#however i do acknowledge like many things this growth comes at the expense and comfort of women

[masscomgirlie]

Being a mom is a full-time job in itself, but going back to school can add even more challenges to the mix. One of the biggest obstacles is finding the time and energy to balance both responsibilities. Moms have to juggle their own studies with their children's needs, such as school drop-offs and pick-ups, extracurricular activities, and homework help.

But wait, there’s more… Let’s add multi business owner to the mix. Exhausted just reading it? Same.

Another challenge is managing finances. Going back to school can be expensive, and many moms may have to work part-time or take out loans to cover the costs. This can add stress to an already full plate, and it may require sacrifices such as reducing family outings or cutting back on household expenses. I remember being in my photo journalism class. It was an independent study so it was just myself and one other person in the class. The teacher had a full-time job, so the class was on Wednesdays from 6 PM to 9 PM. I had to do the independent study in order to get the certification as a multimedia journalist. “No problem I can stay up late!”, I told myself. What I didn’t realize, is that I would then have to miss every single one of my sons Wednesday night baseball games, ouch. To say that was difficult would be an understatement. I felt like I was choosing my education over my son, even though I would never choose anything over him. It felt like a lose lose situation. That was really hard.

That being said, moms may face feelings of guilt or selfishness for pursuing their own goals instead of solely focusing on their children. However, it's important to remember that going back to school can lead to better opportunities and a brighter future for the entire family.

Despite the challenges, many moms find that going back to school is a rewarding and fulfilling experience. It's a chance to set a positive example for their children and show them that it's never too late to pursue their dreams. With determination, support, and a bit of creativity, moms can successfully navigate the challenges of going back to school and achieve their academic goals. Here are a few ways you can keep a winning mindset during the challenges..

1. Acknowledge your accomplishments: Take the time to reflect on your achievements, big or small, and recognize the effort and hard work you put in to get there.

2. Share your success: Celebrate with those who supported you along the way, whether it's family, friends, or colleagues. Share your joy with them and thank them for their support.

3. Treat yourself: Whether it's buying yourself a small gift, indulging in your favorite food or activity, or taking a day off, treat yourself to something special as a reward for your hard work.

4. Set new goals: Use your success as motivation to set new goals and continue striving for excellence. Celebrating your wins can give you the confidence to tackle new challenges.

Remember, celebrating your wins is not about being boastful or arrogant, but about recognizing your achievements and giving yourself the recognition and appreciation you deserve.

When you have a strong sense of self-belief and confidence, you become more motivated, focused, and determined to achieve your goals. This mindset helps you to push through obstacles and challenges, and to keep going even when things get tough.

Believing in yourself also helps you to take risks and try new things. When you trust your own abilities and judgment, you're more likely to step outside of your comfort zone and take on new challenges. This can lead to personal and professional growth, as well as new opportunities and experiences.

All in all, having self-belief and confidence is essential for achieving success and happiness in life. It empowers you to take control of your own destiny, pursue your dreams, and overcome any obstacles that may come your way. Even for us mamas.

Congratulations for making it to the bottom of this dreadfully long blog post… Before I go, I will leave you with this…

"Getting closer to mental clarity is like climbing a staircase. Each step you take brings you closer to the top, where you can see everything clearly. The steps may be challenging, but with persistence and determination, you can reach the top and find the clarity you seek."

You’re doing better than you think, mama. You are showing the world that moms can have an identity out of the home as well. You are paving the way for more women in leadership and you are showing your kids firsthand that with grit, determination, hard work and a whole lot of tears, they too, can have the life of their dreams. With purpose and passion, go out there and get it mama.

[transhawks]

Let's talk about Mineta and masculinity. Just my thoughts as bi trans man.

Real talk, I've said for years Mineta was disappointing because Horikoshi could do a lot with him. He could have easily subverted the 'funny drawn comic relief' with him because clearly Horikoshi has commented on insecurity in personal life and as a man, knows that there is a lot of pressure on young boys to prove that they are capable of attracting girls to other boys.

That men who can't get girls are derided as weak, emasculated, and ostracized but that is a very acceptable form of bullying. We judge people by their partners a lot in society and teen boys who don't fit conventional standards of attractiveness get the message that unless a girl likes them, they're not real men. That's why you see this bitterness in nerd boy culture - there is a societal expectation on men to be virile, and why so often 'nerd media's has sexist tropes that focus on the 'undesirable' man getting the girl.

It's the thought process that fuels everything from 80's scifi tropes that gave us 'alien/not from here girls' to 2010s Isekai anime that really have a ostracized nerdy boy becoming their own power fantasy. It's the foundation of incels - which in their original conception and meaning are 'involuntary celibates', mostly men who are 'denied girls' and therefore everything else that comes with that. We have a society that priorities romantic relationships, where families are assumed to be blood-tied, and this does indeed cause real issues in how people who cannot or do not want to achieve that live their lives.

What I'm trying to say is, yes, Mineta's behavior was always disgusting. You have every right to hate him for his actions, but there's complexity here, too. And part of me really hoped it was for a point. That finally someone would write character whose growth meant realizing that his worth as a person was not about getting girls to like him and being girl crazy, that the perversion was a bad way of expressing his insecurities and frustrations. And working through that.

And, surprisingly if the translation is true and the Japanese fandom is right, we ...just might have? I mean I'd want to see an apology from Mineta about his behavior, but if Horikoshi just did all that because Mineta wasn't just facing this sort of pressure and societal expectation as a straight man, but also a queer man, well, that's... Shocking. But not as untrue to real life as many people think.

A lot of people younger than me (I graduated hs in 13) and might not understand how common closeted and being downlow was recently in the US. In Japan it's much more like that now. A lot of queer people do end up performing heterosexuality 'in excess' in both denial and cover up. All those jokes about 'compensating for something' did and do have some basis. When straight male masculinity is general dependent on virility and asserting dominance, is it any wonder that an attempt at performative cishet masculinity ends up being far more toxic than the usual? It is born out of insecurity and, added in the queerness, fear. To be seen as weak or effeminate is very much a big fear on boys' minds, because it comes with repercussions, loss of status. There's a safety that being out removes from you.

So I understand there is a lot of anger about 'of all the representation, Mineta..' but actually, this is incredibly realistic and not as bad as you think. Not all queer characters are meant to be likable. And perhaps coming to terms with their queerness is essential to them stopping bad behaviors and becoming better people - and that is representation.

There is a lot to be discussed on how damaging our narrow views on masculinity are for all genders, and there is also a discussion to had about how many of us queer and trans people often perform 'roles' or present in ways that mask our insecurities with confidence. Sometimes it's like sliding into two different sides of the spectrum - when closeted, performing rigidly the gender roles we are supposed to confirm to, and often when first coming out, going all the way to be as visibly loud and as possible/or rigidly conforming to the new gender roles if you're trans and binary. Is it really so surprising a young boy confused about his sexuality went out of his way to try and prove he was the straightest boy there?

I see many people wish it was Aoyama as a very clear cut and confident 'GNC' boy, but the truth is, wouldn't that just gather the 'we already knew' comments? What about those of us who didn't know?

So, while I still think so much of Mineta's harassment played as a joke was awful and in line with a lot of the other sexism Horikoshi routinely puts into his own manga, I ask people to think a bit more about what it means to be a queer boy when they express revulsion at the fact 'it had to be Mineta'.

There are way more insecure boys with unconventional looks who find bad ways of coping with their queerness than you think and a lot of the commentary I am seeing veers into that reinforcing 'eew no one wants him'. Yeah, I don't think many people would want the Mineta who climbs onsen walls to peep, but Mineta does not have to be /that boy/ down the line. And maybe feeling something for Deku is helping him do just that - and isn't that what we wanted from Deku, who has changed so many of his friends into better people? Isn't that better than Mineta staying what he was?

[iridescentides]

hello again dia!!! i hope you've been having a good weekend 💙 i know that you love austin & ally and i wanted to know what are some of your favorite episodes/moments/characters? i've never watched the show myself so maybe your love for it will rub of and finally convince me 😋 - gcwca secret santa 🎅🎁🎄

AHHHHHH HI thank you for asking! this show is literally so special to me. 

i accidentally wrote a very long response so its under the cut:

i wanna start off by saying that the characters are why i love it the most. austin and ally is my number one comfort show, and specifically dez, trish, and austin are my comfort characters. not saying that i dont like ally; shes nice and obviously very essential to the loving group dynamic but the other three are so fun and wacky and interesting and just some of my favorite characters of all time.

i think at the heart of it my favorite thing about the show is the love. its all good vibes and none of the emergencies are really that deep, and the main four just care about each other so much and show it in so many ways!!! i love their whole friend group dynamic bc when one of them has a problem, they all work together to solve it. and each dyad has their own little relationship thats special in its own way. they hang out at the mall 24/7 (which is a DREAM scenario bc the mall is my favorite place to be) and just have adventures together and learn about each other.

my absolute favorite episode is s03e19, beauties and bullies, bc its all about trish. there are a few trish-centric episodes in the show, and everyone gets their spotlight at one point or another, but this is one of the only episodes that allows her to be open with her emotions. shes the toughest one in the group, always loud and brave and explosive, but in this episode she is the one that needs help, support, and comfort. i love the consistency in her characterization in this episode bc she is so reluctant to be on the receiving end of this support, and she even convinces her friends shes fine at first. and even though its not a role they typically play for her bc shes so good at defending herself, the group quickly springs into action to protect her, to care for her, to help her through it bc they know that thats their job as her closest friends. it literally makes me cry every time. plus i love that its ultimately dez who figures out who the bully is bc even though hes generally seen as dumb and imperceptive, it shows that he seriously cares about trish and is able to pick up on details when it comes to helping her, or any of his friends for that matter.

my favorite season is s4 bc of the tangible growth and change we see in everyone, but especially austin. season 4 really just shows how much they have all impacted each other, and how no matter what happens, they will always be in each others lives. in this season we see them take on a more serious and practical goal together, opening up their own music school. each of them takes on a role that plays to their strengths, and i absolutely love the teamwork. one of the overarching themes of the season is role modeling, and it makes me extremely emotional to see each of them channel their passion into helping kids pursue similar goals. the season is great in so many ways.

but season 4 austin moon is by far the best austin moon. at the beginning of the show he was a goofy kid who dreamed about being famous and pursued the goal very selfishly, even stealing allys song in the first episode and becoming an overnight internet sensation off of it. he was always loving, enthusiastic, sweet, and charming, but throughout the series we see him learn how to be a friend and how to care for other people. in the beginning, being a star is all that matters to him, and we watch ally very patiently, but skillfully, set an example for him of respecting other peoples time, effort, and attention. my favorite thing about austin is that he always has the best intentions at heart, and when he messes something up, he puts in genuine care to fix it in a meaningful way. lots of tv protagonists cause problems and then “fix” them halfheartedly and we just forgive them bc we have to and we move on with the show. but austin consistently learns and grows and keeps doing better for the people he cares about most, he comes through for them at the most unexpected times, and he picks them up when theyre down. even as he gets more famous and successful, his friends continue to come first. (i dont want to spoil too much plot wise, but) at the beginning of season 4 austin is unable to perform publicly, and it really hurts and breaks him bc performing is his favorite thing to do; his dream has always been to be a pop star. so when the music school opens in s4 we see him actively, selflessly, channel all of his passion for the thing he loves most, and give it to kids in a meaningful and special way. he has grown from a well-intentioned but self-absorbed teenager into a very caring and kind young adult who makes a difference in the lives of other people. he struggles with his identity and defining himself without his dream, but quickly gets to work making an active positive impact on those around him.

my all time favorite moment of the show, even though its super small, is dez’s solo in the song at the end of s03e06, glee clubs and glory. dez is the most routinely overlooked member of the group bc hes so goofy and quirky. he says a million things that dont make any sense, and he is definitely the comic relief character. however, the reason i love him (and why im like 80% sure hes my actual favorite of the four of them, even though its so hard for me to decide officially) is because despite all the little jokes and jabs at his expense, despite the goofiness that keeps others from taking him seriously, despite being knocked down so many times, he never stops dreaming. he literally never gives up. he has so much passion and enthusiasm inside of him, and he is overflowing with love and affection for his friends. he loves making videos but also pursues a billion different little hobbies. he has sooo many hidden talents, and thats something i was pointing out to my gf when i first showed her the show; dez is so incredibly capable and skilled, but so humble about it. he does things not for an end goal, but for the joy of participating, and when he doesnt get all the spotlight or attention, thats okay with him bc he had such a good time anyway. so in this episode, glee clubs and glory, after being passed up for the glee club over and over again, then letting his enthusiasm get the best of him as captain, and then being dethroned at the end of it all, he is still so happy to get his little moment in the end because hes truly a team player. its nice to see him shine. heres a link to the performance and the part im talking about is at 1:30. 

OKAY i am gonna stop there bc theres a million little things that i love about the show but i already wrote you an essay. i guess the last thing i wanna say is that every single austin moon song fucking slaps. my favorite is probably the main title theme song (can’t do it without you) bc not only is it the ultimate BOP but they also reference it periodically throughout the show to acknowledge that they are all successful because of each other, and the friendship as a whole makes each of them stronger than they are individually. my other faves from the show are a billion hits, steal your heart, stuck on you, and chasin’ the beat of my heart.

(okay i lied i have ONE more final closing thought! i dont really love the romantic pairing of austin/ally, i like them better platonically. not saying that they make a bad couple by any means. but i just hate the trope that the main girl/boy HAVE to get together so as a concept it bugs me. but i lowkey ship trish/dez a little bit.)

TLDR; the characters are literally all my favorite for different reasons, and the best thing about the show to me is their group dynamic and the ways that they consistently show love and care for each other.

[pynkhues]

I just want Beth to be like, fuck boomer. How can she be so forgiving for everything he did to her and Annie?

I’ve only watched the episode once at this stage, anon, but the impression I got was that she did say ‘fuck Boomer’, and that she wasn’t forgiving of him at all. As soon as she saw him pop out of the septic tank, she knew what Rio was asking, and she never wavered in delivering him, which is huge, huge growth for Beth (and Annie and Ruby too). I’d argue too that trying to take him to Marion was smattered with three very different sets of motivations.

Annie was doing it for Marion.

Beth was doing it for Annie.

And Ruby was doing it for Beth. 

None of them were doing it for Boomer.

Overall though, I think this episode marked a really substantive growth in terms of Beth’s handling of a rotten egg, and that it represented a natural evolution from the horror of what happened to Lucy, and the initial disaster of her handling of the Boomer situation in the early parts of s2, in a way that felt true to her character and true to her moral descent, which is less a plummet off a cliff, than it is a stagger down the stairs. 

So let’s break that down a bit:

Annie + Boomer + Beth

The first real scene of violence (as opposed to threatened or inferred violence) on this show is actually through Annie, Boomer and Beth. 

He tries to rape Annie, and Beth first holds a toy gun on him, and then smashes a bottle over his head.

This scene is a really clear precursor to what happens later in the series, but also a very distinct character set-up for Beth, because it shows that she thinks quickly on her feet, will protect her and hers (aka Annie and Ruby), doesn’t think things through (was there ever a plan of what to do with Boomer in the treehouse?) and has a lot of barely contained rage, simmering beneath the surface of her. 

Beth + Rio + Dean

In a lot of ways, that barely contained rage manifests with Beth getting Rio arrested, an act motivated out of a conflicting cocktail of fear, anger, vindictiveness, and - as I’ve argued on here before - genuine hurt. The scene at the end of 1.10 is such a good cliffhanger, and they explode that cliffhanger back open with 2.01. 

Rio gives her the gun, manipulates Beth’s trust, and then uses that trust as a weapon against Beth to get her to willingly give him back the gun as he shoots Dean. 

It’s a scene that punctuates Rio’s ability to do what Beth can’t.

The Girls + Boomer

And yet, for Rio, that immediately seems to build into a desire to get her to do it. 

He’s just shot her husband, and now he’s strongarming, goading, and - in 2.04 - positively gleeful at the prospect of getting her to shoot someone too.

Boomer is really the first person who’s framed as a dead man walking on this show, and by the time the show articulates that explicitly in 2.01, it comes with a loaded, complex history. Boomer’s Annie’s boss, her would-be rapist, and now the fiance of their sort-of-employee? It’s a mess from the word go, and it falls out as a mess because Rio’s overshot, because Beth isn’t ready. 

That whole mess just falls out and falls out and falls out across season 2, until it culminates in: 

The Loft

Which not only parallels with 1.10/2.01, but also the Boomer arc. 

Rio gives Beth Turner as a gift, a lesson, and a punishment combined, and once again, Beth isn’t ready for any of it. 

It compounding with the games and then the abandonment and then the kidnapping, means Beth shoots the wrong person in a way that calls back to 1.01. It’s an explosion of desperation and then an ill-thought out rage that resets the board for s3.

Season 3

In a lot of ways, Rio’s taken a step back from Beth this season, and I think in no small part, that that’s manifested in his desire to see Beth get her hands dirty. That desire is absolutely still there, but he’s downloaded a lesson plan, and he’s pivoted his approach. 

Now, it isn’t about getting a gun in her hands, it’s about making her complicit with the gun in his. 

Beth + Rio

This is really started in 3.02/3.03 with their reunion, and the extension of the shift in violence in their relationship which was escalated in 2.13. 

Namely though, it reiterates a set of rules that haven’t always appeared so plainly, but have certainly underpinned many of their interactions. 

1. The gun is in Rio’s hands and he makes sure she knows that it’s there (he tells her he’s planning on killing her). 

2. Beth scrambles to save someone (in this case herself through the pregnancy lie).

3. She plays along (she goes to the OBGYN with him).

4. She tries to negotiate (their whole conversation at the bar in 3.04)

5. She suffers the consequences (lets him strongarm into her business.) 

And then it escalates.

Beth + Lucy

I’ve talked about it before, but Lucy’s death was a marked shift for the show, because it wasn’t about making Beth do it, it was about making her complicit in the crime. 

Again, it follows a formula, albeit this time, not over two episodes. It’s in a handful of scenes.

1. The gun is in Rio’s handsand he makes sure Beth knows that it’s there (he presents as a clear and obvious danger to Lucy, echoes language he’s used with Beth when trying to kill her to emphasise his intentions. I talked about this a lot in the post I linked to above).

2. Beth scrambles to save someone (she tries to tell Lucy not to finish the new template.)

3. She plays along (she goes out to the van with Rio and his guys).

4. She tries to negotiate (passionately this time! But - notably - for herself, Annie and Ruby first, Lucy second - her first moral slip in this particular sense). 

5. She suffers the consequences (Lucy’s killed).

It’s a stark contrast to 2.01, because Dean survived, and an even starker one to all of the other scenes of violence on this show so far, because Lucy was an innocent, unlike Dean, Boomer and Rio.

Hell, she’s even unlike Annie and Mary-Pat, who have both experienced awful sexual violence in this series at Boomer’s hands. There is no situation ever in which any person deserves that or invites it; however, in talking about the violence on this show, it’s important to acknowledge not only their respective traumas, but the way they play as morally grey characters in the storyworld versus Lucy, who was never presented to us as anything other than ‘good’. 

The brief foray between Beth, Max and Rio that falls out of it forms a compelling, but short-lived exploration of the ramifications to this, and is in no small terms about highlighting two things. a) Beth has never been as innocent as Max, who wets himself in the heat of the moment, and b) that she’s stumbled down a few stairs in terms of what she can do, while c) still letting her guilt guide her course of action. 

Beth + Boomer

Which is why this episode was, in practically every way, an escalation of what Beth’s capable of, even if it did perhaps feel like it wasn’t. 

1. The gun is in Rio’s hands (a fact Beth instantly accepts when Boomer pops out of the septic tank). 

2. Beth doesn’t scramble to save him. At all. This is huge for her and a really, really marked shift in terms of her character. Like I said at the start of this post, everything she did in this episode was for Annie’s benefit, not for Boomer’s, but I’ll come back to that in a tick. 

3. She plays along, but it’s different this time. She’s both falling into line, while creating her own space. Yes. She’s going to bring Rio Boomer. But she also might need more time within that, and she’ll fight for that when it’s for her sister (taking Boomer to say goodbye to Marion), but she won’t when it’s for Boomer himself at their expense (she’ll steal away the urn and threaten to throw it away when it’s too much). Beth bossed up in a big way. Not in a pretty way, sure, and not in a way that perhaps immediately presented as empowering, but it was  - she did what needed to be done to deliver, not just play along.

4. This is why I think Beth’s negotiation here was important and needed to be in there. The shift in her own morality in this episode has been both a logical evolution of the series and a really stark one. She needed to know she tried, and it’s no accident that her brief, half-hearted efforts at negotiating for Boomer’s life with Rio came after Boomer was appealing to Annie again, and again, and again, and again in that car. 

We’ve seen what Beth’s like when she’s fighting for a life. 

She wasn’t fighting for Boomer. 

If anything, she was providing the most base of comforts to her sister, and likely herself too. 

They tried.

5. She suffers the consequences. She doesn’t fight it. She doesn’t spring from the car, or start her filibuster like she usually would. Which means she doesn’t just suffer Boomer’s death. 

For the first time in the series, she accepts it. 

And she lets it go. 

And sure, maybe it’s not a fuck you, but for Beth? The woman who can’t even divorce her husband? I think that’s pretty huge. 

I also think that the end of the episode where Annie tried to give peace to Marion just reiterated how much this episode was about her for Annie, not about Boomer (which is why it’s also important that the show reminded us that Marion was racist, and that she chose Boomer over Annie anyway, which I really appreciated). 

And going off that final montage? None of them mourned him like they did Lucy, which, well. Says a lot, particularly when paralleled with their respective guilt spirals in 2.04 after disposing of Boomer the first time.

[loveart248]

KIRIBAKU SHIP DEVELOPMENT

I love many BNHA ships but Kiribaku holds a special place in my heart since it has so much positive canon material and I am always a sucker for the "Best friends who fall in love" trope since I enjoy slow burn with character growth. However, even taking the romantic possibility out of the equation, I just love that their relationship is so well developed in the story with subtle changes in their behavior all throughout as they go from 1. strangers who don't think much of each other to 2. reluctant allies who need to work together to complete certain tasks to 3. sort of friends with Kirishima pushing for a friendship to 4. best friends with an equal balance of respect and appreciation for each other. Below I tried to break down their relationship as it develops throughout the manga so...

WARNING: This is a long post and MAY contain spoilers for non-manga readers and anyone who has not seen the BNHA movie (not by much though).

Back at the beginning of the series, Kirishima used to think that Bakugou was a terrible person just like the rest of class 1-a, especially due to how he would treat Izuku. He was all like "That Bakugou is crazy and fights dirty" while Bakugou didn't even care about his existence yet. The only thing on Bakugou's mind at the time was beating Izuku and proving his superiority over everyone else. Thus, Bakugou was definitely not looking for friends as the only people he was used to having around him were "followers" as shown during his middle school times.

Then during the USJ arc, they automatically started working together to fight the villains as they were right next to each other during the initial attack. This right away showed how synchronized they were as a team due to their personalities and compatible quirks. So from the get go, they just seemed to flow well together.

Afterwards, they were sent off in the portal together giving them more time to fight villains side by side alone to get a feel of each others' personalities. During that time, you can slowly see Kirishima change his perspective of Bakugou from "This guy is crazy" to "Huh. This guy may not be that bad. He seems pretty cool right now".

This scene may seem minute but it is the moment that ignites Kirishima's interest in getting to know more about Bakugou. Kirishima basically starts to become more interested in Bakugou as a person as he starts to recognize his positive qualities despite his original assessment of Bakugou's personality.

Kirishima can't help but start to find Bakugou "manly" even after he tells off the other classes at the beginning of the Sports Festival arc. Even despite Kaminari's warning of "Don't let him play you" lol And this is just great because it shows that Kirishima was still somewhat hesitant about liking Bakugou as a person but was willing to give him a chance.

Kirishima begins to want to hang out with Bakugou and get on his good side as shown by the interactions above and some of the interactions at the beginning of the Sports Festival. Bakugou still doesn't think much of him but he let's him be for the most part. You also start to see Kirishima more impressed with Bakugou than before.

As the Sports Festival progresses, Kirishima finally gets his opportunity to prove his skill in Bakugou's eyes while also appealing to Bakugou's desire to win against Izuku. This moment shows an understanding of Bakugou's personality as he knows how to get Bakugou to agree with him despite Bakugou not thinking too much of him yet. It also shows a shift in Kirishima's preference of Izuku since now he would much prefer to be in Bakugou's team as he didn't even try to get in Izuku's team and barely tried to get into Todoroki's team based on his commentary.

THAT moment is when their friendship is truly born as Bakugou starts to acknowledge him and call him "Kirishima" afterwards as a sign of respect. During the match, you can see their dynamics in action with Kirishima trying to calm down Bakugou as Bakugou starts to lose his cool with opposing teams lol So basically the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The two are eventually paired off against each other and Bakugou wins but he STILL respects him as an opponent. He even comments on how difficult it is to get past Kirishima's defenses which is why he basically lets him reach his quirk limit to win. The fight is short but pretty funny because you can see them kind of teasing each other all throughout like good friends.

After the Sports Festival, the two are often seen around each other hanging out with Kirishima definitely feeling more comfortable around Bakugou to the point that he easily jokes around him and teases him. Slowly, through Kirishima's influence as he basically gets along with everyone in class 1-a, you can see more of the other students also feel more comfortable around Bakugou, especially the ones who were on his team at the Sports Festival.

Characters like Kaminari, Sero, Mina, etc. Sero is one that automatically attaches himself to Bakugou's group soon after the Sports Festival as he is shown comfortably teasing Bakugou for his haircut with Kirishima.

By the time the Summer Training Camp Arc happens, the audience already has some understanding of their friendship but it's still not in full display yet. It's more subtle and in the background than anything. During the summer camp though, you can finally see how much Bakugou means to Kirishima as a friend and as a fellow student after the villain attack that results in his kidnapping.

He feels guilty that he couldn't help his friend so he tries to convince the others to help him save Bakugou despite that being illegal. He only manages to convince a select few, two of which were already there when Bakugou was kidnapped and felt responsible too (Todoroki and Izuku) but the fact that he felt that much about it shows how much he cares.

In part, knowing Kirishima's character and motivations, you can tell that he wants to save Bakugou to prove to himself that he can be a true hero but you can also tell that saving Bakugou means more to him than that since Bakugou is not just "some guy" but his close friend.

During the entire rescue arc, Kirishima is all about doing his best to save Bakugou alongside the others to the point that he buys expensive night camera lenses to spy on the warehouse and chooses the disguises for the others (which were pretty funny disguises that make you wonder why Kirishima has such terrible fashion sense but can choose decent outfits for others XD).

Later on, Bakugou pays him back the money for the camera as a form of thanks for saving him. If BNHA Smash is anything to go by, Bakugou apparently did ALL kinds of odd jobs to get that money as quickly as possible (i.e. Nude modeling, dress like a bumble bee, bake cakes, etc.) 🤣

During the rescue arc, the most Kiribaku moment ever occurs in which Izuku comes up with the "Rescue Bakugou Without Confronting Villains" plan that ends up working ONLY because of how Bakugou views Kirishima as a friend and equal by that point. This is an important moment of development from Bakugou's side as it shows that he holds Kirishima in high regard and does not feel like Kirishima saving him is him looking down on Bakugou's own skill. This is significant since THIS specific detail is one of the factors that causes Bakugou to react in anger towards characters like Izuku and Todoroki most of the time: his belief that they are looking down on him and consider him inferior. So him accepting Kirishima's hand basically confirmed that their relationship is mutual as they both consider the other a friend without fear of judgment.

After this arc, there are countless other subtle moments throughout the series that show how close they are such as:

1. Bakugou tutoring him and going on study dates (a lot of that in the light novels). Also, the fact that Kirishima clearly wanted Bakugou to tutor him from the beginning since he never seeked out Momo like the others when he saw his grade.

2. The BNHA movie moments (assuming they are canon) which happened before the summer arc and add MORE development and insight into their relationship (i.e. Bakugou inviting Kirishima to i-Expo, sharing a room, Kirishima buying them suits, etc.)

3. Kirishima constantly complimenting Bakugou but also making sure he's not too rude to others (Literally them every panel in the manga nowadays lol)

4. Kirishima apparently helping Bakugou move all his stuff to his dorm and then...

5. Kirishima knowing that Bakugou went to sleep at 8 pm when showing off rooms hinting that they were hanging out prior to that

6. Bakugou's motivational speech to Kirishima that motivated him to push himself harder to create the "unbreakable" form/also basically a compliment from Bakugou to Kirishima.

7. Kirishima implying that he and Bakugou spar together sometimes (i.e. Bakugou asking to test his technique on him and Kirishima being fine with that while the others are scared lol)

And don't get me started on all the BNHA SMASH moments! Seriously, those are not canon at all but there are many. And Kirishima is extra affectionate in those 🤣 He has the power to make Bakugou do pretty much anything there.

To conclude this long post, whether as brotp or otp, the Kiribaku relationship development is undeniable. Just like the character growth they both experienced due to each other. Now, just because they help each other grow does not mean they are the only ones there for each other. Kirishima is not the ONLY one that understands Bakugou in the story nor is he his only friend or person he respects since Bakugou has many other people he respects and calls by name (i.e. All Might, Aizawa, Uraraka, etc.). Likewise, Bakugou is not the ONLY person Kirishima admires or considers a close friend (i.e. He has Kaminari, TetsuTetsu, etc.).

However, they clearly mean a lot to each other and help each other develop where they need to. Kirishima helps Bakugou open up to others more and Bakugou helps Kirishima believe in himself and his ability to be a hero. And that is enough for them. 😁

[thecarmillacurator]

Monsters- Carmilla Fic Review & Recommendation

Title: Monsters

Author: andthatisterrible on Ao3 and @asleepinawell on Tumblr

Word Count: 69K

Chapters: 12

Rating: Mature (For violence and themes, rather than for the sexual content)

Ship: Hollstein

Tags I’d Assign: #hurt and comfort  #angst #vampire!laura  #ethereal #suspense #canon divergent AU #hollstein 

Author’s Synopsis: Over a year has passed since the events at the end of season 2. The final battle has been fought and the survivors have moved on with their lives, picking up the pieces as best they can. Carmilla has withdrawn from the world, isolating herself as far from her former companions as possible. But when a face from the past shows up on her doorstep one night she has no choice but to find herself pulled back into the events that sent her fleeing in the first place.

Readability: Prose reads smoothly. (I would *love* for someone to do a high-quality podcast-read of this story.)

Reviewer’s Plot Summary: Taking a slight detour late in Season Two, Carmilla has left Silas and her friends to their own devices, just like Laura wanted. Now, she’s holed up on an island paradise in a house that holds significant, yet horrible, memories, living a half-life of numb apathy and barely-acknowledged depression. And when LaFontaine arrives on an expensive yacht begging for her help, and refusing to explain how they even knew where to find her, Carmilla quickly finds out the worst has come true: As the crisis at Silas University continued on in her absence, determined and foolish Laura not only got herself killed, but turned.  Seemingly gone is the sweet, purely good person that was Laura Hollis, and in her place is an unteathered, zombie-like vampire. Carmilla was LaF’s last hope for Laura. But even as the cost of helping Laura is Carmilla’s having to slowly rip her own heart to shreds, the dark legacies of Silas aren’t done with them. Vacant humans, an abundance of crows, and a massing oceanic storm are all portents that Carmilla will be called upon to complete the sacrifice she started back when she and Laura were just roommates and the stakes were a paltry string of missing co-eds.

Recommended to Read:  Yes. It has a slowly building sense of foreboding that is wonderfully mixed with atmospheric writing and one of the heaviest-hitting takes on Hollstein I’ve read.

Review: If I had to save one and only one Carmilla story off of Ao3 while the servers burned, it would be this one, and I do not say that lightly.  And I’d urge you to consider reading it even if it’s outside your normally-enjoyed genre. For myself, I’m not a fan of suspense, or supernatural thrillers, but I’d suggest you to give this one a chance even if you primarily stick to fluff or less-serious AUs: It treats the deeper faults in the Hollstein dynamic of Season Two with thought and realism, and the sheer angst and hurt/comfort volume on this is turned up so high it’s beautiful. Finally, don’t be afraid to read this because of the

possibility of character death or because it’s a serious fic. ***If the possibility of character death is a deal-breaker for you like it usually is for me, I’ve buried a spoiler in the tags.

The story is written in third person limited, Carm’s point-of-view.  

The Good: This is my personal, official Movie replacement go-to fiction. It carries forward the darker supernatural suspense of Season Two and resolves the relationship between Laura and Carmilla in a way that is much heavier, and therefore more impactful, than how the series actually ends in the Movie. And it takes a more fine-tuned look at what Hollstein’s issues would be in the real-world beyond the often light and fluffy universe of the webseries. 

To make a full confession: Season Two was actually my least favorite season. I fell in love with Carmilla because of the fun zany-ness of it; I absolutely don’t do supernatural thrillers or horror movies in real life. (You can date me, but I will absolutely *not* go to a movie in those genres with you. I am a sensitive, sensitive soul who shies away from dark things, probably because I’ve seen a lot of the darkness of mankind in my profession and know it isn’t something to be taken lightly.) 

The author makes smart choices all along the way, from the immediate juxtaposition of the sun-filled, idyllic setting against Carm’s dark history and the darkness of the battle coming, to the achingly fine-tuned pacing of Laura’s progress in recovery mirroring how their relationship also needs not only time, but also effort to repair. And the author does something I appreciate so much: She calls Laura out on her selfish naivete from Season Two, and looks at the world from Carmilla’s perspective instead. And because of that, we see a level of real-world growth out of the Laura that didn’t happen enough in the series or Movie, something Carmilla deserved. Also? You won’t believe it, but Carmilla gets some healing where it comes to her “mother.” I could cry for Carmilla after reading this story.

The Concrit:  Season Three and all it’s wonderfulness doesn’t happen, since the story flows from an alternating chain of events. Also, the personality of the story doesn’t allow for the humor or whimsy we often enjoy in the series and in many fan-written stories. However, if you accept that this is a serious alternate-ending to what was a serious season and that it portrays a painful- yet wholly satisfying- movement of their love story that differs from how the Movie left us with a Carm and Laura who would never have a chance at more than a few decades together, then it’s worth the trade off.

NEXT IN THE QUE:  I have to be away next week, but a friend of the blog has graciously volunteered to review the Firefighter!Carmilla AU(s) (orphaned on Ao3) for next weekend!  Following that, I will probably review Star Filled Memories written by RunWithWolves / @ariabauer .

Leave your comments and send asks if you have thoughts and feels about the stories reviewed on this blog, both to me, but especially to the authors. Remember: They’ve given a tremendous amount of their time, effort, and passion to provide us with high-quality, free entertainment that keeps Carmilla alive for us. Let’s thank them. 

[2mina]

3 Things You Must Do to Succeed at Real Estate Investing

Here are two to three simple guidelines that must be followed if you plan to succeed by real estate investing. It's not everything, of course, but at the very least, you ought to be willing to commit to these things if you want to become a successful realty investor. Shall we get stared? Acknowledge the Basics Realty investing involves acquisition, holding, and sale of liberties in real property with the expectation of using dollars inflows for potential future cash outflows and therefore generating a favorable rate of return on that funding. More advantageous then stock investments (which usually need to have more investor equity) real estate investments offer the advantage for you to leverage a real estate property heavily. In other words, with an expenditure of money in real estate, you can use other people's money to magnify your own rate of return and control a much larger investment decision than would be possible otherwise. Moreover, with rental building, you can virtually use other people's money to pay off your payday loan. But aside from leverage, real estate investing provides other many benefits to investors such as yields from annual after-tax hard cash flows, equity buildup through appreciation of the asset, as well as cash flow after tax upon sale. Plus, nonmonetary rewards such as pride of ownership, the security that you manage ownership, and portfolio diversification. Of course, capital is required, you can get risks associated with investing in real estate, and real estate investment property are generally management-intensive. non-etheless, real estate investing is a source of wealth, and also should be enough motivation for us to want to get better within it. Understand the Elements of Return Real estate is not paid for, held, or sold on emotion. Real estate investing is not the love affair; it's about a return on investment. As such, prudent real estate buyers always consider these four basic elements of return to find out the potential benefits of purchasing, holding on to, or reselling an income property investment. 1 . Cash Flow - The amount of money the fact that comes in from rents and other income less what quickly scans the blogosphere for operating expenses and debt service (loan payment) determines a property's cash flow. Furthermore, real estate investing is centered on the investment property's cash flow. You're purchasing a rental property's income stream, so be sure that the numbers you trust in later to calculate cash flow are truthful and precise. 2 . Appreciation - This is the growth in value of any property over time, or future selling price minus original out the door cost. The fundamental truth to understand about appreciation, however , is who real estate investors buy the income stream of investment place. It stands to reason, therefore , that the more income you possibly can sell, the more you can expect your property to be worth. In other words, come up with a determination about the likelihood of an increase in income and place it into your decision-making. 3. Loan Amortization - This means a periodic reduction of the loan over time ending in increased equity. Because lenders evaluate rental property dependant on income stream, when buying multifamily property, present providers with clear and concise cash flow reports. Properties through income and expenses represented accurately to the lender boost the chances the investor will obtain a favorable financing. contemplate. Tax Shelter - This signifies a legal way for you to use real estate investment property to reduce annual or ultimate taxes. No one-size-fits-all, though, and the prudent real estate investor should certainly check with a tax expert to be sure what the current place a burden on laws are for the investor in any particular year. Do your research 1 . Form the correct attitude. Dispel the thought that purchasing rental properties is like buying a home and develop the particular attitude that real estate investing is business. Look outside of curb appeal, exciting amenities, and desirable floor strategies unless they contribute to the income. Focus on the statistics. "Only women are beautiful, " an investor after told me. "What are the numbers? " 2 . Develop a investment goal with meaningful objectives. Have a plan with declared goals that best frames your investment strategy; it will be one of the most important elements of successful investing. What do you want to reach? By when do you want to achieve it? How much cash are you willing to expend comfortably, and what rate of return are you expecting to generate? 3. Research your market. Understanding as much as possible around the conditions of the real estate market surrounding the rental property you prefer to purchase is a necessary and prudent approach to real estate committing. Learn about property values, rents, and occupancy rates into your local area. You can turn to a qualified real estate professional or call the county tax assessor. 4. Learn the words and phrases and returns and how to compute them. Get no stranger to the nuances of real estate investing and learn typically the terms, formulas, and calculations. There are sites online that come with free information. 5. Consider investing in real estate investment software. The ability to create your own rental property analysis gives you more deal with about how the cash flow numbers are presented and a more effective understanding about a property's profitability. There are software providers web based. 6. Create a relationship with a real estate professional that recognizes the local real estate market and understands rental property. It won't boost your investment objectives to spend time with an agent until that person knows about investment property and is adequately prepared to enable you to correctly procure it. Work with a real estate investment specialist. There you will have it. As concise an insight into real estate shelling out as I could provide without boring you to death. You need to them to heart with a dash of common sense and you'll work. Here's to your investing success.

[imikesmith-blog]

Why You Can't Afford to Be Bad at Bookkeeping

Maintaining your books is not one thing you must do alone as a tax-savings strategy; it may also forestall you from losing your mental health and obtaining dragged into a possible cause over commingling your funds. Here are 5 important reasons for maintaining a separate chequebook and set of books for every of your businesses: 1. company veil. initial and foremost, maintaining a separate chequebook substantiates the company veil, one among the first reasons for forming a brand new corporation. Having a separate chequebook shows you acknowledge the corporate is its own distinct entity. what is more, separate checkbooks can hopefully encourage you to not commingle personal and business funds. 2. Tax savings. Separate banking can improve accounting procedures, forestall payments from being incomprehensible , and supply higher records to boost your official document. 3. Audit protection. Having a separate chequebook can improve your probabilities in associate degree office audit. The office can typically forbid variety of expenses once personal and business expenses ar commingled during a single chequebook. 4. Less stress and a lot of mental health. One would possibly suppose having separate checking and accounting for a brand new company is cumbersome, reserve, and presumably even a waste of your time. In fact, this procedure saves time and cash within the long-standing time. once your books ar fucked-up, you’ll feel constant stress to require care of it, and this ultimately will cause you to feel undone. 5. Improved higher cognitive process. Having a separate chequebook starts the method of higher accounting, expense pursuit, and budgeting, that ends up in quality higher cognitive process. however are you able to expect to be a triple-crown business owner while not correct records? You owe it to yourself and your business to stay smart books. The next step is implementing a system for pursuit financial gain and expenses. It’s fully crucial for small-business house owners to a minimum of take into account QuickBooks as their primary accounting software. Yes, there ar a couple of alternatives to QuickBooks, however not several, and even fewer price considering. QuickBooks is that the most reasonable, easy, efficient, and effective accounting code ever written. that will sound a touch crummy or over the highest, however it’s true. Here ar simply a couple of things that QuickBooks will do to assist you become a far better, smarter business owner:    Keep essential data at your fingertips. QuickBooks generates reports that enable you to simply keep au fait your business’s most vital monetary data, like profit and loss by product or property, assets by client, sales reports, or expense reports. higher use of your on-line banking industry. QuickBooks permits you to harness the net advantages that several banks provide. It coordinates with most banks, even lesser-known ones, to supply instant data therefore you'll transfer transactions and reconcile your knowledge with ease.    Collect a lot of of your assets. QuickBooks permits you to come up with professional-looking invoices that may be delivered via email and provide your customers the choice to form on-line payments. you'll additionally generate statements and make varied reports to see UN agency your bad customers ar for assortment functions and to assist you create higher choices concerning your assets.    Delegate your accounting services with ease. If you're the kind that hates accounting, QuickBooks can still build your life easier. Once you perceive the basics—and i like to recommend that each business owner a minimum of master the basics—you will delegate tasks, from accommodative to overseeing monetary reportage. QuickBooks can even enable your controller to log in on-line to access your monetary knowledge whereas doing all of your accounting.    Pay your business bills expeditiously. Let QuickBooks track your accounts collectible therefore you'll higher manage your income and pay bills once it's most convenient for you. Ultimately you will save on past-due fees and interest, and you’ll be able to move together with your vendors during a a lot of skilled manner.    Receive payments right away. settle for mastercard payments on-line, and have the funds recorded directly in your QuickBooks file. you'll even upgrade your QuickBooks code and technical school provides to integrate a location (POS) system together with your cashbox and merchant/credit card machine.    Access your monetary data anyplace. the net version of QuickBooks permits you or your controller to access your books anyplace you have got a web association.    Use scanning code to trace receipts. Scan in receipts through a service like NeatReceipts, that right away records and categorizes the knowledge in QuickBooks. you'll then keep a duplicate in your cloud storage of all receipts and contracts for audit and legal protection. The list goes on and on. Please take this suggestion seriously; the earlier you integrate this method into your business, the earlier you’ll see cash savings, larger revenue, and a lot of profit. Don’t be scared of QuickBooks—embrace it, and it'll set you free! OK, that was a touch a lot of, however I will promise you this: it'll prevent cash, and you’ll additionally get dependent on the limited “ping” you hear each time you enter a check or item within the register. Get facilitate implementing your register Be honest with yourself: does one wish to try to to the accounting for your business? If therefore, great. But if not, who's attending to do it? Have a plan! affirmative, this can be my best try at providing you with associate degree “intervention.” consider yourself within the mirror and assess your level of dedication, knowledge, and accessible time to implement and maintain your books. However, whereas it’s fine if you have got somebody else do the dirty work, you continue to want a general understanding of the method and register in order that you, because the captain of your team, will administer the method.The following are five options to consider when it comes to divvying up the accounting duties. Option 1: Learn QuickBooks and input items yourself. I know this strikes fear in some of your hearts. In fact, this may be why your books currently aren’t getting done. But you still may want to hold off delegating any part of the process until you put in a few hours a week to learn the basics, like inputting figures. At the bare minimum, you need to be able to view and print reports and check the accuracy of the work. Option 2: Hire a family member to keep up the books. This is a great way to have the teenagers or young adults you're supporting financially earn their keep and teach them about entrepreneurship in the process. They'll learn about the heart and soul of small business by doing the books. Adding them to the payroll is also a great tax write-off. Option 3: Engage a local bookkeeper. This could be a local college student wanting internship/externship hours or a seasoned bookkeeper with affordable rates. It can free up your time so you can do what you know best: Make money for the business. This is also a natural step in the growth of a business before choosing the next option. Remember, this person will probably not prepare your taxes or do significant planning for you; they'll simply maintain your books affordably so you can focus on more pressing tasks. Option 4: Hire someone “in house.” You'd be amazed how quickly you can find a local college student or bookkeeper wanting to pick up some part- or full-time work for an hourly wage. This person could come in daily or a few days each week to input data and print reports. You might need to provide some supervision, or you could have your outside CPA train and supervise your in-house bookkeeper. It can be extremely convenient to have an employee available to keep things in order. You can also hire someone who can wear different hats and help with other tasks, like answering phones, scanning, doing collections, shipping, or running errands. Option 5: Use your CPA or tax professional throughout the year. Many business owners like the comfort and security of knowing they not only have highly skilled accountants doing their books daily but the benefit of one-stop shopping for tax planning and quarterly and annual reports as well. It may seem more expensive, but the value of better long-term planning and a higher quality of books can far exceed the cost. More mature and seasoned business owners may naturally “graduate” to a more experienced bookkeeper when the time is right. At most firms, you can get an accounting support package tailored to your budget and needs. Get a more robust handle on your finances with QuickBooks. Here is some interesting article i saw on Internet   How to Fix Quickbooks Error 3371 How to Fix Error H101, H202, H303, and H505 in QuickBooks Solved: Error 1935 When Installing QuickBooks Desktop 2020

[meeedeee]

Cancel Culture: The Internet Eating Itself RSS FEED OF POST WRITTEN BY FOZMEADOWS

As social media platforms enter their collective adolescence – Facebook is fifteen, YouTube fourteen, Twitter thirteen, tumblr twelve – I find myself thinking about how little we really understand their cultural implications, both ongoing and for the future. At this point, the idea that being online is completely optional in modern world ought to be absurd, and yet multiple friends, having spoken to their therapists about the impact of digital abuse on their mental health, were told straight up to just stop using the internet. Even if this was a viable option for some, the idea that we can neatly sidestep the problem of bad behaviour in any non-utilitarian sphere by telling those impacted to simply quit is baffling at best and a tacit form of victim-blaming at worst. The internet might be a liminal space, but object permanence still applies to what happens here: the trolls don’t vanish if we close our eyes, and if we vanquish one digital hydra-domain for Toxicity Crimes without caring to fathom the whys and hows of what went wrong, we merely ensure that three more will spring up in its place.

Is the internet a private space, a government space or a public space? Yes.

Is it corporate, communal or unaffiliated? Yes.

Is it truly global or bound by local legal jurisdictions? Yes.

Does the internet reflect our culture or create it? Yes.

Is what people say on the internet reflective of their true beliefs, or is it a constant shell-game of digital personas, marketing ploys, intrusive thoughts, growth-in-progress, personal speculation and fictional exploration? Yes.

The problem with the internet is that takes up all three areas on a Venn diagram depicting the overlap between speech and action, and while this has always been the case, we’re only now admitting that it’s a bug as well as a feature. Human interaction cannot be usefully monitored using an algorithm, but our current conception of What The Internet Is has been engineered specifically to shortcut existing forms of human oversight, the better to maximise both accessibility (good to neutral) and profits (neutral to bad). Uber and Lyft are cheaper, frequently more convenient alternatives to a traditional taxi service, for instance, but that’s because the apps themselves are functionally predicated on the removal of meaningful customer service and worker protections that were hard-won elsewhere. Sites like tumblr are free to use, but the lack of revenue generated by those users means that, past a certain point, profits can only hope to outstrip expenses by selling access to those users and/or their account data, which means in turn that paying to effectively monitor their content creation becomes vastly less important than monetising it.

Small wonder, then, that individual users of social media platforms have learned to place a high premium on their ability to curate what they see, how they see it, and who sees them in turn. When I first started blogging, the largely unwritten rule of the blogsphere was that, while particular webforums dedicated to specific topics could have rules about content and conduct, blogs and their comment pages should be kept Free. Monitoring comments was viewed as a sign of narrow-minded fearfulness: even if a participant was aggressive or abusive, the enlightened path was to let them speak, because anything else was Censorship. This position held out for a good long while, until the collective frustration of everyone who’d been graphically threatened with rape, torture and death, bombarded with slurs, exhausted by sealioning or simply fed up with nitpicking and bad faith arguments finally boiled over.

Particularly in progressive circles, the relief people felt at being told that actually, we were under no moral obligation to let assholes grandstand in the comments or repeatedly explain basic concepts to only theoretically invested strangers was overwhelming. Instead, you could simply delete them, or block them, or maybe even mock them, if the offence or initial point of ignorance seemed silly enough. But as with the previous system, this one-size-fits-all approach soon developed a downside. Thanks to the burnout so many of us felt after literal years of trying to treat patiently with trolls playing Devil’s Advocate, liberal internet culture shifted sharply towards immediate shows of anger, derision and flippancy to anyone who asked a 101 question, or who didn’t use the right language, or who did anything other than immediately agree with whatever position was explained to them, however simply.

I don’t exempt myself from this criticism, but knowing why I was so goddamn tired doesn’t change my conviction that, cumulatively, the end result did more harm than good. Without wanting to sidetrack into a lengthy dissertation on digital activism in the post-aughties decade, it seems evident in hindsight that the then-fledgling alliance between trolls, MRAs, PUAs, Redditors and 4channers to deliberately exhaust left-wing goodwill via sealioning and bad faith arguments was only the first part of a two-pronged attack. The second part, when the left had lost all patience with explaining its own beliefs and was snappily telling anyone who asked about feminism, racism or anything else to just fucking Google it, was to swoop in and persuade the rebuffed party that we were all irrational, screeching harridans who didn’t want to answer because we knew our answers were bad, and why not consider reading Roosh V instead?

The fallout of this period, I would argue, is still ongoing. In an ideal world, drawing a link between online culture wars about ownership of SFF and geekdom and the rise of far-right fascist, xenophobic extremism should be a bow so long that not even Odysseus himself could draw it. But this world, as we’ve all had frequent cause to notice, is far from ideal at the best of times – which these are not – and yet another featurebug of the internet is the fluid interpermeability of its various spaces. We talk, for instance – as I am talking here – about social media as a discreet concept, as though platforms like Twitter or Facebook are functionally separate from the other sites to which their users link; as though there is no relationship between or bleed-through from the viral Facebook post screencapped and shared on BuzzFeed, which is then linked and commented upon on Reddit, which thread is then linked to on Twitter, where an entirely new conversation emerges and subsequently spawns an article in The Huffington Post, which is shared again on Facebook and the replies to that shared on tumblr, and so on like some grizzly perpetual mention machine.

But I digress. The point here is that internet culture is best understood as a pattern of ripples, each new iteration a reaction to the previous one, spreading out until it dissipates and a new shape takes its place. Having learned that slamming the virtual door in everyone’s face was a bad idea, the online left tried establishing a better, calmer means of communication; the flipside was a sudden increase in tone-policing, conversations in which presentation was vaunted over substance and where, once again, particular groups were singled out as needing to conform to the comfort-levels of others. Overlapping with this was the move towards discussing things as being problematic, rather than using more fixed and strident language to decry particular faults – an attempt to acknowledge the inherent fallibility of human works while still allowing for criticism. A sensible goal, surely, but once again, attempting to apply the dictum universally proved a double-edged sword: if everything is problematic, then how to distinguish grave offences from trifling ones? How can anyone enjoy anything if we’re always expected to thumb the rosary of its failings first?

When everything is problematic and everyone has the right to say so, being online as any sort of creator or celebrity is like being nibbled to death by ducks. The well-meaning promise of various organisations, public figures or storytellers to take criticism on board – to listen to the fanbase and do right by their desires – was always going to stumble over the problem of differing tastes. No group is a hivemind: what one person considers bad representation or in poor taste, another might find enlightening, while yet a third party is more concerned with something else entirely. Even in cases with a clear majority opinion, it’s physically impossible to please everyone and a type of folly to try, but that has yet to stop the collective internet from demanding it be so. Out of this comes a new type of ironic frustration: having once rejoiced in being allowed to simply block trolls or timewasters, we now cast judgement on those who block us in turn, viewing them, as we once were viewed, as being fearful of criticism.

Are we creating echo chambers by curating what we see online, or are we acting in pragmatic acknowledgement of the fact that we neither have time to read everything nor an obligation to see all perspectives as equally valid? Yes.

Even if we did have the time and ability to wade through everything, is the signal-to-noise ratio of truth to lies on the internet beyond our individual ability to successfully measure, such that outsourcing some of our judgement to trusted sources is fundamentally necessary, or should we be expected to think critically about everything we encounter, even if it’s only intended as entertainment? Yes.

If something or someone online acts in a way that’s antithetical to our values, are we allowed to tune them out thereafter, knowing full well that there’s a nearly infinite supply of as-yet undisappointing content and content-creators waiting to take their place, or are we obliged to acknowledge that Doing A Bad doesn’t necessarily ruin a person forever? Yes.

And thus we come to cancel culture, the current – but by no means final – culmination of previous internet discourse waves. In this iteration, burnout at critical engagement dovetails with a new emphasis on collective content curation courtesies (try saying that six times fast), but ends up hamstrung once again by differences in taste. Or, to put it another way: someone fucks up and it’s the last straw for us personally, so we try to remove them from our timelines altogether – but unless our friends and mutuals, who we still want to engage with, are convinced to do likewise, then we haven’t really removed them at all, such that we’re now potentially willing to make failure to cancel on demand itself a cancellable offence.

Which brings us right back around to the problem of how the modern internet is fundamentally structured – which is to say, the way in which it’s overwhelmingly meant to rely on individual curation instead of collective moderation. Because the one thing each successive mode of social media discourse has in common with its predecessors is a central, and currently unanswerable question: what universal code of conduct exists that I, an individual on the internet, can adhere to – and expect others to adhere to – while we communicate across multiple different platforms?

In the real world, we understand about social behavioural norms: even if we don’t talk about them in those terms, we broadly recognise them when we see them. Of course, we also understand that those norms can vary from place to place and context to context, but as we can only ever be in one physical place at a time, it’s comparatively easy to adjust as appropriate.

But the internet, as stated, is a liminal space: it’s real and virtual, myriad and singular, private and public all at once. It confuses our sense of which rules might apply under which circumstances, jumbles the normal behavioural cues by obscuring the identity of our interlocutors, and even though we don’t acknowledge it nearly as often as we should, written communication – like spoken communication – is a skill that not everyone has, just as tone, whether spoken or written, isn’t always received (or executed, for that matter) in the way it was intended. And when it comes to politics, in which the internet and its doings now plays no small role, there’s the continual frustration that comes from observing, with more and more frequency, how many literal, real-world crimes and abuses go without punishment, and how that lack of consequences contributes in turn to the fostering of abuse and hostility towards vulnerable groups online.

This is what comes of occupying a transitional period in history: one in which laws are changed and proposed to reflect our changing awareness of the world, but where habit, custom, ignorance, bias and malice still routinely combine, both institutionally and more generally, to see those laws enacted only in part, or tokenistically, or not at all. To take one of the most egregious and well-publicised instances that ultimately presaged the #MeToo movement, the laughably meagre sentence handed down to Brock Turner, who was caught in the act of raping an unconscious woman, combined with the emphasis placed by both the judge and much of the media coverage on his swimming talents and family standing as a means of exonerating him, made it very clear that sexual violence against women is frequently held to be less important than the perceived ‘bright futures’ of its perpetrators.

Knowing this, then – knowing that the story was spread, discussed and argued about on social media, along with thousands of other, similar accounts; knowing that, even in this context, some people still freely spoke up in defence of rapists and issued misogynistic threats against their female interlocutors – is it any wonder that, in the absence of consistent legal justice in such cases, the internet tried, and is still trying, to fill the gap? Is it any wonder, when instances of racist police brutality are constantly filmed and posted online, only for the perpetrators to receive no discipline, that we lose patience for anyone who wants to debate the semantics of when, exactly, extrajudicial murder is “acceptable”?

We cannot control the brutality of the world from the safety of our keyboards, but when it exhausts or threatens us, we can at least click a button to mute its seeming adherents. We don’t always have the energy to decry the same person we’ve already argued against a thousand times before, but when a friend unthinkingly puts them back on our timeline for some new reason, we can tell them that person is cancelled and hope they take the hint not to do it again. Never mind that there is far too often no subtlety, no sense of scale or proportion to how the collective, viral internet reacts in each instance, until all outrage is rendered flat and the outside observer could be forgiven for worrying what’s gone wrong with us all, that using a homophobic trope in a TV show is thought to merit the same online response as an actual hate crime. So long as the war is waged with words alone, there’s only a finite number of outcomes that boycotting, blocking, blacklisting, cancelling, complaining and critiquing can achieve, and while some of those outcomes in particular are well worth fighting for, so many words are poured towards so many attempts that it’s easy to feel numbed to the process; or, conversely, easy to think that one response fits all contexts.

I’m tired of cancel culture, just as I was dully tired of everything that preceded it and will doubtless grow tired of everything that comes after it in turn, until our fundamental sense of what the internet is and how it should be managed finally changes. Like it or not, the internet both is and is of the world, and that is too much for any one person to sensibly try and curate at an individual level. Where nothing is moderated for us, everything must be moderated by us; and wherever people form communities, those communities will grow cultures, which will develop rules and customs that spill over into neighbouring communities, both digitally and offline, with mixed and ever-changing results. Cancel culture is particularly tricky in this regard, as the ease with which we block someone online can seldom be replicated offline, which makes it all the more intoxicating a power to wield when possible: we can’t do anything about the awful coworker who rants at us in the breakroom, but by God, we can block every person who reminds us of them on Twitter.

The thing about participating in internet discourse is, it’s like playing Civilisation in real-time, only it’s not a game and the world keeps progressing even when you log off. Things change so fast on the internet – memes, etiquette, slang, dominant opinions – and yet the changes spread so organically and so fast that we frequently adapt without keeping conscious track of when and why they shifted. Social media is like the Hotel California: we can check out any time we like, but we can never meaningfully leave – not when world leaders are still threatening nuclear war on Twitter, or when Facebook is using friendly memes to test facial recognition software, or when corporate accounts are creating multi-staffed humansonas to engage with artists on tumblr, or when YouTube algorithms are accidentally-on-purpose steering kids towards white nationalist propaganda because it makes them more money.

Of course we try and curate our time online into something finite, comprehensible, familiar, safe: the alternative is to embrace the near-infinite, incomprehensible, alien, dangerous gallimaufry of our fractured global mindscape. Of course we want to try and be critical, rational, moral in our convictions and choices; it’s just that we’re also tired and scared and everyone who wants to argue with us about anything can, even if they’re wrong and angry and also our relative, or else a complete stranger, and sometimes you just want to turn off your brain and enjoy a thing without thinking about it, or give yourself some respite, or exercise a tiny bit of autonomy in the only way you can.

It’s human nature to want to be the most amount of right for the least amount of effort, but unthinkingly taking our moral cues from internet culture the same way we’re accustomed to doing in offline contexts doesn’t work: digital culture shifts too fast and too asymmetrically to be relied on moment to moment as anything like a universal touchstone. Either you end up preaching to the choir, or you run a high risk of aggravation, not necessarily due to any fundamental ideological divide, but because your interlocutor is leaning on a different, false-universal jargon overlying alternate 101 and 201 concepts to the ones you’re using, and modern social media platforms – in what is perhaps the greatest irony of all – are uniquely poorly suited to coherent debate.

Purity wars in fandom, arguments about diversity in narrative and whether its proponents have crossed the line from criticism into bullying: these types of arguments are cyclical now, dying out and rekindling with each new wave of discourse. We might not yet be in a position to stop it, but I have some hope that being aware of it can mitigate the worst of the damage, if only because I’m loathe to watch yet another fandom steadily talk itself into hating its own core media for the sake of literal argument.

For all its flaws – and with all its potential – the internet is here to stay. Here’s hoping we figure out how to fix it before its ugliest aspects make us give up on ourselves.

          from shattersnipe: malcontent & rainbows https://ift.tt/2V13Qu4 via IFTTT

[ethicallyomnivorous]

At the link, or under the cut: 

An important new study about global nutrition was published this week that deserves everyone’s full attention: "Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems." [Don’t let the pretentious title intimidate you: you need to know what’s inside.] This paper was commissioned and published by The Lancet—one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals—and penned by an international group of 37 scientists led by Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University.

The product of three years of deliberation, this 47-page document envisions a “Great Food Transformation” which seeks to achieve an environmentally sustainable and optimally healthy diet for the world’s people by 2050. Its core recommendation is to minimize consumption of animal foods as much as possible, and replace them with whole grains, legumes and nuts:

Source: EAT-Lancet Commission report We all want to be healthy, and we need a sustainable way to feed ourselves without destroying our environment. The well-being of our planet and its people are clearly in jeopardy, therefore clear, science-based, responsible guidance about how we should move forward together is most welcome.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to look elsewhere for solutions, because the report fails to provide us with the clarity, transparency and responsible representation of the facts we need to place our trust in its authors. Instead, the Commission’s arguments are vague, inconsistent, unscientific, and downplay the serious risks to life and health posed by vegan diets.

1. Nutrition epidemiology = mythology

The vast majority of human nutrition research—including the lion share of the research cited in the EAT-Lancet report— is conducted using the tragically flawed methodology of nutrition epidemiology. Nutrition epidemiology studies are not scientific experiments; they are wildly inaccurate, questionnaire-based guesses (hypotheses) about the possible connections between foods and diseases. This approach has been widely criticized as scientifically invalid [see here and here], yet continues to be used by influential researchers at prestigious institutions, most notably Dr. Walter Willett. An epidemiologist himself, he wrote an authoritative textbook on the subject and has conducted countless such studies, including a recent, widely-publicized paper tying low-carbohydrate diets to early death. In my reaction to that study, I explain in plain English why epidemiological techniques are so untrustworthy, and include a sample from an actual food questionnaire for your amusement.

Even if you think epidemiological methods are sound, at best they can only generate hypotheses that then need to be tested in clinical trials. Instead, these hypotheses are often prematurely trumpeted to the public as implicit fact in the form of media headlines, dietary guidelines, and well-placed commission reports like this one. Tragically, more than 80% of these guesses are later proved wrong in clinical trials. With a failure rate this high, nutrition epidemiologists would be better off flipping a coin to decide which foods cause human disease. The Commission relies heavily on this methodology, which helps to explain why their recommendations often fly in the face of biological reality.

2. Red meat causes heart disease, diabetes, cancer...and spontaneous combustion

The section of the report dedicated to protein blames red meat for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and early death. It contains 16 references, and every single one is an epidemiological study. The World Health Organization report tying red meat to colon cancer was also mentioned, and that report is almost entirely based on epidemiology as well. [Read my full analysis of the WHO report here]. The truth is that there is no human clinical trial evidence tying red meat to any health problem. I certainly haven’t found any—and if there were, I think this Commission surely would have mentioned it.

Yet even in this “red meat is an apocalypse on a plate” section, meat’s virtues peek through:

[In sub-Saharan Africa] “...growing children often do not obtain adequate quantities of nutrients from plant source foods alone…promotion of animal source foods for children, including livestock products, can improve dietary quality, micronutrient intake, nutrient status, and overall health.” [page 10]

3. Protein is essential…but cancerous

The commissioners write:

“Protein quality (defined by effect on growth rate) reflects the amino acid composition of the food source, and animal sources of protein are of higher quality than most plant sources. High-quality protein is particularly important for growth of infants and young children, and possibly in older people losing muscle mass in later life.” [page 8]

Translation: Complete proteins are good because they contain every essential amino acid. All animal proteins are naturally complete, whereas most plant proteins are incomplete. Watch how the authors wriggle their way out of this inconvenient truth in the next sentence:

“However, a mix of amino acids that maximally stimulate cell replication and growth might not be optimal throughout most of adult life because rapid cell replication can increase cancer risk.” [page 8]

Translation: Complete proteins are bad because they cause cancer.

The sole reference for this absurd suggestion that complete proteins cause cancer is a paper about mutations causing cancer in which the terms “protein,” “amino acid,” and “meat” each occur a grand total of zero times, suggesting that the Commission’s suggestion is pure...suggestion. Furthermore, if obtaining all of the essential amino acids we need causes cancer, shouldn't we also worry about complete proteins from plant sources like tofu or beans with rice?

4. Omega-3s are essential...good luck with that

“Fish has a high content of omega-3 fatty acids, which have many essential roles…Plant sources of alpha-linolenic acid [ALA] can provide an alternative to omega-3 fatty acids, but the quantity required is not clear.” [page 11]

If the Commission doesn’t know how much plant ALA a person needs to consume to meet requirements, then how does it know that plants provide a viable alternative to omega-3s from animal sources?

The elephant in the room here is that all omega-3s are not created equal. Only animal foods (and algae, which is neither a plant nor an animal) contain the forms of omega-3s our bodies use: EPA and DHA. Plants only contain ALA, which is extremely difficult for our cells to convert into EPA and DHA. According to this 2018 review, we transform anywhere between 0% and 9% of the ALA we consume into the DHA our cells require.

Instead of being vague, why not responsibly warn people that trying to obtain omega-3 fatty acids from plants alone may place their health at risk?

“About 28 g/day (1 ounce) of fish can provide essential omega-3 fatty acids…therefore we have used this intake for the reference diet. We also suggest a range of 0 – 100 g/day because high intakes are associated with excellent health.” [page 11]

Wait…if it takes 28 grams to meet your daily requirement for omega-3s AND high intakes are associated with excellent health, why allow the range to begin at ZERO grams per day? If the Commission doesn’t feel comfortable recommending fish, it should at least recommend algae-sourced omega-3 supplements.

5. Vitamins and minerals are essential…so take supplements

The drumbeat heard throughout the report is that animal foods are dangerous and that a vegan diet is the holy grail of health, yet EAT-Lancet commissioners repeatedly find themselves in the awkward position of having to acknowledge the nutritional superiority of the very animal foods they recommend avoiding:

"Although inclusion of some animal source foods in maternal diets is widely considered important for optimal fetal growth and increased iron requirement, especially during the third trimester of pregnancy, evidence suggests that balanced vegetarian diets can support healthy fetal development, with the caveat that strict vegan diets require supplements of vitamin B12." [page 13]

“Adolescent girls are at risk of iron deficiency because of rapid growth combined with menstrual losses. Menstrual losses have sometimes been a rationale for increased consumption of red meat, but multivitamin or multimineral preparation provide an alternative that is less expensive and without the adverse consequences of high red meat intake.” [page 13]

If the commissioners are concerned that red meat is dangerous (which is only true on Planet Epidemiology), why not recommend other naturally iron-rich animal foods such as duck, oysters, or chicken liver for these growing young women, as these foods would also provide the complete proteins needed for growth? What about the 10-22% of non-teen reproductive age women in the U.S. who suffer from iron deficiency? And why a “multimineral preparation” rather than a simple iron supplement? Are they implying that other minerals may be lacking in their plant-based diet?        

In changing to the EAT-Lancet diet, the Commission claims:    

“The adequacy of most micronutrients increases, including several essential ones, such as iron, zinc, folate, and vitamin A, as well as calcium intake in low-income countries. The only exception is vitamin B12 that is low in animal-based diets [I believe this was an error on their part, since B12 is only found in animal foods.] Supplementation or fortification with vitamin B12 (and possibly with riboflavin [vitamin B2]) might be necessary in some circumstances.” [page 14]

Unfortunately, the nutritional inadequacy of plant-based diets goes beyond B vitamins. Plant foods lack several key nutrients, and some of the nutrients they do contain come in less bioavailable forms. Furthermore, many plant foods contain “anti-nutrients” that interfere with nutrient absorption. This means that just because a plant food contains a nutrient doesn’t mean we can access it.

An important example is that grains, beans, nuts and seeds—the staple foods of plant-based diets—contain phytate, a mineral magnet which substantially interferes with absorption of essential minerals like zinc, calcium, iron, and magnesium. And thanks to oxalates—mineral-binding compounds found in a wide variety of plant foods—virtually none of the iron in spinach makes it into Popeye’s muscles.

Only animal foods contain every nutrient we need in its proper, most accessible form. To learn more about nutrient availability and how it affects brain health, read this article.

6. Making up numbers is fun and easy

How did the commissioners arrive at the recommended quantities of foods we should eat per day…7 grams of this, 31 grams of that? Numbers like these imply that something’s been precisely measured, but in many cases, it’s plain that they simply pulled a number out of thin air:

“Since consumption of poultry has been associated with better health outcomes than has red meat, we have concluded that the optimum consumption of poultry is 0 g/day to about 58 g/day and have used a midpoint of 29 g/day for the reference.” [page 10]

Nowhere do they say that poultry is associated with any negative health outcomes, so why limit it to a maximum of 58 grams (2 ounces) per day?

The commissioners attempt to defend themselves from criticism on this issue by stating:

“We have a high level of scientific certainty about the overall direction and magnitude of associations described in this Commission, although considerable uncertainty exists around detailed quantifications.” [page 7]

If they are this uncertain about the details, how can they in good conscienceprescribe such specific quantities of food? Why not say they don’t know? Most people will not read this report—they will interpret the values in this table as medical advice.

7. Epidemiology is gospel…unless we don’t like the results

Any researcher will tell you that clinical trials—actual scientific experiments—are considered a much higher level of evidence than epidemiological studies, yet Willett’s group not only relies heavily on epidemiological studies, it favors them over clinical trials when it suits their agenda:

“in large prospective [epidemiological] studies, high consumption of eggs, up to one a day, has not been associated with increased risk of heart disease, except in people with diabetes. “However, in low-income countries, replacing calories from a staple starchy food with an egg can substantially improve the nutritional quality of a child’s diet and reduce stunting. [randomized clinical trial]

“We have used an intake of eggs at about 13 g/day, or about 1.5 eggs per week, for the reference diet, but higher intake might be beneficial for low-income populations with poor dietary quality.” [page 11]

Why recommend only 1.5 eggs per week when epidemiological studies found that 1 egg per day was perfectly fine? And why skew your recommendations against low-income people, which make up a significant portion of the global population?

There is a remarkable paragraph on page 9 (too long to quote here) arguing that red meat was found to increase risk of death in epidemiological studies conducted in Europe and the USA, but not in Asia, where red meat (mainly pork) was associated with a decreased risk of death. Rather than grappling with this seeming contradiction, they simply dismiss the Asian findings as invalid, wondering if perhaps Asian countries haven’t been rich long enough for the risk to show up yet.

Wait, what?

8. Everyone should eat a vegan diet, except for most people

Although their diet plan is intended for all “generally healthy individuals aged two years and older,” the authors admit it falls short of providing proper nutrition for growing children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, aging adults, the malnourished, and the impoverished—and that even those not within these special categories will need to take supplements to meet their basic requirements.

Sadder still is the fact that the majority of people in this country and in many other countries around the world are no longer metabolically healthy, and this high-carbohydrate plan doesn’t take them into consideration.

"In controlled feeding studies, high carbohydrate intake increases blood triglyceride concentrations, reduces HDL [aka “good”] cholesterol concentration, and increases blood pressure, especially in people with insulin resistance.” [page 12]

For those of us with insulin resistance (aka “pre-diabetes”) whose insulin levels tend to run too high, the Commission’s high-carbohydrate diet—based on up to 60% of calories from whole grains, in addition to fruits and starchy vegetables—is potentially dangerous. The Commission half-acknowledges this by recommending that even healthy people limit consumption of starchy roots like potatoes and cassava flour due to their high glycemic index, but oddly does not mention grain and legume flours, or high glycemic index fruits, leaving the door open for processed food companies to market products like pasta, cereal and juice beverages to its plant-based planet. High insulin levels strongly increase risk for numerous chronic diseases and can mean a lifetime of medications, disability and early death. If the Commission read its own report it would find support for the notion that those of us with metabolic damage could be better off increasing our meat intake and decreasing our carbohydrate intake:

“In a large controlled feeding trial, replacing carbohydrate isocalorically with protein reduced blood pressure and blood lipid concentrations.” [page 8]

This was the 2005 OmniHeart trial, which used 50% plant protein and 50% animal protein. It would seem the only people who should eat a vegan diet are people who make the informed choice to eat a vegan diet, despite the risks.

9. Pay no attention to the money behind the curtain

As an advocate of meat-inclusive diets, I have often been assumed to have financial ties to the meat industry (which I do not), but how many people stop to question the financial (and professional) incentives that may influence doctors promoting plant-based diets? We all have personal beliefs and we all need to make a living, but honesty with oneself and transparency with the public should be paramount. The Nutrition Coalition has compiled a list of Dr. Willett's potential conflicts of interest here.

The EAT Foundation, which collaborated with The Lancet  to produce this report, was founded by Norwegian billionaire and animal rights activist Gunhild Stordalen. EAT recently helped to launch "FReSH" (Food Reform for Sustainability and Health), a global partnership of about 40 corporations, including Barilla (pasta), Unilever (meat alternatives and vegetable oils), Kellogg's (cereals) and Pepsico (sugary beverages). Make of this what you will.

  10. No to choices, yes to taxes?

How does EAT-Lancet propose to achieve its dream of a plant-based world? Many suggestions are put forth, but two are worth emphasizing: the elimination or restriction of consumer choices, and taxation. The EAT Foundation describes itself as:

"a non-profit startup dedicated to transforming our global food system through sound science, impatient disruption and novel partnerships.”

Sound science? Clearly not. But impatient disruption—what does that mean?

Regardless of how you feel about taxation as a tool for social change, consider the Commission’s own numerous exceptions to the plant-based rules, including pregnant women, children, the malnourished and the impoverished. Should we really support making animal foods—the only nutritionally complete foods on the planet—even more expensive for vulnerable populations? The notion of taxation is followed by a vague reference to the possibility of “cash transfer” social safety nets for women and children. This section of the report is representative of its overall elitist and paternalistic tone.

I believe, because I’m convinced by the science, that animal foods are essential to optimal human health. This is an uncomfortable biological reality we all have to wrestle with as creatures of conscience. Finding ways to support excellent health and quality of life for the creatures we depend on for our sustenance and vitality is one of our most important callings as caring stewards of our planet and all of its inhabitants. But I’m also a firm believer in personal choice. We each need to become experts in what works best for our own bodies. Eat and let eat, I say. It seems clear that EAT-Lancet commissioners are neither supporters of personal choice nor the transparent distribution of accurate nutrition information that would empower people to weigh the risks and benefits of various diets for themselves.

Challenge Authority

The EAT-Lancet report has the feel of a royal decree, operating under the guise of good intentions, seeking to impose its benevolent will on all subjects of planet Earth. It is well worth challenging the presumed authority of this group of 37 “experts,” because it wields tremendous power and influence, has access to billions of dollars, and is likely to affect your choices, your health, and your checkbook in the near future.

Capitalizing on our current public health and environmental crises, the EAT-Lancet Commission pronounces itself as the authority on the science of nutrition, exploits our worst fears, and seeks to dictate our food choices in accordance with its members' personal, professional and possible commercial interests.

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a human clinical trial designed to test the health effects of simply removing animal foods from the diet, without making any other diet or lifestyle changes such as eliminating refined carbohydrates and other processed foods. Unless and until such research is conducted demonstrating clear benefits to this strategy, the assertion that human beings would be healthier without animal foods remains an untested hypothesis with clear risks to human life and health. Prescribing plant-based diets to the planet without including straightforward warnings of these risks and offering clear guidance as to how to minimize them is scientifically irresponsible and medically unethical, and therefore should not form the basis of public health recommendations. Georgia Ede, MD, is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and nutrition consultant practicing at Smith College. She writes about food and health on her website DiagnosisDiet.com. Online: Diagnosis:Diet

[gg-astrology]

Seventeen: Lee Jihoon (Woozi) - Overview

💕Hello! I have a Woozi: Inner Planet Natal Reading out and this is a subsequent overview for Woozi (supplementary reading?). If you’re wondering what the difference between the two: the Inner Planet Natal Reading is laying out everything (placements, aspects, asteroids) and the Overview is an expansion on the earlier section, and an extended conclusion for those who wants to have an easier time understanding Jihoon and how everything is working for him (all together). You don’t really have to read one to understand the other, they both touch on different areas of his life and how his placement might be influencing things for him. So if you just want more content on Jihoon-- here’s double content for you to read!  

SVT Overview Series:

Seungcheol | Jeonghan | Joshua | Jun | Wonwoo | Hoshi | Woozi | Seungkwan | Vernon | Minghao

Woozi’s Inner Planet Natal Reading

Masterlist

💕Disclaimer: I’m not claiming to be an expert astrologer nor do I know these people personally. These are my interpretations and how they’re working based on my experiences/studies on them. Everyone has different opinions/studies in astrology, please be mindful of others and all interpretation/experiences is valid to an extent. However, feel free to make your own post or skip if you strongly disagree. There might be inaccuracy and difference in opinions. But the point of this post is to entertain and relate. I’m hoping to help people with similar experiences and get people excited about astrology. Also, since we don’t know most of their birth times, I’m using the standard 12.00pm💕

Lee Jihoon (Woozi) November 22 1996 (Busan, South Korea)

Sagittarius Sun + Mercury 

Jihoon’s Sagittarius is working so hard in his chart, but mostly because it’s surrounded by Mars influence in him that can sometimes overwhelm him.

Sagittarius Sun and Mercury points to someone who has a deep love for knowledge, and an enthusiasm for connecting with those in the industry who can help them expand their horizon and fuel them as a ‘muse’. 

They’re often a bit experimental, but won’t do things unless they have a back up plan. Often times it takes a while for them to even do certain stuff at all because they’re gathering ‘materials’ to work with and build from. 

They’re either full in, or full out. Likes to cover all kinds of bases before they start on the actual project.  

If they seem a bit flimsy it’s mostly to do with the unaccounted endurance that are a bit low when it comes to their ‘social stamina’. 

If the project requires them to be around other people/be conscious of others around them, they can hold off on the projects and come back to it later when they feel they’re ready to tackle it from the lens of ‘whether or not it’s socially acceptable/standard’ 

They’re enthusiastic about themselves, but they’re anxious about others. They often fuel themselves with the reactions of people around them, so they can often put themselves under stress/duress if they feel like people are actively watching them or looking for a wrong move sometimes.

It’s a bit like having social anxiety except it’s not to that degree where they’re conscious/wary of it. They usually just acknowledge the nagging nervousness inside of themselves and try to diffuse the situation by doing activities that requires distance away from others physically (playing games, being inside, actively hanging out in groups they’re comfortable with so they won’t have to interact with anyone they have to impress by themselves, etc.)

Down time for the Sagittarius native usually involves playing games or things they can do alone but still be mentally stimulated. Whether it’s a hobby or a practice they can do, or just window shopping in general. It’s the stimuli of ideas/activities they can pursue with others later that makes them happy.    

Sagittarius Natives are all that happiness and pure enthusiasm, but most don’t tend to come across that way until you get to know them/notice things about them later. Usually they’re quite individualistic, a bit intimidating due to their natural sense of style (whether it’s indifference or whatever their brand is) but there’s always that kind of easy-going nature and open-mindedness to them that comes once you get into a conversation with them. 

It’s balanced by their passionate clearly formed opinions on certain topics. They ease their willingness to listen like chocolate filling inside a hard candy that way. 

It’s like walking in a maze sometimes, you never really know if they feel a certain way about things but you’re often pleasantly surprised when they show a positive reactions to the idea, when you present it to them. 

The contrast makes you feel validated, it impresses you and you’re much more willing to engage in further conversation with them. You also feel more inclined to give them credit when their ideas are great and be more in their favor cause you think they’re just and faithful even when they’re speaking out of their ass sometimes. 

They clearly thrives off that ‘surprise’ factor as well. Being a fire-sign, people’s reaction is what fuels them and their passionate core. 

As the oldest of the fire-signs, Sagittarius can often predict other people’s reaction based on their own versatility/core strategy, they’re not like-- analytical planners or are aware of this thing that they do. But they’re usually pretty adept at volleying reactions from people by giving tit-for-tat of their own as well. 

What makes them ‘happy-go-lucky’ is because they often come across as someone extremely critical of certain things and that intimidates you. And then they show you a different side to them that impresses you with how easy and just wise they are, you feel like there’s dimensionality to them as a whole. 

They can easily separate the wheat from the chaff, things that don’t truly matter are joke-able factors and things that are serious they are observational distanced thinkers. They’re like that chaotic mess that way. 

Because they’re not going to put themselves out anymore than what they personally need to do, Sagittarius often pokes things with a stick from a safe distance and see if it’s dead or if it oozes slime of not in order to form their opinions. They’re like... there’s people at the beach who sees a dead jellyfish. Some would try to bury it, some just goes in with a their knife and hands to dissect it, some picks it up-- recognizes it, and throws it away. Sagittarius are the type to poke it with a stick, and decide what to do with it based on how many people are watching/in the area. 

If it’s a high traffic area (there are many people involved in the conversation) they either try to throw the jellyfish away or keep the situation safe incase children are around (mediate between people, doesn’t act too chaotic unless they’re trying to play devils advocate) if it’s just them at the beach, they’re curious and they’ll try to poke it even more or flip it to see what it is and make their own observation from there (play around with the idea, flip it, squeeze it, try to work it out).

There’s a strong love for humor, or to have a good laugh often at the expense of others. It’s not malicious or done in a way that crosses over the line, but they can often just kind of come across as very particular people when it comes to-- dry or dark humor sometimes. 

You never really know with a Sagittarius native, they look like really wholesome people but it’s that element of ‘surprise’ again that really fuels them. It doesn’t mean they’re deceptive or dishonest, it’s just that they’re layered and Chaotic. If you imagine an imp, that’s what it’s like to have a Sagittarius Mercury sometimes.

I really can’t understate Jihoon’s love for humor and surprises, not like, at his own expense but usually at others. He thrives on it and tends to come across as generally an easy-going person once you get to know him (and mind his brand! His individuality is strongly influenced by his brand!) 

Sagittarius loves to self-express. Individuality, freedom, personal development and growth are all tied to the Sagittarius natives but it’s not even something abstract or ‘deep’ sometimes, you don’t have to dig deep to see how it’s expressed for them. 

Usually they come through pretty easily in their other placements, whether it’s their Venus (in Jihoon’s case) or Mars. Mercury or in their Moon. You can always tell a Sagittarius apart from a quirkiness that’s more subtle than an Aquarius. They have this sense of being very humbling but authentically them (i.e. enjoying walks in the park, being unapologetically alone and proud about it, their sense of style or mannerism when it comes to others.)  

If it’s not in their mind then it’s often in their clothes. If it’s not in their aesthetic then it’s usually in their interest. 

They’re very loud and proud about it, but not in-your-face brash about their interests. Often it comes in conversations with them, you’ll get to hear a lot about what they’re invested in and what they’re personally pursuing. 

They’re enthusiastic speakers, and great listeners at the same time. They make people feel heard and are often people who are reliable/dependable for advice even if they need their ‘away-time’ sometimes. 

Aries Moon

Ok, since we touched on a lot of good stuff in his Sagittarius it’s time we look at the more difficult things in his life as well.

Jihoon’s Moon has a few aspect connected to it, most noticeably is his squares (Uranus/Neptune) and opposition (Venus) making it require a bit of self-awareness and navigation to get around.

Because he’s an Aries Moon, working things through with tact and strategy doesn’t seem like the best idea. Along with his Sagittarius/Virgo energy he tends to get anxious pretty quickly and doesn’t have the patience/endurance to deal with his Moon consistently. So it’s more of a ‘work-in-progress’ that he has to visit whenever he can. 

With an abundance of Martian sub-rulers and power-dynamic in his chart, there’s already a lot of power in his Aries and an emphasis on his Moon/Mars that he has to differentiate from each other. 

The consequence of an Aries Moon that might be a bit conflicted is that he tends to exaggerate his dynamic quite a bit in order to come across a certain way. He responds to certain things/stimuli in an ‘expected’ way socially (Opposition-Venus) but it doesn’t necessarily mean he agrees (Sagittarius Mercury) with how he’s reacting. 

You know how sometimes the way he laughs can be really awkward? Or just like, a social response to things even though he doesn’t agree with it? It’s because it’s an instantaneous reaction and then he catches himself afterward and goes ‘why did I do that?’. He just-- kinds of let it go and tries very hard not to get anxious or overthink things (even when it’s probably better for him to evaluate himself for it instead.)

The point I’m making is that it can draw him to use some ‘toxic masculinity’ stereotypes in order to facilitate his instantaneous responses. Besides the obvious being his Aries influence, Jihoon already has a Mercury-Square-Mars making him pretty hyper-aware of social physicality (other people and his own physical features/shapes/sizes) and his Sun-Sextile-Neptune (also Moon-Square-Neptune) isn’t really helping with the self-esteem stuff.

In order to make up for this ‘soft inner core’ or his lack of emotional/ego when it comes to himself (self-delusion mostly, putting himself down for it or not feeling ‘connected’ to it in reality - Neptune influences) he might find himself resorting to evaluate himself based on his physical appearance. Comparing himself to others and being unwilling to listen to other people’s praises of him sometimes (the reason he doesn’t take praises very well -- but also a Libra Venus/Virgo Mars thing).  

It also points to him working out on his body more, Jihoon naturally likes sports anyways (he’s said so before) but the daily routine and productivity that comes with it (Virgo Mars being directed by this Aries Moon in order to facilitate a ‘longer attention span’ helps fix the Moon’s tension) helps expel some of this anxiety and see results as a by-product of this lower self-esteem issue (a tangible solution).

All these focus on Aries Moon puts a strain on his Virgo Mars sometimes when they’re seen together. You can kind of identify him as someone who puts more emphasize/recognizes himself through his Mars more than his Moon.

He’s said so himself that he’s more of a ‘level-headed, calm and collected’ person who deals with things pragmatically. His self-identity is with his Mars and he feels fulfilled by the traits his Mars bring to his overall achievements. 

He isn’t prone to just-- losing his temper because Virgo helps suppress/ categorize some of it into manageable pieces. When he’s frustrated he can be extremely critical of others, it’s more of a chronic frustration than an instantaneous one, he deals with things in levels and when it reaches the bottom most layer of his tolerance he lets it explode outwards.

His Moon makes him a bit temperamental, it’s bearable because it only affects himself and he tries not to let it affect others. Because of it’s opposition to Venus he finds himself harboring extra guilt when he ‘lashes out’ and tries to make up for it even though it’s his fault in the first place sometimes. 

He tries to be fair to others, that’s the thing. So when he catches himself acting childish or immature/whiney he thinks he has to constantly try harder to prove himself. 

He’s quite aware of what other people might think of him, but it’s often unconfirmed and not necessarily true (aspect to Neptune). His own worst critic is often himself, and sometimes the occasional scolding when he doesn’t catch it soon enough from others close as well. 

He watches himself very carefully and is under constant pressure/surveillance from himself, just by his own anxiety alone (Mainly a Sagittarius/Virgo influence thing, but also combined with his aspects).

Jihoon is undoubtedly, one of the most competitive people on the team. Discounting Jeonghan and Seungcheol who can sometimes know when to take a break, Jihoon tackles challenges with a gusto emotionally and hold himself back mentally (cool down) in order to win said competition. He’s in it, but he’s in it to definitely win it. If he’s not winning it, then he’s going to try his damnest to win it later. 

His admiration for Hoshi and his dancing skills, his assertion that he’s the ‘3rd best at english in the team’. It’s quite endearing because of how enthusiastic and charming Aries/Sagittarius can be, but he’s also the member that tries very hard and actually come through with tangible work to back it up so he’s a Very Real Threat as well. 

Libra Venus

Instead of using his Mercury as a head-quarters, Jihoon actually utilizes his Libra Venus and Virgo Mars instead. 

He puts it at the forefront of his placements, so most of the time this Libra Venus has a lot to do with appearance keeping especially with the public/social relations around him. In order to facilitate a smoother transition and relationship with others. Jihoon puts in a lot of work and dedication to make sure he never really acts out of line, and keeps everything under the control of this Libra Venus (and Virgo Mars helps ‘regulate’ it as well).

Jihoon can seem like he’s acting nice sometimes (shy, awkward, a little bit indulgent but not too much because of his strong Aries placement. You can see him react strongly to other’s teasing and that’s honestly his saving grace.) -- especially in front of the camera or ‘appearing’ nice in order to appease the crowd. 

There’s an extra emphasis on their ‘kindness’ or ‘evenhandedness’ that comes with Sagittarius boosting these traits as well (influences it subtly -- appeases his sense of self/ego this way - Sun). 

They’re keen learners and often boast themselves for their skills and harmonic quality -- it’s nicely balanced by his strong Aries/Mars quality that keeps him real and breaks the image sometimes. 

Without this duality to him (Libra-Aries), he would’ve been unbearable to tolerate on and off camera. With so much image keeping you either see them as really fake people (Libra) or really brash people (Aries). 

Jihoon having Aries Moon (sentimentality and sensitivity) and Libra Venus (evenhandedness and critical of relationships even if they want to be in one) truly works together to balance one and the other out. 

In terms of fashion, he’d stated that his fashion style is ‘exquisite clothes that aren’t too fashionable, but also aren’t too comfortable. He’s the type of person who buys simple yet detailed clothes without hesitation’ 

It’s a combination of Aries Moon enabling him to make quick decisions [’buys clothes without hesitation’] and Virgo mars brings attention to details [’detailed clothes’, subtle details]. 

Libra Venus often tries to go for the in-between, within the context of their reputation and their social cues. As they grow more famous, he’ll evaluate his fashion choices more and dress appropriately. He doesn’t try to overstate (like Aquarius Venus) or understate himself. He’s just trying to play it safe, cool and preferably comfortable. (Libra)

In terms of social relationships. Jihoon’s natural observations and interaction with others facilitate his Libra (which is his baseline) to inform him what he should keep appropriate when meeting someone new (interviews, broadcast, everything public/on-screen). 

Meanwhile his natural self (Aries/Sagittarius influences) are kept under this Libra persona in order to create depth people close to him can get to know once he slowly lets them in. 

Deep deep down he’s highly sentimental, in a way that’s not fabricated or mentally-inclined. (Libra Venus but influenced by the suppressed Aries Moon sentimentality) 

He’s purely emotional, a huge ass dork and a highly romantic person. But he often struggles to bring it forward because he’s extra guarded by layers and layers of crust and hardness that makes this emotional core lack a certain self-confidence/esteem in themselves (in their own sentimentality/affection) and manifests only for people who are truly accepting and close to him. 

It sort of feels like, he doubts himself that he can be this way. That he can give enough affection for others (Libra) or that he feels enough for others because he doesn’t have any water-signs in his chart. The thing that most native don’t tend to realize is that Aries are highly romantic and a pretty sensual sign. So is his Virgo, that melts into a pile of gushy feelings on the floor if it’s not kept up by this Libra.

Out of all the placement in his chart this Libra Venus is possibly the one that’s the most -- emotionally distanced? But it’s distanced in a way that Libra as a Venus sign has been acknowledging and observing this romantic side for a while now (openly talks about it and desire it) while the reality of the romance itself is dealt with pragmatically instead (air signs tends to do this). There’s a difference between Libra knowing what to do, and his Aries/Virgo who are much less exposed/experienced to the reality of romantic relationship that the placements tends to freak itself out at the slightest sign of attraction from others that they like.

Think of it as like, a friend group. There’s that one friend who has always been in-love with love, prefers rom-com because they live precariously through it and is somewhat knowledgeable about romance even though they’ve never experienced it.

And then there’s two other friends who are often much more concerned with other stuff (sports, activities, stimulis) but is suddenly exposed to romantic affections directed at them, or romantic emotions that they suddenly feel. And are freaking the fuck out because vulnerability isn’t their strongest suit and now they’re confused on what to do/what to feel. 

The Libra Venus here is the exasperated friend who is giving advice to others and has to suddenly become the level-headed one in the trio, often asking how the Aries/Virgo are being treated and trying to give them advice on whether or not they’re being treated right or not (within a criteria they’ve thought of and made up from ‘experience watching rom-com’) 

Aries and Virgo are pretty slick once they truly immerse themselves and really get into the relationship. Jihoon has full capabilities of being deeply passionate about someone/something, going to lengths to prove and do things for the sake of them/it and is strongly attached/dedicated to the object of his affection.

Whether it’s about music, a close friend, a family member, or a person. There’s strong sentimentality and profound emotions that comes with him. He does things in waves, and never really holds back unless he’s testing out the waters. 

He puts so much emphasis on his loyalty and faithfulness, his devotion and dedication it can almost be seen as a worship or ‘life-saving’ to him with just how much he feels and puts in work for it sometimes.     

Virgo Mars 

Jihoon’s strongest suit isn’t in his skills or ego or his appearance, but it’s in his daily grind/routine and hard-working nature.

Everything points down to this Virgo Mars fueling his personal sense of self and identity. Possibly because it’s the most tangible part of his personality that he feels grounded by and actively tends to work on.

Virgo Mars combined with Libra Venus makes his temper much more mild manner/bearable to others around him, often times it takes a lot for him to be seriously pissed off about something. 

Even when he’s pissed, he often takes so much time and consideration in compiling his stress/frustration into something that won’t hurt the recipient of his anger that much. And the other can usually make it constructive instead. 

He’s just...super conscious of other people around him when it comes to his anger and his work. He doesn’t air out his frustration often, unless it’s with himself or just instantaneous reaction of his Moon.

He can often find himself repressing said emotions sometimes trying to be the most productive at work, he understands other people’s emotions and feelings and is great at regulating it (Libra Venus) but his own temper/frustrations are often micro-managed and ‘moderated’ to a certain degree. 

If it’s something he can laugh about he will make a joke to lighten the situation (Aries Moon/Sagittarius Mercury/Sun) but if it’s something that’s truly causing other people frustration, he sits them down and talk to them about it.

Virgo Mars prefers talking through their frustration rather than throwing stuff around, their grounded-ness can be seen as a certain kind of maturity. They’re often willing to listen to others as long as they’re being heard as well. 

They’d rather work through a problem together, rather than sit there and get nowhere with the stuff they’re frustrated with. They’re already pretty anxious people, even if it’s not seen/voiced out often. 

Productivity is key to releasing that frustration, and it’s often fueled/ facilitated through his Sag/Aries placement as well (need to externalize outwards). Most of the time, it’s like he’s trying to detonate a bomb by throwing it out into space because that’s the sure-fire way of not killing everyone around him.  

He’s temperamental for sure (moodiness - Aries Moon) and he has quick reactions set for things he expects of others (Hoshi cuddling him, Jun and Joshua’s cheesiness.) 

But when it comes down to things that truly matter. Such as his own personal frustration with himself, his insecurities and his vulnerable emotions-- he’d much rather work through it by himself than rely on others for help sometimes. (Aries Moon Virgo Mars influencing each other). 

How he does it is through practice, often externalizing it in his daily activity. He keeps an active routine of things he likes to do or helps him feel better about certain stuff. Whether it’s gaming, working or working out. If it helps, then it’s productive. 

Eating for instance, is a good stress-relief and highlight for Jihoon. Mostly because he physically works out so much and uses this Virgo Mars to release tension for his personal stressors, that he needs food to regain a happy healthy metabolism. If it helps him feel better about himself, it’s productivity.

Working, in another way is considered a ‘hobby’ but also a productivity for him. It releases stress, and is one of his most efficient stress-relieving factor for him in his daily life. He haunts the studio grounds and works not just because it pays him money, but it’s cathartic to him to do something about his worries, and it certain helps that he gets into a ‘zone’ about when he’s working.

Seungcheol once said he feels sorry Jihoon because ‘he acts more like a leader than he is’. 

Jihoon doesn’t really care about being a leader, he does it because he likes the work. He likes reliance people has on him but he doesn’t like the pressure (Sagittarius). 

He’s anxious enough as it is (Virgo/Sagittarius) and he can facilitate certain qualities that would certainly help the group (Libra diplomacy and Aries instigation) He’d rather be the side-leader than the full-on one. 

Mostly because all of his other placements might’ve gone into a bigger panic than how he normally is now 

Plus, Seungcheol has the natural capabilities of handling the pressure better than Jihoon. He’s great at it and he’s equally self-driven, but in a different way that doesn’t put himself down like Jihoon does to himself constantly. Seungcheol has self-awareness and confidence that fuels others, Jihoon doesn’t really have those.  

Conclusion

Lee Jihoon is a wonderful boy, riddled with layers and is capable of so many things. 

He gets drained by people demanding things of him often, but he tries his best not to get frustrated with them (seriously) and facilitate them nonetheless (Libra Venus).

It’s not like he’s a tsundere, he makes it very clear that he’s doing his best and tries in his own way to really respond and link up to others behind the screen. There’s a level of clear communication, trust and honesty with him (Aries), where you’re sure where you stand and how he doesn’t really hate you because he makes sure to let you know in his own dedicated way that you matter to him. 

He’s also very adamant and clear on what he’s ok with you doing and what he’s definitely not going to respond well to. If you refuses to listen or respect his choice, he’s definitely going to cut you off. No questions or diplomacy needed. 

He’s like the earth, layers upon layers leading down to a heated core. He’s harmonious and sensible on the outside, and then as you go closer to the magma below he gets more and more vulnerable. More and more emotionally-bounded, more volatile and unsure of himself. 

Magma goes everywhere when they explode outwards to the crust, in geysers and in underwater volcanoes. He keeps it hidden and safe away from people because he can’t control it, it’s mercurial to him because he lacks practice with controlling his deeper, weight-ier emotions. 

There’s also the danger of ashes and volcanic fumes that kills others more than the magma itself. These fumes are the most dangerous element out of the entire explosion, and they’re sort of like people seeing how vulnerable he really is and talking/whispering about it. 

Being exposed like that is something that paralyzes him with fear. He’d rather keep hidden at all times. He values his privacy so much, and he’d much rather keep a heavy-lid on those he allows close to him rather than live through that kind of explosion of himself in public. 

Again, he’s soft and sensitive. Yielding but within bounds. He tries his best for everyone around him, and often needs a little bit of gentleness, a little more reassurance and a heavy dose of security/grounded-ness in order to truly feel freely like himself in all his layers. 

💕That’s it for Jihoon’s Overview! I hope you enjoy both his Inner Planet Natal Reading and this overview part of it as well. I touched a bit more on him personally in the overview than in his Inner Planet Natal Reading. It’s also a lot easier to digest so I’ll be sticking to doing Overviews for the rest of the boys for now! I think Minghao is next, because his birthday is coming out soon and I’m anxious to get him out of the way first sfjdnks I hope you enjoy! 💕

[eatbreathewrite]

The Adventures of Todd and Granny

(Alternatively: “I Saw Granny Ethel with the Devil”)

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

Unexpected Guest

Today is a good day for Todd—though they mostly are, as of late.

He’s heard people, mostly the damned, mention the “good ol’ days”; these must be his in the making.

By the end of the afternoon, he’s improved greatly on his stitch counting and his triple crochets and, especially, in mastering how to properly turn his piece so his rows are no longer frustratingly mismatched. It’s still a work in progress, but Granny Ethel’s lessons are wonderful as always. Next up is learning how to incorporate another yarn color for bright, fun designs—or in his case, dark and atmospheric—after their midday break of coffee and desserts, of course. Because as fond as she is of his preferred black yarn, she insists he has to branch out from solids eventually. There’s no growth if one always remains in their comfort zone.  

Instead of coffee, however, Granny Ethel is in the mood for tea—and just as with everything else he’s inherited from her lifestyle, the art of brewing tea presents a difficult learning curve.

She doesn’t take her tea from grocery store boxes and tiny sachets—she doesn’t buy those in bulk because they only go to waste and sit stale in the cupboards. When she drinks tea at all (that is, when she isn’t in the mood for espresso), it must be fresh, and from organic, homegrown ingredients. For this reason, tea isn’t an impulsive choice of drink. It must be planned. It’s another lesson she’s instilled in him during his stay, and, the week before, they’d spent an entire morning identifying each of the specific herbs thriving in the back garden, and which parts were best used in which blends. Of course, he is well acquainted with the rosemary and sage, the lavender and thyme, the basil and juniper, and the chamomile and anise. But lemongrass is new, and it grows in abundance in the planters set on the windowsills.

Because it’s such a novelty, he chooses it as the main note and adds in chamomile blossoms to offset the citrus tang. It’s a challenge to balance it just right so neither is too overwhelming, nor too bland, and he doesn’t expect this to be a great attempt, but Granny Ethel is honest with her evaluations and generous with encouragement. There’s also the matter of heating the water to a proper boil, and not overheating the mix, then steeping it for the right amount of time…

Well, there’s a reason he never apprenticed to a potion brewer and enlisted in the debt collecting department for souls instead.

But for Granny Ethel, he tries his best.

The kitchen counter, small as it is, is a difficult surface to work with. The kitchenware is tiny in his hands, and if he isn’t careful when he moves, his horns scrape the ceiling above, sending a fine powder of popcorned drywall down like snow out of season.

Water sloshes out of the kettle and spills across the granite, some trickling down onto the tiles, and the small, fragile jar he mixes the herbs in cracks beneath his claws, but doesn’t shatter. He scoops out the blend with care and packs it loosely into a metal tea strainer, but even so, most of it ends up scattered across the counter. Grass and petals bounce and dive out of the tea ball as he fumbles to secure the latch, and by the end of the struggle, only a small portion of what he’d placed remains within.

He tries once more—and again. And once more, just until there’s an appropriate measurement of herbs trapped inside. Then, ever-so-carefully, he sets the tea ball into Granny Ethel’s favorite tea cup (the special one, decorated with playful kittens and ribbons and an elaborate, golden cursive “C”) and pours boiling water over it to steep.

A freshly-baked apple pie waits on the small, round dining table, taken fresh from the oven only an hour before. A sliver of the circle has been removed for tasting—and it is delicious. Slicing two pieces of the pie is a far simpler task than brewing tea, and Todd makes sure that Granny Ethel’s piece dwarfs the plate it sits upon, because she deserves the best. And bigger is better.  

The two dessert-filled plates sit across from each other, equidistant, on the table, on finely crocheted doilies that serve as placemats. The pastel yellow tablecloth covering the table is riddled in fragile, embroidered daisies and winding leaves and it screams spring despite the heat of summer weighing heavy in the air. He’ll have to find another to replace it with, soon. Maybe one with sunflowers.

As he considers this, the doorbell rings.

It isn’t something he thinks twice about anymore. Not since their new friend from the supermarket made it habit to participate in their weekly Yahtzee or domino nights, and their bi-weekly trips to the bingo hall.

Neither does Granny Ethel—he can hear her call to the door from the living room, remaining in her seat, “Come in, dear! The door is unlocked.”

But it isn’t a game night, or a bingo day.

It’s midafternoon on a Tuesday and the only thing scheduled for the remainder of the day is a rerun of one of their favorite TV dramas about two women in law enforcement.

The door creaks open—it’s something Todd’s been meaning to fix, though the home is sorely lacking in tools and hardware necessary for the job. If there was hinge lubricant around, it would fix it right up, but he may have to resort to cooking oil as a quick fix.

Curiosity gets the better of him. Carefully balancing the teapot and teacup in both clawed hands, he approaches the carpeted hall between the kitchen and living room to take a peek at the mystery guest. But multitasking, pouring the tea and looking at the same time, proves to be a mistake and in hindsight something he should have avoided.

The tea, so carefully prepared and brewed, overflows from the fine china cup, spills onto the matching, chipped saucer and steadily splatters the floor. Todd doesn’t even move, doesn’t blink, as it saturates the floral rug beneath his claws. The drips are the only thing moving in this scene removed from time, and all else stands still, even the dust in the air.

Neither of them expected a guest today—neither of them ever expected this particular guest. Mostly because one believes he is already present, and one believes he is too selfish to ever even have the passing thought to visit, much less call or write.

“Oh no, Todd, the carpet! Hurry now, dear, hurry, go and—no, I’ll go and grab a towel, I know where the cleaning ones are!”

Granny Ethel is the first to break free from the frozen atmosphere—though she refuses to acknowledge anything aside from the growing stain on the living room floor. Todd quickly rights the white china teapot hanging from his claws and holds his other hand steady to prevent the flooded teacup from dripping more hot tea to the puddle below. It doesn’t work—seems to make it worse, actually. It’s a vain task, so he gives up and cradles it all in his large hands, doing his best to keep the remaining tea contained in his palms. 

“‘Todd?’” says the clean-cut young man standing in the open doorway, a jarring juxtaposition to the black clothes and heavily-blackened eyes and metal accessories from familiar photographs—but even in the full Sunday suit, those downturned, bright eyes are unmistakable, and they are fixed unblinkingly on Todd’s decidedly un-Todd-like form. “Who are you?”

I’m you, but better, doesn’t seem like an appropriate response, no matter how true it is. Todd the demon holds his silence and doesn’t break the gaze, because it feels like a challenge.

This man is the human Todd, and he’s come to visit.

Today is a....strange day, for Demon Todd.

Tea time is no longer a pleasant, cozy time. Not with their extra guest, seated between them at the small round table with a (small) slice of pie of his own and an untouched glass of water—no tea, no coffee, for him. He’s tall—a bit too large for the small table, though Demon Todd is one to talk. But being who he is, it’s only natural he dwarfs everything around him. This Human Todd, though… just what is his excuse?

Granny Ethel hasn’t spoken a single word to the young man the entire time and her silence is strange. She’s usually such a chatty, friendly woman.

So they eat in silence—but not Human Todd. He sits still, staring with narrowed, mean eyes, on edge. But not entirely frightened, like the general public tended to be in his presence. It’s odd. Perhaps it runs in the family.

As he sits in the silence, he wrings his hands together—clean hands, like one unaccustomed to frequent physical labor. No dirt in sight underneath his nail beds. Not even flecks of old nail polish hinting at remnants of a secret grunge lifestyle never quite grown out of. Whatever he has grown into certainly isn’t that of someone who toils in the underworld or its culture, like his counterpart.

No, rather, it reeks of money. Given—not earned. And possibly taken, too.

Demon Todd has an inkling of why Human Todd is here. After all, he didn’t come alone. Accompanying his arrival were three large, expensive suitcases, stuffed full. Still sitting in the living room, out of place.

At long last, as the last crumb falls, Granny Ethel speaks.

“Well, dear, speak up, speak up. What brings you here?” she asks the young man as she pats at the corners of her wrinkled mouth with a cloth napkin, and she avoids speaking his name despite the fact that she must know who he is.

The words, though, aren’t entirely conversational. With the three of them sitting at the small table, it more resembles a conference—no, a hearing. Especially when she pulls up the thick, round spectacles hanging from crocheted strings around her neck and sets them atop the bridge of her nose to better see the new visitor.

Human Todd’s eyes drift warily from the long, sharp claws tapping silently on the tabletop, and he clears his throat before looking to his grandmother, wearing a sickly sweet and fake smile as he does. “Well, it’s been so long. So, so many years, Gran. I’ve missed you, see. Dad was in the wrong, and he treated you terribly. I understand that now.”

“Ah, Arthur…” she replies faintly, setting the napkin down on the table and folding her hands across her lap. Yes—she knows exactly who Human Todd is. But the behavior is still so unlike her. No joy, no sweet smiles. All gone, drained, as empty as the teacup set in front of her, but not even leaving the dregs of what she once was behind.

Demon Todd briefly considers kicking Human Todd to the curb.

“He said awful things about you, and I listened. I came here by way of apology, to take care of you, but,” briefly, and not without a flinch, his eyes wander to Demon Todd, and linger on the dark, hand-crafted shawl perched on his spiny shoulders, “it seems like you’ve already gotten that under control.” His gaze lingers, fixed in a poorly-concealed grimace. “Who are you, by the way?”

Granny Ethel speaks for him, and for a moment her cheer returns. “This is my wonderful grandson, Todd! He’s such a polite young man. And it’s true, life has certainly become easier, and better, since he arrived and helped out so, so much.”

Demon Todd can only nod, but if he could smile without it looking like several rows of craggy, sharp teeth gnashed together in malicious threat, he would.  

Human Todd wrenches his gaze away, and pulls at the collar of his pristine white shirt. His hairline shines with sweat, and it isn’t due to the cozy temperature Granny Ethel prefers to keep in the house.

“Then…who am I?” he ventures quietly, eyebrows furrowed in an odd mixture of confusion and shame. Ah, the bafflement of mortals.

“Why, dear, I couldn’t say. In fact, I’d say that depends entirely on you! Actions speak louder than words, don’t you know.”

The sweat creeps down his temples, shining in the faint light. “Right, I…I see.”

“But if you’d like a name…I would insist on Theodore. What do you think, Todd, dear?”

Demon Todd nods once more, pleased by the way the conversation unsettles the man. In fact, the situation is much like naming a pet. Although something fluffy and small, or covered in feathers, would be preferable to this sweaty human.

“Theodore it is, then!”

Human Todd—now, Theodore—switches his gaze between them, fingers tugging at his shirt collar once again. “Alright. Theodore it is,” he agrees, as if, perhaps, it has been his name all along, and using a shortened form of it had been a way to rebel, once upon a time. A memory lost to time. A privilege denied. “I guess I deserve that.”

“Well, now that we’ve got that out of the way, Theodore, dear, how long are you planning on staying? I must warn you, showing up unannounced means Todd and I haven’t been able to prepare for guests. I’m afraid that means you and Todd will have to share a room until we’re able to make other arrangements.”

Theodore gulps audibly, Adam’s apple bobbing. He refuses to meet Demon Todd’s—just Todd, again, something of a victory—eyes. “Y-yes Gran.”

“And you must be aware of the house rules. Everyone contributes in any way they’re able.”

“Actions speak louder than words, right?” Theodore asks, shaky fingers reaching for the glass of water set in front of him. Not quite making it and falling still on the table, instead.

“That’s right, dear.” Granny Ethel smiles, at last. Full of her old joy again, as she should be. Renewed. Her eyes, large and owlish behind the clouded lenses, turn to Todd. “Now, Todd, won’t you be a dear and show our new house guest to his room?”

Todd looks to the dirty dishes on the table, caught between wanting to tend to them before taking care of any other, less important, duties.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the dishes.”

Well, Granny Ethel’s word is law.

He rises to his feet—careful, always careful. Barely resisting the urge to let the ends of his horns graze the ceiling above Theodore so he gets a nice, healthy dose of powdered scrapings on his painstakingly slicked-back hair.

The man follows, cautiously, and keeps three steps behind as Todd leads him out of the kitchen and into the living room to scramble for his luggage, then down the hallway to the guest room, not making a peep, and not even stepping hard on the floors just to startle his counterpart a little, because one, it would flatten the carpets into ugly tracks, and two, Granny Ethel would want him to be a good host.

Theodore knows who—what—he is. Yet even when Granny Ethel is out of sight and out of earshot, he doesn’t question it. He simply goes about his business and does his best to ignore the hulking beast standing in the doorway, watching.

Though, between the two of them, Todd isn’t sure which one is the real monster.

It’s a conversation for another day.

[kansascitylifestyle]

How Do I Find A Med Spa In Kansas City Service

What Is The Best Med Spa In Kansas City Service In My Area

It's alright to ask your clinician about their education and training to guarantee that you are making the right choice for your requirements. Asking questions will also provide you a feel for the personnel's personality and if you wish to work with them. You must also make assessments at several health clubs, not simply one.

You want to guarantee you'll be in an environment that makes you feel comfortable. Lastly, do not forget to have a look at their treatment menu in advance to be sure they provide the treatment you are looking for - Learn More about Where can I find Facial treatments Kansas City. RESEARCH THE EQUIPMENTMany of the treatments offered by med health clubs can be expensive. Generally since the devices they use is expensive.

Due to the fact that technology in the aesthetic and medical field is constantly altering, it is crucial to make certain any med health club you visit is utilizing the newest and biggest devices for your particular treatment. You wish to get your cash's worth. Understanding these different lasers and products will make your decision much easier when it comes time to select a place.

Before deciding to proceed with any cosmetic treatment, you must ask to see other patient's real results. A worthwhile medical spa will provide you with before and after images. Click on this link to see our prior to and after images for yourself!You ought to also ask around, research study online, and look for reviews from others who have actually gone to the exact same med day spa you have an interest in. To make things much easier, we provide.

you with video reviews from our delighted patients - Botox Kansas City MO. Click here to see what they have to say about their experience with us!. Learn how the current CO2 innovation innovations and combined techniques are broadening treatment options and meeting patient requirements. The Visual Clinique In this course, discover the science and history behind IV treatment, in addition to how to start an effective IV therapy practice. This includes marketing, materials, products and equipment required. Tahoe Aesthetic Medicine In this course, a case study will be provided showing how combining multiple nonsurgical methods that are synergistic with each other lead to substantial modifications to deal with each of a patient's issues. In this case study, IPL, full-field and fractional resurfacing, neuromodulator, PDO threads and HA filler were made use of to develop the result. Ingenious uses have actually tapped into the power of LLLT, offering unique standalone and accessory therapies in the cosmetic.

surgery or medical spa practice. Favorable scientific outcomes have actually been seen in areas of pre -and post-operative management, injury care, acne care and skin conditioning. Current use in the area of post-surgical recovery has been revealed to include to optimum cosmetic surgical outcomes, in addition to lower pain and scarring. Platelet-rich plasma( PRP) has been utilized commonly for aesthetic functions and has actually gained popularity in the last a number of years; nevertheless, platelet-rich fibrin( PRF) is.

changing it in popularity. Facial restoration via injections, microneedle treatments and procedural healing are the most popular PRF applications. Rajani will provide his experience using PRF in more than 3,000 cases using a microcannula method. The distinctions between PRP and PRF will be evaluated, in addition to preparation techniques and tube structure. Combinations with PLLA and hyaluronic acid fillers will be shown via video, together with microcannula injection application. Safety and durability will be examined with in the past and after images of results instant and with time. This session will include a video demonstration and a question-and-answer period. Juvly AestheticsFor those simply starting to check out microneedling or those aiming to hone their abilities, this session will supply a broad overview of this treatment. Modern microneedling has actually been practiced for years, yet has simply recently come into favor in the medical aesthetic community. And there are brand-new therapiesincluding stem cells, PRP, PRF, exosomes and hair restorationto consider for expansion. The discussion will cover these topics on advanced improvements in aesthetic innovation. DefenAge New SkinCurrently.

How Much Does A Med Spa In Kansas City Cost

, various skin treatments are emerging to deal with and reverse the signs of aging. One technique is the utilization of stem cells to trigger cell populations in the skin. There are concerns about the effectiveness and security of these treatments, as the structure of growth factors is not completely defined. Defensin molecules that message to dormant," fresh" skin's master stem cells are the keys to the fourth generation. When these cells are activated, they produce young, new skin. Our body utilizes these "preserved" cells throughout injury healing; therefore, skin in a closed injury is always younger than the skin around the injury. Juvly Visual appeals This session will focus on acknowledging negative events following facial injections, consisting of suggestions and strategies to teach your medical health spa personnel to do the very same. Considering that hyaluronidase is considered" off-label," it can be challenging for service providers to find efficient treatment strategies they can execute in the circumstances of any negative occasions. Today's day spas, medical or not, use many services beyond massage, facials and mani/pedis. A variety of popular cosmetic procedures like laser treatments and fillers are prevalent in the spa world. However, there is an important distinction to think about when picking where to go, and there are times when picking a Medical Day spa matters. Whether it be for a day of indulgence or a cosmetic treatment, there are 3 main points to take into account: Are they a reliable health club who stand behind their personnel and the procedures they offer? What's the atmosphere like? How do you feel when you walk in? How does the staff treat you? How do you feel when you leave, and the week after that? Was your treatment of choice one you would.

advise? Do you eagerly anticipate going back the health club? When choosing to adopt a cosmetic treatment there's another factor to add to the list above: Medical health clubs are a mix of a medical center and a day health spa. And here's where the distinction between a medical spa and a regular spa is important: With all the recent coverage of botched cosmetic treatments pertaining to the surface area, it is more vital than ever to make sure your center of option is on the up and up. At Sky and Sea Health Club, Miami's premier med medical spa, we offer a range of treatments in an ambient setting so you feel unwinded both by your environment and the understanding that you are in the capable hands of our staff when you concern us for a treatment. Choosing skin care items can be a bit tricky. As a med medical spa owner, you need to provide a product line that is effective, provides scientifically proven outcomes, and interest your consumer base. Selling retail skin care products frequently makes upa fair portion of a medical spa's revenue, so choosing the right products is not a choice to be taken likely. It is important to consider the scientific research and proof behind each product.

While there are numerous skin care items guaranteeing the eternal youth, you understand that these claims are marketing gimmicks that often don't deliver. Click To read about Dermaplane Kansas City. The products you choose require to be ones you think in, ones that produce visible results, and ones that use something different than nonprescription skin care items.

[loveart248]

I love many BNHA ships but Kiribaku holds a special place in my heart since it has so much positive canon material and I am always a sucker for the "Best friends who fall in love" trope since I enjoy slow burn with character growth. And I like that their relationship is so well developed in the story with subtle changes in their behavior all throughout as they go from 1. strangers who don't think much of each other to 2. reluctant allies who need to work together to complete certain tasks to 3. sort of friends with Kirishima pushing for a friendship to 4. best friends with an equal balance of respect and appreciation for each other.

Like, think about how Kirishima used to think that Bakugou was a terrible person at first. He was all like "That Bakugou is crazy and fights dirty" while Bakugou didn't even care about his existence yet. The only thing on Bakugou's mind at the time was beating Izuku and proving his superiority over everyone else. At the beginning, Bakugou was definitely not looking for friends as the only people he was used to having around him were "followers" as shown during his middle school times. In regard to Kirishima, he was more impressed with Izuku than anyone else just like the rest of class 1-a.

Then during the USJ arc, they automatically started working together to fight the villains that popped out of nowhere as they were right next to each other during the initial attack. This right away showed how synchronized they were as a team due to their personalities and quirks.

Afterwards, they were sent off in the portal together giving them more time to fight villains side by side alone to get a feel of each others' personalities. During that time, you can slowly see Kirishima change his perspective of Bakugou from "This guy is crazy" to "Huh. This guy may not be that bad. He seems pretty cool under these circumstances".

After that arc, you can tell Kirishima starts to become more interested in Bakugou as a person as he starts to recognize his positive qualities despite his original assessment of Bakugou's personality. Even Kaminari is like "Don't let him play you" after Bakugou tells off the other classes Lol but Kirishima can't help but start to find Bakugou "manly" XD

He begins to want to hang out with Bakugou and get on his good side. Bakugou still doesn't think much of him but he let's him be for the most part. You start to see Kirishima more impressed with Bakugou than before.

During the actual Sports Festival, Kirishima finally gets his opportunity to prove his skill in Bakugou's eyes while also appealing to Bakugou's desire to win against Izuku. This moment shows an understanding of Bakugou's personality as he knows how to get Bakugou to agree with him despite Bakugou not thinking too much of him yet. It also shows a shift in Kirishima's preference of Izuku since now he would much prefer to be in Bakugou's team as he didn't even attempt to join Izuku's team or even Todoroki's team.

THAT moment is when their friendship is truly born as Bakugou starts to acknowledge him and call him "Kirishima". Then the two are eventually paired off against each other and Bakugou wins but he STILL respects him as an opponent. He even comments on how difficult it is to get past Kirishima's defenses which is why he basically lets him reach his quirk limit to win. The fight is short but pretty funny because you can see them kind of teasing each other all throughout.

After the Sports Festival, the two are often seen around each other hanging out with Kirishima definitely feeling more comfortable around Bakugou to the point that he easily jokes around him and teases him. Slowly, through Kirishima's influence as he basically gets along with everyone in class 1-a, you can see more of the other students also feel more comfortable around Bakugou, especially the ones who were on his team at the Sports Festival. Characters like Kaminari, Sero, Mina, etc. Sero is one that automatically attaches himself to Bakugou's group soon after the Sports Festival lol

By the time the summer camp villain attack happens, the audience already has some understanding of their friendship but it's still not in full display yet. It's more subtle and in the background than anything. During the summer camp though, you can finally see how much Bakugou means to Kirishima as a friend and as a fellow student. He feels guilty that he couldn't help his friend so he tries to convince the others to help him save Bakugou despite that being illegal. He only manages to convince a select few, two of which were already there when Bakugou was kidnapped and felt responsible too (Todoroki and Izuku) but the fact that he felt that much about it shows how much he cares.

In part, knowing Kirishima's character and motivations, you can tell that he wants to save Bakugou to prove to himself that he can be a true hero but you can also tell that saving Bakugou means more to him than that since Bakugou is not just "some guy" but his close friend.

During the entire rescue arc, Kirishima is all about doing his best to save Bakugou alongside the others to the point that he buys expensive night camera lenses to spy on the warehouse and chooses the disguises for the others. And then, the most Kiribaku moment ever in which Izuku comes up with the "Rescue Bakugou Without Confronting Villains" plan that ends up working ONLY because of how Bakugou views Kirishima as a friend and equal. This is an important moment of development from Bakugou's side as it shows that he holds Kirishima in high regard and does not feel like Kirishima saving him is him looking down on Bakugou's own skill. It basically proves that their relationship is mutual as they both consider the other a friend.

Then all the subtle moments throughout the series after this arc that show how close they are such as Bakugou tutoring him and going on study dates (a lot of that in the light novels), the BNHA movie moments (assuming they are canon) which technically happened before the summer arc, Kirishima constantly complimenting Bakugou but also making sure he's not too rude to others, Kirishima apparently helping Bakugou move all his stuff to his dorm, Kirishima knowing that Bakugou went to sleep at 8 pm when showing off rooms hinting that they were hanging out prior to that, Bakugou's motivational speech to Kirishima that motivated him to push himself harder to create the "unbreakable" form/also basically a compliment from Bakugou to Kirishima, Kirishima implying that he and Bakugou spar together sometimes, etc. And don't get me started on all the BNHA SMASH moments lol

Whether as brotp or otp, the great relationship development is undeniable. Just like the character growth they both experienced due to each other. Kirishima is not the ONLY one that understands Bakugou in the story nor is he his only friend or person he respects since Bakugou has many other people he respects and calls by name (i.e. All Might, Uraraka, etc.). Likewise, Bakugou is not the ONLY person Kirishima admires or considers a close friend (i.e. He has Kaminari, Mina, etc.). However, they clearly mean a lot to each other and help each other develop where they need to. Kirishima helps Bakugou open up to others more and Bakugou helps Kirishima believe in himself and his ability to be a hero. And that is enough 😁

[hellosweetie13]

The amount to Pay for SEO Services?

The inquiry comes up frequently. Numerous individuals have been singed by SEO Services, however many have likewise been compensated by SEO Services. Like any business exchange or buy you should possibly go through your cash when you feel good. Your usual range of familiarity should pull from different conditions, for example, how well do you know this business, how long have you been working with this individual or element, what is your early introduction, how would you actually feel about this individual or element capacity to offer this assistance, and how well have you gotten your work done.

Reality with regards to SEO administrations is that it is typically not difficult work, yet that doesn't mean its simple. It actually requires some investment, devotion, exertion, methodology, strategy, technique, ability, and experience to perform quality SEO administrations. Anybody can utilize SEO administrations since it is inside your span to learn, yet not every person can apply reasonable procedure to make SEO work. That is the reason SEO engineers are expected to achieve the practically unthinkable, yet the inquiry is how would you realize you are settling on the correct decision and not overpaying for SEO administrations?

I can genuinely say generally SEO specialist organizations are ok who need simply to do proficient business and give quality SEO administrations. Recognizing each obscure SEO administration may not be conceivable, yet I have some suggested exhortation which should assist anybody with getting a reasonable and quality rate for SEO administrations.

- Set yourself a "reasonable" promoting spending plan and objective

- Shop around

- Don't accepting until you feel great

- Remember "modest doesn't generally mean better"

- Ask for references/referrals/portfolio

- Verify references/referrals/portfolio

- Ask for factual development and progress reports

Set Yourself a Realistic Marketing Budget and Goal

This essentially mean don't mess with yourself and figure you can pay $200 and overnight you will make thousands. Rather, make a financial plan contingent upon your showcasing needs, serious industry, extended result, and timeframe. In the event that you are searching for your site to rank in the Top 10 web index result page for a specific catchphrase or watchwords at that point hope to pay in the thousands, frequently many thousands, for quality, proficient, and solid SEO administrations, quite often relying upon the intensity of the catchphrase. In the event that you need to rank in the best 10 for the watchword "Google", this as a rule inconceivable, however I am certain there are some SEO organizations who will acknowledge the demand, yet will charge in the thousands if not millions to endeavor this crazy advertising objective. Read more  oldschoolseo

Shop Around

Locate the most engaging SEO administrations and contrast those with other serious SEO administrations. Try not to make due with "modest" or "modest", however settle for "powerful" and "procedure". Anybody can accomplish SEO work, however not every person can improve results utilizing SEO administrations. This is on the grounds that, SEO is about method and system. It's not about simply tossing thousands a connections around the web and sitting back hanging tight for the blast. Its in reality significantly more muddled than that, all things considered about having methodology, procedure, and serious edge. You should discover SEO administrations which live by this rule and can offer you the key guide you requirement for progress.

Try not to Buy Until You Feel Comfortable

You ought to consistently feel good with entrusting your cash into a SEO specialist co-op paws. In the event that you have uncommon needs, for example, you need to sign an agreement, you need a particular compensation timetable, or you have any inquiries, ensure you find solutions and are OK with the extended result at that point push ahead. I for one recommend getting an agreement which traces the extended result and some other list items, at that point likewise investigating the outcomes or potential outcomes if the extended result isn't met.

Keep in mind "Modest Does Not Always Mean Better"

This is a purchaser be careful notification. At the point when somebody offers $20 SEO benefits or even $200 SEO administrations, I would state "purchaser be careful". There might be a small bunch of profoundly gifted SEO suppliers who can offer you SEO administrations at a markdown or for incredibly low rates, yet more often than not these suppliers either don't have the foggiest idea about their administration worth or know precisely what they are doing, however may have had a fortunate streak. You should pay as much as possible or forcefully, yet still reasonable for quality, key, and experienced SEO administrations. Website design enhancement engineers is the thing that I like to call them. These are SEO's who comprehend the SEO idea, who pioneer SEO strategies, and who don't generally follow the pattern, yet know the patterns.

The vast majority of the SEO engineers won't be modest, yet definitely justified even despite each dollar spent. In the event that you think about other promoting and publicizing stages, for example, transmission promoting, print promoting, huge tradeshow/reasonable corner promoting, and so forth web showcasing and website streamlining cost peanuts contrasted with these other publicizing strategies and have a farther crowd reach. Website design enhancement administrations can undoubtedly cost between $5,000-$25,000, it can even be considerably more than this, contingent upon your requirements, yet this is undeniably more economical and less expensive than other promoting stages. Thus, next time you feel that SEO administration cost excessively, consider different techniques for publicizing and their rates, alongside degree of profitability (ROI). Website optimization administrations beat the competition each time when thought about against these other publicizing stages.

Request References/Referrals/Portfolio

Any SEO specialist organization ought to have the option to direct you toward their passing work. Web optimization specialist co-ops ought to have the option to give you friendly sites which they have performed SEO deal with. This can even be the SEO specialist organization individual site, they ought to have the option to guide you toward their rankings in the web crawler just as some outcome driven SEO work inside the website or over the web.

Confirm References/Referrals/Portfolio

Confirming data isn't in every case simple or accomplishable. You should endeavor to connect and check what you can. On the off chance that an obscure SEO business planned to trick, at that point I am certain this is the place they would begin, with tributes. I recommend confirming what you can, yet don't get overpowered with referrals since it might be simply the obscure SEO business giving commendation. I really have some great confirmation tips, yet that is another article all inside itself.

Request Statistical Growth and Progress Reports

The SEO administration mission ought to incorporate intermittent advancement/execution reports so you can follow your site progress. Following your site progress is significant from various perspectives. To begin with, it tells if the SEO engineer is carrying out their responsibility. Second, it lets you know whether the SEO strategies, methodology, and strategy is working or not. Third, it reveals to you how well the web indexes are responding your SEO endeavors. What's more, in conclusion, it reveals to you how much advancement is being made and at what rate. The entirety of this serious detailing data and pattern following can give you a review of your site potential while allowing you the chance to plan or update your presentation pages to expand your rate of profitability (ROI).

Alright, to wrap it up, simply be certain you avoid decrepit web neighborhoods and when making any online exchange, get your work done first. Likewise, recall "modest doesn't approach better". Consider it, would you rather pay in the thousands to one SEO organization for quality SEO work, which will deliver results and increment your site in general execution or would you rather pay modest $200 to a wide range of SEO's who absolutely never truly give you the outcomes you merit. In the event that a SEO architect can expand your site deals and introduction by 80% without your site actually arriving at the best 10 query items then you actually got a decent arrangement. This is the impact of gifted and experienced SEO administrations. The main contrast between your site and the sites in the best 10, is those sites have SEO engineers working for them who comprehend SEO.

[electricghoulaid]

Run Your Own Company By Reselling Wholesale Baby Garments On EBay

In order to talk regarding love and also still construct a socially acceptable urban identity, artists have a tendency to apply among the 5 effective love narrative kinds. No one comprehends circumstances like that, people cant handle it, so they 'll discuss it for life. The woman trying to market me their latest phone set described a tv advert. She maintained me chatting for roughly 10 mins throughout which time she referred me to this certain TELEVISION advert a more 4 times, as well as each time I ensured her I had not seen it since I don't view television. Knitting can be gotten throughout the adverts and functioned at for 5 or 10 mins at a time. New threads and fashionable pattern designs make weaving fun and also quick, and I can weaved also if I am enjoying TELEVISION, albeit an uncommon occurence for me personally! With the web, even if you reside in an area that is small, you aren't restricted to your local location, and also can locate individuals not just around the UK, yet across the globe also! After that embellish with baby photos as well as such, after that take it to your neighborhood copy store, like Kinkos, and also have them publish the page on pastel tinted paper. In some cases weve discovered local road fairs or windsurfing events or a version train gallery. Weve chatted about endometriosis, that which can be a cyst. So, you can have hemorrhaging with a cyst but the majority of the time those are uncommon conditions. The endometriomas, if they linger, and theres constant bleeding in the abdomen and the ovary that can trigger bonds. Any type of hemorrhaging cyst can be an issue. A maternity with a corpus luteum, the 2nd kind of practical cyst goes on to establish as the baby is growing. Many of these, the bigger blood materials, the larger capillary on cysts are normally the corpus luteum cyst. A lot of ovary cysts in as well as of themselves are not mosting likely to be causing a trouble. But, the vital point below, is that cysts themselves, in and also of themselves are not mosting likely to be a trouble or harmful trouble. The nature of the party is probably mosting likely to have a tendency towards the feminine side; if the organizers of the party have a provision for this, then welcoming guys would be fine. Without a doubt, there are millions of males and females who are making great cash utilizing the internet business route. In this tune, the poet utilizes the perceptual narrative to acknowledge that some males "dont be comin right ", however that he has a various perception of ladies than these other males. Supposed to aid with the discomfort, supposed to aid me preserve In this song, Master uses the different story to share his sight of what love should be. It is essential for the clothing to be completely dry before they are done away with or used by a youngster, and hanging the clothes on childrens clothing wall mounts will assist keep their type. Nevertheless, aspartame was allowed on 1981 for completely dry products and 1983 for carbonated drinks.

free baby stuff expecting mother

People utilized to exchange items and solutions for other products and solutions before cash was produced, and some people still barter today to avoid using loan (mostly for tax factors I am informed). A few other great services are a baby diaper service for cloth diapering mothers, or even a diaper delivery solution for disposables, and also pay for the first 2 weeks or a month well worth of diapering items. Also the colors made use of in the textile should be natural as well as safe. You may be initially brought in by all the eye memorable shades as well as the fanciness of the outfits, however if your child is not going to like it, it is mosting likely to come to be pointless. Pyjamas and also bodysuits for little baby ladies come in all various colors and designs, and also are produced all types of climate. One or two pieces would certainly do - a set of babies suits, a pair of t shirts, a set of jammies. At the same time, you can place a Tee shirts over their pajamas. They will secure and also guarantee any loan you place right into an interest-bearing account and also pay you probably 3% annual passion on your deposit. They understand that if you're pleased with your example, greater than most likely you be ended up being a regular customer as well as invest cash with them. There are really a great deal of freebies offered; you simply require to recognize just how to browse for them. Or search by chemical active ingredients (see listing listed below for some examples) and also uncover what brands include it. Next, you will certainly get to your search engine result page; this is a list of all products that fulfill your search standards. Allow us take a peek into what makes these standards a should for those parents shopping for baby clothing. Likewise, allow your very first couple of road journeys instruct you what you need to have along. There are numerous very first time mamas around that have a great deal of details to share with you as well as they do not desire you to be without the information. They intend to have dresses with breathable fabric and also very easy on the body. Is this what we have pertained to, - every person in our region enjoys the exact same adverts, the exact same programmes, the very same newspaper article every day or night? Note: After attempting single foods, great mixes are potatoes and also carrots or carrots as well as peas. And also not just will I examine it for him, Sickness make it seem like the Elvis of foods, since Im currently fairly sure that Sickness like a hamdog. He also refers to his love interest as "this Ethiopian queen from Philly ", making use of the royal characterization so common in spiritual love narratives. If you're truly strapped for cash money, after that you can probably make do with utilizing your bed as a transforming table, yet if you can, this is something I highly advise. Its better to feed infant initial point in the morning, after that permit some play or remainder time in between before offering baby a bathroom. At a "Pamper Event," an idea significantly preferred for moms who currently have a number of kids as well as consequently a lot of right stuff they actually require, they might take house medical spa accessories such as a loofah or bubble bath. A terrific bath-themed present basket would certainly consist of some hypo-allergenic bath things, like child bathrooms, baby powder, towels, and bathroom playthings.

The major and also is that a lot of, otherwise every one of these cost-free products, are supplied right to the mommy's house. And also, keeping that, lets obtain right to the core. Do you have the software you require to start? At some time you are going to want to carry your infant, so you will certainly require to acquire something. Unless you're planning to hang on to them for your next infant, they're just gathering dirt. With a couple of easy skills, a convenient collection of "stuff, " and also just a little bit of preparation and also prep work, youll get on your means! There is a place for TV in our lives and it wants all the fastest method of absorbing information from around the globe. Taking classes abroad Right here, the poet uses the spiritual narrative to describe the moment, location and feelings that his love was established on, talking them as if they were in some way implied to take place. Possibly she thought that was her area on the planet as well as no-one could fault her if she did her responsibilities to miraculous of her capacity. I once had a neighbor who educated the world and it's mother she believed tidiness was beside Godliness as well as invested all day daily cleansing her home. It is believed that from this you actually have the choice to have a look at everything before you even have to buy something. Tight neck lines would certainly problem you and even the placement of buttons at odd placements would certainly trigger you troubles, so examine these beforehand. At the same time the buttons and also other components in the design should be carefully stitched. But Betty had the cash every time I went to jail This tune additionally illustrates the usage of contrasting narratives to share love. This example further highlights making use of introductory language in conversational narratives. The poet feels it is unacceptable for any person to "call you out your name ", or in other words, make use of defamatory language toward his love. Most of the infant shower ideas will certainly benefit any place, indoors or out. Do you want your baby to look adorable or great with child clothing but you don't have concepts on where to look for them? Expense is a major point you would certainly intend to consider when buying infant garments. It's easy, consider a child garments store. Garments care plays a huge role in your child's safety. Therefore, it is always suggested that you maintain the security as well as comfort factor in mind even when you are looking for occasion outfits for your youngster. Also when you have actually purchased a lacy blouse for your small lady, if you end up getting a size that takes place to be slightly bigger than her actual dimension, she will be comfortable in it. As well as, parents will be most likely to maintain getting garments to keep up with the modifications in the baby's growth - dimension, weight, length, as well as form. Thus, getting clothing that are somewhat bigger than the genuine dimension of your babys body presents will be good as it ensures optimal comfort for the child.

Nonetheless, these immunization processes will just make their systems strong however it doesn't provide an assurance that germs can not permeate their method. So why did she act in this method? The same point can be real with, certainly with tube maternities, thats why those two can be perplexed. Yes it holds true that infant clothing do not last lengthy with kids growing as fast as they do, yet caring for a children clothes is still equally as, otherwise even more, important. Hip-Hop, you the love of my life which's true This passage is distinct due to the fact that it makes use of both the metaphoric and also contrasting narrative methods. The presentation of Hip-Hop like narratives is a very difficult job. Which leads us to the most prominent metaphoric Hip-Hop love story of our time. Infants will enjoy this dish. Thick and fluffy attires will keep the baby warm from head to toe. Below is a list of prominent products that has been investigated with a few of the biggest on the internet sellers of infant items. Below are several of the standard points you'll wish to have. Do you wish to provide a present to a new mom without spending a lot of loan? They use it when cleaning to eliminate odors, soften the fabrics, and also provide your infant and young child apparel a fresh as well as a lot more natural aroma. When you are considering your kids convenience, its not just about the style of the clothes youre purchasing it will certainly additionally refer just how the product rests on your infants body. Consider just how much you have right into the item. The next time you are re-assembling your package, be certain to include that thing. I would instead hang around with my household as well as friends, talking on the phone, opting for long strolls or dancing the evening away. With all that having been stated, Ive uncovered a brand-new food that I recognize I'm mosting likely to enjoy. Soon you'll discover that having just a couple of nice clothing comes to be not practical. I had a good totally free site a few years ago I saw everyday. Utilize your Road Journey logbook to tape everyones remarks about the day. This will certainly serve no good as acquiring baby items indiscriminately will not simply be waste of money however likewise waste of time and also energy which you can place for some positive usage. If passing by auto you need to always make use of a safety seat as well as follow the manufacturer's directions for fitting. If your journey restriction disappears than a one-hour auto trip one method, after that try to find locations of passion within regarding 40 miles of residence. Which is not a problem due to the fact that just like kidneys, similar to testis, women with one ovary can have just as lots of babies as a woman with 2 ovaries and also two tubes. Apparently it is a 2x matrix, implying those first 2 people you reached join get on your initial degree. You need to always have two pairs during the night time, since you never ever know when an infant is mosting likely to spit up or have a diaper leak that can call for a total garment adjustment.