#may revisit and color when I have the proper motivation... and also when I have a damn idea what I want Addium to look like

[mangomaking]

rewind seven years

[aimforthedogstar]

Prompt for my boo! How about wolfstar accidentally marrying?

My Boo! This one is for you!!! I may have changed the prompt a little but I hope you like it!

Adorned in a black crop top with the ends of sleeves and collar lined with silver glitter, a grayish pair of denim which complimented his eyes, black nail polish and an array of rings adorning his fingers, Sirius Black was found in his kitchen at 4:00 pm on a Saturday evening cooking up a snack for his godson. The five-year-old was sat at the table with an assortment of crayons and plain sheets before him, intently focused on his brand new masterpiece which seemed more like a blob of earthly colors mixed together. The sight of Harry brought a deep sense of warmth in Sirius’ chest.

God, he loved that kid.

Ever since he first laid eyes on Harry, a small bundle nestled in a bluish-white soft cloth wrapped tight around him, Sirius knew he was gone. Which had been very surprising as he had always assumed he’d be someone who would not be comfortable with kids and neither the kids be comfortable with him. He had also decided long ago, he’d never be a father, comparing the shit his parents had dolled out on him, he figured he knew nothing of the responsibility and wouldn’t dare to mess the kid up. But watching Harry grow up, it had unlocked something in him. He’d never said it out loud to anyone, not even Remus, but he figured being part of the journey of watching a kid growing up was a thing of wonder. Especially at this age where Harry was a barrel of curiosity, questioning everything around him and to revisit the world, he knew all his life from a kid’s perspective brought a kind of joy to him that he didn’t know he was missing.

It was also a matter of great excitement in their little self-made family that the journey would blossom again now for another tiny individual with Lily nearly eight months pregnant. With the baby, James and Lily had taken a small vacation for the weekend and Harry was left in the care of Sirius and Remus.

Plating up the sandwich and fixing a glass of milk for Harry and tea for himself, Sirius set the items on the table and sat next to his godson. “Alright, little buck, time to go wash up.”

Harry who had already been trying to reach for the bread dropped his hands and made to go wash his hands. Harry was also at the age where he didn’t need ‘adult assistance’ to do things, he was a big boy now as he liked to remind everyone around him.

After having done so, the boy eagerly dug into his snack.

“Pa’foot, I have a question,” started Harry who had pulled onto Sirius’ left hand and was examining his rings as he ate.

“Hmm, and what’s that love?” responded Sirius.

“Why do you and Moony not wear rings like Mommy and Dad do?” inquired Harry in a genuine curiosity that only a child could be capable of.

“Because,” Sirius said, “Moony and I aren’t married.”

“Why?”

It wasn’t usual that Sirius had to deal with answering the tougher questions, it usually centered around treats and toys.

“Umm, well, Harry. It’s a little complicated to explain,” began Sirius.

“You and Moony love each other like Mommy and Dad do. And they’re married, why not you?” probed Harry further with the same innocent logic that was any young child’s trademark.

It struck Sirius how simple the world was in Harry’s perspective and trying to explain the more confusing aspects of it, that Sirius he himself as an adult failed to understand sometimes, was a lot harder than he thought.

“I do love Moony, Harry. And I want to marry him as well and give him a pretty ring, but I can’t” continued Sirius and his words fell short in his own ears.

“Do people give rings and marry?”

“Yes, people exchange rings in the ceremony.”

Pondering for a moment in deep thought which Sirius found mind-numbingly adorable, Harry jumped off his seat and ran to the grocery bags they had brought in after today’s shopping. Seeming to have found what he was looking for, Harry brought two items held close to his chest and presented it to Sirius with a grand flourish, “You can give Moony this and you can wear the other and you’ll be married!” exclaimed Harry.

Sirius looked closely at the objects dropped onto his palms to find that they were ring pops. Letting out an amused chuckle, Sirius said, “Love, that’s not how it works.”

Harry’s face fell immediately and it crushed Sirius a little. He had seemed so excited and proud a second ago, believing he had solved the issue surrounding the possibility of his marriage to Remus.

Unable to face the disappoint and deciding to play along, Sirius promised, “Okay. When Moony gets home, I’ll give him the ring. And we’ll do a little ceremony as well, what do you say?”

Harry’s brilliant smile was all the motivation Sirius needed.

They cleaned the room a little. The holiday season had just ended so the decorations were easily retrievable. Sirius and Harry even set up a few fairy lights around the living room of the flat. Harry was so excited with everything that Sirius took it a step further, moving the furniture a little out of the way, he and Harry made a fort which sort of resembled a chapel.

With that, Sirius decided to get started on dinner while Harry waited at the front facing window trying to catch sight of Remus coming home.

“He’s here,” screamed Harry as he ran into the kitchen. Grabbing at Sirius’ arms, he tugged, “come on!”

Unable to help the smile stretching his lips, Sirius cheered, “Okay, little buck, let’s do this!”

—–

As Remus made his way into his apartment, the sight that greeted him made him stop short, his coat halfway undone around his shoulders. The living room wasn’t the same as he had left it this morning. The furniture was askew, blankets covering the center which Remus assumed was a fort of some sort. Tiny lights glittered the walls and the house smelled like rose and sandalwood.

Sirius was on one knee at the entrance to the little fort, Harry jumping around him. He ran to Remus, grabbed his hands and dragged him in front of Sirius.

Bemusement coloring his tone, Remus asked, “What is happening?”

Grinning wide, Sirius commented, “My love, we’re getting married. Would you do me the honor of being my spouse by accepting this lovely ring?” With that, he produced a pillow from their couch, upon which sat two pieces of candy. Ring pops to be exact.

A small laugh escaping his lips, Remus shed his coat and scarf entirely and knelt beside Sirius. “What brought this on?”

“Well,” began Sirius, “Harry was wondering why we don’t wear rings as his parents do and when I tried explaining to him why we weren’t married, we somehow got off track and ended up here.”

“Moony, it was all my idea,” beamed Harry who seemed very proud of this.

Now mirroring Sirius’ wide grin, Remus answered, “It was a brilliant idea little one.” Turning his gaze to Sirius, Remus’ heart warmed and his chest felt like it was expanding and constricting all at the same time. Even after all this time, he still found himself caught off guard when Sirius looked him so full of passion, so full of love and devotion like he was at the moment. Even if this was just pretend, something that wouldn’t be a reality for either of them for quite some time or maybe never in their lifetimes, just the idea of fake marrying Sirius to appease their godson brought up a well of happiness and excitement.

Plucking one of the rings of the pillow, Remus vowed, “Well then, shall we, Mr. Black?”

“Yes we shall, Mr.Lupin!” gushed Sirius.

Harry came to stand between them like how an officiant would if this were real. “Put it on!” He urged.

Both laughed aloud at Harry’ enthusiasm. Sirius went first, placing the ring onto Remus’ ring finger, breaking out into chuckles when it wouldn’t budge past his knuckle.

“I never answered you,” began Remus with a somber tone that caused Sirius’ head to snap up at him, once again finding himself fixed by that intent stormy gaze. “I would love the honor of being your spouse for the rest of our lives, Sirius! I promise so with this,” he broke off checking the ring pop intently. Looking back into Sirius’ eyes, “With this bejeweled Cherry flavored ring in hopes that the rest of our lives will be filled with memories as sweet as this candy.” He placed the ring pop on Sirius’ fingers.

Sirius throat burned and his eyes prickled with happy tears. “I love you, Re!” He said as he dragged Remus’ lips onto his own ending the moment with a sweet kiss.

Breaking apart, Remus turned his attention to Harry, “It really was a very good idea, Harry. Thank you for this. Now I can’t wait to eat my ring.”

“No,” Harry protested, “you wear it forever.”

Standing up, Sirius began, “We don’t want ants.” Seeing the scowl on Harry’s face, he continued, “Don’t worry, Harry. One day, you and I will pick out a proper ring for Moony.” But as he said those words, his eyes never left Remus’ and he could see a promise hidden within them and hoped one day they’d get a chance to fulfill it.

[salarta]

Hardcore vs Casual Comic Book Fans

I’ve had this kind of post in my thoughts for some time now. I feel like right now is a good time to make it. Bear in mind these are my thoughts, not universal truth.

I haven’t said it here much, but I used to say elsewhere fairly often that hardcore and casual fans have different approaches to things. Gauging what to do with a character is dependent on what you can get of benefit from both groups. I’ve mostly talked about this in relation to Polaris/Lorna Dane. This can be broader, but I’m still mostly concerned with the impact on her.

Casual fans

Casual fans are people who are pretty surface level about a character’s history. This does not mean they’re ignorant or have less interest compared to hardcore fans. It only means they don’t know as much about the character as hardcore fans do.

Casual fans bring a lot of enthusiasm for possibilities and directions things can go. What would happen if Polaris hung out with Wolverine more? Or Dazzler? Or Shamrock? What cool relationships and fights and developments can happen to this character that we haven’t seen before?

On the other hand, casual fans may not be aware of major problems with how the character has been treated in the past. Their newness can cause them to not see, as personal example, how Lorna has been treated poorly with Havok in the past and why time kept apart would be good for both of them. They might not know how a storyline where Lorna loses her powers could have a very real risk of her stuck without her powers for over a decade. They don’t know how Marvel thinks and acts, about ulterior motives, or how storylines have been handled in the past. They may only know cliff notes.

Another matter is that casual fans may have a harder time spotting the character. A casual fan’s familiarity with a character tends to be seeing their most common look. If you change that look radically, it’ll be harder. I’ve seen so, so many cases of casual fans (and even many hardcore fans) of mistaking pictures of Aphrodite IX, or Agent Brand, or a random Dungeons and Dragons mage portrait, for being Lorna just because they see green hair.

Hardcore fans

Hardcore fans know a lot of the character history. This means they’re more likely to be able to get feedback for when a certain direction is bad or dangerous for the character. They can be a guide toward the right path, because they don’t want a repeat of past mistakes.

They also know dynamics that haven’t been tried yet and are prime for pursuing. They’ve witnessed a sort of “trial and error” that demonstrates what storylines and developments have and haven’t worked for the character. That might sound the same as above, but it’s the difference between “this is stuff to avoid” in the previous paragraph and “this is stuff to keep doing” in this one.

However, there can be bias in favor of certain past treatments over anything else. That includes new ground.

Hardcore fan likes Lorna as Havok’s girlfriend? They may be staunchly opposed to her ever having any kind of romance with another character besides Havok, even though she’s never had a real relationship with anyone except him. Hardcore fan likes a certain costume, or look, or colors? They may really push for that specific look they like, even if it means casual fans will have absolutely no idea she’s in anything.

They may also be unwilling to really give potential storylines that were done bad before another shot. Lorna was treated poorly with Malice, Zaladane, and many others in the past. Hardcore fans may be unwilling to revisit those storylines, because they don’t think of it as something that can be rehabilitated into a good thing when given good, proper writing. They see it as something horrid that should never be used or acknowledged ever again. They’d rather cut it out of canonical memory even if it means multiple decades of lost story options.

This isn’t to be confused with things done bad repeatedly and recently. When you have a constant pattern that’s repeated in the past 5-10 years, trying it again isn’t “giving it another shot,” it’s trying to force something bad for the character on that character. Give it time first.

There’s preference for popular characters over all others as well. In my experience with hardcore fans, they seem to almost always stress dynamics with popular characters out of a view that it’ll boost the “cred” of their favorite. Emphasis seems to be on what’ll boost popularity over what’ll make for great stories.

Lastly, there can be baggage and lost enthusiasm. When you’re a hardcore fan, at it long enough and surrounded by other hardcore fans of all sorts, dealing with conflict among fans as well as creators/the company screwing your character over can be taxing. As a casual fan, you entered wide-eyed and wondering; with sufficient years, you start to expect that nothing you want to see will ever happen because there are others that put in a lot of effort to keep it from happening, or you just plain don’t care.

Balance

It’s very important to find a balance between the two, and what views among them are and aren’t taken up.

There are two default assumptions made that overly favor one side or the other.

The first assumption is that it’s better to court casual fans because they’re more willing to try new things/forgive mistakes, and there’s a loooot more casual fans than hardcore ones out there.

The second assumption is that hardcore fans take preference, because they’re loyal and know more and they’re more likely to complain a lot if something doesn’t go the way they think it should, which might turn away potential new fans.

In reality, both casual and hardcore fans have pros and cons. To give more weight to one than the other is a mistake. Listening to only casual fans can lead to wild, absurd directions with no real staying power, leading to fandom collapse when it’s lost its appeal. Listening only to hardcore fans can paralyze creators from doing anything new or different, also killing fandom and losing appeal because “Why bother reading about Polaris if it’s just the same stuff I’ve already read over and over?”

Pick up things from both. Find the good of each, ignore the bad of each.

[yesazea]

Tips for Goal Setting Self-Improvement

There are some ways to figure on self-development and self-improvement, but setting specific goals for private growth can ensure success. When life serves up obstacles, because it so often does, having a goal that you simply revisit frequently helps you reset, recommit, and recharge.

It also gives you the motivation and accountability to remain focused and follow through on your plans. Setting goals can sometimes desire a frightening task. That’s why it’s helpful to possess a roadmap to guide you along the way.

Goal-Setting Theory

Like most theories in psychology, goal-setting theory started with the ideas from Dr. Edwin A. Locke, in his article, Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives. In it, he explained the necessity for clear and specific goals that are challenging and monitored with regular feedback and progress.

Locke, alongside Dr. Gary Latham, came up with five principles of effective goal setting. These principles, which include clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback, and task complexity, are the required components when setting, working towards, and achieving a goal.

Additionally, research done by psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews points to the correlation between writing down your goals and successes instead of merely formulating and keeping them in your head.

How Motivated Are You?

If you’ve ever set a goal and quit before seeing any results, then you recognize only too well that it takes quite a willpower to form a change. Setting and achieving goals says licensed psychologist Catherine Jackson, requires motivation, thinking through the plan, and ways to navigate the possible challenges which will arise.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), research shows there are three factors to achieving goals:

Motivation to vary Willingness to watch the behavior Willpower to form it happen All three of those have an area within SMART goals.

Specific

When you make your goal specific, you set yourself up for fulfillment. Consider answering who, what, where, when, which, and why when getting specific about your goal.

Measurable

What benchmarks will you employ to form sure you're moving forward? How will you recognize if you’re successful? How will you recognize if you would like to form adjustments? Having a goal that you simply can measure will assist you to stay track and reach your target dates.

Attainable or achievable

Is the goal you’re setting one you'll reach? While you don’t want things to be easy, you furthermore may want to avoid setting goals that are out of your reach.

Realistic or Relevant

This goes alongside attainable. Is your goal relevant to your life, and may you really achieve it, supported your current circumstances? this might be a goal you’ve set before and didn't achieve because it had been not realistic at the time. But now, under different circumstances, this goal may now be realistic.

Timely and Tangible

For a goal to be realistic it also has got to be grounded within a time-frame, and it must be real or tangible.

Developing SMART goals is critical to success. That said, they often limit you to the “what” and therefore the “how” of your goals. For your goals to be effective, you furthermore may get to find your purpose or the “why” of what drives your motivation.

Determining Your Goals

You can set goals in any part of your life. a number of the more common areas include health, career, finances, and education. These broader categories set the stage for the smaller goals you'll work on yearly, monthly, and daily.

While a number of your goals may land within those categories, it’s important to acknowledge that self-development goals also encompass things like learning to color, learning to golf, and giving back to your community. You don’t need to limit yourself to the foremost obvious parts of your life.

Take a while to believe your passions and interests. Brainstorm some ideas around things that excite you. remember and check out to spot if there’s something you’ve always wanted to try to, but fear of the unknown—or fear of failure—prevented you from taking a risk. The ideas you generate from these brainstorming activities are like clues that will assist you to narrow your focus and set more specific goals.

Ask Yourself Why

The next step you’ll want to require is to ask yourself “why” that goal is vital to you. for instance, if you would like to end your college degree, setting smaller goals that revolve around “why” will assist you to get there faster. To define your why, consider asking yourself these three questions:

1. Why is finishing my degree important to me? 2. Why does that reason matter? 3. Why do I feel strongly that reason? Once you've got a far better idea of your "why," it’s time to try another self-assessment. Going with the school degree example, if you’ve determined that finishing your degree is that the big goal, then, before you apply the SMART strategy to return up with smaller, more obtainable goals, it’s helpful to answer the subsequent inquiries to determine if you’re truly able to make this commitment.

*Are you emotionally able to plan to something which may be physically and or emotionally uncomfortable? *Are you able to be honest with yourself about where you’re at and where you would like to go? *Do you have the time? are you able to say “no” to the items which will interfere together with your goal? Now that you’ve done two different activities to urge clear on your reasons, it should be obvious if you’re motivated to make a change. If that’s the case, you’re able to move forward with the goal-setting process.

Tips and methods to succeed in Your Goals

Setting and dealing with a goal requires quite just a bit of paper and a pencil. There also are certain skills you would like to possess in situ when taking over a goal.

Fist and foremost, you would like to be ready to plan out the steps for reaching your goal. And once the plan is in situ, it’s the commitment and focus that helps to maneuver you towards the result you would like. But, of course, somewhere within the middle, lies self-motivation and adaptability. Here are other tips and methods to assist you to reach your goals.

State Goals With a Positive Tone

When setting a goal, attempt to avoid the temptation to state your desire in a negative way. for instance, “I won't complain such a lot .” Restated positively sounds more like this, “I will find three positive things about my day and write them down before I'm going to bed.”

Focus on the method, Not the result.

This is one of the foremost difficult parts of setting and achieving goals. due to the very nature of a goal, you begin with the top in mind. But it’s really the steps you're taking to urge there that matter the foremost. Let’s say the result you would like is to lose 20 pounds. That’s the goal. But during the method of working towards this goal, you discover that your body is easier at a weight that only has you losing 15 pounds. Did you fail at achieving this goal? Not if you think within the power of the method.

Make a Contract With Yourself.

Once you’re able to go, whether that’s within the preparation or action stage, Jackson recommends making a contract with yourself for fulfillment.

Clear Out the Old to form Room for the New.

Jackson says to urge started on the proper foot, it’s an honest idea to reflect on what you’ve accomplished so far and forgive yourself and abandoning of regret for what didn’t come to pass. While performing on clearing the clutter from your mind, it’s not a nasty idea to try to an equivalent together with your home and workspaces.

Visualize What you would like

“Visualization and mental workouts stimulate many of equivalent neural networks that connect the brain’s intentions to the body, so, take a while to properly train your thoughts before you start setting your goals,” says Jackson. This helps you purposefully and intentionally imagine your goals coming to fruition.

Make a selected Plan

List out your goal or goals and therefore the steps you would like to accomplish them. Then, Jackson says to interrupt these into small attainable steps with realistic deadlines. “This is simpler once you put aside time before the beginning of every week to write down out specific belongings you want to accomplish within the subsequent week which will move you closer to the goal,” she explains.

Keep it Visible

It’s an honest idea to place your goals with the steps and deadlines during a place where you'll see it often. “Seeing the goals and steps you've got to require will keep you motivated and consistent to still work toward it,” explains Jackson. Her advice? check out it weekly or better yet daily.

Reward Yourself

As you accomplish steps toward your goal, confirm to reward yourself along the way.

Reviewing and Reassessing Your Goals

One last item before you get busy setting your goals unless you're the exception to the rule, plan on reviewing and reassessing your goals several times before you reach them, especially if they're loftier goals.

You can set this up as weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly date. It really depends on the benchmarks you set and the way long you’ve given yourself to satisfy your goal.

Regardless of how often you sit right down to do that review, the foremost important thing is that you simply assess whether your goals—and the steps you’re taking—are still relevant and realistic.

This “date together with your goals” also gives you the prospect to watch your progress, which the AAP equates with a greater likelihood that you simply will succeed. to not mention, these review sessions offer you an opportunity to form adjustments and celebrate any successes you’ve achieved, which are both critical during this process.

[bludhavenbird]

SO! Since my blog’s starting over from scratch--One of my main motivations to restart was to properly document my cosplay progress as I get back into this hobby that I’ve really missed and ofc re-upload work I’ve done in the past.

That being said, first post up will be the MadMax!Nightwing variant look I put together last year. 

The initial inspiration for this actually came from tumblr user thewelshqueen back when she did a Mad Max Fury Road inspire Wonder Woman cosplay. I remember sending a few questions their way over what the process looked like for their cosplay while also sharing that they’d inspired me to give it a shot too. In the months before SDCC 2016 rolled around, I approached my friends with the concept of extending the theme to a myriad of DC characters and before long we all set to work!

Now admittedly with our limited time and budget we didn’t get to roll out as many of the characters we wanted or customize each individual look to the extent we hoped but it was still a super fun concept and one I really hoped I’d get to revisit later on--and now the opportunity’s coming! 

I’m busting this one back out and I’m gonna be revisiting/refining this cosplay in preparation of another MadMax!DC group with a more Titans-centric theme consisting of Nat as Starfire, Emanni as Raven and myself as Nightwing. I’m super excited to get another shot at this one, and I’m super pumped to see the group together once it’s all assembled at WonderCon2018!

I’ll try to periodically post updates as I continue to modify and evolve this look, especially since I’m trying to push myself to better document my cosplay work and progress. In the meantime, enjoy some of the limited progress shots I DO have from last year! I added some notes in each image about the process but I’ll put more technical stuff under the cut in case anyone’s interested!

Images (1-2): From concept to realization - I was lucky enough to remember which sketchbook had some of my original sketches for the cosplay. Obviously, the look is heavily based on Max’s own design. Early on I toyed with a more ‘war boy’ type of look for Dick, but I kept getting pulled back more towards being influenced by Max simply due to the visual possibilities involving the Nightwing insignia on the Shoulder piece and jacket. 

The henley in the original design was scrapped in favor for a grey t-shirt that, while not very well visible in the last picture is actually a self-designed ‘Bludhaven Police Department’ shirt. Due to further backstory development in the revisit of this design, that shirt’s gonna be scrapped for the cosplay and I’ll have to find a replacement for it.

Image (3): In hunting for a jacket, I knew I wanted to go with something non-contemporary. I opted for an 80′s style jacket for a few reasons: The original Mad Max was released in 79′, a secondhand jacket would already have a nice worn in or used look, and most importantly -- 80′s jackets provided me a better chance of finding a base jacket that would actually fit. I kept an eye out on eBay and ended up finding a nice women’s Bermans jacket for a decent price. It’s actually worth noting the jacket in the final image is the second jacket I bought for this cosplay, simply because the first one I bought was a different company and style, and ended up way too big for me. Before any painting could be done, I first had to remove the jacket’s iconic shoulder pads and then I actually went to a local tailor to have the sleeve professionally removed because I didn’t have the proper tools on hand to attempt that modification with any real confidence. One thing to note here is that the entire right sleeve has been removed, unlike the iconic half-sleeve that Max  sports. 

Image (4): I ended up buying two types of paint for the jacket. The base white coat shown here is the initial couple layers of white Tulip fabric paint. I’d never modified or painted anything other than a denim vest before, so there was a lot of research and trial/error involved here. In the end, even though Angelus paint is designed to be applied to leather-type surfaces, I knew the white would be necessary to get a nice pop of color and I figured the white Tulip fabric paint would help prevent wearing/cracking of any additional paint layers on top. So far over a year later of a handful of wears and tub storage in the garage, it’s held up well! Luckily, this is a cosplay that can only benefit from cosmetic wear or damage, but you always want that to be controlled chaos, so I’m hoping to prevent any possible cracking or chipping here.

Image (5-6): Close ups of the base coat. I think it took 2-3 coats of the Tulip paint to have a nice even color, and the borders during the painting process were maintained with blue painter’s tape.

Image (7): At last, the Angelus paint was applied! As previously mentioned, this portion was the biggest headache. I needed to keep track of how many coats each portion of the jacket had to make sure it stayed even, and after hours and hours of applying and staring at blue paint, you end up not knowing if you’re where you want to be in terms of the overall look or opacity of it. That said, I think I probably ended up applying about 9 coats of blue paint to the jacket before I allowed myself to call it done?? It’s tough to say, but if I think back that feels about right. 

Image (8): A WIP shot of the cosplay with the majority of the pieces together, no makeup. Here you can see a glimpse of the BPD shirt I designed for the cosplay, as well as the finished jacket complimented with painted fingerless gloves. The shoulder piece makes its first appearance here to, but just with a base coat of black applied at this point. I had originally bought youth football pads for this with the goal of modifying them myself using a Mad Max cosplay site for a tutorial. But lack of time/resources/money led me to try and search one out. I ended up finding an Etsy shop were someone sold dystopian costume pieces, including shoulder pads. I lucked out in finding a piece that seemed like it would fit me, and that (thank all higher power) rested on the same side my sleeve had been removed. 

Originally, the shoulder was a black padding piece with alternating yellow stripes, but I repainted it to match the insignia and arm line of the jacket as best I could. 

Looking back, I think there’s some more modifications I want to try and apply to pull it further away from Max specifically to just fit into the world overall. I think I’m gonna try to add more spikes, diy defensive feathers on the look, and once that’s done I’ll apply Fuller’s Earth to give the overall costume a further desert wasteland worn and weathered look to really tie it all together!

There are some other parts of this cosplay I haven't documented here, in part there were pieces I had to abandon because I ran out of time! But I’ll try to upload stuff as I revisit the boots and escrima sticks along with the other pieces that may evolve as I prepare this cosplay for WonderCon 2018. Please keep an eye out if you’re interested! For those that read this mess, hopefully it was somewhat interested or maybe even helpful in your own cosplay pursuits. Feel free to hit me up with any questions regarding the process or products I used, especially if you’re thinking of trying them out and are unsure about anything. 

[lcomchoukstore]

Tips for Goal Setting

There are some ways to figure on self-development and self-improvement, but setting specific goals for private growth can ensure success. When life serves up obstacles, because it so often does, having a goal that you simply revisit frequently helps you reset, recommit, and recharge.

It also gives you the motivation and accountability to remain focused and follow through on your plans. Setting goals can sometimes desire a frightening task. That’s why it’s helpful to possess a roadmap to guide you along the way.

Goal-Setting Theory

Like most theories in psychology, goal-setting theory started with the ideas from Dr. Edwin A. Locke, in his article, Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives. In it, he explained the necessity for clear and specific goals that are challenging and monitored with regular feedback and progress.

Locke, alongside Dr. Gary Latham, came up with five principles of effective goal setting. These principles, which include clarity, challenge, commitment, feedback, and task complexity, are the required components when setting, working towards, and achieving a goal.

Additionally, research done by psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews points to the correlation between writing down your goals and successes instead of merely formulating and keeping them in your head.

How Motivated Are You?

If you’ve ever set a goal and quit before seeing any results, then you recognize only too well that it takes quite a willpower to form a change. Setting and achieving goals says licensed psychologist Catherine Jackson, requires motivation, thinking through the plan, and ways to navigate the possible challenges which will arise.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), research shows there are three factors to achieving goals:

Motivation to vary Willingness to watch the behavior Willpower to form it happen All three of those have an area within SMART goals.

Specific

When you make your goal specific, you set yourself up for fulfillment. Consider answering who, what, where, when, which, and why when getting specific about your goal.

Measurable

What benchmarks will you employ to form sure you're moving forward? How will you recognize if you’re successful? How will you recognize if you would like to form adjustments? Having a goal that you simply can measure will assist you stay track and reach your target dates.

Attainable or achievable

Is the goal you’re setting one you'll reach? While you don’t want things to be easy, you furthermore may want to avoid setting goals that are out of your reach.

Realistic or Relevant

This goes alongside attainable. Is your goal relevant to your life, and may you achieve it, supported your current circumstances? this might be a goal you’ve set before and didn't achieve because it had been not realistic at the time. But under different circumstances, this goal may now be realistic.

Timely and Tangible

For a goal to be realistic it also has got to be grounded within a time-frame, and it must be real or tangible.

Developing SMART goals is critical to success. That said, they often limit you to the “what” and therefore the “how” of your goals. For your goals to be effective, you furthermore may got to find your purpose or the “why” of what drives your motivation.

Determining Your Goals

You can set goals in any a part of your life. a number of the more common areas include health, career, finances, and education. These broader categories set the stage for the smaller goals you'll work on yearly, monthly, and daily.

While a number of your goals may land within those categories, it’s important to acknowledge that self-development goals also encompass things like learning to color, learning to golf, and giving back to your community. You don’t need to limit yourself to the foremost obvious parts of your life.

Take a while to believe your passions and interests. Brainstorm some ideas around things that excite you. remember and check out to spot if there’s something you’ve always wanted to try to, but fear of the unknown—or fear of failure—prevented you from taking a risk. The ideas you generate from these brainstorming activities are like clues that will assist you to narrow your focus and set more specific goals.

Ask Yourself Why

The next step you’ll want to require is to ask yourself “why” that goal is vital to you. for instance, if you would like to end your college degree, setting smaller goals that revolve around “why” will assist you to get there faster. To define your why, consider asking yourself these three questions:

1-Why is finishing my degree important to me? 2-Why does that reason matter? 3-Why do I feel strongly that reason? Once you've got a far better idea of your "why," it’s time to try another self-assessment. Going with the school degree example, if you’ve determined that finishing your degree is that the big goal, then, before you apply the SMART strategy to return up with smaller, more obtainable goals, it’s helpful to answer the subsequent inquiries to determine if you’re truly able to make this commitment.

Are you emotionally able to plan to something which may be physically and or emotionally uncomfortable? Are you able to be honest with yourself about where you’re at and where you would like to go? Do you have the time? are you able to say “no” to the items which will interfere together with your goal? Now that you’ve done two different activities to urge clear on your reasons, it should be obvious if you’re motivated to make a change. If that’s the case, you’re able to move forward with the goal-setting process.

Tips and methods to succeed in Your Goals

Setting and dealing with a goal requires quite just a bit of paper and a pencil. There also are certain skills you would like to possess in situ when taking over a goal.

Fist and foremost, you would like to be ready to plan out the steps for reaching your goal. And once the plan is in situ, it’s the commitment and focus that helps to maneuver you towards the result you would like. But, of course, somewhere within the middle, lies self-motivation and adaptability. Here are other tips and methods to assist you reach your goals.

State Goals With a Positive Tone

When setting a goal, attempt to avoid the temptation to state your desire negatively. for instance, “I won't complain such a lot .” Restated positively sounds more like this, “I will find three positive things about my day and write them down before I'm going to bed.”

Focus on the method, Not the result.

This is one of the foremost difficult parts of setting and achieving goals. due to the very nature of a goal, you begin with the top in mind. But it’s the steps you're taking to urge there that matter the foremost. Let’s say the result you would like is to lose 20 pounds. That’s the goal. But during the method of working towards this goal, you discover that your body is easier at a weight that only has you losing 15 pounds. Did you fail at achieving this goal? Not if you think within the power of the method.

Make a Contract With Yourself.

Once you’re able to go, whether that’s within the preparation or action stage, Jackson recommends making a contract with yourself for fulfillment.

Clear Out the Old to form Room for the New.

Jackson says to urge started on the proper foot, it’s an honest idea to reflect on what you’ve accomplished so far and forgive yourself and abandoning of regret for what didn’t come to pass. While performing on clearing the clutter from your mind, it’s not a nasty idea to try to an equivalent together with your home and workspaces.

Visualize What you would like

“Visualization and mental workouts stimulate many of an equivalent neural networks that connect the brain’s intentions to the body, so, take a while to properly train your thoughts before you start setting your goals,” says Jackson. This helps you purposefully and intentionally imagine your goals coming to fruition.

Make a selected Plan

List out your goal or goals and therefore the steps you would like to accomplish them. Then, Jackson says to interrupt these into small attainable steps with realistic deadlines. “This is simpler once you put aside time before the beginning of every week to write down out specific belongings you want to accomplish within the subsequent week which will move you closer to the goal,” she explains.

Keep it Visible

It’s an honest idea to place your goals with the steps and deadlines during a place where you'll see it often. “Seeing the goals and steps you've got to require will keep you motivated and consistent to still work toward it,” explains Jackson. Her advice? check out it weekly or better yet daily.

Reward Yourself

As you accomplish steps toward your goal, confirm to reward yourself along the way.

Reviewing and Reassessing Your Goals

One last item before you get busy setting your goals, unless you're the exception to the rule, plan on reviewing and reassessing your goals several times before you reach them, especially if they're loftier goals.

You can set this up as weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly date. It depends on the benchmarks you set and the way long you’ve given yourself to satisfy your goal.

Regardless of how often you sit right down to do that review, the foremost important thing is that you simply assess whether your goals—and the steps you’re taking—are still relevant and realistic.

This “date together with your goals” also gives you the prospect to watch your progress, which the AAP equates with a greater likelihood that you simply will succeed. to not mention, these review sessions offer you an opportunity to form adjustments and celebrate any successes you’ve achieved, which are both critical during this process.

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New Post has been published on Webpostingpro

New Post has been published on https://webpostingpro.com/amd-radeon-rx-550-review-a-thrilling-budget-graphics-card/

AMD Radeon RX 550 review: A thrilling budget graphics card

The maximum famous video games within the international don’t want a beefy photographs card.

Yes, I’m speaking approximately e-sports. The likes of League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Worldwide Offensive dominate Twitch and Steam charts alike. There are lots of reasons for their achievement, but the reality that they run on honestly any Laptop doesn’t hurt. Heck, you could even run e-sports games—together with Overwatch—on an AMD APU’s included portraits if you’re k with modest frame costs at decrease resolutions.

AMD’s cheap new Radeon RX 550 is designed for individuals who need extra e

Sports activities eye candy without breaking the financial institution, at $80 on Newegg.

Higher frame charges and resolutions mean you may see greater, quicker, and that extra overall performance can spell the distinction among triumphing and losing in the global of competitive gaming. AMD’s trendy Radeon helps you to crank the one’s pictures settings, and it consists of all the useful environment conveniences located in the relaxation of the Radeon RX 500-collection, together with native broadcasting assist with Radeon Red ReLive, FreeSync reveal compatibility, and contemporary media technology that would make the Radeon RX 550 a success with home theater Pc lovers.

We haven’t visible a photos card serve the ultra-finances market in years. But is a pics card this cut-down worthwhile? Yes…And no.

Meet the Radeon RX 550

You’ll locate all the hardcore technical specs for the Radeon RX 550 within the chart underneath, But in sum, they’re half of that of the already modest $one hundred RX 560, that’s launching in early May because of the final release in AMD’s new Radeon RX 500 series. It’s one-zone the GPU in the $one hundred seventy Radeon RX 570.

Accelerated Muscular Development Review – Does AMD 2.0 Really Work

  Improved Muscular Development (additionally referred to as the AMD 2.zero) is a very famous muscle-constructing system in recent times.

On this Accelerated Muscular Improvement evaluate we can check the professionals and cons of this program and notice if this muscle-constructing device is absolutely for you or no longer.

Extended Muscular Development assessment – What Precisely Is It?

Created and written by means of Jim Smith, power and health teach and additionally a member of the Elite fitness Professional workforce, the Multiplied Muscular Improvement is a complete muscle-building gadget this is built around the four-month progression of workout routines.

All the workouts in the software are based on an unmarried template, which has 3 classes (higher body workouts, complete frame workout routines, and decrease frame workouts) and each one of the categories is divided into four sections.

Anyways, the AMD 2.0 gadget is greater than just a workout program and in reality this system carries extra than ten distinct eBooks and guides, and also dozens of step-by-step video tutorials that in keeping with the writer, Jim Smith, will teach you the whole lot you must know to build massive amounts of muscle and to get more potent faster and in a safe way.

To study if it is simply actual and to understand higher what you can expect from the AMD 2.0 software let’s communicate about some of the pros and cons of this product.

Multiplied Muscular Improvement overview – the professionals And Cons

The pros

Customizable application

One top element approximately the Elevated Muscular Improvement program is that it isn’t always “one size fits all” kind of gadget.

Within the AMD 2.0 software, Jim Smith would not simplest display the customers his step-by-step workout plan however also offers them the information they should realize to get the high-quality results and to customize this system for his or her precise situation.

This kind of advice is very crucial and might sincerely assist each user to get an awful lot better consequences from any form of “one length fits all” applications.

Very Beneficial Bonus Objects

Jim Smith protected six very useful bonus Gadgets in his AMD 2.zero application and maximum of the customers will locate at the least few of the bonuses to be Useful for them. One correct example is the Deadlift 101 Guide that contains very beneficial facts on All the strategies, strategies and methods for doing deadlift right.

Build Your Startup Business Infrastructure on a Budget

There are pretty some steps to take when constructing a business from the floor up. This newsletter assumes you have got already won a simple knowledge of those steps and are at a factor where you’ve got some investment and you’re equipped to put the constructing blocks of your enterprise in location. If you aren’t familiar with the basic steps to construct a business, I inspire you to move test out the multitude of courses you could locate on the internet after which come lower back and revisit This article.

In maximum instances, it’s miles paramount to construct your commercial enterprise in steps, being very cautious the way you spend the precious budget which can be available to you, regardless of the source of your capital. By now you should have a list of additives that need to be put in place, which includes the IT infrastructure, inclusive of but now not restricted to electronic mail money owed, a website, internal software program systems (both “canned” programs in addition to custom software) and more. at the creative facet, you will want to decide for your branding (emblem and color topic). Then maximum in all likelihood you may need enterprise playing cards, brochures, letterhead, fliers, signage and so on.

building a business in steps (or increments) can be executed

But you want to search for the proper expertise. At the start, you will be plenty higher off locating people that are able in several exceptional areas. The much fewer assets you need to rent, in maximum cases, the decrease your spending outlay could be. If one individual can perform the responsibilities of six or eight humans, your budgetary financial savings should be extensive. In a while, while things are starting off, you can replace these multi-proficient individuals with devoted sources, as each responsibility will likely turn out to be a complete-time task. Over-staffing too quickly can position you out of business in a rush or positioned undue pressure on your business to perform earlier than it’s far capable of.

Permit flip the clock forward and count on your enterprise is gaining traction.

Let’s say your multi-gifted people simply helped you get your business off the floor and now you’ll update them with employees devoted to unique business segments, or departments. It is going to be painless to replace them because they may expect it. Why? due to the fact, you added them in as contractors. you’ve got lots of flexibility with contractors. If it is your hobby, and the contractor’s hobby, you can suggest a settlement lease arrangement. Then if matters workout properly, you may carry them in as a part of your senior body of workers considering the fact that they will have this kind of good information of your enterprise.

Overcoming Adversity – Another Way of Looking at the World

Overcoming adversity can be a no-brainer while we trust. We’ve all misplaced our desire and aims sooner or later in our life.

We regularly seem to be running out of steam while we needed it the maximum-then feeling greater depressing over our loss of motive or electricity. Then even more depressing taking into account the attempt we see in advance folks just looking to get returned on our toes and triumph over adversity.

You, like me, can also have been taught to agree with your self.

We’ve heard it earlier than: “simply tell yourself you can do it” or “you may do something you place your mind to.” And my favored, “Paintings a little bit tougher and you’ll make it.”

Permit’s take those loving and well-supposed classes to any other degree-to the level in which our real thoughts and our real self can overcome adversity.

If you are trusting in energy for your personal, you have got every cause to be frightened, traumatic, apprehensive, and lonely.

What is there in yourself you can expect or manage? What is there in you that can be counted on? What is in you that offers you the popularity of the right solution, and the assure that you could climb out of that seemingly tough hole and triumph over adversity, and attain the existence you deserve?

Your ego-primarily based self can do none of this stuff. To accept as true with that you can is to put your accept as true with wherein agree with is unwarranted. It’s far to justify your fear, tension, despair, sorrow, and anger.

Who can positioned their faith in weak spot and sense secure?

At the flip aspect of the coin, who can put their religion in power and feel weak? God is your protection in each situation, and is how you may conquer adversity.

He’s in you, and the Holy Spirit-your natural internal Guide, does the speaking. Consider, His Voice speaks for Him in all conditions, telling you exactly what to do so as to name upon His energy.

His safety is guaranteed. There are no exceptions due to the fact God has no exceptions, and the Voice that speaks for Him is aware of all of this.

Here’s a tremendous workout while up in opposition to overcoming adversity:

[webpostingpro-blog]

New Post has been published on Webpostingpro

New Post has been published on https://webpostingpro.com/amd-radeon-rx-550-review-a-thrilling-budget-graphics-card/

AMD Radeon RX 550 review: A thrilling budget graphics card

The maximum famous video games within the international don’t want a beefy photographs card.

Yes, I’m speaking approximately e-sports. The likes of League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Worldwide Offensive dominate Twitch and Steam charts alike. There are lots of reasons for their achievement, but the reality that they run on honestly any Laptop doesn’t hurt. Heck, you could even run e-sports games—together with Overwatch—on an AMD APU’s included portraits if you’re k with modest frame costs at decrease resolutions.

AMD’s cheap new Radeon RX 550 is designed for individuals who need extra e

Sports activities eye candy without breaking the financial institution, at $80 on Newegg.

Higher frame charges and resolutions mean you may see greater, quicker, and that extra overall performance can spell the distinction among triumphing and losing in the global of competitive gaming. AMD’s trendy Radeon helps you to crank the one’s pictures settings, and it consists of all the useful environment conveniences located in the relaxation of the Radeon RX 500-collection, together with native broadcasting assist with Radeon Red ReLive, FreeSync reveal compatibility, and contemporary media technology that would make the Radeon RX 550 a success with home theater Pc lovers.

We haven’t visible a photos card serve the ultra-finances market in years. But is a pics card this cut-down worthwhile? Yes…And no.

Meet the Radeon RX 550

You’ll locate all the hardcore technical specs for the Radeon RX 550 within the chart underneath, But in sum, they’re half of that of the already modest $one hundred RX 560, that’s launching in early May because of the final release in AMD’s new Radeon RX 500 series. It’s one-zone the GPU in the $one hundred seventy Radeon RX 570.

Accelerated Muscular Development Review – Does AMD 2.0 Really Work

  Improved Muscular Development (additionally referred to as the AMD 2.zero) is a very famous muscle-constructing system in recent times.

On this Accelerated Muscular Improvement evaluate we can check the professionals and cons of this program and notice if this muscle-constructing device is absolutely for you or no longer.

Extended Muscular Development assessment – What Precisely Is It?

Created and written by means of Jim Smith, power and health teach and additionally a member of the Elite fitness Professional workforce, the Multiplied Muscular Improvement is a complete muscle-building gadget this is built around the four-month progression of workout routines.

All the workouts in the software are based on an unmarried template, which has 3 classes (higher body workouts, complete frame workout routines, and decrease frame workouts) and each one of the categories is divided into four sections.

Anyways, the AMD 2.0 gadget is greater than just a workout program and in reality this system carries extra than ten distinct eBooks and guides, and also dozens of step-by-step video tutorials that in keeping with the writer, Jim Smith, will teach you the whole lot you must know to build massive amounts of muscle and to get more potent faster and in a safe way.

To study if it is simply actual and to understand higher what you can expect from the AMD 2.0 software let’s communicate about some of the pros and cons of this product.

Multiplied Muscular Improvement overview – the professionals And Cons

The pros

Customizable application

One top element approximately the Elevated Muscular Improvement program is that it isn’t always “one size fits all” kind of gadget.

Within the AMD 2.0 software, Jim Smith would not simplest display the customers his step-by-step workout plan however also offers them the information they should realize to get the high-quality results and to customize this system for his or her precise situation.

This kind of advice is very crucial and might sincerely assist each user to get an awful lot better consequences from any form of “one length fits all” applications.

Very Beneficial Bonus Objects

Jim Smith protected six very useful bonus Gadgets in his AMD 2.zero application and maximum of the customers will locate at the least few of the bonuses to be Useful for them. One correct example is the Deadlift 101 Guide that contains very beneficial facts on All the strategies, strategies and methods for doing deadlift right.

Build Your Startup Business Infrastructure on a Budget

There are pretty some steps to take when constructing a business from the floor up. This newsletter assumes you have got already won a simple knowledge of those steps and are at a factor where you’ve got some investment and you’re equipped to put the constructing blocks of your enterprise in location. If you aren’t familiar with the basic steps to construct a business, I inspire you to move test out the multitude of courses you could locate on the internet after which come lower back and revisit This article.

In maximum instances, it’s miles paramount to construct your commercial enterprise in steps, being very cautious the way you spend the precious budget which can be available to you, regardless of the source of your capital. By now you should have a list of additives that need to be put in place, which includes the IT infrastructure, inclusive of but now not restricted to electronic mail money owed, a website, internal software program systems (both “canned” programs in addition to custom software) and more. at the creative facet, you will want to decide for your branding (emblem and color topic). Then maximum in all likelihood you may need enterprise playing cards, brochures, letterhead, fliers, signage and so on.

building a business in steps (or increments) can be executed

But you want to search for the proper expertise. At the start, you will be plenty higher off locating people that are able in several exceptional areas. The much fewer assets you need to rent, in maximum cases, the decrease your spending outlay could be. If one individual can perform the responsibilities of six or eight humans, your budgetary financial savings should be extensive. In a while, while things are starting off, you can replace these multi-proficient individuals with devoted sources, as each responsibility will likely turn out to be a complete-time task. Over-staffing too quickly can position you out of business in a rush or positioned undue pressure on your business to perform earlier than it’s far capable of.

Permit flip the clock forward and count on your enterprise is gaining traction.

Let’s say your multi-gifted people simply helped you get your business off the floor and now you’ll update them with employees devoted to unique business segments, or departments. It is going to be painless to replace them because they may expect it. Why? due to the fact, you added them in as contractors. you’ve got lots of flexibility with contractors. If it is your hobby, and the contractor’s hobby, you can suggest a settlement lease arrangement. Then if matters workout properly, you may carry them in as a part of your senior body of workers considering the fact that they will have this kind of good information of your enterprise.

Overcoming Adversity – Another Way of Looking at the World

Overcoming adversity can be a no-brainer while we trust. We’ve all misplaced our desire and aims sooner or later in our life.

We regularly seem to be running out of steam while we needed it the maximum-then feeling greater depressing over our loss of motive or electricity. Then even more depressing taking into account the attempt we see in advance folks just looking to get returned on our toes and triumph over adversity.

You, like me, can also have been taught to agree with your self.

We’ve heard it earlier than: “simply tell yourself you can do it” or “you may do something you place your mind to.” And my favored, “Paintings a little bit tougher and you’ll make it.”

Permit’s take those loving and well-supposed classes to any other degree-to the level in which our real thoughts and our real self can overcome adversity.

If you are trusting in energy for your personal, you have got every cause to be frightened, traumatic, apprehensive, and lonely.

What is there in yourself you can expect or manage? What is there in you that can be counted on? What is in you that offers you the popularity of the right solution, and the assure that you could climb out of that seemingly tough hole and triumph over adversity, and attain the existence you deserve?

Your ego-primarily based self can do none of this stuff. To accept as true with that you can is to put your accept as true with wherein agree with is unwarranted. It’s far to justify your fear, tension, despair, sorrow, and anger.

Who can positioned their faith in weak spot and sense secure?

At the flip aspect of the coin, who can put their religion in power and feel weak? God is your protection in each situation, and is how you may conquer adversity.

He’s in you, and the Holy Spirit-your natural internal Guide, does the speaking. Consider, His Voice speaks for Him in all conditions, telling you exactly what to do so as to name upon His energy.

His safety is guaranteed. There are no exceptions due to the fact God has no exceptions, and the Voice that speaks for Him is aware of all of this.

Here’s a tremendous workout while up in opposition to overcoming adversity: