him about it, he just shrugs and says that he wants to keepyou close. It’s a bit hard to stay offended after that.

Kise

·        If there is a photographic form of social mediaout there, Kise will have found it and tried it. It’s not surprising Snapchatis one of those. Kise especially likes the new lenses that let you add sillyexpressions to your face. Kasamatsu is less than pleased.

·        Needless to say, after you started dating, yourinbox is flooded with snaps of Kise in every pose imaginable. They alternatelymake you laugh, shake your head, and cry. You ‘accidentally’ took a screenshotof one of his more attractive pics once. Of course, he got a notification.After that, Kise’s narcissism became near impossible to put up with, and thevolume of selfies increased dramatically.

·        Unusually, he also likes to post snaps of scrumptiouslooking food. You hate him a little bit when you realize he can eat dessertsroutinely and still look the way he does.

·        He’ll never say this, but your Snapchat storywas one of the things that made him fall for you. Your optimism and smile inthe videos kept him going through some bleak days, and now he gets to see youfor real, every day.

Kiseand you have a friendly competition going on where you try to keep snappingeach other without missing a single day. Given Kise’s penchant for sending andreceiving chats, especially when you’re involved, this isn’t very difficult.You realize how long you’ve been together when you see the 100 Day emoji, andsmile to yourself. 

Kuroko

·        Quite enjoys using Snapchat, because he isn’tinvisible, but the evidence never stays up for long either. However, he isn’tabove pranking his friends with the occasional snap where he deliberatelymisdirects them and then sends them reproachful messages about how they didn’tnotice him.

·        A lot of his snaps are, unsurprisingly, ofNigou. Sometimes he reminds you of an overly fond parent recording their childfor posterity, only with self-destructing photos. You often wish he’d post morepictures of himself in his story so you can secretly hoard them.

·        You were the first person to unerringly spotwhere Kuroko was in any video or photo, even if he wasn’t actually in theframe. After teasing him for several days, you finally satisfied his curiosityand explained that you looked for his shadow in the pictures. He might havefallen a little deeper in love with you at that moment.

·        Doesn’t actually voice it out loud, but lovesgetting personal messages from you. It makes him feel cherished, and he likesto bask in the glow of your attention. He’s not very good at reciprocation, butyou understand that he’s not naturally demonstrative. He compensates by beingaffectionate when you meet up IRL.

·        Is actually the one with a strange knack for postingwitty stories. His penchant for deadpan commentary means that everyone visiblybraces themselves when he posts something. You were just glad Vine got taken down, or the world would never recoverfrom the shade he was capable of throwing.  

Midorima

·        Takao was the one that made his account for him.He tried to take it down (because Shin_chan is an embarrassing username,nanodayo) but had no idea how. Takao was (and still is) the one that posts onhis story, mostly a picture of that day’s lucky item accompanied by hystericallaughter. Everyone started using Midorima’s story as a concise Oha-Asa.

·        When he starts dating you, he takes a littlemore interest in the app because you use it, though not that much. He doesn’t carefor social media in general. But he doesn’t mind sending the occasional snap ofhimself when you ask. These generally make you laugh because he looks so grim.

·        Also uses Snapchat to send you a forecast forthe day, and a suggestion for your lucky item. It makes his day if you textback, and he will be downright euphoric if you send a picture of you with saidlucky item.

·        There was one time Takao sneakily took a snap ofhim emerging from the shower after practice. You almost didn’t recognize himwithout glasses on. Midorima was just confused when you wouldn’t meet his eyesfor the rest of the day. He almost took you to the nurse because you were sored.

         Hisdark secret: someone once recorded a snap of you cheering from the standsduring a game. He may have saved that one because it was so cute, and it mayhave become a sort of good luck charm for him to depend on when he’s notfeeling as confident. But he’ll deny its existence if you ask him about it.“W-why would I have something like that, nanodayo?!”

Murasakibara

·        The last person in the group to use, or evencare about Snapchat. It’s so much effort, and less worthwhile than eatingsnacks. Still, it would be even more effort to put up resistance when youinstall it on his phone, so he just grumbles and lets you do it.

·        As a consequence of this indifference, he postsnothing at all. The one time he did post something, it was unintentional. Hepushed a button with his nose when he fell asleep on the couch. You and Himurolaughed for ten minutes straight when you got a blurry mass of purple hair andsmushed cheeks in your inbox.

·        You discover that Snapchat is an effective toolfor motivating Murasakibara. Send a disappearing picture of a dessert – or evenjust chocolate – and he’s suddenly up for anything. You once posted a video ofyou slowly eating ice-cream in a café, threatening to finish it without him. Hemade a 30 minute commute in half that time.

·        He’s not above messing with other people’ssnaps, especially selfies. He takes a sadistic delight in applying terrifyingfilters to Midorima’s face, much to the annoyance of the latter. You are theonly one exempt from this treatment; you’re too adorable to mar with somethinglike that. Also, you’re quite scary when you’re mad.

·        Murasakibara would much rather just cuddle youin person than use some app, but he appreciates your efforts to make him smile.He does smile, but more at your enthusiasm than the snaps. He’s never lonelythanks to you.

[simplemlmsponsoring]

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Creative Inspiration: Content We Enjoyed this Summer

As we bid farewell to the glorious 35-degree-days of summer, and brace ourselves for the inevitable autumn chill, here’s a look back at the creative content that tickled us this summer.

One of the reasons why I love writing these posts each quarter is because, if nothing else, it helps me and the creative team here at Distilled broaden the ways in which we think; and it inspires us to consider the more-varied, perhaps less-expected executions, that we could try.

After a successful run with the same topics and execution style, ideas can become formulaic, and can soon become dull and uninspiring for us and those experiencing our content. So it’s all the more important that turn to others for inspiration, and keep ourselves open to new ways of seeing and representing the stories we tell.

Imagery reimagined

Concepts that leave a lasting impression are often those that illustrate something we know well in an alternative way. Each of these campaigns reimagine everyday images differently, whether it’s in a comical or shocking way.

Hot and Spicy – KFC

This ad for KFC certainly makes you look twice. Fire has been replaced with fried chicken. It’s that simple. The organic patterns of the deep fat fried batter really do take on the life of expanding balls of exploding exhaust fire. Cars backfiring, or rockets launching into space – this image ad replacement hits the smart and succinct notes perfectly.

Unprotected Text – NHS

Communicating safe sex to younger people can seem dull, awkward or just something the target audience do not want to think about. This aptly-named ‘Unprotected Text’ campaign, however, cleverly taps into how young people communicate, using the not-so-secret alternative emoji meanings. Emoji are innately light-hearted, accessible and simple, and so allowing the NHS to talk about a slightly embarrassing topic in an eye-catching and memorable way, specifically targeting the 16-24 age range where STIs have been on the rise.

Population by Pixel – WWF

This campaign left me really concerned – is that really how many gorillas are left in the wild?! Campaigns about near-extinction and the depressing statistics that face some of the world’s greatest creatures are often not the most creative. They can be quite scarring and off-putting, shocking but not necessarily compelling people to donate. Instead of using gore tactics, this campaign simply shows the number of animals left in a certain species by the number of pixels used to depict them – the more pixelated an animal is, the more endangered. The mechanism is simple, but the impact is everlasting.

Velocipedia – Gianluca Gimini

It turns out most people don’t know what a bike looks like… Something we see every day, but for some reason we can’t remember how those tubes of metal connect to make the frame. Using this method of collecting what one item looks like and crowdsourcing drawings of it, means that the variety of executions far exceeds what one person could imagine. With the highly polished graphics and computer renders we are used to, seeing an amateur’s naïve drawing has a charm of its own. This artist turned these quick sketches into realistic images of bikes, immediately highlighting how flawed they were in their design.

Manipulating Maps

Connecting neighbourhoods through live music – Medium

This visualisation shows the touring routes of famous musicians on a map shown on a gig ticket. Different music genres are more prevalent in certain locations and fan bases are not always the same, so the routes on the maps vary wildly. There’s also a noticeable difference in patterns when comparing the route that tour buses take versus cross-state flyers.

Tube maps on satellite images – Various digital artists

We are so used to going underground in cities and popping up in new neighbourhoods, we often give little thought to the ground covered. Tube maps are simplified for easy navigation so usually, don’t represent the actual routes. These visualisations, show us exactly where these lines go, passing over iconic monuments that help us navigate our cites.

Here’s How America Uses its Land – Bloomberg

This scrolling data visualisation manages to simplify how the US uses its land, only 3.6% being used for urban areas and a massive 55% being used to feed the country with crops and pasture land. Having watched Cowspiracy recently the piece later goes on to highlight what this documentary tries to hammer home in that cows and cow feed production takes over a disproportionate amount of the country. Perhaps it’s time to finally give up those beef burgers! The data was gathered using surveys, satellite images and categorisations from various government agencies.  

Where’s Wally – Google

For April Fools Day this year, Google hid Wally (or Waldo, depending on where you are from) in Google maps. You are taken to an area where he is hidden and you are then zoomed into one of the famous Where’s Wally illustrations to begin your search.

Social Media and Mental Health

Life faker – Sanctus

Mental health company Sanctus have created a tongue-in-cheek page and video that aims to highlight the effect social media has on our mental health. People are often trying to one-up each other by showing the glamorous holidays they have been on, or delicious meals they are eating, this often leaves people feeling inadequate if they are not able to keep up. Life faker makes a point by offering a library of images, so you can fake the life that everyone seems to want to show. My favourite quote from the video is ‘I have never seemed happier’ which really highlights the irony of it all.

Real World Visualisation

T’s and C’s length – Zen City

Living in such a digital landscape I always get excited when people create physical data visualisations. We all know the length of terms and conditions can be a joke, and this piece highlights the actual length and comparison between the T’s and C’s of different apps. If you’re interested, Instagram takes the lead, closely followed by Snapchat.

What content have you enjoyed lately? Let us know in the comments.

Read more: distilled.net

[lindyhunt]

The State of Virtual Reality: Where We Are, and What's to Come in 2019

Throughout 2018, I've spent a considerable amount of time thinking and writing about virtual reality (VR). 

I've attended VR developer conferences, experimented with using different headsets, and have conducted research on public sentiment toward the technology.

Now, with VRX -- an annual VR industry conference and expo -- in session this week, I've gotten a glimpse at where things stand with this still-somewhat-emerging technology, and where it could go in the year to come.

As 2018 draws to a close, here is the state of VR.

The Vocabulary

VR doesn't stand alone as the only technology designed to create an alternative, but somewhat lifelike reality.

By definition, Virtual Reality (VR) is the most immersive of the "reality" technologies, and usually involves wearing a headset that creates a 360-degree simulation -- virtually placing the user into a digital environment or immersive experience designed to make it feel like he or she is actually there.

A few steps back from VR is augmented reality (AR), which essentially overlays a person's real-life, physical environment with some sort of digital imagery that's typically generated by a mobile device. One of the more notable examples of AR is the mobile app/game Pokémon GO, which uses the players' GPS locations to help them "find" and "catch" digital creatures.

Mixed Reality (MR) can be thought of as "AR+". It places digital creatures (or objects) in the same way an AR experience might, only with the ability of those objects to engage with the real, physical world around them -- and vice-versa. This one-minute explainer from Microsoft helps to put MR into context.

  Finally, there's extended reality (XR), which is arguably the most emergent of the four technologies listed here. In essence, XR looks to combine VR, AR, and MR -- in that it creates an immersive, virtual experience for the user, while also allowing that person to continue to see and interact with the physically world around her. 

AR as a "Gateway Drug"

That was a descriptor assigned to AR technology by EndeavorVR Founder and CEO Amy Peck during a VRX panel discussion on the ubiquity of digital reality technology.

It's a nod to the idea that, while not a fully immersive experience, AR can give users a preview into the world of VR and beyond, in part because it leverages technology and devices that many of us already use on a daily basis -- like our smartphones.

“It’s a little overly-simplistic to think that just because someone uses mobile AR, they’re going to be a VR consumer," said panelist Stephanie Llamas, VP of Strategy and Head of XR SuperData. "Mobile AR is taking something the user already knows and introducing a new use case that then will help them become more comfortable with virtual reality."

And while it might take time for that introduction to manifest in the form of VR becoming a mainstream technology -- more on that later -- the journey of AR to VR and beyond reflects much of what has happened throughout the course of technology's history.

“It took a long time for smartphones to get into the mainstream. It will happen over a long period of time," said Pearly Chen, Chief of Staff to CEO & Director of Vive X, HTC, during an earlier panel discussion. "A handheld device [that can be used for mobile AR] will naturally evolve into a head-worn device. A million problems need to be solved for us to get there, and that’s why it’s so exciting for us."

The Barriers to Mainstream

Earlier this year, I wanted to measure the public sentiment around VR -- to find out when, if, and how many people planned to buy VR headsets. And where the answer was "no," I wanted to know: Why not?

First, after surveying over 700 people across the U.S., UK, and Canada, we found that nearly half of people have no plans to buy a VR headset.

Data collected with Lucid

Then, for those who indicated that they don't plan to buy a VR headset, we asked what was stopping them.

Data collected with Lucid

We discovered three key barriers to entry.

First, many consumers don't understand the benefits or use cases for VR: a theme that reverberated throughout day one of VRX, and bleeds into the second-highest barrier we found, which is the need for more information about the technology before investing in it.

"The consumer cares more about what they’re getting out of it and what the experience that they’ll have. That’s the terminology we use,” said Ubiquity6 CEO Anjney Midha during a panel discussion. “What can we bring to market that the user understands today?”

Panelists discuss the future ubiquity of VR at VRX 2018

The responsibility in situations like these, said Llamas, is largely on the creators and companies behind the technology, to help navigate users through the VR experience.

"We’re going to help you understand the tech," Llamas explained, "and help people navigate VR in a way that provides an entry point."

That importance placed on user guidance points to the third major barrier to entry -- the cost of VR hardware for the consumer -- and another key responsibility of the businesses that are creating VR experiences.

The Future of VR Is Location-Based

When we hear the term "location-based," many of us think of GPS technology.

But when it comes to the future of VR's ubiquity, "location-based" actually refers to the concept of bringing a VR experience to users where they already are -- for example, at an event or a venue -- to introduce them to the technology without requiring a purchase.

A location-based approach to introducing VR to users points to a core tenet of experiential marketing: to bring a concept or a brand to people where they already are, instead of fighting for their attention in a sea of marketing messages.

Let's go back to the earlier point of the lack of awareness or knowledge about VR being a barrier to the technology going mainstream. "You have to have a proactiveness and interest upfront to be the consumer who [deliberately] seeks out in-home VR," said Llamas in her VRX opening remarks, "which is why you have so much lacking in that area -- because of that awareness issue.”

On the other hand, Llamas explained, "Location-based entertainment has some opportunity. It brings VR to people."

The Opportunity for Marketers and SMBs

Looking ahead to 2019, there's one key piece of Llamas's remarks that I would ask marketers and small-to-midsize businesses to keep in mind with their considerations of VR and AR: "Opportunity."

While there are barriers to entry, I wouldn't allow that to be a hindrance to exploring the ways these types of immersive or interactive experiences can be brought to your audiences -- and will also point to Llamas's earlier remarks about the history of emerging technologies.

"It’s something that needs to take time. If you look at this in the broader context of media history -- radios weren’t that easy to use at first -- every piece of major media we consume today had its pitfalls," Llamas reminded us, "and they were generally a lot worse than the pitfalls we have with VR."

There are two key areas of opportunity in creating these experiences for your users and target audiences:

Mobile AR

Location-based VR

Let's have a look at the most popular use cases for Mobile AR.

  According to Llama's presentation, the most popular VR use case is social media -- for example, something like a Snapchat Lens overlay that can be created by almost anyone. (More on that here.)

"AR lets you have a quick, artful interaction with the tech on your phone," says HubSpot Principal Video Editor and Animator, "which opens minds to the possibilities of other immersive technology.

Developing content for VR is arguably a bit trickier, but that doesn't mean it can't be done -- especially if you have access to a 360-degree camera and can use it to create immersive video content that's often used for VR experiences.

But when it comes to business use cases, what sort of experiences are people looking for? What's the best content to develop? Again, we'll turn to Llamas's data:

As this slide shows, VR and AR aren't all about gaming and entertainment. Much of the time, it's about partaking in an immersive experience to learn something new -- a message I heard earlier this fall when speaking to attendees of Facebook's annual VR conference, Oculus Connect.

"You can cram a lot more information that's 'learning by accident' or 'learning by play' when it's in VR," attendee Steve of DrashVR, which develops educational programs and curricula in VR, told me at the time. "That's the feedback I've heard first-hand: that people can learn more from 10 minutes of VR than in a semester of classes."

The bottom line: As 2019 approaches, it could be time for marketers and SMBs to start experimenting with immersive experiences like AR and VR. Whether it's to help people engage with your brand by way of a fun game or animated overlay, or to help them learn something, the general consensus at VRX is that this technology -- while still building -- is in it for the long-haul. 

"The opportunity is not just to be reaching new audiences," Watkins emphasizes, "but to be pioneering techniques in a new medium."

[dillenwaeraa]

Creative Inspiration: Content We Enjoyed this Summer

As we bid farewell to the glorious 35-degree-days of summer, and brace ourselves for the inevitable autumn chill, here’s a look back at the creative content that tickled us this summer.

One of the reasons why I love writing these posts each quarter is because, if nothing else, it helps me and the creative team here at Distilled broaden the ways in which we think; and it inspires us to consider the more-varied, perhaps less-expected executions, that we could try.

After a successful run with the same topics and execution style, ideas can become formulaic, and can soon become dull and uninspiring for us and those experiencing our content. So it’s all the more important that turn to others for inspiration, and keep ourselves open to new ways of seeing and representing the stories we tell.

Imagery reimagined

Concepts that leave a lasting impression are often those that illustrate something we know well in an alternative way. Each of these campaigns reimagine everyday images differently, whether it’s in a comical or shocking way.

Hot and Spicy - KFC

This ad for KFC certainly makes you look twice. Fire has been replaced with fried chicken. It’s that simple. The organic patterns of the deep fat fried batter really do take on the life of expanding balls of exploding exhaust fire. Cars backfiring, or rockets launching into space – this image ad replacement hits the smart and succinct notes perfectly.

Unprotected Text - NHS

Communicating safe sex to younger people can seem dull, awkward or just something the target audience do not want to think about. This aptly-named ‘Unprotected Text’ campaign, however, cleverly taps into how young people communicate, using the not-so-secret alternative emoji meanings. Emoji are innately light-hearted, accessible and simple, and so allowing the NHS to talk about a slightly embarrassing topic in an eye-catching and memorable way, specifically targeting the 16-24 age range where STIs have been on the rise.

Population by Pixel - WWF

This campaign left me really concerned – is that really how many gorillas are left in the wild?! Campaigns about near-extinction and the depressing statistics that face some of the world’s greatest creatures are often not the most creative. They can be quite scarring and off-putting, shocking but not necessarily compelling people to donate. Instead of using gore tactics, this campaign simply shows the number of animals left in a certain species by the number of pixels used to depict them - the more pixelated an animal is, the more endangered. The mechanism is simple, but the impact is everlasting.

Velocipedia - Gianluca Gimini

It turns out most people don’t know what a bike looks like… Something we see every day, but for some reason we can’t remember how those tubes of metal connect to make the frame. Using this method of collecting what one item looks like and crowdsourcing drawings of it, means that the variety of executions far exceeds what one person could imagine. With the highly polished graphics and computer renders we are used to, seeing an amateur’s naïve drawing has a charm of its own. This artist turned these quick sketches into realistic images of bikes, immediately highlighting how flawed they were in their design.

Manipulating Maps

Connecting neighbourhoods through live music - Medium

This visualisation shows the touring routes of famous musicians on a map shown on a gig ticket. Different music genres are more prevalent in certain locations and fan bases are not always the same, so the routes on the maps vary wildly. There’s also a noticeable difference in patterns when comparing the route that tour buses take versus cross-state flyers.

Tube maps on satellite images - Various digital artists

We are so used to going underground in cities and popping up in new neighbourhoods, we often give little thought to the ground covered. Tube maps are simplified for easy navigation so usually, don’t represent the actual routes. These visualisations, show us exactly where these lines go, passing over iconic monuments that help us navigate our cites.

Here’s How America Uses its Land - Bloomberg

This scrolling data visualisation manages to simplify how the US uses its land, only 3.6% being used for urban areas and a massive 55% being used to feed the country with crops and pasture land. Having watched Cowspiracy recently the piece later goes on to highlight what this documentary tries to hammer home in that cows and cow feed production takes over a disproportionate amount of the country. Perhaps it’s time to finally give up those beef burgers! The data was gathered using surveys, satellite images and categorisations from various government agencies.  

Where’s Wally - Google

For April Fools Day this year, Google hid Wally (or Waldo, depending on where you are from) in Google maps. You are taken to an area where he is hidden and you are then zoomed into one of the famous Where’s Wally illustrations to begin your search.

Social Media and Mental Health

Life faker - Sanctus

Mental health company Sanctus have created a tongue-in-cheek page and video that aims to highlight the effect social media has on our mental health. People are often trying to one-up each other by showing the glamorous holidays they have been on, or delicious meals they are eating, this often leaves people feeling inadequate if they are not able to keep up. Life faker makes a point by offering a library of images, so you can fake the life that everyone seems to want to show. My favourite quote from the video is ‘I have never seemed happier’ which really highlights the irony of it all.

Real World Visualisation

T’s and C’s length - Zen City

Living in such a digital landscape I always get excited when people create physical data visualisations. We all know the length of terms and conditions can be a joke, and this piece highlights the actual length and comparison between the T’s and C’s of different apps. If you’re interested, Instagram takes the lead, closely followed by Snapchat.

What content have you enjoyed lately? Let us know in the comments.

from Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/creative-inspiration-content-we-enjoyed-this-summer-2018/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[heavenwheel]

Creative Inspiration: Content We Enjoyed this Summer

As we bid farewell to the glorious 35-degree-days of summer, and brace ourselves for the inevitable autumn chill, here’s a look back at the creative content that tickled us this summer.

One of the reasons why I love writing these posts each quarter is because, if nothing else, it helps me and the creative team here at Distilled broaden the ways in which we think; and it inspires us to consider the more-varied, perhaps less-expected executions, that we could try.

After a successful run with the same topics and execution style, ideas can become formulaic, and can soon become dull and uninspiring for us and those experiencing our content. So it’s all the more important that turn to others for inspiration, and keep ourselves open to new ways of seeing and representing the stories we tell.

Imagery reimagined

Concepts that leave a lasting impression are often those that illustrate something we know well in an alternative way. Each of these campaigns reimagine everyday images differently, whether it’s in a comical or shocking way.

Hot and Spicy - KFC

This ad for KFC certainly makes you look twice. Fire has been replaced with fried chicken. It’s that simple. The organic patterns of the deep fat fried batter really do take on the life of expanding balls of exploding exhaust fire. Cars backfiring, or rockets launching into space – this image ad replacement hits the smart and succinct notes perfectly.

Unprotected Text - NHS

Communicating safe sex to younger people can seem dull, awkward or just something the target audience do not want to think about. This aptly-named ‘Unprotected Text’ campaign, however, cleverly taps into how young people communicate, using the not-so-secret alternative emoji meanings. Emoji are innately light-hearted, accessible and simple, and so allowing the NHS to talk about a slightly embarrassing topic in an eye-catching and memorable way, specifically targeting the 16-24 age range where STIs have been on the rise.

Population by Pixel - WWF

This campaign left me really concerned – is that really how many gorillas are left in the wild?! Campaigns about near-extinction and the depressing statistics that face some of the world’s greatest creatures are often not the most creative. They can be quite scarring and off-putting, shocking but not necessarily compelling people to donate. Instead of using gore tactics, this campaign simply shows the number of animals left in a certain species by the number of pixels used to depict them - the more pixelated an animal is, the more endangered. The mechanism is simple, but the impact is everlasting.

Velocipedia - Gianluca Gimini

It turns out most people don’t know what a bike looks like… Something we see every day, but for some reason we can’t remember how those tubes of metal connect to make the frame. Using this method of collecting what one item looks like and crowdsourcing drawings of it, means that the variety of executions far exceeds what one person could imagine. With the highly polished graphics and computer renders we are used to, seeing an amateur’s naïve drawing has a charm of its own. This artist turned these quick sketches into realistic images of bikes, immediately highlighting how flawed they were in their design.

Manipulating Maps

Connecting neighbourhoods through live music - Medium

This visualisation shows the touring routes of famous musicians on a map shown on a gig ticket. Different music genres are more prevalent in certain locations and fan bases are not always the same, so the routes on the maps vary wildly. There’s also a noticeable difference in patterns when comparing the route that tour buses take versus cross-state flyers.

Tube maps on satellite images - Various digital artists

We are so used to going underground in cities and popping up in new neighbourhoods, we often give little thought to the ground covered. Tube maps are simplified for easy navigation so usually, don’t represent the actual routes. These visualisations, show us exactly where these lines go, passing over iconic monuments that help us navigate our cites.

Here’s How America Uses its Land - Bloomberg

This scrolling data visualisation manages to simplify how the US uses its land, only 3.6% being used for urban areas and a massive 55% being used to feed the country with crops and pasture land. Having watched Cowspiracy recently the piece later goes on to highlight what this documentary tries to hammer home in that cows and cow feed production takes over a disproportionate amount of the country. Perhaps it’s time to finally give up those beef burgers! The data was gathered using surveys, satellite images and categorisations from various government agencies.  

Where’s Wally - Google

For April Fools Day this year, Google hid Wally (or Waldo, depending on where you are from) in Google maps. You are taken to an area where he is hidden and you are then zoomed into one of the famous Where’s Wally illustrations to begin your search.

Social Media and Mental Health

Life faker - Sanctus

Mental health company Sanctus have created a tongue-in-cheek page and video that aims to highlight the effect social media has on our mental health. People are often trying to one-up each other by showing the glamorous holidays they have been on, or delicious meals they are eating, this often leaves people feeling inadequate if they are not able to keep up. Life faker makes a point by offering a library of images, so you can fake the life that everyone seems to want to show. My favourite quote from the video is ‘I have never seemed happier’ which really highlights the irony of it all.

Real World Visualisation

T’s and C’s length - Zen City

Living in such a digital landscape I always get excited when people create physical data visualisations. We all know the length of terms and conditions can be a joke, and this piece highlights the actual length and comparison between the T’s and C’s of different apps. If you’re interested, Instagram takes the lead, closely followed by Snapchat.

What content have you enjoyed lately? Let us know in the comments.

from Digital https://www.distilled.net/resources/creative-inspiration-content-we-enjoyed-this-summer-2018/ via http://www.rssmix.com/