#i wanted to draw 3 pics a month as my new years resolution

[malcolmreeds]

soz about the lack of art lately uhhhh i had massive motivation and drew loads at the beginning of the year but its been weeks now since i drew anything i think i burnt myself out im so sad

[tekatonic]

2023 blog update !

Sooo happy new year everyone, and let's get into the thick of it, because I have a lot of words to spew out from my little tired brain ( i swear i started writing this at 4am, how's it past 6 already ? ). Beware long post...

I'm ditching the "sonic fandom" categorizing tag, most of my blog is sonic stuff so it doesn't really matter ( i'll change out the old tag on my old posts later when i remember... )

I wanted to change my url, cause i don't like what it stands for now, but it's what I'm credited as in the SWA zine and i don't wanna inconvenience them this late in the thing, so I'm gonna keep it for the time being. Maybe in a few months I'll change it ?

I kinda hate tagging my posts so i think i'm gonna stop using most of my tags when i'm reblogging, just doing my regular comments instead and content warnings if it needs it ( don't forget you can always ask to tag ! ), and of course, the reblog tag stays.

This doesn't mean I'm ditching the categorizing tags entirely though. I'm gonna try something. At every end of the month I'll go into the mass post editor and just correctly tag everything. ( I might still tag characters and fandoms the regular way for non-sonic stuff ).

I might reblog a little less. Or at least try to. The amount of stuff I usually reblog kind of overwhelms me ( sideblog will not be affected as it's a lot less pressure ).

I have a lot saved up in my likes tab that i still need to get to reblogging... might be time to revive the 'queued' tag ?

I'm still gonna be serial-replying, sorry... It's just less stress for me.

In terms of resolutions... I wanna post more art ! I basically stopped entirely in the later half of 2022 cause of ID anxiety and that's no good, art is what i made this blog for ! I also still haven't introduced you guys to my AU and I was supposed to do that in, like, June 2022... So I'm gonna do that. Lemme know what format you think I should post the 24 ( and more ) images in ? ^^;

Maybe I could post my long rambles and weird ""essays"" ( heavy quotations because those are basically liveblogging of my current thoughts ), if you guys would like to see that. A lot of questioning logic, lore, headcanons and theories. Stuff like that.

I want to interact more with the fandom ! Provide actual content ! Be active, be friends, y'know. Do the club activities and all that jazz. Art challenges, redraws, collabs, whiteboards, dtiys... I wanna be part of the cool/uncool kids and have fun while doing it !

I'm gonna go through sideblog-exclusive stuff below the cut since I'm sure most of y'all don't care about that. I only have 3 or 4 followers on there since I've only ever shared it with friends, so you probably don't even know it exists.

Alright so for ekana-to-hana.

It's basically gonna stay the same

I haven't been drawing my sonas and their universe a lot, so sorry about no new original art... I'm gonna try to draw them more !

All this time I've been just reblogging random stuff, but I think I'm gonna start sharing the things I like. Of course those posts won't get any more than 3 notes unless people actually like what i care about ( plants, fashion, ultra-specific aesthetics, various potential craft hobbies ), but hey whatever.

So in short, more original posts.

I might ( emphasis on 'might' ) start posting personal life updates like, i dunno, plant pics, merch if i get some, ramblings about life and shit.

Unlike my main blog, tagging remains unchanged, since i have way less to organize ( no characters and fandom tags ).

I should sort out my organizing tags for personal clarity tho.

Maybe I'll do some OC+fandom art, to promote the account ? But honestly I wouldn't really count on it.

And that's all folks.

[drennalynspast]

[ Online Relationships ]

Monday, Oct. 07, 2013

I’m going to recap several gaps in my life in which I haven’t focused a particular topic on. Online relationships have transformed me in a way in which I couldn’t have imagined. There are a lot of positive aspects as well as negative aspects to it. I used online relationships as a form of escapism from reality. It granted me immediate feedback, gratification and attention if I was lonely, stressed, and needed someone there.  The art of communicating with written words is something that helped me express myself more in depth and allow myself to be more open to the other online people.

t’s has been noted that my online friendships with people have lasted for several weeks, some several months, and others that lasted a year.  That feeling of greeting someone in the morning with an msn text and then closing an msn text before going to bed was a warm, cozy, reassuring feeling.  When I feel more open to someone, I feel comfortable around them and have some sort of emotional connection with that person.  A lot of my online friends were males. I could easily talk to them.  I will admit, a lot of it had to do with some sort of personal validation and being flattered from the praise and attention I received. 

Some of these friendships at first seemed like platonic friendships. Eventually it got to that point where I felt like I appreciated them more and wished to see them in person. I became jealous when I found out that they eventually got a girlfriend or wife.  At some points, I became confused if they just saw me as a friend or something more than a friend.  

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Thunder was my first online friend. We randomly became friends through a social networking site that my Indian friends introduced me to [the site].  He added me thinking I was 18+, but I lied about my age, and I was like 16-17 lolol.  He does some sort of computer graphic design or drawing tutorial work. He was kinda disappointed I was young, but we were just friends. Eventually I got older and was shocked he eventually found a wife from his workplace. I had no idea he was seeing anyone. We met each other in person once before he and his wife left to move to California. He and his wife were pleasant to be around. It was a positive meeting experience.  After he moved, we gradually communicated less and less. He divorced his wife. We remain FB friends.

------------------------------------------------------------

I met “J” through my sister. He was an admin on an anime forum. He basically helped give me emotional support through my struggles in freshman year in college while I battled loneliness and adjustment. He eventually found better employment somewhere and married a woman. Our communication dissipated quite a bit. Those phases of friendships come and go.

Being a part of that anime forum lead me to connect with a lot of other online people out there. Everyone was fairly around the same age, young and clueless about life with no obligations. I easily rose to awareness and attention by being sisters with a former moderator.  I posted my picture, and a lot of the male users complimented me and wanted to get to know me more.  One of those people stood out to me as far as being an amusing friend goes. And here I embarked on some sort of journey with Tom. 

----------------------------------------------

He was rather notorious on the forums, a bigshot member who posted frequently and was able to instill humor and witty jokes here and there.  I was impressed by his boldness and charisma.  We started out as friends. He became jealous of me when I went through that FWB phase with Dave. Eventually it lead to me being more than friends after a while. I clung to Tom when the whole Dave friendship failed. I just wanted someone to care about me and be there for me emotionally.  I wanted some substance. I wanted to have a boyfriend. I felt like I could be a “good girl” and hold off on sex. I didn't want to be a slutty girl who slept around with a lot of men, so I used this online relationship as some justification for me to force me to be more pure.

 I’ll also note that I was a stupid, naive, dumb girl who fucking webcammed for this guy when I didn’t have a fucking clue what he looked like. I just wanted attention and the shit. I wanted someone to revere in my body and appearance.

It’s always exciting and interesting discovering and talking to new people. You become flattered at the person they seemingly are. You see how amazing and confident they are.  As you get to know them more, you discover the darker side of the person. And that is what happened.

We would have minor arguments here and there that eventually did resolve.  It was an emotional struggle, but sometimes the arguments made us feel closer after the resolution. He had several red flags that I should have paid attention to. He was controlling, he was socially withdrawn from other people, he had no close real friends who he maintained a consistent communication with, he was antisocial in the real world, he also would talk about physical workout regimens but he was always reluctant showing pictures or videos of him.  But somehow despite all that shit, I was somehow convinced otherwise that he is a good and caring person that was genuinely caring about me.  That’s what I wanted right, someone to care about me?  

I had to go through a ton of bullshit with him. I was frustrated about how I was the only one who cammed, and I couldn’t even see or hear shit from his side. He made fucking excuses where he was unable to cam or talk on phone more often.  Typing this entry is also making me feel angry and disgusted as shit.  

It was like a 3 and a half year pseuedo relationship.  We messaged each other online everyday, getting into a routine of “hi, how are you etc”. And then we complain about random stuff to each other. It got to a point where I was all, “hi, when are we going to meet?”  I finally had an apartment, but he had issues with finances, no car, still living with parents.  I felt awkward if I had to drive there to meet him first. I shouldn’t be the one to go there and fucking meet him first anyway.  I already did my part by camming to him the first time. What a bastard.

Anyway, I felt like I was struggling. I told him that we shouldn’t label ourselves as BF/GF anymore. We are just friends. He took it with some difficulty, but agreed. Eventually we phased out the *kiss* in our closing statements at bedtime. Even as just friends, I felt all weird and smothered by him. It was an unfulfilling friendship that didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  I was also talking to an online guy (MMO) dude that I probably wrote an entry in a couple months back.  That MMO guy bailed out on me and didn’t seem interested in maintaining friendship with me.  MMO guy lived in Oklahoma, and I wanted to meet him too. 

Whenever I saw the new pics that Tom finally decided to show me, I was pissed and disappointed. I guess I was lying to myself thinking that he would somehow miraculously drastically change his appearance from the old 2006 photo that he showed me first.  He was sort of slightly overweight and his facial expression was that of apathy, boredness, blankness, no smile.   It was like the way he described himself in words was that of a lie compared to his actual appearance. I was lied to in a way, or deceived, or I just tried to ignore shit in the beginning and have some sort of blind hope it wasn’t true. 

I tried to give him a chance, but I suppose the physical aspect became a point to where it was starting to be more of a turn off.  I also just felt bored of him. There was nothing new in his life. He didn’t seem to have any goals or passion in his life for anything.

So yeah, throughout all this, I’m so fucking sexually frustrated and deprived  a 3 year dry spell.  I hate this idea of being faithful or devoted to someone who would never be there for me in person. There’s always that talk of someday we will meet, just wait, it will happen.  3 years of this talk and still nothing happened. I got that emotional support and attention, but I realized that I needed both- physical and emotional needs met.  It was time to say, G’bye. 

 And that’s when I met Andy in January.Tom was pissed I met Andy and just.. had sex with him on the first date.  It was unexpected and he felt like he was betrayed. But I told him, we aren’t even BF/GF anymore, no need to be worried. Somehow he felt like he had some sort of entitlement. 

I probably could have. Should have? Given him some warning as far as “hey, I’m talking to this guy and am going to go on a date with him”. kind of thing.  I probably treated him like shit. But there wasn’t any obligated rule for me to be devoted or faithful.  I don’t want to be held back. I want to do what I want. In some way, I may have used Andy as far as trying to make a stepping stone to get away from Tom. I needed to cut the strings off and tie off any lose ends. 

Tom and I discussed things further. He eventually understood what I was going through and agreed to give me space. He wanted to still see me. He wanted to still be my friend. I still felt constricted and smothered. I kept him on FB, but I wasn’t going to go on MSN anymore. He made several comments on my FB activity and feeds. I was beginning to get annoyed and pissed off at his slight actions that weren’t trying to be harmful or intimidate me.  He still tried to cling to me sometimes sending a random mail once a couple of months or weeks of self reflection.  Of course I would respond back in some manner. I told him I didn’t want to be angry all the time whenever he tried to post stuff to me. I told him that I was going to remove him from my friends list and block him.  We still have each other’s email if he wishes to contact me randomly.

I wonder if this is all considered running away.  But I feel better about myself. I feel like I can focus on myself in the real present world.  I am more away from being glued to the internet.  I appreciate Tom’s friendship and care about me. I did care about him more too at some point.  I learned several things about myself throughout the whole process. One lesson I learned was to never do online relationships again or even online friendships for that matter too.

There is so much to do and experience in the real world: meet and hang out with local people, go to places and engage in fun activities, eat with people and share stories with people in real time. Seeing their smile, seeing their humorous antics in person, and also feeling their touch in person is something that words on a screen simply cannot replicate.

After having my first boyfriend/real relationship, I felt like those 3 years talking to Tom I was missing out on a lot of things.  Even though I feel shitty about being sucked into that 3 year confusion and mess, it was still a valuable experience. I sometimes look back and imagine the pain and sadness I have inflicted on Tom. I gave him false hope and crushed his hope and anticipation.  At the same time, I need to worry about and focus on myself more.  Sometimes we all need a harsh reality check about life.

[stillgotme]

HELLO EVERYONE ok i’m finally doing this after like 84 years lmao

SO yeah several people in the past few months have asked me about my editing process and i said that i’d hopefully do it after gen 2 stuff and since i’m taking a break from gen 2 and wanna stall bc returning to gen 1 will be painful, ya girl got her ass to go through with it. keep in mind, this tutorial is for people who already know the basics of photoshop. if you don’t there’s many tutorials online that’ll help beginners. i’m gonna be editing a pic of val and chance all dressed up and ready to crash a prom to get lit with their homies maggie and eli

*rosanna pansino voice* LET’S GET STARTED

so i use reshade and i believe the version i have is 3.0.7 or something idk but it’s 3.0 and i switch between 3 presets that are my own. the one i use the most started with pickypikachu’s cinematic preset as a base.

now, i know not everyone has reshade, but there’s still a way you can mimic the DOF effect with photoshop. when my stubborn ass edited everything myself all i did was duplicate the photo, apply field blur and adjust the bokeh lighting, added a layer mask and with a brush using the color black, i “colored” in what i didn’t want to be blurry and BOOM ya got that DOF goodness

so for DOF i use either the marty mcfly shader or the matso shader and even both, like in this case. i also love that sweet mxao bc ooh yess them SHADOWS. but unfortunately bc i’ll never ever let go of alpha hair and you’ll have to rip them away from my cold dead hands, ya get this shit.

the dof and shadows cutting through the hair making it look ugly and blurry and just all around BLECH

so when taking screenshots, i take two photos. one with the dof and mxao and another without those shaders

now i open both pics in photoshop and layer the photo with the effects over the one without

ok this is totally optional and you don’t have to do it but i like to crop my photos and the preset for my cropping dimensions is 1150 x 705 bc that’s what i’m going to resize my photos to (w/ 300 resolution). again, totally optional, you don’t have to do this part but i do.

so now i add a layer mask to the top layer

next i select the brush tool and choose whatever brush i wanna use. i usually switch between these two brushes depending on what i need at the moment. and make sure the color you’re painting with is black.

and now just “paint” over the ugly parts to erase them. depending on your photo this can sometimes take a while, but hey ya get that dof and beautiful alpha hair. i also take this time to erase some of the blurriness that forms around my sims from the dof effect

right click on the layer and select “merge down” and i’m left with this. obviously, you see some parts that aren’t blurred anymore but i just fix it with the blur tool at 100% opacity, zoom in on the unblurred edges and blur them in with whatever brush i choose. i personally choose the one with hard edges and i make sure the brush size is very very small. this part’s also a lil time consuming so ya gotta be patient.

doesn’t that look better? now it’s time to get to the actual editing lmao. first, click layer > background layer to make it a background. this is necessary for me bc of the photoshop action i use.

so in order to give my pics that “crisp” look, i first reduce noise and these are my default settings

then i do topaz clean

then smart sharpen

then i use the liquify tool bc sometimes there’s jagged edges on the shoulders, elbows, chins, etc. that i wanna smooth out. i also use this to adjust facial expressions, like for this i wanna make the smiles curve up a lil bit more bc chalerie are in love and happy  

now this is the part where i kinda nitpick bc i’m a perfectionist lmao like i clean up some lines on val’s arms and fix that weird spot on the collar of chance’s shirt, all that small stuff people wouldn’t notice but I DO so i fix it

alright now it’s time for me to draw hair! again, this is optional and i understand not everyone has a tablet or likes drawing hair so skip this if it ain’t your thang. first add a new layer for the hair.

i like to add extra hair to make it more full or fix clipping and “highlights” to kinda emphasize the lighting effects i’ll do later and i usually go with a lighter color of the hair for the highlights OR i do the color of the lighting. in this case i’m just going with a very light brown color. this brush is from this set by castrochew and i have the opacity at 100% and size at 3 px.

this is what it looks like after i draw all the hair. and for the highlights i always reduce the layer opacity to 50-60% or even less than that depending on how subtle i want them to be. after that, i merge them all down.

now it’s time to do all the shading and highlighting. make sure you do it all as separate layers, too. even tho i use mxao it still doesn’t do enough for me, so i always add shadows and i recommend you use dark brown for the shadows as black is a a bit too dark especially when you’re adding shadows around the faces. like y’all don’t want it to look like your sims put mud on their face. trust me guys i contour my face.

now take a hard edge brush and draw where you wanna add shadows

apply gaussian blur and erase any excess “shadows”  then reduce the layer opacity to your liking. now keep doing that in other areas where you wanna add shadows. it all depends on the picture and i really just use my general knowledge of how lighting and shadows work. remember, make sure each shadow and highlight you add is a separate layer!

for highlights, use a light color, a soft edge brush, change the brush opacity to 60% and change the layer mode to “soft light”. like with the shadows, just paint whatever you wanna highlight, gaussian blur, reduce layer opacity, etc. then after you’re done shading and highlighting, merge all the layers down.

then to enhance the highlights even more i use the dodge tool with the exposure at 25% and paint over all the highlighted areas

so this is how it looks after i did all the time consuming stuff and now it’s time to play with COLOR YEAHHHHHH

this is the action i’ve been using forever and it’s a ride or die, always got my back, never fails me, always there when i need it. all i gotta do is click on that and press the “play” button and everything’s beautiful and colorful and all my problems seem to go away and suddenly the your lie in april soundtrack is playing the background

but most of the time i untick the “curves” layer from the action as it can be too bright for me and i just adjust the curves of the image to what i prefer.

now it’s my favorite part! time to add that good-ass LIGHTING and since i went crazy with the lights for the background, it’s gonna be fun to do this one hehehe. ok so first duplicate your image and then choose the color of the lighting you want. for this pic, i want the lighting to be a nice light warm yellow/orange color

now for the brush mode, choose “linear dodge (add)” and change the opacity to 35%-45% or hey even higher if ya wanna go bright as fuck. and get a soft edge brush and make it big. like fucking BIG. you see the size i put it at? yeah, make it big bc we want that beautiful shit EVERYWHERE

YEAH DAS DAT SHIT I LIKE. keep painting over areas ya wanna see glow and even paint over the same area twice to make it brighter. hell, don’t just stop at one color. add other colors of light if ya want. add some pinks or blue or purple, adjust the brush size, go crazy. BLIND EVERYONE.

buuuuuuut with all the sweet lighting, it tends to make your pretty pic look all washed out and also lighting doesn’t always work that way. and that’s why i told y’all to duplicate your image bc we’re gonna add a layer mask again and with a soft edge brush you gotta erase some of that lighting. change the brush mode back to normal, put the opacity at 100% and make sure your brush is black and get rid of what you need to. but what’s good about this is you don’t have to be perfect and it’s ok if there’s still some lights on your sims bc now it looks like the light is shining on them awwww. now merge that layer down

now color balance! i like to enhance the red, magenta, and blue most of the time but as always it all depends on the photo and what your preference is.

all that’s left to do now is change the image size. i change the resolution to 300 ppi (it doesn’t really do anything but like it’s become a habit of me to do it so i do it idk) and make sure if you’re making your image smaller, you apply “bicubic sharper” so your image stays sharp when you change the size

AND THIS IS THE FINAL PRODUCT.

so this is my editing process and i hope some of you learned some stuff from this. also please keep in mind that i also encourage y’all to do your own spin on things when you edit. i’m all for taking tips from others and learning cool new tricks but develop a style that fits YOU. eventually you’ll find it and i know that you’ll end up creating something amazing that shows how unique and lovely you are.

anyways, i’m so glad i finally got this done. love you guys 💖💖💖

[ehnoshima]

i know it isnt the end of the year so im maybe jumping the gun on comparing art from the beginning of the year but im just Very Happy. The left pic is from january and i remember having my new years resolution be to do more painterly detailed drawings. and the right pic is from this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im so happy with this progress i just wanted 2 share it <3

[wallpaperpainter]

10 Task View Windows 10 Rituals You Should Know In 10 | task view windows 10

Robotic action automation (RPA) startup UiPath today appear it has bankrupt a $225 actor allotment round, bringing its absolute aloft to over $1.2 billion. While the new annular is almost bisected the $568 actor UiPath aloft aftermost April, it catapults the New York-based company’s post-money appraisal to $10.2 billion, up from $7 billion in 2019 and $3 billion in 2018.

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CEO Daniel Dines says the allotment will be acclimated to calibration UiPath’s belvedere and deepen its investments in “AI-powered innovation” as it expands its billow software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. The annular will additionally acceptable lay the background for approaching cardinal deals, afterward UiPath’s accretion of startups StepShot and ProcessGold aftermost October.

RPA — technology that automates monotonous, repetitive affairs commonly performed by animal workers — is big business. Forrester estimates that RPA and added AI subfields created jobs for 40% of companies in 2019 and that a tenth of startups now administer added agenda workers than animal ones. According to a McKinsey survey, at atomic a third of activities could be automatic in about 60% of occupations. That may be why Bazaar and Markets anticipates the RPA bazaar will be account $493 billion by 2022, with a admixture anniversary advance amount of 19%.

UiPath was founded in 2005 by Romanian administrator Marius Tîrcă and Dines, a above Microsoft software engineer. The aggregation was headquartered in Bucharest afore ambience up boutique in New York City and accretion to London; Bangalore; Paris; Singapore; Washington, D.C.; and Tokyo. UiPath grew its applicant abject from 100 barter in 2017 to over 5,000, with added than 750,000 users as of aftermost year. Moreover, UiPath says the solutions developed by its over 2,800-person workforce now automate tasks for added than 65% of the Fortune 500 and eight of the Fortune 10, including GE, Virgin Media, Airbus, Google, Autodesk, NASA, HP, Fujifilm, McCormick, DHL, Swiss Re, McDonald’s, and Equifax.

UiPath takes a multipronged access to RPA that begins with assignment discovery. The company’s action mining tech produces an “X-ray” of end-to-end desktop, web, text-based, business apps, email, IT, and appointment workflows by affairs log abstracts from absolute action systems, allowance assay basis account issues through recommendations, visualizations, tags, and KPIs. Assignment abduction is the abutting footfall in UiPath’s onboarding alternation and comes as advisers move through a assignment action they’d like to automate, demography screenshots and accretion abstracts like window names, titles, and descriptions afore affairs aggregate calm into a action analogue certificate or XAML file.

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Task mining complements action mining and abduction by anecdotic and accumulation workflows. UiPath applies AI to map tasks to automation opportunities and aggravate out the best common patterns from the data, deeply recording metrics from whitelisted applications, including accomplish and beheading time. Thanks to AI-powered certificate compassionate capabilities, the belvedere can ingest, analyze, and adapt PDFs and images — alike those with handwriting, checkboxes, signatures, rotated or skewed elements, and low resolutions. When acclimated with UiPath’s Orchestrator product, assignment mining can be provisioned, deployed, triggered, monitored, measured, and tracked at every footfall from a browser or smartphone.

A able-bodied set of computer eyes algorithms underlies UiPath’s certificate compassionate features, which can admit and collaborate with on-screen fields and apparatus like Flash and Silverlight. Drawing on a neural arrangement with a aggregate of awning optical appearance acceptance and argument down-covered analogous with a multi-anchoring system, the Linux, Android, and Windows software robots powered by the algorithms can “see” basic desktop interfaces via Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft RDP, and VNC audience and accredit automations with activating elements like drop-downs and checkboxes.

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UiPath offers three kinds of robots: abounding robots that anticipate directions, abandoned robots that don’t crave animal intervention, and amalgam robots that accomplishment circadian tasks with the advice of abounding robots and leave the abandoned robots to abridge reports. From a dashboard dubbed Action Center and Insights, IT teams can appearance up to bags (or tens of thousands) of robots’ tasks and acknowledging abstracts and booty alleviative accomplishments in the accident of a bottleneck.

The assault affection of UiPath’s apartment is the Automation Hub, a aperture from which advisers can acquire rewards for accidental automations. It’s additionally area admins can see automations and ascendancy them from abstraction to production, leveraging an algorithm to assay tasks account automating. And it’s area associates of the C-suite can anticipate automation complication and aftereffect costs. UiPath Studio provides a toolset developers can use to almanac workflows, borrow prebuilt automation activities, accommodate third-party components, and allotment and reclaim components, with a amalgamation augment administrator that ensures compatible sources and workflow analyzer rules that authorize development paradigms.

Orchestrator facilitates these authoritative tasks with zero-touch provisioning, pluggable action credential stores, and the adeptness to add processes by abacus users to Active Directory groups. Another product, alleged AI Fabric, aids with AI and apparatus acquirements lifecycle management. Application AI Fabric, barter can acceptation their own models or accept from a library of prebuilt options, and they’re able to accumulate tabs on retraining and versioning through a assay apartment with drag-and-drop interfaces for assay planning, claim traceability, and birthmark reporting.

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Above: UiPath Studio for designing processes

UiPath’s assignment has acquired absorption during the coronavirus pandemic. The aggregation told VentureBeat that in Dublin, the Mater Hospital is application its RPA accoutrement to action COVID-19 testing kits, enabling the hospital’s onsite lab to accept after-effects in account and extenuative the nursing administration three hours per day, on average. In the U.S., the Cleveland Clinic leveraged a UiPath artefact to assassinate a alternation of accommodating assimilation tasks in 14-16 seconds, against the 2-3 account it took a human. UiPath additionally claims to accept assisted with U.S. government automation efforts about COVID-19, for instance allowance the Administration of Homeland Security use 500 bots to accomplish coronavirus-related abstracts analysis. Among added agencies, the Administration of Veterans Affairs is investigating how it ability administer RPA accoutrement to its environment.

UiPath ability accept drive on its ancillary — anniversary alternating acquirement hit $400 actor this year, an uptick from $300 actor in October 2019 and $25 actor three years ago. But it additionally has rivals in Automation Anywhere, which aftermost anchored a $290 actor advance from SoftBank at a $6.8 billion valuation. Within a amount of months, Blue Prism aloft over $120 million, Kryon $40 million, and FortressIQ $30 million. Tech giants accept additionally fabricated forays into the field, including Microsoft’s accretion of RPA startup Softmotive and IBM’s acquirement of WDG Automation.

Competition and added headwinds affected UiPath to lay off 300 to 400 advisers (roughly 11% of its workforce) aftermost year in what it characterized as a move against efficiency. (It charcoal to be apparent whether the aggregation will move advanced with the antecedent accessible alms it reportedly planned for the abutting year or so.) UiPath’s competitors haven’t been allowed either — Automation Anywhere has let go of 10% of its workforce as it adapts to stronger appeal for billow casework motivated by the pandemic, and FortressIQ says the accepted bread-and-butter altitude has slowed the advance of its 70-person workforce.

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Alkeon Capital Administration led today’s alternation E, with accord from Accel, Coatue, Dragoneer, IVP, Madrona Venture Group, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Tiger Global, Wellington, and funds and accounts brash by T. Rowe Price.

10 Task View Windows 10 Rituals You Should Know In 10 | task view windows 10 – task view windows 10 | Encouraged to my personal website, in this occasion I’m going to demonstrate with regards to keyword. And today, this is actually the very first graphic:

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[freevoidman]

All of the questions form the ask except for 16 and 17 because I read the tags 😏😊

yoU FUCK--

Also I guess it’s 15 and 16 bc those are the ones that ask for pics? So ur getting everything but those two instead lmao I can’t read.

1. Song of the year?

Thunderstruck by 2CELLOS (skip ahead to 0:38 for the start of the music, 1:10 for the actual cover). It’s a great cover for a famous song and i’m a sucker for cello-only covers. Plus, it’s a great song to listen to when you want to get some of ur aggression out.

2. Album of the year?

The Persona 5 Original Soundtrack! There’s so much amazing songs from the game, all of them jazzy and catchy and oh my god I love the entire thing. The stuff featuring Lyn’s vocals is especially great!

3. Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

Hm... there’s not a lot that come to mind, but I guess BTS? I’m not super into their music, and I don’t check out their livestreams and shit where they talk with fans, but their music is pretty sweet!

4. Movie of the year?

UUUUUUUUUUUUUGGH it has to be a tie between IT and Wonder Woman. IT was great on a sheer talent level and, after watching the 90s film, it was a massive improvement and gave the book the justice it deserved. However, Wonder Woman I appreciate because of the hopeful change it might bring to the movie industry and superhero movies, and perhaps lead to less over-sexualization of women in movies.

5. TV show of the year?

Nothing really comes to mind (especially because I don’t really watch TV a lot) but it’d have to be Brooklyn 99. Comedic gold at its finest, and the level of representation is NUTS! I love it!

6. Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?

...y’all’re gonna laugh but it’s fucking Shibboleth from West Wing. We watched the episode in one of my classes and it brought up so much political topical stuff that’s happening in my country, as well as the sheer ridiculousness of what the fuck is happening in the US (as well as unintentional attachments that can form bc I made a stupid level of those with just fictional characters lmao)

7. Favorite actor of the year?

Finn Wolfhard. Not only for his level of talent in Stranger Things and IT, but also just his level of comedic genius outside of films and shows. He’s great, and I can’t wait to see where his talents will lead him next.

8. Game of the year?

WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME LIKE THIS.

I’d have to give it to Persona 5, though Breath of the Wild and Final Fantasy XV are close. The reason why P5 wins is because I’ve been waiting for this games since 2013 and it delivered on everything I wanted. Meanwhile, BOTW and FFXV were only purchased after they came out and I saw all the reviews, or (in the case of FFXV) was and impulse buy that I didn’t have much faith in. They’re both great games, don’t get me wrong, but my god, Persona 5 delivered of fucking everything I wanted and a bit more.

9. Best month for you this year?

December (and no, I’m not just saying that because that’s the month we’re in). I’ve been accepted into the colleges I really wanted to be accepted into, and Christmas wasn’t that bad. Though I am sick with something right now, it’s definitely not a bad month, and easily the best one I’ve had with all the stress/disappointments of the months prior.

10. Something that made you cry this year?

...getting a bit personal, it was seeing my cousin during Easter. She’s been struggling with drugs and she had a relapse and was completely out of it. She’s got a kid. I was mad as hell and ready to punch her, but I just kind of broke down outside the house once no one could see me.

11. Something you want to do again next year?

...uuuuuhhh I didn’t really do it this year bc of the amount of shit I had to do, but I really, really want to do NaNoWriMo again. It was fun, and I nearly succeeded last year. I was about two thousand words short because I got sick and I want to get the 50k word count for something!

12. Talk about a new friend you made this year

YES HELLO I’M ABOUT TO PRAISE THE HELL OUT OF @yoitssabrinee SO PREPARE YOURSELVES.

Honestly such a sweetheart???? She’s a-fucking-mazing and so strong despite all the bullshit she’s gone through and she’s so freaking nice and caring! Like, I’ve been complaining to her about how I’ve been sick and she’s always like “did you take your meds? Did you drink water? Did you eat?” And it’s so nice and even if our convos are mostly screaming at each other about FFXV fanfics we’re writing it’s SUCH A JOY to see her messages whenever I wake up/am about to go to sleep.

13. How was your birthday this year?

Good! The only negative part was that it was during a school day (typically it falls on Thanksgiving break, but not this year) and I got a lotta good gifts! I certainly can’t complain about it, that’s for sure.

14. Favorite book you read this year?

Catcher in the Rye. It’s very rare that I find a school book that I enjoy, and this hits all my favorite things. It’s a super introspective look on Holden’s life (which is pretty messed up tbh) and his struggles to reconcile with his flaws and the need to be somewhat ‘normal’.

15. What’s a bad habit you picked up this year?

Sort of a bad habit that I’ve continued and haven’t stopped--picking at my skin. Especially scabs and any chapped skin on my lips. I have so many cuts and scars from doing this, and I really need to stop... 

18. A memorable meal this year?

I went with my family to some fancy-ass Japanese restaurant with my friend irl before we went to see Hamilton. The food there was tasty as hell, and the experience itself made it incredibly memorable.

19. What’re you excited about for next year?

There’s a couple! Getting my driving license, graduating high school, and going to college would definitely be at the top of that list! For more material things, I’m looking forward to Hacker’s Memory, the new Persona rhythm games (I’m being very hopeful that they’ll be released in English around the same time of their Japanese versions) and Final Fantasy Dissidia!

20. What’s something you learned this year?

How to drive!

21. What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year?

My old swingset broke. I still use it as a way to destress (the repetitive motion of swinging, combined with listening to music really clams me down) and there’s no way we can really repair it until it gets warmer... which could be as early as February, or as late as April, considering the weather patterns. Basically, it has to be above freezing to do anything.

22. Favorite place you visited this year?

Boston for college tours! It was a great city, though I could’ve dealt with less stress from trying to figure out where the fuck to go...

23. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

It’s hard right now. God do I know how hard it is right now. It’s gonna get harder. You’re going to hate everyone for a while, because no one really helped you the way you needed help, but you’ll make it. I promise you’ll make it.

24. Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?

Technically yes, because I didn’t make any. Can’t break any resolutions if you never make ‘em.

25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

Uuuuugh I have a lot that I just make in my head, but because I have the artistic skills of a drunk goldfish I can’t typically draw them, and I’m too nervous to write about them (^^;). Other people can keep asking this one, and I’ll describe a different OC that I have, but only in my head, y’know?

I DID get FFXV Comrades and made an OC! His name is Tonitus, Tony for short. He’s 5′3″ and hails from... Altissia, if I remember correctly. He has about mid-length black hair and bright, that almost Mako-colored blue eyes. 

In my weird-ass lore about the guy, he’s a messenger who got amnesia from falling to the surface. He’s loyal to Ramuh and can harness lightning magic easily, and struggles with fire and ice magic. He got the Kingsglaive uniform from Ramuh himself, who sent him down to Eos to assist the humans with the encroaching darkness and rampant daemons and infected wildlife. As he regains his memory, he’s torn with assisting them like a human would or like a pseudo-god, and his own mortality and how he’ll deal with everyone passing long before him, long before the light can be restored, long before the King can ascend.

[wayfarer-bjd]

End of the year thoughts. word vomit (or what I’ve been up to “behind the scenes”). if I don’t do it now it’ll never happen before year’s end. 

Wall of text incoming ha („ಡωಡ„)…

.

So, at the end of this year, I have more Nendoroids than space to display them. But somehow, with great patience and determination, creative rearrangements, and installation of new shelves, I have made them all fit. XD

I’m getting into other types of figures as well. Scales, which I never saw myself buying in the past–have you heard of Parfom figures, uber cute–and model kits and figma type figures. *gasp* Gundam?! Should I do Gundam??? I kinda want to now. Robots are so much fun. Which brings me to... Polynians! Which are the best thing ever. My most anticipated figure is the Polynian Shamrock which is kind of a re-release but kind of not. He got a body upgrade and a few other minor changes. I cant wait to finally own one. (3 cough cough) One of the three I’m only getting for the body which I’m going to use to make my Polynian Janna a boy. Wouldn’t Janna make the sweetest boy? They just have the most innocent looking eyes <3 And now that we’re on the subject of robots. I recently bought/preordered some Frame Arms Girls that I’m planning on modding into boys (sorry but almost everything has to be a boy in this household). I’m starting of with Materia, Baselard, and (alternate color)  Hresvelgr. I really dig their designs but its an all female figure line :(((( I still have no clue how I’ll be going about it, but mark my words, those girls will be turned into cute robot boys. Not sure if there will be 3 robo boys or if I’ll be mixing and matching parts for just 1 or 2 boys. hmmm

Oh right right! I also became interested in Azone’s Assault Lily line, specifically the custom Lily (Lilies?). Its basically a head w/sculpted hair on a picco neemo body (1/12 size so small!). From what I can see there a named Lilies which seem to have established characters and come with unique costumes and items and the custom type which are available in three variants (just different hair colors) and plain clothes. They’re basically the same aside from the clothes and slight price difference. None of the character lilies’ faces really spoke to me, so, I went ahead and pre-ordered a custom lily 037 with pink hair. She comes with extra face plates and hair parts. But if you know me you know I don’t usually get girl dolls so why this one? Cuz I’m making her into a he too! :D not sure if I’ll mod her body or not. I might just sell it because *drumroll* I might just not need to (mod it that is). Azone is releasing Picco Neemo DANSHI soon –  picco neemo boys!! There are currently photos of prototypes labeled a, b, and c. I’m not sure if they’ll release like the custom lilies where each letter type will be available in different hair colors or if that counts as one doll and he’ll be available in three different hairstyles. I’m thinking it’s the first option but you never really know. The c type has the best hair imo.

Pure Neemos and Ruruko dolls are adorable af and I need moar! Now that I have a couple of each I feel like there’s a some sort of story developing (rurukos and PN are in different “universes”/separate stories). They’re by far my favorite dolls to shop for. I love having them within arms reach to play around with when I’m bored. Fun to dress up, fun to pose, and so portable too! I’m currently waiting for the limited edition Wizard of Oz Himeno who will be the younger (twin?) sister to my Alvastaria Neil, my tol gentle boy. She comes with cute pastel clothes and is on the S body...I think. S body is the best girl body imo. The M and L just look like an elongated version of the S size. It looks a little weird. And xs size is cute but too small for my taste. (although I do love my xs rurukos/PN and wouldn’t even think of selling them. I just can’t see those little guys on any other body) 

I need to find someone to paint my blank obitsu head, the person I was thinking of sending him to isn’t taking commissions right now T-T I don’t even know if they’ll reopen. I hope so. I really like their work so I wouldn’t mind waiting. I need to get him a body. I want a pure neemo S size boy body for him but I can’t seem to find one second hand and Azone still doesn’t sell that body separately, only the xs size. OTL

My doll count is fluctuating as always. I just never know if I’ll actually like the doll until I have it in my hands. -__- So far my oldest doll is still the first, sweet Enda, followed by young!Marion, then Quinton, adult!Marion…and it gets hazy from there on. Oops lol. My most anticipated doll purchase is…5th Motif Venitu!!! Yaaasssss!!! Aaaa I can’t believe I was finally able to purchase one. Super excited for this one. I guess he counts as a grail? I really wanted one. Never thought I’d get to own one. I painted one before (faceup commission) and he was so so beautiful. I want him now! >o< I had him on a 6 month LA but now that I’ve sold my DDS Len I can pay him off much sooner. !!! !!!!!!!!! !!!1 1!!!!! 

Now that I’m speaking dolls, I still need to buy a body for my Fairyland event head whom I’ve named Soma. I’m not sure if it’s his permanent name or a temporary one. You know what, its probably permanent. I’ll get so used to it I won’t be able to see him as anything else. That’s what always happens with placeholder names, that’s how Marion was named lol. I also need to get my Luts Satyr his human torso. (and redo his faceup x__x Did I name him? I don’t think I named him yet. Bodies still needed for Egil and Gera. I need to get some eyes that actually fit my Kanadoll boys, Egil (adult!Marion stole his eyes) and incoming Venitu (!!!). I want to get some glasses too, I’m not sure who will wear them though. I was thinking they would go to either Valentine or incoming Venitu. I have a thing I’m working on for my Batchix St George, Gilbert. It’ll be pretty neat-o if it turns out ok ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also need to finally wash that bag of alpaca hair and get to making some wigs haha. I would also really really really like to do a proper photo shoot with adult!Marion now that he’s complete. He’s gorgeous. Love him. Best boy. Fav boy. He’s my #1  <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

I want to post more on my tumblr though I have no idea what. More photos? Character info? Story snippets? Drawings? Faceups? Would anyone be interested in my non-bjd figures? :p hmmmmm What do?

My resolution for the coming year is try to be more active in the community. To leave nice comments on people photos and actually talk to people. Have conversations? I’m so bad at this but I’ll try. >__<

That’s basically it. Um if you wanted to see more of my stuff there’s more activity (randomness and bad pics) on my insta @silent.wayfarer. Its basically all of interests crammed into one place. No organization. Kind of like a photo dump. Its my comfy trash pile. 

[kyluxtrashbin]

Kylux Fic Rec List! (Part 3/?) XL Edition!

I meant to do this like...4 months ago. I’m awful. Sorry. Here’s a bunch of things I loved reading. As always, mind the tags.

A Lover’s Token | @vadianna Rated: E / 6200 words Kylo gets off on physical evidence of his trysts with Hux. So he gets Hux to regularly rub him off through his leggings. He doesn't wash them. More or less.

Pretty Little Thing | @kyluxicle Rated: E / 8500 words Being a General is stressful, and when the stress becomes too much Hux goes to Kylo Ren to decompress. Sometimes decompressing means being dressed up and fucked like a whore.

The Mountebank | @kdazrael Rated: E / 15200 words For the Kylux Hard Kinks prompt: 'Broke student Kylo answers a call for medical research subjects that he finds online- $150 per visit. It takes several trips to Dr Hux's office and an inordinate number of things up his ass before he realises it might not have been a genuine advert.'

My Skin Is Theirs | @claricechiarasorcha Rated: E / 10800 words Apparently, Lieutenant Mitaka has quite the collection of saucy softcore Cadet Hux pictures. Apparently, Kylo Ren thinks this is entirely inappropriate in men of their standing. Apparently, General Hux has an idea.

Delineation | @vadianna Rated: E / 7000 words Kylo is always astonished by his visits to the specialty club in Hutt Space, even after so many trips. This time, Hux runs into an old kitonak acquaintance.Or: They have sex with an anonymous alien as a third partner.

The Immaterial Stardust of His Being | @saltandlimes Rated: E / 5200 words After a Resistance attack, Finalizer's main reactor is only hours from total collapse. Hux tries to hold his ship and crew together, while planetside, miles below him, Kylo Ren races the clock to bring back parts for the reactor and save them.

Nudge | @obsessions-and-dreams Rated: T / 2050 words Ren would nuzzle softly against Hux's throat or jaw or cheek and every time, without fail, Hux smiled or laughed. For some reason Ren liked that, and so he kept doing it. And Hux kept letting him.

The Walkout Bout | @nerdherderette Rated: M / 3300 words "No, don't want that shit." Ben doesn't want it, or need it. His years of training and a lifetime of name calling have taught him to deal with pain, especially when it came to matters regarding his face. He lays back as Hux begins cleaning the wound, the sting of the antiseptic replaced by the prick of the surgical needle entering his skin.He breathes, feeling the pull of the fast gut drawing the ragged edges of flesh closed as Hux's fingers flew. It never fails to surprise him that Hux would choose to slum away several days a week fixing up amateur boxers in a fight factory. It's nearly as surprising as the idea that someone as beautiful and talented as Hux could be interested in someone like Ben.

New Soul, Strange World | @hollyhark Rated: T / 4900 words Ren senses Hux in extreme distress and rushes to his aid, thereby discovering that Hux has a phobia of basic medical procedures due to childhood trauma. Ren deals with it, reluctantly but in a way that would make his mother proud (which he resents).

Fools of Us Both | @theearlgreyalpha Rated: E / 3750 words Somehow, Kylo had convinced them both that he was far more experienced than he was. His infatuation with Hux proved to be his downfall, running his mouth to boast about a sexual prowess he simply didn't have, and when the time came to prove it...he failed. Miserably.

Friends With Renefits | @moonwalkingcrab Rated: E / 37400 The Rules: 1. Just sex, no feelings 2. The arrangement lasts as long as is beneficial 3. Either party can choose to end the arrangement, no questions asked 4. No kissing

All The Way To Your Door | @kyluxtrashcompactor Rated: E / 44550 words Six months ago, Hux lied to his father. He said the man in the picture he pulled up on his phone was his fiancé. Hux never anticipated telling his roommate, Ben, that he had been cast as Hux's lover, but when Hux's father dies unexpectedly, he is forced to tell Ben the truth, and ask him to play the role at Brendol Hux's wake.

strange phenomenon | @brawlite & @kyluxtrashcompactor Rated: E / 65750 words Kylo Ren is haunted by recent tragedy. He answers an ad posted by one Armitage Hux for a roommate, and he thinks a fresh start will help him begin to heal. He brings next to nothing with him from the past when he moves in.Or so he thinks.

Uniform Code be Damned | @pangolinpirate Rated: E / 3700 words How long had it been since he’d been touched this way? The bitter answer that floated to his mind was ‘too long.’ Hux sighed and leaned into the knight’s touch, stretching his neck toward Ren’s lips and capturing them with his own.

Accidentally on Purpose | @onewhositswithturtles Rated: E / 3800 words Kylo has been harboring feelings for his uptight boss, Hux, over the last year but said nothing for fear of getting fired. Unfortunately one night Kylo's friends get him drunk and Kylo decides Hux should see what he's missing, and texts Hux a dick pic. The next morning when Hux tells Kylo to come to his office after work, Kylo has no idea what to expect.

Noise Resolution | @gefionne Rated: E / 5450 words Hux's neighbor Kylo Ren is infamous for having loud sex with a new guy every couple of days. When Hux gets fed up and files a noise complaint, an enraged Kylo confronts Hux about the report. Hux tries to protest at first but soon ends up in bed with Kylo, screaming just as loud as the boys previously.

Leverage | ballvvasher Rated: E / 6250 words Written for Kylux Hard Kinks prompt: "Hux, tense one evening, coms for a massage droid but accidentally sends it to Kylo instead."

Pleated Skirts and Perverts | @maps-to-nowhere Rated: E / 1000 words Ren has a talented mouth, and Hux appreciates it maybe too much.

Incense and Cinnamon | @mothdustmouth Rated: E / 49000 words Kylo fights with a broadsword at ren faires after becoming disfigured as a teenager. He's able to hide his face and stay in his comfort zone until a troupe of actors, along with one very slender Armitage Hux, start to preform at the same festival. or: Kylo is a knight and Hux is an elf.

Mr. June | @nerdherderette Rated: E / 4300 A simple loincloth barely covers the outline of his mouth-watering length, his stomach ripples with muscles Hux never knew even existed, and his chest and biceps are deliciously thick.  His hands are enormous and strong—meat hooks that look like they could span Hux’s waist.  A simple gold collar encircles the man’s neck, connected to a thin, gold chain. In short, Mr. June looks like someone who had stepped out of a holoporn, and into Hux’s wet dream.

[muslimsmoak]

tagged by @blackcanarydinah thanks, annie

APPEARANCE:

I am 5′7″ or taller

I wear glasses (i walked to the first floor lobby to fill up my water bottle earlier today and realized how blind i am without them, they’re mainly for distance and i imagine that all the time i spend on my phone and laptop isn’t helping) 

I have at least one tattoo 

I have at least one piercing (ears, am considering more but still deciding and money’s an issue)

I have blonde hair

I have brown eyes

I have short hair  (and LOVING it, i recently braided it one night and let the curls out in the morning, put lipstick on and felt like a brown Peggy Carter. it was empowering and i need to do that more often.)

My abs are at least somewhat defined (abs, what abs? food babies are where it’s at?)

I have or have had braces (we do NOT talk about this, from 7th grade to summer before 11th, before the braces, you could never find a pic of me smiling, or showing teeth, and i was called vampire in the 7th grade)

There is something I would change about the way I look

PERSONALITY:

My Hogwarts house is: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin

I am an introvert

I like meeting new people sometimes (sometimes, very rarely, only if they’re good people too)

People tell me that I’m funny (during my 6th grade camping trip, my friends told me i could be a comedian)

Helping close friends with their problems is a big priority for me

I enjoy physical challenges (in the short time i kept up with my ny’s resolution to get fit, i learned that I am secretly a gym junkie. ami at steve or emily’s level? HELL NO)

I enjoy mental challenges

I’m playfully rude with people I know well

I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it (me with youth slang, like i sometimes feel weird saying “it’s lit”) 

There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY:

I can sing well

I can play an instrument

I can do over 30 pushups without stopping

I’m a fast runner

I can draw well (i did a self-portrait fro a class last summer, it turned out okay, and a couple years ago, i tried to draw a portrait of this one fashion blogger and it turned out well) 

I have a good memory

I’m good at doing math in my head

I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute

I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling

I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch

I know how to throw a proper punch (thank you older brother who boxes and 6 months of taekwon do) 

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports

I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else

I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else

I have learned a new song in the past week

I work out at least once a week

I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months

I have drawn something in the past month

I enjoy writing

Fandoms are my #1 passion

I do or have done martial arts (tae kwon do for 6 months in 8th grade, never finished cos my family moved away, i do remember some punches and blocks, i miss practicing kicks) 

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss

I have had alcohol (don’t tell my mother) 

I have scored the winning goal in a sports game

I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting

I have been at an overnight event

I have been in a taxi (maybe, probably when i was a baby and my parents decided to travel the country with an infant is the best idea, also do ubers count? if so, then yes) 

I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year (i wasn’t hospitalized, but a loved one was, oddly enough, exactly one year ago, it happened)

I have beaten a video game in one day

I have visited another country (bangladesh because of parents’ ethnicity, jamaica and cayman islands because of a cruise) 

I have been to one of my favourite band’s concerts (this was during my boy band phase and i shall not reveal the name of the artist to retain whatever piece of dignity i have left) 

RELATIONSHIP:

I’m in a relationship

I have a celebrity crush  

I have a crush on someone I know

I have been in at least 3 relationships

I have never been in a relationship  

I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them

I get crushes easily

I have had a crush on someone for over a year

I have been in a relationship for at least a year

I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend”

I live close to my school/job (does living on campus count?)

My parents are still together

I have at least one sibling

I live in the United States (save us) 

There is snow right now where I live

I have hung out with a friend outside of school in the past month

I have a smartphone

I have at least 15 CDs

I share my room with someone (please no more, i can’t handle them anymore, have had bad luck with the the past year, message me for stories if interested)

RANDOM SHIT:

I have breakdanced

I know a person named Jamie

I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce

I have dyed my hair (do highlights count?)

I’m listening to one song on repeat right now (evermore off the live action beauty and the beast movie) 

I have punched someone in the past week 

I know someone who has gone to jail

I have broken a bone

I have eaten a waffle today

I know what I want to do with my life

I speak at least 2 languages fluently ( somewhere between 4-5, grew up with bengali and english, i can understand 20% of hindi and urdu cos they’re very similar because of geographic location, and spanish because the gifted program i was in at high school required me to graduate basically fluent in spanish, and my mother was trying to teach me arabic when i was young but i barely remeber the aplhabet and have a limited understanding of the arabic phrases i use in daily life) 

I have made a new friend in the past year. (tumblr friends count, right? buti have made some new irl friends) 

Tagging: @dmichellewrites @latinasmoak @queensoverwatch @mogirl97 @dollyrose09 

[ozsaill]

Holiday gifts that cruisers want

As avowed minimalists, this feels slightly awkward putting a post of holiday gifts together. But the reality is that there are useful needs to meet in a life afloat. This peek into what works hopefully aids those anticipating a similar path: a personal look what’s worked for us, and what’s on our wish list, as idea fodder for gifts to the the sailors in your life. It’s organized into four angles:

Best additions to Totem this year

Wish list: functional gifts

Wish list: what the crew really wants!

Especially for kids 

I. Best additions to Totem this year

This is a shortlist of items that had the biggest positive impact on board in the last year. Some are practical, some are just for fun / quality of life, a few are a bit of both.

Paddleboard – finally got one on board after The Great Kayak Debacle of 2016. Weighing pros/cons, we picked the durability of a fixed board over a space-saving inflatable. A shorter (10’) Jimmy Styx model (year-end closeout!) is right-sized for our humans and has provided hours of fun and fitness. Siobhan paddles in front of Totem, photo at top.

Underwater dome lens – talk about bang for the buck. Only $50 to get some of my favoritest pictures ever. Just fit the GoPro inside and swim! It’s so flippin’ cool to have split images with above/below water…like this one showing Totem  floating in crystal Bahamian water while a nurse shark dozes on the sand below.

Pic made possible with a dome port lens over GoPro. Me on deck, Jamie in the water; Staniel Cay, Bahamas.

Winches – Jamie likes to fondle our new Andersen stainless steel winches. No, seriously. Aside from the fact they are incredibly sexy mirror-finish stainless, the engineering of these makes them a better mousetrap, starting with guts that require less maintenance. Ribs on the drum don’t need as many wraps for sufficient friction, and they’re kinder to lines than conventional drum texturing. Jamie is all the warm fuzzies from that ribbed drum. I kinda want to get a lascivious picture of him with one.

Mantus scuba– we used to wish for dive gear on Totem, but it never made sense; a mix of upfront cost, equipment x 5 crew, limited space, and just not being die-hard divers. But we do really like getting underwater…a lot! Adding a pair of Mantus tanks has been perfect. Good fun for more marine exploring beyond our freediving skills, plus peace of mind as added safety equipment (invaluable if an anchor fouled below freediving depth / hang time capability).

Kids dive with Mantus scuba. There’s that dome port lens again too!

ACR ResQLink+. This personal locater beacon (PLB) was added to our safety kit for taking off to the Bahamas and beyond. My worst nightmare is losing on-watch crew overboard; I still worry when Jamie’s on watch and I’m “sleeping” off watch – these help me actually relax, knowing he’s basically attached to an EPIRB.

Drone – we picked up a Phantom 3 pro during the post-holiday-sales last year. I know, have been lame about sharing the footage (will provide room & board on Totem for anyone who can train us up!) but – WOW. The images are amazing! I love the bird’s eye view it offers of our life afloat! New Years Resolution: learn editing and share some videos. I’m not kidding about hosting someone who can school us! (Aline are you reading?! )

Culebra, Puerto Rico

Dinghy. When our trusty Avon finally gave up (well, it was 19 years old) in Thailand, the Highfield we replaced it with was… suboptimal. Not big enough, didn’t ride as well. A dinghy is one of the most frequently used bits of gear on board so we felt the gap. The 10.5’ AB (aluminum, double floor, bow locker) we picked up at Tradewind Yachting Services in Nanny Cay in September is AWESOME.

TOTEM shirts! New earlier this year, we adore these super-soft, organic cotton shirts and LOVE seeing people wear them. If you order Totem gear (Ts, caps and a hemp market bag too), send us a picture! 

Show your (neutral, water-based) colors with a yummy soft Totem Tshirt!

II. Wish list: practical

The next set… well, they aren’t exactly sexy holiday gifts. But the way our family looks at the world is in more practical term (I just realized how crazy that probably sounds to a lot of readers- yes, chucking convention to live on a boat with no fixed address is very practical. Really!): these are the practical wish-list expenditures. Right now we’re saving all our pennies to transit the Panama Canal but; some of these we expect (chaps, shade) others are less likely.

Dinghy chaps. Fabric covers fitted to the hypalon tubes extend their life by preventing chafe and reducing UV exposure. These are labor intensive and custom made, haven’t rationalized this expense just yet.

Outboard. Dinghy theme lately? Our outboard has been struggling for over a year, something that dependably gets a full load on a plane would be sweet. This 15hp Yamaha would do us right.

Repaint Totem’s hull. It’s so beat up, the guys working in the shipyard in Grenada were laughing at us—all in good fun—and asking if they could give her a makeover! Hey, there’s a dugout canoe associated with almost every ding, those are good memories…OK yeah it would be nice to have a pretty boat again.

Cockpit shade. We have an AWESOME, pretty new (2016) bimini frame (thank you to the great guys at TurboXS!)…but it still lacks the whole fabric-shade-that-attaches-to-it part. It will be really nice to get the last mile of this addition completed.

Sailrite. We’ve gone back and forth on these durable sewing machines. Cons: machines need to be used to stay workable; they are heavy, and they take up a chunk of storage. But in the Pro column: Jamie could do a lot with one, like dinghy chaps and cockpit shade! He’s a sailmaker, used to be a hands-on in the pit guy and knows his way around a pro machine. Our M.O. to date: Jamie fixes other cruiser’s Sailrites that have stopped working after languishing in a locker by bartering for usage to get a project done.

Making our dodger soft sides in Jacksonville: thanks Patty!

Countertops. The formica installed in Thailand, unfortunately, is not good. It’s a long story. But the formica is nearly worn through, the trim wasn’t done right, and a bunch of other stuff. For the Someday files. Solid surfacing would be so dreamy!

Solid state external drives. The movable parts on hard drives, in computers and external drives, have shorter lifespans with the small constant motions of a boat. SSDs would be less prone to failure. The multiple of expense is unfortunate (and almost rationalized by failed drives!). The only downside: external SSDs are mostly small, so you’d need a bunch to accomodate all the photo and video files a family accumulates. Sample: this Samsung 2TB drive, ~$800.

III. Wish list: just for fun

What’s your heart’s desire? I asked everyone on board to contribute their “wish” gift idea for something they have zero need for, but a dose of desire. This turned out to be difficult: we are pretty good at being satisfied with what we have instead of craving what the boat next door has! But there are some great ways to be indulgent on board. The top five are our personal picks, the rest are from family brainstorming.

Niall: PADI dive certification. (shhh: I think we figured out how to do this affordably enough in Bonaire next month! He doesn’t read the blog – don’t spill the beans anyone!!)

Mairen: horseback riding. (still with the experiences. C’mon Mairen it’s about Stuff! She never got beyond “more art supplies then?”)

Siobhan: a puppy. KIDDING. Except she wasn’t. Her BATNA wish is to have any book she wants for a year. Qualified with “you know I use the library mostly.” People, she reads a LOT. Thank goodness for ebook loans from our hometown library!

Jamie: Code zero with a continuous line furler on a sprit. Because the sailmaker’s boat is a little bit like the cobblerss kids… often wanting. Here’s why Jamie thinks this is a winner sail for cruisers.

Behan: fancypants freediving fins, and lessons to go with them. (As long as we’re daydreaming, I’d learn from supermama and freediving champion Ashley Chapman at Evolve Freediving, with a whole- family lesson!)

More Totem crew wish-list picks that may generate ideas for giftees on your list:

Water-friendly drone. We’re having so much fun with the ‘regular’ drone, imagine one that lands on the water, or follows behind the dinghy – saltwater spray be damned?! This very cool looking Splash Drone 3 lands on the water and floats. Whoa. Or the QuadH2O: double whoa.

Mini home theater projector. We watched movies outside on the Delos deck once upon a time; I harbor dreams of hosting anchorage movie nights with a film displayed on a sail “screen.” One that’s bright enough, not to big, and doesn’t draw too much power, decent speakers…or 3 out of 4. Like this maybe (and wow, that’s a good price!)?

New computer. OK, not family but Jamie. The Toughbook that is our navigation computer doubles as his personal machine, but doesn’t play well with Windows 10. Newer models do. Still a big fan of Toughbooks for their durability on board.

Camera equipment. Better underwater shots with an Olympus Tough: the GoPro is awesome for environmental shots, but fails on macro, and those are fun to take underwater. Above sea level, I traded in all my Nikon gear to migrate towards Sony’s mirrorless a7 series, and will always be drooling over lenses.

A dozen Luci lights. We have one and it’s fantastic: indulgent wish list version,- how cool would a strand of them be hung tiki-light style around the cockpit?! 

IV. Just for kids

The genesis of this year’s list is a question fom one of our coaching clients. Less than a year from taking off cruising and looking for Christmas gift ideas for their four children, they had this assignment for our kids: “What is 1-2 things do they wished they had or have had on the boat, and what are their favorite 3 things/toys they cannot live without?” Simplifying slightly I asked our kids what things on the boat were most important to them. Turns out phrasing matters. Answer #1: friends. Their friend showed up a few minutes later; asked the same questions she looked at me as if to say “duh” and said – “My family, of course.” It took a lot of prompting to come up with Things You Put Under a Christmas tree. But we got there, and this is good!

Quality snorkeling gear: mask, snorkel, fins…also good rashguard and wetsuits. Shorties are great for extending in-water time! Many cruisers (and most boat kids) spend a lot of time in the water; get good stuff that won’t fall apart, it’s harder after you leave. The kids really like the masks they got from Divers Direct in Florida this year, and they’re very reasonably priced (holiday sale: $40?!).

Beach fun: boogie boards and beach bocce are our favorites.

Fishing kit. Get kids their own tackle box, handline, a net to grab stuff that goes overboard; even a Hawaiian sling spear if they can handle it.

Field guides. Not kid books, but GOOD field guides. Identification of underwater life was a big hit from the time we started cruising with littles. Region-specific matters, I believe: the Gottshall two-book set is amazing for Pacific Mexico; DeLoach guides rule for the Caribbean: one for Reef Fish, one for Coral, one for, well, everything else (Reef Creatures).

Scooters.  Bikes are impractical; kids like wheels and folding scooters fit. Utility varies by cruising grounds (not a lot of roads in some oceanic regions!), but these are great get-around fun.

Arts & crafts. I’m not very crafty, so packaged kits like Klutz are perfect for me. Getting good materials will serve you later: these watercolors are richly pigmented and last a long time. Oragami, beading, or whatever! There are lists for this in Voyaging with Kids.

Chocolate. Yes this was on their list. Clearly these are my children.

Board games, cards. Our current favorite is Dread Pirate (thank you Sallianne and Doug!). Try cooperative games! Family Pastimes games got us started… Pandemic is the classic. This post about games cruisers play lists a number of other favorites on board.

Legos. Our lego days are over, but the kids know these are huge for the younger set.

Totem and Utopia, rafted up for Thanksgiving last week: because 1) better with friends and 2) drones rock!

Want more ideas?

Here are the Christmas gift posts from the last few years. They’re all aimed at cruisers, but each with a slightly different take:

Gifts that give a little more (2016). Focusing on sourcing gifts that contribute in some way to a greater good than just the Thing.

Gifts under $50 for sailors (2015). Keeping the costs contained! OK, there was one item over $50.

Gifts for cruisers (2014). Tried & true: fun, functional gifts that cruisers can use.

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