#i plan to have an updated demo ready by sunday!

[giddydelphiresearcher]

Syringe! All 8 tools, fully functional! There's still some polish to be done, grading sutures for example, but they all work! Trivia, each medicine is defined solely by its color: Any blue medicine vial will work on inflammations, anything pure green will act as stabilizer, etc. Forget all that chemistry nonsense, medicine is just colors lol

[sapphirecrook]

[STORY] Call Me Fang - Chapter 2-1: The Slow Start

TUMBLR TEXT:

Download (it looks nicer)

ORIGINAL:

I realized these chapters are a bit meaty at like, 5k words a pop, so I'm splitting them up. To help avoid indigestion

-----

It is 8 AM. 

The demo is finished.

I even did something of my own. 

And I sent the file to LJ. 

More importantly, I’ve realized that I have forgotten my own name.

In fact, there’s a few quaint gaps in my memory. Quaint is the polite term for ‘this is going to be something else later’ and nothing else. How can I vividly remember my own room, yet not my name? I still remember the swipe pattern for my phone, after all. 

The ceiling here has been nice to look at, at least.

This bed wasn’t a bad sleep either. Despite the hour taken to figure out how to sleep with wings. 

It’s strange. I’m alone in this room, yet it feels like my body and my mind are separate people. Like I could just have a conversation with myself. I could spit a diss track at myself and be at once proud and insulted. 

“You tell me what the deal is.”

In some weird way, I expected an answer. From myself. Body moving on its own, rebutting. Would be preferable to the silence. 

Buzz buzz.

Phone time. It’s been buzzing since I woke up.

Is it weird to get dressed and get back in bed? And if you shower too? And spend like, ten minutes figuring out how hair dye even works? 

Or is it the right amount of dramatics? 

Let’s see what everyone is whining about.

Luckily, I know a sneaky trick that lets me scope out notifications without sending ‘read’ updates, so nobody knows I’m looking. If it applies in this world, that’d be a nice bonus.

Hm. 

It only works for like, a few messages at a time. Guess I gotta take the full plunge to see what all this is about.

# Trish (Friend/Bandmate? She/Her)

> T: “YOOOOOOOOOOO”

> T: “We’re SENIORS” > T: :graduation::crown:

> T: “We should meet” > T: “after school, I mean” > T: “hit up the mall”

> T: “The things I gotta show.”

> T: “Lemme know when you’re up, sleepyhead”

> T: :zzz: 

# Reed (Friend/Bandmate? He/Him) 

> R: :partypopper:

> R: “happy new schoolyear”

> R: “dont let the government bugs bite you”

# DINOGANG (Friend Group?)

> St: “No loitering, I have got to talk toe veryone” 

> Sa: “soon the winter current goes away and we stop being forcefully melted”

> Sa: :pray::snowflake:

# NEW YEAR NEW WORM DRAMA (Band)

> T: “When’s the first session!” > R: “that’s fang’s deal”

> T: “I’ll score the room.”

> T: “FANG ROOM” > R: “whenever you’re ready”

# LJ (Talent Scout? She/Her)

> F: :demo-final-final-final2.0(1)(2)(3).snd::fighting-gardens.snd:

> L: “Mhm. If you can bring that to the audition, you’re in.” > L: “This has promise.”

> L: “That’s not an excuse to get lazy. You need to work on it. But this is work in the right direction.”

> L: “Remember. Sunday evening. Be there.”

There’s no better way to feel like you don’t belong than this. Standing in the crosshairs of conversations. Alright, enough self pity. I have a whole day of pretending to get out of the way, and at least two to four friends who need to be deftly led astray. No need to make anyone uncomfortable or unsettled until I’ve more insight. 

Naser’s probably leaving soon. He said like, 8:30 last night? If I don’t catch this ride, I’ll have to find my own way, and the risk of being late becomes exponential. 

At least I’m dressed and set up to go. I am unsure how punctual Fang is, so I’m just going to insist I’m cleaning up by act if anyone asks. What a pain to find the schedules and whatnot. Whoever Ms. Roberts is, I feel sorry Fang felt confident she could mangle the print out like that.

School’s got a decent app at least.

Plunging time. 

Battle plan: Pour every ounce into direct confrontations, coast through classes. Keep exposures direct, focused, fast. Nod along to pad for time. 

May every version of dino god stand by me on this perilous journey into the lands I left behind. Of teen drama, espionage and social invisibility. 

8:50 AM

The black dinosaur had done his best to prepare, yet now it all felt so real. The light hearted comments, the parental praise, nothing but faint wisps in his mind. Now he had to actually do it. Actually be Class President. Unlike his clubs, it just had that aura of officialness that cannot be easily shrugged. 

Naser sighed. Naomi sat with him, just inside the meeting room. A few had gathered outside, not enough to start. And starting early wasn’t an option anyway. So, small talk it was. 

“Fang didn’t say a thing the whole ride over.” His voice had a distinct low to it, betraying his multifaceted concerns. “Must be new year shivers. Or that they’re an hour early.” Naomi’s ever blossoming optimism spilled to cover his up. “Yeah… that was a bad idea. They’re probably pacing around angrily.”

Naser couldn’t know that Fang had taken this chance to simply examine the school. Easier to scout ahead when there’s not an entire student body judging you.

“So, Naser. Mind explaining how you’re going to avoid falling apart? Like I said, it’s a lot.” HIs eyes rolled as he got a cocky smirk. He’d thought of that one. “Says the one who is trying to find pre-med classes to take. And what do you have in your room again? Sewing equipment, electronic gizmos, and you’re in Reed’s L&L group. Oh, how could I forget, we’re both in the Yearbook Committee.” as Naser lists them off, Naomi grows more defeated. “Did I mention the finals yet?”

“I… I just feel like I can handle it.” She hugs herself tightly, eyes sliding to the side, away from Naser. “And so do I! And I’m not saying you should cut back on what you love doing. You’ve always been on top of everything. Just, extend that mindset to others. I might be younger, but I’m not stupid!” Naser’s smile and brief chuckle seems to diffuse Naomi’s sense of screwing up instantly. 

Figuring she might as well joke it off, she replied with a smile. “At least you have your campaign slogan.” Before he could formulate an answer, he felt something on his chest. “Oh, excuse me.” Naser reached down, into his jacket. His phone quietly buzzed in his hand like a hurt bee. “Mom’s calling.” “Should’ve known she’d call on the first day.” Was the snickered answer.

“Yes, mom, what is it?” His face betrayed that this conversation was a repeat of many others. And still not exactly appreciated.

“Naser, are you driving?” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he endured what he knew was coming. “No, mom, I’m at school for the first student council meeting of the year.” “Ah, it is so good to hear things are working out. We are still very proud of you. And Fatima is…”

Before she could finish, the mother was interrupted. Naomi listened along, even from a distance. “They’re at school. I drove Fang over personally.” Naser spoke, like a teacher teaching words.

His efforts went unnoticed. He never knew if his mother didn’t care, or simply didn’t notice. “Very good. Remember to be nice to her. Senior year can be very demanding. She needs all the support she can get.” 

“Fang’s grades have never been that much of a problem.” Frustration began to build, his brow tensing.

“And remember to sleep on time. You and her are still growing, you need the rest. A Class President has standards.” “When have I ever gone to bed late?” His answer dripped with a curious mixture of being defensive and trying to play it off coy.

“I am just making sure.” 

Naomi suddenly shoulders in and yells into the mic. “Hi, miss el-Samad!” Her call had successfully diffused Naser’s growing tension. 

“Nice to hear from you too, Naomi. Remember, only one friend is at home at a time, Naser.”

“As if that would ever be a problem.” He muttered under his breath.

“And remember. We will be home in two weeks. Your father can explain it better, it is some kind of interference. It is eating into his hours and he barely gets his sleep. He needs the support.” “Oh, I picked it up too! On my dad’s old radio. If it gets much stronger it might even interfere with small-scale local signals!”

“Interesting. Ah, you two remind me of us. One is all talk, the other all walk.”

“Yes, mother, very exciting. But that meeting is coming up and I don’t think it’s a PTA night.” With composure he twisted the call to an end.

“Goodbye, Naser.”

“Goodbye, mom.” Naser finally shuts off the call and lets out a deep sigh of relief. Despite their frequency, each one of them seemed to just get to him. “Us, a couple? What an idea!” Naomi snickers away. “Don’t let my mother arrange my marriage too.”

“Who says I’m on board with that to begin with!”

“The meeting’s coming. Time to impress.”

While I mistook ‘a ride over’ as a silent affair, silently nodding along has fooled Naser anyway. He kept talking about how excited he was about being Class President. Proud of you, my brother in flesh, but not blood. He’s passionate, and even in a car chat, you can feel that leaderly whatsit. The chutzpah. 

My own confidence is bolting up and down, it’s truly like the days of yore.

I’ve taken a good hour to myself scouting school grounds. It’s a fancy place. Strangely enough my mind kept thinking about jumping between the school buildings. Soar overhead while the masses use the concrete land bridges below. 

Either or, it seems obvious enough. Class building, ‘large room’ building and the library. And what I presume is the office space. It’s smaller than any high school I’ve seen,

The buildings are interesting. They look very sturdy, solid, massive concrete blocks someone took painstaking effort carving into pleasing forms. A giant clock, hanging banners, large windows, and my goodness, everything has a goddamn plant growing out of it. It feels very solarpunk. Like I should call the concrete ‘fusion concrete’ or something. Oozes modernity. 

Unlike my old high school. 

That place had goddamn gargoyles.

‘It adds character’ they say, I’d sooner believe them if they told me each had cams and mics.

By now, we’re approaching 9:50 AM. I don’t know why I’m still outside. I’ll just bump into people I should know here, though there’s a quiet dread of having to scan the interior for ‘homeroom’ whatever that is. The crumpled, paper version of the schedule had notes indicating Reed, one of the characters from the messaging application, would be sharing (or teaching?) the first two periods. 

It is then my risk assessment proves accurate. 

A purple creature approaches me. “Approaches” is underselling the mad sprint she’s making. That’s goring speed.

She has horns, a large crest on the back of her head, but she is short. LIke, a good foot shorter. Her vibrant yellow hoodie screams ‘OX’ in red at me, vertically. Between the boots and tight legwear, she strikes me as someone who might do parkour or running. 

“OH MY GOD. WHO. IS THIS?” Or running right into people with loudly asked questions. 

Wait, why would she ask who I am?

Alright, stick to the plan. Let out some of that quipping steam, but stay straight, narrow, and nod along. This isn’t the first time you’ve had to fake a conversation.

“Hello, I’m Fang.” It feels, at once, like the most natural, yet the most artificial thing I can say. The razor’s edge of truthiness. 

“This is a work of art. But first. Dude. Why didn’t you answer my texts? Don’t tell me you just woke up. At school.” Her hands go into her sides and her skeptical look undermines the fake confidence I’d sat aside for today.

“I… uh…” I guess the thought of answering someone else’s texts is a bit far. Outside of LJ, even if that was more professional business stuff by the looks of it. “Ugh, nevermind. I have things to show you. First off, digging the occult metalhead vibe. Feeling cursed just standing here. In a good way. Second, what did you do all summer?” “Music.” A shrug to mystify the subject. “The 20 to 1 odds always pay out.” “Except 5% of the time. Wait, that’s probability, not odds…” As I try to consider things, she suddenly jumps up, as if a more pressing topic was abandoned.. “DUDE. MANGO! ROSA!” “PEAR. TULIP.” Nailed it.

Trish wrangles her phone out of her hoodie pocket. The screen is cracked. She produces the image of a worm. For a worm, it is cute. Quite a pleasant pastel color with a distinct liveliness. Then, with a few swipes, shows images of her with some orange horned lady dinosaur. I do not recognize her at all from the DMs, despite their constant involvement with Trish. Although the two make a cooperative pair in their thick, rubber/plastic/whatever boots and overalls digging up soils and bugs. You can see the friendship in each shot. 

Trish is just beaming with energy.

“Rosa’s the red bug, right?” 

Okay, footnote for next time, jokes, not questions, one is way more telling than a light hearted ‘which is which.’ “It’s not been THAT long since you saw Rosa. But that’s Mango. She is a darling velvet worm and my little itty bitty precious baby angel. Honestly, Tendrils Summer Nature Intensive has been perfect. I met up with Rosa, you remember, right? Mr. Perea’s volcano disaster? Ugh! We have just had the perfect time together. Soil samples, plant analysis, and so many bugs. I even got to treat a bite wound.”

I cannibalize some of her fine vibes, and perk up a bit. It’s always nice to hear people finding themselves and growing. Especially one that is energetic. I feel like swinging a cane around and talking about kids and the old days.

Geeze, why am I acting like I’m that much older? “Glad to hear you’re making such strides. Hey, mind I ask, but you look a bit different…” 

Yea, the photos didn’t look quite like this. 

Should avoid being too questioning, this is fine though, right?

“Oh, yea. Trimmed up the hair a bit. I think it really helps bring out the frill. It works, right?” I’ve given character design advice before. Maybe I can wrangle it into a suitable fashion reflection? “Hm. Hmmmmm~ Now there’s a question. It does bring out the frill. And it gives your head some vertical pop. Makes you look taller.” 

“See, that’s exactly what I was thinking. It looks mature, more professional.” Her smiling face makes it worth it. 

“Mhm.”

She begins spitting a few facts about Mango at me. And shows me a video displaying the exciting slime-based abilities of the velvet worm. And plant-based mating requirements. Truly, I am entering an exciting world.

Onychophora. O-ny-cho-pho-ra. Onychophora.

Gosh, it’s like she read an encyclopedia article and forgot to trim the script so all she has is lines about worms.

Yet, before she gets really going, she turns the subject elsewhere. As in, she withdraws her phone and begins to think, remembering that she should remember something. “Hey, heard from LJ? Isn’t the audition like next week?” “Oh, yea, we’re in. No fuss no muss.” That was definitely something for me to mention first.

“How is that not your opening statement?” As I thought. “How did you do it? LJ hates our music, all of it, so how much did it cost? Did you protest outside Lava Java?” “No fuss.” Just play it cool. Good intentions go a long way.

“Did you tell Reed yet?” Never met him. Hoho. “I was planning to when we were all together. Here you are, prying ahead of time.” A little accusation might dampen her fire.

“Whatever. I’ll wrangle us a room. I bet I can get the music room just fine. I'll send you the number when it’s set. You tell Reed. We have got to celebrate. Or cower. Either or.” 

“I’ll tell you all about how I made it work.” “Got my ears. Whatever got her to turn around has got to be something.”

The bell rang. Trish flinched in surprise, giving me a perfect moment to sneak out of here. No need to linger, or those missteps I made will taunt me like ghosts.

[darielivalyen]

IT'S BEEN A WHILE, BUT I'M BACK!

I know I've been quiet for a while, but that's because I wanted to have a week away from my keyboard. I didn't do any writing or planning, but I did manage to get some much-needed rest.

This isn't an official update, but I did want to bring you up to speed on some things.

CLOSED BETA FOR THS

The closed beta is ending this Sunday, and after that'll I'll be able to edit the game one last time and send it to Hosted Games. The art for the game is also just about ready!

PATREON

Some of you asked me about the alpha build for THS. You can still get access to it on Patreon, but I will be deleting it as soon as HG accept my submission. This will likely happen in a couple of months.

NEW PROJECT

I'm working on a new game. It's called The Elder Crystals, but that's all I can tell you at this point. The story and (most of) the characters are brand new, but I created the world and some of the lore from the ashes of the Chronicles of Sekherion.

I should be able to put out a demo in early December!

That's it for today. I'll keep you posted! 💛

FORUM — DEMO — TUMBLR��— PINTEREST — PATREON

[seraphinitegames]

The Wayhaven Chronicles—Update 30/April/2021

So, it was all focus on the final demo this week! And it paid off!

The beta testers were FANTASTIC, and I have to give them yet another massive thank you, because it was quite the task to go through it! I got all their edits in during this week, as well as focusing on playtests myself to check for any final niggles. It's pretty big, so going through it is quite the task to check for big as well as small variations, but it was really encouraging to hear how much the testers appreciated the amount of variations and loved how they played out!

The word count for the final demo is over 310,000 words. Obviously you don't get that all in one playthrough! So I'm hoping that's a lot of content for people to have fun with :D

But the demo is now ready to go! As is the merchandise! It's all been very hectic and full steam ahead, but we managed to push for it to be released close like we wanted!

The final demo will be released on Patreon on Sunday 2nd May.

Merchandise on Redbubble will be available on Tuesday 4th May.

The public release of the final demo will then be out on Thursday 6th May.

(If you plan to sign-up to Patreon for early access, we super appreciate the support! But I recommend waiting until May 1st or 2nd rather than today, as you may be charged for April today and then May tomorrow! So better to wait rather than get charged twice in quick succession!)

Phew! So there we go! An exciting week that will be leading to a very exciting week ahead! :D

I seriously hope you guys enjoy it so much!! Book Three is quite the undertaking, but it's really a culmination of everything I've ever wanted to do in interactive stories! The variations and branches and romance and side character stories...it's just a dream to be able to finally bring this all into play!!

It's a bank holiday here in the UK on Monday, so I'll be back to it after that! Talk to you all soon! <3

[danikindofwrites]

Sunday, February 27th.

So it’s almost the end of February and I promised an update this weekend after officially launching the intro post for The Rising Night. I am super stoked that things are going well so far and that there seems to be interest for what I’ll be continuing to share with you all for hopefully a long time to come! For this update it’s going to be a little different since it is the first one I’ll be putting out there and I’ll be covering later updates in the coming months over two separate update posts instead of one but I am hoping to cover a few major overarching points going into March such as a demo-date, where things are at for coding, information on the RO’s/Characters and the current writing timeline.

Demo-date So I think the biggest thing that I want to talk about right now is when The Rising Night demo date will be active and available. As of right now looking at what I’d like to get done before the launch and in case of any setbacks before that happens, I’m looking at releasing the first demo-date around JULY 2022. This is unfortunately a tentative guess on when the first demo will be out and can possible change as I am looking to have a few chapters completed by then so that I can beta test coding and reading, check for any errors in branches and writing, and give myself some cushion as backup on releases going forward. The first demo is looking to have the Prologue, Character Creation and the First Chapter released all together to give a generous amount of content for the first release for you all to latch onto, a lot of which heavily relies on coding and formatting things for the best experience for future chapters but I am seriously looking forward to starting to share with you all.

Coding with Twine Unfortunately I am a bit of a novice right now towards coding and getting things sorted how I see it in my head which is where a lot of my time will be dedicated right now compared to the writing portions. This is all a bit of a side gig right now (though entirely a passion project that I adore and want to share) since I have quite a few things in my life I am focusing on as well alongside a job. I know that I don’t have to rely on coding for as much as I am thinking I will, but it is something I am hoping to spend some of my earlier time learning right now so that it makes later releases and possible changes easier.

March plans for RO’s/Cast I have a lot of plans going into introducing the world of The Rising Night and ultimately The Continuum Series as a whole, a lot of which includes getting to know more about the cast for The Rising Night specifically and the world that your story is based in before the demo-release. Some of those plans at the moment are things such as character illustrations, scene story-boarding and character prompts/drabble. For March in particular there should be at least two RO illustrations being finished with more on the way soon after, some writing sneak peaks, and a few story-board scenes of Chapter One being put out through the month of March as teasers for what is in store.

Overall Writing Timeline MARCH As of right now the Prologue is in testing but the writing is finished with the beginning of Chapter One in a bit of a bare bones state but ready to be written out. I am going to be away from my house for business from March 8-22 which unfortunately means that I not going to have access to a lot of my work station and programs which is why I will be focusing more on posting drabbles, asks and character art throughout most of the month. Thankfully this is going to be one of the few times that I am away which means as soon as I am back I can begin working on more coding and major writing as soon possible without interruption and head straight into the demo-release. The writing timeline is going to be played by ear for a while as I figure out a good writing and release schedule for myself, but as I have stated before when I am able to get a lot of the major coding done in the beginning stages through the upcoming months getting the writing done for all the other chapters should come about much more periodically.

TLDR: Tentative Demo-date is JULY and will be releasing the Prologue and Chapter One together, new to all this coding- bare with me please, Official RO illustrations coming up this March, but I also have a trip the 8-22 which cuts into writing/coding time so a lot of March will be asks, drabbles and art.

[rosedalemike]

The Mood: Blog #13 “The Taco Tuesday Theory/updates”

    Very few people know this but Tuesday has been kind of an inside joke (...hence why very few people know this...) amongst the revolving door of Rosedale team members. "Wait until Tuesday, They'll probably reply on Tuesday...Follow up on Tuesday...ask them on Tuesday...hit'em up! For it is Tuesday" etc.

     I don't mean for this to come across as cynical, but Tuesday has kind of become the day where everyone is more likely to get things done. Based on nothing but statisticless experience, people are more likely to say "yes" on Tuesday for whatever reason. Humans are more willing to ignore all distractions and Crush It on Tuesday.

      Come to think of it, this is probably the same reason why there's $1 bowling on Tuesday. And movies are half price on Tuesday. And EVERYONE knows about Taco Tuesday! A little closer to home, In Canada, I remember a bunch of fast food places had "Toony Tuesday" advertised on their windows (a Toony is a $2 coin). These leisure-y businesses probably recognized drastic dips in sales on Tuesdays because everyone was too busy Crushing It to go bowling, watch movies, eat tacos etc. So they made Tuesday specials.

     I still haven't totally figured out why a day of the week has such significance as to why we perk up and Get Shit Done. But the most reasonable explanation would probably come from our counter-motivation to the general perception of weekends. Here's what I invision: Friday night is social/party night (ie.Tacos and Movies), Saturday maybe you'll beach/golf/mimosa (.../more tacos) or maybe you’ll get stuff done around the house during the day then more social events (like bowling...and tacos) at night, then Sunday is so chill that Chick-Fil-A is straight up closed (I know about religion, don't worry).

      But then why not Mondays, right? Well Monday becomes most people's time to just get back into the groove; they'll get some stuff done, ie. reply to some of the workaholics who filled their inbox over the weekend. I'd guesstimate that the average normy gets 20% of the amount of work done on Mondays than they do on Tuesdays. Maybe it's also because on Monday we're all simultaneously subconsciously thinking "I can watch that viral thing that Mr.Normy was talking about at the water cooler...I've got the rest of this week to get the thing done".

    Anyway, that's what generalization looks like from the guy who once assumed all dogs are male and all cats are female. So now that you're all in on my Tuesday theory (and know what a Toony is) I guess I'll try to finish out this here blog and give you some updates:

      Rosedale is still in the re-branding stage. I've been tossing ideas around with friends. Some like/hate certain names, other friends are on completely different pages (hating/liking what was liked/hated...if that makes sense.) But overall I'm still just trying to figure out what to do from a branding standpoint in general! Do I assemble a band finally? Keep the one man show going but give it a clever name? Have a couple different projects with different names (one with a band, one solo with video screens, maybe even one more chilled out piano/acoustic??) I feel like the name’s will be narrowed down if I can organize the overall brand plan first.

      I guess I've been more focused on writing songs (and parts for those songs) than anything. I've got about 30ish songs that I'm happy enough to keep working on. Many others have been scrapped but might make their way back somehow. So that has me juggling a lot of computer files and lyrics messaged to myself randomly throughout my days. It has been nice to focus on creating songs and recording demos as opposed to spending hours grinding away as a small time booking agent for a project whose name is nearly unsearchable.

      But yes, it is really time to buckle down and figure out what to do with these songs/project/name/podcast/YouTube ideas. So if anyone has any suggestions feel free to send them my way and I'll put them in the ever-growing vault of ideas. And I promise to start making some moves soon.

      Speaking of moves, I recently moved to San Diego and am currently living out of my trailer and a rehearsal studio in El Cajon. That has been a throbbing idea of mine since around the time I spent Christmas 2015 in Time & Distance's rehearsal room in Charleston, WV and edited the entire video for Written By The Artist. I've always wanted to live in SoCal since I started skateboarding at 12 years old. Now I'm 30 and I still love this scene so I finally just did it in the most cost efficient way possible and I’m glad I did. Big thanks to Vocal Eze for helping me make ends meet with getting down here for NAMM (namm is a big music trade show). It has been really fun working as an artist ambassador for that amazing throat spray and I’ve been learning a lot. Check out some of the #ShareYourVoice vids I make too!

      In the midst of all of that I got very show deprived from going to see the many great bands down here so I picked up some acoustic shows thanks to Nick from Mainsail. We've been accompanying each other's songs along with some covers - half-jokingly calling it "MainDale". I also started filling in on bass for Mainsail. Check them out asap they're great and super good dudes. A lot of big things to come for that band for sure.

     Then I randomly took a gig for Rosedale this Friday April 5th at Himmelberg's in San Diego (cus why not) so if anyone wants to see that it starts at 8pm PST this Friday April 5th. Rosedale is on last at 11pm so please stick around, tell some friends it'll be worth the late night. Here's the flyer:

     Mainsail has a show at Blonde Bar on April 8th which is also a headlining set. From there I'm driving 38 hours back to Toronto to re-import all my gear back into Canada and renew my work permit (as both my bond and permit expire April 12th). Not gonna be fun, but has to be done. I'm technically not aloud to work or bring my gear into the United States until my new permit starts (May 3rd). But Mainsail has some more SoCal shows in April that I might fly back for... or just help make BassDale tracks for. We're not sure what we're doing about that yet. I really need to figure out dual citizenship though. 

     Most of this + more was already covered in the @Palapalooza podcast I did on my bday. Here's the link for that. 

actually here it is:

     Shout out to Troy from Ready Set Survive for spreading his passion for music/new bands and having me and Mainsail Nick on that.

     One last update; I was working on video edits and mixing for a live hometown Rosedale show that I multi-tracked with Zedpromedia on my last tour and I was working off my 2T hard drive (because the files were so massive) and it crashed the other day while transferring that Palapalooza video onto it. I had so much on that hard drive (old videos, shows, pictures etc) and I've been trying to recover the files but it has not been very successful. I got most of them back with a $90 app but they're all re-organized and renamed or Corrupt and the sessions won't even open. The drive is still sitting about 90% full of files but I worry there's no way of getting any use out of it. Unless I bring it somewhere and pay a bunch of money for someone (that knows something I don't) to do their thing. Which I'm thinking I should probably do.

     I guess that's all the updates for now. What have you all have been up to? I really miss seeing friends at shows and hearing about what they have going on in their lives. So feel free to reply here or message me anytime even if you feel like you have NOTHING going on (we all feel that way sometimes). Any new music/Podcasts you've been listening to? Blogs or vids I should check out? And of course, the perfect band name for me?? Let me know! 

Thanks again to Vocal Eze and Westone and Ernie Ball for helping me out so much over this re-brand transition! I'm extremely lucky to have such great support from these awesome companies.

     I also wanna give one last special shoutout to an awesome fan/friend who has really inspired me to get back to writing these blabbering blogs. Mellyssa Woodward recently started a blog that exposes new bands via very interesting interviews. She was hesitant to do it because she wasn't sure if anyone would care. Then she just decided to do it for herself and I assure you that they are so good because she is right in her element with these! I think we can all relate to that on so many levels with the many ideas floating around in our heads. Just go do it for yourself however you would like it to be done! That's what Mel (@AssyllemNaej on insta and twitter) did and here's a prime example of how it can only do good for yourself and the world...and of course my favorite Georgia band, LIKE MIKE: https://notesonnotes.tumblr.com/post/183814739906/notes-on-like-mike

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you in San Diego this Friday night or sometime soon :) 

Enjoy your Taco Tuesday and GET’R DONE! If you’re not having any luck, TRY AGAIN NEXT TUESDAY ;)

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/spacex-crew-dragon-departs-carrying-nasa-astronauts-toward-home/

SpaceX crew Dragon departs, carrying NASA astronauts toward home

By: New York Times | Published: August 2, 2020 9:16:49 am

NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken head to launch pad 39 to board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for a second launch attempt on NASA?s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 30, 2020. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Two astronauts who took the first commercial trip to orbit have left the International Space Station. They are scheduled to return home Sunday.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley traveled to the space station in May aboard a Crew Dragon capsule built and run by SpaceX, the private rocket company started by Elon Musk.

The Crew Dragon undocked from the space station at 7:35 p.m. EDT on Saturday, with brief thruster firings pushing the spacecraft back.

As the capsule backed away from the station, Hurley thanked the current crew of the space station and the teams on the ground that helped manage their mission.

“We look forward to splashdown tomorrow,” he said.

If the weather remains favorable, it will splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Florida, at 2:41 p.m. Sunday, NASA announced.

A safe return would open up more trips to and from orbit for future astronaut crews, and possibly space tourists, aboard the spacecraft.

Isaias is forecast to sweep up along the Atlantic coast of Florida over the weekend. NASA and SpaceX have seven splashdown sites in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, but the track of the storm ruled out the three in the Atlantic.

“We have confidence that the teams on the ground are, of course, watching that much more closely than we are,” Behnken said during a news conference Friday, “and we won’t leave the space station without some good landing opportunities in front of us, good splashdown weather in front of us.”

How can I watch the return of the astronauts?

NASA Television’s coverage will continue through splashdown.

What will happen after they leave the station?

A: The capsule is now performing a series of burns to move away from the station and then line up with the splashdown site.

For much of the trip, Behnken and Hurley will be sleeping. Their schedule sets aside a full night of rest.

Any return journey that exceeds six hours has to be long enough for the crew to get some sleep between undocking and splashdown, Daniel Huot, a NASA spokesman, said in an email.

Otherwise, because of the extended process that leads up to undocking, the crew would end up working more than 20 hours straight, “which is not safe for dynamic operations like water splashdown and recovery,” Huot said.

Just before a final burn that will drop the Crew Dragon out of orbit Sunday afternoon, it will jettison the bottom part of the spacecraft, known as the trunk, which will then burn up in the atmosphere.

At reentry, the Crew Dragon will be traveling at about 17,500 mph. Two small parachutes will deploy at an altitude of 18,000 feet when the spacecraft has already been slowed by Earth’s atmosphere to about 350 mph. The four main parachutes deploy at an altitude of about 6,000 feet.

Once the capsule splashes in the water, it is expected to take 45 to 60 minutes to pluck them out.

Why does Isaias affect the return?

The storm complicated where splashdown could take place. At the splashdown site, winds must be less than 10 mph for the capsule to land safely. There are additional constraints on waves, rain and lightning. In addition, helicopters that take part in the recovery of the capsule must be able to fly and land safely.

The first landing opportunity will aim for only the primary site, Pensacola. If weather there is inconsistent with the rules, the capsule and the astronauts will remain in orbit for another day or two, and managers will consider the backup site, which is Panama City, Florida.

 Is it safer to land on water or on land?

Spacecraft can safely return to Earth in either environment.

During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules all splashed down in the ocean while Soviet capsules all ended their trips on land. Russia’s current Soyuz capsules continue to make ground landings, as do China’s astronaut-carrying Shenzhou capsules.

When Boeing’s Starliner capsule begins carrying crews to the space station, it will return on land, in New Mexico. SpaceX had originally planned for the Crew Dragon to do ground landings but decided that water landings, employed for the earlier version of Dragon for taking cargo, simplified the development of the capsule.

Why is the return trip an important part of the Crew Dragon’s first flight?

A: After launch, reentry through Earth’s atmosphere is the second most dangerous phase of spaceflight. Friction of air rushing past will heat the bottom of the capsule to about 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. A test flight of the Crew Dragon last year successfully splashed down, so engineers know the system works.

A successful conclusion to the trip opens the door to more people flying to space. Some companies have already announced plans to use Crew Dragons to lift wealthy tourists to orbit.

In the past, NASA astronauts launched on spacecraft like the Saturn 5 moon rocket and the space shuttles that NASA itself operated. After the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA had to rely on Russia, buying seats on the Soyuz capsules for trips to and from orbit.

Under the Obama administration, NASA hired two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to build spacecraft to take astronauts to the space station. NASA financed much of the work to develop the spacecraft but will now buy rides at fixed prices. For SpaceX, the trip by Behnken and Hurley — the first launch of astronauts from American soil since the last space shuttle flight — was the last major demonstration needed before NASA officially certifies that the Crew Dragon is ready to begin regular flights.

 Who are the astronauts?

Behnken and Hurley have been friends and colleagues since both were selected by NASA to be astronauts in 2000.

Both men have backgrounds as military test pilots and each has flown twice before on space shuttle missions, although this is the first time they have worked together on a mission. Hurley flew on the space shuttle’s final mission in 2011.

In 2015, they were among the astronauts chosen to work with Boeing and SpaceX on the commercial space vehicles that the companies were developing. In 2018, they were assigned to the first SpaceX flight.

 What have the astronauts been doing aboard the space station?

Originally, the mission was to last only up to two weeks, but Behnken and Hurley ended up with a longer and busier stay at the space station. Because of repeated delays by SpaceX and Boeing, NASA ended up short-handed, with only one astronaut, Christopher J. Cassidy, aboard the space station when the Crew Dragon and its two passengers docked.

They stayed two months, helping Cassidy with space station chores. Behnken and Cassidy performed four spacewalks to complete the installation of new batteries on the space station. Hurley helped by operating the station’s robotic arm.

The men have also been contributing to science experiments in low earth orbit. They assisted in a study of water droplet formation in the low gravity environment of the space station using a shower head, and another that used fruit punch and foam to look at how to manage fluids in space. They also helped install new equipment inside the station that will be used in future scientific research.

Cassidy will remain aboard the station with two Russian astronauts, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. All three are to stay on board through October when another crew of one American and two Russian astronauts will replace them.

When are the next Crew Dragon flights, and who will they carry?

A: The first operational flight of the Crew Dragon will launch no earlier than late September. It will take three NASA astronauts — Michael S. Hopkins, Victor J. Glover and Shannon Walker — and one Japanese astronaut, Soichi Noguchi, to the space station.

The second operational flight, tentatively scheduled for February 2021, will carry two NASA astronauts, Robert S. Kimbrough and K. Megan McArthur; Akihiko Hoshide of Japan; and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

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[karlphilippfabre-blog]

On to the Last Push

The demo day is fast approaching and I really need to finish everything before the demo day which is this coming Thursday. We already presented our pitch deck and we we're able to get the comments and suggestions from sir bgm. And we will do our best to correct our mistakes up until the demo day. Demo day should no longer be a mistake for us so we have to focus this week for the upcoming event. For the mobile application, I was able to integrate the Google maps and it is ready to use. The basic information form is almost finished, it was being tested last Friday night, and it works as planned. These progress are not yet uploaded to Google play, and it will be expected to publish an update by Saturday night or Sunday. And I am still going to get the feedbacks from users because they will help us on getting them comfortable on using the mobile application. As for my designers and hustlers, their job is still the same, to capture more owners and talk to potential customers. I am planning to add at least one more boarding house before the demo day so the users would have more choices compared to last week. For the flyers, I will let my hustlers decide for it, whatever their decision is, I will support them. I am also planning on placing flyers on the boarding houses of our partner owners to let people know that this boarding house exists in the app. I got this idea before when we were starting to find a boarding house early this semester, we found a store with a sticker that says something like FIND US ON STREETBY. I think this is a good strategy to introduce people to the app. What I learned from this experience is all about the BUY - IN that sir bgm taught us early this semester. Upon making decisions, make sure that everyone in the group supports the proposal, leave no traces of disagreement. Because if one of the group disagrees with the decision, it will be harder for the group to reach their goal because of contradictions that bothers them. I am happy with my situation with my groupmates because we were on full support on our decisions being made.

[thomasroach]

Top RPG News Of The Week: January 6th (Fallout 76, Anthem, God Eater 3 and more!)

The post Top RPG News Of The Week: January 6th (Fallout 76, Anthem, God Eater 3 and more!) appeared first on Fextralife.

Happy weekend from Fextralife! If you’ve been too busy to keep up on the latest in the games we cover or are looking for a refresher we’ve got you covered! Here’s a bite-sized version of the Top RPG news of the week. Taste all the latest news across the Fextralife Wiki Network.

Check out the video above and read on for the text!

Dead Cells

Developers of action rogue-like platformer Dead Cells Motion Twin have shared that most likely it won’t receive a sequel.

Dead Cells the action packed Metrovania title received great success with their sales, making waves with the Nintendo Switch platform. However, Motion Twin’s game designer Sébastien Bénard now shares his thoughts on a second title in an interview with Game Informer

He said: “In terms of a sequel, we know for sure it’s not a good idea to dwell on your success. If you create a big hit, it’s best to use this energy to make something different. I don’t think we’ll make a Dead Cells 2.“

Benard went on to say that they would continue to add further content Dead Cells. The title has already seen a new custom game mode and some extra challenges.

Dead Cells is available to play on Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.

To read more about this news find it here in Dead Cells Sequel Unlikely Says Devs.

Monster Hunter World

Capcom loves their collaborations, this time teaming up with Assassin’s Creed in the latest Monster Hunter World crossover. Players will be able to get their hands on a special themed layered armor and Assassin’s Hood until January 10th.

Players will be able to receive Bayek Layered Armor and the Assassin’s Hood Mantle to not only look the part but deal “additional damage to monsters when attacking from a stealth state!”

Players will need to complete the SDF: Silent, Deadly, and Fierce event quest in order to unlock these items.

Both of these items are available now for Monster Hunter World until January 10th 2019 for Playstation 4 and Xbox One so catch them while you can. Those on PC will have to wait a little longer for these items, the date is yet to be announced.

To read more about this news find it here in Monster Hunter World X Assassin’s Creed Crossover Announced.

God Eater 3

God Eater 3 has been out since December 13, 2018 in Japan but for the rest of the world we are still waiting for its release in February, but news of a demo is coming this January.

Rejoice as we have news that Bandai Namco will release a demo for God Eater 3 on January 11, which will be available until January 13.

In the Demo players can create a character and fight Aragamis in both single and multiplayer missions.

Those on Playstation 4 will be able to try out the demo, no news as of yet whether there will be a demo on PC.

God Eater 3 will be released for PlayStation 4 and PC for the rest of the world on February 8, 2019.

To read more about this news find it here in God Eater 3: Announced Western PS4 Demo Date.

Anthem

EA and Bioware announce the start date for the Anthem demos, players who have pre-ordered and subscribed to EA’s services will be able to play the VIP demo. Along with the VIP demo dates, also comes news of the free demo dates as well.

Those who have pre-ordered Anthem or have EA Access (Origin Access) will be able to play the VIP demo starting January 27th 2019. Those who participate in the demo will receive an exclusive in-game item once the game is released. So far Bioware have not revealed what this in-game item is.

A week later will be the launch of the demo which can be accessed by everyone on Friday February 1st until Sunday February 3rd 2019.

Anthem comes to PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One on February 22nd, pre-orders are available via Amazon.

To read more about this news find it here in Bioware Announce Anthem VIP Demo And Demo Dates.

Fallout 76

In a blog post Bethesda have shared their plans for Fallout 76 for 2019, this includes future content involving player vending and a new PvP mode.

A new update will come out later this month, this includes improvements similar to that of the last update which covered improvements to the C.A.M.P. mechanics, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. respec and push to talk feature for PC players.

The next updates tease “new quests, weekly in-game events, new Vaults opening, a new PvP mode, Player Vending and much more.” The biggest addition will be player vending, allowing players to put up their items for sale in-game.

The mention of new quests, in-game events and new Vaults means more content. What the vaults will contain is another mystery yet to be revealed.

Fallout 76 is currently available on PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4.

To read more about this news find it here in Fallout 76 To Get Player Vending And New PvP Mode In 2019.

FromSoftware

The developer of Dark Souls FromSoftware apparently has two games in the works but has yet to reveal what they are.

According to Hidetaka Miyazki the studio president in an interview with 4Gamer.net (via Gematsu) there are two titles in production which he describes as  “[From Software]-esque games” but is apparently no where near ready to tell the public about it.

Miyazaki also made a comment about the recent Bloodborne Easter Egg found in their VR title Déraciné. While speculation was at an all time high of a Bloodborne sequel, Miyazaki says it was simply there because “I, as well as several staff, like the title Bloodborne…” and calls it “pure mischief“. While this might put a damper on a possible Bloodborne 2, there might still be some hope in future if this is not one of the current titles in production.

To read more about this news find it here in FromSoftware Are Working On 2 Unannounced Games.

Playstation EU

In a brand new video called “Coming Attractions”, Playstation Europe shares some of the big games coming to Playstation 4 this year, as well as some upcoming titles.

The myriad of games featured are not just Playstation exclusives but also spotlight some third-party ones.

While the video doesn’t premiere any new footage for each of the games, it does show that there are a fair few titles still in queue for their current generation console.

The showcase includes some Playstation exclusives including Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding and The Last of Us Part II. Other third-party titles include Devil May Cry 5, Kingdom Hearts III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

To read more about this news find it here in Playstation EU Shares Upcoming Games In Coming Attractions Video.

The New York Video Game Awards 2018

Nominees for The New York Video Game Awards 2018  have been revealed including titles such as Monster Hunter World, Celeste, Assassin’s Creed, God of War, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Dead Cells to name a few. Red Dead Redemption 2 alone has scooped up six award nominations, followed by God of War with five.

Along with the nominees for games, Jade Raymond will be presented with a Andrew Yoon Legend Award for her contribution in the gaming industry.

The New York Games Awards 2018 will take place on January 22nd 2019 at 7:30pm. You can catch the livestream on Twitch.

To read more about this news find it here in The New York Video Game Awards 2018 Nominations Revealed.

Persona 5 R

Atlus have been hard at work developing the Persona franchise, a reveal from them teases Persona 5 R which could be an enhanced version of Persona 5.

In a brief video which followed a broadcast of the Persona animation special Dark Sun in Japan, “Persona 5 R” was shown on screen. Although not officially shown as a title in the video, there was a website address P5R.jp which suggests a new game.

The teaser video features Tokyo’s Shibuya district with tv screens plastered with the P5 icon. A message also follows the video saying “New Projects”and “2019.3” indicating more news will be revealed in March 2019. At this stage it is not definitive whether the new projects refers to P5R or other spinoff games, as this could be possible as we have already seen a few in the franchise.

It looks like the title will also be coming to the Playstation 4 platform as the video begins with the logo, however there could be further platforms revealed later on.

To read more about this news find it here in Atlus Hint At Persona 5R Plus Other New Projects.

Well, that’s it for the Week in Wikis. Please join us next week for yet another great week of gaming! Remember to check out our VIP program for some exclusive supporter benefits, and budding writers should take advantage of our Become an Author initiative! Thanks again for being a part of this great community. Keep checking in with us for news, reviews, YouTube streams and vids, and general wiki goodness!

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The post Top RPG News Of The Week: January 6th (Fallout 76, Anthem, God Eater 3 and more!) appeared first on Fextralife.

Top RPG News Of The Week: January 6th (Fallout 76, Anthem, God Eater 3 and more!) published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/

[click2watch]

Ethereum’s Next Blockchain Upgrade Faces Delay After Testing Failure

Repercussions are being felt in the ethereum development ecosystem after an initial test of the platform’s forthcoming software upgrade, Constantinople, failed to deliver expected results.

A system-wide change initially earmarked to go live in 2018, the code release, meant to introduce five improvements and alter the economics of the $20 billion blockchain, may now be delayed following a failure of Saturday’s activation on the test network Ropsten, developers told CoinDesk on Monday.

After a meeting of ethereum’s open-source developer team last Friday, in which it was suggested that Constantinople could be implemented as early as November, Saturday’s failed activation revealed unexpected issues in the code. Namely, a bug was discovered by security lead for the Ethereum Foundation Martin Holst Swende, one which caused two different iterations of the same software upgrade to run on testnet.

Though a patch to fix the identified bug has since been issued, independent ethereum developer Lane Rettig explained to CoinDesk Monday that investigations into the events of Constantinople testnet release are ongoing.

Rettig said:

“We should take our time to understand what went wrong and how to avoid issues like this in the future – not just the low-level code issue but all of the related issues (the mining issue, communication issues over the weekend, how it wasn’t caught by the tests, etc.) There’s a lot of forensics still to be done.”

Rettig also affirmed that plans for Constantinople’s release could be delayed as a result, asserting: “If an upgrade causes a fork on the testnet, we should put the mainnet release on hold for some minimum period of time.”

While a fixed date for implementation of Constantinople has yet to be set, Griff Green, ethereum community lead and founder of blockchain-based nonprofit Giveth, set mainnet activation for sometime in 2019.

“I would expect it to get delayed to 2019, the blockchain doesn’t take holidays, but developers do,” Green said. “If I were to make a wager on a prediction market I would put my ETH on late January, early February.”

Ethereum core developers have agreed to collectively regroup this coming Friday over a live-streamed call that will find them discussing plans in light of the failed test implementation.

‘Never fork on weekends’

To recap the events of Saturday, rollout of Constantinople was planned to proceed on ethereum’s main test network at block number 4,230,000, however, miners failed to upgrade their software in accordance with the timed launch.

As it occurred “much earlier than expected on a Saturday,” Schoedon said many developers “[were] not available and not even aware” of the change. Schoedon added his takeaway from the events: “Never fork on weekends.”

This proved to be an issue, as for the hard fork to progress smoothly, all participating “nodes” or computers run by miners and users, needed to upgrade near-simultaneously to the same software.

Following an open call from ethereum developers on social media to move the test forward, the network underwent a second chain split as a result of discrepancies in Constantinople code between two major ethereum clients, Geth and Parity. (As background, ethereum clients are the individuals and businesses running nodes to support the ethereum network.)

Speaking to CoinDesk, Brian Venturo, a miner actively contributing to the Ropsten testnet, explained:

“It looks like the consensus failure was driven by changes to the SSTORE opcode in EIP-1283 that were implemented differently between Parity and Geth.”

Part of the Constantinople upgrade features new code under ethereum improvement proposal (EIP) 1283 that will change the way smart contracts are stored on ethereum and reduce the cost to smart contract developers of updating stored contracts.

However, the iteration of EIP 1283 as designed in the Constantinople code released by Parity featured refund mechanisms that caused a “noticeable disagreement regarding [Ropsten] block 4,230,605” and the cost for the deployment of this smart contract, as highlighted in the official notes by ethereum core developers.

Upon discovering the discrepancies in Constantinople code, ethereum core developers agreed to patch Parity’s code to align with code supported by Geth and attempt another re-sync to the correct Ropsten chain.

Part of the Plan

Still, some see the failed test as a positive for development overall.

Seeing the attempted rollout of Constantinople on Ropsten this past Saturday as having achieved its intended purpose, Rettig tweeted out on Sunday:

“We broke Ropsten, but it’s a testnet, and it will be fixed, and this is precisely the point of releasing to a testnet first. It’s really fun, exciting, and reassuring to see this process play out as designed.”

He also later added in email to CoinDesk Monday that he now had “more confidence than ever that the right things are happening, in the right order, to keep [ethereum] mainnet running and secure.”

Other core developers appear to agree with the sentiment shared by Rettig, with the security lead at the Ethereum Foundation writing in a public Gitter channel that Saturday was “evidently a good test,” adding that the temporary forked state of Ropsten was nothing to “lose any sleep over.”

Ethereum core developer, Alexey Akhunov, also wrote in the same channel that while “smooth processes are good for efficiency…they can [instill] a false sense of security,” adding that, “breakages…make people more alert.”

Moving forward, the plan for all ethereum developers as explained by release manager for Parity, Afri Schoedon, is to implement bug fixes for relevant clients and “bring them all together on the Geth Ropsten chain again.”

He added that “once this is done, hopefully around Devcon, we can continue testing Constantinople on Ropsten…and eventually agree on a main network fork date.”

Schoeden affirmed that he too thinks the most likely outcome will be a release date in the new year.

Schoedon told CoinDesk:

“I see January 2019 as realistic fork date, but only if the clients will be patched, all tests are ready (and pass), and [there] are no further issues discovered on Ropsten.”

Ethereum image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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The post Ethereum’s Next Blockchain Upgrade Faces Delay After Testing Failure appeared first on Click 2 Watch.

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[rachelmorris305]

A Creative Home to Call Their Own

A couple’s clever path to a larger, more personal space

When Aimee and B made a move to upgrade to a 3-bed, 2-bath (formerly 1-bath) co-op in Park Slope, they weren’t sure if they needed a contractor, an architect, an interior designer, or all of the above. The kitchen was “more or less non-existent” and the bath needed a re-do. Essential changes, including moving walls and emphasizing the home’s architectural character, gave way to their welcoming new space. Read on for details of their renovation adventure.

Guest post by Park Slope homeowner Aimee

My wife B and I loved our little one-bedroom duplex in Hell’s Kitchen, but it had two drawbacks. It was small and the little spiral staircase was a safety hazard that we suspected would only get worse as we got older. Our budget was tight for the 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment we wanted, but we felt like it was time to make the move.

Focusing on Park Slope, we found one apartment that wasn’t perfect, but it had enough space, so we put in an offer. We lost out to a higher bid. We found a second apartment that had a cute little balcony, but we were outbid again. It became clear that we needed to look at apartments below our budget so we could bid higher, but there wasn’t much in that range.

Finally, I expanded my search to include places with only ONE bathroom, and saw an apartment pop up that fit our budget—the listing said, “Bring your contractor.” It was a big mess, but at least it was big! I rushed to an early open house on a Wednesday morning so I could be one of the first to see it. As I left, I texted B, “It needs a lot of work, but it just feels like home.” She came back with me that Sunday and was equally smitten with the place. We had to outbid 11 other offers, but this time, we got it!

(Before) The study (left) and the hallway (right) leading to the living room (After) Living room and study (right)

The 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom (now 2-bathroom) co-op is on the 2nd floor of a brownstone building in the center of Park Slope. The bathroom was in desperate need of an update, and the kitchen was more or less non-existent (there were a few cabinets and a sink). We knew this would be a lot of work, but didn’t know if we needed an architect, a contractor, a designer, or all of the above. We spoke to a few of each and no one thought they could do all the work we needed for anywhere close to our budget.

After seeing Sweeten on Open House NYC, we finally posted our project on Sweeten and were matched with a contractor who could guide us with design and connect us to an architect. Since we wanted to renovate the kitchen and bathroom before moving in, we decided to take the plunge and do a full renovation on the whole apartment, including installing new 5″ oak floors in a cherry stain, replacing crumbling plaster walls with drywall, and adding a washer/dryer in the hallway closet.

We didn’t have a specific style in mind for the remodel, though we wanted to save as many of the original features as possible. Both of us loved the sense of history in the home, and while a few modern lights were OK with us, we didn’t want to clash too much with the original look. So we saved the molding that was salvageable and picked new ones that matched as closely as possible. We managed to save the vast majority of the tin ceiling—a small section was ruined when we moved the wall between the rear bedrooms. The exposed brick walls and the Deco-style fireplace in our living room were also kept intact (we gave the fireplace a fresh coat of paint). Sadly, we weren’t able to save the beautiful french doors, but one now hangs horizontally on the living room wall as a piece of art.

Beyond matching the existing style, we wanted an apartment that felt cozy and creative. For me, as a writer, that meant lots of space for books. The existing small study, where one of the two doorways was removed and a transom was added, was the perfect spot for our collection. It offered me a place to write and work that felt totally stuffed with books. The writer in me also loved the bay window. Back when I first walked into the apartment, during the open house, I could already envision the banquette that could be built underneath the three windows, allowing us to lounge along the windows and read. Sitting curled up on that bench with a book is now one of my favorite activities. As an added bonus, it also gives us extra storage.

(Before) Kitchen

The kitchen was probably the biggest transformation. While we kept the room in basically the same spot, everything else changed. The only appliance in the kitchen when we bought the place was a small, cheap stove that the sellers brought in for the inspection. There was also a small sink and a few metal cabinets, all on the righthand wall when you faced the kitchen. Very little demo was needed in there!

We spoke with our contractor extensively about what we wanted—as large a kitchen as would fit in the space, and as open as possible. He was able to give us a 3D rendering that included all the elements we required—a large peninsula for bar stools, ample storage space including deep drawers for our pots and pans, and the triangular configuration for our stove, sink, and fridge.

We tried to bring in our “cozy and creative” feel through the fixtures and furniture. Our contractor sourced most of our materials, other than the lighting and appliances, so we had time to focus on finding just the right accent pieces. Our favorite store in Hell’s Kitchen, Domus, was a great resource for items like our bedspread and picture frames.

(Before) Master bedroom (left) and the wall on the right that was removed to enlarge the space; guest bedroom (right), formerly the master (Above) Guest bedroom (Above) Master bedroom

Our Sweeten contractor helped us to figure out the best layout in the apartment. Since we were putting in a second bathroom, we wanted to create a master bedroom that was ensuite, but we weren’t quite sure how to make that happen, including annexing some hallway space. Ultimately, a wall was removed between the two rear bedrooms so the master would be next to the large walk-in closet. That closet became the master bath and a new clothes closet was built.

(Before) Guest bath (Above) Guest bath (Above) Master bath

Though we love the end result, the renovation process took a lot longer than we had originally hoped, partly due to waiting for city permits, some changes to our original plan, and to the general busy schedule of our contractor. We were able to stay in our old apartment for quite a while because we had low carrying costs, and held off selling it as long as possible. When we finally put our old place on the market, it sold quickly and we moved into the new place with only a few weeks’ notice.

Our contractor’s team was able to get it to a “move-in ready” state in time for our move, but we realized that our idea of move-in ready was different from theirs. The floors were dry enough to put our furniture down, but none of the kitchen appliances worked. We had one functioning toilet with the only working sink in the kitchen. B and I had an interesting few weeks of making ramen with our coffee maker and eating tuna out of a pouch.

In the end, that little rough patch just made us appreciate our wonderful new kitchen and the whole apartment even more. And we are still thrilled about all the little details that make this apartment uniquely ours.

Thank you, Aimee and B, for sharing your very comfortable home!

KITCHEN RESOURCES: Cabinets, 750 Series in Stone Grey: Waypoint. Solid White quartz countertops: MSI. Sink, #KHU101-23: Kraus. Simplice faucet: Kohler. Profile refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, microwave: GE. Dark grey, 6″x24″ floor tile: Roca Tile. Thurman classic lighting: Lumens. Classic Metal Ball pendants: Pottery Barn. Hardware: Amerock. Tabouret navy counter stool with wood seat: Overstock.

MASTER BATHROOM RESOURCES: HydroRail shower fixtures: Kohler. Toledo sink and vanity: Fairmont Designs. Langford cross-handle sink fixtures: Pottery Barn. Memoirs Stately round front toilet: Kohler. Benchwright Triple Sconce in antique bronze: Pottery Barn. Medicine cabinet: Ronbow.

SECOND BATHROOM RESOURCES: HydroRail shower fixtures: Kohler. Classic Single Sink Mini Console in gray: Pottery Barn. Langford cross-handle sink fixtures: Pottery Barn. Memoirs Stately elongated toilet: Kohler. Benchwright Triple Sconce in polished nickel: Pottery Barn. Medicine cabinet: Ronbow. Greenhow Blue paint, #CW-655: Benjamin Moore.

LIVING ROOM RESOURCES: Classic Metal Ball Pendants: Pottery Barn. Angelica paint, #AF-665: Benjamin Moore.

HOME OFFICE RESOURCES: YOBO Lighting Antique Industrial Barn hanging pendant light with metal dome shade in matte black: Amazon. Constellation paint, #AF-540: Benjamin Moore.

—

Renovating your entire home is an exciting opportunity, but what does it cost? Find out in our cost guide on budgeting your renovation according to square footage.

Refer your renovating friends to Sweeten and you’ll both receive a $250 Visa gift card when they sign a contract with a Sweeten general contractor.

Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, and scope, helping until project completion. Follow the blog for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.

A post from originally from Sweeten

[ketodietfactor]

Macro Friendly Breakfast Pizza | Keto Meal

Here is a video of my Macro Friendly Breakfast Pizza | Keto Meal This video is great for those of you looking to begin Ketosis. What is ketosis? It is when you increase your protein and fat intake and lower your carbohydrate intake. I am currently having about 30g of carbs. I have been in keto for a few months now and have seen significant results! I highly recommend keto to anyone trying to get photo shoot ready, although it is not the only way to get very lean. I did not begin ketosis until I was lean enough for my body to be able to easily adapt to it! If you’re a beginner, this video may be especially helpful for you! The fitness lifestyle may be difficult to grasp, so here is a simple video about intermittent fasting! If you’re confused, intimidated or just feel like you would like help from someone who’s not only educated about fitness and nutrition but has also gone through a transformation themselves, hire me as your online personal trainer and allow me to create a custom plan that fits your needs, preferences, body type, training/eating history, and schedule! In my custom programs, I offer you a completely custom macronutrient AND training program as well as weekly check-in’s, every Sunday, to ensure you are getting results. I review your weekly progress, the way you feel, and your weekly progress photos to ensure lasting and sustainable results. My programs are 100% results guaranteed if you put in the work. I take out the difficulty of building the perfect program for you and get you on your way to the body you’ve always wanted. Online Coaching: Marcoscotesefitness@gmail.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/Mes.fitness Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/MarcoScoteseFitness Snapchat: MES Fitness W.I.T.S Certified Personal Trainer Originally posted 2017-05-05 07:09:07. More from my siteKETOGENIC DIET [WHAT I EAT IN A DAY] [WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY UPDATE #4]Quick and easy keto friendly strawberry cheesecake bitesGrocery Haul for Ketogenic Diet Beginner!! | Day 69Quality Giant Ketogenic Diet Low Carb review and demo – by JR LangKeto Recipes – 👉 Cauliflower Mash 👈 – Low Carb – Keto DietAm I still KETO? Product reviews:The Fit Boxx, pork rinds & essential oils from Keto Diet Fact or Fiction http://www.ketodietfactorfiction.com/keto-diet-for-beginners/macro-friendly-breakfast-pizza-keto-meal/%20

[darwinbigelow]

Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta

It’s becoming almost a tradition now… whenever I visit a DIY pal at their home, I seem to want to get my hands dirty by helping them with a project. In this case… very dirty at Etta!

If you haven’t been following along with Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and her Saving Etta project, you’ll see lots more info on that below. But first, I’m going to start from the beginning on what prompted my trip to visit her and the other (non-old-house-filth-covered) fun we had! Consider this post a play-by-play on what it would be like to tag along with us for the weekend. :)

Being a DIY or remodeling blogger is… a weird job, to say the least. Between photography (which takes a little getting used to — trying to remember to stop, take off your safety gloves for a photo while there’s enough light, get back to work — it really takes time to “train” yourself to do it!), planning your schedules, getting things just right on social media so it reaches people, the actual writing, time for labor/the work itself, maintaining a website, finding appropriate sponsors (and saying no to all of the bad ones), negotiating contracts and conference calls with brands, editing photos, improving your skills on all of the above through training classes, styling interiors, making sure you aren’t a total moron with building codes and remodeling skills, etc….

…basically, it’s a lot to get. If you’re lucky, you can hire out some of these things, but many of us (like me) do a little bit of everything by ourselves. And no one really gets that quite like another remodeling blogger, especially the mentorship aspect of it. That catching up and camaraderie and sense that they go through similar obstacles is very comforting. But we also don’t live near each other and we stay immersed in our own to-do lists 24/7, which is why Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and Sandra from Sawdust Girl and I (and others) have begun to make more effort to see each other in person at least once a year. Unlike the go-go-go agenda of attending a conference (like Haven and early next year I’ll be going to a woodworking one), this kind of get-together is more relaxed. We still work (I even brought a project of mine so I could use one of Brittany’s tools to meet a deadline this past week), but it’s also full of great memories with some close friends.These two ladies not only do the blogging juggling act like I do, they also raise families and are beginning their own restoration/flip houses, and I’m soooo excited to see them advancing to bigger and more amazing things. Being friends with people you consider your mentors is a really incredible thing, and I feel very blessed I get to call these ladies my friends.

As I said, I was in the middle of a project (or eight) but we’d been planning this trip for a few months, so I simply packed up the most urgent project with my luggage on Friday afternoon and hit the 5 1/2 hour road trip to visit Brittany at her home. I’d never actually been to her house before (our trip last year was actually to a beach with Leen from Sand Dollar Lane and Karah from The Space Between who couldn’t make it this time unfortunately), so it was quite a treat when you feel like you’ve visited someone else’s home many times via the web and then actually step foot inside. Her house is much bigger than I thought, and her craft space is no joke one of the most organized places I’ve ever seen that also happens to have glitter inside of it (trust me, that’s no easy feat). Still, despite her fantastic hospitality, the real star for me was her pup, Bandit. Just… he’s so damn sweet and I adored him from the moment we met.

All of the hearts for this sweet pup. <3 <3 <3 (photo: Brittany)

Sandra arrived first, so once I got to Brittany’s, we immediately sat down on Friday night to just talk blog, life, projects, etc. before hitting the hay.

Saturday

The next morning, I got up uncharacteristically early to knock out a few emails and photo edits until the house started stirring. We then tuned in to another online pal of ours (Youtuber and seasoned DIY pro, April Wilkerson) to see her pilot (House Hacks) on HGTV. After sending her some quick goofy videos letting her know we were watching, we then made a late breakfast, talked projects, and came up with our game plan for the day.

The first place we stopped was Brittany’s house project, which she has nicknamed “Saving Etta” — an old home that is in such disrepair, you really should go watch her Facebook live video of mine and Sandra’s reactions as we walked around for the first time! She also shared with us the future plans, the layout, and what the upper floor will look like once added (so cool!). If anyone can bring back this home’s former glory, it’s definitely Brittany. It looks incredibly scary at this stage, but I was incredibly excited at the entire idea of eventually taking on an old home myself. I’d need to get a contractor’s license (probably) for such a thing, but for now I’ll live vicariously through her updates (btw, Sandra also has her own project house she’s working on, which you can see right here).

Next, we were all in need of a caffeine boost and stopped by Sola Coffee… a local place that also gave me a lot of DIY ideas to ponder over (I’ve been brainstorming a way to make my own curtain rods throughout the house but wanted a unique twist, and I think I’ve found it!).

After visiting a small pop-up market (where we ran into Liz from My Grandmother’s Old Singer — hi!!) and lunch at Relish, we then spent the late afternoon shopping around for holiday decorations and hugging giant apes at Homegoods.

Back at Brittany’s for the rest of the evening, we chose to take it easy with some pizza and painting, but we needed to do a little DIY first. Brittany found a gift at Homegoods she wanted to hack (it came on really cheap wood and she wanted to beef it up with some of her own scrap), while I took the opportunity to work on the woodworking project I’d brought with me. Thank goodness for friends with band saws!

If you think I’m shallow enough to quick-edit my double chin from this photo, you’re absolutely right. ;)

Sunday

It’s no surprise that a weekend like this one was going to go by quick, so I finished up a few more steps on my project after breakfast while Sandra got packed up to head back home. Originally I’d planned to stay an entire extra day, but I’d gotten some news about a delivery I would need to be back at home for, so Brittany and I tried to make the most out of the rest of the afternoon by working on Etta:

I’ve never worked on a house with this much demo, and despite my experience in repairing drywall, the whole lath-and-plaster thing was a big change, too. And HEAVY!

But we managed to knock out the rest of the job in one of the first rooms to take out the lath and plaster, preserve as many of the original baseboards as possible, and clean up the debris — giving me a deeper appreciation for what Brittany has in for with the rest of the house. Phew!

As soon as I got back to Brittany’s, my project had finished drying and it was time to head home. I did a quick change and hopped in the car, spending the next 5 1/2 hours singing to a road trip playlist and being grateful I actually remembered to take a few photos of the trip. Maybe next year we’ll actually sit down. ;)

DIY remodeling is hardly glamorous.

How was your weekend? Work on anything special?

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[winstonsalempainting]

Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta

It’s becoming almost a tradition now… whenever I visit a DIY pal at their home, I seem to want to get my hands dirty by helping them with a project. In this case… very dirty at Etta!

If you haven’t been following along with Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and her Saving Etta project, you’ll see lots more info on that below. But first, I’m going to start from the beginning on what prompted my trip to visit her and the other (non-old-house-filth-covered) fun we had! Consider this post a play-by-play on what it would be like to tag along with us for the weekend. :)

Being a DIY or remodeling blogger is… a weird job, to say the least. Between photography (which takes a little getting used to — trying to remember to stop, take off your safety gloves for a photo while there’s enough light, get back to work — it really takes time to “train” yourself to do it!), planning your schedules, getting things just right on social media so it reaches people, the actual writing, time for labor/the work itself, maintaining a website, finding appropriate sponsors (and saying no to all of the bad ones), negotiating contracts and conference calls with brands, editing photos, improving your skills on all of the above through training classes, styling interiors, making sure you aren’t a total moron with building codes and remodeling skills, etc….

…basically, it’s a lot to get. If you’re lucky, you can hire out some of these things, but many of us (like me) do a little bit of everything by ourselves. And no one really gets that quite like another remodeling blogger, especially the mentorship aspect of it. That catching up and camaraderie and sense that they go through similar obstacles is very comforting. But we also don’t live near each other and we stay immersed in our own to-do lists 24/7, which is why Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and Sandra from Sawdust Girl and I (and others) have begun to make more effort to see each other in person at least once a year. Unlike the go-go-go agenda of attending a conference (like Haven and early next year I’ll be going to a woodworking one), this kind of get-together is more relaxed. We still work (I even brought a project of mine so I could use one of Brittany’s tools to meet a deadline this past week), but it’s also full of great memories with some close friends.These two ladies not only do the blogging juggling act like I do, they also raise families and are beginning their own restoration/flip houses, and I’m soooo excited to see them advancing to bigger and more amazing things. Being friends with people you consider your mentors is a really incredible thing, and I feel very blessed I get to call these ladies my friends.

As I said, I was in the middle of a project (or eight) but we’d been planning this trip for a few months, so I simply packed up the most urgent project with my luggage on Friday afternoon and hit the 5 1/2 hour road trip to visit Brittany at her home. I’d never actually been to her house before (our trip last year was actually to a beach with Leen from Sand Dollar Lane and Karah from The Space Between who couldn’t make it this time unfortunately), so it was quite a treat when you feel like you’ve visited someone else’s home many times via the web and then actually step foot inside. Her house is much bigger than I thought, and her craft space is no joke one of the most organized places I’ve ever seen that also happens to have glitter inside of it (trust me, that’s no easy feat). Still, despite her fantastic hospitality, the real star for me was her pup, Bandit. Just… he’s so damn sweet and I adored him from the moment we met.

All of the hearts for this sweet pup. <3 <3 <3 (photo: Brittany)

Sandra arrived first, so once I got to Brittany’s, we immediately sat down on Friday night to just talk blog, life, projects, etc. before hitting the hay.

Saturday

The next morning, I got up uncharacteristically early to knock out a few emails and photo edits until the house started stirring. We then tuned in to another online pal of ours (Youtuber and seasoned DIY pro, April Wilkerson) to see her pilot (House Hacks) on HGTV. After sending her some quick goofy videos letting her know we were watching, we then made a late breakfast, talked projects, and came up with our game plan for the day.

The first place we stopped was Brittany’s house project, which she has nicknamed “Saving Etta” — an old home that is in such disrepair, you really should go watch her Facebook live video of mine and Sandra’s reactions as we walked around for the first time! She also shared with us the future plans, the layout, and what the upper floor will look like once added (so cool!). If anyone can bring back this home’s former glory, it’s definitely Brittany. It looks incredibly scary at this stage, but I was incredibly excited at the entire idea of eventually taking on an old home myself. I’d need to get a contractor’s license (probably) for such a thing, but for now I’ll live vicariously through her updates (btw, Sandra also has her own project house she’s working on, which you can see right here).

Next, we were all in need of a caffeine boost and stopped by Sola Coffee… a local place that also gave me a lot of DIY ideas to ponder over (I’ve been brainstorming a way to make my own curtain rods throughout the house but wanted a unique twist, and I think I’ve found it!).

After visiting a small pop-up market (where we ran into Liz from My Grandmother’s Old Singer — hi!!) and lunch at Relish, we then spent the late afternoon shopping around for holiday decorations and hugging giant apes at Homegoods.

Back at Brittany’s for the rest of the evening, we chose to take it easy with some pizza and painting, but we needed to do a little DIY first. Brittany found a gift at Homegoods she wanted to hack (it came on really cheap wood and she wanted to beef it up with some of her own scrap), while I took the opportunity to work on the woodworking project I’d brought with me. Thank goodness for friends with band saws!

If you think I’m shallow enough to quick-edit my double chin from this photo, you’re absolutely right. ;)

Sunday

It’s no surprise that a weekend like this one was going to go by quick, so I finished up a few more steps on my project after breakfast while Sandra got packed up to head back home. Originally I’d planned to stay an entire extra day, but I’d gotten some news about a delivery I would need to be back at home for, so Brittany and I tried to make the most out of the rest of the afternoon by working on Etta:

I’ve never worked on a house with this much demo, and despite my experience in repairing drywall, the whole lath-and-plaster thing was a big change, too. And HEAVY!

But we managed to knock out the rest of the job in one of the first rooms to take out the lath and plaster, preserve as many of the original baseboards as possible, and clean up the debris — giving me a deeper appreciation for what Brittany has in for with the rest of the house. Phew!

As soon as I got back to Brittany’s, my project had finished drying and it was time to head home. I did a quick change and hopped in the car, spending the next 5 1/2 hours singing to a road trip playlist and being grateful I actually remembered to take a few photos of the trip. Maybe next year we’ll actually sit down. ;)

DIY remodeling is hardly glamorous.

How was your weekend? Work on anything special?

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.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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Read more http://ift.tt/2ydH7zr Areas served: Winston-Salem, High Point, Yadkinville, Mocksville, Advance, Clemmons, Kernersville, Greensboro, Walnut Cove, Statesville, NC, North Carolina Services: House painting, roofing, deck building, landscaping, Carpentry, Flooring, tile, hardwood, remodeling, home improvement, interior, exterior

[endlessarchite]

Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta

It’s becoming almost a tradition now… whenever I visit a DIY pal at their home, I seem to want to get my hands dirty by helping them with a project. In this case… very dirty at Etta!

If you haven’t been following along with Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and her Saving Etta project, you’ll see lots more info on that below. But first, I’m going to start from the beginning on what prompted my trip to visit her and the other (non-old-house-filth-covered) fun we had! Consider this post a play-by-play on what it would be like to tag along with us for the weekend. :)

Being a DIY or remodeling blogger is… a weird job, to say the least. Between photography (which takes a little getting used to — trying to remember to stop, take off your safety gloves for a photo while there’s enough light, get back to work — it really takes time to “train” yourself to do it!), planning your schedules, getting things just right on social media so it reaches people, the actual writing, time for labor/the work itself, maintaining a website, finding appropriate sponsors (and saying no to all of the bad ones), negotiating contracts and conference calls with brands, editing photos, improving your skills on all of the above through training classes, styling interiors, making sure you aren’t a total moron with building codes and remodeling skills, etc….

…basically, it’s a lot to get. If you’re lucky, you can hire out some of these things, but many of us (like me) do a little bit of everything by ourselves. And no one really gets that quite like another remodeling blogger, especially the mentorship aspect of it. That catching up and camaraderie and sense that they go through similar obstacles is very comforting. But we also don’t live near each other and we stay immersed in our own to-do lists 24/7, which is why Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and Sandra from Sawdust Girl and I (and others) have begun to make more effort to see each other in person at least once a year. Unlike the go-go-go agenda of attending a conference (like Haven and early next year I’ll be going to a woodworking one), this kind of get-together is more relaxed. We still work (I even brought a project of mine so I could use one of Brittany’s tools to meet a deadline this past week), but it’s also full of great memories with some close friends.These two ladies not only do the blogging juggling act like I do, they also raise families and are beginning their own restoration/flip houses, and I’m soooo excited to see them advancing to bigger and more amazing things. Being friends with people you consider your mentors is a really incredible thing, and I feel very blessed I get to call these ladies my friends.

As I said, I was in the middle of a project (or eight) but we’d been planning this trip for a few months, so I simply packed up the most urgent project with my luggage on Friday afternoon and hit the 5 1/2 hour road trip to visit Brittany at her home. I’d never actually been to her house before (our trip last year was actually to a beach with Leen from Sand Dollar Lane and Karah from The Space Between who couldn’t make it this time unfortunately), so it was quite a treat when you feel like you’ve visited someone else’s home many times via the web and then actually step foot inside. Her house is much bigger than I thought, and her craft space is no joke one of the most organized places I’ve ever seen that also happens to have glitter inside of it (trust me, that’s no easy feat). Still, despite her fantastic hospitality, the real star for me was her pup, Bandit. Just… he’s so damn sweet and I adored him from the moment we met.

All of the hearts for this sweet pup. <3 <3 <3 (photo: Brittany)

Sandra arrived first, so once I got to Brittany’s, we immediately sat down on Friday night to just talk blog, life, projects, etc. before hitting the hay.

Saturday

The next morning, I got up uncharacteristically early to knock out a few emails and photo edits until the house started stirring. We then tuned in to another online pal of ours (Youtuber and seasoned DIY pro, April Wilkerson) to see her pilot (House Hacks) on HGTV. After sending her some quick goofy videos letting her know we were watching, we then made a late breakfast, talked projects, and came up with our game plan for the day.

The first place we stopped was Brittany’s house project, which she has nicknamed “Saving Etta” — an old home that is in such disrepair, you really should go watch her Facebook live video of mine and Sandra’s reactions as we walked around for the first time! She also shared with us the future plans, the layout, and what the upper floor will look like once added (so cool!). If anyone can bring back this home’s former glory, it’s definitely Brittany. It looks incredibly scary at this stage, but I was incredibly excited at the entire idea of eventually taking on an old home myself. I’d need to get a contractor’s license (probably) for such a thing, but for now I’ll live vicariously through her updates (btw, Sandra also has her own project house she’s working on, which you can see right here).

Next, we were all in need of a caffeine boost and stopped by Sola Coffee… a local place that also gave me a lot of DIY ideas to ponder over (I’ve been brainstorming a way to make my own curtain rods throughout the house but wanted a unique twist, and I think I’ve found it!).

After visiting a small pop-up market (where we ran into Liz from My Grandmother’s Old Singer — hi!!) and lunch at Relish, we then spent the late afternoon shopping around for holiday decorations and hugging giant apes at Homegoods.

Back at Brittany’s for the rest of the evening, we chose to take it easy with some pizza and painting, but we needed to do a little DIY first. Brittany found a gift at Homegoods she wanted to hack (it came on really cheap wood and she wanted to beef it up with some of her own scrap), while I took the opportunity to work on the woodworking project I’d brought with me. Thank goodness for friends with band saws!

If you think I’m shallow enough to quick-edit my double chin from this photo, you’re absolutely right. ;)

Sunday

It’s no surprise that a weekend like this one was going to go by quick, so I finished up a few more steps on my project after breakfast while Sandra got packed up to head back home. Originally I’d planned to stay an entire extra day, but I’d gotten some news about a delivery I would need to be back at home for, so Brittany and I tried to make the most out of the rest of the afternoon by working on Etta:

I’ve never worked on a house with this much demo, and despite my experience in repairing drywall, the whole lath-and-plaster thing was a big change, too. And HEAVY!

But we managed to knock out the rest of the job in one of the first rooms to take out the lath and plaster, preserve as many of the original baseboards as possible, and clean up the debris — giving me a deeper appreciation for what Brittany has in for with the rest of the house. Phew!

As soon as I got back to Brittany’s, my project had finished drying and it was time to head home. I did a quick change and hopped in the car, spending the next 5 1/2 hours singing to a road trip playlist and being grateful I actually remembered to take a few photos of the trip. Maybe next year we’ll actually sit down. ;)

DIY remodeling is hardly glamorous.

How was your weekend? Work on anything special?

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Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[darensmurray]

Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta

It’s becoming almost a tradition now… whenever I visit a DIY pal at their home, I seem to want to get my hands dirty by helping them with a project. In this case… very dirty at Etta!

If you haven’t been following along with Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and her Saving Etta project, you’ll see lots more info on that below. But first, I’m going to start from the beginning on what prompted my trip to visit her and the other (non-old-house-filth-covered) fun we had! Consider this post a play-by-play on what it would be like to tag along with us for the weekend. :)

Being a DIY or remodeling blogger is… a weird job, to say the least. Between photography (which takes a little getting used to — trying to remember to stop, take off your safety gloves for a photo while there’s enough light, get back to work — it really takes time to “train” yourself to do it!), planning your schedules, getting things just right on social media so it reaches people, the actual writing, time for labor/the work itself, maintaining a website, finding appropriate sponsors (and saying no to all of the bad ones), negotiating contracts and conference calls with brands, editing photos, improving your skills on all of the above through training classes, styling interiors, making sure you aren’t a total moron with building codes and remodeling skills, etc….

…basically, it’s a lot to get. If you’re lucky, you can hire out some of these things, but many of us (like me) do a little bit of everything by ourselves. And no one really gets that quite like another remodeling blogger, especially the mentorship aspect of it. That catching up and camaraderie and sense that they go through similar obstacles is very comforting. But we also don’t live near each other and we stay immersed in our own to-do lists 24/7, which is why Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl and Sandra from Sawdust Girl and I (and others) have begun to make more effort to see each other in person at least once a year. Unlike the go-go-go agenda of attending a conference (like Haven and early next year I’ll be going to a woodworking one), this kind of get-together is more relaxed. We still work (I even brought a project of mine so I could use one of Brittany’s tools to meet a deadline this past week), but it’s also full of great memories with some close friends.These two ladies not only do the blogging juggling act like I do, they also raise families and are beginning their own restoration/flip houses, and I’m soooo excited to see them advancing to bigger and more amazing things. Being friends with people you consider your mentors is a really incredible thing, and I feel very blessed I get to call these ladies my friends.

As I said, I was in the middle of a project (or eight) but we’d been planning this trip for a few months, so I simply packed up the most urgent project with my luggage on Friday afternoon and hit the 5 1/2 hour road trip to visit Brittany at her home. I’d never actually been to her house before (our trip last year was actually to a beach with Leen from Sand Dollar Lane and Karah from The Space Between who couldn’t make it this time unfortunately), so it was quite a treat when you feel like you’ve visited someone else’s home many times via the web and then actually step foot inside. Her house is much bigger than I thought, and her craft space is no joke one of the most organized places I’ve ever seen that also happens to have glitter inside of it (trust me, that’s no easy feat). Still, despite her fantastic hospitality, the real star for me was her pup, Bandit. Just… he’s so damn sweet and I adored him from the moment we met.

All of the hearts for this sweet pup. <3 <3 <3 (photo: Brittany)

Sandra arrived first, so once I got to Brittany’s, we immediately sat down on Friday night to just talk blog, life, projects, etc. before hitting the hay.

Saturday

The next morning, I got up uncharacteristically early to knock out a few emails and photo edits until the house started stirring. We then tuned in to another online pal of ours (Youtuber and seasoned DIY pro, April Wilkerson) to see her pilot (House Hacks) on HGTV. After sending her some quick goofy videos letting her know we were watching, we then made a late breakfast, talked projects, and came up with our game plan for the day.

The first place we stopped was Brittany’s house project, which she has nicknamed “Saving Etta” — an old home that is in such disrepair, you really should go watch her Facebook live video of mine and Sandra’s reactions as we walked around for the first time! She also shared with us the future plans, the layout, and what the upper floor will look like once added (so cool!). If anyone can bring back this home’s former glory, it’s definitely Brittany. It looks incredibly scary at this stage, but I was incredibly excited at the entire idea of eventually taking on an old home myself. I’d need to get a contractor’s license (probably) for such a thing, but for now I’ll live vicariously through her updates (btw, Sandra also has her own project house she’s working on, which you can see right here).

Next, we were all in need of a caffeine boost and stopped by Sola Coffee… a local place that also gave me a lot of DIY ideas to ponder over (I’ve been brainstorming a way to make my own curtain rods throughout the house but wanted a unique twist, and I think I’ve found it!).

After visiting a small pop-up market (where we ran into Liz from My Grandmother’s Old Singer — hi!!) and lunch at Relish, we then spent the late afternoon shopping around for holiday decorations and hugging giant apes at Homegoods.

Back at Brittany’s for the rest of the evening, we chose to take it easy with some pizza and painting, but we needed to do a little DIY first. Brittany found a gift at Homegoods she wanted to hack (it came on really cheap wood and she wanted to beef it up with some of her own scrap), while I took the opportunity to work on the woodworking project I’d brought with me. Thank goodness for friends with band saws!

If you think I’m shallow enough to quick-edit my double chin from this photo, you’re absolutely right. ;)

Sunday

It’s no surprise that a weekend like this one was going to go by quick, so I finished up a few more steps on my project after breakfast while Sandra got packed up to head back home. Originally I’d planned to stay an entire extra day, but I’d gotten some news about a delivery I would need to be back at home for, so Brittany and I tried to make the most out of the rest of the afternoon by working on Etta:

I’ve never worked on a house with this much demo, and despite my experience in repairing drywall, the whole lath-and-plaster thing was a big change, too. And HEAVY!

But we managed to knock out the rest of the job in one of the first rooms to take out the lath and plaster, preserve as many of the original baseboards as possible, and clean up the debris — giving me a deeper appreciation for what Brittany has in for with the rest of the house. Phew!

As soon as I got back to Brittany’s, my project had finished drying and it was time to head home. I did a quick change and hopped in the car, spending the next 5 1/2 hours singing to a road trip playlist and being grateful I actually remembered to take a few photos of the trip. Maybe next year we’ll actually sit down. ;)

DIY remodeling is hardly glamorous.

How was your weekend? Work on anything special?

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.yuzo_related_post img{width:170px !important; height:170px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:14px;background:#ffffff !important;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#ffffff !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:#102a3b!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:#113f5e}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo__text--title{ color:#113f5e!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text, .yuzo_related_post:hover .yuzo_views_post {color:#454747!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); });

The post Visiting Raleigh with My Remodeling Besties — and the HARD Work of Saving Etta appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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