#like literally our city has quite a few nice buildings that ive had to have ppl drag me away from staring at them and everytime i go to

[iknowwhereyousleepatnight]

The secret to good school is good funding. One day, I dream of a world where all schools have options for their children. Personally, I think it's pretty important for that sort of thing to start out early. See if you're actually into that think BEFORE you're 100k in debt and hating your life.

My area has some awesome architecture. One time, I wanted to do a project on it, and my teacher said it was too complicated. I cried, like genuinely left that class, found a place to sit down, and just cried. The buildings were pretty, and I wanted to talk about them. I really do love the amount of thought put into those buildings. The people who made them are dead, but their art is still there. A bunch of dudes 100 years ago sat down and designed this theater. Then more came in and built it. And here I am, sitting there.

Architecture is so awesome in the way that it's interactive. It can survive longer than any human.

definitely!! being able to explore interests before you gotta choose one for your career is soso important i rlly wish i got to try out some more shit before i had to settle on smth

also sameee my city has a lot of old architecture (especially my school. some of the buildings are falling apart but they're very old and very pretty) and im like just in awe of it like architecture is an art but it's more than an art because unlike a lot of art it's not just something to look at it's somewhere someone lives or works or goes with friends and makes memories like a lot of art doesnt have a practical function but architecture does and it serves as a setting for so much of people's lives and that's really impactful and so awesome because there's architecture everywhere and it's all so beautiful *dreamy sigh*

also sucks that ur teacher sucked i hate when teachers/profs won't let you do projects on what ur passionate abt like passion is the basis of learning why aren't u supporting that....

[beyondmistland]

“May your heart be your guiding key” (Full thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III below!)

Graphics:

Ø  The game is bloody gorgeous, which helps mitigate the long and frequent cutscenes

Ø  The lip-syncing rarely fails

Music:

Ø  The new remixes are awesome and the brand-new tracks don't disappoint either

Ø  What does though is the actual audio mixing:

More often than not I struggled to hear the music over the sound effects during gameplay and the voiceovers during cutscenes

Ranking the Worlds:

Ø  #1: Corona: The world is huge, with varied terrain and a kick-ass final boss

Ø  #2 Olympus: The sheer scale and scope of the world took my breath away, plus we (finally!) get to fight all four titans

Ø  #3 The Caribbean: Assassin's Creed IV meets Kingdom Hearts, what's not to like

Ø  #4 Monstropolis: While not as eye-catching as some of the other worlds the way it intersects with the broader KH lore is really neat and the final cutscene was a delight in that it averts the Disney characters being useless when dealing with the original KH villains, on top of which its straightforward design is a nice change of pace, my only complaint is that there are only four types of Unversed

Ø  #5 San Fransokyo: The story is surprisingly short, which means you don't really get the chance to explore the environment, which sucks because the verticality and day/night cycle are awesome, plus there are a number of memorable boss fights

Ø  #6 Twilight Town: If it had been fully recreated based off the KH2 version the world would be much higher on my list but despite how small it is I love the liveliness, not to mention how peaceful it is in comparison to the other worlds, the same can be said for Hundred Acre Wood

Ø  #7 Keyblade Graveyard + Final World + Scala Ad Caelum: Though jaw-dropping in terms of visuals and audio they're not fully realized worlds, the same can be said for Dark World

Ø  #8 Toy Box: I loved the final boss as well as how the story tied into the larger plot of the game and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy exploring Andy's room while "You have a friend in me" played in the background

Why then is Toy Box so far down on my list, world design

Even with endgame stats (LV40-45) the Gigas are tough to take down and as a result they come off as gimmicky in the worst sense of the word, beyond that the fact that the majority of the world is set in Galaxy Toys made me feel constrained and claustrophobic, which could have been partially alleviated if we'd been allowed to make our way through the parking lot outside, finally, the story kind of got repetitive with the backtracking whenever the characters were about to leave because "someone went missing yet again"

Ø  #9 Arrendelle: Though it has one of the best final bosses in the game along with Corona there is so much wrong with this world that I wonder if it's less Square Enix's fault and more Disney placing an insane amount of red tape on their favorite cash-cow:

1) Elsa does not become a party member even after you beat the world

2) You do not get to explore the city or the ice palace despite the latter being fully rendered on the map

3) Larxene, a lightning-based character, randomly traps you in an ice labyrinth when that would have made a lot more sense both logically and thematically if it had been Elsa

4) Speaking of Larxene, she does practically nothing the whole time you're there unlike Marluxia and Luxord, who are at least semi-active

5) You climb a mountain and get knocked off of it so many times that even Sora gets fed up

6) The bloody minigame where you have to find Olaf's body parts

7) Forcing us to watch the entire "Let it go" sequence and then having "Do you want to build a snowman" play over Anna's voice as she's explaining herself to Sora

8) So much of the story is excised that you have little clue as to what's going on to the point Hans appears for all of five minutes, doesn't say any lines, and isn't even named when it would have been cool, not to mention, just plain better, if he had started off as a guest member of your party

9) As a result of #8 Sora, Donald, and Goofy's presence feels like even more of an afterthought than usual in the sense that them not being there wouldn't have changed anything at all apart from Hans' Heartless then having no one to defeat it which can be seen by the fact that when they leave no one tells them goodbye unlike in every other world

10) The visual design was bland and tiresome after a while

11) The world's gimmick was uninspired to say the least

12) Fighting alongside a giant snowman (AKA Marshmallow) was awesome and in terms of pure gameplay the labyrinth was actually quite fun

Story Pros:

Ø  Master Xehanort's new voice actor is good but after hearing Leonard Nimoy's voice for the past couple of games the change is a bit jarring

Ø  The way previous games are referenced and tied together is a nice way of bringing new players into the fold while also setting up the finale's resolutions

Ø  The game has a better sense of humor than previous installments

Ø  Sora is more like his KH2 self than the bland caricature we saw in 3D and quite a few characters display some degree of genre-savviness

Ø  Master Yen Sid gets out of his chair to lend a hand for once

Ø  Donald Duck is the most powerful mage in Square Enix canon (and I am not making that up)

Gameplay Pros:

Ø  Being able to switch between different save points in the same world is a welcome addition

Ø  The secondary ability of all shotlocks to airstep is ingenious

Ø  You can have more than two party members finally!

Ø  The secret ending isn't too hard to unlock

Ø  You can upgrade your Keyblades, which means older ones aren't automatically relegated to redundancy

Ø  Donald and Goofy are useful again after being nerfed into uselessness in KH2

Ø  Towns and cities are actually populated by fully-voiced NPCs!

Ø  Cutscenes in Theater Mode are unlocked after completing each world rather than after beating the game

Ø  I never tried the Classic Kingdom minigames but the cooking one with Remy was a nice break from the normal gameplay (I suck at the egg-cracking one though)

Ø  The camera doesn't get in the way like it infamously did in KH1

Ø  I like the new main menu design (Feel free to disagree though)

Ø  The Gummi Ship is entirely optional outside of a few mandatory boss battles

Ø  Moogle Tickets are a nice way of giving players a second chance during difficult encounters (I do wish they didn’t activate so quickly though) 

Gameplay Cons:

Ø  The game never once tells you that you can switch between Situation Commands using L2

Ø  The game never once tells you that you keep all your lower-tier magic (Fire, Fira for example) and that your shortcuts don't automatically update to include the higher-tier version of whatever magic you have equipped

Ø  There's no real incentive to switch between Keyblades (That being said, my favorites are Wheel of Fate, Nano Arms, and Happy Gear/Ever After)

Ø  Attractions lose their charm quickly and completely ruin the flow of combat

Ø  Summons aren't too big of a deal since I only ever ended up using them once and even then it was by accident

Ø  Donald still heals you at the wrong time more often than not

Ø  Even on Proud Mode the game is way too easy for the most part (Apparently Critical Mode addresses this but I can't confirm that)

Ø  There is a lack of sidequests and post-game content that contributes to the feeling Square & Disney gave us half a game (For example, there is only one secret boss, said secret boss has a generic design, no ties to the story, and can be defeated at LV40 on your first attempt)

Ø  Hollow Bastion, Mysterious Tower, and Destiny Islands are not playable

Ø  The parkour from 3D has been nerfed too much in terms of distance to actually be useful

Story Cons:

Ø  Nomura fridged Kairi and he worfed almost everyone the first time you arrive at the Keyblade Graveyard!

Ø  The wrapping up of plot points and character arcs from prior entries was a little too nice and neat for me

Ø  The out-of-nowhere introduction of Subject X

Ø  Pete and Maleficent do literally nothing the whole damn game

Ø  The pacing is awful:

Almost all of the game's resolution is held back until after you've beaten the last Disney world

Ø  There are two important cutscenes in the Final World that you can accidentally miss because for some reason they are optional

Ø  We don't get to see what happened to Lingering Will, which also means we don't get any more insight into the third aspect of being (AKA the soul)

Ø  There are no Final Fantasy characters in the game, not even Sephiroth!

Ø  What happened to Demyx?

Ø  Master Eraqus has absolutely nothing to do with Terra’s restoration

Changes I’d make:

Ø  Require us to go through the Disney worlds a second time like in KH2

Ø  Have Aqua and Ven be saved halfway through the game instead of at the end, they could then spend the second half of the game resting or join you on one of the Disney worlds to refresh themselves

Ø  Have Lea and Kairi join you on one of the Disney worlds to get practical experience

Ø  Make the Keyblade Graveyard sequence be a series of one/two/three-on one battles so that members of Organization XIII can use their full arsenal of attacks from previous games

Ø  Let us play the second battle between Lingering Will and Terra-Xehanort

Ø  Speaking of Terra-Xehanort, we should have fought him alongside the Guardian Heartless

Ø  Have us explore Scala Ad Caelum while hunting down the individual replicas before then making us fight all of them in a boss battle

DLC

Ø  The presence of it says a lot about the game and not in a good way

Final Score

Ø  7/10-8/10

[therealestatesparkblog]

No, You Are NOT Going Too Far in Pursuit of Financial Independence

I was talking to my buddy and co-worker Craig Curelop recently. It was about 7:00 p.m., and we were having one of our not-infrequent discussions about financial freedom late after work. As usual, Craig was cooking dinner at the office after his workout. I suspect that he was cooking here in an effort to save money on electricity that hed otherwise have to use to cook at home (I cant even tell if Im joking about that or not). I was just here late, trying to catch up on emails. For some time, wed been having a debate about his approach to attaining early financial freedom. I was claiming that Craig goes too far in his pursuit of financial freedom. Craig was politely dismissing my claim and insisting that he was perfectly happy with his situation. Craigs Obsession with Financial Freedom Now, I think I have some good reasons to think that Craig is going pretty hardcore in pursuit of early financial freedom. He does a LOT. Craig house hacksin a house that is eerily similar to the property I first bought back in 2014my first house hack. His home is just a few blocks away from my property, but a bit newer and nicer. Craig, however, gets a far better financial return from his investment than I did and will likely do better with his investment than me over time, even though I bought an investment that has better numbers as a traditional rental property. How does he do this? Simplehe rents out his bedroom on Airbnb and sleeps on the futon in the living room! Craig bikes to workevery day. Thirty degrees and snowing like it is on the day I write this? Craig is still on his bike. Craig rents out his car on Turo, netting positive every month on vehicle expenses. Craig does not eat sugar. Craig does not consume alcohol. Craig is involved in extra-curriculars like Toastmasters in an effort to constantly improve himself. Craig reads incessantly. Craig hang-dries his clothes to save money on electricity. Craig gets up at 5:30 a.m. each morning to pursue his goals. Craig meets investors and potential contacts multiple times per week. Craig has literally optimized almost every part of his life in pursuit of early financial freedom. Is this too much? I certainly thought so at firstand I told him so. I thought so until our conversation the other night, when I suddenly remembered what I did to jumpstart my journey to financial freedom.

Related: 7 Daily Habits of Real Estate Investors Who Seek Financial Freedom My Obsession with Financial Freedom See, when I got started on this journey, the term house hacking (but certainly not the concept, which has been around forever) had just been invented by Brandon Turner in this article. The concept of biking to work was completely foreign to me. In fact, every single person I had ever even heard of (excluding the 40-year-old virgin) drove to work or took public transit. Riding a bike had just had not presented itself as an option until I began reading a blog called Mr. Money Mustache (one of my favorite blogs of all time). In spite of friends and family who thought I was crazy, I bought a house hack. I took this Mr. Money Mustache guys advice and biked to work. I read over 100 personal finance, business, psychology, and career-related books. I quit a stable, hard-earned job with middling corporate opportunity to pursue a highly risky job at a startup. I networked with investors all over the city. I tried to get up early to pursue a version of the Miracle Morning even though I hated it and am a night owl. I cooked all of my own meals and almost never consumed anything that even approached unhealthy. I kept a daily log. I even hung dry my laundry instead of installing a dryer. I did this for years. I still do much of this. I dont regret it one bit. In fact, looking back, I wish Id been more like Craigmore obsessed, more (not less) productive. You Dont Have to Be Perfect Forever! The reason I initially thought that Craig was doing too much was that I am currently growing soft. Nowadays, I still house hack. I bike to work, but much less frequently, and often on a custom built e-bike that I put together over the summer that is pretty awesome. This is partly due to a nasty foot injuryI suspect I will resume with biking more regularly on the road bike as the foot continues to improve and the weather gets nicer in the spring of 2018. I cook less and eat out a few times per month. I love Chinese food and am willing to splurge on it now a bit. I enjoy dates at casual restaurants with my girlfriend. I have a dryer. I still spend very little compared with your average American, but its creeping up a bit. I sometimes forget that Ineeded to do the hardcore things that Craig is currently doing to get where I am. Are they things that I want to do for the next 50 years? Are they things that Im even still doing today? No, not all of them. Am I proud that I did them and happy that they contributed to my current position? Absolutely. But the point of all of this is that I can afford to bring some luxuries back into my life now. I have enough passive income to purchase some of these things and still get ahead. And while my passive income more than pays for my lifestyle as things stand, it is not yet enough to comfortably fund the life I could see myself wanting in the futurea life that will involve fewer still of these optimizations. As my portfolio continues to grow over the next few years, I see a more permanent house in my future. I see potential pets. I see a very nice, large kitchen and a significantly improved bathroom in a future residence compared to my present situation. I see some luxuries that Id truly enjoy, like maybe a backyard or garage filled with home gym equipment (purchased second-hand via Craigslist, of course). I see myself gradually approaching a lifestyle that anyone would call middle or upper-middle class. But Ill be able to live that lifestyle at extremely low cost, with minimal waste, and fund it entirely with a surplus from real estate cash flow. This result will unfold gradually, as I consistently increase my passive income in the coming years. And this is possible solely because of the optimization that I implemented in the past and am continuing to ride in the present. Im starting to get soft, and I may well continue to soften in the future. To plan on living an entire life of perfect optimization would defeat the purpose of pursuing financial freedom. I seek bit by bit to build the exact life I wantand to only increase my standard of living in proportion to my passive incomeand never in excess to the point where I will grow fat and lazy. Im willing to go without some of the things I eventually aspire to in order to make that dream a reality. Craig has a similar vision. Craig will not be living on a futon forever. As his wealth grows, as he eliminates his student loans, and as these choices become less and less meaningful to his financial position, I am certain that Craig will cool it a bit. Related: The Surprisingly Simple Secret to Financial Freedom Most 9 to 5-ers Overlook Once you are at a point where you feel that you can ease off the gas pedal, do it. Do it in certain areas that are most meaningful to you. As your passive income increases and covers your living expenses you can stop making the sacrifices that everyone thinks Craig and I are making! But What About Living in the Present? Notice, however, that neither Craig nor I give up or gave up certain things that are universally accepted as important to a well-lived life. Like travel. Like nights out with friends. Like attending sporting events. Like visiting family. Like attending life events of those we are close with. Like volunteering in the community. Those are the things we associate with living. Craig does not go too far in his pursuit of early financial freedom. Craig is one of the healthiest, most well-adjusted folks I know. In spite of his unforgivable love of Boston sports teams, including the New England Patriots, he is a genuinely funny guy, a hard worker, and has friends who come to visit him from all over the country. Craig is doing this whole thing exactly right and will enjoy experiences comparable to every other 20-something in Denver over the next few years, based on his interests. The only real differences between him and the rest of the pack are that he will arrive where he is going on his bicycle, and he will rest his head at night on a futon instead of in a bedroom. He says these things do not affect his happiness. And I believe him. How could they? I believe that Craig has some of the highest odds of anyone I know of achieving a $1,000,000 net worth by the age of 30. You might look at Craig and think, Thats crazy I could never do what he does and sleep on the couch while renting out my bed! But I challenge you to see things from the other perspectivefrom Craigs perspective and mine. Is it crazy to build that much wealth that early in life? Is it crazy to enjoy the same recreational activities as your peers, yet come out way ahead financially? Is it crazy to create a life that is healthier, more fun, costs less, and sets you up for greater career success or income generation? Is Craig crazy? Am I crazy? Or is everyone else crazy?

You Need to Get Obsessed with Optimizing Your Life, Too! Almost every day since I started optimizing my life, my life has gotten better. Ive become healthier, wealthier, stronger, happier, a better skier, a better rugby player, and more in tune with my family. Ive experienced career accomplishments. Ive since met a wonderful girl who Ive dated for a year and half and love very much, and I have what I consider to be a pretty good, fun-filled life. I believe that this progression of events is not unique to Craig and me. Almost everyone I know who has gone on to achieve financial freedom at an extremely early age, who has accumulated a large amount of wealth in a short period of time, or who has started a successful business has done some version of aggressive, all-out optimization in pursuit of their goals. Maybe successful folks didnt sleep on a futon or even house hack. But you can be sure that they devote outsized time, in the beginning, to getting some kind of venture off the ground. You can be sure that they earn more than they spendby a lot. You can be sure that they become obsessed with the success of the venture theyre involved in. Every blogger on this site is obsessed with their craft. They study it relentlessly for years. You need to develop the same healthy obsession with your goals as well. No one has come to me and said they regret these types of choices. No one regrets giving a worthy goal their best efforts. And even if they do, in most cases, choices like these are easily reversible. You can always stop reading, stop networking, stop biking, and stop house hacking if you decide its not for you. Craig can simply stop listing his room on Airbnb tomorrow if he wants and live at a lower cost than almost every American, in the heart of an expensive city at that! Yes, folks can build a million-dollar net worth as middle-class wage earners over a period of decades. Thats not hard and can be achieved automatically, with merely sane spending habits, buying a reasonable home, and contributing to a 401(k). Im not talking about achieving this result. I dont write for folks looking to achieve this result. I seek to help people trying to achieve early financial freedom in a fraction of that time. And to do that, you need to become obsessed. And if you truly want to give yourself the best chance at achieving this goal rapidly, you need to optimize with a passion and zeal. The part of the journey that Craig is currently in is the part that so many more of you readers need to undergo to truly jumpstart your journey to financial freedom. This should be the fun part. Its where you really make the changes necessary to become successful. Ive met dozens of people who are undertaking this journey and house hacking (yes, with kids) in the bottom units of up/down duplexes. Ive met people who have begun biking to work. Ive met people who read relentlessly or who take action day after day in pursuit of success with their career or side hustle. For the first time in years, many of them are excited to take on life. They identify the correct opportunity, the opportunity that offers them a real shot at achieving their goals, and they pursue it 100 percent, with their best efforts, for years. Dont mistake these folks for the outliers. The folks who achieve financial freedom rapidly without making optimized choices in almost every area of lifechoices that increase their wealth, productivity, and happinessare the exception, not the rule. Conclusion Look, I totally understand that Craigs approachor even my approachmay not be something that you want for your entire life. Frankly, I DO NOT plan to house hack in perpetuity, and I am reasonably sure that at some point Craig will move on from his futon to a bed, then a house that he eventually wants to reside in semi-permanently. The whole point of this is not to live like this forever. It is to do it as long as necessary to achieve your goals. The point is to create and execute a plan to create the life you want and then live that life exactly as you want, as the person in nearly complete control, forever after. And along the way, youll probably find that many of these sacrifices are actually all-around improvements in your day and lifestyle! Im not trying to convince you to live on a futon. Im trying to tell you that doing so will not impact your happiness if you go in with the right mindset. And that it is not and should not be a permanent state of affairs. Im trying to tell you that choices like that are the ones that increase your odds of accumulating money and freeing up time with which to pursue big income and investment opportunities unavailable to folks with tiny savings rates and no free time. You may think that Im strange for biking to work, making my own meals, and living in a house hack. You may think Craig is strange for renting out his bed and car, sleeping on a futon, and biking to work. But to us, this life is better than an alternative that involves long commutes, being handcuffed to a mortgage, and engaging in unhealthy or unproductive behaviors that dont produce results or fond memories! And in five, 10, or 20 years, the folks who make choices like this are more likely than not to be multimillionaires with multiple properties and multiple sources of income. Dave Ramsey famously says, Live like no else now so later you can live like no one else. The implication of this is that you have to give up happiness and sacrifice now to live the life of your dreams later. This is not how I have experienced things. Life was better immediately after making the choice to optimize my lifestyle around my goals, AND it continually improves as I reap the financial, career, health, and relationship results of those choices. I feel good about where Ive been, where I am, and where Im going. You can live better than everyone else now, in an extraordinarily low-cost, productive, and impactful manner, AND live like no one else later. I made the mistake of thinking that Craig was going too far in pursuit of financial freedom. But he can and should go farther and faster if he can and will continue to love his life. Let me state it all again: He enjoys it. And he should enjoy it. He is becoming healthier, wealthier, happier, and more self-confident with each passing day, week, month, and year. I too have enjoyed it and will continue to enjoy it. You should enjoy it, too. I honestly believe that those of us who pursue early financial freedom and make the optimizations necessary to make that a reality experience a better life in the interim while pursuing it, a better life approaching Financial Freedom, and a better life after achieving financial freedom. There is no sacrifice in this way of life. The improvements you make to your life may have positive effects immediately and will likely only continue to grow. I give you permission to choose the healthy, wealthy, happy path that you know will leave you better off when its all said and done. And once you decide to go for it, optimize for happiness, health, and wealth without apology. Were republishing this article to help out our newer readers.

What lengths do you go to in your pursuit of financial freedom? Have you ever encountered criticism for living the way you do? Share below! https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/pursue-financial-freedom-unapologetically

[allsortsotings]

SPAIN LIFE: MUJAR

Ive been meaning to sit down and properly write an account of the last few weeks for, well, the last few weeks.

Moving to Spain has been a thing on the life agenda for years and now that it has happened it feels so normal. People often ask how we ended up here and the answer is ‘it just kind of..happened.’

Uprooting everything and leaving the country is a lot easier than it sounds. Just plan lightly and steadily for a few months then pack everything you own into a big bag some hours before your flight.

Watching Netflix’s minimalism documentary before going made being materialistically ruthless a lot easier. Less than a week later I may have moaned about charity-shopping an old faithful denim dress but another week after that and it’s forgotten. Clothes don’t really matter when you’re digging a hole to plant a fig tree on the side of a mountain.

I’m currently writing this from a tiny-house in a place called La Candadosa whilst Torben, or Jupiter, prepares some garden pumpkin with giant pepper and brown rice for lunch. I pulled some spring green-esque leaves and chopped them ready for a sprinkle of nutmeg and olive oil. Andreas, our workaway host, has taken the Sunday for quality time with his mujer, who also lives in Asturias building a massage retreat in her panera. A panera is a building specific to Asturias, its a kind of square barn house with a wooden wall around the top layer which was traditionally used for storing the grains and other dried foods.

Lidia’s is now converted to a sleeping house and dining area for guests and volunteers. Earlier in the week we were welcomed to hers with old jazz records inviting us in to see the table laid with a transparent tray of salad leaves, large bowled shining wine glasses and the low wooden beams making the otherwise cold room rather cosy.

Lidia’s new volunteer Zelah had arrived shortly before us and we connected instantly with a flame of energy. The conversation was filled with a slowly burning excitement which fuelled prospective of a future ecocommunity and networking the many existing permaculture projects in Asturias.

Permaculture is basically finding a way to make growing things sustainable and environmentally friendly. Finding a way to live wholesomely and healthily without making the climate suffer was a big part of the reason we decided to leave England. There are a lot of these projects going on in parts of Europe and we plan to travel through them learning how best to run an ecocommunity.

The big dream is to have an ecocommunity which is envisioned as some kind of large dome in which to do yoga, meditation and disco. There’ll be gardening, growing food, making music, writing, painting and work that makes people happy.

Before embarking on such a task, it seems advisable to experience versions of these realities whilst developing to at least in some way fledged human beings. No one can ever be a fully fledged adult, that would be too serious.

In our bunk above the dinner table four of us talked deeply about life and those personal themes that can be hard not to take with us everywhere. Everyone was so open. We spoke of loneliness, addiction, depression and healing from that. Despite the melancholic nature of the topics, the discussion was uplifting and held a warm tone to it. Already that feeling of communal living has started to creep through into our expanding hearts.

At first we were thinking of finding some kind of apartment or flat in the city and working a bit/socialising/meeting great people but now we are volunteering with workaway we’re quite sure that travelling first is the best option. Also the renewed lust for that communal feeling has somewhat overtaken the desire for a personal space. Life is just better with people.

Oviedo, the city we flew to, is nice but doesn’t feel quite real. The whole thing is almost like being in an open air museum. In one sense that’s lovely, because you have the hill coming down from the cathedral with Tierra Astur and other restaurants pouring Sidra into fragile 70cl glasses as has been done for years in this region. The sidra is made and harvested all over Asturias and is often produced by locals using their own apple orchards. A bottle with enough for six glasses costs about €1 in shops and little more at a restaurant. The custom is to use one glass and drink the whole lot in quick succession amongst friends. Its daily consumption with all meals at La Candadosa is justified by the claimed health benefits of the fermented apples. I’m happy to believe it.

The dull warm buzz it gives reverberates around the pubs, cafes and bars of Asturias, with every customer wishing those who leave ‘hasta luego’ or ‘buenas’ with a smile as they enter. People are friendly, warm and welcoming.

Cheese and cured meats are also hugely popular here, and though I enjoyed all of the traditional culture and play happening every night in Oviedo, after about the fifth day I did start to question the meaning of life. An entry in the bullet journal that day is simply ‘life: meaningless?’. The thoughts lead mostly to the conclusion that finding fulfilling work and flow is neccessary: bar hopping and even sitting in parks eating fruit will eventually become monotonous.

One thing that I truly must point out a love for, however, is the theme and philosophy of Asturian culture which is wonderful: mujar. This means to mop up the juices, to wipe every last bit of olive oil, tortilla and fresh tomato off your plate with a large hunk of crusty white pan. Asturian culture does not waste or take for granted; it savours, devours and celebrates, literally all the juice from the bone. I’ve admittedly been close to a moment of vegetarian weakness in the face of barbecued pork ribs atop a mountain of oily chips in a warm and wooden family barn in Novellana. Sidra and salad saved me.

The place we stay eats almost wholly vegetarian food. Stews, curries, vegetable pasta, salad, etc, so it has been easy and enjoyable to eat with so many other people.

Not only do we share food but knowledge and experience. I’ve learned about gardening, planting trees, mulching (‘mulch is king’), building a sauna, astrology, group healing, permaculture and some Ancient Greek tales recounted in an Irish accent.

Astrology is now a topic of specific interest. It’s endeavour is unlimited, and I’m now more spiritually sure of myself as a swamp witch. Michevious pranks are now followed with the comment ‘that’s a classic Scorpio joke’.

We are so much happier living in the grass roofed Pilgrim’s Cabin just off the route of el Camino de Santiago, with our stuff sprawled across low mattresses and muddy boots at the foot of the chestnut doors. There’s even an enamel tin bedpan hanging on the branch outside, which is a dream come true.

There’s a lot more to say, but first I’ll take further time to mujar: absorb that cultural richness of Asturian life.

[ecotone99]

[MF] Sunday Scaries

The conversation formatting doesnt hold on reddit copy paste, so its much better read thru link

Linking at Top to not spoil the end - hope thats OK!

https://www.casualblasphemy.com/blog/sundayscaries

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Jesus Christ and Other Swear words

Volume II: Anxiety Rainbow

A Slower Burn to Fiery Finish. About 10-15 minutes

Chapter 2, 3 or 7, not sure yet.

​

​

Chapter III: Sunday Night Scream Into the Void

I lie (awake) to myself

A feeling of impending doom. So many emails. Existential dread and the Sunday Scaries.

I cannot sleep, it is nearly midnight. I have so much to do this week.

I lie awake and try to think of all the embarrassing things other people have done.

I can't think of any, so I go back to remembering my own social failings.

The time I tripped in front of my Crush age 14. My disastrous bangs of just last year. The time I mispronounced Worcheschertshishire in front of my cute coworker. The 23 blocks I walked with toilet paper stuck to my foot and that afternoon tanning in the park with a tampon string dangling from my bikini bottoms. Everyone remembers. I am sure of it. I farted once on a conference call.

Monday is only a few hours away. So many emails and the dishes sit soaking for a third day. I shouldn't have slept in today. I have so much to do tomorrow. I think about every time i've fucked up in my past 30 years.

My anxiety builds and I try again to refocus my attention. I try to remember all the embarrassing things other people have done, but I literally cannot think of any. I sort of remember one of my friends shitting his pants. Was that the day I walked into the sliding glass door. Do you think he remembers? Oh god, was it me that poped my pants? Oh jeez, i said poped, not pooped. Im talking out loud to myself.

Thank god no one is here.

I feel lonely.

----

I eat a CBD chocolate and feel the anxiety of impending doom. So many emails.

I remember. I remember every embarrassing thing I have done in my entire life. I have so much to do this week. So many emails. I have a meeting tomorrow and I don't feel prepared. That time I was left hanging for a high five with my hand in the air. I looked like Hitler with no friends. It is Sunday and life is Scary. So much to do this week. Were they laughing at me? I feel lonely. No one talked to me today. I feel like the Pluto of my friend group.

I decide to crowdsource some self esteem and climb on Tinder.

Left

Left

Right

Match!

Left

Left

Oh damn this guy is hot.

Damn, 5’10

Left

Right

Match!

Left

Left

Right

Match!

Right

Match!

Right

Match!

Every time I swipe right it's a Match. I feel attractive and desirable

Left

Left

ew

Left

Left

Double ew!

Left

Right

Right

Nothing. What!?

I lower my standards

Right

Right

Right

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing

Sunday Feels Scary Again. I have so much to do tomorrow. I don't want to play the game anymore. I fear rejection from strangers. Kinda horny tho. I survey my matches and read messages:

“Hey”

“Wanna Fuck?”

“Nice weather Today”

“Show me your bobs?”

“Nice Feet”

A profile stands out

Blake

6”2’ “Ive never shoed a horse, but I told a Cow to go home once”

I don't really get it, but he's HOT. That fish he caught is HUGE! I climb out of my comfort zone and message first. I've never done this before

“Hey” she wrote with butterflies

….

…….

………..

18 minutes pass. Nothing.

I go back to swiping unenthusiastically

Right

Right

Nothing.

I feel like a Moth in a world of Butterflies. Undesirable.

OH GOD. I research gravity blankets and take a xanax. I think of Cocoons.

I fall asleep lonely horny disappointed anxious and 8% numb. So many emails. Maybe I can do the dishes tomorrow after work, the gym, and picking up my prescriptions. I shouldn't have messaged him. I need groceries. That time I tripped on the bleachers and Becky laughed at me. I run through the grocery list in my head. Eggs, avocados, kombucha, spinach, Shame, paper towels, CBD chocolates. I feel weird.

------

I survive another week with espresso and antidepressants. It was hard. I am so tired. I am so tired all the time. Its sunday night and I feel The Doom coming again. I batten the hatches and prepare to wait out the emotional storm under the weight of my new Gravity Blanket. Its heavy and sweaty and I regret buying it. My anxiety rises to new highs and I feel like an idiot. Thank god no one is here. I feel lonely.

Ping!

Blake: :Me

“Hey ;) still up?”

I think about unmatching to teach him a lesson for not replying to me last week, but digital or not, I really need this distracting attention.

“Maybe ;) whatcha doing?”

Trying not to think about Monday LOL

LOLOL Same Same. Sunday Scaries :o

LOL I KNOW! Just gotta get through this week,

I am getting a puppy on Friday!

Puppy! What kind!?

A Frenchi :) her name is Luna

OMG NEED!

You have any pets?

Nooooo :(

You can come play with mine!

Cats or Dogs?

YES PLZ! I grew up with dogs :)

What was the name of your first pet?

Daisy :) she was so sweet

Awww, where did you grow up?

Seattle, just moved for a new job

It's hard being in a new city!

Well I can show you around!

What is your job?

Never been to Seattle, were you born there?

Born in Suburbia, lol

a little town nearby called Auburn

I work for a company that has meetings

I have a friend from Auburn!

LoL what do you meet about?

No way!

We meet about other meetings

Yea, did you got to Westside Elementary?

Eastside

Oh nice, her mom was a teacher there

Did you have Mrs. Ellison for 1st grade English?

I don't remember a Mrs. Ellison?

I had a Mr. Gardner

Oh lol. U like cars?

Sort of

I just got a new one :)

What was the make and model of your first car?

Wow! You are having quite the year!

Lol 1994 black honda civic. The dream

You sound like a Capricorn

Virgo!

Oh nice, when is your birthday?

August 24th, 1990

Just got a pic of my puppy, wanna see?

OMG YES

206-390-0345

I like Capricorns ;)

Oh god that sounded desperate

Texted you

Didn't get it!

Tried again

Nothing :(

Lol new phone too, I think its fucked tho

Whats your email, I wanna show you my bb pup!

Lol look at you Mr. New

[VeganJessica3@gmail.com](mailto:VeganJessica3@gmail.com)

….

……

……..

Did you send it?

…..

Hello?

Fal Asleep? lol

Ping!

An email arrives to my racing heart. He's so inquisitive! New car and a puppy! I wonder what he does for a living? Such a Gentleman, that was a whole hour of texting and he didn't even ask for nudes. I click the notification but my email won't open.

Please login to continue. I type my password “Daisy123”

Incorrect password/email combination

Please try again

Oh, is it lowercase?

******3

Please Try Again

*****3

Please Try Again

******3

Please Try Again

Ugh im so tired, I can't even type right. I'll leave it for morning

--------

MondayVegan Jessica III sleeps well in dreams of Blake, Frenchi’s and Avocados under the weight of her anti-anxiety gravity blanket. She wakes with a smile and grabs her phone eagerly.

Please Try Again

Please Try Again

Vegan Jessica III eats her last free-range Avocado on a piece of whole-wheat gluten-free non-cruelty noGMO carboloaf. Num!

Please Try Again

Fucking Annoying!

I switch over to my work email and begin responding to CC threads as I walk to the train. I meet with my team and we plan our next meeting. We have a great plan to plan.

I get home exhausted. I am so tired. We met for three hours and planned for three more days of planning meetings about meeting plans. I log in to tinder and check my messages. Nothing. I take a xanax and go to sleep. The dishes are molding and i'm out of avocados.

Tuesday

I wake stressed and skip breakfast. I head into work and drink espresso. We meet again to discuss our plan to plan. Everything goes as planned and we adjourn. I get out of work 15 minutes early and swing by CVS Pharmacy for LaCroix and drugs.

Some freak in a fedora oggles my breasts through my oversized sweater. What is he even looking at?

“Hi, yes, prescription pickup for Vegan Jessica III. It should have been called in Monday”

“Sure thing, insurance and ID please. Have a seat, it'll be about 15 minutes”

Pharmacists are just drug baristas, change my mind. I wait 45 minutes for the man in the never-dirtied lab coat to grab a prepackaged bottle of prozac from the wall. I hand him my credit card.

“Im sorry Ma’am, your card was declined, do you have another?”

The word ‘Ma’am’ turns three of my pubic hairs grey. It makes me kind of miss that creep in the fedora surveying my body.

Are you sure? Can you try again

Yes ma’am, the card is declined. Do you have another Ma’am?

Ma’am

Can you try calling them? I left my debit at home and don't have any cash.

I glance at my Fitbit. The time is 6:01pm

Its after 6pm Ma’am, you'll have to wait till tomorrow.

I leave the CVS and the pharmacists spends the next 30 minutes placing the bottle of pills back on the shelf.

----

I go home feeling frustrated. I skip the mailbox, dishes, dustbunnies and head straight for my bed. I pull the gravity blanket over my head like a ghost and feel a little better. I eat a half a pound of CBD chocolate and feel much better.

I log into Tinder. Fucking Blake ghosted. Unmatched. Under my blanket I get scared of ghosts and eat another ¼ pound of CBD chocolate.

Wednesday

I wake feeling like shit. I don't know why. I feel stressed. I call in sick to work and take a xanax and go back to bed. I awake to a phonecall from an unknown number. Fucking spamassrobocalls. I scream FUCK YOU to 1s and 0s. There's a panic rising in my throat.

I haven't checked my personal email in days now and try to log back in. I click password recovery and an email is sent to my old college email | [VegetarianJessica@college.edu](mailto:VegetarianJessica@college.edu). Ugh I can't believe I used to eat honey and drink milk with my coffee; I feel ashamed of my former self. It feels like a Sunday, but it's only wednesday.

I try to login to my old college email to recover my password for my post-college email.

I try to remember my old password

Please Try again

I try all my old combinations

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Lockout timer 29:59..

29:58….

29:57….

Ugh I hate this shit.

Trying to recover a password to recover a password. Did I type it wrong? Was it capitalized? Am I just not remembering it right? Was the ‘I’ a “!” ?? Was there 123 at the end, or maybe beginning?

I need to set my passwords to things I can never forget. Maybe take a lesson from Sunday. Shame and Trauma seem to make for fantastic passwords.

MyFatherAbandonedOurFamilyIn1997!

That's not something im likely to forget

I spend the next 29 minutes finally doing the dishes and feel a little better.

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Lockout timer 59:59

FUCK

I hate this shit. I click the password recovery button on my college email and a third is sent to my very first email address. [Jessica1990AuburnWA@aol.com](mailto:Jessica1990AuburnWA@aol.com)

I go to AOL.com and try to login

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

Please Try again

It feels like im opening those Russian Dolls. Every time I open one, another is there. The Russian Nesting Dolls of Digital Frustration. Please Try Again Later.

Recover the password

to recover the password

to recover the password

Please Try Again

I channel my frustration and hit the gym. Pilates class with Pontious. I stop on the way home and Scream into the Void. I feel a little better.

I check the mailbox before the stairs.

I turn the key and an avalanche spills out. Envelope after envelope, it seems unending. They just keep coming. The cascade flow dries to a dribble and I reach inside to scoop the rest of my mail out.

My arms are full of dead trees and I feel sad. Plus its like super heavy after an hour of cross planking. I ascend the stairs and unlock the door with my keys in my mouth. I push the door open with my forehead and dump the heavy mess of envelopes and magazines on the floor.

A Victoria Secret catalogue catches my eye. I make a mental note of my despise for their company message and start perusing the pages. What kind of image are they putting in the heads of young girls. False standards of beauty. Where are the real women! That bra is like super cute tho. I order three in different colors but my card is declined. The bras never come, its ok tho, they wouldn't have fit me anyway.

When my card is declined I think of Blake’s rejection again. Ghosted. What an asshole. Whatever he's probably just another pig who gets off to Victoria Secret models and supports an impossible standard of beauty. I am now convinced Victoria’s real Secret is mainstream distribution of introductory pornography to young boys in suburbia. That's a big mental leap to take from subquality prethought, but I think it's important to note where some of these idolized false standards of beauty start. They start with aging young Mother’s ordering VS products and catalogs to catch renewed interest from their lazily inattentive husbands and trickledown pornoEconomics recycles the catalogs to prepubescent boys. Hidden and stolen, they are a prime middle-school currency. The image of Desire becomes fixed in pubescent development and the path upscycles again.

I throw the catalog away disgusted and pick up my copy of the much more realistic Vogue. I eat more CBD chocolate and forget to call my credit card company. I fall asleep with fragrant advertisements and two miles of photoshop-smoothed Gigi Hadid legs on my face.

Friday

It's a beautiful morning and i'm feeling rested. I don't know what happened to Thursday. We have a brief meeting about next week's meeting and are dismissed early. Summer Fridays are the best! I meet up with my besties and we dress up to impossible standards of beauty.

Thin pink straps patterned with “VS VS VS” loop my shoulders out of my strapless black dress. Clash is in. I think it looks cute even tho the bra doesn't fit well. I lace up my gladiator platform cork wedges and we head out for a night of dancing.

I dance next to my ugliest friend and bask in double attention.

Buy you a Drink?

Wanna Dance?

Ever Ride a Motorcycle?

All eyes on me. I dance and twirl and snort the night away. This cocaine is fantastic. My credit card still doesn't work so I have boys buy me drinks. I black out a bit and wake up in my Uber home. Its light out and the birds won't shut up about the stupid sun. My heart is beating arhythmically and I feel weird. A feeling of impending doom is brewing and it makes me feel weirder - it's not even Sunday.

I sober up a bit, but can't sleep. I decide to finish the vial of cocaine I took from that boy and do some housekeeping.

I take the trash out and open my computer. I feel inspired to clean and conquer.

I will recover my password!

I see a button for ‘alternate recovery options’ on my ancient @aol email and click

A series of questions challenge my identity

“Date of Birth”

August 24th, 1990

“What was the name of your first Pet?”

Daisy

“What was the name of your 1st grade English Teacher?

Mr. Gardner

“What City Were you Born in?”

Auburn

“What was the Make and Model of your First Car?”

1994 Black Honda Civic

And just like that I'm in! I recover my password and recover my password and recover my password.

The russian dolls reassemble and my anxiety plummets

--------

----

---

Until I open Gmail to a Nightmare

The realization grips me. The Saturday Scaries are Real. I spring to the 4 foot foyer of my apartment where the non-fashion-catalog remainder of my mail avalanche sits piled like rubble.

I rifle through envelopes and cut my finger. It really stings. I suckle a droplet of blood and read the envelopes

Chase | Amex | Credit Karma | MasterCard | Kohls Discover Card | ATT | SPRINT | T-Mobile

Bills. Bills of all kinds. Bills of all shapes and sizes. Bills Not mine, but mine. An acre of rainforest in bills.

My iphone rings and my phone wont open. Panic Panic Panic. Saturday Scaries. I pull my bleeding finger from my mouth and the iphone recognizes my face. I answer the call

“Ma’am i'm calling from TransUnion Credit Reporting, we've seen some unusual activity on your report this week, can you confirm opening the following 227 Credit Cards on Sunday between the hours of 11pm and 4am Monday Morning?”

(This phone call 97% actually happened)

My vision spots and I hit the floor.

___

I awake Sunday. My head is throbbing and my finger hurts. I look at the papercut and it stares back with green eyes. It smells like Almond Butter, but the gross GMO kind. I put CBD oil on it and leave the house.

I head to the hospital, but my credit card is declined. My finger is green to the knuckle and it definitely feels like a Sunday.

I head home and curl up in my bed. With my green arm I pull the gravity blanket over my head and cry. I fall asleep feeling scared and not safe.

I wake to pain. The green has spread throughout my whole body. I feel weak. I need to go to work. So many emails.

I feel The DOOM

I try to lift the gravity blanket, but I am weak and it is too heavy.

The longer I stay, the weaker I become. Days pass and I miss meeting after meeting. I sweat profusely trapped inside a cocoon of anxiety. Unseen emails pile up and add to the weight. My phone is out of battery and I can't reach past the blanket for my charger. I need water. I really need water.

I feel The DOOM

I think of blood poisoning and my plummeting credit scoreThe Chrysalis hardens to reject the outside world

It becomes my Tomb. I feel safe here.

Immune to Anxiety

No emails, no meetings.

The DOOM fades to black and so do I.

submitted by /u/Beerandcabfare [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2QcBhf7

[coruscantholonet]

Survey Response Part 2

Last time we went over statistics, this time we’ll go over some of the things people said they liked about the sim.

“ What are some of the things you like most about the sim? “

Build Related:

 “The city build is probably the best I have seen so farThe look is damn amazing “

“The look is damn amazing”

“It's pretty well designed and free of lag!“

“ The whole urban feel of coronet city and the peacefull feel of Vreni Island “

“The city build”

“The build and orginality”

“ The build quality is very nice, even if some areas are difficult to navigate. “

“ The general feel and atmosphere. “

“ City “

“ Very well built with options for everyone. And I do love the animesh NPCs! They make the place so alive and realistic. “

“ Very good build with plenty of areas to explore and roleplay in. Great use of space making every square meter well utilized. “

Really appreciate these, it was a struggle to rebuild after what happened on the prior seen, makes it worth it to have people appreciate what we’ve done.

Community Related:

“ Community involvement. Consistent traffic. Encouraging role play. “

“ community “

“ The people are very friendly and always someone willing to RP “

“ The rp opportunities “

“ The fact everyone here thinks about character building and not just giving rewards for being online. For example, you really need to train to move through the ranks of Sith, not just alone be active. “

“ ...Having literally any traffic, which currently sets us apart from any other SLSWRP today. “

We’ve been lucky not to be hit as hard as some by the lowpoint of the year. I want to point out many of the SWRP sims put a lot of work into their sims and are worth visiting

“ The friendly community, the absence of trolls/griefers, and it being the most active SWRP sim currently “

“ I love the fact I can be creative, esp. with my own character coming back, 20+ years later after Coruscant. Not to mention, being a unique character species, such as a Red Sith. More importantly, the connections, and friends I have made in the past, whether it was 4D, Byss, etc etc, still remain to some degree. Which probably is what brings me back. “

“ There are actually people on it and there's rp to be had there. “

“ people “

“ the fun RP's and different character personas “

“ So far the various amount of peoples RP seems on point. That alone makes everything else decent for me. “

“ Met some hella cool friends here “

“ The quality of people is above average. “

“ It has traffic “

“The People”

“ I like how active it is. I've met some really nice people since I started roleplaying here, and have had some really nice interactions with more than a few people. It's nice to roleplay in an environment where people can come and go as they please. “

“ that it's active and continuously doing events, and that fact there focused on he corellian system. “

“ Friendly, Focuses more on a believable and less epic SWRP. Nothing absurd in terms of story of bias faction. Opportunity to expand without aggro. Friendly staff. “

Been very happy with the community, significant improvement from what I’ve seen in past years <3

Story & Setting Related:

“ This is the first time in years that character stories have been the heart of the RP, without an overarching storyline dictating what we can and can't RP. Having loose stories through the Holonet News is definitely a help as a loose guide but not being dictated to has allowed for more organic RP. “

“ I 'm also fond of not everything always being an in depth story that needs an end goal. Those are nice, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's nice to just play your character in a mundane, every day situation. “

“ The players are great “

“ focus on crime “

Love how much Underworld stuff we have gone on, probably the most active crime scene I’ve seen in many years.

“ the return to the rich history of the post legacy, was not a fan of the gcw era so glad to see swl back in the era many of us spent years roleplaying in “

“ The roleplay potential across factions “

“ The potential, the opportunity, and of course the activity. “

" that its a neutral setting “

“ The Jedi “

“ Well, I love Star Wars in itself, but I really wish we could have a bigger galaxy :( “

“ the fun RP's and different character personas “

Staff & System Related:

“ eva “

“ I enjoy the hud, its very user friendly. the staff and most players ive encountered have been very pleasant, and helpful. the environmental settings are quite nice, and i like some of the little easter eggs/oddities ive found while exploring (npc's dancing on rooftops, hanging from power lines, and so on) “

“ the admin team “

“ Most of the staff “

“ The group leader of the Crimson Dawn.. he always has interesting story ideas and RPs.. The people are cool to and I really like the LRS meter I feel it works great in keeping things semi balanced meaning not making any certain individuals to over powered. Also the fact that rank is actually based upon time and effort put into the sim not just having a huge ego. “

Our group leads have been among the best I’ve seen in our six year run, all together a great group of people

“ Attention to detail, traffic (usually always someone to RP with), enough staff to manage everything. “

“ have not seen an owner as dedicated as zen in a rp sim “

PERVS!:

“ the boobs “

“ Eva Butt “

“ Not getting arrested for nudity xD “

CorSec needs to get on that!

Final part will go over what people dislike! Coming Soon!

Community & Setting/Build seem to be the #1 thing people do like, have taken some notes as to what wasn’t mentioned.

In case you’ve been in a cave....

[lyvyshor]

Amore...with an Italian twist ;)

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie That's amore,  When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine That's amore...”

     So here it is... some of the Amalfi Coast, with a few bits and tips from a very subjective and personal point of view, for couples in their 30′s, looking for a quick getaway. For me, this was a nice change of scenery, with a bit of colour and freshness, despite the rather unfriendly weather. But... I won’t get ahead of myself and I’ll just let you discover piece by piece what I mean.

     The Amalfi Coast, along with Capri Island represents one of the most popular regions for tourists worldwide. And for good reason! From countless artistic monuments, to the wonders of the Ancient World, going through the spectacular vues, welcoming beaches and, of course, the famous Mediterranean cuisine, this part of the Campania region is an important destination for any traveller.

     Me and my better half are some of those travellers. We just had the chance to have a quick peak on this piece of Italy, in a few days escape from our busy parents lives.

     So here we are, hand in hand, trying to discover a bit of history, doing a bit of shopping, dipping our toes in the Tirenian Sea, having a bite of food... glorious food... and enjoying each other under the (very) shy sun, between drops of rain and limoncello. 

VESUVIUS

     Vesuvius National Park is an UNESCO reservation of the Biosphere and the volcano is considered the most dangerous in the world, given the very dense population in the area, where many homes are built illegally. 

     Those who climb, are in for a rather steep road and will literally have their heads in the clouds, as the surround the mountain, but the views over the bay of Naples are quite a nice reward, along with the strange looking hardened lava here and there. The crater, on the other hand, is a bit of a disappointment, as it is basically a huge round hole with no lava, given that the last eruption happened back in 1944.

     Although it’s such a big landmark for tourists, the only stop before going towards the crater is a tiny shop/cafe, very old looking, not at all inviting, with a bunch of souvenirs like magnets, key chains or lava jewels; they serve a few hot drinks and, only if you buy, you’re free to use the facilities, which remind me of communist times in Eastern Europe, suffice to say.

     But then again, to climb on Vesuvius, a monster of nature, known for thousands of years, well... not everyone has done it, so, tick!

POMPEII

     Here’s another landmark which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage, the reasons being explained by its Committee as follows: “The Committee decided to inscribe this property on the basis of criteria (iii), (iv) and (v), considering that the impressive remains of the towns of Pompei and Herculaneum and their associated villas, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, provide a complete and vivid picture of society and daily life at a specific moment in the past that is without parallel anywhere in the world.”

     Well, I couldn’t have said it any better. Once I was there, I couldn’t help but imagine and wonder what it was like back in time, before the eruption ended it all; I would have liked to be there for a day, maybe, to live how they did, to see whether or not history does justice to Ancient people. 

       Pompeii has a large surface, it used to have 20.000 inhabitants and it takes quite a while to walk around it; unfortunately, when we went, it was raining cats and dogs and this took a big part of the pleasure of discovering. I noticed the big theatre, the forum area, the public baths, the brothel (yea, something for everyone, I tell you!) and... there are a few ancient(!) water pumps with water to drink.

     One thing is for sure, there was a thriving civilisation that Pompeii is showing us even today; people knew how to live; they had all amenities, a flourishing economy, they promoted culture and entertainment.

NAPLES

     Naples is controversial; some say it’s dirty, noisy, chaotic and even dangerous for tourists, others say it’s full of life, vibrant, packed with history and art, under the ever threatening and eye catching Vesuvius. I think it all depends on expectations and everyone is right, in their own way, going from agony to ecstasy: yes, it is quite filthy, laundry is hanging on top of tiny streets, buildings have old paint and graffitti, even on the historic monuments, the traffic is a nightmare, there are beggars and pick-pockets, but, if you’re warned and your expectations are low, you can well appreciate the great area (volcano, hills, gulf, seaside), the hundreds of churches and chapels, the museums, castles, catacombs and the famous Mediterranean cuisine. Moreover, Naples is an excellent starting point for visiting the Islands around it (Capri, Ischia, Procida), Pompeii and Herculaneum, The Caserta Palace, the Amalfi Coast, Paestum.

     Before travelling to Naples, I had read a bit about it; my perception was an  appealing one. I was inspired to visit Naples, to look for more information about the place and to read more about its history and more about the Italian Mafia.

     Another appealing perception was regarding visiting tourist attractions in Naples: “Since 2012, the waterfront has been a pedestrian-only zone, inviting families to walk and bike along the Bay of Naples – with its views that have captivated people for millennia.”, “La Paranza social cooperative now offers tours of Naples’ catacombs, and runs other activities in Rione Sanità”, “With much to love about the city – ineffable spirit, immense cultural riches and world-renowned cuisine, for starters – visitors will likely find more reasons to return, rather than stay away.” (“Don’t let the Mount Vesuvius fire put you off visiting Naples”, article published by: LIVIA HENGEL, in www.independent.co.uk, July 2017).

     I personally did not like Naples much; the few hours we had to look around did not do it justice and the little I visited did not make a strong impression, which is probably unfair; so yes, my perception changed drastically and I don’t really believe that the media did much to influence me, in the end, although there was nothing wrong with the article I had read. Well... maybe next time.

SORRENTO

     The closest city to the Amalfi Coast is Sorrento, which is more than 2000 years old. Close to Naples, but without the chaotic atmosphere of the metropolis, Sorrento is an excellent start for exploring the Coast.

     The narrow streets, which reflect the layout of the ancient city of Surrentum and the numerous buildings which are centuries old, have made Sorrento an ideal destination for relaxation, since the olden days; even Goethe and Casanova have visited this lovely place.

     Sorrento is the place for a passeggiata, an old tradition of the Italians, the evening walk, just before supper time. Whether you want to see the Tramontano hotel, where Henrik Ibsen wrote one of his plays, have a stroll in the Villa Comunale park, or just observe the atmosphere on Corso Italia, you will surely enjoy the experience.

          Just like I did for Naples, I had read a bit about Sorrento before going. My perception was entirely appealing, I couldn’t wait to visit the place and it actually made me eager to discover more. I must say, it hasn’t disappointed, as I enjoyed this part most of the whole trip. Unlike Naples, what I had found out about Sorrento before actually going, did make quite an impact on me, so I was already going with the idea that it would be nice and relaxing; which it was. The media did not lie, in this case.

     If you are a couple. like us, I think the nice thing to do is walk down the marina, have a look at the fishing boats, explore the tiny streets on the steep hill, have a nice lunch at Il Leone Rosso, then dive into the extremely brightly coloured shops in the touristic area. You can also find plenty of little limoncello factories, where you can have a taste, while the staff explain and show you how it’s made.

     If you have a sweet tooth and if you’re lucky, Piazza Tasso might surprise with an open market of delicacies and sweets which might not be found anywhere else.

      Let me just give you some final thoughts, after all this avalanche of information and ideas. I could say that Naples and Sorrento, plus the other landmarks around are worth a visit, whether it is for the cuisine, or for the culture, the adventure and even for the thrill of a dark experience; either way, there seems to be something for everyone.

     Well then! Yes, yes, I know you can’t have enough of my pictures and tales and that you feel like you’ve travelled along with me, but... off you go, visit, explore, don’t just believe me!

[2classysisters]

I recently got back from an 11 day trip to Belize and had an amazing time!   I actually traveled solo on this trip with the tour company, EF College Break.  I’ve gone on a few trips before with this company, but Rachel has always gone with me.  EF College Break is for people ages 18-28, so unfortunately I only have a year left to travel with this company.  There were 42 others on this trip with me, along with a tour director.  I met a lot of new people and made some awesome new friends!  I highly suggest EF College Break if you want to travel, but don’t want to plan everything.  They literally take care of it all for you, which makes things much less stressful.

I thought it would be fun to share with you my travel experience in Belize.  To make things easier, I’m breaking things down into the places I went to.  For each place, I’ll share the highlights of the things I did there.  At the end of this post I’ll also be sharing with you tips, tricks, and hints for Belize that I learned prior to going there and while I was there.  Let’s get into it!

Lamanai Duration: 2 nights Accommodation: Lamanai Landings Hotel and Marina

Highlights

Lamanai Ruins– We boarded a boat and headed down the New River to get to the ruins.  Along the way we made a few different stops to look at sites and species.  The Lamanai Ruins is the Maya City with the longest period of occupancy (over 3,000 years).  The temples and structures we saw along the way were breathtaking.  It’s amazing to think that people were able to build these structures without today’s tools and technology.  It was very hot, humid, and buggy at the ruins.  It was still a wonderful experience and it wasn’t too long of a hike.  There was no one else at the ruins while we were there, which surprised me, and made the experience even better.  I would definitely recommend going to the Lamanai Ruins if you ever go to Belize!

Crocodile Night Safari– Our hotel also offered the option of going on a crocodile night safari.  It was $35 (US) per person.  This safari was educational, yet thrilling at the same time.  On this safari an  American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES) trained guide is with you.  The educational purpose of the safari is to spot crocodiles, catch them, and then tag them to learn more about them.  Our guides did catch one crocodile on our safari.  They check the crocodile out, measure it, and tag it.  Everyone on the safari is also able to take a picture with the crocodile.  The guides were very knowledgeable about crocodiles and I learned a lot about them on this safari.  I thought this was an unique experience and would recommend it, unless this sort of thing scares you.

San Pedro Duration: 2 nights Accommodation: Caribbean Villas

Highlights 

Snorkeling at Hol Chan- On our first full day in San Pedro we went snorkeling at Hol Chan, which is the second largest barrier reef in the world.  We got to the reef by boat and went snorkeling for a few hours in the morning.  This was my first snorkeling experience and it was amazing!  The water was so clear and we were able to see a lot of marine life.  Plus the water was a nice, warm temperature, which was a nice added bonus!

The beach in general-  Since our resort was right on the beach, the beach in general was definitely a highlight while in San Pedro.  Whether you’re interested in water sports, swimming, or just relaxing, there’s something for everyone to do at the beach!

Food Recommendations

Tropicana Restaurant & Bar– This restaurant has a great atmosphere with both indoor and outdoor seating.  It offers a variety of food including Latin, Caribbean, Lebanese, and American dishes.  I got chicken nachos when I went there for lunch and they were delicious!

El Patio Restaurant– This restaurant specializes in Local and Caribbean cuisine.  Like Tropicana, it has a great atmosphere!  I had fried shrimp here and it was definitely some of the best shrimp I’ve had.

Waraguma– Waraguma is known for its pupusas.  I had never had one before, so I tried a chicken one and it was delicious!  It also offers Spanish food as well.  Along with the chicken pupusa, I got a beef burrito and it was so good too!  It was huge, so I could only eat about half of it.  This restaurant is outdoors.  My only complaint about it is that there aren’t any fans or anything so it does get warm there.  The floor of this restaurant is made up of crushed seashells, which I loved!

San Ignacio Duration: 2 nights Accommodation: The Log Cab-Inn

Highlights

Zip lining & Cave tubing- I can’t remember the name of the place where we went zip lining and cave tubing, but we did both of these activities at the same place.  This was definitely one of my favorite things I did on this trip!  I’ve gone zip lining once before in St. Lucia, and loved it just as much the second time.  Cave tubing was such a cool experience.  First we had to hike to where we were going to start tubing.  Then during the cave tubing, we went through caves and just leisurely tubed down the river.  Seeing the caves was really cool!  It was really relaxing tubing too.  I would highly recommend going cave tubing in Belize if you ever get the chance!

Tikal, Guatemala Duration: Day trip

Highlights

Tikal National Park- San Ignacio is right along the Guatemala boarder.  While we were staying at San Ignacio, we took a day trip to Tikal National Park.  Here we were able to see Maya temples,  ball courts, excavated buildings, and some breathtaking views!  Temple IV, which is the highest temple at Tikal, is 212 feet high.  It has great panoramic views of the park once you climb to the top.  This was also one of my favorite things we did on this trip!  The Mayan sites are all so remarkable!

Hopkins Duration: 3 nights Accommodation: Almond Beach Resort and Spa- Honestly, this was my favorite place we stayed at.  This resort is so nice!  You walk out of your suite and your on the beach.  They have a very good restaurant on site as well.

Highlights

Snorkeling- I’m not going to lie, the snorkeling in Hopkins was better.  The water was choppier when we went snorkeling in Hopkins, so it made it not quite as enjoyable.  I also saw more snorkeling in San Pedro as well.  We went to two snorkeling spots with a break at an island in between.  The island was beautiful!  The water surrounding it was shallow and so clear.  A lot of us decided to hang out here while the others who wanted to went to the second snorkeling spot.

The Beach in General- My reasoning is the same as above.  The resort had complimentary paddle boards and kayaks to take out as well!

Food Recommendation

Loggerheads Pub & Grille-  Loggerheads is known for its burgers.  You can also get sandwiches and some other things as well.  The french fries are also super good!  We went here on a Thursday night when there was live music, which made for an awesome atmosphere!  It is a small place, so you may have to wait awhile to be seated/get food if it’s busy.

Belize City Duration: 1 night Accommodation: Radisson

Highlights

Belize Sign- We were only in Belize City one night before flying back home, so we really only had an evening there.  We ended up only having a short amount of free time in Belize City since most of our evening was spent at a farewell dinner.  With the little time I did have, I went with a few girls on my trip to see the iconic Belize sign and take pictures there.  The sign is right along the water and it makes for some great photos!  There’s also a pretty lighthouse right next to it.

Tips, Tricks, & Hints

Get cash beforehand– ATM’s aren’t always readily available in Belize.  Plus there are places that only take cash.  I got all my cash before I left for Belize and this worked out really well.   You don’t want to end up in a bind at a place if you don’t have enough cash and cards aren’t accepted.   You can use US dollars as well, which is a huge plus!  2 Belize dollars=1 US dollar.  Super simple!

Bring bug spray/bands–  I don’t know if it’s only during the wet season, or it’s all year round, but do yourself a favor and bring bug spray with a high deet.  You can also get bands too that you can put on your wrist or ankle. You’ll probably still end up with bug bites though, but at least you’ll feel better about yourself being prepared!  Our tour director mentioned Vick’s vapor rub for bug bites as well!

Wear a higher SPF sunscreen– Since you’re farther down south, the sun is more intense.  Definitely bring a lot of sunscreen with you and get a higher SPF than you normally would.  I brought SPF 50 with me and was religious about applying it.  I didn’t end up burnt the entire trip!

Bring a backpack and/or fanny pack– For me, a backpack was definitely a must to carry all of my essentials in, especially while visiting the Mayan ruins!  Some of the girls on my trip also had fanny packs and those seemed really nice to have your essentials handy right in front of you.

Waterproof camera or case/pouch– Since was in water or by water a lot in Belize, a waterproof camera and a waterproof pouch really came in handy.  I would definitely recommend both or at least one or the other.  For my birthday, I received a waterproof digital camera.  I took this along and used it while snorkeling.  It worked really well!  I also bought a waterproof pouch for my cellphone on Amazon and used it when cave tubing.  I was able to take pictures on my phone while keeping my phone safe!

Water bottle–  This was definitely a must for me!  I carry a swell water with me on the go to most places anyway, but it was very important in Belize since we were on the go so much and in the heat a lot.  A lot of the hotels we stayed at had water bottle filling stations too, which was really nice!

  Well there you have it!  That was my Belize trip in a nutshell.  I hope this post was informative and helpful for any of you wanting and/or going to Belize in the future.  If you have any other questions about Belize or anything I mentioned, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below!

-Michelle

Belize: Travel Guide I recently got back from an 11 day trip to Belize and had an amazing time!   I actually traveled solo on this trip with the tour company, …

[viralhottopics]

5 uncomfortable questions for Hyperloop One

Hyperloop One test facility

Image: Hyperloop One

LAS VEGAS Hyperloop One’s 2016 was about as good as yours: Some good moments (even great ones) and some very, very bad ones.

The next-gen transportation company, which is building a unique people-mover platform based on a design by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, had a milestone moment last spring. In the arid Las Vegas desert and with hundreds of parched journalists watching, it publicly tested the propulsion system for its planned tube-based transportation network that could cut hours-long travel between cities down to minutes. Hyperloop One estimates a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco will take just 30 minutes. The test itself lasted just a few seconds, but Hyperloop One also spent the day proudly showcasing all the progress it was making on building the tubes and preparing for full-scale human transportation by 2021.

SEE ALSO: The world’s first hyperloop is officially coming to Dubai

Hyperloop One promised more exciting tests before the end of the year for more exciting demonstrations.

Then it all appeared to fall apart.

Flamboyant company CTO and Co-Flounder Brogan BamBrogan was shown the door and then he promptly sued, blasting co-founder and Executive Chairman Shervin Pishevar, alleging nepotism, mismanagement and veiled threats. It was an ugly scene that undermined Hyperloop Ones credibility and lingered on until the fall when Hyperloop One and BamBrogan settled out of court.

Since then, the company has reorganized and sought to regain its footing and stride. Pishevar appears to have stepped back a bit while former SVP of Engineering Josh Giegel took over at CTO.

Executive Director Shervin Pishevar (far left), CEO Rob Lloyd (center) and former CTO Brogan BamBrogan at the first successful test of the Hyperloop One propulsion system.

Image: lance Ulanoff/mashable

I found Giegel, Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd and SVP of Global Operations Nick Earle on the floor of CES in Las Vegas last week. Like the rest of us, they were running between meetings and presentations, but I managed to ask them what I consider five critical questions.

What follows is our brief discussion, edited for clarity.

Do you feel like youve stumbled?

Rob Lloyd:

Actually, I am extremely proud of the companys grit, focus and execution and I think weve accomplished things that most people thought would be quite impossible.

Weve continued to build the team, 225 today in the company. The quality of that team continues to be at the highest level on every function. We’ve built out our facilities. Weve made progress on our development loop, which is the primary focus of the company. Weve raised $50 million more equity. Weve built a 105,000-square foot factory 21 miles from where were standing. And we are so close to showing the world that Hyperloop is real, since the last time we talked. I think thats an amazingly incredible track record and something every one of our employees is very proud of.

Is that where we drove to, 21 miles outside to the factory?

Lloyd:

You havent been to the factory. It was 33 miles to the development loop. Maybe 34 to the post site, and we built two preparation areas. The development loop, Josh [Giegel] was there this morning and, literally, the progress on building dev loop, which is the companys focus, to show a prototype, to build a prototype, to show the world that Hyperloop is real, has been phenomenal. But the facilities around that are amazing.

Work on the test facility continues.

Image: hyperloop one

The 105,000-square foot facility 20 miles from here is a fabrication site where Josh and his team have hired welders and fabricators and machinists. Theyre building components and learning the methodology of manufacturing the technology that will be part of Hyperloop and that learning will be part of what we continue to develop on our site, and also at some of the customer engagement sites we have around the world as we move from an early development site to one that would be more like an early production site, which is really the focus of the company.

Are you still on schedule?

Josh Giegel:

As far as near term dates, we talked about basically starting our conducting our development loop, beginning construction on that at the end of last year [2016], which we did and [we are] continuing construction right now. Starting testing basically within the next couple of months here, if not sooner.

Hyperloop One CTO Josh Giegel (left) speaking with media after last spring’s successful test.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

Then, after that, we have engaged with RTA [Roads & Transportation Authority] on the ground in Dubai and in a couple of other spots around the world that are moving into how do we actually build this in your country and how do we actually regulate this?

And then were looking for the 2020 timeline for cargo and 2021 for people. Thats still what were targeting at this stage.

What do you think, at this moment, are your biggest hurdles?

Giegel:

The biggest challenge we have at this spot, taking it to production, is So were doing a proof of technology, proof of concept in the desert, right? Thats our R&D facility. The next rev of that, the next version of that is taking this same performance, or better performance, and driving the cost down. So, thats what were going to be spending 2017 on. And 2018 is going to be really going through a lot of the, building these and moving those into a, this is a new type of product, a higher-performing, low-cost sort of product, which will ultimately get us to the point that we want to be at to be extremely compelling in the marketplace.

Lloyd:

Second thing that I always thought was going to be a challenge was the certification and regulatory environment, where we are dealing with technology that isn’t regulated. Firstly, there is no regulation for Hyperloop and we have to work with regulators to write them. Secondly, typically, these things are done, Well build and then well ask you to certify it, but we are approaching it quite differently. Were collaborating with regulators before weve even finalized the design of the product. Having them weigh in and give us advice as to how to design and develop the product in such a way that they would approve it.

The Hyperloop One propulsion test track.

Image: lance ulanoff/mashable

So, were way further back in that process than normally happens in a highly-regulated transportation technology, and were learning so much about what we would do and the decisions that Joshs team would make. So, that, a couple of years from now, that regulator was a part of that, very collaborative and then theyll be almost co-authors as to how that technology can be regulated. I think thats what were looking for in terms of negating that risk. So, that was one that concerned me and I am pleased with the progress weve made and how much positive reception weve had.

Nick Earle:

I would add that the third challenge as we go to market point of view is really very unusual, which is too much opportunity.

Ive been in the IT business for over 30 years. Typically, you go out to customers to try and persuade them to be interested. We had the opposite problem. We had 2,800 entries for The Hyperloop Global Challenge and we whittled them down to 35 that was announced today. But if you think about that, thats 35 entries, not just for teams, but teams that each have somebody at the government or regional level whos in transportation planning saying, I support this bid.

A worker is busy making the Hyperloop One tubes.

Image: hyperloop one

So, what weve got is 35, government -supported requests for us to build Hyperloops.

We need to qualify and just do a few initially and make sure we get them absolutely right. Se we have a very unusual, at least in my experience, challenge, which is, we really have to be crisp over qualifying which ones that we go after because there is so much demand and so much interest. You could argue its a nice problem to have, but Id argue that actually its a tough problem to have.

What is up with Dubai? Dubai seemed to come out of nowhere. When I read about it, I wondered, is Dubai going to get Hyperloop first?

Giegel:

They put together, the Dubai Future Foundation, put together an accelerator. Its an incubator for startups, so to speak, in that area. And what they were doing was providing office space, but theyre also providing connections to the regulatory and government officials that you need to take a project to scale. We got into that fairly quickly in August and we mobilized a small team, about five of us that went over there for the better part of five months, actually a team is still there, and we moved through that process, we were the first team to move out of that process into the actual feasibility study with the government body there.

They put together a plan together to attract technology talents and technology opportunity to Dubai and to the UAE and completely opened their doors and said, Go ahead and youre gonna need to talk to these people. And so, Lets do it.

Is there a chance that Dubai would have Hyperloop One first?

Lloyd:

Yeah, theres a chance that that could be first. Its certainly not decided. Theres much more work that needs to be done. Theres a chance that that could occur in Europe. Theres a chance that that could occur in Asia. And, quite frankly, were just saying, we need a number of places that really want to do this. So, we can make the decision, the strategic decision, that Nick just mentioned, is when we prioritized and put our resources behind those projects, were really prioritizing that theyre going to get through the entire construction phase, have the government contingent to support them, that we can finance them and raise the capital. Thats another thing in the filter that still has to happen. So, we can get the most phenomenal, high-potential, impactful new route, but well need to be able to raise project financing to then construct that.

Theres a lot of filters to go through.

Dubai is a possibility, but weve got more work to do there, and I think, along with the regulator, were very happy with where we are, but were still working really hard with the team.

How soon can I ride?

Lloyd:

Five years. 2021.

BONUS: Someone made VR shoes and it’s as weird as it sounds

Read more: http://on.mash.to/2jAK1eb

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